Uh...

Hello. Feel free to take a prompt, that's what they're there for. Please, give credit. I post on weekends, if I've got something. My AO3 account uses the same username.

[oonightmareoo]

Danny was broken.

He didn't really know what the cause of his brokenness was, just that he clearly and obviously was. Even before he died, he couldn't see color.

Unlike Jazz, whose soulmates began with their parents and continued to appear into her life and then stay in her life, Danny appeared to be soulmateless if it weren't for the fact that he still couldn't see color. Jazz, and everyone else in Amity, had the full rainbow and then some available to her before she even made it to middle school.

Jazz's soulmates were an easy and short list. Mom, Dad, her friend Kyle Weston, and her friend Spike. She had met Kyle in kindergarten, and Spike in third grade. All of her soulmates were platonic and familial, though there was still a chance that she was seeing darker shades of colors than they're supposed to be - it was more common than not for a romantic soulmate to brighten up the world that someone could already see.

Danny was in high school. And all he saw was grey, grey, and more grey. Occasionally, he could even tell that he was looking at black. It was unusual. He was broken. What else was he supposed to understand from that?

"Maybe your soulmates are somewhere else? Like, your soulmates are all French or something," Tucker suggested, offhand.

"Maybe," Danny pretended to agree. Frankly, though, he wasn't holding out hope.

He was already dead, after all.

If someone's soulmate passed, they just lost the ability to see whatever colors their soulmate had given them. Danny doubted that him being dead before meeting his soulmates would affect that specific phenomenon in any meaningful way. He would just never know.

So why the hell could he suddenly see this- this- this beautiful color after meeting some dude? He didn't seem to have noticed the change of colors, rushing off with a bright apology for running into Danny, as Danny's whole world flipped on its side. He- he had no clue how to find that person again. What was he supposed to do now?

Maybe... maybe start with googling what this color is.

Blue. Blue was the color of the sky, of oceans, of brightly colored birds and butterflies. It was so beautiful. Danny's eyes were blue! Danny decided just then that blue was his favorite color.

Who knew he'd finally find a soulmate after moving to Gotham? Maybe, just maybe, he'd find his other soulmates here too.

He shook his head; Danny knew better than to hope. Danny was dead. He can't have soulmates, now. Even if Danny could now see colors- or, well, one color, that didn't mean whoever was connected to him could also see their missing color(s). So even if Danny was connected to them, they... probably weren't connected to him.

...

"Sorry, Jay, I got held up at wor-" Dick trailed off, looking at his little brother's eyes.

They weren't that green before. He knows they weren't; after meeting Damian, Dick could see green. They could all see green after meeting Damian. Jason and Damian's eyes were both an olive green, only a slight shade difference between them, everyone in the family agreed. Not... not this neon bright green.

Jason's gaze snapped to Dick from where he'd been glaring at someone across the diner, and the brightness dulled. It didn't go away, but calmed down. No longer seemed like it was lighting Jason's face up. "What?"

"I..." Dick paused, mind racing. If Jason didn't know why Dick was staring at him, then nothing new has happened on his end. That means... "I think I ran into another soulmate."

[dereknaga]

More !!! ,We need more !!! ,Please !!!, Don't leave us like this !!, We want more !!,

[oonightmareoo]

"Do you know who you maybe ran into? Or, like, have a description?" Tim asked, twisting the Bat-chair back and forth with a deadpan expression, "I can't really do much without a description, you know."

"Well, no," Dick admitted, before gesturing aimlessly, "I figured you could probably just look at security cameras or something until you found someone that acts differently after I interact with them."

Tim sighed, looking burdened with the entire world, before doing a quick 180 to face the Bat-computer. "Do you, at the very least, have a time frame?"

"Uh... I mean," Dick shrugged, "I hadn't seen either Jason or Damian since two weeks ago, so..."

Tim's head hung down, before muttering something under his breath and pulling the Bat-keyboard closer to himself. "Gimme, like, three days or something. I'll skim through the footage I can find, see if I can find them."

"You're the best, baby bird!" Dick wrapped his arms around Tim's shoulders, Bat-chair included in the hug.

"Yeah, yeah," Tim grumbled, ignoring the hug from his older brother/soulmate.

It took less than a day for Tim to decide that he needed a break - because, man, Dick interacted with a lot of people every day. He could rule out most of the people that're working at stores and cafes and restaurants that Dick frequently visited, unless they were new at the job - luckily, not many new workers at those locations in the past month. There were quite a few people who reacted strangely after meeting Dick, but it was clear that they were simply reacting to having talked to an attractive person - gross. And really, he could probably ignore the people Dick talked to at his job, too. It's not like there were any new students or new parents in Dick's classes.

"Ah, thanks," Tim offhandedly said, meeting blue eyes of the person who'd held the door for him.

"No problem," the teen was distracted by something on his phone, so Tim didn't bother him much longer.

Really, there were too many candidates for Dick's new soulmate, and it was just a massive pain to try to figure it out.

...

Danny shot off his last reply to the group chat from his friends back in Amity, glad that Val had managed to catch Boxy before Danny's parents or the government did. Sam had volunteered to put Boxy back through the portal, and Tuck was currently sending Danny's parents on a wild goose chase around the city. It was...

Well, it wasn't exactly a good alternative to Danny being there, but like... at least they had it under control, from what he could tell.

Putting his phone away, Danny looked up to admire the blues and- and- he had another color. What was that color? Wait, when did he meet his soulmate?? Did he actually meet someone today?? The only person he'd interacted with was a barista and he probably held the door open for some people, but. But. But anyone he actually noticed didn't seem to change his vision any?

He whipped his phone back out, googling for that website that provides color names for the newly soulbound for the second time this week. His hands were shaky and- and weren't grey? But it was a dull version of that color so they weren't exactly that color- yellow. He... he must be missing a color or two, to be able to know what color his skin is. But... yellow was the color of sunlight? And, and it was the color of sunflowers, and bees, and ducks, and cheese - yellow was so- so cool!

What else was yellow? And... and how did yellow and blue interact with each other?

[oonightmareoo]

Danny watched the figures of his parents cheering in front of him, celebrating their successful catch, before drawling out, “kinda weak, isn’t it? You sure you’ve got the right dose, man?”

The hallucinations - because that’s what they were - were almost see-through with how faint they were. He could hear them cheering, could even make out Jack praising Maddie, but it was muffled - as though he were underwater, listening to a conversation through a wall. He could tell that there’d been an attempt at restraining him - ecto-ropes supposedly tied tightly around him - but if he didn’t look right at them, they didn’t even seem to exist.

