Fun facts about the Five Founding Families of Gotham and Where They Got Their Money:
Arkham Family: helped found Gotham in the colonial era. There's no real information on how they got their money, but there's a long line of medical professionals in the family, especially psychiatrists (go figure).
Wayne Family: been in Gotham since the colonial era. Money mostly came from real estate/land in the 1700s, then transportation and logistics in the 1800s during industrialization, then tech and construction in the 1900s, but the Waynes have had their fingers in pretty much every industry related to technology and innovation you can think of over the centuries.
Elliot Family: been in Gotham since at least the early 1800s. Money came from founding the Gotham Herald (the city's major newspaper) and becoming a prominent newspaper family.
Kane Family: been in Gotham since at least the early 1800s. Money mostly came from real estate/land ownership (via rent and commercial tenants) with a healthy helping of sin taxes (Kane County, to the north of Gotham City, was known for its gambling, prostitution, and alcohol by the 1880s, so presumably the family was getting quite a lot of financial kickbacks from this via both official taxes and under-the-table payments).
Cobblepot Family: been in Gotham since at least the early 1800s. Money came from founding and running a steel company; by the 1880s they were prominent steel barons and had at least one political figure in the family (Mayor Theodore Cobblepot).
Yeah so originally there were four Founding Families (the Waynes, Kanes, Elliots, and Cobblepots) and then a pack of other prestigous families that were "newer money" high society but never quite as high as the Families. The New 52 then created the Crowne family and inserted them in as a fifth 'Founding Family,' which was later adopted by the Gotham tv show (along with replacing the Cobblepots with the Dumas family so they had an explanation for the Order of St. Dumas that wasn't just 'secret religious cult').
DC actually invented a whole new Cobblepot in the New 52 for some reason, replacing Mayor Theodore Cobblepot (established in Gotham Underground and later Gates of Gotham as the contemporary Cobblepot family head to Alan Wayne and Edward Elliot) with Frederic Cobblepot:
"Already a legendary name in Gotham, in 1871 Alan Wayne was looking to expand his family business...However, since taking over as Mayor of Gotham, [Theodore Cobblepot] had been out of the building game for some time...Edward Elliot came from a family of newspapermen after his grandfather started the Gotham Herald in the early 1800s." -Batman: Gates of Gotham (2011)
"No one represented [Gotham high society] better than these four men. Alan Wayne...Frederic Cobblepot...Edward Elliot...and Burton Crowne. The elite of Gotham." -Nightwing (2011) #8
The New 52 also changed the era of Gotham's history that had just established in Gates of Gotham, saying that it was "Cameron Kane's bridge" that collapsed and killed William Cobb's father rather than the proposed Wayne-picked site's bridge:
"They blamed the accident on my architectural knowledge, and the bridge was adjusted to lead to Kane County instead. Cameron Kane had gotten exactly what he wanted." -Batman: Gates of Gotham (2011)
"My father was an ironworker, like his father before him. He spent most of his years constructing bridges for the Gate Brothers and the powerful families of the city. When Cameron Kane's bridge collapsed midway through construction, my father lost his life. And I lost my childhood." -Nightwing (2011) #8
Which reasonably doesn't make any sense, since the Kane Memorial Bridge (the artery bridge connecting Gotham City to the mainland on the north side) exists in both continuities, but whatever.
More to the point, the Crownes as a family really haven't been mentioned since those opening New 52 Court of Owls-related arcs. Even later Court-centric storylines have mostly abandoned the Crownes and the convoluted added history of Haly's Circus. They're still technically in continuity, since you can't change that history without dramatically altering William Cobb's Talon lore, but they've been largely superseded by the other Four Families.
Meanwhile the Arkham family history has been in flux for quite awhile, but they've been established as one of the literal founding families of Gotham for around a decade:
"As scholars had suspected, the book focuses on Amity Arkham, a woman of many gifts. Gifts and practices not appreciated by the people of the settlement, the future citizens of Gotham City. Despite the fact that her brother, Ezekiel Arkham, was one of the founding fathers, she was punished for not conforming, for attempting to corrupt the growth of Gotham." -Gotham Academy: Second Semester (2016) #8
In post-Crisis continuity, the ancestral Arkham family home (converted by Amadeus Arkham into the first iteration of Arkham Asylum in 1921) was in Sommerset Township, just northwest of the city proper on the mainland. The Asylum moved to Mercey Island (an abandoned estate named after cement tycoon Eric Mercey) after Bane destroyed it during the events of Knightfall.
In the initial set of post-Flashpoint history, that ancestral home was located on 'Arkham Island' from the beginning and Arkham Asylum had been in operation since at least the mid-1800s. I believe as of Ram V's Detective Comics run we're back to the post-Crisis origin of the Asylum, but as far as I'm aware the Arkham family history established in Gotham Academy remains intact.
There haven't been a lot of Gotham history-focused stories since the Rebirth era, so we still don't know how the Arkhams vs. the Crownes were regarded among the rest of Gotham's high society, but ultimately the Crownes are new money compared to the Arkhams. After all, you don't get more 'founding family' than literally being one of the original founding inhabitants of the village. It's probably safe to say that the Crownes were definitely of higher social status than the Arkhams during the 1800s, though, at least as far as current continuity is concerned.
I think there's probably space to say there are now six Founding Families (Waynes, Kanes, Cobblepots, Elliots, Arkhams, and Crownes) in canon rather than the four we originally started with—and we should also probably factor in families like the Logerquists (Jon Logerquist is generally recognized as Gotham's founder) and the Orghams now too—but I think for purposes of canon, the Arkhams take precedence over the Crownes for 'Founding Family' consideration.
I’ll never understand why anthropomorphic animal cartoons like Robin Hood and Zootopia will go to the trouble of creating character designs that are meant to be understood as “attractive” or even “sexy” to the human audience but explicitly avoid showing interspecies romances between anthropomorphic animals. Why is THAT weird but, like, trying to make rabbits recognizably sexy-coded to humans isn’t?
Sometimes, sure, but why was Maid Marian a fox in Robin Hood? There wasn’t anything particularly “foxlike” about her personality, and it would make more sense for her to be a lion. They made her a fox only because Robin was a fox and making her something else would be “weird”, but I don’t think the wolf cop or the chicken maid or the lion prince were actually meant to represent race.
The best inter species couple is Kermit and Miss Piggy as the Cratchits in A Muppet Christmas Carol, because all their sons are frogs and all their daughters are pigs, as God clearly intended.
In which Captain Amelia (left), an extra terrestrial anthropomorphic cat, had hybrid babies with Doctor Doppler (middle), an extra terrestrial anthropomorphic dog, whom also gave birth to the babies
I always thought that in muppet movies like muppet Christmas Carol the characters are played by the muppets (so kermit is acting and playing the role of Bob rather than being him) so the kids in that film would just be other acting muppets right?
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Danny was just relaxing doing his homework on the moon. (It was quiet and had minimal distractions. Perfect for studying). He didn’t expect to see anyone during his studying but after seeing movement out of the corner of his eye he went to check it out. To his surprise: Superman was just sitting on the moon looking down at earth. Chilling.
After a moment of surprise, Danny got the super's attention. The lack of air made sound not really travel very well, so he just waved until Superman saw him. Surprise and shock spread across Superman's face, not expecting anyone else to be up here. Much less a white haired TEENAGER. Danny gestured to his math homework with a pleading look. Superman took one look at the half-finished sheet full of eraser marks and frustrated scrawling and realized what exactly this teen wanted: help with his homework on the moon.
Not knowing what else to do in this situation, Superman obliged. The JL are going to really eat up this story.
Danny will completely forget to mention he got Superman's help with his homework on the moon to his friends. If Sam offers to help, he'll just say "Oh it's cool, I already got help," and not elaborate.
It was strange enough that the boy on the moon didn't appear to have anything to aid him with breathing, but Clark just assumed he didn't necessarily have a need seeing as he had a slight green glow to him and was flying instead of walking. It was faster, he supposed, what with there being so little gravity. What was really strange was the fact that he appeared to have normal highschooler homework.
Reading the name at the top, Clark guessed this kid was named 'Daniel Fenton'. That was probably his civilian identity, so he pretended not to notice. He even put the scratchwork sheet over top the name column, making it seem like he just didn't see it and had noted the problems above the one they were working on were filled in. Afterward, he had noticed 'Daniel' attempt to be very discreet with keeping the scratchwork sheet on top of his name. He most certainly pretended not to notice when 'Daniel' folded over the paper to hide his name so it wouldn't be revealed when the scratchwork sheet was moved. It was just common decency.
Nonverbally working through the problems was difficult, but it was in fact possible after a few tries. The lapdesk the teen had brought with him proved extremely useful as a flat surface so to avoid damaging the papers he had brought along, and that plus the snacks he brought with (although frozen) were proof he at least slightly thought this through. The boy seemed to also emit a sound that didn't seem to need air to pass through to be heard, though it was completely impossible to understand as anything but what could only be described as electric crackling and haunting whirring with the faintest hint of a scream in the background. An unsettling sound for certain, but one that seemed to communicate frustration based on the context clues of him only making the sound in frustration of not understanding a particularly difficult formula.
It had been a while since Clark had done anything with high school, so there were still a couple things he struggled with along with Danny. He was able to work through it for the most part, but there was a part of the homework he just couldn't help Danny with on his own. He gave up, he needed to call assistance. He sent out a message, hoping he'd get the answer.
-
Batman knew a message from Superman should never be left unread, especially when the better mode of communication for him would be just to speak over comms. If it was a typed-out message, it meant for whatever reason, he couldn't speak. He immediately opened the message, looking through it to quickly gain all the relevant information.
- hey bats what part of the triangle is the hypotenuse
- on the moon right now cant talk holding breath
- also what sides are the adjacent and opposite
- from superman
Batman had read through the message twice before actually slowing down to go through it word by word. He... he couldn't be serious, right? This was a channel used for emergencies and he wanted to know about the hypotenuse of a triangle on the moon. He took in a breath, his brow twitching slightly in annoyance before responding in the message.
- The hypotenuse of a right-angle triangle is the slanted side. The adjacent side is the bottom, and the opposite is the side that goes straight up.
- You do not need to add in "from Superman", I can see who sent the message. You are a reporter, you should know how to use what is essentially a texting device.
It did not take long for the Man of Steel to respond.
- ok thank you very much
- sorry device is very small and hard to use
- i cant really see much on it never really had to use it
- i know its just for emergencies but this is a homework emergency
What the absolute fuck was Clark doing on the moon?? Why is there homework on the moon??? Bruce decided he didn't want to know, and just left it at that.
-
With the begrudging help of the great Batman, the math homework was soon completed. Danny managed to figure everything out with all of Superman's gentle nudging, so it was going to stick for the time being at least. Clark gestured to the backpack Danny had brought with him, giving him a questioning look as if to ask if there was any more. Danny shrunk in on himself, clearly embarrassed. Clark smiled warmly, making sure Danny felt better about asking for even more help.
Batman was soon receiving questions about dates relating to the Civil War. Why. What the fuck.
-
Before too long, Danny's homework was completed. He gave Clark a quick hug as a 'thank you', and grabbed his last bit of blank scratch paper out of his bag and scribbled something on it. He handed over the lined piece of paper as he zipped up his backpack, and lifted up off the moon and headed towards Earth, fading into nothing as he went. Clark looked down at the paper after watching the teen vanish, reading what was left for him. His brow furrowed in confusion, staring at the note and the sigil drawn beneath it.
'Thanks for helping with my homework! In return, you have the blessing of The Ghost King of the Infinite Realms! Here's a voucher good for one free summon! Please don't summon during the hours of 7am and 4pm on weekdays. -Phantom'
The note seemed to be somewhat silly with the wording, as well as with the fact that it was written by a teenager. However, the intricacies of the design of the sigil made it seem legitimate. He would have to show it to the others, perhaps even contact Constantine to verify it.
when he showed the piece of paper to Constantine, after a meeting where he was finally in a hurry, the latter almost choked and then began to swear in an obscure language
Constantine: Let me summarize: you met a child on the moon who needed help with his homework *nod* and he wrote this to you on a previously blank piece of paper? *nods* and did this child have white hair, green eyes, black outfit with gloves and white boots with a strange logo on the chest?
SM: actually how did you know what he looks like?
Constantine: Because I've been looking for him for over a month. You don't remember when the Darks said that the Ghost king was freed and then dethroned but the new ruler had no connection with the old one and therefore did not share his sigil and he never responded to the classic Ghost king sigil ? Well, a good number of sects, witches, warlocks and so on are currently racing to understand what the sigil of the new young king could be. No one can make it there because it is based on an ancient city founded by a witch who bewitched the location which magically scrambled it and made it impossible for anyone with magic and impure intentions to enter. And that's not counting the visits of strange guys from the government who come to your house if you're looking for information about the city and its ghosts.... But anyway, here you are, you tell me that you met the young king who is going to still in human school and who gave you his sigil that the whole magical community has been looking for without result for months... I... I need a drink
Does this become a weekly thing? Them both meeting on the moon and superman helping with his homework.
