"Do we have to get him out? He's the one who fucked up! Who tries to steal a Tiffany lamp and then try to smuggle it out?" Lisa leaned over Len's chair and propped her chin on his head. Not easy to do since he was pouring over a map of Iron Heights and marking new security upgrades and altered guard rotations.
"He's on a Rouge, Lisa." Leonard Snart tiled his head to the side to glance where everyone else was checking over weapons or social media. "Ready?"
A chorus of agreements followed.
"Let's go steal a Rogue."
#$#$#$
Mirror Master was working on a wooden puzzle of the Grand Canyon when the first pitched howl penetrated the cell walls. Pausing, he listened as another shout echoed close by. Setting the next piece into place before the cold gun whirled to life nearby.
In another minute the door had clicked open and shoved aside by a scowling Golden Glider.
"Goldie!"
"Idiot!" With a newspaper she'd had tucked into her pocket a dozen smacks peppered his head. "Moron! Ugh. I can't believe you!"
"Disciplinary meeting later," Cold's smooth drawl slide into the room with him and a finger gestured him closer. "We have 74 seconds."
"Captain! Coming! But you won't believe who got transferred in a week ago. It's on the hush-hush, but the Joker is here!"
Cold finally paused, reflective goggles obscuring what felt like a glare. Golden Glider made a retching sound. "Joker?"
"Hmmm, not sure how he ended up here. None of the guards know either! It's probably a paperwork fuck-up.
"Central is my city." Cold said too gently to be anything other than a threat. "Piper, where is he?"
He tossed and earpiece to Mirror Master who interested it just in time to hear Pied Piper respond. "He's on level 4. Cell B12."
"Trickster. Clear me a path to that level. Mick, the timeline is changed. Plan G. Mirror, follow me."
Mirror accepted a gun which he had no intention of actually using unless things got extra messy. When they reached Level 4 the Trickster had flattened every guard. Some in sticky string and struggling pointlessly. Others. wrapped in ribbons and never-ending handkerchiefs. Prisoners only barely looked up and the ones near B12 hardly moved, sleeping soundly. All sporting earplugs. The reason why became clear as they got within earshot.
Howling cackles bounced off metal and steel. Joker's voice was raspy, loud, and ear splitting obnoxious. "Say! Tommy! What do you call a cow with two legs?"
The CO glared at the opposite wall with tears of frustration. Unfortunate victim due to security retirements. The only one who had to keep listening to the Joker. "Shut the fuck up, Ronald McDonald!"
Joker howled. "LEAN BEEF! What do you call a security guard without eyes?" Joker slammed himself into the bars. Eyes wild and hands grasping except Tommy has stepped out of range, unimpressed and scowling. "TOMMY!"
"Uh-huh." Mirror Master could only admire the guards with apparent balls of steel only to preen when he continued. "You're really Gotham's worst? This is pathetic. If this was Captain Cold, he'd have gotten himself out three days ago. Step-up your breakout game, Jo-jo."
Again, Joker rammed the bars with a laughing scream of rage."
"Well, that's flattering." Tommy whipped around as Cold stepped into view. Glancing between the rogues his expression pinched. "To be held in such high regard."
"Cappy!" The Joker laughed. "From one supervillain to another you're here to get me out! Aren't you? Ohhhh! That's why you're here!"
"I can't let you do that, Captain Cold." Tommy's weapon was raised. The beginnings of fear burgeoning in his eyes while his stance and arms were steady. "You've got your man. I can't let this one escape."
Prisoners were beginning to stir. Coming to the bars to observe the proceedings. Mutterings filled the small space.
"He's right, Cap!" Someone shouted a few cells down. "You gotta keep him here! He's a fucking monster!"
"Who knows how many people he's actually killed! He got my cousin killed when he blew up the fucking subway in Gotham."
"He killed Robin!"
Cold's expression reflected his namesake. "Piper?"
"I know you don't like heroes, boss, Robin was a kid and we made a deal with the Flash." The hackers voice came over the line with a tremble.
Snart never took his eyes off Tommy even as the Joker cackled for attention. "A courtesy from Central City Rogues to Gotham."
Oh....dude? What the fuck?
Trickster stepped forward, sighing heavily. "I object because of the all deaths and that he's a really shitty clown."
"Duly noted." Cold gestured, watching silently as Tommy found himself bound and gagged within moments by ropes of red silk which suspended him from the ceiling. "Piper?"
More shouted objections, curses, and threats. Banging the doors as Joker's door slid open. The self-titled Clown Prince of Crime stepped forward and directly into a blast of ice which only slowed when the man was fully encased.
One blast could be deadly, but this would be lethal within seconds. The gun's ice was hard, almost impossible to melt on a good day. This much would take weeks without Heatwave's gun.
"Holy shit."
"It's the principle of the matter. We need to make sure that Gotham trash doesn't litter our streets." With a nod to a high-jacked security camera the door closed. A definitive noise which bounded through the hall of the prison and each man's memories.
Mirror Master had never been so proud to be a Rogue.
Protect Dinosaur Valley — Put Guardrails on Massive Data Centers in Texas
I normally don't like to talk about current events here, but I seriously believe that this needs to be addressed! The Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas is in huge danger of having an AI data center being build near the park. The byproducts of AI facilities that poisons the air, uses up the water, pushes up electricity, and harmfully impacts the animals, plants, and people living nearby. Even worse, the request to postpone the operation has been denied by Texas courthouses. But, it's not too late yet! If you care so much in preserving the paleontological site, its ecosystem, and to help the people of Glen Rose TX, then please sign the petition in the link up above. Dinosaur Valley State Park is one of the few places where you can walk the same path as the prehistoric animals did millions of years before you, and I'll be seriously devastated if the unethical facility gets build there.
And if anyone sees this post, then I highly encourage you to reblog it so that way more people can learn about what's about to happen near Dinosaur Valley State Park. The more awareness about this petition, the better are in chances to save the dinosaur valley before it's too late. Let's protect this amazing park!
UPDATE: Ever since I've created this post, the petition to save Dinosaur Valley State Park has raised up to at least nearly 7,500 signatures! More and more people are voicing their opposition on putting a data center within Glen Rose Texas. The residents there are totally against on establishing an unethical building that'll not only destroy the fossil trackway and the natural environment, but also be very harmful to their health sake too. I'm blazing this post to give the people of Glen Rose the fighting chance in persevering their amazing park. Losing the trackways will be a travesty, and I'm not about to give up in saving a part of Earth's ancient past. Let's keep that momentum growing!
Danny is a Chemistry teacher at Gotham Academy. His favorite student is Tim. He shocks the students by teaching and creating a Fear Antitoxin for the kids to learn as part of their curriculum.
Danny is just regarded as the fuckin strange occult wizard man of chemistry. The best (and worst) part is that he’s so damn used to the way his parents taught him how to do chemistry that he doesn’t give instructions with proper measurements when demonstrating the lab in class.
Like, what are the moles? What are the measurements that are needed for this? What materials will you need?
Nah.
Danny opens the demonstration with, “Just a warning, half of the steps I will be showing you in this demonstration will not actually be featured in the lab. I didn’t have [chemical], [chemical], or [chemical] but I did purchase some household cleaning and beauty products from dollar tree that I finished isolating them out of 30 minutes before class.“
“And for [chemical], you can make it out of these two, so that’s taken care of.”
“I made sure to order more but it won’t come in until next Wednesday. So don’t worry, when you do this lab yourself, you will not need to do these steps, but I figured it would be a good learning experience.”
“I only had the time to dilute the chemicals before this period, so I apologize.”
“Dr. Fenton?
“You want me to buy water? No. I’ll dilute the chemicals myself. I don’t really have proper PPE besides gloves and safety goggles, so I’ll just have to make do.”
But it’s just something he’s done so much before the verbal instructions are like, “Put enough in until it looks like there’s enough”
For the lab instructions for the students, he has a worksheet with the the actual recipe in standard measurements but when he’s showing the class how it’s done? Rough measurements BABEY
The way he’s doing it, there should be a massive fucking margin of error and he should absolutely not be getting the product he wants because that’s not how chemistry should Work. The lab required a micropipette and he’s doing it by eye.
Like, maybe people who have 30+ years working in their field with something they have done a bajillion times. But absolutely not a 25 year old who has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and got his PhD last year! And even then, doing it by eye is just asking for you to fuck up and waste your materials.
Why does Danny work as a chemistry teacher when he has a degree in Mechanical Engineering?
Well, Danny got an emergency teaching certificate because he took a lot of chem classes in college and Gotham Academy was desperate.
The chem teachers in Gotham have had a trend of getting themselves in deep shit from criminal organizations threatening them to order chemicals needed to manufacture [x] toxin or drug.
And they’d agree because it was for a ridiculous price, but if the chem teachers weren’t able to supply them enough or the criminals couldn’t get what they got the chemicals for to work, they’d blame it on the chem teacher and not their shitty chemistry practices or storing, and they’d get killed.
So, Gotham is running short on demand for chemistry teachers.
It’s also how Danny found out what was in the fear toxins.
Small criminal organizations didn’t have big reach to other means to get chemicals in bulk so they’d go to where they know chemicals can be ordered: schools for chem.
And the small criminal organizations try to replicate the toxins based off what they’ve heard is in them. Based off the previous Chemistry teacher’s ordering history, Danny was able to get a fairly good guess to what’s in it.
And if Danny was Really good at chem (like fictional mad scientist level good), then through tinkering around, he was able to find out what was missing.
Tim is now baffled.
How the fuck this guy who teaches the shop classes also know enough about chemistry that he can make a fear toxin antivenom without ridiculously high-tech equipment with stupid levels of precision measuring????
Danny just shrugs if he’s asked. He’s used to helping his parents in the lab.
I mean, do you think the Drs Fenton actually praticed good sterile technique? Or proper lab safety? Or actually measured or recorded their experiments by moles or standard measurements or anything? Or isolate chemicals from cheap household cleaners? Or ordered at anything less than the highest concentration they could and diluted it themselves because they weren’t going to pay for water.
Fuck no. They learned how to adapt based on what they had and learned how to do it based on sight, smell, heat, color, taste, etc. (Yes, taste. There’s a reason ectoplasm is stored in the fridge and it’s because they think it’s safe for human consumption.
It’s one of the reasons the Drs. Fenton were dismissed by the scientific community. Their experiments didn’t have precise measurements and had a very low chance of the results being replicated because of how they did it.
The biggest challenge Danny had in chem classes in college was writing lab reports.
He almost always got his results right but couldn’t explain it, because it was just “I did it until it felt right” and the profs did Not accept that so he had to get used to actually using standard measurements.
And now here we are in the aftermath of Danny’s lab for fear antitoxin in Gotham Academy.
He was trying to be relatable with these Gotham kids and give them a lab that would be practical and something that they’d actually use to get on the kid’s good graces.
Okay, but listen, they’re all concerned about Danny and Jazz being potential super villains based on observed behavior in Gotham. But then they dig into the Fenton Siblings and pull up multiple articles about Danny Fenton in Amity Park, ranging from Danny discovering Their Purple Back Gorilla was a Female to Leading his classmates (several times) against attacking Ghosts Metas. He’s close friends with Red Huntress who is well on her way to being a Jr Leaguer in good standing with the Hero Community. He also has close ties to a particularly promising WE Programming Intern.
I would put good money on Jazz having multiple research papers and joint(with Sam’s help, who is likely a rising star in the environmentalist circles)protest/projects for reforming how voluntary and involuntary hospitalizations are handled. Her thesis paper on Mind Control can cause PTSD on the same level as a kidnapping or any situation a person experiences any range in loss of control over themselves or their lives.
Batman has a choice to make here. This is clearly a tight-knit group of Young Adults, several of whom are clearly Metas of some kind. That all have backgrounds and skills to be dangerous individuals, but past documented history shows they are Good People.
He could just, close the file and let it go until they show actual activity of crime. Or keep digging.
All interactions with Danny and Jazz are pleasant and friendly. Jazz is the most subtly hostile of the two in these instances, but only when a question is over-friendly or invasive. She’s very obviously protective of her Brother who they can see, outside a school setting he wears t-shirts, has several concerning scars visible on his arms and peeking over the neckline of his shirt. (Bonus for attractive facial scars he covers for classes, but not in his free time.)
They are viciously protective of their privacy. Which, while annoying for Batman’s need to KNOW about potential threats, is not actually out of the ordinary or people or for a Gothamite. Investigations that include interviewing people from Amity Park or Red Huntress show this isn’t a unique trait of the Fenton siblings. Nightwing got whiplash when the professional, polite AP Hero snapped out “What are you a cop?” when he asked about Danny.
