Ace Is The Place Where The Helpful Hardware Goes 🫦

I pik men

[miningforsmiles]

Something something opening post 😑

(If it has a • then it’s a main point, if it has a - it is a specific subject of the previous point)

Anyway—

Howdy,

• Call me by my Blog handle

• Pronouns are Fae/Faer

• POC

- GEOAY+

• I’m an Adult

• Multi-Shipper

• Mediocre Ao3 Fic Writer

- Do not ask for my Ao3 username, I’ll cry /lh

- I cope with intrusive thoughts through fiction and writing, I’d prefer if I wasn’t judged for that ♡

Fandoms I like

• Steven Universe

• The Owl House

• Danny Phantom

• Pikmin

• Minecraft

- DSMP

- Empires SMP

• Demon Slayer

• Welcome Home

• Kirby

• & More

DNI

• Minors

• Pedophiles

• People who can’t separate fiction from reality

- Anti-Proship

- Anti-DSMP

• Kinkshamers

• Homophobes

- Transphobes

- Xenicphobes

- Anti-Neopronouns

- Anti-Mspec Lesbians

- TERFs

• Racists

- Colorists

- White Supremacists

• Ableists

- Anyone who thinks I need to “fix” my disabilities to “fully enjoy my life”

~~~

Fiction is fiction, if you can’t recognize that pls block me and touch some grass ♡

[probablyasocialecologist]

[probablyasocialecologist]

[probablyasocialecologist]

One year ago today!

[probablyasocialecologist]

Happy two years

[loth-catgirl]

THREE YEARS BABY

[luesmainblog]

thinking about the video where a bunch of guys get together to un-corrupt a blastoise that got bad egged years ago in a leafgreen game and how that whole scenario is like. the loving side of cosmic horror. you are a blastoise. you trust your trainer. you've been through countless battles together, and while they never say anything, you can tell your trainer loves you. what you don't know is that your trainer is, at all times, being puppeted by intelligent forces outside of your dimension, holding knowledge far beyond the scope of anything you could ever know. they know things about your world that you do not; that nobody in your world ever could. the distinction between your trainer and this creature is minimal. at the same time, this creature is not god. it does not have infinite knowledge; it understands far greater than you, yet in still a very limited capacity. they understand what your world is made up of and how it can be manipulated to fit your whims. this creature loves you. your trainer loves you. they love you so much that they want to help you become stronger. they manipulate the very laws of your world to attain this feat. however, they did it wrong. they didn't know what they were doing, and the makeup of your being- everything you ARE- was twisted. you are no longer a blastoise. you are a bad egg. your trainer remains the same as ever. everything continues on, the same as it ever was, yet you cannot be what you once were. your trainer tries over, and over, and OVER again to hatch you, but you never become what you once were. you are a bad egg. there are other bad eggs now, other pokemon you used to know; pokemon you helped your trainer catch, pokemon you may have even fought alongside. now you're all bad eggs, sealed away by ancient protective magic known as Code. you never knew such a thing existed. you wonder if you're dangerous now. your trainer sets you in a box. over the years, he forgets which box you're in. unbeknownst to you, the creature is panicking, trying everything it can possibly think of to restore you to your blastoise state. the creature is just a child. he carries the pain of your loss long into adulthood; in his mind, he is responsible for your death. in the grand scheme of the universe, you do not matter; you're a "game". a few lines of code and some pixels. you do not Exist. and yet, you are mourned. and yet many others just like you are mourned by many others just like him. the world has been still for many, many years. you don't know this, because your world does not contain an internal clock. time doesn't really exist for you; it's a concept far outside of your reality. and yet, it is important. your creature contacts another of its kind. it shares the story of its sin, the insignificant act of corrupting you beyond repair. it shares this story in hopes that it could save you. the other creature recalls its own destruction of a world not unlike yours. it agrees to help. many creatures within the world outside of yours have gathered all together, using technologies familiar and unfamiliar with one collective goal in mind: to rescue you. specifically you. your loss is widely considered nothing. and yet, they put in incredible effort. obstacle after obstacle, they perform miracles for your sake. they copy your world; they use strange windows to view it, they layer your world over itself many times over to view it from every angle. they dig deep into the very makeup of your universe just trying to find you. one of them uses a method that only he has access to, in all the world, to find you. and they do. you have lost your name and everything else that makes you you, but there is something that remains in tact, that makes you findable; a piece of "data", an invisible quality to you that you and your trainer would never see, something you could never possibly know about. this is what ultimately makes you you, and not another blastoise. slowly but surely, they begin to put you back together. it's much harder than it needs to be, it is far too much effort for one

creature in one game that will never be touched again, and yet they do it. they race against the clock, stressing endlessly, sweating bullets and crying out in relief when they finally find the exact values, the last pieces of invisible quality that makes it YOU. you are now a blastoise. you are now "legitimate" to the game. you do not know it yet, but your trainer - your creature - is waiting for you, excited to Transfer you into new worlds until you are where he wants you. until you are safe. you also do not know that at this time, two of you exist. there is the You, here, being put together, manipulated through the fabrics of reality to restore your original form. and there is the Original you; the one waiting home, on the cartridge. the Real you. you are a clone, but you are not. you are a new pokemon, but you are the original. you are both corrupted, and legitimate. you are many things. the new you is saved, and this version of your world- this version that has fixed you, and only you- is re-uploaded, overlayed and overwritten to the original. you safely arrive. You are a blastoise. You were a bad egg, for a short time. But now you are a blastoise again. your trainer acts the same as ever, because he cannot display anything that would suggest he notices the difference. you do not know what happened. you have no idea. you have no idea how much you are loved.

[pokemonheritageposts]

Pokemon Heritage Post

[glow-in-the-dark-death]

A Week (He Will Take You)

~

Danny moved to Gotham for school, while there he noticed that Gotham's ambient ecto was really murky for lack of a better word.

This didn't really affect him too much besides a mild headache every once in a while but that also just might be stress from all his school work so maybe not.

Anyway

This murky ecto seemed to effect the people who lived there or more importantly the ghosts,

They were visible to the human eye like most ghosts back in Amity but instead of looking very much like a ghost they still looked like humans if a bit off putting.

They all seemed to be continuing their normal lives as if still fully alive, with the people around them none the wiser.

Danny noticed this and began approaching them to figure out what was going on.

Apparently the murky ecto in the city had made it so that they were strong enough to still continue a somewhat normal life but not be able to cross over to the GZ.

In other words they were stuck in Gotham

Danny was the Ghost King so he could easily fix this problem, all he needed to do was give them a bit of pure ecto for around a week to fully stabilize them them then he would just open a portal into the GZ and they could cross over with all their things also transferring into the GZ for their new haunt.

Unfortunately this looked rather worrying to an outsider,

Imagine you're used to your neighbor being very outgoing so you and others see them a lot suddenly this man seems to appear in their life out of nowhere an at exactly one week, your neighbor and all their belongings in their home disappear no trace to be found.

You tell people and they begin saying the same story they knew someone and them a man with black hair and blue eyes appeared in their life, then they and all their things disappear in exactly one week.

Of course the police in Gotham do the bare minimum so they're no help.

But it starts to begin a trend, especially online.

"Oh careful or the blue eyed man will make you disappear in a week"

This of course after time catches the bats attention, Gordon had already given them all the information he had.

"Young adult early twenties, dark hair, blue eyes"

That was it.

The bats look into it and from their point of view Danny is a serial killer.

But they can't find the connection between all of his victims, they range from young children and the elderly from different backgrounds absolutely no connection,

Worrying enough he doesn't just make one person disappear he has taken entire families up to over a dozen, without anyone figuring out how he's doing it or why at all.

The disturbing thing also being that he seems to take everything in their home, leaving it like it has always been empty

Like no one had been living in it.

People have tried to take photos of Danny get some kind of evidence of his existence, but when they try to do it, it either comes out completely corrupted or their devise simply shuts down fully.

Danny of course has no clue what is happening he's just happy that he's able to help so many ghosts, and is trying not to fail his exams.

~

Danny leaving the house he just helped: "That went easier than I expected!"

Neighbor peeking from the window: "Shit it's that guy! "

~

Red Hood marching down into the cave: " The fucker took many from my territory without me even realizing it!"

~

Tim: "I'm pretty sure his kill count is nearing the hundreds and he just started like maybe 4 months ago, this is bad."

Barbara: " I think I got a theory, this matches up with the new school year beginning so maybe their not a Gotham native which narrows down my suspect list."

Bruce: "Hn."

Tim: "Yes thank you B for the insightful commentary"

~

Danny trying not to fall asleep while on his way to class: "Strange I keep seeing shadows following me, oh well must be the stress!"

Bats who are pretty sure Danny is the killer: "Has he done anything suspicious yet?"

~

Just an Idea

[bet-on-me-13]

This is great!

Wait! Imagine if Danny starts targeting the Rouges? He starts out small, and takes some low level ones like Condiment King or Calender Man. Barely anyone notices at first, just remarking that it's been a while since they have seen them.

And he keeps doing this, eventually almost all of the D Tier Rogues have been "killed" and they begin to notice something is off. It's only when Penguin goes missing that the Bats notice.

They look back at the previous months, and notice that he had basically cleaned out all of Gothams Rogues Gallery in a month without any of them suspecting a thing. They become terrified, because now he is making moves on the big players of the City, not just random civilians. And he had moved up from Low Tier Crooks to actual Rogues.

All of the Rogues realize that they're being targeted, and they try to defend themselves to the best of their ability. But it's no Good.

One day, the Joker makes an announcement to his Goons that he is gonna kill the guy, solely because he thinks it will be fun, and also cause the guy is stealing his spotlight. The Goons spread the rumor around, and everybody thinks, "Oh, okay then. That the most dangerous person in the entire city, no way he'll get killed!".

The Joker disappears.

The Batfam have long since begun taking Danny as a serious threat, but this only put him at the top of their Priority List. By now, his Kill Count is already in the 4 Digit range, including many of the most dangerous Rogues in the City.

Then, they learn that Lucius Fox has disappeared. Then, Dr Thompkins goes missing. Then, Officer Renee Montoya is gone.

All of the Batfam's Allies and associates begin to disappear. And then, civilians connected to their Civilian Identities start going missing.

The Cashier at Alfred's favorite store, Jason's next door neighbor, Duke's history teacher, all of them connected to the Batfam in some way.

Then Jason disappears from Crime Alley.

And now they have confirmation that the Killer is targeting them. Jason has disappeared, and Bruce orders every single member of the Batfam room come home, nobody is allowed to patrol alone, nobody is even allowed to sleep alone in a room anymore. The only thing, the single thread connecting all the victims is that they were alone when it happened.

Now they are terrified of the killer coming for their family.

...

Meanwhile this is all a HUGE coincidence.

Danny realized that most of the Rogues were ghosts, so he took them all first. Then he noticed the cashier at a grocery store he visited was a Ghost, then his Teacher at Gotham U, and then his Neighbor Jason.

He has no idea that he singlehandedly put the entire City on Red Alert.

[wisecloudnightmare]

[ailithnight]

What if Danny isn't making them leave?

He's giving them ecto, taking them into the Realms at least once for health check ups and education, and then just giving them options. (Provided they aren't causing disturbances in the living realm, nor upsetting the Balance of course. Being allowed back in the living realm is a privilege that those like the Joker have lost.)

It's just, well, who would choose Living Gotham over the Realms? If there's nothing in particular tying them there, if they could have their homes (haunts) and families (fraid) in this swirling green place, why would they go back? Back to that cursed land constantly besieged by crime and corruption? Back to where they died? No, no. This swirling green Realm of the restless dead seems a much nicer place to continue existing. Especially under this benevolent young King.

There are some, of course, too attached in one way or another to leave forever. And even a few who are still more alive than dead, who belong more to the living realm than the dead one.

One such case: Jason Peter Todd-Wayne.

[hailsatanacab]

I'll ask after that secret number 8!

I only remembered secret number 8 because I saw your wip here! I'd started this one based on the same prompt, then lost said prompt and stopped working on it 😅

Instead of a snippet, I'm just dropping it all here - maybe that way I'll feel inspired to finish it?

———

It’s a full house for dinner tonight and, really, that should have tipped him off.

Bruce sits at the head of the table, smiling softly as he watches over everyone’s antics. Damian is regaling Dick with everything they saw at the zoo that day (Danny had been so happy to see Delilah the purpleback gorilla again, and her new little additions to the troupe, too!) and how well they are implementing the grant the Wayne Foundation had gifted them. Tim, Steph, Cass, and Duke are all engaged in a thumb-war tournament which Danny has no interest in participating in. It just wouldn’t be fair on them.

Danny loves that look. The one where Bruce’s eyes crinkle when he thinks none of the kids can see him. It oozes love and it makes Danny’s heart, his core, ache. 

It’s been a little over a year since Alfred found him on the street and managed to wrangle him back to the manor to stay—even after the whole biting thing when he realised how rich they were. 

A little over a year here and Danny’s starting to feel like family.

Starting to feel like he might, just maybe, like to make it official.

“Danny,” Bruce says, drawing everyone’s attention. Danny starts at his name, but Bruce’s voice is warm and calm, and his shoulders lose their tension almost immediately. “Danny, I have something I would like to tell you.”

“Uhhh…” is all Danny can croak out, eyes flicking back and forth between Bruce and the rest of them. Smooth. Looking good, Danny.

Except… they’re all happy. All smiles, all relaxed body language, all radiating calm and love and acceptance. Well, not Damian—his face is as thunderous as it always is—which at least means it’s nothing too out of the ordinary.

“Danny, first of all, I just want to impress upon you that this is in no way something you have to do. You are under no obligation to join us and, no matter what, you shall always be welcome with us in the manor.”

Wait, what? Danny squints at Bruce, trying to parse exactly what he’s saying… Is he—is this them asking to adopt him? Do they want to make it official, too? 

It’s been a little over a year and of course Danny has imagined calling Bruce ‘Dad’. Of course he’s imagined being part of the family, of course he wants to make it official!

He can’t help the beaming grin or the bright and bubbling “Yes!” already waiting on his lips. All Bruce has to do is ask, all Danny needs to hear is—

“I’m Batman.”

The smile freezes on Danny’s face.

His lungs stop working, his heart stops working, he stops working, he just—

“And I’m Nightwing,” Dick smiles, breaking the awkward silence. 

Danny’s eyes snap to him, and then down to Tim when he admits to being Red Robin. Duke is Signal, Steph is Spoiler. Damian begrudgingly tells him he’s Robin, but Danny can barely hear it over the ringing in his ears.

“I’m Black Bat.” Cass cocks her head, almost looking concerned. It always felt like she understood him the most. Whenever he was feeling low, too in his memories, or stewing after a nightmare, she was always there, ready to card her fingers through his hair and never mention his tears. It makes his heart ache to think of it now. “It’s okay, Danny.”

It’s meant to be reassuring, but how—how can it be okay? How? 

Danny’s spent a little over a year with them. A little over a year with Batman. 

Batman, who works with the Justice League, who works with…

A little over a year. 

Just under 16 months since he escaped.

“Danny? Are you alright?” Bruce asks

Finally, his lungs kickstart and suck in a shuddering breath, only for everyone to drop their smiles.

Didn’t take them long, did it? Now that their ruse is up, there’s no kindness in their eyes, they’re just… cold, calculating. Evaluating. 

“Why?” Danny gasps, his fingers tingling, his heart in his throat.

Just under 16 months since he—has he escaped? Or was this just another one of their experiments?

"I... I trusted you, why—" Danny chokes back a sob, gritting his teeth as his shoulders shake. Why? Why would they do this? "I was happy here, with you. I thought... Weren't you happy?"

"Danny..." Bruce is looking at him, eyes narrow and eyebrows pinched, in some cruel facsimile of confused concern and all Danny can think is how much of an actor he is. How well he can play the part of a doting father. How much he made him want that.

"I don't understand, why..." 

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you before, I can imagine that it comes as a shock. We shouldn't have lied to you, Danny, but—"

"Stop it!" Danny slams his hands down on the table and pushes himself up on wobbly legs. Even standing, he feels so small. Smaller than Bruce, than all of his adopted siblings. They crowd above him when they all stand, too. "Just stop it! Why are you doing this, why are you still pretending? Stop it!"

It was easier, with Danny's biological parents. The knowledge that they'd do anything to get him on a lab table, to open him up and see what makes him tick, to rip him apart molecule by molecule, had always been there. He knew they hated ghosts. He knew they hated Phantom. He knew they hated him. It was easier because it was something he'd known all his life. When he died, when he became a ghost, he knew what to expect from them. It hurt, of course it did.

But it was easier than this.