Imagine superman, now as Clark, reviewing his high school homework so he's better prepared XD him showing up on the moon with notes about a previous problem he couldn't solve
Batman gets more messages, and is still trying to figure out *why* Clark felt it was important enough to use the emergency line for. He answers, he still gives a response. But he can't figure out why he needs these answers while he's on the moon. (Does he pass on the responsibility for answering to one of his kids? Does dick (superman fan and basically also raised by him) notice and not only get involved but realize what's going on?) Does Bruce make damian do it for practicing patience and interpersonal skills? And making sure he does his own homework? )
Does constantine summon danny? And, Danny, thinking superman had an answer to one of the problems they were working on before they had to go their separate ways the other day shows up with his homework in hand, looking down and just immediately starts talking like, "I was working on problem 25, you know, the one we couldn't figure out the [insert mathematical terminology of your choice], and I think I got it!". He looks up, sees constantine, "you're not superman."
Constantine: and I'm not helping with your homework either
I like the idea that Damian and Danny happen to be doing very similar work at the same time. It isn’t exactly the same, but its close enough, that Bruce realizes it and decides that it’ll be a great opportunity for Damian. And the kid will stay interested because he’s giving it to Damian as a mystery (figure out why superman keeps doing this shit, just put more eloquently) and it kind of escalates.
Soon Damian has a line besides the emergency one specifically for moon homework talk. Then Superman ends up with some big off world mission, but Danny’s been stressing over an upcoming test, so he gives Danny access to the homework line. And it takes a while (it helps that Damian has Solved the Mystery and realizes Bruce hasn’t solved it yet, so he’s going to be keeping that a secret.) but they start chatting about homework stuff off the moon. and then they start just chatting.
Also as soon as Constantine summons Danny and says he isn’t helping him with the homework, Danny straight up just dips. Like. “If you were Superman I’d stay cause I owe that guy whats left of my life, but I don’t owe anything to you.” He can terminate the summons because of how halfa status, which sends Constantine into a tizzy because he’d taken precautions against that!! A lot of precautions!! And they were completely disregarded. Now the Ghost King is in the land of the living with no bindings or restrictions. Doing who knows what! (From what Constantine has heard, probably high school algebra.)
Constantine *is not superman* *refuses to help Danny with his homework*
Danny: I’m sorry but this coupon is only valid for the use of superman. *best customer smile learnt from val* I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline your summoning. *vanishes*
Constantine: … he’s not supposed to be able to do that…
Danny *still there and invisible - changes to human form and carefully scrubs out the ‘binding’ sigil*
Danny then goes floating around the watchtower: fuck the moon I wanna do my homework in here
A week later
Batman: Constantine what the fuck did you do?
Constantine: now bats that’s a loaded question and it’s been a month since the last incident, so there could be many things I’ve done that you are referring to, or it could be that it has nothing to do with me so I’m mildly insulted you immediately assume-
Batman: the watchtower is haunted.
Constantine: …
Batman: by the source of superman’s moon detours
Constantine: … yeah my bad. I thought he’d buggered off though without a backwards glance
Batman: … this is supposed to be a secure facility and we can’t have unknown ghosts invading whenever they want
Danny was just relaxing doing his homework on the moon. (It was quiet and had minimal distractions. Perfect for studying). He didn’t expect to see anyone during his studying but after seeing movement out of the corner of his eye he went to check it out. To his surprise: Superman was just sitting on the moon looking down at earth. Chilling.
After a moment of surprise, Danny got the super's attention. The lack of air made sound not really travel very well, so he just waved until Superman saw him. Surprise and shock spread across Superman's face, not expecting anyone else to be up here. Much less a white haired TEENAGER. Danny gestured to his math homework with a pleading look. Superman took one look at the half-finished sheet full of eraser marks and frustrated scrawling and realized what exactly this teen wanted: help with his homework on the moon.
Not knowing what else to do in this situation, Superman obliged. The JL are going to really eat up this story.
Danny will completely forget to mention he got Superman's help with his homework on the moon to his friends. If Sam offers to help, he'll just say "Oh it's cool, I already got help," and not elaborate.
It was strange enough that the boy on the moon didn't appear to have anything to aid him with breathing, but Clark just assumed he didn't necessarily have a need seeing as he had a slight green glow to him and was flying instead of walking. It was faster, he supposed, what with there being so little gravity. What was really strange was the fact that he appeared to have normal highschooler homework.
Reading the name at the top, Clark guessed this kid was named 'Daniel Fenton'. That was probably his civilian identity, so he pretended not to notice. He even put the scratchwork sheet over top the name column, making it seem like he just didn't see it and had noted the problems above the one they were working on were filled in. Afterward, he had noticed 'Daniel' attempt to be very discreet with keeping the scratchwork sheet on top of his name. He most certainly pretended not to notice when 'Daniel' folded over the paper to hide his name so it wouldn't be revealed when the scratchwork sheet was moved. It was just common decency.
Nonverbally working through the problems was difficult, but it was in fact possible after a few tries. The lapdesk the teen had brought with him proved extremely useful as a flat surface so to avoid damaging the papers he had brought along, and that plus the snacks he brought with (although frozen) were proof he at least slightly thought this through. The boy seemed to also emit a sound that didn't seem to need air to pass through to be heard, though it was completely impossible to understand as anything but what could only be described as electric crackling and haunting whirring with the faintest hint of a scream in the background. An unsettling sound for certain, but one that seemed to communicate frustration based on the context clues of him only making the sound in frustration of not understanding a particularly difficult formula.
It had been a while since Clark had done anything with high school, so there were still a couple things he struggled with along with Danny. He was able to work through it for the most part, but there was a part of the homework he just couldn't help Danny with on his own. He gave up, he needed to call assistance. He sent out a message, hoping he'd get the answer.
-
Batman knew a message from Superman should never be left unread, especially when the better mode of communication for him would be just to speak over comms. If it was a typed-out message, it meant for whatever reason, he couldn't speak. He immediately opened the message, looking through it to quickly gain all the relevant information.
- hey bats what part of the triangle is the hypotenuse
- on the moon right now cant talk holding breath
- also what sides are the adjacent and opposite
- from superman
Batman had read through the message twice before actually slowing down to go through it word by word. He... he couldn't be serious, right? This was a channel used for emergencies and he wanted to know about the hypotenuse of a triangle on the moon. He took in a breath, his brow twitching slightly in annoyance before responding in the message.
- The hypotenuse of a right-angle triangle is the slanted side. The adjacent side is the bottom, and the opposite is the side that goes straight up.
- You do not need to add in "from Superman", I can see who sent the message. You are a reporter, you should know how to use what is essentially a texting device.
It did not take long for the Man of Steel to respond.
- ok thank you very much
- sorry device is very small and hard to use
- i cant really see much on it never really had to use it
- i know its just for emergencies but this is a homework emergency
What the absolute fuck was Clark doing on the moon?? Why is there homework on the moon??? Bruce decided he didn't want to know, and just left it at that.
-
With the begrudging help of the great Batman, the math homework was soon completed. Danny managed to figure everything out with all of Superman's gentle nudging, so it was going to stick for the time being at least. Clark gestured to the backpack Danny had brought with him, giving him a questioning look as if to ask if there was any more. Danny shrunk in on himself, clearly embarrassed. Clark smiled warmly, making sure Danny felt better about asking for even more help.
Batman was soon receiving questions about dates relating to the Civil War. Why. What the fuck.
-
Before too long, Danny's homework was completed. He gave Clark a quick hug as a 'thank you', and grabbed his last bit of blank scratch paper out of his bag and scribbled something on it. He handed over the lined piece of paper as he zipped up his backpack, and lifted up off the moon and headed towards Earth, fading into nothing as he went. Clark looked down at the paper after watching the teen vanish, reading what was left for him. His brow furrowed in confusion, staring at the note and the sigil drawn beneath it.
'Thanks for helping with my homework! In return, you have the blessing of The Ghost King of the Infinite Realms! Here's a voucher good for one free summon! Please don't summon during the hours of 7am and 4pm on weekdays. -Phantom'
The note seemed to be somewhat silly with the wording, as well as with the fact that it was written by a teenager. However, the intricacies of the design of the sigil made it seem legitimate. He would have to show it to the others, perhaps even contact Constantine to verify it.
Superman was distractedly reading over the teen’s note over and over again as he re-entered The Watchtower, remembering to let out his held breath and breathe in a fresh one once the area pressurized with air quickly enough to make the paper flap about. It was so strange, how intricate the design of the sigil was. It was almost pretty with all the tiny details and strange symbols within the sigil. The longer he looked at it, the less it seemed like that teen could even draw so much in such a short amount of time.
Clark suddenly stopped as he noticed something dark in his path that had moved into it and not left. He looked up from his paper, seeing a mildly irate Batman.
"Superman," Batman growled in his usual tone.
"Batman," Superman nodded in response.
"Why the absolute fuck were you doing homework on the moon?" the dark knight demanded.
"Supes was doing what??" The Flash said, having just been passing by when he heard that banger of a sentence. "Why the moon?? Who gave you homework???"
"I wasn't doing homework, I was helping someone else," Superman said, putting his hands up to calm the situation down.
"I hope you understand that spawns more questions than answers," Batman grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Does it have something to do with this thingy?" Flash asked, having zipped over in an instant and swiped the paper out of Superman's hand.
"Hey- be careful with that, I need Constantine to take a look at it," Superman said, reaching noncommittally towards the speedster. "Yes, I got it from the kid I helped out. It's supposedly a one-time summon."
"One hell of a kid to need help with homework on the moon," Flash said, looking through the note. "Fancy picture. Kid's one heck of an artist. Who's 'The Ghost King of the Infinite Realms'? Sounds like some middleschooler's OC."
"I-... don't think I want to know what that acronym means," Superman hesitated, taking the paper back. "I don't know who it is, and he was a highschooler. Phantom, I think was what he called himself."
"Phantom?" Batman asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. "Amity Park Phantom?"
"Dunno, didn't ask where he was from," Superman shrugged.
"Of course Bats is already keeping tabs on the kid," Flash rolled his eyes, putting his hands on his hips. "Going orphan shopping again, Bruce?"
"Don't you have somewhere important to be?" Batman growled at Flash, giving him The Batglare™. Like an animal who's just been given final warning of attack from an enraged jaguar, Flash got the hint.
"You know what? I do actually," The Flash said in a choked squeak before zipping off. After a few seconds of angry silence, the Bat spoke again.
"Phantom is a small-town hero, in a small Illinois town that receives more rogue attacks than Gotham," Batman clarified. "He's been on my radar for a few months now, but it seems he's been active for approximately two years now." He took the paper from Superman, inspecting it closely.
"If this was really made by that Phantom, it may well be at least somewhat legitimate," he explained. "Not sure what he means by 'Ghost King of the Infinite Realms', but he started at 14. I'll get Constantine here as soon as possible to check it out."
-
Danny met up with Sam and Tucker at Nasty Burger like always, still carrying his backpack as he had forgotten to take it back home. Sam obviously immediately noticed it, figuring it was brought for a reason.
"Struggling with the assignments still?" she asked, she and Tucker already prepared to walk him through the same parts again.
"Hm?" Danny hummed, looking innocently at Sam before remembering the bag still on his back. "Oh shoot, forgot to drop this off. No, I'm good, I got help already."
"I thought Jazz was busy applying for colleges?" Tucker said.
"Oh she is, I got someone else's help," Danny confirmed, waving dismissively as he sat down, dropping his backpack next to him in the booth his friends had been waiting for him in and picking up a menu. "You guys order yet?"
"Nah, we were waiting for you," Tucker explained.
"Awesome, didn't want to be the one awkwardly still eating while you guys joke around," Danny joked, looking through the menu. "A man cannot live off frozen Oreos alone."
"Don't tell me your dad helped you," Sam cringed, very suddenly worried about Danny's potential grade. "Wait- why were you eating frozen Oreos?"
"Moon," Danny said dismissively. " 'S cold."
"Wh- you were on the moon??" Sam hissed, not wanting anyone else to hear despite them not caring even slightly.
"Dude, you were on the moon and didn't invite me?" Tucker whispered, betrayal in his tone.
"Last time I checked, humans can't breathe on the moon," Danny said sarcastically, lowering his menu to look at Tucker directly. "Y'know, as well as a multitude of other issues involved with that. Like a lack of air pressure or heat."
"Why were you eating Oreos on the moon?" Sam asked, growing more and more confused.
