Danny: *barges into Tim's office, obviously furious* Okay I'm done with you ignoring me and treating me like I'm a charity case. I'm supposed to be your partner, not your pretty arm candy you only talk to when you flaunt to your buisness partners. I want a divorce.
Tim: *blinks in surprise before leaning into his phone* Uh Tam...when did I get married? And what did I do to ruin it?
Danny: *looking around* Oh my Ancients I'm in the wrong office! I am so sorry! *starts to leave only to back track* By the way your security kinda sucks. I stormed in here, obviously angry, and not once did anyone try to stop me or search me for weapons. I work for a security and bodyguard buisness, I'll leave my card with your assistant if you want to hire more competent gaurds. Sorry again for barging in like that! *leaves, politely shutting the door*
Tim: Tam I need that buisness card, and I need to know everything about that man!
Jason Todd, since he woke up from his dirt nap and moved back to gotham, has been placing random items on a small table he has in his living room. It started small with candles he thought would help with stress (to calm the Pit), then incense, then flowers that he puts in old glass bottles (cuz he doesn't want to bother shopping for a vase), rocks he thought looked nice, a dagger he's been meaning to fix, and a bunch of trinkets and mini statues he found that made him happy to collect.
He trys to make it look nicer with a fruit bowl, but sometimes he would put spare change in the bowl so it would still look messy.
He eventually stopped trying to fix it, plus looking at the messy pile kind of made him happier and relaxed, he would even playfully offer the mini statues some of the food he made that day.
He'd never live it down if his siblings found out.
All in all Jason thought it was a good coping mechanism for his messed up life and kept it up.
Which leads us to today.
Ra's Al Ghul trys to summon the Ghost King to destroy/ rule the world (Jason wasn't paying too much attention) and succeeded, but instead of Ghost King Pariah Dark they get another guy named Phantom, who proceeds to tell him that he is wanted for Ghost Tax Evasion and was looking for him.
King Phantom then steps out of the summoning circle, rips a hole in reality that looks like the pits (but cleaner, Jason absently notes), then throws all the assassins and Ra's into the portal.
With a satisfied look King Phantom comes over to Jason and unties him. Jason nervously asks if he owes taxes too, since he died and all, but King Phantom just smiles and says "You've been paying your taxes for years now, me and a few other God's really appreciate it. Oh and before I forget, could you make that pasta dish again, the one with the pesto, it was super tasty last time."
With that said Phantom leaves through the portal and it disappears like it was never there.
Jason, after getting over the initial shock, starts to head home to cook some pesto pasta and starts to wonder if he can get the Joker arrested for Ghost Tax Evasion too.
The Batfamily knows that. They know the name, the history, the way Tim goes quiet when it comes up.
What they think they know is that Danny is dead. Fully, conclusively, no-heartbeat-no-body dead.
And Danny never corrects them.
After the Infinite Realms, after the Ancients, Danny learned that death has habits. It follows certain families. It watches houses like Wayne Manor and waits its turn. The Batfamily doesn’t really get normal family relationships — they get empty chairs and memorial cases and names that don’t get spoken too loudly.
So when they reach for Danny, he gives them a ghost. Someone already lost. Someone fate has already checked off the list.
Being near them in his living body feels dangerous, like standing under a falling blade and trusting it to miss twice. But as a ghost, he’s safe. Already dead means already paid.
They’re trying to build a relationship with him, and he lets them — just not with the part of him that still has a pulse.
Because families like this survive by losing people.
Jason Todd is confused, ever since he beat some random guy looking for a fight, he’s been haunted by ghosts asking him to rule their kingdom???
Basically, Ghost King Danny tricked Red Hood into taking the title by rite of conquest. How? By being an annoying, provocative little shit. Getting his ass handed to him was so worth it to get rid of that damn crown.
Danny, wearing ripped muddy clothes, having just dug himself out of his grave at 6 28 in the god damn morning: Hey, can I use your shower?
Jason, holding open his front door having just gotten back from patrols and was about to go the fuck to bed when some guy knocked on his door to ask for a shower: uhhh…?
#18: Danny Fenton Was 32 When His Parents Built a Strange Machine
The Master Post | Teapot’s Stories
Just a general PSA, writing on your phone on a 10hr road trip with four people and three cats in one car is…. a time. Wrote and posted this on my phone so sorry in advance. I tried my best against typos.
This is the lead up we’ve all been waiting for. I’ve been day dreaming this chapter for weeks now. I think the title can explain itself.
Previously: Chapter 4 Part 6
Chapter 5: It’s the End of the World Again: Part 1
Danny’s not too entirely sure who it is this time that is threatening Earth and humanity with big space warships, it could be Warworld or the galra for all that he cares. Some kind of authoritarian monopoly empire or imperialistic regime that says oppression is purification. All that Danny knows is that Earth, humanity, the JL, they’re not going down without a fight.
While all the heros of the JL have spit into attack groups, the crew are told to evacuate. But any civilian crew member of the JL knows that they have two options
Stay and support the heroes knowing you may not see tomorrow,
Or leave through the zeta tubes so you can see your family again.
