Veil Guards AU
loosely based off this
It would be a lie to say Bruce wasn't drained. He'd been thrown through timestream and just got back. his mind was abuzz with everything he did, his Robin is not in the right uniform, and for some reason everyone ignored his wishes for Batman to die with him. his mantel of grief was not something to carry on; apparently Gotham disagreed. he'd address this shortly with both the city and his family. he didn't make a mantel to pass down—its duty is to contain his own self-destructing cycles and ensure his mentees don't fall into the traps he did.
he'd barely seen his hoard of kids all together—Dick having him in a desperate octopus hug the likes of which he hadn't seen since the nightmares about his parents' death long before Nightwing became a twinkle of an idea—before the infamous and non-existent (he checked with the magic users several times) curse of his struck again.
Jason collapsed. Stephanie too.
the world tilted on its axis.
not again.
not again.
he can't-
everyone scrambled to get them to the medbay. Both bodies were completely comatose. neither brain showed signs of life. Vegetative state; cause unknown.
he barely managed to get a hold of Leslie as everything pressed into his chest and his family panicked.
"I don't have time right now Dick—"
"Leslie," Bruce barely got her name out.
a sharp intake of breath and something clattered to the ground. a cup of various pens, if he wasn't mistaken.
"Bruce," she whispered, breathy and hopeful and it twisted the knife in his heart all the more. He didn't know how long he'd been dead to the world. how long his family grieved him. only that Tim found his clues.
"Leslie, i, I need," Bruce took a moment to collect his thoughts. too much stormed about. "Jason and Stephanie are vegetive, all signs point to brain dead but our scans are finding no cause."
"They're not the only ones. Calls are pouring in all over Gotham, and we're getting alerts of it happening everywhere."
his heart stopped. was this because he came out of the timeline? did this have something to do with—
"Current suspect is something to do with magic. only commonality so far is all patients have been resuscitated."
something cold and numbing washed over his being. something else niggled in the back of his mind.
"How long?"
"Starting a half hour ago—kids are coming in with friends. Crossing all causes from medical intervention based or magical intervention. I have to go—See what your club finds out and Bruce? Its good to hear from you, i just," Leslie's voice wavered in that unfamiliar way that made Bruce almost wish he'd stayed gone. "I wish we could have our reunion under better circumstances."
She hung up.
Bruce ran a hand over his face and looked over how long he'd been gone. 19 months. well over a year, nearing two.
he decided to check the cases he flagged as requiring Bat Intervention before escalation first. if this is as wide a phenomenon as his gut feeling suggested, it was tied to one if these special care cases.
he froze at one of the cases, updated five minutes before his return. the text color was wrong. none of his files supported colored text in the Byline.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Veil Guard System Danny.
A vague memory of a case washed over Bruce. It wasn't too early into Tim's time as Robin—not long after he established Young Justice. He and Tim had run into a few agents from a paranormal investigation group under the US government called the "Ghost Investigation Ward" (GIW) that focused on handling various types of ghosts and restless spirits to end their interference in the earthly plane. Their guns had an issue with leaning too far to the side when shot that drove Tim insane during their mission handling a particularly nasty cult. If he remembered correctly, the GIW merged magic and technology in a fascinating combination that only low-level magic users could adequately use. Tim had rambled about the technology for a while before a new project caught his attention.
it had been a little over four years since initial contact… they usually only sent the occasional update on how containing an anomaly that caused a severe spike in supernatural activity in one city was being maintained, and occasionally asked for help improving spec designs on the mechanical aspects.
Veil Guard Danny has been Severed by white clad humans. Fail Safe Fenton and Phantom activated and returned to proper guard sides. All Ectoplamsic entities recalled to the Cradle by end of one earth rotation. Carbon aspects will remain, but ectoplasmic aspects will be recalled without exceptions. Enjoy your ecto-free existence under guard Phantom's care. All message recipients are to be aware: this is what you wanted, and the consequences are not negotiable. Seek Veil Guard Phantom for further information. End of Carbon Language Translation Services.
a pit formed in Bruce's stomach and all but consumed him.