"Danny, I'm going to need you to take a deep breath. You're having a panic attack and you need to breathe."

"Breathe?" Danny laughs, the sound harsh and choking, too high pitched in his hysteria. "You're joking, right? Or is this just more of the—the experiment?"

"Danny, please, we don't know what you're talking about, you—"

"You don't know? You're Batman! You work with the Justice League, you work with—" His words choke off as his stomach churns, bile rising in his throat. His whole body itches, screaming at him to leave, he can't go back, he can't, he can't, he can't!

Bruce takes a hesitant step forward and Danny scrambles back, his feet catching on the chair behind him and sending him careening to the floor. Where are the agents? Why aren't they swarming in, ready to apprehend him, strap him back on the table, carve him from the inside out.

"Please, Danny, calm down. We don't—"

Danny stops listening. His back hits the wall and he pulls his knees into his chest, his shoulders dipping down as he begins to sob. His heart throbs inside his throat, too painful to swallow around. Tears fall hot and heavy on his face.

Sure, he could run. He could phase out through the wall and he could be out of Gotham in a couple of hours. He's escaped the GIW once, he can do it again.

But that was before Batman knew who he was. Before he had the World's Greatest Detective on his tail.

Before he... 

He really thought this would be different, you know?

He wanted to make it official.

"Why did... Why were you so nice to me? Why did you make me like you? I really—I really liked you. I-I thought we could be a family."

"Danny, we are a—"

"Don't lie to me!" Danny snaps, but the force of his anger leeches all the fight from him, and suddenly all that's left is a bone-weary tiredness. There’s a lump in his throat that hurts. There’s a line down his chest that burns. "I don't care. I don't care anymore, I don't. Just... don't make me go back there. Please." 

Is it futile? He thought he knew how the GIW operated by now, the depths that they would go to achieve their results, but this... this was a whole new level of pain that Danny thought he had left behind him in Amity.

"We're not going to make you go anywhere, Danny, you're safe here, I promise."

"Safe? Safe? You must have—" he takes a deep breath, tries to stop the quivering of his voice. It’s all starting to make sense, now.  "The reason you're telling me who you are is because you must have told them everything already. I know the Justice League—I know you're working with them, which means the ex-experiment is over now, and they're coming to take me back. And I can't go back."

"Danny—"

"I can’t!” Danny glares at Bruce with all the rage he can, fingernails digging into his skin. “I’m not going back!"

"That's right, you're not going back, Danny. I won't let that happen." Bruce crouches down in front of Danny, his hands open and raised as if he's trying to say he's not a threat. "I don't know who you're talking about, and I'm sorry about that, but I can promise you that you’re not going back there. We will keep you safe."

Danny pulls himself closer, tucks himself further into the wall, eyes flickering all across the room waiting for that tell-tale flash of white as the agents start to swarm.

He should take his chances now and run, he should go, he needs to go!

The rest of them, his brothers and sisters of a little over a year, are spread out, giving him and Bruce some space. The same concern colours all of their faces. Why are they still pretending?

Steph is chewing on her thumb. 

Danny liked Steph and her brash confidence, her jokes. She's been promising to paint his nails for months now, they've just never found the time. He was going to go for green and black, or maybe a galaxy theme, depending on what she felt comfortable doing.

He likes them all.

"You were supposed to be my family." His mouth turns down at the corners and his voice shakes like a child. "You were supposed to—why? Why would you—I don't understand why you would make me like you..."

"This isn't an experiment, Danny," Bruce's voice is steady, soothing. "I promise."

"But you work with them and—"

"Who do I work with?"

"The Justice League."

"Yes, I do, but we—"

"And the Justice League works with them. The GIW." Danny trembles with the name, clutching tightly onto his hoodie. "I'm not going back there, Bruce."

Danny doesn't miss Bruce's look over his shoulder, nor Tim's nod in return. Tim turns slightly to the side to hide his movements, but Danny bets he has his phone in his hand, probably letting them know they can take him now. Guess this is it, then. They'll be here soon, and he'll be gone.

"Kill me."

"Danny? What do—"

"If you ever had any kindness for me, if you ever cared, kill me. Please, Bruce. I can't do it again."

"Danny..."

"End me now. Take my core out and break it, please, before they get here."

[nerdpoe]

Danny's got some shit luck and shittier timing.

So there he is, with an anti-ecto collar stuck on his neck in the middle of Star City while Prometheus is rampaging, darting between toppling buildings.

When he sees a little girl.

So he does what he do; he darts in and barely manages to get her cleared away from the building as it collapses.

From there it's a blur of clutching the little girl to him, cursing his lack of powers, and dodging nonstop.

When all is said and done, Red fucking Arrow (sans an arm what the hell) slams into him to hug the little girl.

Okay. Apparently Danny has successfully saved a heroes daughter; fantastic. Time to run before the GIW track his stupid collar down and collect him.

New Problem; Green Arrow was there when he turned to run, hand already outstretched as the other hero tugs at Danny's lovely neck accessory.

But Danny knows he's well and truly fucked. The Justice League clearly agrees with the anti-ecto acts, clearly work with the government, and will obviously turn him in.

So he begs.

Oliver, who just wanted to thank the savior of his granddaughter, is shocked by the teenager who saved her begging for his life.

[britcision]

Bonus points if the Arrows saw the collar and assumed it was a meta-trafficking ring and were about to ask if this poor kid needed help on top of saving Lian but the kid just falls to pieces

Which. Well. Kinda confirms the meta-trafficking theory, right until he begs not to be handed over to the US government

[ailithnight]

While Danny is pleading for his life and the Arrows are trying to figure out how to calm the kid down and also what the hell is he talking about, the GIW are tracking down their missing subject. As soon as he sees those familiar white vans in the distance picking and crawling around the rubble, his begging shifts to something slightly different and somehow even more different.

"At least not in front of the kid. Turn me over if you must. But not in front of her. She won't understand. I mean, if you wanted to not give me back, that would be great too. I could - I could help you. I could protect her! You could keep me and then whenever you have to go do your hero thing, I could keep her safe. But if you can't- If you don't want- At least take her away first. She doesn't need to see th-"

The raspy begging cuts off as the Agents finally get close enough for their remote to be in range of the collar and activate the shock feature. Green Arrow withdraws his hand from the device with a pained hiss. The boy collapses to the ground, writhing and weakly whimpering to "Stop," "Please," and "Don't let her see."

[evilminji]

Well. Good enough for Green Arrow. I imagine the phrase "sorry kid, this is gonna hurt. Hold on okay?" Are the only things Danny hears right before there is swift motion, and arrow being pulled from his quiver, and the technology trashing emp head pressed REAL cozy right against his neck.

Probably feels like getting tazed.

But?

Ots a lot like reseting a joint that's been forced out of placed. Agony, yes. And the pain lingers. But? Their is RELIEF.

He's also being dragged up in a fireman's carry. The kid clinging to grandpa's front. Time to go. Answers later.

Cause, see, Green Arrow? FIRMLY Fuck The Police. ACAB. Not today, satan!

What do you MEAN he hasn't always had two grandkids? Paper trail's right here. Better get your eyes checked. Now get of his fuckin lawn before he makes you.

[moonlightsprompts-deactivated20]

# Dcu x Dp 120

Danny is Damian's younger brother who was killed by his hands. When Danny found him he wanted to be with him again but he knew Damian hated him and that he probably still does considering he claims that he's the only blood son that his father had.

Danny sees how nice he is to animals and decides to transform into an animal so he can finally be able to get Damians love

[ailithnight]

Ooh! The angst potential here.

This feels like one of those 'Grievously injured Danny overshadows one of the bats in the Bat Cave to hide and heal' stories. Danny, being mentally a boy, bats incorrectly somehow and gains Damian's attention (I think the one I've seen had Danny fall from the ceiling and hurt his little bat body). Damian of course decides to care for this little bat that can't or does not know how to bat correctly.

And Danny finds, its nice??? Big brother cares for him??? Cares about him??? It's... it's been so long since Danny has been safe, loved, taken care of. And never from Dami. Dami hates Danny. Even still does not acknowledge Danny as his brother. As Batman's second blood son. But when Danny is a bat, tiny and fragile and weak and simple, suddenly Dami loves him.

And Danny; scared, hurt, lonely; even once he's healed, Danny doesn't want to give this up. Why should he? Why should he go back to being a boy-a ghost-a wimp-a pest-a menace-a nuisance-a monster? Why should he go back to being unwanted, unloved, Danny? When he could stay here and be Dami's beloved little pet bat instead? He just has to play the part. Pretend so hard he convinces even himself that this is all he is and all he needs to be. It's better this way, isn't it?

It's better this way.

He's better this way.

He's lovable this way.

. . .

I'm not sure how to write it, but there needs to be some scene somehow where someone (Dick, Tim, Jason? Hmm, options.) sees Danny as a person. Just briefly before Danny hurries back into his little bat form. He begs whoever saw him not to tell. Because if they tell, Dami will hate him again. Danny can't go back to that. Not now that he knows what's it's like for Dami to love him. His core can't take another rejection. It'll kill him. So please don't tell. Please, just let him pretend.

[kyrianclawraith]

That's such good angst though? I love it.

How the Bats react would definitely depend upon which one encounters him and his current situation (Is he injured in human form? How old is he?), but the common steps would probably be to first reassure them and make sure they feel safe. If they're the victim they seem to be then they desperately deserve and need comforting considering they're clearly traumatized to the point of preferring to not be seen as a person, and if they're a threat they've been here long enough that they'd have to playing the long game and they might feel like they'll need to escalate if they don't think the Bat was fooled. Then after assuring their comfort, the Bat would try to collect as much data about the situation as possible without their investigation being detected by Danny. Finally after that, they'd try to remove the threat of Danny appeared to be one or they'd try to take down the threats that Danny's hiding from. I don't know exactly how the various Bats would affect this process, but the thing that would most determine their personalization is Bruce's paranoia would probably lead to him trying to subtly reduce the amount of time Damian spends with animal Danny, Dick is frequently overprotective of his family and that'll probably get in the way, Cass might be glorious at reading body language but it'd probably be easier for her to investigate while Danny's in human form, Tim's trauma would lead him to making sure he knows everything he can about the situation, and Jason's understandably protective of kids.

How Danny might be detected could be due to how his shape shifting power works. He could get the ability for his ectoplasm in his Phantom form to learn how to take on the form of more advanced materials than just frozen H2O by it learning how his human body works enough to shift into flesh itself. Due to ectoplasm's innate malleability this would allow him to become different forms once he's familiarized himself with them. However (because my headcanon for where his human body goes when he becomes Phantom is that it gets plane shifted until it no longer can be interacted with by Earth's dimension) this means he still needs to feed his human side, or risk fully dieing. He probably doesn't want to and pushes it off for as long as he can (for obvious reasons), but when this results in his human form getting starved for too long he's forced to. This also allows for him to become the same animal when he goes Ghost again, and makes it so that instead of a somewhat inhuman form (like Phantom) the Bat sees someone who looks slightly like Damian.

[ailithnight]

Danny still needing to take care of his human body is a perfect reason for him to get caught.

And obviously he's going to go as long as possible without returning to human form. So whoever catches him is going to see this pale, trembling, absolutely skeletal prepubescent teen raiding the refrigerator.

Naturally, the first thought is going to be 'Damn, B brought home another one? Where did he even find this one?' Then the kid seems to sense that someone is there, watching him. So he turns around. And the Bat is gobsmacked by the spitting image of Bruce Wayne; if B were 14 again, pallid, and extremely emaciated. The kid and the Bat are both frozen, staring wide-eyed at each other for a long moment. Then the kid is shrinking back, leftovers he'd been eating cold straight from the fridge slipping through his fingers and hitting the floor, stumbling through a nearly incoherent mess of "I'm sorry," and "Please don't tell," and "Just wanted him to love me."

Before the Bat can even think in coherent sentences again, the kid is hurriedly cleaning up. Then, between one blink and the next, the kid is no longer a kid. It's the little brown bat pup Damian has been caring for; scrambling away as fast as it's little body can manage towards the enclosure Damian had carefully designed and built for it.

[stealingyourbones]

Short DPXDC Prompts #933

Danny is a sort of Disney princess with animals. Not alive ones though, they hate him. The ghost animals of Gotham City absolutely adore him. Harley Quinn watches from her window as a teenager with a glowing raccoon on one shoulder, a tiny scraggly kitten on the other, and a half dozen glowing green rats trailing behind him, just walks past her apartment.

[doctormead]

Oh, ho-ho! Damian will be after him in a flash!

First: How dare he exploit these poor animals!?

Second (after actually assessing the situation): He loves these strange meta-animals and they clearly love him! Maybe I COULD have a younger sibling...

[hdgnj]

Too late Damian. Harley and Ivy have already adopted him. You'll have to marry him if you want him in the family.

Meanwhile Danny? Has been causing chaos with his new Moms. He's having the best time! He got to make a villain persona? With a costume and everything? Nice! New moms let Danny cause problems??? Hell yeah!

[yourlocalcorviddad]

Damian takes that in stride. If father can have relations with different rogues(looking at you Talia, Selina, and Harvey), then so can he.

He starts looking into Danny to try and find the best way to woo him.

Probably leaves him like, really high quality telescope or storage pictures and maybe even managed to get him a moon rock from a mission there.

Just trying his best.

He liked it so he wants to put a ring on it, as the song Tim listens to says.

[mkarchin713]

When Bruce heard that Harley had a new side kick he did not know what to expect.

One thing he certainly didn’t expect was a teenager wearing a dog ear headband going by “Hyena” who commanded an army of random glowing green animals.

He was also not expecting for Damian to declare Hyena his beloved.

One thing he did expect was for his other children to blame him for Damian’s taste in partners.

[hdgnj]

Damian: We shall have a spring wedding!!

Tim: Ah... B did you have to give him your taste in partners?

Dick:... Down to the leather outfit and animal ears...

[lolottes]

What if Danny responded to Robin's (very good) gift with a new mad science gadget?

Dick: little D, where did you find this?

Damian: I didn't find it

Tim: Damian let me at least take a look, it might be dangerous

Damian, it's dangerous, but not for me

Bruce: …

Damian: ….

staring contest in progress

Jason: old man I - sees the exchange of intense looks - I'm going to ask the replacement that

Steph who “understood”: it’s cute~

Cass, who is the one who really understood and told Steph: nods and hands over the popcorn

[hdgnj]

Later that night they get to see what Damian meant by dangerpus, but not for him. The tiny, seriously tiny, spheres were thrown after a fleeing gang member. And unfolded into an electrified net. That apparently only Damian himself could turn off....

Tim: How?!?!?? There's no way these wires should be able to do that!

Damian: Tt. Just because you cannot make such a tool does not disqualify others from doing so!

Jason: Holy shit! Can you get me in touch with your supplier? I am willing to pay for a set of those!

Damian: I shall ask them. This set was a gift after all. Made for me specifically. They may have other ideas for you.

-------

Harley: You made me a proper hammer space!!!! You absolute mad lad! How much can I got in this????

Pam: Hmm. I enjoy the way you created a full set of clean energy generators. And the new hydroponics system dear.

Danny: No problem! And! It can fit anything up to 4 square metres!

[halfblackwolfdemon]

YES, ALL OF THE YES!

[fantasticbluebirdfan]

Damian- I'll only ask them once you admit my beloved is better

Batfam- your beloved 🫨

Damian- yes this was a courting gift they have accepted my pursuit of them and have responded in kind

[hdgnj]

After much badgering Damian finally allows his siblings to meet Danny in costume. Danny of course is happy to meet them. He knows how much his Starlight cares for them. As oddly as he may show it! So they all meet in a safe house. Danny is already there, in full costume. Yes he even has the muzzle on. Shaped like a hyena snout. His shirt while heavily protective? Still has a pattern on it. 'Careful, I bite' (Danny finds it funny. Harley can't disagree.) It's usually hidden under the reinforced leather jacket. This is the first time the batsibs have seen him without it. Dick and Steph? Are about to cry from laughing. Danny just sits cuddled up to Damian radiating smug glee.

Danny: So! Starlight says you want my designs? As well as, presumably to do the whole shovel talk thing?

Jason: Nah. Only Big Wing cares about that second part. I want mad science gadgets. And I'm willin to pay.

Tim: I need to know how they work! Robin won't let me touch them!

Damian: It was a courting gift from my beloved! Which I have no guarantee you can put back together correctly! I will not allow you to damage it!

Danny cuddled Damian more. While running a hand through his hair. Damian is just say there basking in the affection. Much to the surprise of his siblings. Holy shit. Hyena must be the one.

Danny: I will always make more for you Starlight! But I understand why you won't let your brother touch them. Sure. I'm happy to set up a meeting to discuss the design and price! Mama Harls set me up with a workshop! Plant Momma helps me scavenge the local area for useable parts. Recycling yay!

Steph: So! How'd they find you anyway?

Danny: Oh you know. Had to run away from home for my own safety. Mama Harls saw me with my friends. She was curious and brought out her best boys for a playdate. It just kinda went from there!