Most people choose to stay. They signed their contracts knowing they’d make this choice, or this isnt their first rideo and they’re ready to go again. When the heroes fight to save the world, who helps them? It’s the doctors and plane mechanics and technicians. A million small things to bind wounds and repair the watchtower and get the space planes running.
A few people decide to leave, like Jim, who have their children to think about. “I’m sorry,” he’d said, “But if I were to… Jr… my son wouldn’t have anyone else.” And they were happy to tell him to go, to take care of his family, to please be safe.
So here Danny is, running through the watchtower halls with his toolbag in one hand and his tablet in the other as maintenance reports come in from all over the ship.
Which ones to prioritize.
What areas are the most crucial.
“Danny!”
He freezes and turns around, immediately responding to the sound of Sam’s voice. His tools thump onto the floor and he leaves the tablet floating in mid air as he rushes to meet her.
He knew she’d stay, of course she would, but actually seeing here here with the watchtower is shuddering under fire…
“Shouldn’t you be in the med wing?” But he holds her closer, not wanting to let go.
“No one’s come back hurt yet, but they probably will soon, I just wanted to see you real fast.” Sam tucks her face into Danny’s shoulders, her fingers gripping the back of his coveralls.
“There’s something that feels different about this attack.”
“Yeah… I noticed it too.” She pulls back a bit, eyes searching his face. “Promise you’ll stay safe.”
Danny snorts a laugh. “Already dead, remember? You’re the one that needs to be careful.”
Sam says something here
“If the ship goes down, I’ll come for you, promise,” Danny says, squeezing his arms around her waist. “I love you, Sam.”
“I love you too.”
And he kisses her.
It’s not the open mouthed passion of tongue and teeth, but it feels infinitely more intimate with sincerity and raw emotion as he presses his lips to hers. His hands cradle her jaw and she holds onto his wrists, where he can feel her fingers on his skin.
Danny pulls back and rests his forehead against hers. “I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
A shudder runs through the watchtower and they part ways. Sam has heroes to save. Danny has a job to do.
~~~
While the maintenance crew may not be able to do much from inside the watchtower when it is the outside that’s being torn apart by attacks, there are still many tasks they do have to try to keep up with.
The shields take the primary brunt of the damage from big artillery blasts, but there’s still smaller alien space planes that manage to fly in close and cause damage. Any area where the hull becomes breached is automatically sealed off by multiple sets of pressure triggered blast doors while nano bots patch up the exterior hole. By then, a hero has been alerted and directed toward the offending space plane to deal with it.
It’s maintenance crew’s job to asses those damaged circuits and see what needs to be rerouted internally in order to keep power circulating through the crucial systems of the watchtower. Primarily: life support, communications, and maintaining orbit. If they can also keep the shield and weapons up, that’s great.
While the crew has tablets where they can see repair tasks come in when the internal watchtower system flags damage, Eaposito works in the primary communication hub on the main deck with Martian Manhunter and he will call his crew to area that he deems immediately crucial.
Danny’s not sure how long he has been working,but he’s starting to get real sick of funning into this closed blast doors. The damage is starting to become… rather extensive. His ankle hurts and he forgot his crutch somewhere already.
“Danny,” Esposito’s voice crackles over the radio in Danny’s tool belt, “I need you in zone beta, hallway J now. You have to reinstate the power to thruster engine 10. We’ve already lost two. Over.”
He grits bis teeth, clicking on the radio. “My path’s blocked. Need another minute to get around Hall L blast doors. Over.”
There’s a pause and Danny can just imagine Esposito taking a calming breath. “Then I’ll send Toney. They’re the second closest.” Esposito’s voice hisses. “Toney do you copy? Over.”
Danny wants to stamp his foot or kick the wall except that’s gonna hurt whether he uses his bad or good foot. Then he clicks his radio back on in the middle of Tony’s response. “Boss? I got an idea. I’m going ghost.”
“-it.” Esposito’s voice crackles back to life, maybe even mid curse. He must be feeling the pressure of the situation for him to be slipping from his usual calm and collected behavior like this. “Have you even— Did you train— How—“
Another radio line clicks open over Esposito’s and the flat, toneless voice of Manhunter filters through. “Permission granted. Welcome to the field, Poltergeist.”
Esposito doesn’t protest.
So Danny yanks on that veil of death within his chest, pulls his ghost on like a well worn coat, and he flies through the blast doors because he is the heat of gravity in the frigid vacuum of space and this body is dead, it doesn’t need oxygen.
Danny had been toying with the idea, practicing on his own, and now he’s really glad he changed his ghost to wear his work uniform instead.
Snow white hair and glowing green eyes? Check. Purply-pink skin with blue lightning fissures on his forearms and freckles that glow like stars? Check. Safety goggles and gloves and tool belt and steel-toed boots? Check. Standard issue JL maintenance crew coveralls over collared shirt? Well… it’s a little difficult. Not only is the standard purple shirt inverted to toxic yellow, but his coveralls are dotted with stars and splattered in hazy space dust. He loves it.