NW: uh… no?
Valerie, who’s had it up to Mars with people harassing them: Sure pretty boy, but here’s what I’ll tell you about Fenton and his sister.
NW perking up at potential information: ???
Valerie: You and your team will leave them alone if you know what’s good for you.
NW: is… are they dangerous?
Valerie: The Fentons can take care of themselves, but they aren’t who you gotta worry about if something happens to them, or they feel unsafe because of some loser furry who can’t mind his god-damn business.
NW, trying his best not to laugh at loser furry: You, you know that doesn’t help, right? Look, Gotham has a high turn over rate of Chemists and Psychologists becoming villains. We just-
Valerie: First of all, pretty boy, the fastest way for someone to turn to being a bad guy is to treat them like a bad guy. You’re lucky Fenton is a bleeding heart with iron clad morals, or we’d have been fucked a decade ago. Secondly, it’s ME and his Friends who will come for your asses if you hurt them. You do anything that puts him in danger because you won’t drop it when they’ve done nothing but their jobs, and we’ll hit you so hard and fast the Flash won’t even be able to save you.
NW: okay, okay, got it. Loud and clear!
Valerie: Good. Y'all leave that embodiment of chaos and sunshine alone. Unless you need help, I guess you can ask him for assistance, but he’s retired from the Hero Game and none of us will forgive you if you try to drag him back into it.
They get similar threats when questioning Sam and Tucker.
Sam: The hell I unleash will make Dr Pam’s worst rampage look like a child throwing grass if you don’t leave them alone.
Tucker: Look, I have a good job right now, and I don’t want to fuck that up because every other tech company has some villainous Billionaire attached. But if I find out you ran off my baby boy when he’s finally in a good place and happy, I WILL find out what happens when an ancient virus is unleashed on the modern internet.
Bruce Wayne gets an untraceable Email from The Modern Cassandra, that is a detailed list of every Gotham Vigilante and their potential as a villain.
It concludes with a “Don’t start none, won’t be none.”
Okay i know we’ve moved on to other parts of this au but danny mixing chemicals the same way people bake is SENDING me. Time to recall the two chemistry classes i took in high school that i have little to no recollection of, here we go.
Now imagine Danny bringing ectoplasm into this. We all know Maddie and Jack used ectoplasm powered weapons and other such ecto contraptions (is that canon??) And I’m not saying that Danny would endanger a bunch if kids by bringing ectoplasm to school like some fucked up show and tell BUT
Ectoplasm has been a huge part of Danny’s life. His parents kept ectoplasm in the same fridge they kept food in. They had a lab for a basement. Ecto contraptions and weapons were lying around in the home and nobody thought anything was wrong with that. It was just the norm. Hell,,,,,Danny himself is an ecto entity. Amity Park itself was brimming with ambient ectoplasm.
You can’t expect all that to just go away when he moves to Gotham.
Give me Danny who makes absentminded remarks while looking at a random students experiment like “Wow this could be thicker than ectoplasm”, “How did you manage to fuck this up so bad it looks like ectoplasm how”
Give me weird chem teach Danny who brings exactly two thermoses wherever he goes. He’s only even seen drinking out of one of them. And whatevers in there, it definitely isn’t soup or hot water. And what is in the second thermos, you ask? D o n t. D o n t a s k
Danny, overworked and underpaid like every teacher: god I wish the portal had killed me
Tim, who spent the last week trying in vain to dig up something about him : crying screaming throwing up WHAT DOES THAT MEAN
Danny: takes a swig of what looks like liquid radiation from The Thermos
A new AP Chemistry teacher in the middle of the semester would usually be pretty weird. Not at Gotham Academy, and, more importantly, not in Gotham. Even applying for the Chemistry teacher position in Gotham would get you put on a watch list somewhere. Usually for when you suddenly, inevitably, wound up missing. Or dead.
So none of the students in 1st period AP Chemistry at Gotham Academy were surprised when they walked into class to see a new teacher. They were surprised to see it was the Metalshop teacher, Dr. “Plesse call me Danny or Mr. Fenton, my parents were the Dr. Fentons” Fenton. None of the students called him Mr. Fenton of course. Gotham Academy is a very prestigious school with many very rich parents and with that came a certain respect for titles. So Dr. Fenton it was, no matter how much he complained about it.
Dr. Fenton was busily setting out what the students presumed to be the required lab equipment for their newest lab. Honestly, Dr. Heidel had chosen a great time to go missing (or dead). They’d just finished their most recent lab and unit, so Dr. Fenton wouldn’t be coming in the middle of some lab he probably only knew the basics of. His doctorate was in Mechanical Engineering after all, not Chemistry.
The students were a little confused and concerned though on why the Academy had not been able to find a substitute that didn’t already work there as a full time teacher. Usually there were plenty of substitutes to choose from, at least there were for the amount of money that the Academy could throw around from their parents’ generous donations.
So, with just a few whispered theories on what happened to the last teacher (some as mundane as a brief sickness, and others as ostentatious as them becoming a new Rogue), they settled down at their assigned seats to wait for the bell to start class.
As the last students trickled in with seconds to spare, Dr. Fenton turned towards the class, wide grin and excited eyes fixed on them. The students who were not in Metalshop were unnerved by this, the smile seeming just a bit too big, with just a few too many teeth, and the eyes shining a bit too brightly to just be the fluorescent lights reflecting off of them.
The students who took Metalshop were also unnerved, but for different reasons. They knew that that expression could only mean that they were going to be learning something that would make them feel like their brain had been turned to putty and their perspective was going to be flipped inside out and sideways. It was always an interesting, if slightly horrifying, feeling.
As the bell rang, Dr. Fenton clapped his hands. “Hello class! As you can see Dr. Heidel isn’t here today. They will not be returning unfortunately, they got a sudden offer they couldn’t refuse and left immediately for Metropolis. I will be filling in today while Principal Ramirez looks for a new Chemistry teacher and so I figured we could all do a more fun and practical lab today!”
Most of the class relaxed a bit at this. Dr. Heidel wasn’t dead at least, even if they were likely on the run from one of the Rogues. And they had a substitute who was just gonna give them a fun do nothing lab.
The Metalshop students only became more tense. They had a much better idea of what Dr. Fenton considered fun, and it was usually a lot more difficult (though very rewarding) than the standard lessons. Being practical as well just made it more concerning honestly.
“As you all know, the Rogues in the city use a lot of chemical based weaponry. Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin, the Joker’s Laughing Gas, Poison Ivy’s…well everything, to name a few. So I thought it would be best if I taught you how make at least 1 cure. Today we will be making the cure for Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin AND making it into an easy to carry injectable form, similar in design and function to an EpiPen! I-”
The class erupted into noise.
“What do you mean -”
“Cure for Fear Toxin?! How-”
“No way you can -”
“No way WE can-”
“This won’t work-”
“How would you even know-”
“But you’re not a REAL Chemistry-”
Dr. Fenton clapped his hands once, the sound seeming louder than it should be, silencing everyone.
“Now as I was saying, first I will show you how to make it and insert it into the No-Fear Pen, then I will hand you the instructions and help you to do it. Is that clear?”
Seeing a fewrl reluctant nods, Dr. Fenton smiled a little wider and almost seemed to vibrate a bit as he moved towards the beakers and chemicals on the desk in front of him.
“First we will take just a drop of ethylene, a dash of sodium pentothal-,” Dr. Fenton stopped, about to pour the sodium pentothal into the mixing beaker, as he saw a hand shoot into the air and many surprised faces.
“Yes, uh, Tim, right?” He asked.
“Right. Aren’t you going to measure the sodium pentothal, Dr. Fenton? And how did you get that?” Tim Drake asked, voice seeming very strained. Most of the class nodded, a few whispering about it to their lab partner.
“I am measuring it, Tim. No need to worry. I’m using what feels right. And of course I made all the more complicated chemicals you’ll be using for this lab. It would have taken much too long to walk through the whole process to every chemical we are using today, but I appreciate the commitment to Chemistry!” Dr. Fenton’s hands steadily poured “a dash” of sodium pentothal into the beaker, barely looking at it while he answered the question.
“Sir! I don’t think that’s safe! You’re not even looking at it and you’re not measuring it. What even is ‘a dash’ supposed to mean? This is Chemistry, not cooking!” Tim nearly shouted.
“Nonsense! All cooking is Chemistry! And just like with cooking, you measure with your heart. But, since you’re still learning, I’ve written up comprehensive directions and measurements for you. And I’ll be walking around the class so I can spot anyone who looks like they need help. Wouldn’t want to add to much salt to your recipe right? Speaking of salt, that’s the next ingredient! Specifically Sodium Borate, otherwise known as Borax! We’ll be adding a pinch of that.” Dr. Fenton said, a nearly manic grin on his face.
The class collectively decided that Dr. Fenton was definitely not completely (or at all) sane, and was probably the most likely teacher to become a Rogue that they’ve yet seen. In the interest of not being what tips him over the edge, they all quietly (slightly fearfully) focus on the lab and the instructions given to them.
“…And then you just slide this tube into the No-Fear Pen and you’re done! One Fear Toxin cure…antivenom? Eh whatever, one cure ready to go! And what practical lab would be complete without a practical demonstration!”
Everyone’s eyes widened at that, several of them nearly falling out of their chairs to get away as they saw Dr. Fenton pull out a small capsule, easy grin seeming again, just a little too wide, teeth a little too sharp to be human.
“To show that this cure works I’ll just breathe in a little of my home made Fear Toxin then inject myself, don’t worry, you’ll have the opportunity to test it as well, but only after I demonstrate it’s safety,” Dr. Fenton said, completely miss reading the emotions of his students. Nearly all of students started scrambling back, except Tim Drake who sprang forward, chair toppling as he vaulted over the table, desperately trying to grab the capsule. But with a slight squeeze of Dr. Fenton’s fingers, the small capsule broke and a comparatively large puff of gas escaped, immediately breathed in by Dr. Fenton.
“Please everyone remain in your seats, even you Mr. Drake. The Fear Toxin should start to take effect in 3…2…1!” Dr. Fenton said calmly. Far too calmly for such an insane act as to deliberately breathe in Fear Toxin. As he finished sp3aking they all saw him visibly go pale, eyes dilating and almost seeming to reflect more of the overhead lights, before his arm suddenly sprung up, No-Fear Pen in hand, and slammed down into his own thigh. Exactly like administering an epipen.
The class collectively held their breath as the fearful, nearly crazed look, went out of Dr. Fentons eyes and his skin went back to his normal healthy tan, though sweat still beaded his brow. Tim Drake, previously frozen from the sheer absurdity of the situation, slowly untensed his body and walked back to his table, barely remembering to pick his chair up before he sat in it.
“And there you have it! One functioning No-Fear…Anti-Fear? I like Anti-Fear, let’s go with that! One Anti-Fear, ready to be administered just like an epipen! Just jam it into you thigh with all your strength and you should be fine! Now who’s ready for the lab?” Dr. Fenton exclaimed, throwing his hands up in excitement, grin fixed on his face.
Slowly, like their teacher was a tiger rather than a man, they nodded, none of them daring to blink or break eye contact from their Definitely-Going-to-be-a-Rogue teacher. Several of them readied their phones under the table, unsure if they should call 911 now, or wait until things actually devolved in the classroom.
“Excellent! Let me just get these instructions handed out to you. Oh! And of you like this lab, then you’ll love it next week when I’m subbing for Mr. Takahashi, the Home Ec teacher! I’m going to teach you how to make a cure for the Joker’s Laughing Gas as little hard candies. They’re Blue Raspberry flavor!”
None of the class knew quite how to respond to that, but, well, if their teacher was insane, at least they were getting something useful out if him before he went off the deep end and became a Rogue, right?
When Danny finds out he’s considered a guaranteed future rogue he tries to reassure his students except that his perspective on the world is so foreign that it doesn’t quite work.
“So long as the government doesn’t illegalize my existence again, I not going to become a criminal promise!”
“Of course I’m not going to become a Rogue! Do you have any idea how much effort that would take? There are plenty of other easier ways to become famous or infamous than that!”
“I might be retired from the limelight but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go in the opposite direction!”
Other Ideas for advanced demonstrations (these don’t work if they’re not biocoded to the student.):
My-Portal-Home (MHP): A one time use get out of emergency device! It’ll teleport you to wherever you mentally associate with safety. (For his mechanics class, doesn’t work if they’re in jail or teleport then to a place that they’re not welcome.) (Looks like a joke toy, but it works.)