Well, they didn’t. Not really.

The Rogue’s eyes narrowed, glaring gleefully down at his captive, “a resistance, perhaps? But of what? No matter, increasing the dose works just as well.”

The plunger had just met the syringe when a cape burst into the warehouse. It was almost pathetic how quickly Nightwing had Scarecrow pinned and tied down, but Danny had already promised himself to not engage with humans so it’s not like he would’ve done that himself.

The hero stepped through the image of his parents preparing for surgery, an image that was stronger sure but still so far away and faint that it was difficult to imagine being scared of it. “Can you hear me?” Nightwing seemed wary, holding his hands up and observing Danny.

“Huh?” Danny pulled his attention from trying to figure out the source of the buzzing nearby, looking back at Nightwing. “Oh, yea. What’s up?”

The mask followed along as Nightwing blinked several times at Danny’s nonchalant attitude, “you were injected with Crane’s fear toxin, correct?”

Danny shrugged, “I mean, probably. I dunno what else he would’ve given me.” Danny paused a moment, before tacking on, “and he gave me two doses. I think. Unless the syringe had more than one dose. Probably only two.” Danny paused again, waiting for the hero to say or do something, before deciding to ignore the baffled reaction. “Anyways, could you like, untie me or something? I’m pretty tired, and the hallucinations are prolly just gonna be there until I get some sleep I’d guess.”

The buzzing seemed to be getting more intense by the second, but Danny figured it was either from the hallucinations or something for Future-Well-Rested Danny. Well. At least, until that was all he could hear when his legs collapsed once he could stand and his sight went black.

[oonightmareoo]

Danny was broken.

He didn't really know what the cause of his brokenness was, just that he clearly and obviously was. Even before he died, he couldn't see color.

Unlike Jazz, whose soulmates began with their parents and continued to appear into her life and then stay in her life, Danny appeared to be soulmateless if it weren't for the fact that he still couldn't see color. Jazz, and everyone else in Amity, had the full rainbow and then some available to her before she even made it to middle school.

Jazz's soulmates were an easy and short list. Mom, Dad, her friend Kyle Weston, and her friend Spike. She had met Kyle in kindergarten, and Spike in third grade. All of her soulmates were platonic and familial, though there was still a chance that she was seeing darker shades of colors than they're supposed to be - it was more common than not for a romantic soulmate to brighten up the world that someone could already see.

Danny was in high school. And all he saw was grey, grey, and more grey. Occasionally, he could even tell that he was looking at black. It was unusual. He was broken. What else was he supposed to understand from that?

"Maybe your soulmates are somewhere else? Like, your soulmates are all French or something," Tucker suggested, offhand.

"Maybe," Danny pretended to agree. Frankly, though, he wasn't holding out hope.

He was already dead, after all.

If someone's soulmate passed, they just lost the ability to see whatever colors their soulmate had given them. Danny doubted that him being dead before meeting his soulmates would affect that specific phenomenon in any meaningful way. He would just never know.

So why the hell could he suddenly see this- this- this beautiful color after meeting some dude? He didn't seem to have noticed the change of colors, rushing off with a bright apology for running into Danny, as Danny's whole world flipped on its side. He- he had no clue how to find that person again. What was he supposed to do now?

Maybe... maybe start with googling what this color is.

Blue. Blue was the color of the sky, of oceans, of brightly colored birds and butterflies. It was so beautiful. Danny's eyes were blue! Danny decided just then that blue was his favorite color.

Who knew he'd finally find a soulmate after moving to Gotham? Maybe, just maybe, he'd find his other soulmates here too.

He shook his head; Danny knew better than to hope. Danny was dead. He can't have soulmates, now. Even if Danny could now see colors- or, well, one color, that didn't mean whoever was connected to him could also see their missing color(s). So even if Danny was connected to them, they... probably weren't connected to him.

...

"Sorry, Jay, I got held up at wor-" Dick trailed off, looking at his little brother's eyes.

They weren't that green before. He knows they weren't; after meeting Damian, Dick could see green. They could all see green after meeting Damian. Jason and Damian's eyes were both an olive green, only a slight shade difference between them, everyone in the family agreed. Not... not this neon bright green.

Jason's gaze snapped to Dick from where he'd been glaring at someone across the diner, and the brightness dulled. It didn't go away, but calmed down. No longer seemed like it was lighting Jason's face up. "What?"

"I..." Dick paused, mind racing. If Jason didn't know why Dick was staring at him, then nothing new has happened on his end. That means... "I think I ran into another soulmate."

[oonightmareoo]

Can I just- Bernard and Wes meeting. Please. That’s all, just Bernard and Wes meeting.

Wes: - and like, clearly Batman is Bruce Wayne-

Bernard, throwing his PowerPoint on the table: Excuse you, Batman is secretly Mothman! Bruce Wayne, meanwhile, is part of a super secret society-

Wes, drily: you mean The Justice League?

Bernard, ignoring him: -and Tim promised to bring me to one of their meetings-

Tim: I did what now? Babe, how many times do I have to tell you that Bruce is just a normal idiot with too much money-?

Bernard&Wes: *scoffs before going back to arguing*

Danny: you’re dating your conspiracy theorist? Seriously?

Tim: at least yours isn’t trying to join another cult after you’ve already rescued him from one.

[oonightmareoo]

Bruce falls in love easily.

He jumps headfirst into romantic relationships often, and is quick to return the moment someone he previously dated implied they might be interested in a rerun. He meets a pretty lady that is fully capable of kicking his ass and suddenly his heart beats for her. Just as easily, he will fall for the next man that he finds his empathy reaching a little too far for.

It’s even easier with kids. He holds a baby, waiting for the baby’s parents to return from being checked over by medics, and he’s imagining them growing up, decorating their nursery in his mind, picking out colleges that’ll more suit different interests - if the baby wants to be a lawyer, then this school would be better; if a little artist in the making, then this other school is the best of the best. And it all goes through his head in the ten minutes that the parents are held up for. He saves a toddler from a burning building, and sees himself taking the kid for walks and building Legos with them. He finds a teenager in trouble, and he’s already imagining helping them with their homework.

Usually, it doesn’t go anywhere. He brings the kid somewhere safe, usually reuniting them with their parents, and then mopes about the loss of that potential future for a few days before it leaves his mind again.

But sometimes, sometimes, a child sticks in his mind. Dick was the first of those children, quickly brought into his custody but not quick enough.