He tried to call Zatana, but got no response.
Constantine picked up the phone to hang up while swearing.
Bruce sent out an emergency meeting beacon, choosing to suit up and head to the designated meeting room. They would need to do a headcount, at the very least.
Bruce was the first to arrive. he choked when he got an alert that Clark was similarly comatose and braindead from Lois.
Martian Manhunter paused at Bruce.
"You are alive." the statement smacked him in the face. J'onn paused, his face shifting before settling on an apologetic expression. "This is not your fault for coming back to us, and i am glad you un-did your role as a living timebomb before you came back to us. Those that come will be most glad for your true return, even if these circumstances are far from the best."
Bruce let his shoulders drop. Sometimes, dropping your mindshield came with its advantages when telepathic teammates were in the room.
Bruce paused when Arsenal appeared, taking Oliver's usual spot.
"He's comatose. Canary's watching him with my siblings and daughter," Arsenal explained before his eyes narrowed in on Bruce. "You're not Dick."
"Good to see you again Roy."
Arsenal opened and shut his mouth. "how?"
"long story short—trapped in a reincarnation and death cycle by Darkseid to become a living bomb to destroy the timestream. My Robin bartered his way into the timestream and tricked the energy into releasing in controlled bursts until the omega energy was depleted."
Arsenal nodded before patting his shoulder. "Good to see the right face in the cowl."
Bruce hummed in agreement.
Wonder Woman walked in next, glancing about at the unusually empty seats. "I heard from John Stewart that he is fine, but will not be able to attend as he's helping another planet with the same issue. Has anyone heard from Zatana?"
Arsenal held a finger out before sending a message on his communicator.
"Superman is out of commission," Batman murmured.
"Hawkgirl is alive, but busy helping in her city," Wonder Woman added, looking at the too empty room. "I—Bruce?"
Bruce barely nodded before his friend held him tight.
the Flash ran in, handing out cups of coffee at each seat before taking his own. "Sorry, just, lot of bodies to move in Central to hospital beds before i came in—doing another sweep in twenty minutes."
Bruce nodded slowly. "Thank you for coming Wally."
"No Biggie D—you're not—Uncle Bats!"
a smile curled on Bruce's lips.
"holy shit. Well, is it time for the meeting to start?"
"Not quite—give it a few more minutes."
"Update on Zatana—she went black out a few days ago for a magic mission according to Canary, so MIA. Stewart is stuck on off-world patrol, Supes is down, Hawkgirl is busy, Green Arrow is down, Supergirl is down if the group chat is anything to go by and being brought to the fortress of solitude by baby Superboy—really need to give him a different mantel or have the elder change his psued—and Blue Beetle is down so we get a either a very focused or very depressed Booster Gold—Not it!—Plasticman is somehow alive and helping move a lot of people, Captain Marvel is alive and well with his team in Fawcett, Fate is flakey as usual so who knows, Cyborg is likely down given the patterns, Huntress is responding to messages but too busy to attend and will accept cliff notes. before anyone asks—do not question the power of the Arrow Family Group Chat."
"So no Kryptonians, Green Arrow, Blue Bettle, and Fate, likely no Zatana and Cyborg, With Marvel, Huntress and Plas too busy to be here and no word on Aquaman?" Wally summarized.
Bruce rubbed his temples before projecting the update from earlier.
"This is an update from an unknown that occurred five minutes before Red Hood and Black Bat became comatose, and it correlates with the uptick in comatose bodies and brain dead individuals. It is from a chain of updates from a paranormal investigation branch of the US government, the Ghost Investigation Ward. I propose we do a joint investigation with whatever members of JL Dark are available to find out the true cause, and see what can be done to fix this mess."
the three present agree, with Arsenal adding "Canary, Huntress and Plas agreed to go in person to help. Marvel is not responding right now, but its around when his screen is taken from him by his adoptive family so no response until tomorrow at the earliest there.
Bruce nodded.