Revival: I know that the death rate is ridiculously high in this city, so here’s an energy drink to undo that! (For Biochem, uses ectoplasm.) (Is that a class that regular high schools have? Because mine did, but mine was weird.) (Doesn’t work on death by natural old age.)
Considering his hero background, Danny could become Gotham Academy’s go-to substitute for any subject. Every student leaves his lesson with a new way to stay safe in Gotham. He substitutes for a P.E. teacher and all students know how to defend against 4 assailants without causing permanent damage. He covers for a Geometry teacher and teaches them how to calculate the trajectory of a brick being thrown at Man-Bat on the fly. He even fills in for a single Psych class and has a very passionate lecture about parasocial that actually makes quite a few students re-think how they view their own interactions with the local Bats. No one can deny that Danny is a brilliant teacher, his methods just leave so many questions. However, he also straight up bit a goon who tried to recruit him so, that’s positive?
Now I need Danny making comments on how to change the agenda of the classes so that the students can survive in the city…
Random teacher: and how do you think of teaching all this?
Danny: I’m using my school’s syllabus as a base, of course adapted to Ghotam
2nd Random Teacher: your school?
Danny: yep, Casper High, you’d walk in as a wimpy tween, and walk out as a young adult ready for college and riot squad support, or surviving an apocalyptic situation, whichever would come first…
1st and 2nd Random Teachers:…
Danny: I still remember the first rescue raid when I was around 15 years old, they had kidnapped all the adults, I had to direct all my classmates, both in the assault and in the use of the emergency airship… ah What a good times.
Except one of those teachers is the Gym teacher, so Danny eventually asks them:
“Hey, do you ever do DodgeShot in gym here?” (One thing that you have to keep in mind is that if you go to a word school, you don’t really know what goes on at regular schools.)
“Dodge… Shot?” The gym teacher replies.
“Yeah, like Dodgeball but it trains your marksmanship as welll rather than just your evasive skills. Casper High had it as a mandatory activity for Juniors and Seniors. (So that if a Ghost attacks them they can defend themselves or avoid getting hit by Ectobeams by the GIW.)”
3rd teacher: “Danny, you know that none of these ‘school activities’ are normal right? Not even for a place as dangerous as Gotham.”
Initially, no none knows how Mr. Fenton and Mr. Baxter know each other. They tease and joke and have one of those “bullying to show affection” type of relationships. (Not like actual bullying but like bickering and throwing lighthearted verbal barbs back and forth at each other.)
Then Mr. Baxter introduces the kids to DodgeShot… oh god there’s two of them.
Tim doesn’t know what’s harder: Training with Bruce or Gym period.
There’s so much good always popping up in this au. This is great because often the P.E. Teacher is the Health Class Teacher too so Not only do they learn fun new activities like DodgeShot (for the upperclassmen, but they also learn exciting new things like how to effectively pack a mini med kit, for everyday carrying, and how to be an on the spot field medic with what’s on hand!
Mr. Baxter: This is why we went over what are the bare basics and how to pack them, so you have them with you. Cutting a strip from a shirt is much quicker and more efficient than tearing.
Mr. Baxter: Since Home Ec hasn’t agreed to adding hidden pockets to their sewing section, we’ll cover that next week!
During the Summer, they have open classes at multiple Recreation Centers to teach what they know to kids from other schools like in Burnley, Crime Alley, Bowery, ect.
Some kid asks about if they have some special tricks for disarming a Bomb and Danny and Dash just look at each other before nodding as if they had a wise and serious silent conversation before saying in unison.
“Book it.”
Before launching into a lecture on what Bomb Disposal entails and why it’s a better idea to leave the area as quickly and as far as physically possible and to report sightings ASAP.
The kid who asked about bomb stuff isn’t from school they work for (most of their students avoid them outside of school hours re the whole ‘unhinged, probably rogues in the making’ thing
So anyway, Danny & Dash go ‘that’s a great lesson idea’ and coordinate to have a ‘bomb day’
They bring in bombs (they just puff glitter everywhere, but they look legit)
Danny is in his usual Metalshop class and just “today’s practical lesson is to learn how to disarm a bomb” *whips out a bomb with a timer set for the end of the class period visibly ticking down and starts lecturing about the ‘more common setup, which is what we’re using for practice today.’
Dash’s class is part evaluation, part situational awareness, & part reflexes.
he has two types of bombs - ones that are stable enough to chuck into the distance and ones that can’t be moved. They’re sprinkled around an obstacle course he puts them through (before explaining beyond ‘do not turn around or leave the course until you reach the end, super ominously’)
He waits at the end while the rest of the class lines up to go through one at a time every few minutes
The first person out is like “Dr. Baxter holy shit there are bombs in there!”
Holds up clipboard, “how many did you spot and where?”
“How- that doesn’t matter we have to warn the others and get out of here!”
“Not to worry [student], those are good instincts to have but this is all part of the exercise. I’ll give the full debrief when everyone is through, for now just tell me how many you spotted and how many different kinds.”
“…s…seven…? But Dr. Baxter-”
next student interrupts by barreling out screaming “Dr. Baxter holy shit there are bombs in there!”
At the end he’s like “Most of you failed to note all of the bomb’s locations and only 4 of you noticed there was more than one kind. Those of you with run times above three minutes will be doing runs tomorrow. I notice only three of you exited the course entirely - likely because the sides were lined with bombs and wire. Good job on finding an exit, Tim. While flexibility wasn’t the point of this lesson it’s an advantageous skill to have in many situations! Mara, Davis,” he addresses the glitter-covered students, whose shrieks of terror everyone could still recall. “I would advise you to consider how affecting your environment might trigger the dangers around you the next time you find yourselves surrounded by bombs.”
“But now,” he claps his hands, “Let’s talk about id'ing which bombs are throw-able to determine how everyone could have exited the maze early on.”
When Danny’s morning students get to the maze, they’re resigned.
Miraculously, no one called the cops. In part bc Danny had never gotten in trouble for having stuff like Joker Gas or Fear Toxin so why would a bomb be different? In part bc people don’t carry their phones in gym (they have to leave them in a tray at the door) or Tim would’ve had the bats in there.
—–
Imagine Tim coming home with a small bruise and Bruce is like ‘What happened? At school?? That wasn’t there this morning????’
’…I lost.’
‘Lost what???’
‘Dodgeshot’
’?????????’
—–
…consider. Wes has not let the Phantom thing go. Maybe he doesn’t try to tell people anymore (bc he’s realized that ‘the light of truth is not enough to break through your foul sway on the innocent masses minds’) but he just. Follows Danny around.
The Fentons won’t sell him stuff bc he literally said he wanted to use it on Danny (& then bc they realized Danny was Phantom and wow, good thing they said no)
The GIW won’t sell to him bc he made them look like even bigger idiots, publically, by trying to do the Phantom=Fenton thing and then everyone mocks them and shows them the memes. They got a lot of shit for thinking Gregor was a ghost disguised as a human. The mockery for thinking an alive-person with a pulse is Phantom? ridiculous.
(They actually don’t care about being mocked or they wouldn’t be GIW, but it was so vicious & public that they lost funding for ‘poor resource management’ or something)
So since he can’t expose/fight him Wes ‘detailed corkboard on Fenton=Phantom theory’ Weston just decides to follow Danny around to keep an eye on him.
Danny thinks it’s hilarious
They’re kinda moving into frenemy-territory slowly but surely, so it could be worse.
I could totally see him as a history (look at how it all connects) teacher.
Or a cop.
he’d be perfect as a cop omg
First time Danny brings in Joker gas someone 911’s and Wes is one of the responding cops.
The demonstration is over by the time the police show up (the kid texted them and is trying to text to cancel but now the cops are there so no one was expecting them).
The principal gets contacted and is like ‘not to worry the exercise is approved.’ but the cops insist on talking to the person.
“Fenton,” the first cop in the room greets, ignoring his partner behind him saying ‘let me- dangit.’
“Wes,” Danny grins. “I’m surprised to see you in Gotham.”
“I have my eyes on you, Fenton,” he hisses. “Tell me how you got your hands on Joker Gas?”
“Alright, that’s enough,” his partner grabs Wes’ shoulder and drags him back. “I’m sorry for him, he’s new Dr….Fenton? Was it. But we do need to know how you got your hands on the Joker Gas.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble officer. I just vacuumed some up during the last attack.” Danny smiles.
“…Vacuumed.”
“Yep! The Fenton Weasel 2.7, for all your sample collection needs! I’d been thinking of doing this lesson for a while, so when the gas popped up on my doorstep and I needed to either wait for it to dissipate or clean it up I figured two birds, one stone. You know?”
“…Right. Well. Have a nice d-”
“No! There is no way we’re just letting this go! He brought Joker Gas into a school! We can’t just-”
Danny cuts off Wes with a cough.
“My lesson was pre-approved, Wes,” his grin is just as wide and off-putting as the day he dosed himself with Fear Gas. “The only reason you’re here at all is because my explanations were inadequate to soothe my students’ nerves.”
Officer Weston ground his teeth before snarling out, “My. Eye. On You,” pointing to his eyes then to Danny, and whirling to leave - once again abandoning his visibly exasperated partner.
1) Wes identifies Batman within a week and is soon after officially banned from responding to incidents at Wayne Enterprises because he keeps running off to try and report Danny Fenton to Bruce Wayne for being a ghost
2) Wes is almost always tackled or prevented by the new former Amity Parker intern Tucker, so Bruce never gets any useful information but Wes INSISTS LOUDLY that he needs to “tell Batman” so he’s gotta triple investigate Wes and stay far away
3) all the Amity Parkers therefore hear about Bruce being Batman from Wes and either disregard it or take it as gospel truth, with no way to identify why each thinks the way they do
4) the reason there are so many Amity Parkers in Gotham is because it is the only other city in America the Justice League never fucking go to, either because
a) they assume the residents will get it if they bitch about the Justice League being useless
b) they don’t wanna run into the league personally for fear of what they will say or do
Or c) they assume Batman is a ghost and the rogues have the kind of wacky antics they’re used to. When someone asks Dash why the hell he would willingly move to Gotham, he explains offhandedly
“Oh, I tried Chicago and Detroit, but it was just too quiet for me. I can’t settle down without at least a little excitement y’know.”
None of the Amity Parkers are ever asked that question again for fear of their answers.
5) Scarecrow and Joker are FUCKING LIVID that some goddamn school teacher is giving out cures for their secret weapons, and even fucking sharing the recipe
The fucking GIRL GUIDES have a badge now for making your own batch of anti-Joker sweets and selling them around town
But only one of them attacks the Gotham Academy
Only once
And sadly for Joker, it’s the day after the first gym class bomb run
Some of the kids are almost relieved they won’t have to do it again but also terrified because what the fuck is Professor Baxter going to do???
Professor Baxter is going to loudly and cheerfully declare “alright kids, we’ll pick this up another day but it looks like there’s some trouble so let’s all go to the bomb shelter!”
And all the kids just. Stare at him. Because yeah the American education system is A Trip but what fucking school has a bomb shelter?? (More than half the students realising yeah this is Gotham we fucking need one)
When someone hesitantly reminds Dash there is no bomb shelter, he sighs heartily, shakes his head, and scoops up an armful of bombs
“Yeah, alright, I forgot. We’ll just go to Fenton’s class, raid the sports equipment first for weapons and Tim, Louis, Cassidy, you guys pick up some of the throwable bombs, you did best on your tests”
And I mean the kids aren’t gonna argue against being armed it’s a fucking Joker attack, some grab spares for the other kids in Danny’s class and Dash nods approvingly and gives them extra credit
They get to class and the gym kids are fucking VIBRATING what the shit are these two gonna do together are they gonna action man out and take the Joker down themselves???? Tim is freaking out is this Danny’s villain arc he can’t get away Dash gave him A BOMB
But when they get there Dash and Danny share looks (and Danny hastily removes something above the door before Dash opens it, this is normal) and Dash nods to the kids
“Alright Fenton, you keep an eye on the kids and set these up” *delivers an armload of bombs* “and I’ll be back soon”
Dr Fenton nods like this is somehow normal and off Dash goes.
10 seconds later, Danny is grinning at the class again
“Alright everyone from Shop class, this is gonna be worth… let’s say 20 percent of your final grade, if I can get back into this room WITHOUT being covered in glitter you’ll all have to do an extra project to make it back up. Set up your bombs, I see you have weapons, well done, share those out and everyone else… do you all have your Joker candies? There’s an extra bag in my desk, stay quiet, stay low, and no one tell Dash I left.”