Next was Tim, a bright little child that Bruce noticed before he’d ever adopted Jason. Tim was the first child Bruce had to learn restraint for, telling himself that he couldn’t monitor this little kid who looked at Bruce like he hung the stars in the sky. Still, he couldn’t help but to keep an eye on the little Drake during galas and gatherings. Tim was Bruce’s son before he was ever Robin, no matter what Bruce had said and done in his grief.

Jason was very quickly adopted, Bruce hadn’t even needed to use his hard won restraint for that one. The moment he’d seen those defiant blue eyes glaring at him in the darkness, he’d emotionally adopted the boy. Mentally adopted him shortly after, with the adoption papers filled out and turned in quickly after.

The only child Bruce would find himself counting when doing roll call only to be disappointed had barely been in Bruce’s presence for five minutes. The little boy Bruce found himself thinking often of, wondering how he was growing up, whether he was going to see the stars as an adult like he’d claimed, hoping Bruce might even see the little boy applying for Wayne Enterprise’s Aerospace division. Danny Fenton was a child that crossed Bruce’s mind often despite not being, on paper or by blood, Bruce’s child.

But to Bruce’s heart and mind? Danny should’ve grown up with him.

“Daddy!” Bruce looked down as a small weight hit his leg, stunned to see a small child there. “Look! Shtarsh!” A small lisp, as the child turned a gap-toothed grin up at Bruce. Bruce followed the little boy’s pointing finger, noting that there was indeed a display of stars, the infographics claiming a better way to fuel rockets was such-and-such method over the common-

Wait, had this child called him-?

“It sure is, bud,” Bruce agreed, kneeling down to be closer to even height with this… four-year-old? “But what are you doing over here by yourself?”

“Mommy d’ere,” the little boy pointed towards a woman in a teal… hazmat suit(?), focused intently on the display in front of her. In her hands was a leash that led down to an abandoned backpack.

Bruce’s face twitched at the fact that she hadn’t even noticed, and he didn’t know how long the child had been free of the backpack. Long enough for it to look like it’d been dragged from a different exhibit.

Bruce looked back at the little escape artist, “May I pick you up, chum?” The little boy’s eyes brightened, excited.

“Rocket!” He bounced a little on his toes, hands held up excitedly.

Bruce was disappointed, himself, that he had no clue what this boy was asking for, “Not right now, but maybe later.” Bruce was quick to tack on the last part as the boy deflated. Propping the little boy on his hip, he made his way over to ‘mommy.’ “Excuse me, ma’am- ma’am?” It took several calls, and even waving his hand in her eyesight, to get the woman’s attention - and Bruce’s displeasure with the woman steadily increased the longer it took. “You appear to have misplaced a budding astronaut.”

She barely even glanced at the little boy before negating his statement, “no I didn’t, he’s right-“ finally, she noticed the childless backpack, her head snapping back to Bruce, “Daniel James Fenton! I told you to stop taking your backpack off!”

“But- but shtarsh, mommy!” The little boy indignantly argued back with the woman, and Bruce had to quickly school his face to not smile at Daniel’s attitude.

“That doesn’t mean you can wander off, Danny,” the woman huffed, before reaching out to steal- retrieve her son from Bruce. “Thank you, sir.”

Throughout the rest of the convention, Bruce caught glimpses of the bright-eyed little boy with his mother and father, who was a man that Bruce could feasibly understand the young child confusing Bruce for… if he weren’t wearing an eye-piercing orange hazmat suit, and Bruce a tailored three-piece.

When it became clear that Bruce’s attachment to the little boy didn’t fade with time and distance the way it normally did, he allowed himself just one day in a year where he would indulge, letting himself use the resources available to him to check on the little boy. Last Bruce had seen, little Danny, who had just turned 14, - only a couple years older than Damian now that he thinks about it - was doing well in school and was on his way to becoming an astronaut.

So why…?

Why was his little boy standing before Batman in dirty, ripped up, bloody clothes and an unnatural green light in his otherwise dull eyes?

“Batman, I need help.”

[oonightmareoo]

I think the thing that makes me the most curious about the Reverse Robins AU is why Tim becomes that AU’s version of Red Hood. I’ve seen him using a few different names, such as Revenant, but no matter what name you dress him up with, he’s Red Hood. His territory is Crime Alley, he’s protecting children from drugs and trafficking, he comes back to Gotham intent to take revenge on Batman and The Joker - he’s Red Hood.

But why?

I’ve not seen anyone address why Tim becomes Red Hood.

Why is he in Crime Alley? Tim is a Bristol-born brat, who was then taken in by Batman… who is still in Bristol. Batman, in fact, avoids Crime Alley aside from one night in the year (so far as I’m aware - actually kinda also curious how the Batman v Red Hood thing went on the anniversary of the Waynes’ deaths, cuz doesn’t it take a couple years for some versions-) so there’s not much chance for Tim to really be in Crime Alley even when he’s stalking B, seeing as B’s motivations to enter Crime Alley without Jason in the picture is pretty low. If Jason were Robin (or Batboy, as is common for this AU) before Tim, there’s reason to believe that Tim may have grown attached to Crime Alley… but that’s the point of this AU, Jason came after Tim. So far, there’s no reason for Tim to be attached to Crime Alley. So why Crime Alley? Only real explanation I can come up with is that it’s a strategic move to try hiding from B… but again, Jason came after Tim, Batman and whatever-Jason-is-named probably patrol Crime Alley fairly frequently - which also, like, brings up the question of how Tim would defend Crime Alley from the Crime Alley Street Rat, seeing as in canon Tim’s Robin was forbidden from entering Crime Alley by Jason’s Red Hood for a bit… I think.

So Crime Alley is a bit of a confusing move.

Then the whole “kill people who traffic children and/or provide children with drugs” makes sense as a broad idea… but like… again, there’s no personal motivator like there is with Jason. Jason, you can look at his childhood and be like “oh, makes sense why it makes him so angry” but with Tim it’s kinda… well, there’s no personal motivator, no tie-in for his character, aside from “that’s a very wrong thing and people should not be allowed to get away with it.” ‘Cause like, yea, it’s very wrong. People really should not be allowed to get away with providing harmful substances to children, with hurting children, with trafficking them. But that makes me normal-angry, not violently angry. Not “it makes sense to kill 7 people and stuff their heads in a duffle bag as a power move to my adopted father” angry. Not “terrorize the population of a whole city, particularly those in this one neighborhood I’ve never been in, with the consequences of crossing that line” angry. More “huff and puff about how wrong it is and maybe punch an asshole I see doing it” angry. Post-child-vigilante prolly has a more definite “punch an asshole I see doing it” reaction along with a ten-step plan on how to relocate the child they’ve found to some place safer, but that’s not “go on a murder spree until everyone fears my name” angry.