"Study snack," Danny shrugged, checking the menu again. "I get really hungry when I study- ooh, they got a new spicy chicken sandwich! Definitely getting that."
"Study snack," Sam repeated back to Danny slowly.
"Yes, study snack," Danny confirmed. "Hey, are we all paying for our own food, or are you planning on picking up the bill again, Sam?"
"Yes you can get a strawberry milkshake and large fries Danny did you do your homework on the moon," Sam said, looking directly at Danny.
"Yeah?" Danny shrugged, setting down the menu again. "I mean, it's not the first time I did homework on the moon. It's quiet up there, no distractions. Really necessary when you live in my house."
"Danny- who was up on the moon with you helping you with your homework," Sam said slowly and clearly, still trying to not be heard by underpaid uncaring staff and indifferent customers.
"Ohhhh, Superman," Danny finally explained, nodding.
"... Why was Superman on the moon and why didn't you start with that????" Tucker hissed, Sam staring in disbelief.
"Didn't think it was important," Danny said, looking around for one of the underpaid waitstaff. "You guys ready to order?"
"Good idea Danny. Food first, then interrogation," Tucker agreed, waving down a waitress.
-
Constantine felt sick looking down at the sigil. He refused to even touch the paper it was drawn on, horrified that even the Man of Steel himself was holding it in his bare hands.
"I don't know how this teenager got the favor of The Ghost King, but it is sincerely horrifically legitimate," Constantine shuddered, refusing to take his eyes off the paper like it would open on its own at any second. "One use only, just as the paper says. You know, even I wouldn't be bloody stupid enough to even contact Pariah Dark, and the new king defeated him in one on one combat and took his place. I don't even know the new king's name. For all I know, even saying it could catch his attention. If Phantom has favor with The Ghost King, well... let's just hope he continues to like humanity."
"So, he essentially has a god on his side?" Batman asked.
"Well, yes and no," Constantine cringed, thinking through what little he knew about the new king. "I've heard rumors- nothing confirmed of course-, that the New King has Clockwork backing him. That's, er, the personification of Time itself. That's a god. More or less. So Phantom sort of tangentially has a god on his side. Maybe."
Batman lightly massaged his temple, trying to push down the headache already starting.
"We have a sixteen-year-old meta flying about with the favor of a potentially unimaginably dangerous being, who in turn may or may not be backed by the embodiment of time," he groaned. "And, in exchange for helping him with his homework, he just-... GAVE Superman a one-time summon of said potentially unimaginably dangerous being to help him in a given time of need."
"-On the weekends and after 4pm on weekdays," Superman added. "And his blessing. He specifically mentioned the Ghost King's blessing."
"Right," Batman sighed. "I'm assuming this is something we have to lock away in a maximum security off-planet vault?"
"I personally would advise trying to make sure no one uses that bloody thing unless absolutely necessary," Constantine shuddered, pointing a shaky finger at the slip of lined paper. "If there wasn't the possibility of the Ghost King being angered by being interrupted for something small, I'd suggest using it as soon as possible to get it over with and then burning it if the sigil doesn't disappear, just so it can't be recreated."
"I'd like to imagine that it'd be a little harder than just drawing a sigil to get a summon for something this powerful," Superman said worriedly, looking down at the paper as he put his hands on his hips.
"Oh it is a little harder than that," Constantine reassured, waving away Superman's concerns. "Something like this needs to be charged with ectoplasm. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure anyone associated with The League of Assassins specifically would be able to charge it without much fuss. Plus anyone that knows how to summon a bunch of smaller ghosts and harvest their ectoplasmic energy."
"... Why the League specifically?" Batman asked, his voice very carefully level.
"Lazarus pits," Constantine explained to the horrified supers. "They're leaked contaminated ectoplasm."
"... I don't think the Watchtower has enough security to hold this," Superman said very quietly.
-
"... Danny," Sam said flatly in a low voice.
"Sam," Danny responded, not understanding what the problem was.
"I sincerely hope you realize this puts you on The Justice League's radar," Sam carefully laid out, making sure not to raise her voice further.
"Oh come on, it's just a little 'thank you'!" Danny expressed, taking a sip from his milkshake.
"Danny-" Sam groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Look- he helped me with my homework, I help him with a mission or something!" Danny shrugged. "I worded it goofy enough, he's bound to recognize the casual-ness of it."
"And you don't think giving the Justice League your personal summons information is going to result in the GIW getting hold of it?" Sam asked.
"Pshh, like those dumb jerks would be able to wrestle it out of the hands of the Boyscout of Steel himself," Danny rolled his eyes, shoving a couple fries into his mouth.
"I think the government tried to get involved with the League before?" Tucker said through a mouthful of burger, swallowing before continuing. "I'm pretty sure it didn't work 'cus they didn't like the idea of any governments deciding what calls they were and weren't allowed to respond to. I dunno."
"That sounds conspicuously like bull," Danny sneered, taking another bite of his sandwich.
"Well maybe you can ask your new bestie Superman when you see him again," Tucker jokingly jabbed, pointing a fry at Danny before flinging it into his mouth. "Maybe you can ask them to get the GIW off your back too while you're at it."
"Oh sure, that sounds like a great idea," Danny said sarcastically. "Hey Superman! Did the American government try and fail to control you guys into doing whatever they want? Oh yeah, and I'm wanted by the government."
"Please tell me you didn't sign the note as Ghost King," Sam groaned.
"Oh please, I signed it as Phantom," Danny waved dismissively. "I just said he had the Ghost King's favor. Figured it sounded ridiculous enough that they wouldn't really believe it."
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe the Justice League that protects the entire planet would have at least one member that knows about The Ghost King?" Sam asked. "And maybe that is a very loaded title?" Danny opened his mouth to say something, then stopped.
"... Oh," he said quietly.
"Which probably also means unless they know it's you, they're going to use your summon for something too dangerous for them to deal with?" Sam continued.
"Maaaaaybe bring this up with Superman the next time he helps you out with your moon homework," Tucker said jokingly.
"Ancients, I hope I didn't just get in over my head," Danny groaned, thinking through all the horrible things he's had to face and had struggled with, trying to think of how simple all of those things would likely be for the League. "I think... I'm gonna have to go to Clockwork for help."
"Or you could break into the Watchtower to set things straight," Tucker suggested non-jokingly.
"Or you could stop trying to give Danny increasingly bad ideas," Sam scolded Tucker. "Breaking into the Watchtower involves facing who knows how many heroes that will not immediately assume you have good intentions."
"Look- can we please talk about this later?" Danny asked exasperatedly. "I'll see if I can clarify later. Besides, when has there ever been a problem so monumentally huge the League can't handle it?"
-
Standing over a beat-up Superman that very next Saturday afternoon, Danny could think only one thing:
'Shoulda just kept my big mouth shut.'
—
Just straight up calling this Homework on the Moon (HOTM) to make it easier to find just in case I can't find it come next weekend when I plan to continue it. Hope y'all like the new addition!
Homework on the Moon chapter 3! Or something. Idk. Let's say it's 3. Chapter 3!
—
That Saturday afternoon was particularly lazy, with really not much going on. Danny was just about to call up his friends to hang out when he felt the pull of a summon. It was his first actual official summon since becoming Ghost King, and he had worked very hard on his cool Ghost King attire to use for that first official summon. A King has to make a good impression, after all.
The crown floated in green flames above King Danny's head, his galaxy-filled cloak billowing out around him and hiding most of his unimposing figure. Making his body invisible allowed him to float several feet higher than he really stood, giving a sort of eldritch look to him that made it look like his body was made of the space his cloak was filled with. He had a large gauntlet on so he could still gesture menacingly if needed, and on that gauntlet he wore the Ring of Confusion (once known as the Ring of Rage). And of course there was the mask, its design inspired in part by Poppop Clockwork's own face. Red eyes with the black streak over the left, but other than that it was mostly featureless, aside from the part that allowed him to open up the mask like a mouth so to not muffle his wail. Obviously that was fanged. It of course also had essentially a wig attached to it, making it look like Danny had much longer and wilder white hair.
It took Danny a moment to realize where exactly he had been summoned to. He knew it was outside Earth’s atmosphere, he could feel the cold presence of space surrounding the area he floated in. It was only when he saw a battered Superman on the ground, one hand over the sigil to summon him. Danny looked down at the super in dejection, thinking only one thing:
‘Shoulda just kept my big mouth shut.’
Superman shakily lifted his head, looking up at the imposing form of The Ghost King. He was most certainly… impressive. The very power coming off of him seemed to fill the entire space, almost as if he was telling the very room itself, "BEHOLD! THE GHOST KING OF THE INFINITE REALMS! WORSHIP ME!" He pushed himself up into a proper kneel before the King, being respectful.
"Your majesty, if I may ask for your assistance," he said, clearly in pain. "There is... someone with ghostly abilities here, who was trying to steal your summon for himself. Would it be possible to... maybe help...?" He looked up at the imposing King, awaiting an answer. The summon itself meant he had the right to just tell Danny what to do, and yet he was still asking if it was ok.
'Ok, so the JL have trouble with ghosts and the like,' Danny thought to himself, really hoping he won't have to have an intense battle with something extremely strong today. After a moment of contemplation, he nodded a slow and imposing nod. He had to keep up appearances and all.
"Um, I-I believe the villain identified himself as 'Plasmius'?" Superman added in, hoping the identification would help.
Danny immediately brightened up, responding in ghostspeak so to remain spooky.
#Oh, fruitloop? Yeah, I can kick his butt for you.#
Danny suddenly flew by, turning intangible so to pass through Superman before going off to beat up Vlad. Sure, the old man had been able to beat him on occasion in the past, but as of late Danny still held the win record.
Electric crackling and haunting whirring with the faintest hint of a scream in the background, shaped like clay to form words in a tongue he could not hope to understand. The sound wasn't only familiar, it was near identical to the frustrated nose that had come from the boy Clark had helped. He didn't know too much about ghosts, but he had a hunch.
Daniel Fenton, who are you really?
-
Danny reappeared in the main area Plasmius floated in, unconscious Justice Leaguers pushed off to the sides as the angry halfa tore through the rooms looking for something. Danny pushed his will into the room like he had done when being summoned, creating a silent but all-consuming "I am present." Vlad immediately looked over angrily, then his gaze turned to shock and fear, then pure ass-kissery.
"Ah, m-my king!" Vlad quickly said, dropping to his knee. "I was merely, erm, trying to find your summon so to… ah… protect it! Yes, wouldn't want it falling into the hands of a villain that would mind control these foolish mortals again to give it to them. But it appears you have been summoned by them, so your summon is now used and therefore useless. So that would no longer be a problem! I-I merely wished to do my duty and protect your power from falling into the wrong hands, my king!"
Holy Ancients. Vlad "Tried to Beat Pariah Dark" Masters some way somehow didn't know Danny was the new King. He had no idea. This was so funny. Here he was, practically groveling in front of him and thinking he was some ancient powerful being that recently decided to pop up and take control. Would it be funnier to speak up and show him he was the very same teenager the man had been trying to adopt/clone/kidnap/kill for the past few years, or would it be funnier to let him continue thinking the Ghost King was someone completely different and reveal much later when the fruitloop had already been kissing his ass for a while?
Danny decided on the latter, and opened his mouth (and mask), letting out his ghostly wail to begin the fight. Plasmius was immediately taken aback, seemingly even afraid for a moment. He didn't seem to recognize the wail as Danny's.
The fight was on, and Danny wasn't holding back. Vlad however seemed to be unwilling to fight at full force, almost as if he was afraid of invoking the King's wrath by actually attempting to harm him. He was lucky Danny wasn't Pariah, else he'd be even more pissed off. He easily dodged half-assed shots, swirling around them like wind as he closed in on the increasingly panicked halfa. Using the gauntlet, Danny grabbed Vlad by the throat and lifted him up.
Vlad struggled against the grip, seeming genuine with surprisingly little opposing strength. It was almost as if Danny was physically stronger, significantly so. He threw Vlad into the ground and watched as the other half-ghost slammed against the hard floor, leaving a painful indent. He swore he didn't throw him that hard, it was completely accidental. The sudden strength he most certainly possessed made him think it may have been one of the powerful artifacts he wore as King. Who knows, maybe it was his crown and/or ring noting how young of a ghost he was and making up for it? The idea sort of scared him, he'd have to ask Clockwork.
Vlad shakily sat up, looking on in terror at the horrifying eldritch being that was The New King. This being had apparently defeated Pariah Dark fairly when he had failed, and he now knew why and how. The unmistakable resemblance to the very visage of Clockwork showed this was at the very least a demigod. He couldn't hold back fighting him, but even if he went at full force he didn't think he was able to defeat him. It may have mostly just been the fear talking, but he felt like if he tried fighting The New King one on one, he wouldn't have a chance in hell. The horrifying being now floated above him, staring down intimidatingly. He… wasn't finishing the job? Was he sparing Vlad? Oh thank the Ancients, The New King possessed mercy. Well, he was never one to squander an opportunity.