And then he climbs out the fucking window with a fucking scifi looking ray gun
Tim is fucking TORN on the one hand he NEEDS to get out there and coordinate with B and get this under control, on the other hand these kids are now fucking undefended and also he does not have time for an extra project in shop class
No one ever finds out exactly what happened but by the time the Bats hit the scene Joker is concussed, covered in glitter, and sobbing quietly
Danny gets back in unscathed (dammit) about 20 seconds before Dash runs back in and triggers the bombs
Tim successfully argues that Danny can’t prove he was unscathed in the next shop class and they could just tell Dash he left, so they all get that free 20%
6) if Dick EVER complains about his time at school again Tim just stares at him dead eyed like a war vet
7) despite Danny’s known penchant for biting goons, Red Hood approaches him personally to ask him to run extra safety classes in Crime Alley, under his personal protection
Danny agrees and it’s so weird, Jason’s had some seriously accelerated healing ever since coming back but he has this weird bite shaped bruise on his ribs for 2 weeks after that he will not talk about
Why can’t I see Danny in anything else besides a white lab coat, and science goggles for the entirety of this?? Like he’d look like that one prompt where he was a ‘villain’ to destress! And I love it!
And honestly? I’m liking the Danny x Dash possibilities in here! With shortking!Danny it just makes it cuter when Fenton has to stand on his toes to wrap his arms around Dash’s neck and Dash LET’S HIM!!
Holy shit. I love how this has become a whole ass fic. XXXDDD I would put in my two cents but it’s far too early/late in the morning and I should probably sleep. -w-
But like if there’s this one incident where something more ghostly happens and Tim is the only one to witness it. Idk what it would be but I think it would be funny. Like if an Observant comes to Danny in the break room to talk about ghostly/kingly stuff but ends up getting souped instead cause that is something that he doesn’t want to deal with, now or ever.
There’s a week where Danny subs for the physics teacher. For the entire week they talk about different dimensions and how to get to them. By the end of his subbing period, Danny and his classes have created a working portal to the Infinite Realms. It doesn’t work for long but it’s enough. It burns out one minute and twenty three seconds after being activated and stable. Luckily with his personal experience and his parents notes, no one becomes a halfa or comes down with a nasty case of ecto acne.
This au is just so much fun. If anyone writes an actual fic about this, please tag me! ^w^
So… I have ruminated on these thoughts and have come up with some more ideas.
Imagine Dash and Danny taking separate groups of students through a Metropolis Museum of some sort. Big villain chum attacks near Dash’s group; hence the students getting extra points for evacuating civilians and doing first aid. Dash distracts the big chum and kicks their ass.
BUT.
Dannys group was farther in and got stuck in the villains trap. Now locked in, the villain (stupidly) declares (declared is a strong word theyre really wheezing after Dash is done with them) that they have planted a bomb in the museum and unless the hero bows to their demands the kids inside will die.
Hero comes a bit late and gets held up trying to get the villains detonator. They storm in, ready to help the kids only to see Danny and Co. calmly walking out with (diffused bomb) carefully packaged and ready for disposal.
Some quotes I thought of:
*trap goes off, everyone is freaking out a bit. Tim knows he’ll live this down.*
Danny notices the bomb. And gets them to a safe (as safe as they can be) distance before realizing what kind of bomb it is and approaching it. “Oh Kids! This is a great learning opportunity! Watch closely. Now, before we start, what are the steps to safely take care of a bomb?”
Kids, behind tables and shelves: “Determine. Defuse. Dispose.”
“ That’s right! Now is this a bomb we can throw? Kevin?”
Kevin: “No, it doesn’t have (bomb part? Idk the difference sorry)”
“ Good! We have determined what kind of bomb it is. This is where it gets fun! See this cylinder here? This is a chemical that reacts violently to ignition! Diffusing this bomb will need to be done with a steady hand….”
The look on everyone’s face as the group waltzes out of the museum, diffused bomb in hand to give to the authorities/hero(es) is something Tim will never forget. (Tim took notes the entire time and definitely plans on using this knowledge in the future)
By the end of the ordeal, both classes have learned something new, Dash and Danny are new internet celebrities and Kon will never again doubt anything Tim says about his Chemistry teacher.
All this to say that Danny is a different flavor of Ms. Frizzle. Especially with the “Bomb threat is a great learning opportunity.”
This is my favorite DP x DC post.
Kwan needs to also get a job at Gotham Academy or nearby just for that Dash Kwan meet up and all of their students assuming that Kwan might be the only normal Amity Parker.
He can be a literature teacher, specializing in poems. He keeps a Fenton Anti-Creep Stick under his desk.
I’d say that maybe Kwan is a lit teacher in Metropolis? Not a lot of schools have teachers all from the same hometown. During some school field trips or Highschool football games could cause them to travel and meet each other?
Additionally: Kwan is the coach for the Metropolis High football team.
What if while Kwan and Dash meet at like a school sports game they trade ideas for PE?
“I’ve been teaching them DodgeShot, can’t believe somewhere like GOTHAM doesn’t teach this.”
“Really? I wanted to try one of Our Games but in Metropolis I’ll probably get in trouble, so I just double the amount of dodgeball and baseball”
Kon, very far away and overhearing: “what’s DodgeShot?”
Tim, unfased with a dead fish stare: “pain”
After that school trip Danny probably becomes somewhat of a public figure in Gotham, occasionally people stop him on the street. If they ask for pictures or autographs he’ll indulge them of course, if he’s not busy.
If it’s the less friendly kind of stopping in the street, where a car pulls up and points a gun at him to get in? Let’s just say once and never again.
He got into the car of course, when a Gotham rogue points a gun at you, you damn well play along lest you lose your life, or well, your half life but they don’t know that.
When they stopped at a random rundown warehouse, Danny got shoved inside, and they demanded he make some new chemical weapon for them that there isn’t an antidote for. Danny, of course, had been expecting this since he got asked to become the chemistry substitute three months ago. They never found someone else to fill the vacancy and he was doing just fine so they let him stay.
By the time the bats arrives all the goons were covered in glitter and coughing up smoke but otherwise unharmed. A note was left behind telling the bats to get there sooner next time, this was sloppy. And for red robin to please see him after class.
The bats can’t tell how Danny figured it out, with how much Tim has seen in his class, he’s not surprised Danny could.
Dick (you think Bruce actually goes to these?) wants to know why Tim is coming back with bruises every now and then,
and why he finds baby bird at 2am, with a haunted look as he whispers, “a dash of sodium peroxide…if the bomb doesn’t have a cylindrical tube, book it…a sprinkle…a sprinkle of copper powder…” as he sips coffee from what Tim insists is The ThermosTM
The ThermosTM is incredibly ugly.
But he’s also concerned about Tim’s chemistry class lab safety, or lack of.
Dani goes to Gotham Academy to have Danny help her and Vlad put together a case to sue Lex Luther for copyright. And somehow lands a job as the new language teacher.
Danny retired from the whole hero thing, but Dani spent time travelling the world. Finding herself.
The first time Vlad tried to apologize she’d run, not ready to here him out. That he’d let her go is what makes up her mind about hearing him out the next time they cross paths.
Dani still explores the world, but she does it on Vlad’s dime. She visits on holidays and sometimes at random.
She does heroing on her travels, just here and there in between pickpocketing and getting the necessities.
With Vlad’s money meeting her survival needs she fills the extra time with more heroing, and occasionally with tailing heroes.
Some might call it stalking, but she prefers to call it job shadowing.
And okay, maybe some of it is personal curiosity.
Like when she follows Superman after a fight, eager to see if he really spends all of his spare time brooding in a frozen castle.
Finding out he daylights as just some news guy is interesting - and funny, given the ‘harmless giant’ persona he has going for him. So maybe she extends her…'job shadowing’ just a bit.
She wants to see a day in the life. So sue her.
The Very Normal Apartment is pretty far from what she expected.
When he swaps back to Superman and leaps from his balcony again not long after, and instead of going to a fight in the city he flies up? She keeps on following, invisible and intangible all the while as an extra precaution.
She follows his to a space station that appears to have been made as a base for the JL - judging by the presence of various other members.
It doesn’t take long for the last of the JL to arrive and the meeting to start; she expected it to be boring, intended to just spend the time getting a closer look at costumes and weapons.
Until Batman announces that the meeting is about ‘the clone.’
Superman’s clone. That Superman refers to as an it, that he speaks with hatred and vitriol in his voice.
Dani is just in time for the first debrief on the topic. The full debrief. Which means she has all the information she needs about who made him, what he looks like.
Where he is.
Who has physical versus technical custody.
Where to look for evidence.
Lex Luthor is a Known Bastard and Superman clearly has no intention to play caring parent for the kid that was wrenched into existence - through no fault of his own - with no support structure to fall back on and no real identity in the world.
Dani knew what that was like. Dani had spent years of her life as a ghost in both senses of the word.
Vlad coming around to being non-fruitloopy had tethered her. She’d rejected his offer for an official legal identity before, but he’d made her a few fakes with which to pursue an education.
She’d avoided the sciences at first just to differentiate herself from the Danny she was created to be. But eventually she fell in love with learning about different languages, different cultures. It was an extension of her obsession, in a way, and she latched on with fervor.
Vlad had tricked her into giving math and the sciences a go by offering her books about the evolution of numbers as a part of language and the history of the use of Greek and Latin in the sciences. She’d learned enough to graduate high school, if she wanted.
Now? She wants.
She goes to Vlad with what she has on the clone - ‘Connor’ - and asks him to find a way to help.
Copyright is a fascinating thing.
Once someone is proven to have broken a copyright, they must cease and desist from further breakage and either destroy the existing works that breach the copyright or give the works over to the copyright owner.
Even as a clone, Connor was a person. “Destroying’ him would be entirely off the table, making it a matter of custody.
Custody that would rightfully go to Vlad.
If the courts declared Connor’s personhood, Superman may try to claim custody. They would be sure to have all the evidence they needed that he was an unfit guardian - and that Vlad was a perfect one - by then.
Dani was all the evidence they needed that Vlad had the rights to that copyright - in addition to a paper copy he would have backlogged by several years. A hand from Technus and Tucker made the thing - and Danielle’s own legal identity backlogged to the time of her creation - airtight.
She asks Tucker not to mention it to Danny, she wants to explain the situation in person.
Danny, being her original, needs to be on board if they’re going through with this - as both a witness to the fact that she is a clone and because he will be one of the people in spotlight, since he is the original.
Vlad Masters is the most reclusive billionaire in the US, suddenly going public with an adopted daughter that he cloned himself from the DNA of his best friends’ son? And then suing Lex Luthor for breaking his copyright on cloning? By cloning Superman? And then serving him a cease & desist and demanding custody of the clone??? It’s gonna be a media circus.
Danny needs forewarning (they already know he’ll approve, but they need to make sure all of their stories are consistent).
Vlad is the one to talk to Jack & Maddie - they’ve long since been brought up to speed on all of his bullshit. He’s been making strides in apologizing, making it up to them. Danny’s willingness to give him a second chance is the only reason they allow themselves to do the same. Dani visits sometimes.
To avoid Vlad being arrested and unable to help Connor bc of the very illegal way he made Danielle, they plan to explain her as a consensual copy - that Vlad always wanted a child but never really fell in love (maybe he was aroace but just really stuck on the life script of grow up-graduate-get married & got stuck on ‘Maddie’ as the perfect wife, but like, in a feng shui kinda way? Then chilled out when he realized there’s actually nothing wrong with being single? idk).
Except he has Jack & Maddie as his platonic besties & asked if he could clone one of their kids. And Danny was like “oh cool a clone” and they decided his clone would be less likely to have an existential crisis about their clone-ness. And voila.
Danielle.
So yeah Jack, Maddie, Jazz, & Danny all really need to be on board with that or they need to find a better story.
Which is how she finds herself in Gotham, spilling the story to him and brainstorming public, normal, non-suspicious activities she can do while she’s in the spotlight.
He tells her the Spanish teacher at his school is retiring soon. What better way to be visible and non-suspicious than to do what Danny does at his Totally Normal Job ™.
Dani is has a shiny new high school diploma officially under her belt, and years of her life will be explained away as travel. She spent a total of a year and a half in either Mexico or Spain; she knows the language.
Gotham Academy isn’t sure how to feel about a teacher that comes at Danny’s recommendation, but Vlad & Technus’ quickly forged teaching certificate mean she meets the qualifications.