Tim coming back to Gotham? Sounds right, I believe it. Coming back to Gotham for revenge on Batman and the-man-who-killed-him? Even more believable. But doing so as dramatically as Jason did? When Jason had a plan that was basically a 20 Act play? Dude was monologuing like he was on stage in a high school play, after barely managing to cinch the Lead role, with talent scouts guaranteed to be in the crowd, even when he was demanding Batman kill The Joker. I don’t know if any of the Batkids could follow in Jason’s footsteps like that. If anything, I see Tim doing a quiet takeover and then three or four months in, Bruce suddenly realizes that Gotham is quiet and none of the big players are making any moves because they’re no longer on the board. Or they’ve been relocated from the chess board to a never-ending Chutes & Ladders game. But it takes B much longer to find the cause of the new state Gotham is in.

Particularly since Tim would have a more extensive League training than he does in canon.

Anyways, I ask all these questions cuz I’m trying to figure out how Dead Tired would work in a Reverse Robins AU. Like, I have no clue how Tim-as-Red-Hood works as I have no clue how Red Hood would be explained by Tim’s character so I can’t figure out how to insert Danny in there. I’m very curious.

[oonightmareoo]

Y’know. Everyone likes to go “ghosts bond by fighting” but never really back it up with Danny interacting with the Batfam. He always bonds with them in the human way, which yea, that’s always nice. But I kinda wanna see Danny struggle with the human way.

Like, obviously he’s friends with Sam and Tucker without fighting them, but that’s just lasting affection from before his death. And yeah, his sister is Jazz, but she’s always been his sister, so there’s no change. But he fought Val. He bonded with Val the ghost way.

Gimme, post-Nasty Burger explosion or post-Bad Parents Fenton, Danny struggling to be in the Wayne family. Not because they’re obviously hiding something, or because they’re workaholics that… don’t seem to have jobs? No, his issue is that he doesn’t know how to interact with them.

Like, sure, Dick is always stating how excited he is that he’s got a new brother, but Danny just doesn’t feel it. Not like Danny feels it’s a betrayal to Jazz, but like Dick just seems distant. Yeah, Dick is very… huggy, let’s just say, and he’s constantly coming to Gotham to have “brotherly bonding” time with Danny and Dick does everything that Danny had ever imagined a big brother might do for him… but.

And of course Jason is there, he’s helping Danny with his English and Reading homework, he’s joking with Danny in the way that no one else is, he’s driving Danny from place to place, Jason is just… present, but.

And Tim, can’t forget Tim, Tim tinkers with projects with Danny and plays games with Danny and-

And Damian- Duke, Bruce, even Alfred!

But. But! Danny feels like an outsider looking in as he’s doing these activities with the Wayne’s. Not in a way of feeling like he’s inconveniencing these busy and important people, but in that he’s just hanging around with work friends he can barely remember the names of and definitely doesn’t have the phone numbers of (but he does, he has their phone numbers, he knows their names, he knows their favorite colors- what is wrong with him??)

And then it clicks, when he has to fight a misunderstanding Batman off. Because now Batman is his… friend? Dad? Now Batman is his something but why can’t he feel that way about Bruce?

And then he fights Nightwing in a panic and Nightwing becomes his… something. And it’s replicable. He fights every one of the Bats over a misunderstanding or because of some outside influence and they become his family even though he wanted this feeling with the Wayne’s and he doesn’t know what to do and it hurts that he doesn’t have this feeling with the Wayne’s and it almost feels like a betrayal to their efforts and-

Then he finds out that the Wayne’s are the Bats.

[blackfoxsposts]

I love everything this post is saying but i have to ask what is the definition of "fighting" is for ghost bonding. I ask because siblings have petty little fights all the time. Sometimes its play sometimes its not. Does wrestling count? Cause I can see Jason getting Danny in a headlock and them scuffleing for a minute. How long do the "fights" need to be? One of the bats totally would charge leap onto Danny back get flipped onto the ground and end the encounter with, "Ops thought you were (bats name here)."

[oonightmareoo]

In my opinion, “sibling fights” aren’t really… fighting. It’s messing around for the sake of messing around, basically going “I trust you not to seriously hurt me, but you’re going down - but if you do hurt me, you can bet I’m calling on mom about it.”

But ghost fights are bigger. Flashier. Much more violent.

Ghost fights are “I’m going to take you down even if it means I lose an arm.”

Just, Danny feeling like he’s fighting for his life because Batman thought he’d harmed a crying child he’d just rescued, seeing only this otherworldly creature looming over a little 3-year-old and Batman’s mom instincts kicking in, and never having felt better because holy crap. Batman was so cool! And yea, Batman seems to be trying to remove his hands but like, Danny can grow those back later, it’s fine. Then the misunderstanding clears, the fight ends, and all Danny wants is to either continue that fight or cuddle up to Batman under his cape - and wow is that disorienting.

Y’know what, he’s gonna instead go ask Bruce for cuddles, that’s a more normal person to get cuddles from as his new dad.

[oonightmareoo]

Y’know. Everyone likes to go “ghosts bond by fighting” but never really back it up with Danny interacting with the Batfam. He always bonds with them in the human way, which yea, that’s always nice. But I kinda wanna see Danny struggle with the human way.

Like, obviously he’s friends with Sam and Tucker without fighting them, but that’s just lasting affection from before his death. And yeah, his sister is Jazz, but she’s always been his sister, so there’s no change. But he fought Val. He bonded with Val the ghost way.

Gimme, post-Nasty Burger explosion or post-Bad Parents Fenton, Danny struggling to be in the Wayne family. Not because they’re obviously hiding something, or because they’re workaholics that… don’t seem to have jobs? No, his issue is that he doesn’t know how to interact with them.

Like, sure, Dick is always stating how excited he is that he’s got a new brother, but Danny just doesn’t feel it. Not like Danny feels it’s a betrayal to Jazz, but like Dick just seems distant. Yeah, Dick is very… huggy, let’s just say, and he’s constantly coming to Gotham to have “brotherly bonding” time with Danny and Dick does everything that Danny had ever imagined a big brother might do for him… but.

And of course Jason is there, he’s helping Danny with his English and Reading homework, he’s joking with Danny in the way that no one else is, he’s driving Danny from place to place, Jason is just… present, but.

And Tim, can’t forget Tim, Tim tinkers with projects with Danny and plays games with Danny and-

And Damian- Duke, Bruce, even Alfred!