Even his crew name-tag is changed from Danny to Poltergeist. Vlad said that as an electric core, Danny is a raiju. Okay, fine cool. But he’d already been toying with the idea and and Poltergeist sounds so much cooler and he can make things move at his will , so it’s what Danny chose. Danny chose this name for this form that he didn’t ask for.
Also, like, he doesn’t want to have to explain what a raiju is every time he introduces himself and more people will hear the word ‘poltergeist’ and know that means a ghost.
But anyways, Danny has a thruster engine to repair.
Flying through walls is so much easier and he doesn’t even have to use the safety harness. He just zips around the room, pulling tools out of his belt and floating parts around and using his green seach-beam x-ray vision ok the walls while intangibility-ing his hands.
The work is so much faster this way when he doesn’t have to first take something apart to fix it.
After Danny gets engine 10 up and running in record time, Esposito just starts sending him all over the place.
Fix the oxygen line leak in zone alpha.
Get the communications router up again in zone omega.
The shield generator outside the ship in zone delta needs reconstruction.
And Danny is positively humming with the energy.
Yes, he’s quite frankly scared for the part of his life that he does have left, and yes, he’s pretty sure Sam would have a heart attack if she knew what he’s doing.
However, and all but’s included, this is what Danny died for.
This is his purpose.
Support
Repair
Create
Protect
So at the same time that Danny is afraid, he’s also positively giddy.
The emotion swirls in his blood and send energy straight into his core. His flight path crackles with energy as his legs become a tail of lightning. This is his crew, his home, his haunt, he’s not going to let it down.
Except, then there is a low, pulsing, droning buzz reverberating through the ship.
The lights flicker.
Danny drops to his knees and screams.
The sound is all consuming, piercing into his ears and twisting up his ectoplasm. He might just start to rattle apart along to the beat of the pulse. He’s going to unspool,. He’s going to shut off. He’s going to—
The light go out.
For one terrible moment, Danny thinks that might be his fault.
The watchtower whirs and clunks like a dying machine.
The lighters shutter on for a fraction of a moment as the backup energy generator tries and fails to turn on. Then the whole place goes still as death as every single machine in the watchtower dies.
It shouldn’t be possible.
The watchtower never sleeps.
There’s always something whirring away.
The tower is built upon contingency. Backups for their backups.
If Danny wasn’t already detached from gravity, then losing the artificial gravity would’ve sent him drifting. No telling how the rest of the crew is fairing. Hopefully Sam doesn’t have anyone on her surgery table.
Danny slowly pulls his hands off his ears. He’s floated partially intangible into a wall with his confusion.
Danny is a Kryptonian. Not by birth. But by the realm.
The infinite realm is infinite, time is connected to it at all times in different spots. When a world is destroyed or a species goes extinct the realm is effected.
When kyrpton exploded. Time moved on the earthly realm of course. However a natural portal had opened. One that only opened in the realm at the same moment the Fenton portal opened for the first time.
Danny wasn’t just blasted by pure ectoplasm from the realm, but of the very essence of kyrpton itself. Altering Danny’s DNA even more. Infusing kyrptonian DNA into him as well as him becoming half ghost.
Danny has no clue. He assumes it’s all ghost powers. So did frostbite. What happened to him was unknown and entirely new. Besides had frostbite ever truly looked at normal human DNA before.
Danny’s first experience with kryptonite is when lex Luther showed up to “fund” fentonWorks. The anti-ecto weaponry worked surprisingly well on the supers. And he couldn’t just get into the Fenton computers without a green virus shutting him down.
Lex is intrigued. Does his digging on this “human” boy only to find he was adopted as a baby. Through less then legal methods.
Ellie on the other hand feels the effects in front of Conner. She was very confused just as he was.
Bruce and Vlad freaking hate eachother. Its a known, very public fact. Bruce doesn't even slip into his Brucie persona to deal with Vlad, thats how much they hate eachother.
Danny is Vlad's heir, mostly against his will. Danny only says mostly because he did eventually agree to the situation, but only after Vlad threatened to make Dani his heir, which would tie her down and steal her freedom. So now, Danny has the "fun" job of learning how to run a company, and invest.
Tim is Bruce's CoCEO, and its pretty well known hes more than likely going to take over the company at some point. He already did at one point, he was already a CEO, he had a large quantity of WE's shares, and Damian, as he grew and matured, seemed less and less interested in being CEO once he saw all the paperwork, and morons Tim and his Father had to deal with daily.
Do Danny and Tim share the VladCo vs WE feud? No, its quite the opposite in fact. Everyone with eyes can see how fond the two young men are of eachother. As much fun as the Bruce v Vlad verbal brawls are to watch, watching Danny and Tim dance around eachother like twitterpated sparrows is even more fun to experience.
But, Bruce and Vlad are quick to yank the two young men away from eachother. And its heartbreaking for everyone to witness, and or read as the two young men are kept apart by their stubborn bosses.
Basically, Romeo and Juliet but if it was Corporate, Gay, and the dead guy is only half dead.