Danny had been just kinda zoning out when he realized Vlad had phased through the floor. He quickly followed after him, soon finding him hightailing it towards Earth. Well… that situation solved itself. Terrifyingly so, but it did end without complete death.
Danny floated back into The Watchtower, apparently just in time to see the League members regaining consciousness. Several panicked at the sight of him, some of which even seeming to be about to attack. Thankfully, Danny would not have to dodge, block, or retaliate against them, as the Man of Steel himself had managed to stop them before they could attack.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said simply, gently pushing down Green Lantern's arm before looking over at the others. "That's the King. Trust me, we don't want an incident."
Superman walked over towards Danny, seeming to use his fight to reduce the weight on one of his legs. He was very good at hiding it, Danny (and likely the Bat) could only just barely tell. Still, Danny decided it would be considerate to meet the injured hero halfway.
"… The voices of ghosts I imagine are pretty unique, right?" Superman asked, "The sounds seem pretty specific." Realizing the jig was up, Danny nodded. Supes definitely recognized his voice.
"If you don't mind me asking, would it be possible for a ghost to have a child after death?" Superman pressed. This line of questioning was definitively not what Danny was expecting, but he nodded nonetheless.
"Is it in turn possible that you, The Ghost King of the Infinite Realms, could have a child that is half human half ghost?" Superman suggested.
Danny didn't move for several seconds. He couldn't be serious, right? He couldn't be suggesting that-… holy shit he was suggesting he was his own dad. It would certainly stop some questioning and potential unwanted babysitting, and it would give him such a badass backstory. He couldn't pass it up, but that also meant that he couldn't be anything but this big scary form when answering to them as Ghost King. It also meant he had to really play the part, and so he had to come up with a spooky way of responding that wouldn't reveal his teenage voice to a bunch of really serious adults.
Forming human words with ghostspeak was indeed possible, but difficult. But it would hide his human voice. He opened his mouth, carefully forming the noises of his death into words.
"Phan…tom…" he managed to gurgle. The exertion hurt his throat. "My… son…"
Superman wore the look of someone who's suspicions had been confirmed. It took so much to not just laugh at him. He knew he had to push it further, so he appeared to lean down and put the huge gauntlet on Superman's shoulder.
"You… home…work… help…" he crackled out, stifling a cough. "Friend… of… Dan…ny…" Superman looked surprised, taking a few seconds to respond.
"Oh, uh… no problem sir- uh, I mean your majesty," he managed to say, apparently not expecting such gentleness. "A-and, if you don't mind, I heard from somewhere you, uh… are… backed by Clockwork…?" Danny couldn't help but let out a ghostly laugh. He then took the gauntlet off of the man's shoulder and used it to point at himself.
"Ward…" he managed. "My… fa…ther…"
This was the best prank he had ever pulled in his life, and it would likely have disastrous consequences. The JL were now under the impression that 1. Danny is the son of The Ghost King (Danny), 2. Clockwork is the adoptive father of The Ghost King, 3. The Ghost King is super chill with Superman because he helped The Ghost Prince (not a real thing) with his homework, and 4. Clockwork is Danny's actual grandfather. Oh, and 5. Danny is not actually related to Jack Fenton, and is in fact half-ghost due to being born that way, instead of dying due to his parents' negligence regarding their dangerous machinery. Ok, that last part wasn't really funny per se, but still.
The JL seemed somewhat horrified by this revelation, which possibly could also mean that they wouldn't dare let anything happen to Danny in fear of The Ghost King getting pissed at the living world. Regardless, Danny figured he wouldn't be able to answer any further questions without coughing his ghostly lungs out, so with a flourish he vanished into nothing, retreating back through the summon. He had finished what he was summoned to do after all: beat the crap out of Plasmius.
The members that had been able to witness it were shocked (and slightly terrified) by the revelations given by the King himself, each one left stumped and frozen in their places. The Flash managed to finally get up, and limped his way over to Superman before patting him on the shoulder.
"I guess you gotta help the Ghost Prince with his homework in the Watchtower next time, huh?" he joked, coughing a little from the pain of his lightly crushed ribs.
-
Been working on this bit by bit over the week, that seems to really help. If anyone wants to be tagged in the next chapters, hmu!
Credit to @senirac for a good few ideas! Chapter 4 time babyyyyyyy
(Side note, the JL I know best is from the animated shows Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, so I'll be using those versions. That includes Wally West flash and John Stewart Green Lantern. I don't know how to write Barry Allen or Hal Jordan. In addition, I'm using Wayne Family Adventures Batman because I like the Batfam.)
—
"Aaaaand turn in!"
Jazz finally was done sending her seventh essay on why she would be an excellent student to accept to this college. She stretched with a feeling of accomplishment as her laptop informed her she was done with the application process, confident in her abilities enough to know this college would accept her too. It was good to have options, especially if her dream college of Gotham University fell through. That didn't necessarily mean she didn't think she'd be accepted, she just was planning just in case of clown attack or some other Gotham rogue.
Jazz was then startled by the sound of her little brother very suddenly bursting out in shrieking laughter, her laptop almost falling off of her bed. While she wasn't opposed to Danny finding great joy in things, it was unusual for him to start laughing so suddenly alone in his room. Which meant their parents would see the slightly abnormal behavior as proof he was possessed by a ghost. Sighing to herself, Jazz closed her laptop and made her way over to Danny's room before their parents could.
"Danny?" Jazz knocked, "What's so funny? Why are you laughing so loud?" Danny quickly opened his door, grabbed his sister's arm, and yanked her in before she could protest.
"Ok ok ok, you're gonna be mad, but this is really funny," Danny giggled. "I just convinced the entire Justice League I'm my own dad!"
"Wh- Danny what did you do??" Jazz exclaimed, confused and slightly disappointed in her brother's apparent prank.
"B-before I say anything, I can probably ask Batman if he can confirm your stay at Gotham!" Danny quickly added, calming down his giggles. "Specifically putting the university under his protection because the prince's sister goes there?"
"… Danny, explain. Now."
-
"Well isn't this just peachy," The Flash said, picking his teeth with a toothpick. "We got a teenage half-ghost prince with a human parent and a King dad, and a god grandpa. Bats got his contingency plan yet?"
"I sincerely hope you're not actually making a plan to take him down," Wonder Woman said pointedly, her brow furrowing.
"The old Ghost King was a danger to everyone and everything," Batman argued, "We can't just assume something with that much power, even his kid, will be completely benevolent forever. It's better to have a plan in place for something unlikely to happen than for it to happen and not have a plan."
"Batman does have a point," Martian Manhunter agreed. "It would be irresponsible to assume anyone is completely unable to do evil. How about we assume someone could make the King do whatever they wished by summoning him? If someone wished to wipe out our subjugate humanity using his power?"
"I mean, it kind of seems he has to give out his summoning sigil to let people contact him," Superman added.
"And if someone somehow managed to find and charge one of these sigils without receiving one?" Batman asked. "Death cults do exist, Clark. I've dealt with my fair share of them, and the biggest one still running happens to have exactly what they need to charge one of those sigils."
"What I really want to know is why The Ghost King of the Infinite Realms needed a half-human kid," Green Lantern interrupted. "Does he have a cult? Is the kid meant to be his successor? Why is the embodiment of time involved?"
"I've been looking into the cult angle, and it seems most cults worshipping the previous Ghost King have either disbanded or disappeared," Batman explained, procuring a tablet (lovingly nicknamed the Bat-tablet) with his notes on the subject stored. "Keyword 'most.' There are still at least four still active, three of which are obviously in Gotham."
"Obviously?" Green Lantern asked, raising a brow in suspicion. Everyone looked over at him wearing the same expression. "… Oh. Right. Gotham."
"I've got people working on the Gotham cults at the moment, as well as searching for any new cults rising up regarding the new king," Batman reassured, quickly checking the progress.
"I thought Batman 'worked alone'?" Flash whispered to Green Lantern.
"What else do you think happens to the fifty-something Robins he drags around?" GL whispered back jokingly.
"Five, not fifty," Batman corrected, putting his Bat-tablet away. "Regardless, there are plenty of people that would use the King's power for their own selfish and often violent desires. It just plain isn't responsible to not plan for things to go south."
"Wouldn't there be something in place to keep people from ordering The Ghost King to do things he doesn't want to do?" Wonder Woman asked. "Something that powerful couldn't possibly be overpowered by something a mere mortal could conjure."
"What if it was someone that gathered the power of thousands if not millions of ghosts?" Green Lantern suggested.
"I could think of a few people off the top of my head that could personally amass that power," Superman grumbled, glaring down at his fists. He hated the idea of someone like Darkseid having the power of the Ghost King, even moreso the possible underhanded and cruel things he would likely do to the kid to get the King to follow his orders.
"I just don't know how I feel about setting up a plan to attack a child," Wonder Woman finally said outright. "I can't be the only one thinking that, right?"
"You're not," Flash reassured, adjusting from his relaxed laid-back position in his seat to a more serious forward-leaning position.
"I too have qualms regarding the boy," the Martian agreed, looking over to Batman. "Is there not an option to simply put the boy to sleep if all does go wrong? Violence may not even be necessary."
"We don't know enough about his physiology to know if that would work," Batman hummed.
"If we could bring him into the Watchtower, I could personally perform a full-body scan of Phantom," the Martian volunteered.
"And when would that happen?" Green Lantern scoffed, raising an eyebrow.
"Monday afternoon?" Superman suggested. The other Original Leaguers looked over at him. "I mean… I could check the moon for him?"
-
"Danny, I am very disappointed in you," Jazz said disapprovingly. "Your prank is going to go wrong, I can feel it."
"Oh come on, isn't it even a little bit funny?" Danny nudged, still proud of himself.
"… Ok, maybe it's a BIT funny that you were able to completely baffle Superman by acting like a spooky eldritch being thankful for him helping your kid with his homework," Jazz admitted, "But it's still irresponsible. It's going to blow up in your face."
"Oh I know it is, I'm just enjoying the brief calm before it all comes crashing down on me," Danny explained. "Sooooo… wanna help me come up with a backstory? If not I'm going to ask Tucker and Sa~am!" His voice went sing-song-y at the end as he leaned towards his sister, his big blue eyes practically sparkling. Jazz sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"… If they do end up getting your DNA, they're gonna find that you're definitely related to both Mom and Dad," she gave in. "You could have meant to have been stillborn, but The Ghost King pitied you and wanted you to be born."
"Nah, not solid enough," Danny said, thinking. "My ghost half looks closer to Ghost King, maybe he chose Mom to hold his power and create a mortal shell he could inhabit, but it ended up going wrong and I ended up having a soul?"
"Or maybe The Ghost King encountered you during your accident with the Fenton Portal and saw your body and soul being ripped apart by it?" Jazz suggested. "He then shared his core with you, in turn affecting both cores to share your half-death and giving you the same ghostspeak voice! That would make him your father through technicality, and would explain to people why you suddenly got ghost powers at 14 instead of having them your entire life!"
"Ohhh, yeah!" Danny agreed, nodding excitedly. "That would also keep them from being confused as to why my 'dad' has such a strange-sounding death despite being likely an ancient being that definitely existed before electronics!"
"Would Clockwork vouch for the validity of that?" Jazz asked.
"Jasmine, really," Danny said with a sarcastic dramatic drawl. "It's Clockwork we're talking about. Y'know, the guy that happily screws with the Observants? The things that watch over all of time? The guy that likes me because I'm unpredictable? He would absolutely play along. In fact, I'm gonna go tell him right now. I've got other things I wanna bring up to him anyways."
"What kind of 'other things'?" Jazz asked, raising a brow.
"Oh, y'know, Ghost King things," Danny said dismissively.
"You know, you never actually explained to me how that fight with Plasmius went, other than you 'kicking his butt'," Jazz narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She was way too good at figuring out what omitted information was omitted on purpose.
"Well, uh, the fruitloop was too scared of King Me to actually try putting up much of a fight, so he just ran away with his tail between his legs," Danny explained dismissively.
"Danny," Jazz said softly, changing her approach. "I promise I won't be mad or afraid of you if you tell me."
"… There… might be a possibility… that my kingly artifacts… augmented my strength to a terrifying degree I couldn't necessarily control…?" Danny shrank in on himself, his voice going up in pitch. "And I might have nearly killed Vlad by slamming him into the ground way harder than intended…?" Jazz stared hard at Danny, thinking his words through. She wasn't scared of him, she knew that for a fact. He knew there was something about the ring and/or crown that affected him, so he wouldn't accidentally use his strength on her while wearing them. He wasn't even wearing them now.