Jason: How's that going? I know the clown can be.... An issue for them.

Danny: Oh. You guys don't know yet! Starlight! You didn't tell them?

Damian:.... No beloved, I did not.

Jason: Explain.

Danny: I broke all his bones. He's currently in a body cast? And I made sure to break em bad enough they'll never heal right!

Jason: I approve demon brat. He makes great toys. And he ducked up the clown.

Steph: Wait..... Is that the John Doe in the hospital? How did they not know it's him?

Danny:.... Might have shaved all his hair off. And his face IS one big bruise. I'm sure they'll figure it out once they run his prints or whatever.

Tim: ..... No one tells B. Also, Can I please visit your workshop and swap tips?!?!?!

Danny: Sure. May as well get to know my future in laws!

Cass: Sparring?

[thenightwolf51]

Danny has a muzzle?! I need a moment where hes fighting with the bats, maybe in a more remote area, and has to use his wail.

Just like, they all get cornered.

His moms' or Damian give a nod of permission or "go ahead"

Danny steps forward, slides off the muzzle, and unleashes his devastating wail.

Shocked and or awed Batfam

[hdgnj]

Even better if it's made clear that was a WEAK wail. And

Pam: Level 1 sapling!

Danny *massive concussive force, pushes all the enemies back/knocks them out*

Harley: Great control baby! Yer doing much better!

Btman:... Level 1?

Damian: If my beloved used that ability to its fullest potential.... Well, the next few kilometres would be subject to damage.

[mosh-rem]

Damian: if you ever need to change the geography call danny

[hdgnj]

Batman is silently having conniptions. Their new rogue is dangerous Damian! Very dangerous! Why him? Did you choose him to torment me? Is that what this is? His sonic attack is stronger than Black Canarys! He needs a sit down. A break. A night where none of his kids give him a damn heart attack!!!!

Hood.... Hood what are you holding? Tell me you didn't get Hyena to make you that. RR... Where are you going? What do you mean it's science time? We have perfectly good workshops at home! Why do all his kids like Hyena so much!!! (He fully understands. If Hyena had been around when he first started? He likely would have befriended him.)

But his baby! His youngest! Is saying he wants to marry him!!! No! Absolutely not! Not any time soon anyway! And Harley is no help. She keep encouraging the boys! She's a menace! Oh no.... Harley is going to be his in law.... Selina will be delighted.

[mkarchin713]

It’s then that Bruce remembers Jon

It was no secret that Jon had a crush on Damian. At least not after Clark publicly blamed him for his little boy growing up, something about Damian inheriting Bruce’s bat like charms.

All Bruce had to do was inject Jon into the paradigm and hope that he disrupts their relationship enough for the two of them to break up.

The worst thing that could happen is that Bruce ends up being Clark’s in law….

Well it’s better than being Harley’s in law.

[treepainting]

😂

[lolottes]

the only positive point is that harley has certain medical ethics and as a family member can no longer apply as their therapist, not that she won't continue to tell them that he should consult someone

[hdgnj]

Bruce had been trying to avoid Clark. He hasn't realised adding Jon to the mix would... And as it did. And Clark? Was not pleased. Not at all. He could feel Clark glaring at him as he tried to leave the gala. Diana was grinning at him. The traitor kept stalking him. To give Clark a chance to catch up. He knew his kids had been talking to her.... Apparently they were all traitors.

Clark finally managed to catch up with Diana's help. And quickly slung a friendly arm over his shoulders. In a way that would make escape difficult. Bruce tried regardless. He did not want to have this discussion. Not one bit. Sadly his children and friends? We're working together to force the issue.

Bruce: I'm grounding all of them!

Diana: Aww. They will be so disappointed! They just want to make sure you two don't fall out entirely. And I've heard good things about their Disney Prince!

Clark: Diana! He's a menace! And Bruce! Encouraged my baby to get involved! He runs around wearing a muzzle! A Muzzle!

Diana: Don't forget the leather jacket. Or the piercings. I'm sure tattoos will come in time!

Bruce: I was trying to get Damian to forget his obsession with him! Get him to move to Jon! How was I to know it would end up with the three of them!

Clark: He managed to give my baby a love bite Bruce! Jon! A love bite! That he refuses to cover up!

Bruce: Like Damian is any better! He decided to come to the gala tonight! Just to ditch his the and open the collar! Look at him! He's practically preening about it! You think I'm any happier than you!?!?

Diana: Oh come now! I recall seeing you show off plenty of your own!

Bruce: The best can chew through rebar Diana! And Damian lets him chew on his neck!

------

Danny was doing a last minute check on his outfit. It was very goth, Mama Harls had helped him pick. And Plant Mom had helped with the accessories. Danny refused to wear ties. So he went for an old fashioned cravat. Frankly he looked a bit vampiric. And he was tempted to let his fangs show..

Damian had invited him to the gala. But Bruce said he wasn't allowed. Jokes on him! Jason was gonna smuggle him in the back! Jon was there as Damian's date. And they both looked super hot! Danny was so very lucky to have two cute, hot, wonderful boyfriends! It was just a shame their dad's didn't like him. But it was whatever. Their siblings liked him! That was good enough! And Jon's Ma and Pa liked him too!

Danny had absolutely been tempted to crash the gala as Hyena and kidnap his partners. But they asked him not to. So using his connections it was! Ope! That was Jason's motorbike! Time to go! He knew he was grinning a bit too wide as Jason cackled seeing his outfit. Danny did a slow twirl, followed by a flamboyant bow. Jason gamely played along and clapped like a good audience.

Jason: Welp! Your gonna give the old man and Uncle Clark a heart attack! This is going to be the best gala in a long time!

[ailithnight]

Ooh, between Danny's outfit and Jon and Damian's "love bites," the upper echelons of Gotham society are all gonna leave this gala believing the youngest Wayne has gotten himself involved in a throuple with a Vampire.

[hypewinter]

Tim's new classmate was weird. He often wore oversized hoodies that wouldn't be alarming if the sleeves didn't sometimes slip up to reveal arms covered in bandages. There were also these deep bags under his eyes that somehow surpassed Tim's own. But more peculiar was his attendance. He was constantly coming to school late, only to dip out of class on frequent bathroom breaks. Given all of the evidence in front of him, Tim concludes his new classmate is also a new vigilante. One that he is dead set on mentoring.

[sayatumbles]

[the-scarecrow-of-aus]

Danny finally has enough of this rich kid, one who's holding onto his arm preventing him from leaving and keeps talking to him about stuff that he learnt the hard way years ago or doesn't apply to him anymore... and in the middle of Tim's spiel in the cafeteria just 'socks' him in the nose in public.

Now while everyone's watching he leans down to Tim who was knocked down and says quietly "my villains are closer to home then yours and if I followed your advice they'd have a reason to hurt me more, please just leave me alone".

Danny gets sent to the principals office and they manage to drag his parents in. The fentons have no problem believing danny did it on purpose and use it as an excuse to increase their tests on him to root out the evil infecting him.

Danny has a bad limp and can't use his dominate hand anymore when he finally comes back to class. His teacher doesn't seem to notice or care, (most likely being told hes sick by the fentons) he makes certain to never let tim come near him again.

Danny really hates gotham.

-

Tim on the other hand now has to explain his broken nose to the batfam and perform a proper investigation into dannys home life after alfred takes one look at dannys file and threatens punishment to all the involved bat members who didn't think to put child abuse on their bingo cards (most of the fam were sticking with the clone/adoption bait bingo card).

[hypewinter]

[ailithnight]

Tim gonna feel so guilty.

Not only did he gloss over the simplest, most obvious answer of abuse simply because it didn't explain all of Danny's odd behavior (abuse at home doesn't quite explain the frequent bathroom breaks and skipped classes).

Not only that, but he also actively made the situation worse. He put Danny in more danger by pushing the other to the breaking [punching] point, which got him in more trouble at home.

To see Danny walk into the classroom, late of course, after several days of suspension with a stuttering limp; to watch him switch frequently between trying to use his spasming dominate hand with a pained grimace or his unsteady nondominate one with slow scribbles; Tim had never before felt like such a failure of a hero. He didn't think it possible to ever feel like more of one in the future. He needs to help this kid. He needs him out of his home situation, like, a month ago.

And it's only going to be so much harder to make that happen now that Danny refuses to acknowledge or be within 12ft of Tim, especially alone. But Tim will figure it out. He has to.

[ashoutinthedarkness]

Hello blood son of the bat!

Here is where we can introduce Damian. He will (probably) apologize on behalf of tim, while also insulting his abilities and intelligence, and offer to avenge/defend danny from him in the future, and might offer to have a stabby friend come visit danny in the night and then give him a small blade to protect himself until said stabby friend (i.e. himself) comes to spirit him away to prove himself as the more capable and better robin, as well as ensure the safety of ghost animals everywhere. The fact this gives him the chance to brag about saving danny before tim is a nice plus

[ailithnight]

Danny actually really likes the little Liminal dude. He's a good kid. A bit rough, overly formal, and very blunt; but passionate and fundamentally kind. Plus, he's the most Liminal person Danny's met in Gotham. His ghost half misses having Liminals around.

It's a bit strange that his human side knows he's several years younger, but his ghost side registers Damian as the older "ghost". But ignoring the weird mental gymnastics his brain goes through everytime they interact, trying to see Damian as both a baby and an elder; Danny really really like Damian.

Which is why as much as it pains him, lonely lonely Phantom is so so lonely, he has to push him away. Because he's too Liminal. Not Amity levels, but still ecto-contaminated enough to register. As much as Danny yearns for that ghostly connection, he can't embrace it. Damian is in danger just being in the same neighborhood as Danny's parents. And if they're willing to be so harsh with their own son, Danny shudders to imagine what they'd be willing to do trying to "cure" a stranger. The kid elder?? big ghost?? should be spared, protected, Protect?? protect?? protect me?? help?? from his parents' efforts.

So Danny just, needs to stop engaging with him. Ignore him and push him away until Damian gives up. It's for the best.

.

Damian is getting increasingly frustrated.

Drake's ridiculous classmate refuses to allow Damian to help him. He was receptive to Damian's first efforts to build trust and develop a working relation. But after about a week, he suddenly began shunning Damian. Now, while he does not avoid Damian as vehemently as he does Drake, Daniel still makes every possible attempt to refuse or cut short any interaction with him.

Hmm, perhaps it is time for Damian to step up his efforts. A home visit might be in order sometime soon.

[ailithnight]

Tags from @hypewinter

Eh, not really old. Just, y'know, older. At least, as far as my intent goes. Though now that you've got me thinking about it, it could be fun to explore Damian having an "old soul" as well.

Like, I'm thinking something along the lines of Damian has basically been Liminal since birth because of Lazarus Pit exposure (whether he was dipped or just by proximity is up to you).

So Damian's more ghostly side is or almost is as old as Damian. Depends on your timeline but around 10 is the common one I see for while Tim is still in school. Comparatively, Danny's ghostly side is at most a toddler. Again, ages and time frame dependent, but for him to be in school he'd still be between 14 and ~17, ergo his ghost side being somewhere between a few months and almost 4.

So, basically, even though it's not much older (especially by ghost standards), Damian's ghostliness is older enough that Danny's own ghostliness is like "Ah, yes. A Big Kid."

And since Damian, as a Liminal, initiated interaction with Danny with the intent to help him; Danny's own baby core, which he is actively ignoring right now, latched on to that like "Yes! Big Kid! Big Brother? Help, please! Lonely. Scared. Hurting. Help?"

[ohlooh]

Damian breaks into the Fenton's house. The security is laughable, would be even in a different city than Gotham. Another thing that speaks against the Fentons. It poses no challange for someone as well trained as Robin.

At first, he thinks the house might be empty, before he hears a faint sound from the basement. It sounds like a choked cry, barely a whimper.

Robin sticks to the shadows, staying hidden until he can confirm it is safe. He slips into the basement.

He has seen many gory sights, not only as a vigilante but also in the league. It is different when the victim is someone he knows personaly, when he has been trying to save them for the past weeks. Something inside of him cries and rages, that is a Baby, they did this to a Baby.

Danny, never Daniel he has seen the boy flinch at the name, is lying on cuffed to a table. There are tubes coming out of his torso, pumping chemicals straight to his heart.

There is blood, with flecks of green, everywhere. Not all of it recent, actually, most of it looks old.

And Danny is looking at him with wide terrified eyes. "No. You can't be here. They could come back any minute. You need to run, please. They won't hold back on a stranger."

The mere idea that this is holding back makes Damian sick. Up close he can see better just what the Fentons have been doing. Danny's whole body is covered in wounds in various stages of healing. There are burns, neat surgical looking cuts, bruises some from restrains and few from some sort of blunt instrument, he can see half healed Lichtenberg scar. Danny is too thin, Damian can count all of his ribs without trouble, his spine juts out unnaturaly. Some of the bones look broken too, or at least not healed in the right position.

Damian wastes no time, the Baby is in danger, the Baby is hurt, the Baby is scared. It's up to Robin to protect him. He will not fail. He will not allow anything else to happen to the Baby. He needs to be fast, the Fentons might come back any moment now. He will protect His Baby from them and anyone else who might pose a threat.

Damian tears through the restrains with force he didn't know he had. Moves Danny into his arms as gently as he can without sacrificing speed. Danny is too light, he can carry him with no trouble at all.

Damian makes it out of the house not even second too late. Just as he grapples away, the Fentons enter the building.

Father better have paperwork ready, Damian is never letting go of His Baby now.

[kizzer55555]

Damian just adopts a kid 5 years older than him. Lol.

Ooh! Does Jason also join? Like, he’s probbaly older than Danny but younger than Damian (or like the same age as Damian since some fics have Jason dipped in the pits when Damian was a baby) He’s probbaly spent a few years at least as liminal. I kinda like the idea of him being slightly younger than Damian so he doesn’t listen to Damian (kinda like a sibling only like 2 years older just like how he doesn’t listen to Dick) but he would be another big kid to Danny/older brother.

[ailithnight]

Jason can also ghost adopt Danny. As a treat.

But the rest of the Batfam need to be, just so baffled by this turn of events.

And in fact, when their ghost instincts calm down enough to step back and recount what's just happened through a human perspective, Jason and Damian should also be utterly bewildered.

Less so on Jason's side because Danny actually is a fair few years younger than him.

But everyone's looking at Damian like ??? He's older than you??? What do you mean your Baby??? And Damian is also like ??? I don't know??? and it's making him all frumpled.

If you haven't gotten your fill of angst already up to this point, this would be a good time to introduce/ramp up the Bat Paranoia. Make them start wondering if Danny is affecting Damian's and Jason's minds. Get them looking closer into the Fentons and their research and make them wonder if -discounting the extreme biases especially regarding these ecto-entities' sentience- there might be some nugget of truth to their claims that these beings are masters of psychological and emotional manipulation.

Perhaps Danny truly is sick. An infection? A contamination? A virus? A parasite? Whatever it is, perhaps the boy should be quarantined while they seek an effective and humane treatment. Obviously they'll do much better than what the Fenton's were doing to their son. Sick or not, he's still a boy. Just like Jason. Speaking of, he and Damian should also be quarantined separately from Danny since they've clearly been affected by whatever magic mind fuckery the sickness is causing.

[mkarchin713]

Bruce takes his children’s safety very seriously and calls in the experts.

Constantine takes one look at Danny, quietly excuses himself, shuts the door behind him, and keys out a string of expletives that even Jason Blood has never even heard of.

Constantine returns and wearing a sheer veneer of calm and asks Bruce where the hell he found a baby ecto-entity and why it was so sickly.

[ailithnight]

More pain for you? You know you want it~.

.

Danny had been drifting in and out of, not consciousness per se, but awareness; trying to muster the Will to get away. He. He needs to. There was a reason! There was a reason he was avoiding the Liminal. It's. His parents. They're. They have his signature. They're probably already tracking him. And if they track him here, they'll find the other Liminals. The little big kid and the angry one and the quiet one. They'll find them and they'll hurt them and Danny can't let that happen so he needs to get away before his parents track him down.

But he's so tired. And his core aches to stay. To be cared for. Protected by the older proto-cores. But he can't. He's never been able to. He's never had that choice. He's the protector. He has to be. He can't let someone else get hurt for his mistakes.

Finally, his core relents. They've left him alone (they think he's sleeping, he let them think he's sleeping) while they talk to Mr. Tax Fraud in the other room. Now's his chance, maybe his only chance if these are actually the Bats like Tim's advice implied, to slip away. So he does. And it hurts. It feels like dying. Like breaking and splintering and shattering. But at least the other Liminals will be safe.

And maybe his parent's will go easier on him if he returns of his own volition. Maybe they'll realize it's still him, still Danny. Living, breathing Danny who loves them and wants them to be happy with him. A mindless, evil ghost wouldn't go back, right? A ghost wouldn't want them to cure him. But a human would. So Danny should. And if he does, maybe they'll look at him and start seeing their son again.

[brain-deadx0]

The Fentons are glad he came back. It saves them the trouble of having to chase him down.

Danny has a brief moment of hope that things will get better before his parents do everything to make sure he cant get away again.

[namine-rae]

my turn >:3c

