Thinking on a DPxDC where Danny and Jazz are part Atlantean and have Merfolk forms.
The start would be the usual Danny is being vivisected by the GiW (Vlad's fault while Jack and Maddie just think he's off on a trip with his Godfather) so Jazz and the others have to save him. While on the run from them they are on a ferry from Metropolis to Gotham when the agents catch up and attack them.
Danny and Jazz just leap off the side with the plan of him Going Ghost and flying them the rest of the way once they are underneath the water. Instead the exposure to water from the Atlantic triggers their first Mer-transformation. Due to Danny's Ghost half only technically being a couple years old he turns into a baby Mer.
I need help coming up with how their Mer-forms look, more specifically Jazz's.
Danny's clearly will be some deep-sea bottom of the Mariana Trench eldritch looking creature (he'll have a tail of some sort and chitin covering his body).
For Jazz I am not sure if I want her to have a fish tail or to be bipedal like some of the Atlanteans. Though even with the later she'll have clear fishy features specifically very regal looking chitin protecting her back and arms while her face and torso remains mostly Human. If I go bipedal then she might use her Mer-form as a vigilante disguise.
Cultists want to summon the Ghost King, the League pull up to stop them, failed summoning successfully and got Ghost Prince Danny.
With a twist.
The head cultist tells Danny what they want, but it's so pitiful that Danny just sits them down, each and every one of the cultists and explains that maybe it isn't the best idea to give your soul to an otherworldly entity just for that.
Then it somehow turns into therapy because Jesus Christ these people have been living some pretty shit lives, then Danny decides to pull some favors with Frostbite and the Yetis to get some of the cultists family members medical treatment for their Mother/Father/Siblings that they're too poor to pay for.
Other times he just kinda tries to get a few others to get more confidence after being drawn in by a few bad people against their will and try and give them ways to get out of said situation.
The entire time the Justice League was just, there, watching all of this go down and questioning a lot of things. Simultaneously Batman is thinking of starting up a program to not make this a repeat, wherein people think they have no other options than to give up their literal soul to an otherworldly entity in hopes to turn their life around.
Half a year later the now reformed cultists meet up again. The circle is the same. But by now they rid themselves of their robes and are instead donning Phantom merchandise.
All hail the Great One.
Gothams Phandom summons their lord and savior to tell him of their accomplishments.
Phil has now more time to spend with is kids.
Robert and Alexander are now dating.
Annabeth got rid of her maybe cursed puppets and is changing the room into a small temple dedicated to her lord and savior Phantom.
Small Lilly is here to meet her mommas hero.
Cassie, a old woman with a bakery, dragged her long time customer Dr Freeze with her so she can introduce him to the RELIGION Phandom. Some non criminal friends wouldn't hurt him.
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They didn't expect Phantom show up bleeding green blood all over the floor. (if they did they definitely wouldn't have tried the summoning in the living room. The poor carpet)
They also didn't expect him to pass out and turn into a Wayne bite...
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The cultists heal him. During his stay with them Danny finds out that he is in a different dimension. (Its a reveal gone wrong fic (no vivisection) and Danny was just running from the Giw and his parents when he felt the summoning. He used it as a escape.)
Now they plan a second summoning ritual for his sisters.
Danny Jazz and Dani (and maybe Dan) get adopted / take in by the cultists.
I don't have anything practical to add. I'm just envisioning a group of five to seven people who usually only ever see each other in cloaks all gathered in a public school principal office, trying to see how they can successfully enroll their lord god into his junior year of high school before term starts
I was thinking more that, considering they're a self-formed cult based around this one child god, there was literally no way any one of them would be willing to be left out of supporting their little savior in his time of need. So, yeah, they're all the parents! ...Yeah, all of them. They're, like...married? (Yeah, that's close enough right?) (This is Gotham, you can tell them we're a cult, they're not going to judge) (Yeah, maybe, but they still might call CPS?? Can a cult have custody here??) (...Maybe?)
And they someone manage to BS their way onto all the guardian forms and sign out lists just in case and register him under the address of their "cult compound" (slowly converted warehouse, now featuring One Pull Out Couch And A Fridge! 😄👍🏽), which is great! They're doing a great job group parenting and no one is suspicious. At all. Their lord god is going to have a great time in public school during his recovery. Now, how to split up their support effectively for his extracurriculars...
Oracle in the background silently beefing up the mediocre fake ID's that they managed to get...Tim pushing through one of Wayne Enterprise more discreet scholarships...new long term favourable lease because the warehouse owner sold it to a shell company of the kind the bats used for their own safehouses...