But. But! Danny feels like an outsider looking in as he’s doing these activities with the Wayne’s. Not in a way of feeling like he’s inconveniencing these busy and important people, but in that he’s just hanging around with work friends he can barely remember the names of and definitely doesn’t have the phone numbers of (but he does, he has their phone numbers, he knows their names, he knows their favorite colors- what is wrong with him??)

And then it clicks, when he has to fight a misunderstanding Batman off. Because now Batman is his… friend? Dad? Now Batman is his something but why can’t he feel that way about Bruce?

And then he fights Nightwing in a panic and Nightwing becomes his… something. And it’s replicable. He fights every one of the Bats over a misunderstanding or because of some outside influence and they become his family even though he wanted this feeling with the Wayne’s and he doesn’t know what to do and it hurts that he doesn’t have this feeling with the Wayne’s and it almost feels like a betrayal to their efforts and-

Then he finds out that the Wayne’s are the Bats.

[oonightmareoo]

I really want someone to go the full avoidance route - not out of some misplaced anger, but because Danny doesn’t know that Batman isn’t there to arrest him.

…

Batman stood on the roof, observing the fight. It wasn’t the first battle he’d observed for this being, wasn’t even the most interesting, but any data was good to collect.

From what he’d been able to gather, in the past two years the ghost fights had toned down a lot. At the beginning, they’d wreck the portion of town Phantom and the Rogue of the Day found themselves fighting in, and Phantom would guiltily offer his assistance to fix what was broken. The townspeople hadn’t reacted… well to the first few offers of help, they’d admitted rather easily, and Phantom stopped offering. During the much larger fights that Bruce would classify as worthy of Justice League intervention, Phantom would help without asking - which had likely gone a long way in improving his personal image, even if the townsfolk seemed generally negative towards “ghosts” as a race. Nowadays, the ghost fights weren’t what caused damage to the town. It was the ghost hunters.

Another note to be made was that Phantom had, according to what little footage Oracle could find, been terrified of the other ghosts towards the beginning. He hid it well, behind bravado and quips that made Bruce’s former Robins grin in amusement, but he was clearly out of his depth. Bruce had two running theories on the why - he’d either been a recluse, avoiding other ghosts before the Fenton’s portal opened (which was its own mess of a situation), or he was a new ghost, from shortly before or after the portal opened - but wouldn’t be able to lean one direction or another without a conversation with Phantom.

Which was the main problem Bruce was running into in this situation.

Generally, unless the targeted person was a criminal and not too keen on the idea of being arrested, Batman’s uniform was enough to elicit attention. Typically, when he was the one to go out scouting, the non-JLA-affiliated vigilante or wannabe hero would approach him upon seeing his caped figure. Oftentimes, all Bruce had to do was stand on a visible roof and let the town or city’s local protector(s) approach him.

Phantom captured the ghost who’d been tearing through town on his motorcycle and turned just enough that he caught sight of Batman - and, just like every time before, the ghost’s head snapped up, green eyes boring into Bruce’s mask, before Phantom disappeared from view. Changing his lenses to heat detection showed the ghost staring at him for a few moments longer before diving into the ground as the Fenton’s tank came flying down the road.

Bruce held back a sigh. He does have other objectives in Amity Park, including the meeting the Fenton’s were going to be late for here in an hour. He’ll keep attempting contact with Phantom, even being a little more proactive in forcing the conversation, but for now it was a lost cause.

[oonightmareoo]

Feeling the intense urge to become an animator as a hobby, just so I can see what I write about (I have aphantasia) and maybe give y’all a treat… any tips/tricks/resources y’all would suggest?

[oonightmareoo]

Just once, I want Danny to spout off something that he’s clearly heard from Jazz and then cringe at it.

Jason: “Just gotta wait until the Stockholm Syndrome kicks in!”

Danny: “Actually, that is a phony diagnosis created by a sexist psychiatrist who saw a hostage situation on TV and decided that the woman, in fight-flight-fawn mode, was in love with the man waving a gun at h-"

Jason: *raises eyebrow*

Danny, realizing: "Oh, you meant it as a joke… Ancients, I sounded like Jazz there.” *shudders*

Dick, exasperated: “Monkey see, monkey do, after all…”

Danny, eating a snack: "Actually, monkeys mimic behavior as a form of communication and survival, while the so-called Chameleon Effect is influenced by a desire to fit in and be liked by the people around us. It's also influenced by a part of the brain that certain- *pauses* *pushes snack away* And that was super fucking weird to bring up all of a sudden, sorry, what were we talking about?" *face screwed up in disgust*

Dick: *is just amused*

Damian, angry enough to turn red: "-I will eviscerate you so much that even your mother would be disgusted by your incompetent-"

Danny, off to the side and kinda zoned out: "Did you know that excess violence in teenagers, while typically attributed towards early childhood development by those around the teenager, is almost always caused by their current situation and a feeling of estrangement, lack of control, or- wow, yea, okay, I'm shutting up now, I just realized what I sounded like. Uegh."

Damian, suddenly calm: "You bring up a valid point, Daniel. Come, make your argument in front of father. Please."

Tim: "I'll sleep when I'm dead; for now, there's coffee."

Jason: "That shit stunts your growth, pipsqueak."

Danny: "That was actually debunked. What coffee does do is it blocks your adenosine receptors and enhances your dopamine signaling, increasing your mood and motivation as well as enhancing your memory, and then it also improves your attention and alertness. However, it also increases your anxiety and sleep disturbances, which can mess up your memory consolidation and brain recovery." *makes a disgusted face* *shudders* *takes a sip of an energy drink* "Anyways, ignoring all that nonsense that I'm definitely ignoring that I've accidentally memorized, sleeping when you're dead is also a myth. I would know." *chugs energy drink*

Tim, despairing with a tight grip on his coffee: "Nooo, I was relying on that!"

[oonightmareoo]

He was dreaming.

At least, he thinks so?

There’s no point in his memories that would explain why he’d be wandering this cave without a thought in his head, at least. He would come across a branching path and, without pausing to consider the best option or finding any clues as to what path he might be choosing, would pick one at random to follow.

Now, don’t get him wrong. If he were in this cave of his own volition, he probably be taking pictures of the scenery. Underground lakes, natural lime and rock structures, even quartz the size of Bruce - it was breathtaking to behold. Were he really in a cave and not in a dream. There was enough supernatural in the world that Tim was taking careful notes of what he saw in the back of his mind.

When he woke up, he’d write it all down and see if someone could find meaning in it. If they could, great. If not, even better.