"… Do you need a hug?" she finally said, opening her arms.
"I mean, not really, but I'd still appreciate one," Danny shrugged, leaning into the hug.
Jazz could feel the uneasy purr of his core as he melted into her arms. He wasn't in mental anguish or anything, she could tell that without his core calling him out, he just seemed a bit upset about what was going on. The relief of her not being scared of him was definitely apparent, but it wasn't really something majorly on his mind. She suddenly felt his core go giddy, and she looked down at him to see his bright smiling face.
"Clockwork is gonna be so psyched," he beamed.
-
Clockwork never really got to the point of giddiness most others were capable of, but in comparison to his most common consistent state of indifference, he was indeed 'psyched'.
He now had the unofficial title of 'Father of The Ghost King', as well as the equally unofficial title of 'Grandfather of Danny Phantom'. He was already called 'Poppop' by the halfa, so it wasn't really too far of a stretch. The boy was his ward already, after all. The hyperactive boy was already on his way to see him, excited to tell him the good news of the prank (and likely ask more of the power granted to him by his artifacts).
"Poppop!" Danny exclaimed excitedly, waving his arms to get his attention. "The Justice League-!"
"I know, Danny," Clockwork smiled, shifting from his child form to his adult form. "They have learned quite a bit about your 'father', no doubt."
"Jazz and I came up with a backstory and I think you're gonna love it!!" Danny blurted out, practically vibrating.
"Alright then, let's hear it," Clockwork nodded, knowing how much his charge loved explaining things to him.
"Ok so, the JL know the Ghost King has the same voice as me, right?" Danny started, extremely animated in his explanation. "Ghost voices are how they died, but with how old they probably think Ghost King is, electricity doesn't really make much sense. So! When I got ripped apart by the Fenton Portal, Kingsy shared his core with me to keep me from completely ceasing to exist, thus making me half-ghost and his son, and making us share a death voice!"
"Excellent," Clockwork nodded, shifting into his old man form. "However, if the Justice League is to contact me, they will likely wish to know how I came to being The King's father. I am not particularly good at coming up with stories that did not occur, would you like to give it a go?" Danny practically vibrated where he stood.
"Ok, so, our story starts off with a living child abandoned in the woods, probably a baby-"
-
"I have literally never heard of anything like that happening ever," Constantine said flatly. "A ghost impregnating a human woman? That's just plain ridiculous."
"Even a ghost with the physical embodiment of time as a father?" Superman asked.
"Adoptive father," Wonder Woman corrected.
"He still has physical similarities to him, right?" Flash asked. "If he's able to affect him like that, maybe there's a bit more power involved than in your average ghost?"
"The mother herself would have to be liminal in order to even be affected by any physical change he could inflict upon her, aside from injuries and overshadowing of course," Constantine explained. " 'Liminal' of course meaning 'death-touched', or something able to create and maintain its own ectoplasm."
"Overshadowing?" Batman asked for clarification.
"It's the politically correct term for 'possession'," Constantine said, using his fingers for air quotes. "It makes it sound less like the ghost is claiming they 'own' whatever they take control of. Really, don't use 'possession' to explain what ghosts do, it's very offensive. Demons possess people."
"Wow, didn't think I'd be learning ghost slurs today," The Flash joked. "Any others I should be careful about? 'Unliving' ok? 'Misties'? 'Spooksters'? 'Boo-boos'?"
"Flash, stop trying to guess ghost slurs," Green Lantern scolded.
" 'Unliving' might actually be a bit offensive to some, just use 'ghost'," Constantine sighed. " 'The Infinite Realms' is also called 'The Ghost Zone', after all."
"So ghosts come from The Ghost Zone?" Flash perked up.
"Don't you dare," Green Lantern glared.
"No-" Wonder Woman warned.
"Do skeletons come from 'The Bone Zone'?" Flash asked. A collective groan filled the room. Green Lantern smacked him upside the head. "Ow- worth it!"
—
Thank you again to @senirac for the idea of Danny's backstory involving GhostDad™! This was really fun to write, I can't wait to update this again!!
Planning on posting this stuff on AO3 sometime in the future, but I think I want to get a few more chapters in first before editing and rewriting a couple minor things to flow better. I'm also gonna wanna get permission from @stealingyourbones to post it first.
A robed limp body was tossed to the ground, the unconscious figure no longer useful. Red Hood had gotten all the information he needed from them, really all he could stomach anyways. The police were on their way to pick up these assholes, and since they were more or less nobodies, Red Hood knew there wasn't any possibility any of them could bribe any potential corrupted cops. He wasn't exactly a fan of the pigs messing with his area, but it was either that or let one of the other bats prance about on his turf. Speaking of which, he'd apparently received another request for an update from the Big Bat himself. It was about an hour ago, so he figured now would be a good time to tell him the Ghost King cult in his ugly corner of Gotham was dealt with.
- Cult in Crime Alley confirmed dealt with
He thought for a moment, then added a last little bit to keep the Bat off his ass.
- Non-lethally
Switching to rubber bullets was, in his eyes, less effective than just getting rid of the problems with real bullets, but they made Dick happy. And Bruce, he guessed. Not that it was really a problem, a gun was a gun and it got the job done. He gave one struggling half-conscious cultist one last kick as he made his way to the exit. Red Hood suddenly stopped as he heard a whimper, the voice seeming a lot younger than the cultists. His head whipped around, searching for the source.
The whimper seemed to echo about, but it was most localized in one area of the apartment that had been used as a base of operations for this cult. Still, it took busting down a few doors before Jason finally found the right one.
A young black-haired teenage girl sat alone in what looked like a giant birdcage covered with glowing green symbols, placed in the center of a giant rune-filled circle lined with a number of candles, each with a bright green flame flickering on their wicks. Red Hood moved in closer, trying to approach the girl when he was suddenly stopped by an invisible barrier. He kicked at the air, finding his boot bounced right off the area starting at the very end of the chalk markings. Annoyed, he aimed a gun right at one of the candles in hopes of knocking it over. The loud 'BANG' definitely scared the girl in the cage, but the rubber bullet did its job and knocked over the candle, somehow immediately putting the flame out. The green flames on all other candles suddenly went out, and the glowing green runes on the cage faded away. Red Hood attempted to walk through the space again, finding the barrier was now gone. Good.
The girl cowered away from him as he approached her cage, whimpering in the farthest point from the door. He immediately went to work trying to pick the lock, but for some reason it wasn't working. Was there a magical element to it? Would it be easier to just break the lock off? Was the lock just for decoration, and there was a different way to get her out of the cage? He tried the latch and-
... Aaaaaand it wasn't locked in the first place. Ok, that would do it. Maybe she stayed in the cage for her own protection? Or maybe the ominous spooky circle around them was what was actually locking the cage? It seemed a little much, but she probably was a meta or something. Or maybe he had interrupted her being sacrificed? Regardless, he opened up the cage. It was better to do that than just leave her to suffer here.
"It's ok, you're safe now," he said, offering his hand to the frightened teen. She pressed herself more against the bars on the opposite side, whimpering more as she tried to stay out of his reach. Jason sighed, taking his hand back.
"I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm getting you out of here," he said, moving out of the path of the door to the cage. "I'm Red Hood. Do you have a name? Where do you live?" Still, she didn't answer.
A moment of realization suddenly passed over her face, perhaps recognition? Just as suddenly as the expression came, she simply phased through the bars and landed right on the hard floor with a thud, squeaking in surprise and pain. She quickly pushed herself away from the chalk markings in a panic. Red Hood quickly ran over to where she now sat baffled, worried she might be hurt. She was definitely a meta, he could tell that for sure.
"Are you ok?" he asked, stepping towards her cautiously. She seemed to switch suddenly from flight to fight as she realized she was no longer powerless to stop what was happening, and she lunged for him as a bright light briefly blinded him.
Gone were her sweatshirt, shorts, and sneakers, now replaced by a black and white costume with a midriff, her black hair and blue eyes changed to white hair and glowing green eyes as sharp teeth bit straight through his leather jacket, almost sinking entirely through his armor. Jason flailed lightly, recognizing perhaps she should be treated more like a feral cat than a scared child. Tried and true first step, showing her he wasn't a faceless monster.
He still wore a domino mask under the helmet, so taking it off wasn't going to right out the gate reveal his identity, but still removing the helmet allowed him to look less intimidating. The girl suddenly seemed to calm down a bit, gently removing her sharp teeth from his arm as she stared at Jason's face. After a moment of silence, the previously scared and angry girl seemed less scared and angry, but slightly more confused.
"You're liminal," she said, looking up at him cautiously.
"Sure," Red Hood agreed, not knowing what the hell that meant. "Little less scared now?"
"Just 'cus you're liminal doesn't mean I don't still think you're a cop," the girl spat, glaring suspiciously.
"Trust me kid, I'm the furthest thing from a cop," Jason explained, his expressions clearly showing a slightly sarcastic amusement. The girl didn't seem to be prepared for exaggerated expressions, and nearly cracked a smile.
"And that's supposed to comfort me?" she huffed, backing away from him and readying herself to attack again if needed.
"Fair point," he said, shrugging. "Would it help to remove the guns? It's the guns, isn't it."
"I'm not a fucking cop I swear to god, I'm not gonna hurt you, and I just want to help," Red Hood explained, not sure what else he could do to appear less threatening with what he had. "Feel safe enough to tell me your name and how you got here, so I can take you to the general location of your home?"
"Psh, like your dumb guns could really do anything to hurt me," the girl scoffed cockily.
Resisting the urge to point a gun at her to test that theory (damn reflexive 'aight bet' movement), he removed the guns from his holsters, ejected the magazines from both of them, and gently set the both of them on the floor while pointing them away from the both of them. Gun safety after all, even if they're not loaded you should treat them like they are. He then put his hands up and scooched a few feet away from the guns. The motion seemed comforting, but still to gain further trust he plucked the com ear piece from his ear and threw it at the open door. He'd deal with Barbra yelling at him about the feedback and delicate machinery later.
"Alright, cool, gross but cool, now do I seem harmless enough?" Red Hood asked tiredly, very much uncomfortable with the strangely Lazarus-green goop that now held him to the wall.
"Hmm, maybe I'd feel a bit more comfortable if youuuuu..." she started with a hint of sarcasm, putting her hand to her chin and tilting her head before suddenly outstretching a hand and shooting a strange green glowing substance at him, flinging him backwards into the wall and sticking him to it.
"AHA!" she cheered, pumping her fists into the air. "And Danny said I'd never be able to web-shoot like Spiderman! 'Can't mimic fictional heroes' my butt!"
"Well, it has been a while since I've seen another liminal," the girl hummed, thinking. "Ok, I'll bite. Metaphorically of course, since I already literally bit you and all."
"I know, I was there," Red Hood replied sarcastically.
"The name's Ellie," the girl finally said. "I was... kidnapped by these jerks, what with my association with the Ghost King. The new one, at least."
"You have connection to The Ghost King?" Red Hood asked.
"You the ghost cops or something?" Ellie narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She then burst out laughing at his dead tired expression. "Nah, I'm just kidding, Walker would never let a liminal work in the GZPD. He hates our existence."
"I'm starting to think 'liminal' might be a slur," Red Hood mumbled, his expression showing distaste.
"N... no it's not??" Ellie said, confused. "Are you... recently liminal? Do you have any idea what that means?"
"Not a singular clue," Red Hood sighed. "You could potentially explain all that in great detail to me once you explain to me what your relation to the Ghost King might be."
"No way man, you're a baby ghostie with a rank," Ellie cringed, pinching her nose dramatically and waving the air away from her. "Frankly? At this point I don't care who or what you're working with. Someone clearly hasn't told you the basics of ghost unlife, and I'm not about to let this freak of nature be left without its people, else it might go feral. First off- where have you been getting your ectoplasm? A sewer??"
"... My what?" Jason asked genuinely. "What's happening here."
"Oh boy, guess we're starting from square one," Ellie sighed. Damn her desire to help.
-
Monday finally came, and Monday went. No sign of the prince on the moon. Maybe he just didn't get much homework on Mondays? Batman at the very least got confirmation that one of the four remaining cults had been taken down, though Red Hood seemed to suggest about an hour later that he'd be out of commission for a while. That cult must've been worse than they thought if its members could hurt him so badly, he'd have to send someone to check on Jason as soon as possible if he wasn't returning to the manor. Maybe he'd risk angering him by showing up in person, just to make sure he's ok. He should bring a gift basket.
It was a pain to wait for the boy to need help with his homework again, Clark was tempted on a few occasions to outright tell Batman the kid's civilian name so they could find him and get it over with, but that would be rude. He'd just have to wait for the next day.