@desatu's tags. Yes. The warehouse is Key to the vision here. They constantly look like they're running a drug operation or some shady bs, but no. The only thing stashed there is their teenage god.
Cult1: ...Yeah! It's. It's like a hobby. It's enrichment! It's good for him!
Cult2: And you're not worried about, oh, I don't know, the electrical engineering at play here?? What if he hurts himself??
Cult1:
Cult1: I mean. He seems like he knows what he's doing?
Cult3: hey. Have we considered that our lord god is all powerful and probably can avoid hurting himself on this through application of his will and aptitude?
CultAll: *reassured muttering*
Danny: Hey, look at this! I made a ray gun! :)
CultAll: *Parental praise and support*
Cult2: let's sign him up for a shop class. I heard that at the public level it's basically supervillainy 102
Cult4: I mean. Does he even WANT to be a super villain?
Cult1: No, but he can do whatever he likes with an engineering background, right? Support his interests and all that
CultAll: *unison chanting* Support His Interests... Support His Interests... Support His Interests...
Stephanie, mic'd in for bimonthly cult-busting recon: ...the fuck?
The batfam watching them like it's their favourite show. And watching as Danny, Ellie and Jazz are helping to keep them on a legal path. Well, for Gotham anyway. Like, counter mugging and mugger isn't a crime. Surely? The fact that they have started to help the street kids by setting up a soup kitchen? They don't know where they are getting the money. (Jason, of course it's Jason) but they don't want to ruin a good thing.
Okay, so as a side interest, I study cults (like, actual cults) and small-scale religious groups (more like what we're characterizing here), and in order to make money, the majority of religious groups sell some sort of religious service or healing service to outsiders. This usually serves both as a recruitment method and something extremely coercive to suck money out of people who're desperate.
So, if Jason rolls up to the warehouse and slams the doors open like WHAT UP, NERDS, I'M GOING TO FUND YOUR WEIRD COMMUNITY THING, there's every reason for the cult to go ooookay...do you, um, would you like an audience with the lord god? About it?
And, being nosy, I can't imagine Jason turning down the opportunity to see this kid in person and make sure he's not being pushed around or anything. So yeah, sure. The cult disappears to put on their robes or whatever and the kid pops into the kitchen (different corner of the warehouse with a fridge in it) with like his robe half put on and half flying in the wind.
"So, uh," Danny tries, looking upwards, because this guy is tall and Danny's fourteen, "Do you have, like...personal problems?"
"So many." Jason can't really emphasize just one. "Anger's usually the worst of it. Why, got a cure-all or something in this joint?"
"Er," says Danny. "...No. Actually, this seems more like my sister's deal. Hold on. One minute."
And the kid god darts out, only to return by pushing his older sister in, giving her a thumbs up and leaving. The girl rolls her eyes and straightens upright. She asks him what's up.
...Jason tells her a very abbreviated version of what's up. Kid censored. He leaves the dying in there though, because whatever, it's a cult! They'll believe that stuff.
The girl. Frowns. "That's...that's super weird. Actually. Hold on."
Jason then proceeds to watch her take an abundance of greens out of the fridge, pull the world's jankiest homemade blender off of the floor, and make two portions of the healthiest smoothie he's ever had the misfortune of seeing in his life.
She pours two glasses. Jason drinks one, and she drinks the other. It tastes indistinguishable from grass. "Try to meditate on things that brought you joy in life tonight. You'll feel better if you have good memories."
...okay.
Jason pays $3000 for bogus services rendered, goes home, and resolves himself to sleeping in his crappy safehouse bed for the night like any other.
He dreams about his mom when she was sober. They were reading doctor Seuss books together. It's a memory so old...Jason doesn't think he was even talking at that age. He wakes up in the morning totally, entirely cured.
What the fuck. Wait. Does that mean the cult is actually onto something?
Meanwhile, Jazz is glad to have gotten the most ecto-soaked veggies out of the fridge before they started manifesting consciousness again. She hopes that one dude was alright. He looked kind of hangry all the while they were talking.
Jason popping in to find out that they mostly focus on helping others. And it's because of the God child. Who refused to but their souls. But have good advice? Yeah they really are just that thankful to the kid. And really are just trying their best....
That smoothie was fuckin awful. Just the worst. But it worked? He's gotta teach them how to make em taste better though.
Joker has no idea what he'll awaits him. Jason of course is just like... If you don't kill him? He needs to be unable to move. Ellie just goes, bet! Joker will never be able to commit another crime again.