For the first time, his dream self paused before passing a threshold. On the other side was nothing special, Tim could even believe it was just another chamber of the Batcave. After passing all those beautiful sights, the chamber was underwhelming. But there were no paths out other than the one he’d come from.

His dream self shuffled forward, feet - had he been walking without shoes the whole time? Definitely a dream then - brushing the rock floor hesitantly as he quietly approached a column on the opposite side. It was a thick column, it’d been forming for several hundreds of years clearly, and hid whatever his dream self approached.

Stepping around it brought Tim up short, startling him enough that even his dream self paused to stare. There was a skeleton. Of a Victorian vampire, perhaps, based on the teeth and clothing. The skeleton even had the remains of what must’ve been a cape. Several of the visible bones were broken, the skull caved in, and an eye socket malformed from either injury or deterioration. Tim didn’t exactly pay attention to what his parents would say about archaeology, to be fair.

What was noteworthy, though - the vampire had been gripping something tightly when they’d… passed? Something wrapped in thick fabric, clenched in fingers even now that they were nothing but bone.

Logically, Tim wasn’t going to do anything about that.

Illogically, Dream!Tim decided he must have the cloth-covered object.

Tim watched in muted horror as his hand reached out, snapping old bones to get to the fabric. Surprisingly, nothing happened despite the desecrated skeleton and Dream!Tim retrieved the object with no further protest. Turning the object over in his hands, Dream!Tim found a spot he could use to open up the fabric, which he did with haste.

Leaving Tim holding an uneven orb. The orb was glowing a soft blue, the surface jagged as though it were an uncarved piece of ice - the snow flurries Tim could see inside of it were mesmerizing. It was beautiful. It seemed fragile. It was clearly magic.

Tim didn’t give a damn.

Tucking the orb into his pocket (was he in his pajamas?), Tim took another look at the skeleton he’d just taken from and took a quick step back upon realizing the vampire’s head was now tilted back instead of forward, watching Tim without eyes. No, watching Tim’s pocket. Tim’s new treasure.

He’d be damned if he let that dried up vampire have his new core. (Core?)

The skeleton began the arduous process of shambling to its feet but Tim was quicker, leaving the chamber and racing back the way he’d come.

—

Tim woke up with a gasp, his heart racing like he’d done an ill-prepared solo patrol directly after an Arkham breakout. Again. Wildly looking around him, Tim began relaxing upon seeing his bedroom. With his blackout curtains, he’d need his phone to check what time it was, but he wasn’t concerned.

Honestly, he wanted some more sleep.

So he turned on his side to return to dream world… or, well, that was the plan.

He had a sneaking suspicion that the fist-sized rock in his pocket, putting pressure on his hip, was going to ruin that plan.

[oonightmareoo]

I’ve seen a few fics where Danny finds out that he’s actually half-Kryptonian, instead of half-human… but it’s always because of something obvious. Like, maybe Danny should’ve realized BEFORE someone pointed it out to him type of obvious.

Gimme something circumstantial.

Gimme hetero!Danny finding a cool glowing pink rock and debating what to do with it when he sees Tucker and is just like “imma hit that ASAP” and it takes everyone forever to figure out why Danny changed so suddenly, so drastically.

Gimme Danny finding this glowing blue rock and suddenly he can’t use any of his normal powers, though he can kinda phase through solid objects but his control of that power is shaky at best and nonexistent at worst.

Gimme Danny stumbling into a cache of green glowing rocks that Luthor had squirreled away for a rainy day, and then being unable to do anything but crumple to the ground and wait for rescue. Or a second death.

Gimme Danny being handed a glowing red rock and some unexpected thing happens and he has no idea what to do, panicking to the point that Clockwork steps in and is like “maybe go talk to a Super?”

Gimme Danny cutting himself on a sharp silver rock and then gaining paranoia to put the Bat to shame.

Gimme Danny finding a glowing purple rock and deciding Sam would probably like it but now time is being funky and he can’t even get Clockwork to help.

Basically, just gimme Danny finding Kryptonite, not knowing shit about Kryptonite besides what the general public is aware of when it comes to Superman’s very public weakness, and reacting to it only to need assistance by a hero. Revealing that oh, that’s Kryptonite and Danny’s a Kryptonian - or at least half-a-Kryptonian - and maybe Danny should be taught about the things Kryptonians have special about them.

And if that results in Danny joining the Justice League, the GIW being disbanded, and the Anti-Ecto Acts being dissolved, then happy endings all around really.

[oonightmareoo]

.... I am not sorry. Enjoy!

...

...

"You once asked me," Tim commented, eyes meeting the white blinds of Red Hood's helmet, "why everyone calls me The Smart Robin."

Red Hood didn't respond. Tim didn't expect him to.

"At the time, I'd said something about my computer skills. Maybe it was how I could outsmart even The Bat. I remember commenting on that, too. Dick had then issued some dumb challenge." Tim lifted one of the nearby escrima, without an owner for so long that the little details had begun to degrade, to block some of the light above him. He could almost pretend they were brand new and he was just holding onto them for Dick, adding some new upgrade or fixing the now defunct taser function in them. "I don't really remember what happened afterwards. That doesn't really matter, either."

Damian had been unable to recover anything but Dick's escrima.

"You once asked me why everyone calls me The Smart Robin," Tim repeats, frustration bleeding into his voice. Tim turned his gaze to survey the dilapidated Batcave, hardly a shadow of its former glory, and his eyes drifted to the displayed Batman uniform.

It was almost depressing how Bruce hadn't even been able to suit up.

"The fucking Smart Robin," Tim seethed, standing up and reeling his arm back - before carefully bringing the escrima back down. He couldn't throw one of the last keepsakes of his oldest brother. He sighed, reaching down to grab the scuffed helmet before tucking it between his arm and side.

He stood there for a long moment, staring at nothing, before jerkily beginning his trek to the smashed Batcomputer. "What good is the title if I can't figure out how to fix this?" Tim muttered to the helmet before flopping into the somewhat-repaired computer chair, letting the helmet roll across the remaining desk.

He reached over his head to grab the cape he'd draped over the back after Damian had also perished, burying his face into the fabric. It smelt like dust and debris and that specific scent that Tim had always attributed to Gotham herself. Neither Damian's favorite tea nor Titus' shampoo scents were left. At this point, it was a swath of fabric that Tim couldn't even wear because he couldn't bring himself to use it for scraps.

Tim wished he had something of Duke's but there was nothing of his where his tracker was last recorded. Cass and Steph were uncertain as to whether they were still alive or not, as they were in Hong Kong when it all went down and long-distance communications were one of the first things to be eliminated.