It had been hours? days? weeks? since Danny had seen the sun. All he knew now was The Lab. After running away form the other Liminals, his parents had found him quickly. They had already been on their way, following his signature, and coming dangerously close to discovering the others.

Danny didn't regret running phantom wanted nothing more than to go back to Safety. The Others big brothers? big sister? would be safe now. It would be okay. It didn't matter what happened to him. As long as his parents stayed focused on him.

It didn't matter that the lab door now auto-locks and is electrified without the key.

It didn't matter that his parents called him Danny less and less, and It more and more.

It didn't matter that he now had welded on shock cuffs and collar.

It didn't matter that he only had a thin blanket in his little corner cage.

it didn't matter.

It didn't matter.

As long as the others were safe. Safe. I am not safe

As long as he could protect them from Maddie and Jack. Protect. Protect me

As long as-

As long-

Please save me

[hypewinter]

Like Conner, Danny was a clone of Superman. However unlike Conner, Danny was not designed to replace him. Instead he was created as a test dummy. Day in and day out, he was subjected to various injections, toxins and experiments. All for the purpose of one day using them on the real deal. Danny quickly lost track of the days and the pain as he slipped into mental oblivion. That is until one day, his brother comes busting through a wall.

[noxcheshire]

Kool-Aid Man Conner

But also, I just love the idea of Conner having from day ONE of his existence been planning on a way to get his big brother out of the facility.

Having always been able to hear his brother’s screaming, the pain endured, and the frantic heartbeat that cusps on the edge of going out entirely. It scared him and left him with great resolve: he would save his brother, because some nights, on the better nights when he would be able to keep his consciousness, when things have gone quiet and his brother has been left alone until the next experimentation, Danny would whisper to him.

His voice unable to be caught by human ears, but so easily reached from one Kryptonian Clone to the other.

Danny whispers with soft nothings of a world outside of the walls they had been made from. Painting it all in a glow of endless landscapes and sky touched buildings. Of bright lights and colors that reach from all ends of the world.

Conner wanted to show his brother that world. The world he painted, and how much more better it was than what he had imagined, he only needed the chance to live in it.

[ashoutinthedarkness]

Imagine that Danny learns of another clone - a younger one. He does his best to be quiet, to not let them hear his screams. He tells them stories every night when the scientists and guards are gone, rephrasing past experiences into an adventure as a distraction from that trial's pains. He shares songs and lullabies from a sister long gone, and tells his new sibling (a baby brother!) About the life that waits for them once they leave.

Eventually, as the younger clones lessons progress, he not only hears the words, but understands them. And in times he begins to respond back. That was the first time Danny smiled again.

They begin to converse. Danny's younger brother asks questions and Danny does his best to answer, and is honest when he doesn't know, but shares how they can find that information when they leave (no matter where you go, there's always a library right?)

With the young clone now being aware and cognizant, he also becomes aware of what the scientists are doing. Of the pain his older brother goes through on a regular basis (is it weekly? Daily? How can you tell time when there's no 'sun'?). And he swears - they'll make it out.

One day, Danny surprises the young clone by asking if he has a name. And he realizes, he doesn't. He has a designation, but no name. He tells his brother, feeling ashamed. He knows everyone else has a name, and doesn't know why he doesn't. In a quiet whisper no one else can hear, in between gasps for breath and clenched teeth, he's given a name. One he holds close to his heart even after being rescued, even after being named by his new friends (are they friends? Is that what this is?), even after being given the last name of their father. Because its the name given to him by his brother.

[evilminji]

Would probably be Kryptonian? Since Danny remembers being dead? Probably MET actual Kryptonians. So Conner gets something a whole lot better then fucking Kon-El. Which if I'm remembering right is "abomination of the house of El"?

Like? Clark and Kal-El aren't close! Conner could have a PROPER non-insulting Kryptonian name that isn't a "we f*ckin HATE clones, it's a huge social issue we're going to take out on you, an actual child" thing! Clark may be OF house El and Krypton... but he doesn't freaking OWN them. Neither does Kara.

He gets a real name! One born of LOVE and HOPE d*mn it! YES I FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT THIS.

[noxcheshire]

Oh this is gorgeous 😭

If Conner does get a proper Kryptonian name, via Danny’s death and reincarnation status, would Conner then reject the name that Clark ‘gave him’?

Danny who shared so much of their unknown culture, teaching Conner as secretly as he can of their language, of the nuances that belongs to Kryptonian’s?

If we go with JUST language it’d be so interesting if due to this language that was believed to have been “made up for rebellion” Danny would have been punished for it continuously. After all, there is no need for the dummy to have sentience beyond what they need. How dare he speak in code and even teach the other, more useful, clone!

Like, what if Conner has an unspoken trauma of Kryptonian language due to Danny being immediately harmed if it’s uttered? He HATES it, and gets this immediate instinct of anger bubbling in his stomach when he hears it, because it never came with something good after.

Yet he holds his name so close, hating and loving, a whirlwind mess of emotions that he doesn’t know where to stand.

But he knew enough, he knew enough to know as well when he was being insulted, and maybe it’s all he needs to reject being part of Clark. The man who is Kryptonian and who presents everything that had caused Danny harm, even led to the existence of Conner to be less than a person but far more important.

So instead of Conner hoping for a welcoming hand, he instead snarls in the face of his original.

There is far more rage, far more distaste, because he knows that Clark — that Superman — would be the last person to help his brother, when he so obviously hates the mere existence of Conner. Why would he chance it, when he had so much more to lose.

But perhaps in the future, once Danny is safe with Conner, maybe Danny while try and ease that hate? Because he finds it so sad to reject a part of yourself due to the violence and ignorance of others.

Danny who knows more than he should, who has been damaged so much that his heart has slowed to a sluggish crawl even humans would worry over. Danny who smiles as if their is a secret only he can share, whose hands are cold against Conner’s own, like frostbite against skin. Danny whose eyes are tired old from all he had endured, and yet still so willing to embrace even the things that Conner despises, because all Danny ever wanted was for his brother to be safe, to be happy, to know that he would never be rejected no matter how he was made or where he came from.

[hypewinter]

[yourneighborhoodneighbor]

this needs more angst-

so what if it’s not just conner who has a strong reaction to hearing kryptonian being spoken, but also danny?

but where conner if filled with anger, rage, danny is filled with fear. he speaks to conner in kryptonian very much on purpose, and he refuses to stop, refuses to take that away from his baby brother, but, well, there is only so many times you can be punished for doing sometjing before you start unconsciously linking that sometjing to pain, to fear, to hurt. and so danny’s heartrate skyrockets, when speaking to his little brother, he shakes and sweats and tries his best to not let his voice tremble, blaming his racing heart on pain and not fear, a little lie to ease at least a bit of his brother’s worries and not add even more guilt and trauma at knowing what happens to danny

and then, when conner finally manages to get danny out, after danny has worked hard to get conner to accept the language again, but not too long after having gotten out, conner slips into kryptonian to speak with danny, and danny unprepared the way he usually is, with no time to steel himself and hide his reaction like he usually does… danny flinches So Hard

he doesn’t want to flinch, dammit! this is his brother! his little baby brother whom he would live and die for! who recently got him away from the people that hurt him, he is Safe! but fear and conditioning follow no logic and care for no knowledge, and ao danny flinches

and conner, conner finds new rage where he thougt he already had it all, and he is also filled with so much guilt and sadness and emotions he can’t even name, because all this time that danny did so much for conner, in the small ways that he could, while he assured conner that he was fine, that he could take it, that it was not his fault, it would be alright- inside his brother was falling apart, and even through his fear and his pain he still made himself do sometjing that scared him, day after day, just for conner

idk where this goes, i just had the idea of danny being scared of kryptonian himself even though logically he knows he shouldn’t be

[yourneighborhoodneighbor]

@hypewinter how do you leave this in the tags!!!

#dp x dc#oh that's good#but what exactly would kon be angry at?#would he be angry at the people of cadmus?#for instilling this fear within his brother#angry at superman for never bothering to care before?#maybe he's angry at the kryptonian language itself#because it was speaking it in the first place that led to danny being punished#oooo what if he was angry at danny himself?#he doesn't want to be#but he's so used to reacting with anger#that his first reaction to his brother lying to him#is to get upset

conner being angry at All Of The Above, but the most delectable angst would come from him being angry at danny speciifically!! for lying to him about being scared, for teaching him kryptonian in the first place and getting hurt, for making him feel guilty, for not getting out sooner, etc etc

and he doesn't really want to be! be he can't help it!! anger is a knee jerk reaction at this point, and the fact that his anger is hurting the person he cares about the most?! pisses him off even more!!! he doesn't know wtf to do! fuck!

and danny tries to help him through it, but conner just gets angrier and angrier bc danny didn't do anything wrong! conner doesn't deserve his help! why is he trying to help?!

it's a vicious loop and the anger grows and grows until he explodes, and then he can start recovery, and they both heal and live happily ever after bc while i do love me The Angst and h/c, i also love me a happy ending, but damn if they don't have to be dragged through the floor first :D

(conner gets therapy and anger management help, and he makes a very conscious effort to recognize his anger as the knee jerk reaction that it is, and trying to get it under control/calm himself quicker each time, and communicating with the person who his anger is affecting but not actually directed at. i have no experience with the first two, but i do with that last thing, anger is my knee jerk reaction to any surprising or unexpected thing, but i have learned to process it in seconds at this point and recognize what it is the anger is covering and who or what it is actually directed at, which took years to be able to do, but i honestly was tired of yelling and glaring at friends and scaring them when they did nothing wrong, and i feel conner would be the same and would, in time, learn to manage the anger better, while also accepting the feeling and letting himself feel it but work through it in more productive/less harmful ways)

oh man, this got longer than expected, i just- Anger, man. It is So Good in a story and i project on this man now apparently

[menolly5600]

But imagine if Kara or Clark learn Danny knows Kryptonian. So one, or both of them, try talking to him in Kryptonian.

They're not trying to be mean or cause him hurt. They overheard that he'd talk to Conner in Kryptonian, and assumed that talking to Connor was one of the few bright points and happier memories for Danny. They had no idea he'd been conditioned to expect pain and punishment after hearing or speaking Kryptonian.

They hadn't expected Danny to flinch violently away and curl up, bracing like a kicked puppy expecting a strike.

[ailithnight]

I feel like the fact that Superman is thinking of Danny as only a 'test dummy' and 'it' says an awful lot about where he is in his personal growth journey here.

Someone points that and says, "You aren't giving either of them much reason to think better of you," and that's where Clark gets to grapple with that.

As for Conner's Kryptonian name; feel like Danny would call him something that translates to "blessing/gift of the house El" or something along those lines. (IDK how much of the language is actually established in canon, so IDK if there's already a word for blessing/gift or if we need to invent one for this.)

Is Danny Dan-El or something else? Did he name himself? Or did Conner name him?

[ailithnight]

[welele]

¿Yakuza o cuál es este?

[the-talon-ted-meem]

Video game graphics are getting way too real

[123472oodkkxkxkx-deactivated202]

THE IDLE ANIMATION HWKSJCLSLS

[crazy-pages]

Modern mimes are amazing.

[spicyblogger2]

My little sister's new boyfriend got a tattoo for her about a month ago and he wanted matching tattoos so he decided to get uh. The tattoo on her ankle of her ex boyfriend's name that she hasn't gotten covered up yet

[spicyblogger2]

She broke up with him but I also just got the same tattoo

[spicyblogger2]

OK my dad also got it

[spicyblogger2]

DYLAN!

[spicyblogger2]

It took five months but we finally convinced my stepmom to also get it

[spicyblogger2]

My fucking manager got it

[eternalcyclicality]

[screechingfartdinosaur]

[lynburnlegagy123]

Imagine being Dylan and you run into a random person you have never met who has the tattoo of your name that your ex got while you were together.

[wario-land]

I hate Nintendo Switch Online. I hate the lack of optimization. I hate the expensive subscription service. I hate the lack of games. I hate the limited time releases. I hate that it's never gonna have the level of content that the Wii virtual console had. I hate what capitalism has done to gaming.

This collection includes: All the GBA, GB and GBC games currently available on the Switch!!

+ And a few extra bonus!! Mostly from the same series'seses

Download here for free!!: https://www.mediafire.com/file/pzycxh6zu9b8drf/GBA_Online_PC.rar (405 MB Uncompressed)

They're all ready to be played in HD on PC. Just drag and drop the files on the included program

[wario-land]

Target audience right here!! The joy of gaming and sharing it with others is the reason i post and i made this blog. Enjoy the Kirbyses very much, and do remember to support the official release whenever possible

[stealingyourbones]

Danny gets a job at some underground bar as one of the tenders there. The problem? He wasn’t informed that Gotham’s most dangerous villains would frequently go out for drinks, using said bar to do so.

And naturally, through the power of tired college student and brunt-out hero, he manages to gain favor of all of them.

So much so that they begin including him on planning heists, kidnappings, etc.

Imagine the bat family’s surprise when they find Gotham’s infamous “third party” is actually just some dude.

The villains have absolutely no clue that this kid is anything but a stressed tired student but all of them (besides the joker. They don’t invite him to their bar nights. The dude would ruin all the fun by “pranking” (read: Joker Gas/painfully slaughter) all of the staff.), they just see this kid who talks offhandedly about his life from before Gotham. They all see a bit of themselves in Danny, everything from the crazy rich guy obsessed with him, to the mad scientist parents, to being the accidental test dummy for his parents inventions, they all connect with this overworked Gotham University kid.

[the-witchhunter]

     Her margarita was terrible, but Ivy didn’t come to this bar for the drinks, she came for the company. But, by the green, she would teach the new bartender how to make a decent margarita if she had to. The new guy was weird, at least for working at a place like this. When your clientele consists mostly of people who have fought/fight Batman and his little birds on the regular, you have to be crazy, or have balls of steel.

     The last guy was the latter, but even he eyed everyone cautiously and kept a shotgun under the bar. He was kind of an asshole, which it what got him killed, but at least he could make a margarita. This kid though, he seemed to calm and didn’t give off the crazy vibes. She would know, between Harley and her time in Arkham, she knew crazy. 

     This kid had to be just old enough to work the bar because he looked like a baby in comparison to everyone there. He seemed friendly enough. He liked telling stories from his hometown, some little place called Amity Park, like his accent wasn’t enough of a tell that he wasn’t local. She was inclined to think he was bullshitting a lot of these stories of his, but he could spin a yarn. 

     “So there we were, in the zoo, at night, and doing this project on the purple back gorilla, when-”

     “I call BS.” slurred a somewhat drunk scarecrow. As skinny as he was, it didn’t take much to get him sloshed. “That’s not a real animal.”

     “Well Dr. Crane, as one of several people with a PHD in our humble establishment, I’m sure you’re proficient enough with google to prove me wrong.” Crane muttered to himself as he tapped away at his phone. “So as I was saying. There we were, when I notice this guy lurking around. I confront this dude and he starts going on this tangent about being the greatest hunter, like hunting an animal in a cage is all that impressi-”

     “Holy shit it’s real!” 

     “Yes Dr. Crane, like I said.” Crane squinted as he looked between Danny and his phone. “Now as I was saying, I interrupted his ‘hunting’ and decided to go all ‘Most Dangerous Game’ on me and wanted my pelt for his wall-”

     “You’re the kid that figured out the gorilla was a lady!” Slurred Scarecrow, and that just raised more questions for Ivy. She glanced at the phone, and there, in a news article, was young bartender Danny and a Gorilla. Huh, not all bullshit then.

     “Way to spoil the ending.” He sighed. “Anyway, how are you all doing on drinks?”

     “Wait, what about the guy hunting you?” Harley asked.

     “Hm? Oh, Skulker. He’s no big deal, he tried hunting me all the time back home. Obviously, it didn’t work out for him.” He shrugged. “Now about those drinks?”

     Ivy reluctantly ordered another margarita. Admittedly this one was better than the first, but still not right. As much as she enjoyed the entertainment, someone had to teach the boy to make a decent drink.

[stealingyourbones]

Oh man I adore this. I was gonna put this in the comments but ya know why not put it here instead?

There are so many chemists in the Gotham rogues gallery that at least ONE of them knows something about food science or at least how to make a cocktail. In the end, The Penguin is the one who caves. Sure, he would much rather stay at his own establishment but ever since the new bartender started working in The Dead End, (The name of the underground bar. It’s a cheesy name sure, but the owner isn’t known for their creativity.) The villains have appeared less and less at The Iceberg Lounge.