They let her teach for a day as a test, having the old Spanish teacher shadow. Her lessons are a bit more practical, a bit more slang is included, but more than acceptable for the Academy.
She’s surprisingly normal for a teacher that comes at Danny’s recommendation (especially given how similar they look - siblings, perhaps?)
They hire her.
By the third lesson the students think she’s normal.
The beginning of week two is when her…eccentricities start to show.
In the first week she’d learned the chronic texters - there was always one or two, no matter how prestigious the institution.
Mid-lesson one student pats himself down in a panic before raising his hand.
“Yes, Mr. Jeremiah?”
“I’m really sorry Ms. Masters, I think I left my phone in the locker room can I please run and grab it? I promise I’ll be quick!”
“Nope!”
“But-!”
“No need, your phone is right here,” she chirps, pulling it out of a pocket somewhere inside her jacket.
“Wh-what…?”
“I caught you texting during class three times last week, Mr. Jeremiah. I have a three strikes system; after that, I confiscate your phone until classes are over. If you want to reset your count - which I will only allow once - you can write me a three page paper, en Español - on why texting should not be happening during class. Double-space, Times New Roman, 12pt font. A few of you are at a two already, keep it in mind.”
“But- you- how???”
Dani only smiles.
(She spent a fear years on her own. As a halfa she got by pretty well, after she was stabilized. But she had to learn pickpocketing before that, and she learned it well. Powers just made it all the smoother.)
She never gets caught confiscating a phone, and when she gives them back at the end of class the students are always a mix of relieved and shocked.
After a computer lab quite a few students have snacks they didn’t know were missing returned to them.
Someone notices Ms Masters seems to store everything she confiscates in the same pocket, but some of the things shouldn’t fit - even some single item shouldn’t have. Not without at least being noticeable.
(Dani was a ghost in both senses of the word for a long time. She moved around alot. She did have a bag or two she would phase into walls/the ground, but she stored a lot of things just in herself. Perks of being a halfa: free real estate storage space)
She’s sneaky - she even manages to spook Tim once. Someone notices her footsteps don’t make noise.
Just. Little things.
Subtle things.
Then Dash gets her to help him with a ‘coordinated combat’ (ie how not to do friendly fire/get in each others way when fighting one enemy) lesson and they realize exactly how unhinged she is.
30 people work together to shoot her and she doesn’t take a single hit, making expert use of the dodgeshot shields (random items that people can hide behind from ‘large’ to ‘must be small or a contortionist).
Every time she passes from one shield to the next she takes out three people. A few manage to get in close.
She isn’t where they expect her to be.
She lets out a gentle ‘boo.’
She’s right behind them. The two shriek and whirl around, before they go down in a tangle of limbs when one trips.
She taps her faux-bayonette to either of their throats and says “you’re out.”
The fight is over inside of two minutes.
Dash deems their performance to be 'worse than Fenturd in freshman year’ and says if they can’t aim they better know how to ambush.
They have to hide throughout The Obstacle Course and try to hit her before she can see them. Bonus points if she doesn’t see them.
She practically hunts them for sport.
Her evil cackling the whole time sees her moved up to 'most likely to go rogue,’ with Danny a modest second.
A week later when it comes out she’s Mr. Fenton’s clone made by reclusive billionaire Vlad Masters they’re like 'yeah that tracks.’
A villian shoots him for not complying and he just gives them a glare
danny: oh what, you think that works on me? Get out of my class room *turns around to reveal a bullet wound with something green and goopy in it thta is rapidly stiching itself back together* *he picks up some of his strange blood* anyways, this is a good learning opertunity class. This is ectoplasm.
We can’t leave behind the good ol fashion Danny/Dash ship, if they officially got together, everyone would freak out.
Tim should have expected this by the way they’re always close to each other and either holding one another or just constantly skin to skin touch, no one just expected they’ll actually make it official.
Now with everything official the two doesn’t hesitate to do subtle Public Affection, just some mild kisses that’s very brief but since they’re going viral due to their antics. They become the ideal power couple, Tim is freaking the fuck out of his mind because if these two ever become rogues and THEY’RE A COUPLE?! They’ll be unstoppable and Tim is losing more sleep than he didn’t know he could still lose after the paranoid possibility of two unstoppable couple rogues who can probably Beat Batman in a 1v1-2v1 fight.
Anyways . More Addition.
Valerie Gray, Sports Captain Teacher. She can do every sport and will probably tech krav maga and every self defense she is allowed to do. If there’s a cheerleading group then she can do it too! >:))
Imagine you hired an obscenely drunk Union soldier in a saloon to kill your husband. He manages to accomplish the deed by removing the bullets from your husband’s gun through a sleight of hand trick before challenging him to a duel. This is somewhat impressive but what is more impressive is his strong work ethic, ingenuity, Irish accent, subtle chivalry and big brown eyes. You marry him and move onto the 15 acres of semi-arid land on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert he stubbornly wants to farm. He wants to name your firstborn daughter after his cavalry horse in the Civil War and your firstborn son after his commanding officer. He calls you widow woman as a term of endearment. He’s a good shot, he’s a good cattleman, a great husband and a subpar father. But what else can you ask from a man who lost his entire family in the Famine and came to this country alone at the age of 14?
Imagine you are a former Union soldier. You are 22 years old. You were only 19 when you enlisted, an Irish immigrant who worked in a livery stable in Cleveland until the outbreak of the war. You fought valiantly. You survived. In lieu of wages, you accepted a parcel of land in New Mexico territory. You’ve never had anything that was truly your own. Except for, perhaps, your horse. You arrive in New Mexico for the first time in your uniform, your horse goes lame the second you step onto your parcel, it’s so dry and rocky and red and you do not think it’s arable. You have to put down your horse. She dies with her head in your lap and you cry so hard you think you’ll die with her. When you’re done giving her a wake, knowing you have no ability to bury her, you begin walking in the direction of Las Cruces. Maybe you can sell this cursed land. Maybe you can get a job. First, a toast to Lula, the mare, the closest thing to family you have had in this country.
You’re seeing double by the time a little woman with an appraising expression approaches you. She is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, perhaps even better in double. A little older than you. Long, dark wavy hair that cascades over her shoulders, a perfect round face, a warm brown complexion and the most troubled eyes you have ever seen on a woman. What is most miraculous is that she wants to talk to you. You, drunk, sunburnt, covered in dust, the blood of your horse soaked into your pant leg. She motions to your pistol. She says she will pay you to do a job, pay you handsomely, enough to buy another horse. She says her husband is rich, he enticed her away from her family when she was very young, he holds her captive in his hacienda, he hurts her. He must be killed so that she can return to her sisters and live without fear. You will do it, you must do it. You do not care how much of the story is factual. You do not care if she intends to have the sheriff string you up after the deed is done. You do not care if she cannot pay the money she promised. You would do anything to remove the sorrow from her eyes. You kill her husband and sleep fine afterwards.
You do not buy that horse. You stay in the hacienda while she is out selling the bits and pieces of her husband’s life. You meet her sisters when they come, you help her pack away the pieces of her life so that she may start anew. You tell her of your own plans to start anew, of the patch of rocky soil that is your own. She tells you she grew up on land like that, tells you that it has always been her dream to work it. When her sisters leave for the mountains, she leaves with you.
“The old magic persists thanks to it’s unfathomable power.”
No, the old magic persists because the new magic can’t run the legacy spells I need to do my job, and keeps trying to install spirits I don’t want or need onto my orb.
Look, if the new magic didn't have a personality construct that kept trying to tell me which spells to use, maybe I wouldn't still be using the old magic.
You try to get guidance for the new magic and the king's sorcerers maybe will answer you in a few days with an unhelpful suggestion to buy the newest orb.
You need guidance for the old magic and a dozen retired middle-aged wizards will pop up to explain it to you rune by rune if necessary.
me as a kid reading Dune: I appreciate the detailed world-building that justifies why everyone fights with swords and has mental powers, but the idea of a Butlerian Jihad against computers is pretty silly
me in 2025, trying desperately to find the three (3) places you need to go to to disable the latest helpful AI assistant that's inserted itself into my work chat and is advising me to do things that would be a breach of federal law: Oh Now I Get It
Jim granted himself a smoke-break as the last piece of footage had been viewed. Submitted camera footage from the cab, every byte from the research center had been reviewed once to get a view an understanding of the footage and several times over to build an accurate timeline. It had happened so fast that seconds had to be taken stamped and annotated.
"Alright everybody," he rose and rubbed his forehead. "Look. We'll be on this for a while. Everyone, go home and get some sleep and hug your loved ones. Make sure your shit is locked up tight and get home safely."
A receptionist stood from her desk and held up her phone. "Sir, I've someone who is requesting to speak with you. It's Bruce Wayne."
With a hand on his cigarettes and another on his lighter he sighed faintly. Officers, interns, CSI, a few detectives, and the janitor paused in their hurried shuffle to depart. Blood hounds. The lot of them.
"Mr. Wayne," Jim rolled a cigarette between his fingers with a consideration for early retirement. "I hope you've reached your house safe and sound."
"I'm fine, Jim. I'm trying to get to the hospital. Which one is Danny at?"
Debra was still listening and so was the rest of the office. "Mr. Wayne, I'm glad to hear that you're fine but I can't give you that information."
"...Jim. Danny's been seriously hurt. I have a responsibility to make sure he's alright. Is he out of surgery? Is he alright? How?"
Jim frowned at the floor, pretending he didn't notice the slow shuffle for personal effects and lingering eavesdroppers.Meaningful glances were making their rounds. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne; but this is directly related to an active case and high profile. Any information related to it is confidential."
Bruce gasped which made Jim wince. "But he's hurt!"
"Yes..."
"Well who can you discuss this with?"
"Parties releated to this case, Mr. Wayne. The responsible legal entities for Mr. Fenton. Look, Mr. Wayne. Your heart's in the right place but this is confidential." More than a few officers were frowning at Jim now; some miming or signing at each other.
"...responsible legal entities?" Bruce repeated thoughtfully. It would be weird if he let out a relieved sigh; so Jim only answered with an affirmative. "Thank you, Jim."
Plastic met plastic as the the phone settled gently into the receiver with the care of a man trying very hard not the break either. "He's about to cause me trouble. I just know it."
#$#$#
Maddie Fenton's hands were wrapped around a slowly warming bottle of bourbon. Ice had continued to melt as her attention remained focused on the news reports from Gotham. Running reports on the Arkham breakout. Danny's transfer to a hospital and now endless speculation and rehashing of information while everyone waited for information.
Rising, the mad scientist pitched the soggy glass across the conference room, through the opaque panel of glass and the VLADCO logo. Shards rained over the dark hallway, splintering against the opposite wall and stone floor.
Bathed in the light of her laptop and the reflected red of emergency exit signs she seethed. Bitterness she'd been nursing for nearly a year came roaring to the forefront . Fear, grief, and self-loathing mixed with half-drunk alcohol.
Stomping over the shattered glass to march through the dark halls. Everyone else had gone home for the day and she'd been staying late to work as she'd done since moving out to this city.
Now, she had a destination in mind. Stepping onto the busy thoroughfare she waved a hand. "TAXI!:"
#$#$#
"Ahhh, Ghost Boy. You are awake...so to speak." Nocturne loomed as best one could while lounging on the woven dream catcher hammock. It swung idly with each flick of his long tail. Lamp light red eyes blinked in an out of existence.
"Nocturne?" Danny had his own hammock padded with pillows and a heavy goose feather duvet.Trying to turn his head resulted in the older ghost clucking gently.
"No. No. Try not to move. Despite my best efforts your actions here will affect your body."
"Here?"
"My realm or that of dreams and sleep. Do not be too concerned with my presence, Ghost Boy. This is the result of being nagged."
Nagged...why would Nocturne care if he'd been nagged? Why would anyone tell him to bring Danny into this place. He closed his eyes and thought. I got shot.
"You did get shot."
Why are you here? Opening his mouth seemed like too much work.
"Your powers were affecting your medical care. Interestingly, the doctors assumed that the collar interference mixed with the freeze ray is the culprit and not your poor grasp of self-control.
Frowning as he tried to grasp at the next train of thought. Every attempt slipped past out of grasp like wet soap. No matter how much he fumbled it was spring free.
"Try to rest. They are undertaking some very delicate work at the moment. I would very much appreciate it if you went back to sleep....I will send you on an excellent adventure amongst the stars."
Stars. With my friends?