Meanwhile? Danny eventually notices that Jason is revived, and has something nasty in there... Hmm. Blob boba tea it is!
Danny: So! While that's happening! Anything else you wanna talk about? Like, we try to offer space for people who need rehab, or finding funds for medical care and shit? Got anyone who needs help?
Jason sipping on the weird, but very tasty boba tea.....
Jason: I run some of the charities in crime alley. Can I get you to add them to your list. Often safer that the government programs.
Danny: Oh for sure! If you ever need a place for people to crash in, we've turned the back into like, a barracks?
I realize you probably meant this in a "blobs as food" way, but the mention of Jason having something nasty in him got me in a "blobs as cleaner fish" mindset, and I had to share the resulting idea.
Blob boba tea has clean ectoplasm (because he needs some) and Blob ghosts (to filter the nasty stuff already in there).
The blobs will work their magic cleaning all the grossness out of his system and then phase out of him when they're done.
Later that night, Jason is lying in bed, feeling oddly peaceful and content, when a cloud of little glowing green blobs flows out of his stomach, making cute little comforting noises. The cloud disperses. Most of the blobs fly away through the walls (off to chow down on the buildup of icky energy in Gotham). A couple stay with Jason, purring gently as they snuggle up to him (hoping he will either aquire more contamination or lead them to the source).
Jason decides that dealing with this is a tomorrow problem and falls asleep. When he wakes up, the blobs that stayed are still there. Apparently, it wasn't a dream.
...guess he's going to have another talk with cult leader kid.
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Also, Ellie is having so much fun tormenting the Joker.
Jason running back to the warehouse cradling his baby.
Jason: Your tea made me pregnant!
*holds the blob up to show the proof*.
This of course has Danny and Ellie crying from laughing. Like.... Ok. They kinda get how he came to that conclusion. But. just. No. That's not what happened here! We promise! They are filter cleaners! They are the bad Ecto and then phased out of you! More like a pet than a baby! We promise!
Danny: Oh my Ancients! I haven't laughed so hard in months!
Ellie: Don't worry! It would take a LOT more work to get you pregnant than just a cup of boba tea!
Jason:..... Wait! What!?!? You could anyway?!
Danny: You have a proto core. So like. If we got it turned into a full core? Yeah. But it would take time and energy. And you would have to be a willing participant. So you're safe!
Jason: I might need the ghostly birds and bees talk.
Is B can adopt an alien starfish he can have a blob baby!
He would like that liminal health class though. Now please. How does his core go from Proto to real? What else is this gonna do to him? Were they fucking with him when they said he could get ghost pregnant? There are a lot of answers he would like.
True to form Alfred accepts Blobert immediately. Barely even raised an eyebrow.
I enjoy the idea of Blobert becoming a full fledged ghost eventually. Because they stick around and absorb Gotham's curses. So, they eventually and slowly grow and change. Yup, that's a baby alright!
#dpxdc#blob ghosts#jason thinks he gave birth to the blobs#how is he going to explain this to alfred#Oc: Blobert the Blob Ghost#Blobert is now Jason’s fur baby? blob baby!#the rest of the Bats think Blobert is really Jason’s child#Blobert has they/them pronouns#right now Blobert has the intelligence of a cleaner fish but that will change#Blobert will absorb a lot of Gothams curses and be smarter than the average blob
Tags by @hdgnj
Did Blobert eat the curse that keeps turning people into mad scientists? Because I think it would be funny to have Blobert become super intelligent. With the right guidance, they could be a benevolent mad scientist, but there will be a plethora of inventions, discoveries, and zany hijinks.
Tim might just be Blobert's favorite uncle, but he's not allowed to watch Blobert without additional supervision. The last time they were left unsupervised together they tried to find a way to use ectoplasm's antimicrobial properties to fix Tim's immune system and this somehow spiraled into them either making Tim heavily liminal to the point where there's very little chance of him not becoming a ghost or straight up recreating Danny's accident and making him a full halfa. (Blobert was really shook after Tim got a bad infection. None of their family is allowed to end.)
The other Bats never learn that Blobert started out as a cleaner fish. They just think the lack of comprehension early on was due to them being a literal infant. Of course they became more knowledgeable and capable of more complex thought as they grew. That's how children work.
Blobert builds things for their family. Things that will keep them safe (like better armor) and things that make them happy (like cameras that work on ghosts).
Did Babs ask for a battle chair with mechanical spider legs, laser canons, and a force field generator? No. Did she have fun learning to pilot it? Yes.
Sometimes family is you, your siblings, and the people who worship you as their god.