The man is almost offended at how poorly this kid is at making the simplest of drinks. The boy, Danny, offhandedly mentions that his tastebuds barley work anymore from his parents unhealthy lab practices of keeping chemicals in the fridge. To the Penguin, that was no excuse. He offered (read: forced) Danny to work at the Iceberg Lounge for two weeks under the study of their best mixologist.

Oswald was tempted to force Danny to work for him but he knew that the other Gotham villains would have his neck if he forced the kid to switch job locations. The Dead End was closer to the Danny’s apartment anyway. The boy seemed completely unwilling to start a villainous career and he won’t forcibly instigate him to be a protégé. Besides, he knows damn well that the instant that anyone tries to claim the young man as their apprentice, the rest of the rogues would be after that villain’s head.

The kid‘s childhood was a villain origin story in the making and somehow has made it out and plans to get a clean and legit job and live a normal life. Every Gotham Rogue wishes they could have had that normal life at some point in their life and they’re not going to take it away from this quippy bartender

[randomideafairy]

Edward was curious, Oswald was complaining about how every one of the rogues were going to this one dead end bar for a single bartender and then Oswald had his best mixologist train him. Oswald didn’t even hire him, Ed was going to have to look into this.

Ed wanted to know everything and this boy was a enigma, a real riddle to be solved. His stories were wild and yet he didn’t have a hint of a lie on his face and anything Ed looked into had something to back it up as truth. He didn’t flinch at any drunken villain or henchman’s threats when he cut them off for the night, he didn’t blink an eye on any of the wilder stories they told, and he didn’t care for any of the plans they made for their next crime, instead he’d just sass them back with clever quips as if he was the boy wonder himself. But even with all the things stated above he seemed to just be a normal tired college student from out of state.

No. There must be something Ed was missing. A crucial piece of the puzzle. Ed was curious, and he will not stop until he knows everything there is to know.

(Edward Nigma, The Riddler, and now the new Wes. Danny is so tired of being stalked by ppl who need to be right lol. Sorry if I mischaracterized him, I don’t read enough comics to really know the layers his personality has but I do know that he’s smart enough to piece together who Batman is but wants proof he’s smarter, so much so that he won’t tell anyone just so he can lord it over ppl)

[sherry-a-h]

The Bar hosts a trivia night every second friday and on the 13th of each month. If the 13th is a friday the winner gets double the price compared to a eegular night.

Rogues don't really need the money save of 3 free shots though, and some rogues don't drink (some cycles needed breaking), so Danny asked what else they would be interested in.

Riddler was the first to ask Danny about one strange fact about him and said he'd buy a shot for anyone who relates and would tip him 50%.

Danny, broke college student extraordinaire, obliged. Going home with $42 extra was nice and this kind of request became common, though what needed to be achieved to get a drink varied.

Something rogues relate to, something they never experienced, something that would make them blanche, laugh, stare unbelievingly. Maybe something they thought to only exist in fiction.

Danny had many stories to tell. Some were lighthearted stories about his friends, some hard truths he learned in midnight talks with his sister, night terrors from his parents talks at the dinner table, horrible teachers, his frenemy relationship with the invading population from his hometown. So much more than a kid that seemed more or less well adjusted was expected to go through.

The tips grew not just every trivia night, but anytime the rogues came.

So much of themselves was in this kid, a kid who spent his nights working around them. The most dangerous people in the city. Not flinching at their remarks, not ratting out their plans, keeping an eye on them to not overdrink.

The kid was good and they wanted to keep it that way.

And if Harley came along and gave him her number if he ever wanted to talk to a freshly relicensed professional, then the rogues were nothing but supportive.

[randomideafairy]

The Joker is a little shit. Everyone in Gotham knows that that stupid clown loves to ruin everything that’s good in Gotham. That’s why they tried to keep him away from here, this is their bar, a dinky looking thing that’s only selling feature was it’s good company.

But the more you try to play keep away the more the dumbass clown gets curious and the more he wants to ruin it.

It was trivia night, the night was going and the drinks were pouring, a jolly good time to be had. But then a fucking clown decided to walk in.

“Well if this isn’t a hole in the wall,” The Joker laughs out as he walks towards the rest of the rogues. “Bartender! I’ll have your finest whiskey”

“Who invited this clown?” Two Face growls, rolling his eyes.

“Right so, who invited me? Oh, I assume you all just thought someone else would have, didn’t want to boggle down Uncle J with all the invitations” Joker smiled as he danced around their table, bringing his face uncomfortably close to their ears as he spoke before shoving Harley out of her seat and sitting down.

“Hey!”

“Now what’s the big fuss about this bar?”

———

Danny was working, just his average trivia night in the bar when a fashion disaster walked in and ordered a whiskey. So he started pouring, until he heard Harley shout.

He looked up and saw the walking garbage can had pushed Harley out of her seat and stolen it.

Danny had never seen such a mood killer before in his entire (after)life. The room went silent the second the waste of space walked in and now he’s causing trouble.

Danny walked over and helped Harley up before setting the cup of whiskey down in front of the pathetic attention whore.

“Here’s your drink, I’m gonna have to ask you not to cause any trouble or you’re gonna have to leave”

And boy if the pale faced asshole didn’t look like he was about to cause trouble.

———

(So idk how to write it rn so below is a summary of what I planned on next but I’m tired and it’s super late?early? It’s ass o’clock in the morning and I really should have gone to sleep and now I’m sleepy rambling so sorry if it’s incoherent)

The Joker laughed in Danny’s face and pointed a gun at him right before he was kindly introduced to the floor and dragged to the exit.

When Danny returned he apologized for the commotion and trivia night resumed, The Riddler is vibrating in his seat and they get the ‘why I hate clowns’ story

[randomideafairy]

Jason cannot believe how his night was going but he was loving it.

———

Batman was insufferable. He was being his regular paranoid self when he discovered the reason why the Gotham underworld has been calmer lately and made plans to visit as Matches Malone, petty arsonist looking for a job for some extra cash. Jason put a stop to that, the last thing Jason needed was for him to have an excuse to be in his part of Gotham.

And that was how Jason ended up in a bar with an ironic name on a Friday night surrounded by henchmen, not that he was complaining, his men had been inviting him for weeks and now that he was here, he definitely felt the appeal.

The green that always sat at the edge of his vision faded when he walked in. The bar had an aura of relaxation, it was like you walked into a sleeping giant’s room but it was fine because you knew the guy, the feeling of being a robin back when it was magic and being safe under B’s cape. It felt safe, a safe that was hard to find especially in these parts of Gotham. He shook it off. It was apparently trivia night and if Jay was here then he might as well try to win the damn thing.

And of course, he was having too good of a time and the world hates him. The sorriest excuse for a clown walked in and his eyes went green. He was a millisecond from launching himself at the demented jackass when Jason saw his introduction to the earth. He witnesses the twink of a bartender make eye contact with him before dragging the not-even-a-real-clown out of the bar.

Through the door they hear the biggest verbal smackdown in history to the point where some feel sorry for the poor sap on the other side of the smackdown. Jason might be in love.

When the bartender walked back in, he apologized for the commotion and started the trivia back up again.

[randomideafairy]

Now we can’t forget about the characters on the DP side of things :)

———

Danny was Tired. He had 3 assignments due tonight at 11:59 and he was only partially the way there. And to his defense… there was none, he procrastinated okay?

Now his plan was to finish it before he gets to work and he was trying but he couldn’t focus. In all honesty Danny felt someone’s eyes on him and it was throwing him off. It almost felt like back when Wes first started following him around now that he thinks about it.

He shakes his head, enough about that. His instincts were throwing him off what he really needed to focus on, his homework, nothing here in Gotham was as life threatening as back when he still lived with his parents after all.

———

Ed was watching the bartender. Well not currently a bartender, but nonetheless he was watching him. Ed was certain that there was something he was missing and while the trivia nights were enlightening, they were not in fact enough to satisfy his curiosity. He was certain that if there was something unusual about the bartender then he would find it by watching.

Ed had tried to just watch him from the cameras but it was always static and it never focused on him. And all his ex-henchmen refused to follow the bartender around, so Ed was stuck following him himself.

———

Wes couldn’t believe his eyes, he’d left Amity to avoid him and yet he spotted Danny sitting in the library not 10 feet in front of him. But Wes was insulted, he’d what?, not seen Danny in 3 months and he’s been replaced by some leprechaun?

He was gonna have to throw some hands.

———

(Wes left Amity cuz he was sure Danny would stay there, Phantom had to protect it after all. What he didn’t realize was that Danny was crowned the ghost king and could just order the others not to come through anymore)

(Also idk if he should fight The Riddler or Danny. Idk which would be funnier)

[lenacraft]

Of all the characters that could have come to me, it’s this fucking guy.

It was nine o’clock on a Saturday, a full house. Danny had a duplicate up in the back finishing his homework so he could make the midnight deadline while still getting paid. When, suddenly, his ghost sense went off and Amorpho burst through the door and scrambled down the three stairs.

“Billy!” He cried. “You gotta hide me.”

Danny sighed, “Once again, it’s Danny. And what are you doing here?” He’d taken a cue from Dora and Jazz and allowed some ghosts to schedule their excursions into the living realm. Amorpho was not scheduled for any time this month. But he was a trickster by trade.

“Don’t worry about that,” the unimpressionable ghost said. “Those men in white are after me.”

Danny swore, grabbing him. “And you brought them to my bar?Just get in the back, I’ll get rid of them.” He shuttled the ghost into the back room dropping his duplicate in case the agents got any ideas about overstaying their welcome.

The rogues were all looking at him, questions on their lips. But before anyone could speak, the door opened again and out came two familiar faces in pristine white suits.

He picked up a glass, polishing it with an easy smile. “Operative K, Operative O, long time no see.”

“Fenton,” said Operative K, brandishing an ecto-scanner.

“We detected an ectosignature in this area. Seen any ghosts, boy?”

“Just you two,” he said. “Care for a drink? I’ve gotten much better.” He set the glass down to pick up a bottle. He could ruin their suits as a quick and effective way to get rid of them. Even make it looks less deliberate than he liked.

“No. That won’t be necessary,” said Operative K, scanner still pointed at Danny. “I see you’re still contaminated.”

Danny hoped he was imagining the suspicion in his voice. He’d rather the scorn. Amity had made enough of a fuss about everyone there being ectocontaminated that they’d gotten some of the Anti-Ecto Acts repealed. Enough to hinder the Guys in White at least. It was a start.

Danny shrugged. “Oh you know how it is.” He left it unsaid what living in Amity could do to a person, what liminality could replicate. They already knew.

Operative K huffed.

“Has anyone strange come through here tonight,” asked Operative O. He pulled out his own scanner and was waking around the bar. The beeping picking up around Hood.

Harley, right at her table with Ivy, burst out laughing.

“Strange? You’re in Gotham,” she said.

“Worse,” added Ivy, “you’re a government goon in Gotham.”

The normally easy atmosphere of the bar turned aggressive as the rogues leered and what were clearly government agents, worse still, agents that their favorite stray knew. There would be questions, planning, assurances of protection. But first, they needed these GIW to scram.

Scarecrow leaned back in his seat, putting on his best maniacal smile. “Strange? Oh, I can do you much better.”

The Operatives tensed. Operative K straightened his tie and turned back to Danny, his only angel in this lion’s den. A horror to behold, but a horror he knew—mostly. “You know how to contact us,” he said. “Come on Operative, let’s move our search elsewhere.”

O nodded and the two left in fearful silence.

Once they were gone, everyone turned to Danny.

He grinned, “Wanna hear the story about how the government raided my town?”

Amorpho came out as he told the story, formed into a tuxedo cat just in case there were prying eyes still about. He hung around until closing, knowing Danny would send him back to the Zone either way.

[i-do-not-dislike-fudge]

@randomideafairy​ and @the-witchhunter have both put their versions of this fic on ao3.

Random: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43680849/chapters/109841628

Witchhunter: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43647051/chapters/109750359

[the-witchhunter]

I swear I plan on updating it eventually

[the-witchhunter]

God gave me ADHD because if I had executive function I’d be unstoppable

[isnt-that-grape]

I’ve never related to a statement more in my entire life

[stealingyourbones]

Danny gets a job at some underground bar as one of the tenders there. The problem? He wasn’t informed that Gotham’s most dangerous villains would frequently go out for drinks, using said bar to do so.

And naturally, through the power of tired college student and brunt-out hero, he manages to gain favor of all of them.

So much so that they begin including him on planning heists, kidnappings, etc.

Imagine the bat family’s surprise when they find Gotham’s infamous “third party” is actually just some dude.

The villains have absolutely no clue that this kid is anything but a stressed tired student but all of them (besides the joker. They don’t invite him to their bar nights. The dude would ruin all the fun by “pranking” (read: Joker Gas/painfully slaughter) all of the staff.), they just see this kid who talks offhandedly about his life from before Gotham. They all see a bit of themselves in Danny, everything from the crazy rich guy obsessed with him, to the mad scientist parents, to being the accidental test dummy for his parents inventions, they all connect with this overworked Gotham University kid.

[poorwhayfairingstranger]

Since you were worried about too many reblogs I figured I'd just collect all the story bit's in screenshots and replay them at once so you have all of them in one place

[poorwhayfairingstranger]

[poorwhayfairingstranger]

[poorwhayfairingstranger]

Last one's baby

[phandomfic]

This is amazing…

Just picturing Dan and Dani both joining Danny as employees at the bar because like why not?

All of them give off the eldritch horror vibes and it is slightly terrifying to everyone who visits this bar but also all of them are just so relatable and when one of the rouges asks about them being siblings and just the most insane answer they’ve ever heard like

Danny *currently pouring a drink* : yeah those two are my psycho siblings.

Rouge *confused* : you mean ‘pseudo siblings’?

Danny: NoPe.

Dani and Dan laughing in the background and in complete synchronicity: We gave him so many mental and physical scars the first time he met us.

The rouges *intrigued/concerned/confused* : Do tell

[plotwholls]

Dan: I tried to kill his entire family!

Dani: Oh, I just tried to kill him…. Though, technically, everyone but his mom was fair game :)

[stealingyourbones]

So, I have a new headcanon where, after tailing Phantom for a while, Danny's parents have learned enough to realize that they were wrong. They still chase him though, but instead of chasing him to capture him and tear him apart, it's more a game at this point.

Like Phantom will get away and Jack would hop out of the RV and playfully shake his fist going, "Ah, you got us again, Ghost Boy!"

But other heroes confuse Phantom and the Fenton parents having fun for a Feb ton parents hunting him down for malicious reasons.

The Fenton's turn their blasters down so far that they only feel like a soft punch. Their tech looks the exact same as before but now it's akin to a lazer tag gun and not a bazooka.

[mosh-rem]

It's simple ghost socialize by fighting, The Fentons are just supportive parents embracing their sons new culture, plus it's alot of fun for them!

The JL of thr other hand. Phantom had been a trusted colleague for over a year at this point. And now they found footage of his living parents trying to hunt him down. (They think he's full ghost)

[thatrandomsarahchick]

Poor Danny, just trying to play extreme laser tag with his family when his well-meaning colleagues come and try to arrest them.

[mutable-manifestation]

Okay but

imagine it's pre-reveal

The Fenton parents don't know that Danny is Phantom

but they do know about ghosts

Because the Fentons are scientists. Ectobiologists. They study ghosts.

The reason they started going on and on about tearing ghosts apart/hunting them once the portal was open?

It's because in the month or so Danny was figuring out how not to sink through things, his parents were doing science. And figuring out that fighting is a natural part of ghost socialization (via observing animal ghost behaviors & maybe a few probes. Maybe they even visit the zone - you cannot tell me they made a whole entire Specter Speeder for traveling the Zone only to Never Use It).

So when Phantom shows up and deals with all of the other ghosts before they can get to him? That's exciting. Because it seems that he's trying to haunt all of Amity.

That's great. Because ghosts zipping over for a visit is one thing, but the chance to observe a ghost in a location they are actively haunting? Where they - well, not live - but where they dwell? 10/10. They are in science heaven.

Now if he would just stick around long enough to actually fight with them!

See, they don't know exactly how ghosts differentiate between friendly and unfriendly combat. There's a lot of nuance and they can sometimes parse it, but... it's hard to judge exactly how to go about things without more experience.

They figure it would be a slight to be seen as treating the ghost with kid gloves, but they don't want to risk coming across as a real threat just in case they make a misstep and come across as unfriednly - a weak unfriendly and Phantom might still interact with them some. But if they're perceived as strong and unfriendly they might never see him again.

For all that they could track him, Jack and Maddie have no illusions about the sheer infinity of the GZ. If Phantom disappears into it, they could track him, they could follow. But Phantom never has to rest, Jack and Maddie will eventually tire, will have to go home for resources. Better not to chase him off.