The Supers were the first to fall to their still unknown foe, disintegrating into dust before Lois' eyes - according to the hysterical newly widowed and grieving mother. Supergirl and Power Girl were both unknown, but unlikely to have survived due to their MIA status. After the Supers, the Earth-based Lanterns and all communication with Oa. Then, Wonder Woman and then... Bruce.

That was, at least, the presumed timeline. After the main three Justice League founders and their ability to call for assistance from what was essentially the galactic police were eliminated, the unknown enemy then began expanding and checking off an arbitrary list. At that point, the Bats were still largely unaware, and it took a news feature on Bruce Wayne disappearing in a cloud of dirt for Tim to be made aware. He'd immediately informed the others.

They'd tried everything they could to figure out what they were even supposed to be fighting. Then it began taking civilians, picking up speed, then started disintegrating the earth itself. And then it took Red Hood. Nightwing. Robin. Signal. All the way until, so far as Tim could figure, Red Robin was the only still active vigilante. Not that there was anything left of Gotham to protect, aside from dust-filled streets and dirty ruins.

It almost felt like some higher power had decided to hit Reset on this dimension, and it had to destroy everything before it could restart.

"Oh hey, I finally found someone- hey!" The unexpected voice would've caused Tim to jump up to defend the last of his home had he not been so willing to join his family. Instead, his head flopped back so it leant against the headrest, his eyes rolling in the direction the person was in.

If Jason hadn't declared that no God exists within two months after Bruce's... disappearance, Tim would almost call the person an angel.

"So, this Realm kinda hit a... disturbance of sorts in the Infinite, I've been trying to find someone that could actually explain what all went down so I could try and, like, diagnose it, I guess?" The white-haired man kinda shrugged, "I mean, something like that, at least. Can't fix it if I don't know what's wrong, y'know?"

[oonightmareoo]

“Wow,” Bruce tensed at the unexpected voice, “that was, to be polite, an absolute train wreck.”

“That’s the polite descriptor?” Bruce turned to meet blue eyes, “I shudder to imagine the impolite version.”

The room had been empty. He’d made sure of it before allowing Dick to move their… argument. There were no signs of life on this or the next five floors down. Yet, there he was. A beautiful man, too many years his junior for his thoughts to go straight to the man’s looks, sitting on a stool at a workbench.

“Oh, for sure, you definitely don’t want to hear what else I could describe that as.” The man nodded, bringing Bruce’s attention to the jewelry tucked into the man’s shirt and hidden by his hair. “Ignoring all the stuff I clearly shouldn’t have heard,” which meant he did, in fact, notice the Bat-based vocabulary, “you are terrible at communicating with your kids.”

“Oh?” Bruce strained to sound casual, trying not to give away what all he may have not already.

“Oh yeah. Like, clearly you love your kids. Right?” The man waited for acknowledgment, which Bruce begrudgingly gave, before he continued, “right, so, what’s stopping you from saying it? Just a simple, I’m worried about you going on that inter-dimensional mission because I love you and want you to be safe, would work great. Might even get you brownie points, you know? Instead of what you said, which implied a lack of trust and a sense of derision towards your son’s skills, and was never going to be taken well.” Well. That answered well enough what all the pretty man had heard.

“It’s not that easy,” Bruce frowned at him, debating how many NDAs he’d have to threaten the man into signing.

“Sure it is. Just open your mouth and say the words, let them sit there, and don’t take them back.” Blue met and held blue from across the room before the man rolled his eyes, “right, okay, would it help you to think of it as a series of undefined tasks or a science experiment?”

“The latter,” the former sounded like what he’d already been working with.

“Okay, so pull up a stool,” the man twirled a pen as he pulled over a loose sheet of paper, “and we’ll start with the scientific method: if the big bad Bat communicates ineffectively then his children will be upset because they don’t have empathic abilities. What about this sentence can we change to make it better?”

“My ability to communicate,” Bruce admitted.

“Very good,” the man praised and Bruce wondered if he could get away with slamming the man’s head into the table without it being workplace abuse. Probably not. “So, if the Bat communicates effectively, then…?”

“My children won’t be as upset.”

“Because…?”

“They’ll understand what I mean better.”

“Alright, we now have our hypothesis. Next step is the experiment.”

[oonightmareoo]

Amity Parkers know that Danny Fenton is nothing to look at.

They've seen the dude eat shit so many times, they're legitimately surprised his chin isn't permanently bruised from how often it hits the ground after he trips. He's the son of the town crazies and there's even rumors that he's cursed or something, since there's been witness accounts of Fenton's eyes glowing green or disappearing in plain view. His entire time in middle and high school was spent being shoved into lockers, put into wedgies, eating the quarterback's underwear - Daniel "Danny" Fenton was not a prize and was honestly the bottom of the barrel for only the truly desperate.

So, explain to them why the fugly nerd managed to pull so hard once he left Amity?

Every other day, there was a new image or clip of Fenton interacting with a Wayne - the cream of the crop, the ideal of ideals, the ones someone could only dream of the chance of being in the same building as - and a headline detailing some new dramatic action the Wayne kid had taken to fight their siblings for Fenton's attention. If it wasn't a Wayne, it was some other famous person - even Superboy, the teen dreamboat, seemed to shoot his shot with Fenton.

Was there something that Amity Parkers were missing? Fenton didn't exactly look all that different from when he'd graduated high school. Why was the world suddenly treating Fenton like... like a diamond in the rough? It didn't make any sense!

Finally, they think in near unison, watching Fenton bite dust on live television, maybe the world will finally realize that they'd been irrationally attracted to a loser.

Instead, they watch as the world collectively is endeared by how clumsy Danny is and isn't that cute? A little flaw for what is otherwise a perfect person.

Amity Park is baffled.

[oonightmareoo]

Danny is Bruce’s clone.

Hold on now, hear me out, I get that it’s been done before (but really, can you have too much of a good thing? In fanfics?) but just… give me a second to get to the point of this prompt.

Danny is Bruce’s clone. He wasn’t created to kill Bruce or take over his life or because of Batman or what-have-you, but simply because his creator thought Bruce was pretty. Not in an “I want to get him in my bed” pretty, but an “I want to display him in my house” pretty. Danny’s creator took one look at Brucie Wayne, just before adopting Dick Grayson, and went “he would look lovely in my front room.” They’d intended to create a child with Bruce, but every attempt failed. So, they took drastic measures instead, and, just as rumors of The Batman and Robin Dynamic Duo began being verified as truth, a baby was taken from a cloning pod.