Tuesday came, and Superman searched for the teen. And there he was, doing his homework while facing the planet. Superman quickly flew over to meet up with the boy, excited to actually talk with him.
Danny's study session was interrupted by a pair of red boots floating down into his vision. He quickly looked up, then smiled and waved at the hero. Superman smiled back and waved in greeting, then gestured off into the distance. Confused, Danny glanced over to see if there was something on the moon the man was gesturing to that would be important for Danny to know about. He looked around to find absolutely nothing, not knowing what the man wanted. Superman got his attention again, gesturing up. Danny looked straight up, still confused. Superman tried one last time, going behind Danny and physically pointing his head towards what he wanted him to see. Danny looked at Earth for a few seconds, wondering if Superman wanted him to go to a specific location on Earth for some reason. Possibly for reasons of there being an actual atmosphere? And then he realized that in the path between here and the Earth was the Watchtower.
It was the first time Danny had ever actually noticed the giant satellite. It was amazing and beautiful, though very weirdly shaped. He had wondered so many times what it was like on the Watchtower, being surrounded by professional super heroes with the beauty of space just outside the window. Sure, he was on the actual moon right now, but that was different. That was cheating. Being in a ship though? Now that was amazing. A breathtaking feat of machinery launched into an even more breathtaking infinite void of endless beauty beat just flying up there on his own any day. It was kind of how it felt better to earn candy trick-or-treating than to just buy pounds and pounds of candy leftover at the store the day after Halloween.
Superman gestured to The Watchtower again, and Danny smiled and nodded, then wrote in his notebook "super cool". Superman's mind seemed to break for a second, then he dejectedly seemed to request the pencil and paper. The hero clearly hadn't considered simply writing what he wanted to communicate, though to be fair neither did Danny until just now. Danny handed the notebook and pencil over, then watched as Superman scribbled something down. His eyes suddenly widened as the Man of Steel flipped the notebook around, reading its contents:
'Do you want to go do homework in The Watchtower today?'
Yes. YES. YESYESYES A MILLION TIMES YES. Danny nodded as enthusiastically as a puppy that was just asked if it wanted to go on a walk. He quickly started haphazardly shoving his papers and such into his bookbag, an excited ghostly churr escaping his core audibly. He was so excited he was shaking. He was going into The Watchtower. HE WAS GOING TO DO HIS HOMEWORK IN THE WATCHTOWER!! HE COULD LOOK OUT AT SPACE THROUGH A BIG WINDOW!!! He wondered if Martian Manhunter would be in there? Would he get to meet Martian Manhunter??? Holy shit holy shit holy shiiiiiiiit!
Danny zipped up his backpack, the zipper getting briefly stuck a couple times due to his excited speed and jittery movement. Clark almost lost his held breath with a chuckle, amused by the extreme giddiness the boy possessed. The boy likely had never been around so many superheroes before, and now had the chance to go into their big Space Clubhouse. He'd have to admit, Clark kinda started getting giddy too from the energy this child seemed to generate. Once the backpack was all closed up and on Danny's back, Clark flew up and started leading Danny towards the distant structure. Danny flew close behind, even doing a few excited loop-de-loops as he flew.
A bay door opened for Superman and Phantom, allowing the two of them to enter. They landed carefully inside the airlock, the artificial gravity already taking hold as the doors closed. The room pressurized with air, and finally talking was a viable option.
"So! Ghost Prince, huh?" Superman said, apparently deciding that the first thing he should actually say to Danny was an introduction to a pretty big conversation disguised as smalltalk.
"Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that," Danny lied. He was so excited to tell his cool new backstory, but it was also SO difficult to make him seem believably non-giddy about his death and subsequent half-resurrection. "It's kinda complicated, but long story short I kinda sorta got adopted by The Ghost King after I sorta became his biological son, and now I'm a prince. Well, I mean, he wasn't King when that happened, but he is King now."
"... What?" Superman asked, expecting this conversation to go in a completely different direction.
"Anyways, do you know French?" Danny changed the subject, filled with nearly uncontainable glee at Superman's absolutely perfect reaction. "Because I'm taking French as my foreign language for regrettable reasons I'd rather not get into at the moment that definitely doesn't involve a now long-gone crush, and I do not get the conjugation. If you don't know French that's fine, I'm sure there might be another hero with not much to do that might be able to help, if that's cool. I've also got some Math I gotta work on, but I think I can figure it out if I've just got someone cheering me on from the sidelines. Unless you've got something you need to do at any time, my homework can wait for lives to be saved."
"I'm- I'm sorry can you please back that up to you 'becoming the biological son of The Ghost King'?" Clark asked, feeling like he was going to pop a blood vessel with the confusion that one statement was putting him through.
"Oh, yeah, but would it be cool for that to wait until after homework?" Danny said, not wanting to get too off topic yet. "I feel like if I start I'm gonna be here for hours, and I've got a book report I gotta start that's due Friday."
"Oh, right, of course," Superman said, trying to focus himself back on the task at hand. "I'll help you out, don't worry. Oh, though sometime into our little homework session, J'onn is going to want to get a full-body scan of you to see what's going on with your DNA, if that's fine by you-"
"J'onn as in Martian Manhunter?" Danny said excitedly, looking up at Superman with big green sparkling eyes. "Martian Manhunter's here? Today? Now?"
"You're a fan, I'd take it?" Superman chuckled, greatly entertained by the boy's bounciness.
"Do you think he'd sign my copy of 'Life on Mars'?" Danny asked, immediately taking off his backpack and rifling through it until he found the book in question. The look of excitement and wonder on his face was more adorable than anything else in this exact moment.
"I'm sure he'd love to," Superman smiled. "Fan of aliens I take it?"
"Yup!" Danny beamed, then realized. "Oh, I know you're an alien and everything, but, y'know, Mars just feels a little more… tangible? In my mind? Also he's clearly inhuman. Was that rude? Am I being rude?"
"Don't worry, you're not being rude as far as I can tell," Superman laughed, guiding Danny away. "It's honestly a nice change of pace to hear someone preferring the Martian over the Kryptonian. J'onn doesn't have enough fans."
Going through The Watchtower was a dream come true. With permission from Clark, Danny started taking pictures of the place and saving them for later so he could show his friends. He ended up also getting an autograph from Black Canary for someone named "Tucker", though the more interesting interaction seemed to happen when they came across Batman as they were sitting down to start Danny's homework.
"Oh! Mr Batman sir!" Danny exclaimed, quickly getting up and rushing over to the bat. "Two related questions, first one being are you on speaking terms with Poison Ivy?"
"Hn?" Batman hummed, looking down at the excited white-haired Ghost Prince. "She is one of my rogues."
"Yeah, but do you like, talk with her at any point nonviolently?" Danny clarified.
"… I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to ask me," Batman said carefully.
"Are you on good enough terms with Poison Ivy to ask her to give an autograph for a fan, or is it a 'kill on sight' kinda deal?" Danny asked. "Oh, that's the second question by the way. Can you get her autograph for me? Well actually it's for my friend Sam. Oh! And I have a completely different question after you answer the first two, if you can that is."
Batman silently stared at Danny with an unreadable expression for several seconds, seeming to lag.
"Oh, two completely unrelated questions," Danny added on. "No rush."
"… I believe I could ask Ivy," Batman finally answered. "I make no promises on that front."
"Ok, sweet, next question," Danny said, bouncing a bit. "My sister really wants to go to college at Gotham University, but she's worried about potential rogue attacks. Would it be possible to buff up security around the college to make sure no clowns cause any funny business on or around campus? The funny business in question being homicide." Every new word out of this kid's mouth brought Bruce closer and closer to a headache, which wasn't exactly something he wasn't used to, what with him being the father of at least six children.
"I'll see what I can do," he responded much quicker. "The extra security might end up attracting Joker's attention rather than protect against him though, maybe your sister could be given a panic button she could press if something goes wrong?" Danny was Ghost Royalty, so his sister had to be at the very least adjacent. He wasn't about to risk a potential political incident because his sister got attacked by one of his rogues in his city.
"Sounds like a plan!" Danny beamed, giving a thumbs up. "Last question, do you know French?"
"Fluently," Batman responded flatly.
"Do you have the time to help with my French homework?" Danny asked hopefully, but expecting a 'no'. "Superman doesn't know how to help with it in a way I can understand, and I'm really struggling."
"Sorry, I have somewhere to be," Batman apologized, "I can see if I can send someone up, though."
"That would be super helpful," Danny thanked before running back to his spot with The Boyscout. Batman went on his way, pulling up his coms to see who all was available. He was going to visit Jason today, and while he would very much like to help the Ghost Prince himself, his baby boy came first.
Superman had been reading up on math and history so he would be at least somewhat prepared, and he was more than willing to help out with a book report. Amazingly enough, what he had prepared for seemed to be perfect. All but the French, of course, but an inability to teach language was not exactly something he knew how to work with. However, in the middle of working on some forgotten science homework, the bat-tutor arrived very loudly and suddenly.
"Bonjour Prince Fantôme! Comment ça va?" the loud and excited voice of Nightwing boomed, startling Danny. "I heard down the bat-grapevine that a certain somebody needed some help with their Français?"
"Ah, one of three heroes from Gotham I know about," Danny said absentmindedly, lightly surprised.
"Oh?" Nightwing asked, grabbing a nearby chair and spinning it around so he could sit in it backwards, leaning his arms and chin on the top of the backrest. "I assume one is Batman?"
"The other is Robin, but don't expect me to know the differences between any of them," Danny admitted, shrugging. "I've heard there's been, like, eight of them."
"Only five, actually," Nightwing corrected. "Fun fact, I was the first!"
"Oh cool," Danny said, seeming only slightly interested. "Honestly, I just know one kinda died and the current one stabs people."
"Yeah, but the dead one got better and the stabby one is currently in the process of learning stabbing is not ok," Nightwing shrugged. "So! What's famous about me that lets you know who I am despite not being from the area?"
"You do acrobatic flips off rooftops in a tight leotard," Danny said flatly. "What do you think you're famous for?"
"Helping royalty with their French homework I'd hope?" Nightwing cooed, tilting his head playfully.
"Maaaaaayyybe the Watchtower isn't the most conducive place for focusing on homework," Superman sheepishly admitted.
"Noooo, it's so much easier when we can communicate!" Danny whined, looking up at Superman with big green puppy dog eyes. "And I like it up here! You can see space just out the window!"
"I literally found you on the moon," Superman smirked, raising a brow. "I'm pretty sure you could see space even better out there, y'know, in space."
"That's different," Danny scoffed. "You can fly, right? Ever been on a roller coaster?"
"I have," Superman nodded.
"Well, was it fun?" Danny asked. Superman thought for a bit, recalling his experience.
"... Yeah, it was fun," he agreed finally.
"You could absolutely fly in much crazier patterns than that, but it's honestly better when you gotta use the machinery to achieve that feeling," Danny explained. "Sure, I can just fly into space. But when I'm in a ship or satellite? Now that's the stuff. Makes me feel alive. Normal even."
"That's great and all, but French homework?" Nightwing reminded them. "While I'd love to listen to this all day, I do have other things I need to do today."
"Oh, right, sorry," Danny said, quickly digging through his bag for the folder containing his French.
-
Constantine was done with guessing. He was done with living in the dark about this terrifying being that called itself the New Ghost King. He was going to get answers even if he had to pry them from Clockwork himself, which was exactly what he was going to do.
The summoning requirements for something so powerful were quite grand, but it wasn't like it was his first time summoning a god. Hell, it wasn't even the first time he had summoned Clockwork specifically. He tended to avoid him anyways, Clockwork specifically always had something to say about the appearance about his 'core'.
The circle lit up as Constantine charged it, then glowed bright green as he stepped away from it to give the god plenty of space to appear. A dense fog filled the room, then the familiar figure made his appearance.
"Keep fracturing your core, John, and I might have to deal with it myself," Clockwork's voice said calmly, forming legs so to step closer instead of float ominously. He grabbed the man's face, turning it to inspect. "I know you've grown numb to the pain, but please. It's bleeding."
"Nice to see you too, Clockwork," Constantine said sarcastically, lightly pushing the god's hand away from his face. "You're supposed to stay in the circle."
"And you're supposed to not sell pieces of your soul to every demon you meet," Clockwork smirked. "You're going to rip apart very painfully when you die, I hope you know that."
"I didn't summon you here to mother me Clockwork, you know that very well," Constantine glared respectfully.
"Of course," Clockwork nodded, stepping back into the bounds of the circle. "You wish to know about my relation to The Ghost King?"
"What will you want in return for the information?" Constantine asked, ready to pull out a notebook and write down whatever inane request Clockwork had for him.
