(i have zero idea whether I'm asking the right account but if you find the time and inspo then supervillain danny?)
Danny found joy in disturbing the peace. His crimes were never violent, and the only reason police even attempted to arrest him was that Danny hurt the pride of some high-ranked politician or rich guy. Especially since Danny's greatest crimes were mostly just exaggerated pranks.
Batman didn't even bother with him. He knew that Danny would never harm anyone. Once he lost Batman's attention, Danny's reputation as a villain was forever smeared. If criminals had a community event where they gathered in one place, Danny would be the laughing stock. He would be invited just so they can make fun of him.
He knew that.
They knew that.
Batman knew that.
Hell, even Metropolis knew that, and those people made eye contact with strangers in the subways. You know, like the insane aldrinline junkies they were.
The thing was, Danny's original threat level faded into obscurity after so many of his silly antics. No one remembered that back when Batman first showed up, and everyone whispered about his existence like a boogie man come to life, it had been Danny who gave him the hardest chase.
It had been Danny who invaded any captured. It had been Danny who had never once seen the inside of a cell, despite everyone knowing he was the cause of the disturbances.
No one remembers that, despite all his silliness and his non-violent offenses, Danny wasn't Phantom. A being that frequently had dinner with the concept of time, spars with Fear every October, beta reads for a reality warping author, and has more than once appeared throughout history as a trickster god.
Phantom's legends and tales weren't as well-known as, say, the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales, but they were touched on in nearly every school program from 10th grade and up in the country. He knows because he had to write a report on one of his adventures back in high school- got a C, and was so offended that his teacher claimed he didn't study enough when he lived through it that he contacted seven colleges and universities that provided academic support in order to force her to change it to a A+.
It was a bit offensive that no one in the stories knew Phantom was the same Phantom flying through Gotham's streets, dropping water balloons onto the various open umbrellas. Yes, none of them knew Danny had access to time travel, but logically, they should have just assumed that Danny was a very old and powerful being.
But they didn't.
In fact, they regarded Danny in the same way he once regarded Box Ghost.
That was until he went into the future, and Box Ghost was nothing like how he remembered him. Box Ghost was actually the scariest one that had survived Dan. Not only that, it was because of Box Ghost that the ghost resistance even existed, as its founder and leader, his once weakest enemy, had been the last thing standing between Dan and the complete control of the ghost zone.
Reading what Joker had done to Robin in the news, and hearing that clown loudly boast about it, left a very nasty taste in his mouth. More than Dan did. Crumbling the newspaper in his hands, Danny turned his blazing green eyes across the city in the direction Joker was last spotted, uttering one single word, cold and low, without any emotion besides loathing.
"Beware."
Gotham needed a healthy reminder of just who Phantom truly was.
Bruce doesn't know what day it was. Couldn't care. Ever since he lost Jason, nothing mattered. The only thing that did was the Mission, because if it didn't, then Bruce lost is son for nothing.
Day in and Day out, Batman was all that he did. He forced himself to focus on the crimes, on stopping the criminals, but rage now controlled his actions. He hated them. Hated that they did crimes because if they just didn't, Bruce would never have lost Jason, or his parents, or Dick or-
"Sir," Alfred calls, a touch of worry in his otherwise professional tone. "The Joker was spotted back in the city. For the first time since his political immunity."
Are we going to kill him for he has done?
Alfred doesn't say this, of course, but Bruce knew him long enough to know what the older man wanted to know. Unlike Bruce, Alfred had never shied away from the tasks his blood-soaked hands ad commited in the line of duty. He didn't like to do it, but the bulter would take a life if it meant protecting those near him.
Jason had died, and no amount of killing would bring him back, but Alfred saw ending the Joker as a way to protect Bruce from his own pain. That's why he gave Bruce the choice to make the call.
It was his way of asking, "Do you want me to do it if you can't pull the trigger?"
And Bruce, more than anything, to say yes. But if he did, then everything he had trained for, every moral lecture he gave Jason that drove his son to run away, would be in vain. Batman was meant to be justice above vengeance.
He was-
The entire cave shook as a loud boom was heard miles above them. He instinctively grabbed onto the Batcomputer's console, using it to steady his feet as the trembles past.
"I say, what in the world was that?" Alfred gasped from where he was leaning on the railing. Bruce is grateful for the timely excuse to escape the previous conversation as he sits down and starts typing, searching for the cause of the explosion.
"Something just hit the middle of downtown Gotham. Something big. Bruce's eyes narrow as a flurry of reports starts rolling in from panicked citizens all over the city. He switches screens, quickly hacking into the city's street cameras, only to come to an utter shock when locating the source.
"It's Phantom."
"What?"
"Phantom did this." Bruce couldn't believe his eyes, and yet there displayed in real time was the glowing nucience holding the limp, broken body of Joker, shaking it by the neck until every internal organ spilled from the Joker's split stomach. Phantom hadn't just killed the clown. He had ripped him apart.
Behind the pair was the large stone Phantom had thrown in the middle of the road, nearly as big as the five-floor building surrounding them. It had likely caused the minor earthquake earlier.
There were other people there, too, many involved in Jason's death, including the officials who gave Joker his political immunity. Bruce recognized them from the hours he poured into glaring at their names and images. They all seemed to have already suffered the same fate as Joker, and their bodies lingered on the cold, unforgiving floor of Gotham.