I do enjoy the idea of Blobert becoming super intelligent by eating the local curses. Probably learns how to shape their body into something less blob over time as well. Still goes blob when tired. Or in search of cuddles. But otherwise has a form with hands.
Jason loves liminal health care class. He's learning so much? And these poor kids? Really are trying their best to help. They escaped a shitty situation. And yeah, the kid is a godling of sorts. He can see why these guys love him. And he can see the kids are trying to get them to tone down the worship aspect.
Jason low key is emotionally adopting all of these idiots. They all have kicked puppy auras ok! He can't help it!
I am so happy this continued. But I can just imagine Ellie casually asking the other kids what they would do to the Joker to get more ideas. Him suffering horribly as an occasional thing in the background. Now I want to know what some of the Rogues think of this Not-Quite-A-Cult they have going on.
I mean, half of them would see if their 'Lord God' can help them. The other half probably try to kidnap Danny of his sisters. Which uh, goes about as well as you can expect. Even after the siblings are done with them? Fucking, Red Hood? Shows up and makes their life worse. Dammit all.
Batman is just glad they aren't killing people. He's not entirely sure what they're doing isn't worse in many ways. But, their victims still have a chance to better themselves at least. Even if it is from a full body cast.
Eating the curses gave Blobert power to grow. But it was the Batfamily's belief that Blobert is Jason's baby that allows them to gain human intelligence and grow into a humanoid-ish form.
Even learning Blobert was actually a cleaner fish, Jason never lost that first emotional surge of attachment to them as his baby. And as Blobert grows in intelligence and gains a more humanoid form, Jason fully commits. This is his child, Blobert.
The Bats are all a bit liminal and connected to the city spirit, Lady Gotham. Batman was even claimed as her Brother.
Their belief, that Blobert is a baby growing up, formed the blob ghost into a more humanoid shape. The power of their belief that Blobert is their baby nephew-niece/grandchild/great-grandchild influenced them into growing into human intelligence. Their support and encouragement allowed Blobert to grow into a person of their own. Their love and attachment steadily feed Blobert to keep growing as their family member.
Blob form is good for cuddles and total relaxation. But Blobert wants to be like their family, so grows and shapes themself to eventually look more like a Wayne. Even if they're a semi-translucent, squishy noodle-physics, green-glowy Wayne-ish kid. Details and color is hard ok. They're also limited by ectoplasm-mass so they're still little kid-sized.
Meanwhile, the cult opens a healing Cafe and bakery in the more well-to-do parts of Gotham, alongside their outreach programs in less affluent areas of Gotham. Maybe the cafe is near the college campus. Because there's a lot of ecto-contaminated and cursed people in Gotham.
Danny cooing over Blobert when Jason comes to meet them.
Danny: Ohh gosh!! You're feeding him so much love! He's gonna manage to grow and become a person!!!! That's amazing! Do you know how RARE that is!!!
Jason: Really? The fuck?
Danny: Not gotten to, emotions and you; Ecto-entity needs? Fair.
Jazz: Emotions and belief can change ghosts. Since Blobert is 100% ghost? He's more susceptible to change and growth due to belief and emotions. Claiming him as your son? Means he's gonna grow up to BE your son.
Jason: Shit. I better start setting up an education fund huh. And get Dr Frostbite's summons. In case he needs medical.
Jazz: Well. Blobert loves you. Which is a great sign. I'll grab you the summons for Frostbite. And put together a packet on baby ghosts growth and needs.
Danny: Me and Ellie are always down to babysit! Since ya know, we can also fly.
I think Jason would be a good dad for Blobert. I can easily imagine him using the rule my parents followed "If your child brings you a book, you read to them." He seems like he would be really on the ball about keeping them safe and healthy, too.
I bet Bruce begins to slip them funds as well. Once he's sure they are genuinely trying their best to be good and helpful. Is it weird to have a baby death God and his siblings, their cult and his first grandchild (magically conceived. Is his grandchild a demiGod!?) in his city? Yes. But they are helping. In ways he can't. Helping those the city government won't. So he's going to help them as much as he can.
Also highly likely that he will ask if they can/will help protect Earth in dire situations. Please take the com from the JL. Please? Earth gets attacked so often. He is tired. A baby God can only be a useful ally. Making JLD collectively choke on their drinks when he introduced the kids? Was priceless. Ah, he does so enjoy fucking with his more annoying co-workers.
Blobert's biggests growth spurt (from small near child to actual child) comes when he manages to find the Lazarus Pit in Gotham and cleans it out. Jason panics a bit over it and Ra's is not happy that one of the Pits is completely removed from existence.