"Nothing, I am willing to share this knowledge for free," Clockwork explained, shifting into his older form, in the process losing his legs and turning back to the ghostly tail. Constantine gave him a suspicious look, but trusted he wouldn't lie.
"A long time ago, I came across a baby," Clockwork explained. "An infant barely able to understand what was happening, destined for hardship. I was initially tasked with dealing with the child, but in the process of trying to avoid a terrible future that threatened to destroy both my home and yours, I shattered the flow of time by interfering in order to save the child." Technically speaking, all of what Clockwork said was true. In ghost terms, Danny was an infant. He didn't understand what was happening at the time, he had been thrown into this existence by his half-death. And he was tasked with 'dealing with' the child, and the timeline was shattered. Hence his assignment to Danny.
"You... what," Constantine asked, horrified.
"Shattered the flow of time," Clockwork repeated happily. "I don't regret this decision at all. Now, when relating to The Ghost King and Phantom, I don't know what is going to happen in the future for them. I can in fact see the infinite possibilities of what might happen, but what will happen is entirely up to them! Frankly, it's exhilarating."
"You shattered time for a baby," Constantine whispered in horror, shaking.
"Oh no, I merely shattered its flow," Clockwork corrected. "If I had shattered time itself, I would be, well." He shifted into his toddler form, still smiling. "Shattered."
"You broke one of the things you are supposed to maintain on purpose so that you could save a baby?" Constantine asked carefully, horrified by the implications.
"Yes," Clockwork confirmed, nodding. "I then took charge of the infant, and trained him to be king. He is my ward, and I care about him as if he were my own. And Danny, I couldn't ask for a better grandson. He's so lively and chaotic, I've experienced three approximations of an aneurysm in the two years I have known him. I was not even aware I was physically capable of experiencing them! I've been stressed, worried, tired, panicked, angry- though not at the boy mind you-, each and every one of the strongest of mortal emotions all because of Danny and his antics! It's almost as if I am mortal myself! It's so exciting!"
Constantine stared in silent horror. The entire situation is so much worse than he thought. The New King had been raised since he was an infant to become King, the process of Clockwork taking him in involved shattering the flow of time, Danny's main claim to fame for Clockwork was his ability to stress out time, and worst of all, Clockwork was an adrenaline junkie and apparently an emotional masochist. He swallowed the lump in his throat, desperately needing a drink after all this was done.
"A-and the fact of The King and Phantom sharing a ghost voice...?" he managed to choke out.
"I was not present for the incident, which by technicality occurred outside my jurisdiction, and thus my vision," Clockwork shook his head solemnly. "The King had told me that he had found poor Daniel somewhere between your realm and mine, the portal he had been inside when it had activated ripping him and his core apart. He told me the boy was going to simply cease to be, and so he connected his core with the boy's in order to save him, thus making Danny's half death in part his own. Of course it is all hearsay, I reiterate that I was not physically present. The Infinite Realms by technicality is not necessarily connected to your flow of time, after all. 'Time' in a way does pass, but not 'time' as you or I know it."
"So, regarding their cores..." Constantine trailed off, further horrified by all implications occurring.
"The Ghost King and Phantom do in fact share a core," Clockwork explained, nodded. "Though at some point, you may hear another ghostly voice come from the lips of The King. After all, there is another way he has died." And with that, Clockwork vanished without being dismissed.
Constantine stared at the summoning circle as he fished out a flask from his pocket. He did not earn enough to deal with this bullshit.
—
I used Google Translate for the tiny French part because despite taking French in school, I forgor.
Chapter 6 of Homework on The Moon! TW: BODY HORROR
—
Bruce had simultaneously expected this situation to end up both significantly worse and significantly better than it had. At best, he expected Jason to be perfectly fine and pissed off at him for showing up, maybe even attacking him. At worst, he expected him to be too hurt to bother being angry at Bruce for showing up at his actual apartment, and thus needing serious medical attention ASAP. What he did not expect was the door to be answered by a feral teenage girl that promptly bit him and would not let go until Jason calmly walked over and literally scruffed her. He was now sitting on Jason's couch, the two gift baskets he brought sitting on the coffee table as Bruce nursed the bite mark awkwardly with the culprit glaring daggers at him for simply existing.
Jason re-entered the room with some mugs of hot cocoa for everyone. At the very least Jason seemed fine, completely unharmed even. At worst he seemed tired, so very likely the angry sharp-toothed teenager was completely responsible for his absence. Jason sat down in the chair he had set up on the other side of the coffee table after setting down everyone's hot cocoa, the girl snatching up hers and immediately cradling it like it might be stolen by someone if she didn't protect it. Bruce cautiously lifted up his own mug, quietly thanking Jason.
"So, as you can see I'm not more dead than I was before," Jason said in a somewhat joking manner. "I'm going to assume you have significantly more questions than just that now and resign myself to the fate of having to answer them or face whatever research you're going to pull up to figure out all that's going on here."
"Hm," Bruce nodded, taking a sip of his drink first.
"First off to start this shitshow, this bear trap over here is Ellie," Jason explained, gesturing to the girl. "She's been helping me with my undeath, since I apparently fall into a category I hadn't heard about before."
"And what category would that be?" Bruce asked, his voice very level and serious.
"It's a little something called 'liminal', which is somewhere between 'living' and 'halfa'," he explained. "I'm apparently slightly more 'alive' than your average 'halfa', of which in the world there are three known. Ellie is one of those, so she knows a ton more than I do." He gestured to the girl again, and Bruce turned his attention to her.
" 'Halfa'?" he asked simply, an eyebrow raised slightly.
"Half human half ghost," Ellie explained, still glaring at Bruce. "Somehow dying and coming back didn't make him fully a halfa, and that rank ecto he got doused in seemed to just fill in cracks rather than fully let him toggle between dead and alive. See how he's got a white streak?" She pointed at Jason's hair. "That streak means his ghostie-ness is sorta combined with his human side. Though if he fully went halfa, I honestly don't know if it'd go totally black or not when human. Who knows, maybe his ghost form would have a black streak?"
"It'd probably actually be red," Jason interrupted before taking a sip of his cocoa.
"What? Why?" Ellie asked, confused.
"My natural hair color is red," Jason explained. "I dye it black. For some reason dye doesn't stick to the white part, though."
"Why would the colors switch?" Bruce shoehorned in, getting them back on topic.
"Oh, 'cus that's what happens when a halfa switches to ghost mode," Ellie explained. "Why the hell do you dye it black? Why not just white if you want it to be uniform?"
"Because white looks like shit," Jason replied flatly, looking Ellie directly in the eye while hiding his smirk.
"Oh fuck you, my hair looks awesome," she scoffed in a tone that said their jabs at one another were meant to be all in good fun.
"What does 'switching to ghost mode' entail?" Bruce asked, knowing how to work with people that just seem desperate to have more than one conversation happening at any given moment.
"Well, usually you just manifest your ghostly will into the world, altering your form to be more ghostly," Ellie explained casually. "For me and my brother, that means a color swap of our hair from black to white and our blue eyes turn ghostly green. The third halfa we know about is actually able to be a lot more ghostly, changing his skin to be blue and his eyes to be solid red. He also found out how to make his hair look supremely stupid, as well as give himself a completely dumb ugly costume. He also keeps trying to kill and or adopt my bro, and probably take over the world too I guess." She took another bored sip from her cocoa.
"Would this third 'halfa' happen to wear a primarily white costume and go by the name 'Plasmius'?" Bruce asked carefully, cupping his warm mug in his hands.
"Oh good, you've had the displeasure of meeting," Ellie said flatly, rolling her eyes. "He's really cringe. You're rich, right? You know other rich people?" Bruce nodded with a grunt. "Know Vlad Masters? White hair? Blue eyes? Always talks like he's planning something evil? Possibly claims he's dating or married to someone named Maddie?"
"Good to know he has a civilian identity," Bruce nodded. "I do know of Masters, I haven't spoken with him personally. I'll start keeping tabs on him."
"Good, the Fruitloop needs to be taken down a peg," Ellie snorted, taking another sip of hot cocoa.
"You said your brother was also a 'halfa'," Bruce said, leaning forward a bit. "Would you mind telling me more about him?" Ellie grinned in the way only a gremlin truly could.
"Oh, you mean Danny?" she said, having been texting with him and had gotten the whole story. "He's sort of famous? Royalty of the Infinite Realms and all that. Dad's favorite. I'm not jealous of that or anything, I don't get forced to attend political meetings."
Well.
Now they have a Feral Ghost Princess.
-
J'onn J'onnz knew upon his first questioning of Danny that he was in fact the actual Ghost King through the simple act of reading his mind to get his real answers to J'onn's questions. The medical scan he did of the boy turned up a lot of questions neither of them could answer, though it did also allow J'onn to start figuring out what sort of medical treatments would work on his unique physiology. He had briefly planned on telling the Justice League all about the joke Danny was playing that would undoubtedly end badly, but the absolute love for the green alien that sparkled in Danny's eyes and ran through the boy's head gave him pause. He thought long and hard about it, wondering if his one true fan would still think so highly of him if he put an end to a currently fairly harmless (and increasingly hilarious) prank so suddenly.
He ultimately decided not to ruin the boy's fun, but promised himself he would put an end to it if the situation was getting out of hand. J'onn wondered if it would be beneficial for him to merely pretend he had no idea, thinking about the possible case in which Danny could be isolated from his main connections and have to work exclusively with the League for any reason, having to pretend to be two different people with no rest. It would most certainly be beneficial for the boy's mental health to have someone on the Watchtower he could confide in as the young King to an Infinity. J'onn could be that someone, be a comforting reminder to the boy that he wasn't alone. And then, and idea struck him:
It would most certainly make the boy's day (possibly even more) to have a Martian prank buddy.
Once J'onn was finished with the tests and scans he had been planning to do on Phantom, he decided to tell him while they were still in private, telepathically so to keep anyone with super hearing from overhearing the conversation.
~~Your ruse will not last long without sufficient aid.~~
Danny jumped, very suddenly remembering Martian Manhunter had mind reading and telepathy. The jig was up, he'd forgotten the most important base abilities of his favorite hero, he was probably going to tell the whole-
~~I am willing to supply such aid.~~
He looked up at the hero with wide eyes, joy filling him to the brim at the thought of having the most powerful Justice Leaguer on his side in this prank. He almost couldn't believe it, this was the best thing ever. This guy can shapeshift! Maybe he could convince him to help with any other-
~~I am willing to join happily in on other juvenile activities, as long as there is no harm done. In exchange, you will inform me if there are issues caused by your royal or heroic duties.~~
Ah drat, babysitter. That's exactly what he didn't want to-
~~I do not wish to 'babysit', I merely wish to be a possible confidant. I will give aid only when requested, and listen when needed.~~ J'onn smiled comfortingly. ~~I trust your judgement and ability. You are much stronger than most give you credit for, Danny Fenton.~~
Danny smiled wide. He was internally screaming and crying with excitement, physically vibrating externally. This was officially the best day of his life. He wanted so bad to lunge towards the alien and hold him happily. The Martian's arms opened up for the incoming tackle, inviting the boy to give in. Danny wasted no time, immediately sending himself directly into the alien and squeezing as tight as he could while squealing with excitement. J'onn was briefly reminded of the children he lost as the boy held him, and a small hole he had long since forgotten was suddenly filled a bit. Well. Now he knew how Bruce felt.
"Aww, ain't that sweet," Flash said as he entered, amused by the expression of parental affection J'onn now wore. "Kid just couldn't keep himself from hugging his favorite anymore? Everyone that saw his face when he saw you knows he's been wanting to hug you since the start. Physical affection treating you well?"
"Was there something you needed, Flash?" J'onn asked, ignoring the other questions.
"Constantine's here to take a look at the kid too, Supes asked me to fetch him," Flash gestured back through the door as he leaned against the door frame. "You just about done in here?"
"We have finished medical scans, I will be able to get to work on finding 'ecto' materials to keep on hand just in case," J'onn nodded, then looked down at Danny. "Are you ready for more observation and questioning, Danny?"
"Yup!" Danny said, getting in a few more seconds of hug before finally detaching.
"Excellent, I have work to do here so I will not be following for the time being," J'onn explained, mildly disappointing Danny. "However, if you need me at any time, just call out. I will hear." Danny smiled again and nodded, then went with the speedster to meet up with the tired occult detective.
J'onn was left to himself, and he immediately went to work analyzing the scans for anything particularly pertinent. The boy was most certainly cold, though according to the scans he seemed to have a localized spot the cold was coming from. Perhaps this was his 'core'? It wasn't spherical from what he could tell, there seemed to be a slight hint of edges based on the thermal scan alone. It seemed to have five protruding points, almost like a star...? How fascinating, he'd have to learn more about-
'help'
It wasn't just a thought J'onn was hearing that was meant for him, it felt like it was an order from some kind of higher power.