"Oh, and when this is all over its been agree you are getting a welcome back party," Arsenal added as he got up to leave.
"Dude, spoiler!"
"Like he doesn't already know."
—
Elsewhere, the Veil Guard Phantom examined how the bright red dried into a flaking brown on his hands. As much as Danny viewed them as gloved, Phantom knew better. It was all his own ectoplasm, all part of him.
It was strange. Knowing everything now. Halfas are limited to instinctive and experiential learning. but a core-less phantom has such a clear bond to the Veil that all information flows into his being seamlessly. Granted, he is limited to his biology and knowledge of all potential timelines on this side of the Veil, but far more than he knew before.
Fenton would be jealous if he knew.
But Fenton will never return to this side of the Veil…
should he send Fenton their former frightmates? Phantom has no use for such bonds. Fenton's duty is the emotions and decisions of if any may pass the gates, and on what terms. Phantom is merely… enforcing them with the Extreme Prejudice needed to keep the Realms safe.
Sam would be proud of his resolve. would call it heroic, even.
Phantom knew it would have made Danny Fenton happy.
Phantom doesn't need or want anything from these bonds himself. he just finds the echoing impulses an intrusion on his work. He must return to his grave, obliterate intruders, and answer questions from those not wielding weapons.
if those seeking him fail to understand that anything can be considered a weapon, well… Phantom already lost Danny and is Severed from Fenton. He is not risking the deal that birthed him too.
Danny was naive enough to.
Phantom, carefully typing a message to the omnicidal fanatics' allies out, is far from naive. If anything, Phantom knows far too much and feels far too little. A strange echo of something—the sensation not unlike apples and coffee stolen from the teacher's lounge right out of the pot in front of Mr. Lancer.
he hit send.
the corpses' lingering spirits were snapped from their anchoring points with a wave of his hand. He has many to liberate and return to their rightful place. Especially the traitors. The realms can sort them out once there.
he has more intruders to End.
---
*for my own sanity, if the omega beam caused an endless reincarnation cycle (see Bruce) i am counting this as someone excluded from the Ghost Zone/IR, and anyone revived by the White Entity of Life is given a similar exemption as the GZ/IR will count that as a weird version of reincarnation or the being moved about in time and body restored.
So. attempts will be made on this in the future but uh, which line of follow-up is more interesting:
dead DC characters trying to escape (feel free to add more in the comments, so far i have the supers, Jason, Donna troy, Blue beetle and Barry Allen.. probably Ra's al Ghul too) stuck trying to find a portal and then their body
DP characters recovering from GIW experiments in Amity for the living while the ghosts find themselves on the other side (unsure if i want Danny's fright/Sam, Tucker, Jazz and Valerie to be still on the living side despite their ecto-contamination due to bond with Danny or not) and KnowingTM that Danny (missing for YEARS at this point) is somehow gone but Not Quite
Ghosts and co realizing that the Halfa Danny was Severed (sent a vibe through the IR and everyoneTM knows now) and the fallout of realizing the human half of Phantom is running around likely with No Context radiating raw emotions from Just Before his death
POV of 13/14 year old Danny waking up in the realm unaware of anything before he died and having a plethora of medical scarring, random emotions he can't point the source of and No Familiarity/Support... and his concerns on waking up are 1)his parents must think he's dead or have no way to find him in this sea of green sky and 2) shit are Sam and tucker okay? 3)The building didnt blow up too—did it? 4) How badly did he screw over Jazz and the whole block? Fuck!'
JL find GIW base destroyed while Batman and traces the updates from when he was gone and before and starts to see A Pattern that makes him feel worse and worse as he dropped the ball with this case since Gotham was not part of the US during No Man's Land and the Clench and death of Stephanie Brown
can follow multiple and all of these, just would like a better starting point. feel free to add more dead DC characters (if they were dead anytime before Bruce returned, i am counting it. Not sure what to do with Aquaman here in either case but man's a king who may be handling that shit rn instead so he can be left out if i want/need to)