"Yes. I will send your little friends along. Mind the airlock controls they might stick a little. Oh, and I've added potatoes to the emergency supplies. They will come in handy. Sleep well, Ghost boy."
#$#$
Dr. LeAero had seen more than one inexplicable phenomenon during emergency surgery. Apparitions of the patients floating over the table. Loved ones of the patient waiting on the fringes and watching cautiously. Even someone she was able to identify as St. Francis of Assisi praying over a wounded zookeeper.
Danny Fenton opening his eyes halfway through his surgery and trying to move was by far the creepiest thing she'd seen all week. It was clear he wasn't feeling anything, but nearly all movement stopped regardless.
"He's got more drugs in him than Gotham River. How the fuck is he awake?" Dr. Litley demanded from his position from the monitors. He'd had to work as many drugs into the boy's system than he had ever been willing to put into any human or meta.
When he started to try and speak around the tube in his throat LeAero was keenly aware of another presence now haunting the operating room. It leeched through the walls and ceiling as an inky stain which spread over each machine, tool, and person. Something like diamonds or stars glittered within the black including two dots of blood red which eventually shifted up the shape forming at her side. Two long horns spiraled from his head, the red dots became eyes as a comet briefly laced over it's left eye, an unpleasant face coalesced out of a pond of blue and ending in a goatee. Vaguely humanoid, shockingly opaque, and clearly unimpressed. It spoke to her patient whose eyes eventually slipped closed and seemingly passed back out.
"His heart rate is slowing again." Dr. Litley called out.
"Eyes are closed," a nurse called.
Her eyes remained on the figure who raised an eyebrow of glittering meteorite. Meeting it's eyes sent a shiver wracking through her entire body. "Get on with it. He will not wake again while I am assisting my acolyte."
Acolyte? She glanced towards Litley whose mouth seemed to be moving under his mask.
"I will accept an offering of macrons in return for my magnanimity. A variety." It waved a clawed hand with an air of self-satisfaction.
Answering the being would be career suicide. Clearing her throat Dr. LeAero started in again and made a metal note to order some macrons once they were out of surgery.
#$#$#$
"City feels weird." Jason admitted as the comm crackled to life in his ear. "Like it's waiting for the other shoe to drop."
"It's weird." Dick agreed. "Do we have a status on D?"
"He's in surgery still. They were having a hard time sedating him. Besides we have the security footage from the research center. I've been reviewing it and it's....enlightening to say the least." Barbara mused. "I'll send the whole breakdown later but when I can tell is that Danny followed Victor across the Gotham and to the research center to stop him. He takes a taxi to the center and manages to break both the ice and the door to enter. He thaws everyone out and sends them outside. It's his confrontation with Victor where it gets even weirder. Danny was trying to talk him down. Victor shot him but he wasn't down long. It's a nasty fight, Nora's pod starts beeping and Victor starts trying to fix it...Danny too, but then the officer enters and Danny's down....I think, and I'm just speculating right now, Victor might have killed himself., Several bullets art in the pod and in Victor suit before backup arrives."
Silence reigned over the comm units until Tim cleared his throat. "Poor trigger discipline. Call me when Danny's out of surgery."
Once Tim had clicked off the others were quiet momentarily.
"B?"
"I've called the lawyers. We need to remove Danny from Arkham since Vlad has already breached the prison via mind control."
"You don't have to come up with a reason, B," flipping to the next building with a faint laugh, Dick squinted through his binoculars. "I have visuals on Harley. Looks like Ivy escaped too; she's...watching the news and is pretty upset. Should I engage?"
"No."
"Alright." Dick backed off easily and shifted to survey the shivering Gotham skyline. "Someone should be there when Danny wakes up."
"We'll see what the lawyers can do. I don't want Bruce Wayne to be accused of using power and money to get access to a teenager."
"Someone a little more nefarious might pay a visit. Hood?" More quiet down the line and there was a chorus of agreeing hums.
"SUGA'!" Harley bounced from the wall, down the hall, and into Pamela's arms. "SUGA! YOU'RE OUT!"
"Harles," Pam all but melted against her girlfriend. Arms coming around to squeeze her middle and head resting over a thin shoulder. A worn overcoat stained with a fresh gleam of blood from her forcible acquisition slid from her shoulders to reveal a sweaty, muddy uniform. "Oh, god, Harles."
Harley tugged her closer, smoothing a bone white hand over her hair. "Sugar? You with me? You're not lookin' so good." Bruises mottled up an down her limbs and her face. A thick red mark trailed around her neck.
Pam laughed bitterly. "I'm not feeling so good, babe. High profile breakout and I got jumped by Jokers goons."
"His goons? Messin' with you?"
Together they moved further into the apartment. Pamela touching keepsakes, photos, and mementos of their adventures. Selfies in diners, atop Wayne Tower with a scowling Batman sandwiched between them; and sketch of Pamela reading while she was sprawled over Danny's bunk. He'd done research and homework while she read; keeping each other company on so many dismal days. They made up stories about passing boats and complained about the food. She'd patched him up after his scraps and fights while ignoring their shared urge to cry. She bit her lip all over again.
"Want to break him out?"
"They didn't like that I was protecting him or that he was kicking their asses. You heard what he did to Joker, right? I guess they wanted revenge."
Harley made a popping noise, "overcompensatin' then? Gotta defend their manhood. You injured?"
"I want to break him out. I...I didn't want to leave him Harley. Fuck, he's just....it's not fair! I hate...I left! I left him in Arkham and....Harles what is that fucker going to do to him. Victor might protect him but he's always in his research and Danny likes to wander! If I don't get him out of there then..."
"Ain't he a federal prisoner or some such? I mean, I'm all for a break out, but let's get you cleaned up, kay?"
Allowing herself to be herded toward the living room where Harley dragged out a first-aid kit that would have made any underground doctors jealous. It wasn't until the television clicked on did she realize that her thoughts had worn her brain into a traction-less ball.
The Real Housewives of Star City blared over the room.
"Ugh, change it, babe. Can't stand that crap. Oh! Is Stargate on?"
"I'm not seeing anything." She mused quietly, wincing only when the disinfectant dug through a shallow collection of cuts. "Hmmm, there's a documentary about the history of Kandaq, SNL rerun, Interview with the King of Atlantis. Gotham Guides is airing right now."
"That's a good one."
Flipping through channels only to pause on the aerial shot of Arkham. Searchlights spider-webbed over ever available surface. Sirens, law enforcement vehicles spread about the bridge, drives, and parking lots. News boats, crews, and helicopters flooded the scene. "A breakout from Arkham Asylum is currently under investigation. The alleged mastermind of this breakout, Victor Fries, AKA Mr. Freeze broke in to the Steady Going Research facility in an effort to retrieve Mrs. Nora Fries. He was apparently accompanied by Daniel Fenton AKA the Princes of the Damned. After the resulting altercation Nora and Victor Fries were pronounced dead at the scene. Daniel Fenton was taken to an undisclosed hospital after an officer of Gotham PD discharged his weapon on the scene. Twelve people are being treated for frostbite and shock related injuries."
Slipping to the floor with a clatter the remote remained there as both women stared at the screen. Another view of Arkham included Bruce Wayne being escorted out by Nightwing and a crush of Arkham guards.
"Bruce was visiting. He's been...visiting, Harley. He's was visiting and the kid's hurt. Danny's gotten....hurt!"
"So we kill the cop." Harley exclaimed only for her smile to fade entirely. "Baby?"
Pamela didn't move, couldn't move as the story played on.
#$#$#$
Oswald Cobblepot raised his cocktail, light reflecting from the vibrant blue on the glass. His henchpeople, staff, Condiment Man, and current guests of the Iceberg Lounge. A few tourists had been handled cocktails at were clearly terrified as he spoke. "My friends, chumps, guests, and employees. We lost one of the greatest villains on Gotham today. A brilliant mind of thieving, bribery, explosives, and breakouts. Second to none in understanding what it meant to sacrifice in the pursuit of a greater goal. Dedication and loyalty are so hard to find these days, but Victor embodied them. He advanced our understanding of bank vaults and their weaknesses. He advanced the understanding of cancer. We're also here for Nora....we never really met her but we knew her in our hearts." Oswald thumped his chest. Someone sniffed and another person coughed wetly. "And a toast to the Prince of the Damned so he doesn't die tonight and we can kill him later."
"Here! Here!" A meaty bouncer responded before throwing back his cocktail. Everyone followed his example and Oswald drained his glass before handing it off to a sobbing waiter. Victor didn't drink but he was a polite guest and a fantastic tipper.
He'd be missed by everyone.
#$#$#$
Jim granted himself a smoke-break as the last piece of footage had been viewed. Submitted camera footage from the cab, every byte from the research center had been reviewed once to get a view an understanding of the footage and several times over to build an accurate timeline. It had happened so fast that seconds had to be taken stamped and annotated.
"Alright everybody," he rose and rubbed his forehead. "Look. We'll be on this for a while. Everyone, go home and get some sleep and hug your loved ones. Make sure your shit is locked up tight and get home safely."
A receptionist stood from her desk and held up her phone. "Sir, I've someone who is requesting to speak with you. It's Bruce Wayne."
With a hand on his cigarettes and another on his lighter he sighed faintly. Officers, interns, CSI, a few detectives, and the janitor paused in their hurried shuffle to depart. Blood hounds. The lot of them.
"Mr. Wayne," Jim rolled a cigarette between his fingers with a consideration for early retirement. "I hope you've reached your house safe and sound."
"I'm fine, Jim. I'm trying to get to the hospital. Which one is Danny at?"
Debra was still listening and so was the rest of the office. "Mr. Wayne, I'm glad to hear that you're fine but I can't give you that information."
"...Jim. Danny's been seriously hurt. I have a responsibility to make sure he's alright. Is he out of surgery? Is he alright? How?"
Jim frowned at the floor, pretending he didn't notice the slow shuffle for personal effects and lingering eavesdroppers.Meaningful glances were making their rounds. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne; but this is directly related to an active case and high profile. Any information related to it is confidential."
Bruce gasped which made Jim wince. "But he's hurt!"
"Yes..."
"Well who can you discuss this with?"
"Parties related to this case, Mr. Wayne. The responsible legal entities for Mr. Fenton. Look, Mr. Wayne. Your heart's in the right place but this is confidential." More than a few officers were frowning at Jim now; some miming or signing at each other.
"...responsible legal entities?" Bruce repeated thoughtfully. It would be weird if he let out a relieved sigh; so Jim only answered with an affirmative. "Thank you, Jim."
Plastic met plastic as the the phone settled gently into the receiver with the care of a man trying very hard not the break either. "He's about to cause me trouble. I just know it."
#$#$#
Maddie Fenton's hands were wrapped around a slowly warming bottle of bourbon. Ice had continued to melt as her attention remained focused on the news reports from Gotham. Running reports on the Arkham breakout. Danny's transfer to a hospital and now endless speculation and rehashing of information while everyone waited for information.
Rising, the mad scientist pitched the soggy glass across the conference room, through the opaque panel of glass and the VLADCO logo. Shards rained over the dark hallway, splintering against the opposite wall and stone floor.
Bathed in the light of her laptop and the reflected red of emergency exit signs she seethed. Bitterness she'd been nursing for nearly a year came roaring to the forefront . Fear, grief, and self-loathing mixed with half-drunk alcohol until tears pricked at the corner of her eyes.
Stomping over the shattered glass to march through the dark halls. Everyone else had gone home for the day and she'd been staying late to work as she'd done since moving out to this city.
Now, she had a destination in mind. Stepping onto the busy thoroughfare she waved a hand. "TAXI!:"
The Why and the How weren't immediately obvious. By the time Jazz joined them they were still debating. Jazz took the news with a frown, settling onto one of the pillows of Danny's new nest.
"If Pariah Dark did come back and he hasn't conquered our realm then he's got to be planning something. His goals are different."
"For all we know Pariah Dark showed up and Vlad killed him."
Tucker frowned over the data on the screen before rubbing his eyes. "It's not just that, but we haven't seen a ghost in a month now. Whatever happened at the Cheese Castle has changed the ghosts behavior. I mean, just looking at this information I can tell you that Danny and Vlad and Dark were fighting. It's hard to tell what was happening the whole time. The level of ghostly energy if off the charts though."
"He is the King," Sam muttered.
"I woke up at Pariah's castle. That's where we can get answers. If Pariah is back or if Vlad's taken over the Ghost Zone then we have to go there to figure it out. The only place to be sure is the Ghost Zone. So, we have to go."