Danny frowns when he learns about them and Dani volunteers to go around the world to clean them all up. With how often Jason has been coming around to talk about how to raise his child, him and Jazz have started to date.
Danny, while experimenting with his shapeshifting (ecto changes form depending on intent and he's half alive so), got stuck in a form.
Then he got caught by a sleezy freakshow/circus owner.
The form he's stuck in is a merman form. But it's not, like, a typical merman form.
He'd been trying to see if he could reshape his ecto while he was in human form, and he had! But he'd also gotten overenthusiastic in experimenting, added too many features unique to his ghost form, and now he can't shift into either form.
Human or ghost.
He's stuck.
He's stuck as a merman with his human features, his ghost-form eye color (it glows), his human form hair (tinted with glowing green-ish white), deep blue scales on his tail that fade into that seem glowing greenish white, and fully functional gills.
He also cannot use his ghost powers. He knows that they're there, but for some reason his current form will not allow their usage. Maybe...maybe he's using too much ghost energy to keep up the transformation?
Regardless, he got captured by some sleezeball and thrown into a traveling freakshow. Highly illegal, and he's slowly losing hope that he'll be able to escape, because he just. Can't. Shift. Back!
Then the sleezeball makes a stupid mistake; he puts the freakshow up in Metropolis.
Danny goes to sleep one day closer to a mental breakdown.
Danny wakes up to Superman floating in front of his tank, in the process of restraining Aquaman from quite literally murdering the sleezeball.
After a moment, Superman took over "restraining" the circus sleezeball, much to Danny's disappointment, and Aquaman came over to see Danny. Danny wasn't in the worst shape, but he certainly wasn't in good shape either. He was literally the only thing in the tank, it was too much of a hassle for the sleezeball to clean, and he clearly had no idea what kind of food to feed a merman. Really, it was the few kinder more human members of the circus that prevented Danny from going septic or starving.
Aquaman's mouth was opening and closing like he was trying to speak, but Danny actually couldn't hear anything through the glass. He tried to signal that, even tried to talk himself to get the point across, and it seemed to work. He seemed to get it and found the opening at the top of the tank.
Danny came up to him so he wouldn't try to get into the water, and sure enough, Aquaman frowned in disgust at the state of Danny's water. He looked at Danny and said something in a language Danny didn't recognize.
"Sorry, I don't know what that means?"
"I see." Aquaman's face fell in utter devastation. "That's alright. We'll get you out of here and back to the ocean in no time."
Danny tilted his head to the side. "I'm not from the ocean?"
Aquaman looked Danny up and down, from his hair to his tail and seemed to notice something off. "No?"
"Pulled him out of Lake Eerie." Slzeeze personified shouted from where Superman had him. "That means he ain't yours, king of the ocean, so you can't take him!"
Superman twisted the guy's arm to shut him up, which Danny appreciated.
"Ah of course! The Great Lake Tribes." Aquaman nodded, "That's why you didn't understand Atlantean. I was worried you'd been captive your whole life."
Danny kinda shrugged and maybe cringed, because that was kinda debatable. He wasn't part of some merfolk lake tribe, and he had technically been captive almost the entire time he's been stuck as a merman.
Danny didn't want to ask for their help with ghost stuff -he's pretty sure being a ghost is at least a little illegal and the Justice League was at least partially under government control- but if they took him to Lake Erie and he didn't know whatever underwater language they spoke, he might have to come clean about being a ghost anyway. But, it'll probably take them a while to get him over the the Great Lakes, so if he can figure out how to transform again before then, he'll be fine! What's the worst that could happen?
Arthur watched the boy swim around one of the pools at the Hall of Justice specifically designed for Atlantean guests. He was grateful that horrible circus stopped in Matropolis so they could get Danny into a better place almost immediately. A few days and he was already doing much better with clean water, real Atlantean food that doesn't fall apart in water, plenty of space to swim freely, and a small artificial reef to play, hide, and sleep in. Danny was gaining weight, his skin looked less sick, his scales became more vibrant, and his clumsy swimming was getting better. But that was the thing wasn't it? Little details that confirmed Arthur's worst suspicions: Danny has spent his entire life on land.