The baby was an ugly little thing, so the creator was very hands off and awaiting the day they could begin grooming the boy into the perfect little centerpiece.

Somehow, in some way, the Fenton’s get ahold of Danny. Which really just ruined the creator’s whole side project, but if mind-controlling was on the table, then mind-wiping was surely available. Now, if only they could find their pretty vase, wherever he might be…

Oh. There he is. And just as pretty as they were imagining.

Meanwhile, Danny is getting creeped out by this person who randomly shows up one day and starts staring at him. Just what he needed, another Fruitloop. Well, might as well ignore them like he does all his other problems.

Hold on, he’s adopted? And shares DNA with who again?? That means Bruce Wayne is his bio-dad, right?

So Danny goes to meet his bio-dad, just to say he has… and the creepy person just. Follows. Everywhere Danny looks, he seems to be meeting that stranger’s eyes again. And it’s like, kinda weird? Like, moreso than being followed by a creepy person is weird - there seem to be various non-lethal traps trying to cage him but they’re, like, stupidly easy to escape. It’s like whoever is trying to capture him is unaware of Danny being Phantom, but who in the world wants to capture just Danny Fenton? He’s 15, average, boring, and broke af, so like? What would even be the point of capturing normal human Danny?

Danny goes to meet Bruce and, just as they lock eyes and Bruce has a moment of “holy shit that kid couldn’t look more like a child me if he tried, who the hell did I knock up 15 years ago” and Danny is like “yep, that’s obviously my dad”, someone comes up from behind Danny and knocks him out with drugs.

They’re in a public place. Neither Bruce nor Danny can reveal themselves. Danny is forced to inhale the chloroform-or-whatever-drug-of-your-choosing, is knocked out, and then taken to another location where he wakes up with a pretty new collar, that blocks Danny’s access to his ghost half, and the creep staring at him waking up.

Bruce drives himself up the wall trying to find the kid that was clearly his, lost like sand within his grasp.

[birdbitch0010]

Ok but like, this was the perfect set up for them misunderstanding the exact kind of creep this dude is. Like Danny. C’mon.

You’ve got a stalker dude who is near constantly following you, always staring at you, and keeps trying to capture you alive. Ie. Kidnapping. Is this not ringing any alarm bells in that empty noggin? And oh man imagine Danny finding Bruce and meandering around in a conversation with him until he mentions the fruit loop that’s been watching him and trying to capture him. Bruce just found this “child” of his (going with the usual 14 year old Danny here) and already kill bill sirens are going off. What do you mean some pedophiles been trying to kidnap his son? Mr a-clone-can-be-an-ornament is going to be getting a violent visit from Batman soon

[oonightmareoo]

I definitely cannot write a fic for this idea - I'm far too burnt out with way too many fics in progress to even try - but this did give me an idea for an excerpt.

...

Danny blinked at the ceiling. It was actually a strange ceiling. He's never seen one remotely like it before. What was it called... vaulted? Where there's an illusion that the ceiling is higher than it is, even if it's already pretty high as ceilings go? It's got the angled wooden bits on the edges, before becoming an interesting design of wooden squares that had even more interesting designs on the inside. Whoever built this room intended for even the ceiling to be an art piece. So yeah, strange ceiling.

Where was he?

Oh sh- actually, though, seriously, where the heck is he??

The door opened - there was a door? Man, his brain is not... braining - and Danny's eyes floated from the art piece ceiling to the person walking in. She was pretty, her blonde hair in soft curls and her eyes a lovely shade of green that... Danny doesn't think he's seen before except that one time the lady was following him and lost her sunglasses-

Oh shit. Oh crap. That was the lady that was following him. He tried making his brain sound the alarm bells, but his thoughts were running far too sluggishly for any sort of alarm. Mostly he was just tired. Like he'd spent the last three days being constantly attacked by ghosts at the craziest hours.

"Oh," she breathed, an excited expression on her face, "you're awake!" She brought a tray over to the side table beside the- his bed?? He was in a bed? She set the tray down, brushed aside her soft-looking hair, before giving him a gentle look. "How are you feeling?"

"Not-"

Whatever his brain managed to gather together to say past his cotton-filled mouth was summarily ignored, as the woman steamrolled over his answer, "I wasn't sure what to put as a dosage when I finally realized that you were a meta, for whatever awful reason, and not just incredibly lucky at dodging my traps. I'm truly glad that I didn't accidentally kill you, that would've been a pain in the rear. I don't exactly have any more of his DNA to make another attempt, and he's been annoyingly cautious who has been near him since he bought his second disgrace."

Man. Danny could not keep up.

"Regardless," the lady continued, taking a seat on the edge of his- the bed? Was he chained down? "I'm glad I didn't miscalculate the dose." Her hand brushed his cheek tenderly, eyes gazing softly down at him. "You're just as pretty up close as you are from far away." Her words sent a shiver down his spine as he suddenly had full clarity on his situation.

Danny was in an unknown location, with an unknown woman, and chained to a bed. He didn't recognize the clothing he was wearing, which meant someone had changed them, and the woman was commenting on his looks after admitting to drugging him to kidnap him. He couldn't feel his ghost half.

He couldn't feel his ghost half, he's gonna hurl-

Danny shifted, attempting to leverage his heavy body to move away from the threat - for all she was soft-looking and seemed like she couldn't hurt a fly, she had fully upgraded from "civilian" to "threat" in his mind - and then froze. Was that an Ancients' damned collar on his throat-

"Get away from me," he heard his voice croak out - his brain too lost in his panic to really register that he was even intending to speak let alone actually committing to the action - and the woman's soft green eyes sharpened.

"You get no say in this, my pretty vase," she patted his cheek, the hand then trailing down his front - he shuddered as it reached his chest, seeming to show no intention of stopping, before she blessedly removed her hand somewhere near his stomach. "Your only focus should be in staying still and looking pretty."

"Hell no-" she cut him off once again.

"If you remain uncooperative, perhaps I should exemplify what shall happen?" The hand that had just- reached up, grabbing ahold of a necklace that had seemed truly fully decorational before the moment she pressed a button hidden on the underside and-

His world lit up- he was in a metal tube, his hand was stuck to the button he'd just accidentally pressed, he could feel his bones melting- bones weren't supposed to do that!! He was dying, being remade, falling apart, being rebuilt, disintegrating-

Blessed relief, he opened eyes he didn't realize he'd shut and fully expected to meet Sam's purple eyes and Tucker's brown - but all he could see was green.