So instead, they crank their weapons to the lowest setting and they play up the goofy parts of their personalities and behaviors - things Phantom will hear about them from any other humans that might choose to talk about them. This will avoid their behavior being seen as manufactured, despite the exaggeration being exactly so.

And after one of their more dangerous-to-ghosts weapons (that was made only for emergencies) goes missing after they talk about it with their kids?

They start talking up other More Dangerous Weapons.

Just once, they glimpse the wisp of Phantoms tail disappearing through their lab ceiling with a weapon left behind.

They can hardly contain their glee at yet another point of contact. A race of make-dangerous-weapons vs dismantle-before-they-can-be-used-against-me is it's own type of fight, if more indirect than they'd expected (and, again, even more exciting).

They continue the trend, talking up Super Harsh Weapons and finding them taken apart.

This is great. Not only does it give them a glimpse into the ghosts mind by observing how it takes things apart, but the continued pattern should allow the ghost to build confidence. They continue to prove capable of strength with their designs, but they also prove thwartable with their lax security in addition to their "bumbling" act in public (though Jack will confess he is occasionally Actually That Distracted...)

And it works!

Instead of fleeing on sight, Phantom starts bantering with them!

Only a little, and it's not like they can hear more than a syllable, most of the time, but it's progress!

So on the one side you have ghost-focused Jack & Maddie completely unaware that their son is Phantom (they know he has an ecto sig, they just blame contamination)

And on the other side you have Danny, who is completely convinced that his parents genuinely want to frog-in-biology-class his ghost half, utterly unaware that most of the missed shots are intentional or that the guns have a setting higher than *okay-ish punch*

And then the JL show up. 

It happens like this: the first distress calls from Amity Park are properly addressed. A member of the JLD goes to investigate pretty much immediately, only to find a ghost protecting the place.

The ghost who's signature is all over the city deftly keeps the civilians from harm's way, drawing the aggressive one's attention to unpopulated areas and containing it in short order.

Amity Park already has a capable hero. The city goes on the low-priority list for deeper investigation, "Inviso-bill" goes on the list of potential recruits, and life goes on.

The attack of Pariah Dark, to the outside world, looks like the city domed itself off, then disappeared off of the face of the Earth for approximately five seconds. Time moves differently in the Zone, and the city was barely missed. When it returns, dome absent, the streets and some citizens are wounded but they're... partying?

Amity Park moves up the "further investigation" list, but the JL has bigger things going on than a city of alive and clearly pretty happy people at that point. They let the government handle investigating for the time being, the JL can follow up once their own disasters have been at least relatively managed. (Not long after "Inviso-bill" is updated to "Phantom" - a relief for Paperwork GuyTM, that first name was awful, honestly)

This incident and the following gov't investigation is, of course, what sparks the GIW into being.

The GIW are government run, but they're an off-the-books group. Meta protections are too broad, covering ghosts within their purview. They can be changed and tweaked to suit the new situation, but it will take time they are not willing to wait. Until then, if the GIW is called out on their actions, if they are taken to court, they will be charged as criminals acting of their own accord. Their funding will net additional charges in the form of theft from the government.

Luckily, they know how to work PR.

If they claim to be government run, that alone will decrease the odds of anyone acting. Fake badges, strict adherence to the uniform - they act like the supporting laws are already in place.

And they make use of Jack and Madeleine Fenton.

Anyone who hears them speak knows the two hate ghosts. Despite this, they claim to be scientist as well as hunters. The GIW take this and run, dedicating resources to drawing up papers on ghosts describing them as evil, non-sentient, incapable of pain or emotion, a danger to the public.

And they publish it all in the name of the Drs Fenton.

The couple seemed scatter-brained enough to forget publishing something, and even if they did notice the discrepancy they wouldn't know to trace it back to the GIW.

With science like that backing them, even the hardcore bleeding hearts likely wouldn't imagine that ghosts might be covered by the Meta Protection Acts.

It may have even worked, if the articles hadn't pinged the JL's systems so hard they called an emergency meeting.

Nothing pings the "something is horribly wrong" button like several supposedly scientific articles detailing how a specific species actually doesn't deserve rights whilst feeling the need to emphasize that they actually aren't sapient or even sentient. The paper doth protest too much and all that.

Things cascade from there.

A quick bit of research reveals a video of the Drs Fenton is a heavily modded vehicle chasing and shooting at a staticky blur while yelling about tearing it apart molecule by molecule.

Another quick search reveals some of their accomplishments - namely, a business website for Fenton Works showing the smiling couple and their two children posing by what looks like an upright Lazarus Pit, but is actually, Constantine assures them, just a portal to hell. (Okay, so he actually said "the afterlife" but part of that would be hell, so the Flash isn't very comforted by the semantics of it all)

To compare the JLD to a hornet's nest that's been used as the ball in a game of soccer would be generous.

News in the afterlife travels slowly, ever so slowly. By the time they find out that the High King of Infinite Realms has been replaced? That the evil but unquestionably absurdly powerful previous king had been defeated in single combat?

It's probably been a month, at least.

Probably.

Probably. Because the only way they can measure is judging by how many "heard it from XYZ's" Deadman lists before he actually tells them what he heard.

It's awful news, because the old king was locked into an eternal slumber for being too evil and powerful.

Meaning the new guy is both

Powerful enough to kick the old kings ass by himself, making him at least as strong as (but more likely stronger than) 7 ancients combined

Nuts enough to intentionally free Pariah Dark

So the JLD has spent their time since trying to learn more - which has been a nightmare since the new king is either New new, or the most reclusive mf in the damn Infinite Realms.

Or the inherently infinite nature of the realms is just working against their ability to information gather, but they're all very irritated by how many attempts at information have failed after how much effort they've put in for net zero returns in information.

And then they find out that a couple of randos in middle-of-nowhere Illinois ripped a hole into the guys' domain.

And then

And THEN! Promptly started trying to declare his whole species as less intelligent than a rock! And encouraging people to HUNT THEM!?

Even if the new king is peaceful - which is a Very Hopeful sort of "if" given how he got the title - that kind of behavior could be grounds for war.

And listen, if they thought Earth vs alien war might be bad? The US versus every single creature that has ever died would be infinitely worse (no that was not a pun and now Zatanna is looking at Flash like she wants to strangle him).

So the priorities now are: Make the Fentons Stop Doing THAT and prevent the new High King from deciding war with the US (or the whole Earth. Or the entirety of the living realm. Just. Depending on how he takes the slights being leveled against him. Ya know).

Which is how Batman, Superman, and Wonderwoman (each with possession-deterring stuff cast/carried on them courtesy their Dark members) end up at Fenton Works while the JLD themselves work on trying to summon the new king to meet/mitigate/appease depending on what he knows and how he behaves. (VERY HARD since the summoning circle changes depending on the king - there isn't just a "summon king" circle. Someone should really get on that, Constantine thinks, exhausted already - so they have to kind of try a few different things to see what sticks).

They're hoping the reputation of the Big Three will shock-and-awe the Fentons enough to make them more receptive to what they have to say - very important given that what they have to say is "all of your research is wrong we need you to retract these paper and stop hunting ghosts" - ie throw away what is apparently their life's work)

They go as soon as the meeting is over, arriving in the early morning given that they pulled an overnighter to have the meeting.

Which is how they end up sucked into a whirlwind of hospitality on arrival, shuffled in between the Fenton children to have breakfast with the family while the adults regaled them with talk of their inventions.

The daughter - Jazz - tries to deter them with a "no weapons talk during meals" rule, but Jack waves it away with a "But it's Batman! How many times do you get a chance to talk tech with Batman, Jazzybear!"

The girl looks doubtful, but drops it. She and her brother - Danny - had greeted them with paper-thin enthusiasm.

More likely than not, Bruce guesses, they can tell that their visit isn't the good thing their parents seem to believe it is.

"I will not deny that your weapons are impressive," Batman starts after wiping his mouth. "However-" and the word is sharp, necessary to prevent the overly exuberant couple from delving into another longwinded aside before he can finish speaking "-that is not why we're here."

"We are here for several reasons," he begins again after a brief dramatic pause. "None of them pleasant."

The children tense as he pulls a stack of papers out of his cape and slides them across the table to their parents.

"But let's start with these."

He is expecting another exclamation of delight, for the children to be ushered out or for the three of them to be ushered to their lab to talk about their papers more in-depth.

He is not expecting them to hunch over the papers with furrow-browed confusion, followed by shock, followed then by a swiftly growing cascade of anger-outrage-fury.

"What..." Jack Fenton frowns, trailing off in a quiet way that leaves his, for the first time since their arrival, coming across as huge and threatening instead of the till-then golden retriever energy of it.

"We didn't write this!" Madeleine "Maddie" Fenton shrieks, flipping rapidly through the next few dozen pages before both of them freeze.

"NONSENTIENT!?" they bellow, both standing to lean closer over the pages, expressions scornful.

Batman clears his throat a few pages later, drawing their attention back to him.

"We didn't write this," Maddie repeats, voice calm despite the unchanged expression.

"We haven't even finished our first paper yet!" Jack chimes in, nodding sadly. "We're still gathering data!"

"...You haven't?"

Jazz Fenton's voice is small, but it cuts through the room like a knife.

Jack is the one to reply.

"Of course not, Jazzerincess! Science takes data, and the ghosts are so skiddish we can barely interact with them! Any real paper on the topic is going to take time; the portal's only been open for a few months!"

His face is earnest, voice back to nearly booming in his enthusiasm, dulled just slightly by concern.

"Where did you get an idea like that?" Maddie asks.

""Your" papers are all over the GIW web portal. Which everyone who doesn't want to be surprised by one of their "patrols" checks at least once a week," Danny chimes in for the first time all morning, discounting the half-conscious 'mornin' when they were first dragged to the table.

His voice is tight, expression hesitant. "Doesn't help that everything they say is pretty much the same stuff you usually yell at Phantom."

At this moment, the Fenton parents are stricken with horror as they realize that they never discussed their plans with their children. They've heard every threat to the ghosts and they've heard them talk about how their weapons work, but neither of them can recall ever sitting them down somewhere secure and explaining that they're trying to get Phantom to interact with them by seeming friendly.

Never explained to them that fighting is a play behavior for ghosts. And with the articles...

They don't have long to fret over what their children must think of them - ethically or academically - as Batman cuts in again.

"Phantom is another part of why we're here, actually," he says. "Whether you wrote the paper or not, that you've been seen hunting your city’s hero and declaring intentions to experiment on him is still a large issue."

"Ah." Maddie says. "Jack, sweetie, would you get the sweep shield?"

Batman tenses as he moves for the fridge.

"Just a precaution, so we can talk without risk of a ghost overhearing," she hurries to add. "We...probably should have talked about this before. With the kids. Maybe then this-" she brushes a hand through the pile of supposedly-fake articles "-wouldn't have gone so far."

The children exchange a look.

"Talked...about Phantom?" Jazz asks.

Just then a click emerges from where Jack is burried half into the refrigerator, a green energy sweeping out and out and out until it can only be seen out the window, just barely infringing on the sidewalks.

At least until they start closing up the curtains.

Then another button has steel shutters sliding down to close off the kitchen.

Superman taps his knee, a reassurance that he can see out just fine and break the barriers as needed, and Bruce allows himself to relax a smidge. But only a smidge.

For their part, the children are incredibly tense, even when their parents break out a whiteboard and projector, starting up a PowerPoint presentation.

What follows is a breakdown of everything they've learned about ghosts thus far. Every bit of what they know is learned from noninvasive observation, and the numerous slides on social behaviors - really, most of them - are what make him certain that they were telling the truth about the papers.

You don't do social analyses on the behaviors of a species if you don't believe they are capable of such behaviors.

"If you know that ghosts are people then what was all that about tearing Phantom apart molecule-by-molecule!?" Danny shouts, throwing up his hands in exasperation.

For her part, Jazz remains still, blinking rapidly in what looks a bit like shock.

"Didn't you see slides 41-147, Danno? Fighting is a social behavior for ghosts!" Jack exclaims. "Uh, sometimes."

"The exact nuance can be hard to pick up on," Maddie adds, "But our main goal since Phantom started showing up regularly has been to try and lure Phantom into social combat so that we can observe him more closely."

"Maybe he'll even talk to us!" Jack shouts, punching the air.

"Eventually," Maddie emphasizes, patting his arm. "And it's a very loose maybe. It's taken forever just to encourage him to dismantle some of our weapons. It is working, and he's been slightly more chatty with us before running away, but it's slow going."

"...Encouraging him to dismantle your weapons how?" Superman asks.

He regrets it, just a bit, when they pull out a new PowerPoint presentation. They've already been here for hours. The Fentons fed them all Lunch a little over halfway through the first one.

Still, the new one is mercifully brief.

They explain their suspicions about Phantom snooping on them, about finding a weapon dismantle and talking up more weapons. Finding more dismantled. They even charted out weapon type vs time they talked about it vs how long before it was taken apart vs which ones disappeared entirely.

One slide is a graph of how long Phantom has lingered after fights before running away from them over time. Another charts how many syllables he says before bolting over time.

Another about the kind of hits he's taken vs given in attempts to graph his physical strength and durability. Other attributes fill further slides.

One slides includes the rules of their experiment - talking like they hate the ghost, pretending to be aggressive, pretending to miss, keeping their guns on the lowest setting.

A baptized cat would have a less offended expression than Danny Fenton at that moment, Batman thinks.

One slide is dedicated to a brief essay on Phantom's complete and immediate avoidance of them for a solid week after they accidentally clipped him once.

"Why didn't you ever tell us any of this?" Jazz asks.

"Well at first we didn't want to risk Phantom overhearing and taking offense. By the time we had the sweep shield it just... slipped our minds. You and Danny were both so uninterested in ghosts by then and... I suppose it never occurred to us how things might've seemed from your perspectives," Maddie answered, leaning against Jack's side, both looking contrite.

"What, that our parents were genocidal maniacs hellbent on torturing and experimenting on people?"

Danny mutters it under his breath, but in the otherwise silent room it practically echoes.

The two look stricken, eyes tearing up. Maddie covers her mouth with a hand and clutches her husband with the other as he hugs her.

Jazz winces, but only nods, damningly, when they glance her way.

The litany apologies and hugs that follow leave the children a mixture of relieved, embarrassed, and resigned - though the last seems to be aimed at their parents’ assurance that they will “give them regular updates on their research goals and progress from now on.”

***

I have been simmering this plotline since the post went up like two days ago

Part 2 incoming tomorrow or the next day most likely, this is only a fraction of the extent to which my my has been triggered, but I got IRL Obligations (bleh) & I don't want to lose my place so I'm just posting this for now

[mutable-manifestation]

Batman clears his throat once the family moment has mostly petered out in order to regain the room's attention - while the Fentons' lack of involvement is a relief, it doesn't change the situation very much from the JL's perspective.

Made by the Fentons or not, those papers still exist, the views they espouse still hold the potential to start an interdimensional war, and they still know nothing about the new Ghost King.

Though the papers being faked does make them easier to remove.

In the end, it's Jazz and Danny Fenton who prove to be the most informative when it comes to the GIW.

Jack and Maddie tend to travel the city in an armored vehicle, leaving them relatively untouchable, but for everyone else, the GIW's "patrol routes" have been more of an excuse to harass anyone that even slightly resembles any known ghosts. And anyone who tries to help the unlucky targets gets shoved or trampled or taken in for tedious questioning.

The children's story is as awful as it is shocking, and by the end of it Diana's skill with diplomacy is necessary to talk Jack and Maddie down from going out and reducing their base to rubble.

Their insistence on being involved with taking the group down is expected after that, and incredibly welcome. The foremost scientists in the field directly opposing the ones writing the potentially war-sparking articles should at least help sate some of the new king's anger if he catches wind of the whole situation.

Additionally, most GIW tech seems to be based on Fenton tech, so their assistance means having an expert on hand to help with anything unexpected.

The group has yet to cost citizens more than bruises and time lost to interrogations, all of their targets proving human before things could get too far.

That doesn't mean that the pattern will hold, of course.