Danny never confirmed he was from the lake-folk, he simply never said otherwise and Arthur could see the look on his face at the assumption. So, he sent Kaldur to the Great Lakes ahead of them to ask around. Arthur doesn't expect there to be a missing person matching Danny in the least; he questioned it the moment it was even implied. Bioluminescence is a rare trait, less than a fraction of a percent in the ocean people, and he's personally never heard of it manifesting in a lake-folk. Erie is the smallest and shallowest of the Great Lakes therefore having the smallest population and it would be easy to notice someone missing, bioluminescent or not, there would be public record of it. That bastard Benedict Showenhower lied about where he got Danny, likely to hide that he actually got the adolescent from, uhg, "fish" trafficking.
Danny doesn't talk much about anything before being "caught" by Showenhower. He mentioned that his parents were scientists, but didn't say what kind. What names he gave for his friends and family were all human names. even Arthur recognized they're not lake-folk. Arthur doesn't point any of it out, he wants to wait for the right moment, when Danny's strong enough to talk about a life he's trying so hard to hide.
And when Kaldur came with his report, of course it confirmed their suspicions. He and Arthur sat on the lip of Danny's pool with the boy bobbing in the water, a courtesy so he can hear them. ...Danny knows no underwater language.
"No one has been bioluminescent in the Great Lakes for eight generations." Kaldur simply stated. "And there are no other missing person reports that match Danny's age."
Danny sank slightly in the water, the action of a child caught in a lie.
Arthur spoke softly, "Danny, do you know for certain where you came from?"
"We're not upset or angry at being lied to." Kaldur added, "You won't be in any trouble, we just want to help get you home."
Danny flinched for some reason, he looked like he was bout to dive. Yes, they were faster than him, but this isn't something they could chase him down and make him talk about.
"I can't." Danny's voice was so quiet, they wouldn't have heard it if not for the echo surface water causes.
"Can't?" Arthur prompted and Danny started sobbing.
"I'm not- I was human-" His words were hard to make out, but Arthur got enough of them. "parent's big experiment" "illegal but fun" "stuck like this" "can't go home or they'll kill me".
Arthur knew it would be bad, but he didn't think it was this bad. Many humans have tried to make artificial merfolk for their own selfish desires. It is as illegal as illegal gets, both on land and in water and almost always ended in death. Arthur dropped into the water and pulled Danny into a tight hug and promised no one was ever going to hurt him again.
What Danny actually said, but he's been stressed out for the past couple years months so it doesn't come out quite right: I messed with my parents’ big experiment, and died, and being a ghost is illegal but kinda fun, so I was experimenting with shape shifting and got stuck like this, I can’t go home or they’ll know I’m a ghost and hate me, and there's this whole thing with a government-ish agency who will kill me if given the chance
While Aquaman calls in some of the other Justice League members to discuss what to do about Danny, the Batbrood hear about the teenaged merman and come by to check him out.
Cass in particular is interested as it gives her a chance to see how well she can read the body language of a non-human. So she is perched on the small ledge of the pool and is entranced by what she is seeing.
While she can obviously tell that he is still getting used to his body, something that she makes note of to tell the adults though from the briefing notes that Tim stole acquired they already know that he is like this due to an experiment. Another thing is that he seems to be somewhat shy though he is watching her with as much interest as she is him.
Then Steph decides that Tim needs a bath and pushing him in. As he flails about from the sudden dip, Danny darts over to try and help him. However, when he feels hands trying to grab him, Tim manages to elbow the mer-teen in the face.
Cass frowns and as her brother frantically apologizes, notes where Danny goes to hide. She walks over to help Steph drag Tim out of the water before shoving the others out of the room. When she is about to follow them, a sensation gently tugs at her and turning around she sees Danny up near the edge.
Danny was truly surprised when he heard Black Bat (of all heroes, she's the only Human who he has merch of) using Ghostspeak. Though it isn't fully directed at him, her being curious about him and wanting to help him is quite clearly meant for him to detect. Other than that there is annoyance when Spoiler pushes Red Robin into the water, and anger when the other teen elbows him when he tries to help.
She corrals the others out so he chirps and sends a wanting of her presence to get her to stay.
Danny swims up to the edge of the pool and as Black Bat moves to sit nearby, he lifts himself up some to rest his arms and shoulders next to her. He focuses on talking slow so that he can make sure he gets the sounds right.
"Hallu" He begins, "Is gratoo meet oo."
She smiles at how clumsy his words are, and can see that he is embarrassed by how hard it is for him to talk. Pulling out a pen and paper from her belt she offers them to him.
He eagerly takes them and writes out, "Big fan of you. You are my favourite Human Hero. And honestly you might beat out some of the others as well."
Noting how her posture shifts a little with pride, he chuckles a bit which makes her laugh too.
Realizing that she can learn some of what they really need to know, she asks, "Where from?"