"Mom and Dad locked up the portal, Danny. They were looking for ways to deactivate it."
"Really?"
Jazz nodded seriously. "they can't find a way to do it. It's almost like it's keeping itself open. The doors are locked."
"They can't be that hard to unlock. Tucker?"
"I mean. I can take a look."
"We should do it on a school day when your parents are out in the field. Leave for school and then circle back. You can get the information then."
"If I go missing during school it's be more of a mess than we want to deal with; Lancer and school will tell them I'm not there."
Everyone nodded a few times. Thinking hard.
"But what about in the middle of the night? If they're asleep that could work."
"Danny would be on a time limit," Sam pointed out. "And it would have to be a weekend."
Tucker shifted around, "Danny, can you make it out in a eight hour time limit?"
"I don't know. I might run into trouble and if we know Pariah is back then we can't trust that I won't...but if Pariah is back then we can't sit around and wait for the perfect time. He was ready to invade the universe....so I'll have to scope out the area." He rubbed the side of his head with a sigh.
Jazz looked pinched and tired at the thought. "Only reconnaissance. No fighting. You can be sneaky, right?"
All three of the younger teenagers gave her an odd, disbelieving look. Jazz shrugged.
"You can take the Fenton Camera and a few other things. Don't they have something that will make them immune to ghosts?"
"Yeah, but it also works on me. Fuck. I wish I could remember."
Everything he imagine the tyrant would be capable of continued to slither around his thoughts. Danny leaned back against the pillows to stare upward.
The answers were in the Ghost Zone.
He needed to get there.
The opportunity came a week later when his parents announced at dinner, "we're going to be taking a weekend trip to visit your Aunt Alicia. It's not a long time, but Jazz is in charge and you two need to be careful."
Danny had been poking halfheartedly at the salad, sorting the vegetable, cheese, and nuts into small piles. When he glanced up Maddie rushed to assure him.
"We'll be a phone call away and we've got an emergency alarm for you and Jazz." Jack produced two boxes. "Watches. They'll be able to send out a stress beacon to us and to the police station it anything happens."
With Vlad missing in action Danny wasn't sure that something could happen, but he nodded. "Okay. Isn't it a little early for her Divorce party?"
"It's not that."
"You need space." He offered a grin. "I get it. It's fine. I could use a little more space too. Can I have a sleepover with Sam and Tuck?"
"Sure. I'll make some snacks before we go. Jazz has the pizza money." Maddie ticked a few things off her fingers. "And we'll call."
"It'll be good for everyone." Jazz agreed. Since Danny had returned her hair had grown sleeker and shiner. There was a cheer in her voice he hadn't heard since before the portal incident. "I have so many ideas! We can have a movie night."
She was lying, of course, clear by the sidelong glance she gave Danny what their weekend plans were.
Their parents pulled out of the driveway, waving and promising that they'd be back soon, that there was help available if anything happened. As soon as they turned the corner at the end of the road all four of them leapt back into the house and sprinted to the basement. It had been discussed so many times that each person rushed to their tasks.
Tucker plugged into the portal while Jazz began to set up the communication gear. Sam and Danny assembled the protective gear which included a thermos, snacks, a first-aid kit, Fenton Army Knife, a Fenton Compass designed to point in the direction of the portal, Fenton ghost camera, and the Fenton skateboard. What he should have been wearing the day he died; an insulated hazmat suit and his cell phone. Within ten minutes he was standing before the portal.
Buzzing and an almost hungry feeling curled from the swirling green mist. Curiosity and familiarity pressed onto Danny. An acknowledgement and a beckoning. He'd known the Ghost Zone for so long now. How it felt, the currents of ecto and the passing of spirits; how each lair felt and connected to the zone overall.
Had whatever affected him all impacted the Ghost Zone? Had waking up in the Keep been a result? Maybe injured...no. Not injured. Clearer...sharper; but he'd have to enter to confirm.
" -ANNY!" A hand jerked him from the edge and he found himself glancing up at at Jazz. "Danny? Are you okay? Are you alright? What happened?"
"I...no idea." He shook his head, letting out a gusty sigh. "I just. It it's been a while, okay. Gimme a break. Okay. Are we ready?"
"I think so. Danny, your comm should work find except for the worst of ghost interference. You got the belt integrated with your parents signature scanner, so we'll be able to catalogue them even if your earpieces fails.If there's anything you can't handle, pull out immediately."
"I gotcha." He offered a thumbs up and let the Fenton skateboard unfold. Giving himself time to think would only delay the overall mission so he leapt on and soared through the open portal.
It was magnificent. As if falling through the wide open sky. A free fall into unknown depths and he couldn't help the excited "WOOOOOOOHHHHHH!" Pushing the skateboard to it's limits he soared, spun, and rose in dizzying spirals in every direction as energy rushed through each cell. His breathless excitement petered out when he was aware of the voice in his ear calling for a halt to the acrobatics.
"It's like watching one of those roller coaster videos," Tucker complained. "Come on, man."
"Sorry, guys." He continued to grin, slowing down as he felt himself nearing the Keep. "Seemed like too much fun to let it go to waste."
Managing a steady pace through the zone until the Keep rose in the distance. As ominous as ever and even more so with more land spreading from the center. More building than he'd remembered and more ghostly figures flying around.
He landed on a nearby island to get a better look. More guards. More ghosts. A more ominous air around the keep which set Danny's teeth on edge.
Power crackled along his limbs and through his hair while lurking ominously about as if waiting for Danny to step into a trap.
Invisibility didn't mean much to a ghost, but Danny had gotten really good at infiltrating places. He moved closer and closer to the island until he found himself sliding through through a barely cracked wicker door which a large laundrywoman with spitting snake tresses was shoving her way through. On her heels and in her girth he found a measure of refuge before crawling under a strewn tapestry.
She was talking to..someone and with words he couldn't identify until another voice joined. Shill and excited accompanied by a flurry of wings. "Have you see it? Oh! Have you? I couldn't believe it! I was so excited!"
"I think we're all excited," the washerwoman's voice grated out. "But you can't be too excited."
"Yes, I can! Oh, oh, oh! I swear! I can't wait until the solstice!"
So, a solstice. That was a time...but not a place and not a reason. There were so many more ghosts in the keep than last time. Some he recognized and most he did not. He found himself retreating back to the room he'd woken in the hope of finding an answer.
"Your highness?" Danny sprang into a defensive position only to find that narrow butler eyeing him with something like suppressed shock. "I...welcome back. Have you rested?"
Highness? Even without prompting from his family Danny was curious. "No...I...just got back."
"I believe that Dae Janggeum has expressed concern with the recovery of your injuries. Shall I summon her?"
"I think." Danny's words were cut off.
"Of course, I understand. I will fetch her now."
"But the king!" Danny blurted as the butler was bowing his way out.
"I will make the necessary arrangements." When he vanished, Danny was left staring around the princely chambers with a concentrated frown.
"Guys?" his earpiece buzzed and he managed a sigh.
Digging about the room he came across his clothes in the closet. One's he'd worn in his missing posters as the last thing he'd been seen wearing. There were other clothes too; of varying types of cultures and time periods. "Huh."
Vlad would have never arranged this. Suits of starched white with capes and uncomfortable black shoes.
If it wasn't Vlad then who? Clockwork? But if that were the case then the master of time would have already made some pointed remark or had some lesson involved.
So who?
Flitting through the rest of the room turned out to be useless. So he moved to check on each of the adjacent rooms and ducking to a corner as the Fright Knight passed accompanied by a man in an Imperial Japanese officer. Blood splattered his clothes and apron mixing with spilled ectoplasm which dripped to the stone floor with each movement.
"- craves dominion over that which is not his." The officer was saying. "His makes demands to see our master and king. There is nothing new to report."
Fright Knight paused, gauntlets clasped behind his back. "The sinner has not grasped the crimes nor the displeasure of the king."
"If this one may offer." The officer bowed until the knight gave his assent. "He will not understand. He is warped by possession and greed. Even the most brutal punishments leave no impact upon his mind. It is far too damaged."
Fright Knight considered the officer with a glowing purple eyes before shifting his helmet toward a nearby window. "Damage inflected by the master?"
"I cannot say so."
"Then leave the sinner. We will make a report to our master."
Once they vanished down the corridor Danny followed the trail of blood and ectoplasm down the stairs. Predictably it ran into a dungeon lined with claustrophobic cells and broken, twisted bodies of past prisoners.
Finding Vlad suspended near the rear of the furthermost cell by chains around his wrists and neck should not have been a complete surprise. Blood and ectoplasm dripped from open wounds lacerating almost every inch of exposed skin. Blood dripping from blood-red eyes as they lifted from the floor.
"Daniel," Vlad hissed quietly, broken fingers worked to clench into a fist. Those fists breaking over his nose and body. Sharp fangs bared into a smug, too-knowing grin which had tormented every day in that mansion. Even now, as a tormented supplicant. So pale and drawn with blood loss and pain, a familiar terror dragged Danny's breath back into his lungs. Warped with screams changed none of the sneering inflection. Too confident and cheerfully cruel as he laid out every perceived fault and failing. "Daniel...my boy. Release me!"
Let him go? Let him go?
Who'd put him in there? Who'd done this to him?
He'd been retreating. Retreating the entire time until he was colliding against a solid figure.
"BOY" Familiar, cruel, and sending Danny into an instinctive spin which sent a foot colliding against the massive thigh and a bolt of dwarf star hot ectoplasm straight through Pariah Dark.
"What ever I've done, Daniel! He'll do twice over!" Vlad screamed with a bloody cackle as Danny hurled himself through the stone and into the open air of the Ghost Zone.
His desperate flight to the Fenton portal was faster than when he'd left. Wind dragged in his wake rushed past him in a howl of snow and thunder as Danny flipped into a stop where the portal had once been.
"No!" It was a fixed position in the zone. Adjusting it's coordinates as the zone adjusted it around it to stay in a relative and stable orbit around the zone.
It was gone.
Not closed. The doors would still be present. Gone. Disconnected. The Ghost Zone from his universe and he was on the wrong side of the door.
"JAZZ! SAM! TUCKER! CAN YOU HEAR ME! JAZZ! ANYONE! PLEASE COPY! COME IN! PLEASE! COME IN!" Each shout sent the wind howling in time to his desperate cries. "JAZZ! JAZZ! ANSWER ME! PLEASE! PLEASE! "
His comm spat static over the burgeoning snowstorm.
He didn't fall much further. The portal dropped him into something heavy and metal. Cody curled inward, wheezing with his arms around the sling. Birdie was screeching furiously, tugging on the sweaty strands of hair. "Gimme a sec, Birdie....just a second." He wasn't on Griffin Rock and he knew if he opened his eyes he was going to be in a lot more danger. Still, he forced himself to sit up and stare upward a blank face plate of a purple and black Cybertronian. The face plate was showing coordinates of that yellow portal outside of Griffin Rock closing. This end, directly overhead, closed too.
The strange face dipped into a nod. Cody worked on unfastening the canvas straps until Birdie was safe to flutter into the mechs other hand. Cody didn't move, panting as the crushing weight of the mech was finally gone.
"Soundwave." A low, smooth voice echoed from behind Cody. "Did you locate Lazerbeak? I've had the medbay prepped for ages." This mech was red, a shockingly brilliant red which almost glittered under the lights. Doorwings fluttered in surprise as the red optics settled on Cody and then...Lazerbeak. "What's this? A human?"
Cody watched as the illustration of himself and Lazerbeak jumping off the cliff and into the portal was replayed.
"Oh, did you rescue Soundwaves little cassette?"
This mech was even larger than Heatwave and Boulder, but not Optimus Prime. Did they get larger than Optimus? He knew that the Autobots were at war but he hadn't understood why or how or who? Were these their enemies?
"Hmmm, he might need a moment. Soundwave, shall I take your little girl to the med-bay?"
Soundwave moved around the red mech and toward a door. Cody dimly noticed that there were other Cybertronians, purple and black and seemingly startled as Soundwave carted Cody and Lazerbeak out of the room. He should be scared. He knew he should be scared but exhaustion dulled the sharp edge of terror which had been digging through his gut. Braced against one of the massive digits as they reached the med-bay. Soundwave settled Lazerbeak onto the massive table and stepped back to let the red mech do his job.
Who were these people? He'd never heard the name Soundwave or Lazerbeak...and. He hadn't known he was drifting until the red mech spoke. "Is the human injured, Soundwave? You know we don't have the resources to take care of one."