By all accounts, the group is acting in direct defiance of the Meta Protection Acts, which is broad enough to include ghosts under its purview - Bruce would know, he double checked when Deadman joined the League.

If they were already willing to break the law, how long until they got impatient. How long until they decided to say some poor individual was just a ghost in a really good disguise. Or until they came across a meta with slightly different vitals and took them in for - as Danny said was a direct quote - "lots and lots of painful experiments."

At the end of the kids' run-down, just off of the top of his head Bruce counted violation of the MPA, harassment, assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment, impersonation of a government official, and trespassing.

If they were responsible for the fake papers published in the names of the Drs Fenton - as seemed likely - they'd be smacked with fraud as well. No doubt in addition to a litany of other charges.

He taps his comm.

"Oracle."

"Already put RR on it, B."

"The GIW is being dealt with," he says, dropping his hand to address the room. "Thank you for your cooperation. Red Robin will be in touch soon about the impersonation case - assuming you wish to press charges?"

"Absolutely we do!" Jack yells, nodding vigorously.

"Ectobiology is a brand new field," Maddie adds, voice heated. "They haven't just impersonated us, they've endangered the integrity - the very foundation - of an entire field of study. We will be pressing charges."

He nods his acknowledgement as he stands.

"We'll move on the base as soon as the paperwork is all sorted. Until then, I'd like to ask for your assistance in another matter."

A beat.

"The Justice League has a division for dealing with supernatural threats," he begins. "Ghosts fall within this purview-"

"Then why did no ever come to help Amity before?"

Danny himself seems surprised to have said it, but he straightens under the room's collective gaze and doesn't take it back.

"An agent was sent out when the calls first started coming in," Superman soothes. "They determined that the city was in good hands with Phantom keeping things under control."

"There were plans to follow up with a more detailed investigation," Batman decides to tack on, noting the boy's conflicted expression, "But it was considered low-priority until those papers pinged the League's systems, where it became high-priority. And then rapidly rose to top-priority when Justice League Dark - the supernatural division, added their own update to the fray."

"Because of that information, we have time to act," he says, turning to look Jack and Maddie in the eyes. "While your expertise seems to focus more on technology and observation, I believe you could offer the JLD a unique perspective on their current project, if you are willing?"

"What project would that be?" Maddie asks swiftly, likely cutting off her husband from accepting an unknown task.

"We need to summon the new Ghost King."

***

*The next day, Manson household, Sam's room*

"And then they kicked us out! For curfew, of all things! And they still had the shields up so I couldn't even just sneak back to listen in - not that I could've risked it anyway with freaking Superman right there!"

"Uh. I mean I guess it kinda sucks that they kicked you out? But... isn't the rest of that all good stuff?" Tucker asks, rushing to explain when Danny's eye snap over to glare at him.

"Think about it dude - your parents turn out to not want to science you to a second and more permanent death, the JL is gonna come down on the GIW like a ton of bricks, the JL are finally gonna take a closer look at Amity and probably take some weight off of you, and verified vicious tyrant Pariah Dark is no longer the Ghost King. So like. Maybe if someone decides to let him out again he'll be a little weaker? Next time?"

"Please do not jinx us talking about a 'next time,'" Danny pleads, shuddering.

"He has a point, though," Sam says - watches Tucker grin - adds, "for once."

"Aw, c'mon!" Tucker whines, hands clutched over his heart dramatically.

"But really, Danny, I'm struggling to see the downside here. Honestly, it's about time the GZ got a new ruler - it's at least better than leaving Mr. Sleeping Evil nominally in charge," she continues.

"Yeah man!" Tucker cheers. "Who knows, maybe with someone actually running things the zone'll get less chaotic and there'll be less attacks. I mean, sure the new king could turn out to be a jerk. But he could also be a perfectly decent guy - like, for all you know it could be Frostbite."

Danny blinks.

"How would it be Frostbite???"

"He does already have leadership experience," Sam acknowledges, kicking her legs thoughtfully from her seat on the edge of her bed. "But if he were offered the position he'd almost definitely turn it down and try to have Danny appointed instead. And we would've definitely heard about the very next time we visited the Far Frozen."

"Appointed?" Danny questions, tilting his head. "What are you talking about?"

"The new ruler? If there's a new one I figured they must've been appointed a council - you know, like one that sentenced Vortex?"

"Really?" Danny brightened hopefully, sitting up straighter. "Do you think so?"

Sam and Tucker exchange a glance, brows furrowed.

"Uh, how did you think it happened, exactly?" Tucker asks, brow raised.

"I thought it would've been, like, trial by combat or something."

"If it were that then shouldn't the ancients have ended up ruling the zone as an oligarchy?" Sam asks doubtfully.

"A what?" Tucker and Danny ask in unison.

Sam sighs.

"The point is that Pariah Dark got his ass kicked when he first got put in the coffin. If it was trial by combat there should have already been someone else in charge," she says, nudging him lightly with her foot. "Besides, if it was trial by combat wouldn't that make you the ghost king?"

"That's the problem!" Danny yells, jumping up and tossing his arms in the air in frustration. "I fought him, sure, but I would've run out of power and had my ass kicked if the sarcophagus hadn't gotten locked. By Vlad. Meaning Vlad could totally be the ghost king! And maybe he just doesn't know it! What if you're wrong and it is trial by combat but the ancients just didn't want the position! If the JL summons him he'll find out! And we all know Vlad would never turn down that kind of power! This is a disaster waiting to happen and I don't even know how long we have to figure things out because I was kicked out of the meeting!"

He is huffing by the end of the rant, and his friends stare on silently for a few seconds, processing.

They grimace practically in unison.

"Well that's a horrifying possibility I did not want to know about," Tucker says.

Danny slumps and sinks back down to sit with him on the floor.

"I know."

"The last thing a corrupt fruitloop like Vlad needs is more power," Sam frowns.

"I know."

"Not to, like, downplay or anything. But... can't you just. Tell your parents? Like, Vlad's one thing he could leverage against you is gone now. Can't you just tell them everything and let them take it from there?" Tucker questions, waving his hand vaguely.

"I don't knooooow," Danny whines, falling back to sprawl on the floor with a hand covering his eyes.

Sam and Tucker exchange glances once more.

"Okaaaay," Tucker starts.

"-what's holding you back?" Sam completes.

Danny groans, lifting both hands to cover his eyes.

"It's not that I'm not glad they don't want to rip me apart molecule by molecule," he says, unmoving - not even to make the air quotes. "But it's - you know how my parents are about ghosts. And okay, sure, they don't want to hurt me! Great! But you weren't there! The powerpoints were... it was a lot, guys, and I just-"

He moves to sit, dropping his hands to his lap and worrying his lip between his teeth for a few seconds before finally, slowly, lifting his head to look them in the eyes.

"What if I tell them the truth and I'm just...I'm just science to them?" He asks, voice small.

"You know how my parents are," he repeats, impossibly quieter, eyes dropping back to the floor.

"That's...possible."

"Tucker!" Sam snaps, kicking him in the side.

"OW!" He flinches away rubbing the sore spot. "I'm just saying! But! I really don't think it would last. You said it yourself, man. Your parents are serious about learning about ghosts. Sure, it might take some time, but if they're really dedicated to the whole "actually doing science" thing, then sooner or later they'll realize you're still just. Danny. With some extra stuff going on."

"And if that twenty minute rant about them going easy on you was any indication they'll be going out of their way to avoid hurting you," Sam says thoughtfully. "Even if they might be a little more... overbearing than normal in the meantime."

"UGH! Don't remind me!" he cries, covering his ears petulantly.

Tucker snorts.

"I still don't get why you're upset about that. what, did you want them to shoot you?"

"NO! Of course not! Just- I don't know! I mean, I fought actual ghosts all the time and what, they think I couldn't take them? I fought Pariah Dark! And I mean maybe I had the suit, but- but- I don't know!"

He stands to pace.

"And I mean what if I had been a malicious ghost and they held back and got hurt or something? And I never even noticed! My mom's a ninth degree black belt! And she has like, over a dozen shooting trophies! Dad's got at least half as many! And I never noticed anything off? Who else has been holding back? What if some of the ghosts have only been pretending to lose and- and...."

"And?" they echo.

"I don't KNOW!" he shouts, scrubbing his fingers through his hair roughly. "I don't know why this is bothering me so much!"

"Have you considered maybe your parents were right about fighting being a social thing for ghosts? And that maybe your ghost-half-instincts are making you feel insulted that they half-assed it?"

"No, Sam, I have not, because I'm very sure that all of the various ghosts who have tried to kick my ass weren't doing it to befriend me."

"Sure, not all of them, but they already said there's nuance. Not every fight is gonna be friendly. But name one ghost you know that you don't throw down with at least every other time you see them."

"Frostbite," he says instantly.

"Snowball fights," Sam throws back just as fast. "And even if you don't want to count those, you've still had spars with him or other members of the Far Frozen at least half the time we're there."

"...well it's not always Frostbite."

"But it's always a member of his group."

"...Clockwork."

"You've seen him three times so far. The first time you met he tossed you around a bit before saving all our asses and giving you a second chance. The second time you didn't fight, sure. But the third time you went to attack him for some prank he pulled that you still won't give us the details of, but now you talk about him like your on friendlier terms despite having just gotten into another fight. Your record with him is worse than half the time." Sam shoots down.

Then keeps going.

"You spar with Pandora every time you see each other. I spar with Dora every time I see her and I never really questioned it because of how we met but I still seem to be her favorite. Wulf's version of hello is usually a surprise tackle. The only time Danielle didn't greet you with a wrestling match was when there was an emergency."

The examples are merciless and feel unending.

"Sydney Poindexter!" Danny shouts decisively.

"The one time you two interacted was one big drawn-out fight over a misunderstanding. While you haven't fought him since then, you two also haven't even spoken since then. Your fight rate with him is 100%, even if it was decisively unfriendly."

He slumps.

"It's not like it's just you. I don't think we've met a single ghost that hasn't fought both their friends and their enemies. I don't know that there is a "nuance" beyond knowing the ghosts involved or the context of the fight well enough to know if the fight is serious or not, but I think your parents might be right about it being some kind of friendly social among ghosts."

"Definitely a ghost thing," Tucker chimes in, "Preeeeeetty sure Dash doesn't want to be you or Mikey's friend."

"Feeling's mutual," he drawls back. Sighs. "We're getting off track. What are we gonna do about the Vlad problem? Well, the maybe Vlad problem."

"Tell the Justice League! They already decided Phantom is a hero and that makes you the local expert on Amity's hero/villain scene, so they should be more than willing to hear you out. All you have to do is give them the info. They can prepare to kick Vlad's ass as needed and there you go: problem solved," he smiles, making jazz hands.

"Yeah, except for the part where Phantom shouldn't have any idea about any of this; my parents' stupid sweep shield means I can't even pretend I was already in the room when it turned on. And Batman's a genius - if I just tell them anyway with no explanation about how I know that they needed to know he'll probably have me figured out in like five minutes! He's an adult! Who works with the government! He'll probably be legally obligated to tell on me to my parents so it's all the same stupid problem!"

"Frostbite it is," Sam says, standing decisively and reaching down to haul Tucker up as well.

"Huh?" he asks.

"Clockwork probably knows everything but is more likely to be unhelpfully cryptic. Frostbite and the Far Frozen knew about your fight with Pariah Dark before you had any idea who he was. Out of all the friendly ghosts we know, he's the most likely to both know about the new ghost king and be willing to answer our questions. Plus, Danny can asks him about the social fighting thing while we're there."

She grabs Danny's shoulder, still holding Tucker. He blinks at her.

"Well? Take us to the Specter Speeder? We don't exactly know how much time we have left to deal with this?"

"Ah," he answers intelligently.

And wow, with his parents' penchant for making seemingly impossible devices combined with the entire Justice League Dark - something he didn't even know existed before yesterday - he doubts the amount of time left is 'much.'

He takes them to the Specter Speeder

[starwrighter]

Crack fic prompt go!

Danny is in Gotham for *insert generic reasons* He quickly discovers that red Hood is in fact a halfa like him. He also comes to the correct conclusion that Red Hood doesn't know he's a halfa yet.

Danny decides to help in a completely reasonable way....

By hiding away and making chirping noises at him from the shadows!

It's basically like

Danny from the rooftops: *chirp*

Red Hood: *chirps back* What the fuck!

It goes on like this for days! Red Hood is very confused because, baby ghostling??? Where is baby? He hears Danny's chirps and immediately his core latches on to him claiming Danny as his kid.

Danny doesn't know Jason basically parentally imprinted he just thinks it's funny how confused Red Hood gets when he does it. At least he thought it was funny until Red Hood started searching rather violently whenever he did it.

Danny leaves Gotham for *insert plot convenient reason* Jason is distraught and still very confused. He begins searching thoroughly through everything for even a hint of what happened to his kid.

When his family inevitably asks what the hell he's doing we get a scene like this

Redhood: *sighs* I miss my kid Nightwing,

Nightwing: ??!!???

Redhood tearing up: I miss him a lot

Redhood on his way to Amity park: I'll be back

[starwrighter]

Jason presenting a freshly stolen Adopted Danny to his family: My boy!!!

Danny "this might as well be happening Fenton": Nice fursuit bat bitch!

[autisticamerican]

[ashoutinthedarkness]

[starwrighter]

@ashoutinthedarkness

Imagine Jason sadly chirping into empty Alleyways, off rooftops, anywhere he'd heard Danny chirp from. Just waiting for his kid to respond. Does Jason think Danny died? Does he think that Danny was kidnapped? Jason doesn't know what happened to his kid and he's super pissed about it.

[ashoutinthedarkness]

How well do the chirps travel? Whale songs can be heard miles away, so what if its the same for the chirps? But only among ghosts and liminals - like, the living can't hear it.

Danny still hears the chirps from Jason and responds, he just doesn't expect Jason to be using them like he's playing Marco Polo and find him while he's in class

[mutable-manifestation]

#i couldn't stand keeping it saaadd!!#i offered a solution#danny phantom#dp#dp au#dp x dc#dc x dp#dpxdc#baby halfa jason#jason adopts danny#danny just doesnt know it yet#danny didnt realize that him chirping to jason was basically acknowledging him as an adoptive candidate#danny chirps: ghost? dad? be my dad?#jason chirps: child? baby? my baby?!#both are oblivious idiots#but they're our oblivious idiots

Loving this quite a lot actually.

Danny could figure out he can chirp by just. Being super stressed. Chirps into the void. It's not aimed at anything, it's just a distress noise.

But Danny doesn't have the full-ghost instincts to tell him what the chirping means. He just knows "oh hey I can chirp???" and starts chirping a bunch just to see how many different chirps he can make.

Just for funsies - it's a good distraction from the stress, at least, learning about something new that he can do. Even if it is kind of weird. (He doesn't make the connection between feeling stressed & chirping, he just thinks it randomly happened as his ghost powers tend to do).

Maybe Youngblood chirps at an ally during a fight & they chirp back and pop up to fight Danny together, so he thinks it's just a kind of "hey over here" noise.

So why is Danny in Gotham? Well, there's only a little summer vacation left. And he's kind of irritated that Amity Park is going on a year of being ignored by the JL. He literally had to fight Pariah Freakin' Dark. He though he was gonna die the rest of the way there.

Overall, Danny is not best pleased.

Batman is in charge of the JL from the public's perspective. So Danny, being upset about the lack of aid, decides to go snoop around Gotham. Maybe graffiti some insults.

Maybe change the bat signal to be a giant middle finger.

His parent's think he's with Tucker & Sam until the first day of school - a sort of "last hurrah" for the break.

Then he runs into Red Hood.

He's glaring balefully up at the smog filled night sky from the top of a fire escape when the icy gust sweeps out of Danny's throat, warning of an incoming halfa.

With time spent around Vlad (unfortunate) and Dani (better but sadly infrequent) he's come to notice a slightly different in how his ghost sense reacts to halfas vs full ghosts.

He figures he must have come across Dani on her travels and decides, hey, maybe they could vandalize the batsignal together.

So he chirps.

Out of the corner of his eye, Red Hood freezes in the alley below. The guy he was chasing doesn't stop, however.

There is no answering call, so Danny chirps again.

Danny goes invisible as Red Hood spins around. He thinks maybe he wasn't sensing Dani at all.

So he chirps again, louder and sharper.

And Red Hood's own chirp answers.

He'd tried chirping in lieu of whistling, once, to get Tucker's attention so he could throw him the thermos. Danny can't whistle without using his hands, and they'd kind of been occupied with angry ghost at the time. The discussion post-fight and a bit of testing proved that humans couldn't hear ghost chirps.

He literally did it as loud as possible during class once, and no one so much as blinked.

Red Hood not only heard, but replied.

Red Hood must be the halfa Danny sensed.

...

He floats down to a dead end alley just off the one Hood is in and chirps again, because why not.

Hood practically sprints into the alley, chirping back.

Seeing the guy run reminds Danny that he'd been chasing someone.

He kinda feels bad for distracting him, so he flies up and heads in the direction he last saw the guy go, giving the occasional chirp to keep Hood following.