"Amity Park. Parents are Ghost Hunters and they built a portal. Was in an accident with it and became part Ghost, was messing around with my powers and got stuck like this."
Reading that out, she reaches out to lay her hand on his arm and he shuffles a little closer to her.
"No experimentation on you?" She asks, concern radiating.
He shakes his head as he quickly writes, "No, they wouldn't. The government run organization that sees Ghosts as non-sapient would, but they also made it illegal to be a Ghost and have full authority to capture, experiment, and exterminate."
A splash as she slides into the water to properly hug him. That is followed by a bright flash of light, which leaves Danny confused as he is still very much in his merman form, but he can feel his ghostly powers again. Flying both of them up out of the water, he phases her dry.
Black Bat then looks around quickly before leaning close to his ear and stating, "Name is Cass."
Then she picks up the notebook, grabs his hand and leads him towards where the conference room is with all the adult heroes.
Danny, while experimenting with his shapeshifting (ecto changes form depending on intent and he's half alive so), got stuck in a form.
Then he got caught by a sleezy freakshow/circus owner.
The form he's stuck in is a merman form. But it's not, like, a typical merman form.
He'd been trying to see if he could reshape his ecto while he was in human form, and he had! But he'd also gotten overenthusiastic in experimenting, added too many features unique to his ghost form, and now he can't shift into either form.
Human or ghost.
He's stuck.
He's stuck as a merman with his human features, his ghost-form eye color (it glows), his human form hair (tinted with glowing green-ish white), deep blue scales on his tail that fade into that seem glowing greenish white, and fully functional gills.
He also cannot use his ghost powers. He knows that they're there, but for some reason his current form will not allow their usage. Maybe...maybe he's using too much ghost energy to keep up the transformation?
Regardless, he got captured by some sleezeball and thrown into a traveling freakshow. Highly illegal, and he's slowly losing hope that he'll be able to escape, because he just. Can't. Shift. Back!
Then the sleezeball makes a stupid mistake; he puts the freakshow up in Metropolis.
Danny goes to sleep one day closer to a mental breakdown.
Danny wakes up to Superman floating in front of his tank, in the process of restraining Aquaman from quite literally murdering the sleezeball.
After a moment, Superman took over "restraining" the circus sleezeball, much to Danny's disappointment, and Aquaman came over to see Danny. Danny wasn't in the worst shape, but he certainly wasn't in good shape either. He was literally the only thing in the tank, it was too much of a hassle for the sleezeball to clean, and he clearly had no idea what kind of food to feed a merman. Really, it was the few kinder more human members of the circus that prevented Danny from going septic or starving.
Aquaman's mouth was opening and closing like he was trying to speak, but Danny actually couldn't hear anything through the glass. He tried to signal that, even tried to talk himself to get the point across, and it seemed to work. He seemed to get it and found the opening at the top of the tank.
Danny came up to him so he wouldn't try to get into the water, and sure enough, Aquaman frowned in disgust at the state of Danny's water. He looked at Danny and said something in a language Danny didn't recognize.
"Sorry, I don't know what that means?"
"I see." Aquaman's face fell in utter devastation. "That's alright. We'll get you out of here and back to the ocean in no time."
Danny tilted his head to the side. "I'm not from the ocean?"
Aquaman looked Danny up and down, from his hair to his tail and seemed to notice something off. "No?"
"Pulled him out of Lake Eerie." Slzeeze personified shouted from where Superman had him. "That means he ain't yours, king of the ocean, so you can't take him!"
Superman twisted the guy's arm to shut him up, which Danny appreciated.
"Ah of course! The Great Lake Tribes." Aquaman nodded, "That's why you didn't understand Atlantean. I was worried you'd been captive your whole life."
Danny kinda shrugged and maybe cringed, because that was kinda debatable. He wasn't part of some merfolk lake tribe, and he had technically been captive almost the entire time he's been stuck as a merman.
Danny didn't want to ask for their help with ghost stuff -he's pretty sure being a ghost is at least a little illegal and the Justice League was at least partially under government control- but if they took him to Lake Erie and he didn't know whatever underwater language they spoke, he might have to come clean about being a ghost anyway. But, it'll probably take them a while to get him over the the Great Lakes, so if he can figure out how to transform again before then, he'll be fine! What's the worst that could happen?