" I'm tired! I'm so tired." An accepted woman's voice came through some speakers. Cody glanced up to see a woman in a black corset and heels moving across the screen. He closed his eyes.
"Of course, Soundwave. I'll need you help with Lazerbeak."
"Is she going to be okay?" Cody wondered aloud, glancing upwards. "She was trapped in that nest...I don't know how long she was there."
"Trapped in that nest?" His own voice echoed back.
"Yes, sir. I found her trapped with some razor wire or something." Cautiously digging out the bandana he held it out. "Here. Soundwave very carefully pinched the wire between his fingers and moved the little package to another part of the med-bay.
"She's going to be fine in a few days," the red medic said, still bent over the table.
"Oh....good." He yawned, trying to shake off the sleepiness.
"You're awfully calm."
"Hmmmm. There was a big metal bird, guys searching for us, and a weird portal." Cody didn't want to give away his friends or his family. "It's not...I'm don't think I have the energy to freak out yet. Maybe I'm dreaming?"
"Guys searching for us?" Again, his own voice made it's way out of the faceplate.
"Yeah...military guys? I don't think they were really military. That's not how they dress and the main guy was called Silas...he had a big scar on his face." Both mechs shifted their faces toward Cody, who briefly closed his eyes. Beeping and whistling echoed and he finally managed to peel them open. He wasn't in Soundwaves hand anymore. Deposited instead on a....futon and over a dozen blankets scattered around him. Lazerbeak was sprawled over one end and a large metal cat was curled up at his side. He squinted at his watch. Five....probably in the morning. Cody shuffled out of his backpack, removed his helmet and set them to the side. After a drink of water, he shuffled back under the blanket. Dimmed red optics flickered open as the cat lifted its head. "Shhhhh, go back to sleep." He offered it a tired pat, and let himself do that same.
#$#$#$
"MECH managed to briefly capture Lazerbeak, my lord. The wire they used on her was...a Cybertronian alloy. Likely taken from Breakdown. It bonded to the armor and was designed to corrode it. Accordingly Lazerbeaks report hydrogen peroxide works very well to dissolve the bonds for easy removal." A clip played over the conference room screen. High in the trees and from the casseticons point of view. Cody Burns was talking gently to the young scout as he poured more of the liquid over the various strings. The sound had been muted but even the expression belayed how careful the boy was trying to be. "She reports that the net was shot out of one of their launchers while she was high in the sky. She landed in the nest and was founded a few hours later by the boy. Her wounds are unpleasant but not life threatening."
Dreadwing nodded to Knock Out. "His assistance of Lazerbeak was vital for her rescue and repair, my lord. He is both honorable and wise."
"He is an organic." Starscream muttered, still watching the screen as Lazerbeaks view of Cody's treetop escape from Mech unfolded.
"He is both honorable and wise." Soundwave echoed Dreadwing. "Is she going to be okay?"
"MECH is engaging again." Megatron considered thoughtfully. "which is a problem, doubtless. What of the human?"
The screen changed again to show Cody standing beside a human police officer. "Cody Burns, citizen of Griffin Rock. His father is the Chief of Police there. It doesn't change how or why he knew how to rescue Lazerbeak or why he continued with it after realizing she was sentient. Currently," the camera shifted to an overhead view of a pile of blankets. Cody was now sleeping sans helmet and with an arm slung over Ravage as she recharged against his side. "He's recharging. I understand that small humans need more recharge than adults. We could leverage him against the Autobots to demolish MECH. However."
Soundwaves faceplate shifted toward the assembled Decepticons. "I want revenge!" A near ancient recording of Megatron's voice echoed through the room. "I want to burn them in their towers! I want to spill their energon across the steps of the steps of the Senate!"
"Revenge, old friend?" Megatron's claws tapped out a rhythm against the table. "MECH has decided to attack your cassette. It would only be reasonable that we send a message."
"I would suggest we speak the human Cody." Dreadwing added thoughtfully. "He may have answers of his own and perhaps intelligence. I find it most impressive that this human child evaded and outsmarted MECH when even the cleverest of Cybertronians have failed."
"What about this island, Knock Out?" Megatron turned his attention toward the medic. Soundwave adjusted the screen to show a radar image of the American east coast.
"Currently a very large storm is hitting this area. It's obscuring all efforts to get in or out. I imagine MECH isn't faring too well with the unpleasant weather, my lord."
"Very well. Soundwave, begin looking for MECH. We will reconvene to interrogate the human later."
#$#$#$
"CHIEF BURNS!" Dr. Green shouted over the sound of the storm, attention snapping to a sensor which began to blink. "I CAN'T FIND CODY'S COMM SIGNAL! "
"IT WOULD STILL BE SHOWING IF HE WAS IN THE OCEAN!" Chief Burns shouted back, controlled panic in his voice.
"YES! WE COULD SEND SOMEONE TO THE NORTH SIDE BUT THE WIND HAS PICKED UP. IT MIGHT BE TOO DANGEROUS OUT THERE!" Dr. Green watched as Chief Burns burst into the emergency command center, water dripping off his poncho and boots. Fear glinted in his eyes.
"We have to find him, Doc! His last comm message was that he was being chased by hostiles who were armed. My little boy is out there with someone with a gun and he has no way to communicate right now! If he jumped off Scardy Cat Point he could have been dragged out to sea, Doc."
"I know, Chief, but his beacon would have lit moment he hit the water. Where are the others?"
"Assisting with a few small boat rescues and transporting supplies to the emergency shelters." Chief Burns sighed. :Cody, This is Dad. Please come in! Please respond!: Again the answer was only silence. "He's in danger. He could be hurt or...." He sank into the free chair.
"Doctor Green?" Chase's voice echoed through the small building.
"Chase?"
"Where was the last transmission from, Doctor?"
"Scardy Cat Point on the north end of the island. We picked up his transmission for a brief moment before he was suddenly cut off."
"And?"
"And...we don't know where he is, Chief Burns. His beacon is either below the island given that the entrance to the cave system is there or....broken. But we know there aren't a lot of rocks at that point."
"If he was swept out to sea!"
"Then we would still be receiving his beacon, Chief. I think he's underground."
"Right. We need to engage with the hostiles he mentioned." Chief Burns felt his stomach twisting. A fear he couldn't shake as his son disappearance remained first and foremost. "Let's go."
#$#$#$#$
Cody woke to a large figure moving nearby. A sound of a Cybertronian so familiar he had no trouble slipping back into sleep. He was tired, sore, and everything hurt. He'd have to ask his dad for some of the recovery medicine. Running through the treetops had taken a lot out of him.
Wait! Treetops? MECH!
DECEPTICONS! An alarm began to chime.
Something hissed when he jerked awake. A metal cat sitting up, affronted by the suddenness of his movement. Lazerbeak hissed off to the side in the arms of the massive mech standing nearby. The blank face-plate depicting an old-fashioned alarm clock bouncing around.
"Huh?" It stopped only to be replaced by a scrawl of text.
"Oh....uh..." Maybe it was a bit like going to the debriefings at the station? Or a school report? He knew how to do that. "Soundwave, right? Thank you for catching us. It was really bad weather to be in a storm like that."
Soundwave nodded, Lazerbeak still in his arms. The cat nudged Cody a few times, and he slowly untangled himself. He was let alone to tidy up his hair and change his socks. His granddad has always told him to pack extra socks to avoid trench foot. He had a bottle of water and a protein bar in hand when Soundwave returned. Cody didn't hesitate to jump into the mechs hand, offering a smile upward.
Optimus hadn't told him much about the war he was in or much about his enemies. Just that they were dangerous and what to look out for. It was all well and good, but now he was being carried through a massive warship in space while in the midst of the very enemies he was supposed to avoid. If anything Cody could draw on what his dad had taught him.
Mechs, sat around a massive table in front of a large window overlooking the floating planet and space. Someone had thoughtfully set up a chair for him somewhere between the massive grey one and the serious-faced blue and yellow mech with horns. Cody didn't take the chair as he hopped from Soundwaves hand.
Courage is doing what's right despite the fear. Courage is overcoming fear.
Waiting until Soundwave had taken up his place, apparently behind the gray one, did he speak up. "Hello. Thank you for inviting me to your meeting....my name is Cody." A few of the grim faces shifted into amusement.
"Well met, Cody Burns." the largest grey mech rumbled. "I am Lord Megatron of the Decepticons. My second, Starscream." The plane sneered only to pause when Cody waved and smiled. "My Third-in-Command, Soundwave. Dreadwing our blademaster and Knock-Out, our medic. On behalf of the Decepticon you saved, welcome aboard the Nemesis."
Oh. Wow. These were important people weren't they? Dangerous and he didn't like the way Starscream was looking at him. But Optimus had once teased him about being the human ambassador to Cybertron, so he tried to live up to the expectation.
"It's...nice to meet you all. I'm sorry we had to meet this way." Did that work? Megatron seemed amused, so did Knock Out and Dreadwing. Soundwave said nothing.
"As am I. I requested your presence for a clearer understanding of yesterdays events."
This, Cody was familiar with. He'd gotten good with after mission reports after watching the bots do it so often. He straightened his shoulders and squeezed the back of the chair to hide his terror. He relayed the events concisely as he could. Repeating a few parts and answering questions. Eventually he sat down.
"If MECH is attempting to target the smaller of us, then it is likely they will begin attacking Vehicons while they are out to gather resources." Starscream put forward.
"Other parties as well," Knock Out added with a significant expression that Cody took as meaning the mainland autobots.
As the conversation continued, Cody thought what they might do. What they'd do to MECH and the autobots.
"Something to say, young hero?" Dreadwing asked and Cody worked up the nerve to speak.
"Yes, Mr. Dreadwing...I do. Do you know who helping them? My dad says that criminals can sometimes be supported by people in power. If this MECH is part of the army then that would change your problem. If they're just....uh, bandits, then it's different."
"They are considered a domestic terrorist organization in your country." Knock Out put in, leaning his helm on a servo. "So far we haven't found any affiliation with a government entity."
"Then that makes it much easier, Mr. Knock Out." The mech brightened considerably.
"What is your meaning?" Megatron rumbled.
"That you're not going up against the whole army. You're just going against a few crazy people. You said they were ex-soldiers but that doesn't mean they were good soldiers."
"The idea has some merit. I will admit, Cody Burns, you do not seem nearly so panicked as most humans. Why?"
Cody frowned thoughtfully. "I am scared. I was really scared when we were being chased. But.. I want to be a rescuer....I want to be a good one and I know that sometimes you have to do things that are scary. You need to help people even if you don't like them. Dad says that you should hold out your hand to help someone up, not push them down. I know you're...aliens but Lazerbeak was scared and injured...so it was my duty to help." He'd heard Heatwave explain the philosophy behind the Rescue Academy. His dad and siblings explaining why they were EMTs and in emergency services. Cody felt it closely too. Meeting the bright purple optics evenly in a way that made most adults back off.
Megatron's expression sharpened and he smiled. It took everything in Cody not to shiver. "It might have been easier to leave Lazerbeak to her fate. You would not have had to face MECH...or us."
"But they were hunting her. They wanted to hurt her." He frowned. Why was he asking this? Shouldn't he be figuring out how to stop these guys?
"You would have been far safer if you had abandoned her."
Cody glanced toward Soundwave. The empty faceplate stared down at him without emotion and without expectation. The others watched the exchange silently. "They wanted to hurt her..." Cody frowned more deeply, squinting upwards at the mech who'd begun to frown as well.
"I would have been easier, sparkling."
Cody didn't know that work and he wasn't sure what it mean. Still, he knew what the other man was saying. Standing, he planted his hands on his hips. "I know being a rescuer is dangerous and it takes a lot of work. My family has helped people out of burning buildings, out of sinkholes, ocean rescues, and a cat from a tree. It's always easier to run away. Helping people takes a lot of work. Mr. Megatron and I am not lazy."
As he'd spoken the air had gotten chillier. Purple mechs loitering in the background were perfectly still and silent. Even Dreadwing's eyes had opened wider and Knockout looked scared. Cody didn't let his expression falter in the slightest. He knew how bullies acted if you showed an ounce of fear.
Megatron let out what he might have thought was an amused chuckle. "I meant no offense, little rescuer. Simply a test."
He leaned back in his chair and seemed ready to continue the conversation. Cody wasn't finished.
"That was really rude, Mr. Megatron." Sharp claws scraped into the table briefly, and the mech considered him.
"Correct. Now. We must discuss our next options."
The conversation shifted. Cody sat down and observed that Megatron hadn't apologized.