He only saw the guy for a split second, but having to track down the occasional more-sneaky ghost has given him a habit of remembering key features. Between that and his bird's-eye view of things it only takes a few minutes to find the guy he'd been chasing. A few well-placed chirps aim him in a head-on run at the guy nearly at a corner.

Hood doesn't waste any time tackling the guy and Danny gives a final satisfied chirp before he bolts.

***

He knows he shouldn't find it as entertaining as it is to lead a bloody-thirsty crime lord around on essentially wild goose chases.

But it's fun.

Maybe it's the novelty of being the more experienced halfa for once. Or the novelty of him being the first halfa that didn't try to kill him the rest of the way the first time they met - albeit probably only because he can't see him to do so.

Besides, he is technically helping the guy.

A small bit of stalking observation made it incredibly clear that the guy has no idea that he's a halfa.

So.

Chirps.

Despite his reputation outside of Gotham, the people of crime alley love the guy - at least, the people in his haunt do.

And while blood thirsty is his most common descriptor, Danny thinks maybe it should be "smart."

The extensive territory maps he keeps and the intensive research Danny watched him do to track down a possible lead were...honestly all kind of over Danny's head.

He doesn't really wanna risk getting traced as Danny Fenton just because he talks and the guy somehow finds his voice???

Better paranoid than sorry, Danny thinks.

So, chirping it is. The guy is crazy smart enough Danny thinks he can figure out it's ghosts.

And once he comes to terms with the whole "I'm making ghost noises" thing maybe he'll ask Danny to talk. And Danny will be able to answer without worrying about being hunted down because by then Hood would be sure he's a ghost, and who in their right mind would try to track a ghost to where they live?

They wouldn't, of course, because ghosts don't "live."

Of course the whole "halfa" thing would change that, but by then Hood would know enough about the GIW and AEA to mind his business ala mutually-assured destruction.

Or maybe he'd just be friendly and mind his own business even without M.A.D. given how the people living in his haunt regard him.

Still, Danny isn't going to rely on a maybe when there's ripping apart molecule-by-molecule on the line, thanks.

And okay maybe he's really just trying to justify distracting a crime lord with ghosty marco-polo but it's fun.

*** Aaaaaand it's time to go.

Danny would be leaving Gotham in two more days anyway, but he'd rather not risk it. Hood is getting... worryingly energetic about finding him. And the guy is a halfa.

He doesn't want the guy to figure out his ghost sense & ectoblast in a fit of rage and end up getting shot. Likely? Nah. Possible with his luck? Absolutely.

So Danny goes home a little early.

Two nights later he hears a chirp.

It's Red Hood.

His heart makes a valiant effort to leap out of his chest as he lurches into a sitting position. It's only with the second chirp that he realizes the sound is coming from really, really far away.

Huh. He didn't know they could carry that far.

On the third chirp he finally realizes how distressed the guy sounds. So he chirps back.

The next chirp doesn't come until homeroom the next day. Distracted as he is, he doesn't notice that it sounds closer, just that it's still coming from the same direction and still distressed, if less than before. Again, he chirps back, thankful that humans can't hear it.

The next one comes at lunch, again he answers.

There's one in fourth period, again he answers.

Three chirps sound throughout fifth period, again he answers to each. The frequency is starting to concern him but he can't afford to focus on anything other that the math lecture the teacher decided to jump right in with or grades will be doomed from day one. There are only two and a quater-ish classes left in the day, he'll figure out what's going on after.

Another chirp sounds at the very beginning of sixth period, and by now his reply is becoming more of a reflex.

Three more chirps sound in the first ten minutes of sixth period - Mr. Lancer's class.

As soon as Danny echoes the third, Red Hood practically tears the door off it's hinges and strides in, ignoring Mr. Lancer clutching at his chest and rattling off a book title and the other students beginning to panic in favor of chirping.

Unthinkingly, Danny echoes it back.

Everyone freezes at the speed with which Hood's head snaps to stare right at him.

Danny winces.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Gotham?"

Danny will deny that it was a whine for the rest of his half-life. It was a strategic distraction to prevent Mr. Lancer from something stupid like trying to hit a known crime boss over the head with a paperback, thank you very much.

"Gotham can wait I thought you went and died for a good two days! Then I find out your still alive but practically across the country? Without so much as a goodbye? Or a hello for that matter! I thought you might've gotten kidnapped! Only to find you in a school! I'm glad you're okay kid but holy sh- uh, cow - were you trying to give me a heart attack!?"

The rant gets louder as it progresses, and by the end of it Red Hood is huffing, having not paused to breathe even once.

The sound of him catching his breath is the only one in the otherwise silent room as everyone stares, wide-eyed, between Danny Fenton and Red Hood.

Danny hunches his shoulders, grimacing.

This'll be a hell of a situation to explain away, later, he thinks.

Aloud he says, "Um...no? I'm- I'm sorry?"

He can't see his expression past the hood but he can practically feel the guy squinting at him.

"Definitely sorry," he reiterates more firmly, sitting up straight. "I just, uh, I didn't think you'd care? I mean! I kinda figured it'd be a relief, I guess? Since I was, like, kinda...bothering you?"

He winces, cursing himself for reminding the guy that he'd been annoying him. Hopefully him being worried about Danny disappearing meant he probably wouldn't shoot him.

Despite the distortion, no one could mistake the gusty sigh. Especially not with how Red Hood rubbed his nose through his mask.

When he dropped his hand back to his side...

"You're grounded."

He blinked.

"What?"

"You. Are. Grounded."

"Wh- Bu- That's- you can't ground me!?" He sputtered, leaping to his feet.

"I'm very sure that I can. Because I'm very sure that you're parents will agree that following around a known crime lord is grounds for punishment. Not even counting that time you followed me into a live firefight."

"You can't tell them that! If they find out I left Amity without permission they'll put me in the Fenton stockades!"

"YOU WERE IN GOTHAM ALONE!?" Red Hood shrieked, practically lunging the rest of the way to Danny and grabbing his face - shockingly gently - turning it this way and that like he was checking for injuries.

"Does anything hurt? Did you get hit by anything? Did a bullet graze you? Did you inhale any strange gases!?"

Danny blinked.

Blinked again, grabbed Hood's hands, and shoved them away from his face.

"Oh my ancients I'm fine I was only watching and I stayed on the fire escape for the whole fight with the guns! Seriously, what are you my mother?"

"Forgive me for being concerned about a child sat 5 feet from a shoot out and apparently without an adult in the most crime-ridden part of the most crime-ridden city in the country," Hood hissed.

Paused.

"'Fenton stockades'?"

Danny blinked, shrugged.

"It's basically this big metal human-shaped thing full of spikes - except for the floor, I guess. It's fine as long as you stand still and it's sized for my dad so it could be worse but it still sucks so please do not tell them I went to Gotham. Please."

"...an iron maiden!?"

Danny blinked and shrugged yet again. "Maybe?"

With that, the Red Hood, crime boss of Gotham, serial killer and known enemy of Batman turned and left.

***

There'll be a part two in like. A few days maybe. Gonna finish part two of Actual Scientists Jack & Maddie AU first tho, so like... maybe three or four days

[mutable-manifestation]

Danny is left blinking at the door in the echoing silence of Red Hood's departure.

Silence reigns, but only for a short time; the intruder alarms screeches over head not one full minute later - no doubt the moment Red Hood finally stepped off of school property.

Mr. Lancer closes and locks the door practically on reflex, then finally moves to call the main office. The alarm is shut back off not long after.

Principal Ishiyama commands them all to remain locked in their classrooms until she can get in touch with the police about next steps.

The second silence doesn't last long, filled, in short order, with friends and classmates alike shouting questions and exclaiming shock and disbelief.

"Great Expectations, people," Mr. Lancer shouts over the cacophony, "Settle down!"

And they do, but it's a tense kind of quiet; everyone's shoulders are tight and they practically vibrate with restrained energy.

Danny groans mournfully, finally sitting back down and sliding low in his seat.

"Mr. Fenton," Lancer begins, and Danny slides just that bit lower in despair. "Would kindly explain just what in Dante's Inferno is going on?"

His eyes are wild as he asks, shock and adrenaline lingering.

Danny can't really blame him, but that doesn't mean he's going to answer him either.

"I plead the fifth?"

"Mr. Fenton."

"Nope! What I did or didn't do with my summer vacation is my business-"

"Mr. Fenton," Lancer cuts him off sharply, "When a known serial killer marches into my school because of it it becomes my business."

"That's not fair!" he cries, sitting back up. "It's not my fault he came here! I didn't know he was gonna track me down!"

"You mean that he was telling the truth!?"

Danny winces, and Lancer falls back into his own chair, expression despairing.

"Divine Comedy, Mr. Fenton! What were you thinking?"

Danny doesn't answer, choosing to remain silent from that point on - he's not sure the exact legal implication of following around a criminal, but he hasn't technically admitted to anything yet.

When the police arrive a leisurely thirty minutes later, out of practice after the sharp drop in human crimes that accompanied the opening of the portal and the beginning of the ghost attacks, Danny still remains silent.

Sam backs him up, insisting they have no right to question them without their parents present - no matter how "friendly" or "routine" they claim it to be.

Their classmates clam up as well, more than willing to follow her lead in demanding their parents and guardians - if the Fenton parents' penchant for long-winded monologues at the slightest provocation hadn't taught them the value of keeping exfiltration available, the ghost sickness incident certainly did.

An hour and a half later the actual school-day is nearly over, and most students had been questioned and sent on. The only ones in need of pickup are Jazz - who, despite being in a different section of the school altogether, had been kept back with her brother to await pickup - and Danny.

The Foley's had been kind enough to offer them a ride home, but the police still wanted to question them - well, him - and Danny figured it'd be easier for him to convince his parents to leave the school than to convince the cops to leave his house if they had to do a home visit to be able to question him later on.

***

It was rare - incredibly rare - for Jason to attend family dinners.

Sometimes, one of them was able to talk him into it. Alfred had the highest success rate, of course, but respected Jason enough not to abuse his influence.

Sometimes, even if he was convinced previously, Jason would cancel the day of.

They understood. Bad days didn't happen on a schedule, even if they all wished they could help more than just giving him space.

No, Jason didn't come to family dinners on bad days. And he didn't come unless coaxed and bribed.

So it had alarm bells ringing in everyone's head when he showed up anyway, to a dinner he had very clearly and firmly said no to previously.

It might have been heartening - a sign that he felt welcome once more, a willingness to reach out, something - had he not come in with "Bad Day" etched into every line of his body.

His shoulder's appeared lax, but the backwards pull betrayed just how tense they really were. His expression was pinched, jaw locked and brows furrowed. But he didn't look angry.

He looked worried. Hesitant.

"Jay-bird! You came!" Dick cheered after his split-second evaluation, kicking out the chair next to him while Tim typed away, undoubtedly informing the few of them not-yet arrived to hurry it up Jason's here.

Alfred doesn't even have to pry Bruce out of the cave with a crowbar; he's sat at the table inside two minutes, and Steph is last to wander in not another minute after.

Dinner passes peacefully - well, peacefully for them, at least - but that tension never goes away.

If anything, Dick thinks, it gets worse.

Jason eats slowly - slower than he usually does, even, and he finishes his last bite at the same time as Cass - the slowest eater.

When he finally puts down his utensils he moves to look them each in the eye in turn, silencing the chatter they'd kept up to prevent themselves from staring at him, knowing - or at least suspecting - that he had something to say.

That something must have happened to bring him here in such a state.

When his eyes land on Bruce, he stops, and the tense anticipation in the room ratchets higher.

He grits his teeth, before taking a deep breath and visibly forcing himself to relax.

Bruce watches him, appearance calm and patient for all that Dick knows he must feel like crawling out of his own skin on the inside from the suspense.

"I need everyone in Crime Alley tonight," he says, inviting them - inviting Bruce - into his territory.

On purpose.

What.

He must say it out loud, because little wing looks him in the eye and repeats himself, more firmly this time.

"I need everyone in Crime Alley tonight." And his eyes flick to Duke. "Especially you."

For his part, Duke blinks, sitting up straighter.

"What's the situation?" Bruce asks, hands folded on the table between himself and his plate, elbows kept away.

"Perhaps it would be best to discussing business matters in the sitting room, Master Jason?" Alfred hints as he begins gathering the dishes from the table.

Instead of nodding, Jason merely grimaces.

"It's not crime-related...probably," he says.

He freezes as soon as the words leave his mouth, eyes visibly dilating and swirling fully green as his breathing picks up.

They all leap to their feet in preparation for a violent outburst, but he only takes a gasping breath and shoves his face into his elbows, hands fisting in his hair.

Despite his frame, he looks small like that. It's worrying.

But he's uncurling and leaping to his feet not a second later, shouting.

"Fuck what if it's crime-related shit shit FUCK!"

He moves as he talks, practically sprinting for the door.

Dick thinks his eyes looked wet.

"Woah, little wing!?" he shouts after him.

Jason pauses in the doorway to the dining room, looking back at them.

His eyes still shine green, but he doesn't move for any of them. Instead he just snarls out, "Well are you fucking coming or not!?"

"Absolutely, we are," Dick replies instantly, voice leaving no room for argument - not that he thinks anyone would. "But we still don't know what's going on, Jaybird. Why don't you explain on the way to the cave?"

***

The kid had followed Jason around for over a week. He always there, every night since that first meeting - well, for a given value of a "meeting."

Not being able to actually find him had been driving him crazy. Crime Alley is dangerous!

And he knows there are kids that wander the place, but most of them don't trail The Red FUCKING Hood into live. firefights. So he thinks his concern is actually perfectly valid, thanks.

An then, one night, the kid is gone.

Complete radio silence.

He tries to rationalize it away - maybe the kid just... finally grew some sense. Decided to find a safer hobby.

But it itched at him.

And Jason didn't have much faith in kids' abilities to see sense - exhibit: every Robin ever.

When dawn light starts peaking through, he realizes he hadn't actually gotten anything done that night.

He'd spent the whole night wandering his territory, eyes and ears peeled and disquiet worsening with every step.

He hustles back to his apartment and falls into a fitful sleep. When he wakes, hours later, he remembers the family dinner scheduled for that night.

Remembers Signal's - Duke's - meta power. All of the family were good trackers, but there were good odds he'd be able to actually see the kid.

Really, he just thinks the kid got him used to him being around and is now being quiet as some weird way of upping the hide-and-seek difficulty - because, really, it seems like that's the game he's going for. But Jason wasn't able to find him even when he was chirping.

So what if he asks for help? Just the once. They track down the kid, figure out what he wants, and talk him into a new and less-life threatening hobby.

He doesn't really think about worse possibilities until he says it.

Now that he has, he can't stop.

What if he was kidnapped? What he was murdered? What if he was kidnapped and then murdered?

What if the Joker found him following Jason around and decided to tie him up in a warehouse somewhere and have him rate crowbar hits until he decides to finally kill him, and here Jason is eating dinner with his family calm as you please and doing nothing. Just like Bruce.

He follows Dick's lead to the cave, the promise of aid keeping his nerves at a steady "coiled spring" instead of "active taser."

"Joker?" he blurts, unable to remember the bastard's current status when he's preoccupied worrying about 'Where the hell is my kid???'

"Still in Arkham as of 25 seconds ago," Barbara - blessed, wonderful Barbara - calls from the middle of the procession towards the elevator.

It makes him feel just barely better.

'Right,' he thinks into the following, expectant silence. 'I'm supposed to be explaining.'

And so he does, telling them about the invisible, chirping kid that's been following him around just in time for them to split up so they can suit up - Jason, thankfully, just needs to shed his top layer and toss on his jacket and hood. Gotta love go bags.

"If all you've heard is a chirping noise, then how do you know it's a kid and not just some weird birds or something?" Tim asks once they've all gathered back at the batcomputer.

"Fuck off replacement, I know what a kid sounds like," Jason scoffs.

"So, just to be clear, we're looking for an invisible bird-meta child?" Signal asks.

Jason grimaces. The others can't see it past his hood, of course, but they can all hear him pausing.

"He...might not look like a bird."

"It's rare for metas with non-human vocalization capabilities not to have visible accompanying mutations," Batman states. "Why do you believe that this is not the case in this instance?"

And suddenly that sick feeling is back in Jason's chest, crawling up his throat with every breath.

He can't tell him. He can't.

The evidence that it would be fine - probably - is standing not 4 feet away in black and neon yellow.

But Duke is Duke, and Jason is Jason.

And he just can't.

"None of your fucking business," he snaps - harsh and loud and furious and defensive and he hopes and prays they don't catch that last part, all the while knowing it's a futile wish in this family - and hops on the batbike, throwing a final "if you don't want to help me then fucking fine!" over his shoulder before taking off.

They catch up to him inside of a minute - all of them - asking where he last heard the kid. They arrive in Crime Alley soon after, and then the search is on.

[treepainting]

I love this a not so normal amount, and if/when this gets continued, it would be fun for this to explore some more ghost instincts that got garbled in the ‘still sorta alive’ thing they have going on (purring would be a fun thing for them to realize they could do lol, I always love when that’s a thing)