Arthur watched the boy swim around one of the pools at the Hall of Justice specifically designed for Atlantean guests. He was grateful that horrible circus stopped in Matropolis so they could get Danny into a better place almost immediately. A few days and he was already doing much better with clean water, real Atlantean food that doesn't fall apart in water, plenty of space to swim freely, and a small artificial reef to play, hide, and sleep in. Danny was gaining weight, his skin looked less sick, his scales became more vibrant, and his clumsy swimming was getting better. But that was the thing wasn't it? Little details that confirmed Arthur's worst suspicions: Danny has spent his entire life on land.
Danny never confirmed he was from the lake-folk, he simply never said otherwise and Arthur could see the look on his face at the assumption. So, he sent Kaldur to the Great Lakes ahead of them to ask around. Arthur doesn't expect there to be a missing person matching Danny in the least; he questioned it the moment it was even implied. Bioluminescence is a rare trait, less than a fraction of a percent in the ocean people, and he's personally never heard of it manifesting in a lake-folk. Erie is the smallest and shallowest of the Great Lakes therefore having the smallest population and it would be easy to notice someone missing, bioluminescent or not, there would be public record of it. That bastard Benedict Showenhower lied about where he got Danny, likely to hide that he actually got the adolescent from, uhg, "fish" trafficking.
Danny doesn't talk much about anything before being "caught" by Showenhower. He mentioned that his parents were scientists, but didn't say what kind. What names he gave for his friends and family were all human names. even Arthur recognized they're not lake-folk. Arthur doesn't point any of it out, he wants to wait for the right moment, when Danny's strong enough to talk about a life he's trying so hard to hide.
And when Kaldur came with his report, of course it confirmed their suspicions. He and Arthur sat on the lip of Danny's pool with the boy bobbing in the water, a courtesy so he can hear them. ...Danny knows no underwater language.
"No one has been bioluminescent in the Great Lakes for eight generations." Kaldur simply stated. "And there are no other missing person reports that match Danny's age."
Danny sank slightly in the water, the action of a child caught in a lie.
Arthur spoke softly, "Danny, do you know for certain where you came from?"
"We're not upset or angry at being lied to." Kaldur added, "You won't be in any trouble, we just want to help get you home."
Danny flinched for some reason, he looked like he was bout to dive. Yes, they were faster than him, but this isn't something they could chase him down and make him talk about.
"I can't." Danny's voice was so quiet, they wouldn't have heard it if not for the echo surface water causes.
"Can't?" Arthur prompted and Danny started sobbing.
"I'm not- I was human-" His words were hard to make out, but Arthur got enough of them. "parent's big experiment" "illegal but fun" "stuck like this" "can't go home or they'll kill me".
Arthur knew it would be bad, but he didn't think it was this bad. Many humans have tried to make artificial merfolk for their own selfish desires. It is as illegal as illegal gets, both on land and in water and almost always ended in death. Arthur dropped into the water and pulled Danny into a tight hug and promised no one was ever going to hurt him again.
What Danny actually said, but he's been stressed out for the past couple years months so it doesn't come out quite right: I messed with my parents’ big experiment, and died, and being a ghost is illegal but kinda fun, so I was experimenting with shape shifting and got stuck like this, I can’t go home or they’ll know I’m a ghost and hate me, and there's this whole thing with a government-ish agency who will kill me if given the chance
While Aquaman calls in some of the other Justice League members to discuss what to do about Danny, the Batbrood hear about the teenaged merman and come by to check him out.
Cass in particular is interested as it gives her a chance to see how well she can read the body language of a non-human. So she is perched on the small ledge of the pool and is entranced by what she is seeing.
While she can obviously tell that he is still getting used to his body, something that she makes note of to tell the adults though from the briefing notes that Tim stole acquired they already know that he is like this due to an experiment. Another thing is that he seems to be somewhat shy though he is watching her with as much interest as she is him.
Then Steph decides that Tim needs a bath and pushing him in. As he flails about from the sudden dip, Danny darts over to try and help him. However, when he feels hands trying to grab him, Tim manages to elbow the mer-teen in the face.
Cass frowns and as her brother frantically apologizes, notes where Danny goes to hide. She walks over to help Steph drag Tim out of the water before shoving the others out of the room. When she is about to follow them, a sensation gently tugs at her and turning around she sees Danny up near the edge.
Danny was truly surprised when he heard Black Bat (of all heroes, she's the only Human who he has merch of) using Ghostspeak. Though it isn't fully directed at him, her being curious about him and wanting to help him is quite clearly meant for him to detect. Other than that there is annoyance when Spoiler pushes Red Robin into the water, and anger when the other teen elbows him when he tries to help.
She corrals the others out so he chirps and sends a wanting of her presence to get her to stay.