What was the most devastating aspect about all this, whoever was what Phantom had carved into the stone?
It was Jason, posing as Robin, hands on his hips, cape flowing in invisible wind, and the words "May you rest in peace, young hero, for someone has avenged you."
At the bottom of the stone, in a glass coffin pressed upright into the stone, was his son, eyes closed and hands clasped against flowers. He was wearing the suit Bruce buried him in, but a mask was covering his eyes.
Bruce's hands shook as he tapped into the camera he placed around Jason's grave, wanting to keep it safe even when he could go towards it, and found with utter horror, that it had been dug up.
Phantom had his son's body and was displaying it in the middle of a revenge scheme.
How dare he.
How dare he.
How dare he.
"Sir-" Bruce ignored Alfred's call, throwing himself into the Batmobile. He was getting his son back. He drove out of the cave, uncaring about any safety driving skills, the law, or his instructors ever poured into his mind
Alfred stared after his charge helplessly, unsure and unable to stop him. When he turned back to the computer screen, he felt nothing but satisfaction to see Phantom wiggle the corpse like a dirty rag, a crazed grin on his face, and think to himself that the villain looked lovely covered in that monster's blood. Like an archangel finally bestowing due justice.
Did that make him a terrible person? Probably. But Alfred had long ago accepted the monster within during his days of service.
Alfred was so busy engraving the Joker's public execution into his brain, he nearly missed the impossible.
Master Jason had moved into his coffin. Alfred's eyes snapped to his grandson's body, only to collapse onto the floor when Jason's eyes snapped open.
Was this.....Phantom's doing? Alfred knew of the tales, of course, he did, but he had never realized just how powerful the Ghost King was. To undo death?
Was that possible?
"People of Gotham," the Phantom said, addressing the horrified crowds surrounding. "I believe it's time to remind you all why your ancestors cowered during nightfall."
Good lord, has Gotham gained a new monster to replace the Joker? And merciful heaven forgive him, but Alfred didn't care who this new monster killed if it meant Master Jason returned to him.
MR.MILLER - 9:15 PM
Mr.Miller was a people watcher. Not in a creepy way, he just liked to admire what else was going on in the outside world, when he was inside. His pair of binoculars aided in viewing his favourite sight, the luxurious condo across from them. He zoomed into the rooftop. Ah, the young couple. He had gotten a chance to meet the pair of them once before, their parents had bought them the place, but the girl claimed that it was just one of the many presents that they were constantly giving. He wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but she didn’t seem too happy when she said it.
In his own house, his wife was currently going on about what they should have for dinner. “Michael! What should I order?!”
“Just order some soup, then!” He could see that the girl was now standing up on the ledge. A dance on the rooftop, maybe?
“… Actually, I think I’m in the mood for some pizza.”
He laughed as he looked at his wife, “Pizza it is then.”
This time, when he looked back, he wished he hadn’t. “Oh my..” He stood up, dropping the binoculars. He rambled on to his wife, explaining what he had just seen, whilst grabbing their coats to get out of the house. “This is what alcohol does to teenagers these days. Poor girl probably lost her balance…”
DANIEL KENDRICK 9:20 PM
Midwest skies were beginning to grow darker and he could feel the cold air brushing past his skin. Samantha stood before him, silently taking in the scenery in front of them. The couple were up on the rooftop of their condo, overlooking the beautiful city in front of them. When exactly had he forgotten that the world could be beautiful, if you let it be? The thought hit him hard and it was then that he realized that he couldn’t follow through with the promise that he had made months ago. “Samantha…” His words getting caught in the back of his throat as he took in the image of his girlfriend, who was now standing on top of the ledge. For a girl that couldn’t even get on a ferris wheel due to her fear of heights, she was looking as calm as ever as she reached out her left hand for him to take. “We can’t do this, Sam. It will only make things worse. I promise you that if we go back in, we’ll fix our future.”
His heart seemed to miss a few beats as she shook her head and gave him a wry smile, “I can’t. I can’t do this anymore… I understand if you don’t want to follow through with this anymore, but things aren’t going to get better for me. I don’t want to feel this way anymore…” She seemed to be distracted then, looking behind her, to the city lights and the skyscrapers. He was sure that she wasn’t really seeing any of that.
“I can’t let you do this, Sam!” Trying again, begging now, “I love you. Please.” Taking the hand that she had extended for him, he gave it a gentle tug.
“Come closer.” He did. “Close your eyes.” Again, he obliged. “Just know that you were the best thing to happen to me, Daniel. I love you.” And then he felt her lips on his, he was too engaged in that moment to take in the fact that their fingers were no longer intertwined. And when he opened his eyes he could see the last smile, the last moment that they had together, before she let herself fall backwards.
OFFICER SCOTT 9:30
“It really makes you wonder what the world has come to when things like this happen. I got a call about the incident: two teenagers on a roof, and all of a sudden the girl falls off? The man across the street said that he thought that they were drunk, thinking that it was an accident and she lost her balance. But no, the boy showed absolutely no signs of alcohol. I mean, I haven’t talked to the kid yet but, they may have gotten into a fight. Maybe it escalated, and one thing led to another… People don’t just fall off of roofs. “