'HELP'
The pleading order became louder, impossible to ignore. J'onn was already flying from the computer, phasing through walls to get to the source faster.
'PROTECT ME'
J'onn flew up to a frozen stiff Danny and a very confused Constantine, placing himself directly between them.
"What are you doing," he said with such conviction and quiet rage it made heroes and Watchtower staff alike immediately stare at the Martian, watching in horror to see what he might do.
"Wh- I just approached him and he started panicking," Constantine defended himself, not wanting the rage of J'onn upon him.
"WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE THAT WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOUR CORE" Danny screeched, clinging desperately to the Martian's cape. Constantine paused, then sighed.
"Ok, maybe Clockwork severely understated how bad my soul looks," he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Now understanding that there was no real danger, J'onn calmed down.
"Apologies, I did not mean to overreact," he said in a much kinder tone, then turned to Danny while completely blocking the view of the horrible entity that was apparently John Constantine. "Danny?" he asked, crouching down a bit and carefully putting a comforting hand on the boy's hair. "Would it be alright for me to see what you saw, so that I might understand your panic?" Danny nodded, shuddering. J'onn put both his hands on either side of the boy's head, focusing on the memory to see what was so horrifying.
[TRIGGER WARNING GORE NEXT PARAGRAPH]
Skin peeling off of flesh in ribbons, flesh peeling off of bone in strands, teeth moving individually with a shattered jaw, fingers peeling apart to reveal fractured bone just barely holding itself together, the flesh moving like seaweed underwater, green blood dripping from EVERYWHERE staining EVERYTHING, a shape in the gaping cavity in the chest too broken to even recognize the original form of it, each piece inscribed with a different sigil. All this overlapping the form of a normal (albeit very tired) looking man.
"H'RONMEER- S'TET FOLUR'RE?!!" J'onn swore loudly, pulling his hands away from Danny's head in horror before spinning around to face Constantine. "GO! GO INTO ANOTHER ROOM!" No one argues with the yelling Martian, so Constantine very quickly moved into a different room.
"Holy cow, did we just learn a Martian swear?" Flash muttered to a nearby onlooker.
"Flash, be quiet," J'onn said hauntedly, pointing directly at the speedster without even looking and causing a primal fear to bubble up in him. "He was peeling. Everything was peeling. He will not be in the same room as the boy until that is fixed."
"He was what??" Superman asked, having been stopped from coming to Danny's side by J'onn suddenly and angrily showing up.
"You know, I was wondering why Deadman was so adamant about never being in the same room as Constantine," Green Lantern mumbled before quickly shuffling out of the room.
"Danny, do you-... see people's souls before you see their bodies?" Superman asked, very worried about the boy.
"I see their cores, yes," Danny shuddered, staring at the door Constantine left through with a haunted look. "What the hell happened to his??"
"Ah, well, Constantine has a sort of... habit, regarding selling his soul to every demon he contacts," Superman cringed. "Apparently, 'Clockwork' had said he needed to stop fracturing it?"
"Fracturing?!" Danny exclaimed, horrified. "That thing is shattered! What all demons has he sold it to?! I'm telling Dan." He pulled out his phone, tapping on it furiously.
"Who's Dan?" Superman asked, curious.
Welp, now Danny slipped up a bit and had to come up with a lie on the spot. What was he going to say?? He should have just said 'dad', that would have been so much better-
~~Secretary.~~
Martian Manhunter to the rescue already. This was going to be a very good alliance.
"My Ghost Dad's secretary," Danny said.
"Would that not be an advisor for a King?" J'onn asked. Danny got the hint of the situation the Martian put together for him, glad the Martian picked a word he'd probably use anyways.
"Eh, technically, but he's the secretary because it's funny what with his past of performing crimes against the Realms," Danny shrugged, quite giddy and getting very good at hiding it. "Anyways, he's really good at threatening people, so he'll probably be able to fix that core problem."
Superman, Flash, and Martian Manhunter were... concerned by that information. J'onn quickly checked Danny's mind for information about Dan, able to ease his worries with the knowledge of his reformation. The League just couldn't stop learning horrible things about Danny and the people around him, could they?
- hey dan buddy man guy with a plan
- for destruction
- i have a request of you
- actually no a royal order of you
- there's a guy named jon constantine
- *john
- he fucning shattered his core by selling his soul to a shitload of demons can you like
- threaten them
- and get the pieces back
- so he's not in a million pieces
- poppop told him to sop selling his soul apparently but fucking hell
- homeboy be FUCKED
Danny waited a little bit before seeing the little popup that informed him Dan was typing.
- Why do you have to type like a Tumblr user.
- Yeah, fine. I'll put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Danny scoffed, texting back.
- you bismirch my honor
- *bismerch
- *bismurch
- fdsnlknskdln
- *tarnish
- *Besmirch. Pay attention in English class, Lancer isn't that bad.
- what is he ur bestie now
- Yes. I'm in the same book club as him. We're in the middle of a meeting.
- Do your fucking homework Danny.
- tell your new boyfriend i said hi
Danny's relationship with Dan seemed... interesting. J'onn would have to learn more one day.
"Sooooooo, we gonna do this like a game of telephone, orrrr...?" Flash finally asked.
"I could volunteer to be the telephone," J'onn said, imagining he could send information to and from Constantine telepathically and essentially have him do his job through him.
Nobody got that just by hearing the suggestion alone. It was a jarring and sudden strange suggestion that made no sense and they didn't have a Bat available to decipher. Thankfully, the man had mind reading and quickly realized how silly that sounded without context.
John, standing awkwardly in the other room, pulled a flask out of a pocket and took a sip. Maybe, just maybe, if the Ghost Prince of the Infinite Realms was freaked out by him, he shouldn't ever be seen by the King. Ever. Man, he was not paid enough to be yelled at by a Martian horrified by the memory a teenage boy had of the look of his soul. He suddenly received a text from Batman, which made him nearly drop his flask as he shoved it back into his pocket, almost as if Batman himself was about to walk in and scold him for drinking. He quickly checked the message to see if it was important new information.
- Phantom has a younger sister. Her name is Ellie, and she bites and causes problems on purpose.
Ellie suddenly received a text from Danny. Deciding checking her phone was much more important than listening to a conversation she was still in, she checked it.
- hey ellie there's this dude named john constantine his core looks MAJORLY fucked up
- if you wanna see the gore come check him out he's in the watchtower rn it's so messed up it's literally SHATTERED
Oh HELL yes.
"Alright, this interrogation has been fun, but I think I'm gonna go get traumatized," Ellie said, standing up and stretching. "Bye losers." White rings spread out from her midsection as she went ghost, then she completely faded out of sight.
"Wh-" Bruce stuttered, standing up and looking around.
"Well," Jason said, lazily looking around. "That can't be good."
—
Sorry if I went a bit overboard on the trigger warnings, I really wanted to put in the gore and I didn't know if I was doing too much so I wanted y'all to most certainly be ready for it. (In case you're curious, J'onn said "GOD- WHAT THE FUCK?!!" There isn't any canon swears in martian I could find, but I did find a god, so I invented a swear for him.)
AND! Since this thing is now lagging both my phone AND my computer, I'll be moving this to AO3!
I will still post links to the new chapters every update, so everyone tagged will still be tagged about the new chapters! I'm still willing to tag even more people if desired so you don't miss an update!
However, I must say that I will need a month or two break so I can figure out how this fic is gonna go, as well as edit the past chapters for posting on AO3. It's quite exciting, and I'll post my AO3 name and link once I've got the first two chapters up! I will likely be posting one or two edited chapters a week until I run out, and after that I'll be posting new chapters weekly! (until my next hiatus that is)
Thank you all for your support, I love all of you and I'm so glad you like this dumb thing I just started in my free time! Again, I'll be posting links to each new chapter on AO3 every week with everyone tagged who still wants to be, and new chapters will resume in a month or two when I have enough chapter outlines written so I know where I'm actually going with this!
Fun facts about the Five Founding Families of Gotham and Where They Got Their Money:
Arkham Family: helped found Gotham in the colonial era. There's no real information on how they got their money, but there's a long line of medical professionals in the family, especially psychiatrists (go figure).
Wayne Family: been in Gotham since the colonial era. Money mostly came from real estate/land in the 1700s, then transportation and logistics in the 1800s during industrialization, then tech and construction in the 1900s, but the Waynes have had their fingers in pretty much every industry related to technology and innovation you can think of over the centuries.
Elliot Family: been in Gotham since at least the early 1800s. Money came from founding the Gotham Herald (the city's major newspaper) and becoming a prominent newspaper family.
Kane Family: been in Gotham since at least the early 1800s. Money mostly came from real estate/land ownership (via rent and commercial tenants) with a healthy helping of sin taxes (Kane County, to the north of Gotham City, was known for its gambling, prostitution, and alcohol by the 1880s, so presumably the family was getting quite a lot of financial kickbacks from this via both official taxes and under-the-table payments).
Cobblepot Family: been in Gotham since at least the early 1800s. Money came from founding and running a steel company; by the 1880s they were prominent steel barons and had at least one political figure in the family (Mayor Theodore Cobblepot).
Yeah so originally there were four Founding Families (the Waynes, Kanes, Elliots, and Cobblepots) and then a pack of other prestigous families that were "newer money" high society but not quite as high as the Families—for example, the Solomons and Geraldis, two entertainment business families that came up in the early 1900s:
"The Solomon Brothers were first with a string of nickelodeons and movie houses around 1910. Then Carlo Geraldi opened Amusement Mile at the beach and the fight was on." -Batman: Streets of Gotham (2009) #4
The New 52 created the Crowne family and inserted them in as a fifth 'Founding Family,' which was later adopted by the Gotham tv show (along with replacing the Cobblepots with the Dumas family so they had an explanation for the Order of St. Dumas that wasn't just 'secret religious cult').
They actually invented a whole new Cobblepot in the New 52 for some reason, replacing Mayor Theodore Cobblepot (established in Gates of Gotham as the contemporary Cobblepot family head to Alan Wayne and Edward Elliot) with Frederic Cobblepot:
"Already a legendary name in Gotham, in 1871 Alan Wayne was looking to expand his family business...However, since taking over as Mayor of Gotham, [Theodore Cobblepot] had been out of the building game for some time...Edward Elliot came from a family of newspapermen after his grandfather started the Gotham Herald in the early 1800s." -Batman: Gates of Gotham (2011)
"No one represented [Gotham high society] better than these four men. Alan Wayne...Frederic Cobblepot...Edward Elliot...and Burton Crowne. The elite of Gotham." -Nightwing (2011) #8
The New 52 also changed the era of Gotham's history that had just established in Gates of Gotham, saying that it was "Cameron Kane's bridge" that collapsed and killed William Cobb's father rather than the proposed Wayne-picked site's bridge:
"They blamed the accident on my architectural knowledge, and the bridge was adjusted to lead to Kane County instead. Cameron Kane had gotten exactly what he wanted." -Batman: Gates of Gotham (2011)
"My father was an ironworker, like his father before him. He spent most of his years constructing bridges for the Gate Brothers and the powerful families of the city. When Cameron Kane's bridge collapsed midway through construction, my father lost his life. And I lost my childhood." -Nightwing (2011) #8
Which reasonably doesn't make any sense, since the Kane Memorial Bridge (the artery bridge connecting Gotham City to the US mainland on the north side) exists in both continuities, but whatever.
More to the point, the Crownes as a family have not been mentioned since those opening New 52 Court of Owls-related arcs. Even later Court-centric storylines have mostly abandoned the Crownes and the convoluted added history of Haly's Circus. They're still technically in continuity, but they've been largely superseded by the other Four Families.
Meanwhile the Arkham family history has been in flux for quite awhile, but they've been established as one of the literal founding families of Gotham for around a decade:
"As scholars had suspected, the book focuses on Amity Arkham, a woman of many gifts. Gifts and practices not appreciated by the people of the settlement, the future citizens of Gotham City. Despite the fact that her brother, Ezekiel Arkham, was one of the founding fathers, she was punished for not conforming, for attempting to corrupt the growth of Gotham." -Gotham Academy: Second Semester (2016) #8
In post-Crisis continuity, the ancestral Arkham family home (converted by Amadeus Arkham into the first iteration of Arkham Asylum in 1921) was in Sommerset Township, just northwest of the city proper on the mainland. The Asylum moved to Mercey Island (an abandoned estate named after cement tycoon Eric Mercey) after Bane destroyed it during the events of Knightfall.
In the initial set of post-Flashpoint history, that ancestral home was located on 'Arkham Island' from the beginning and Arkham Asylum had been in operation since at least the mid-1800s. I believe as of Ram V's Detective Comics run we're technically back to the post-Crisis origin of the Asylum, but the Arkham family history established in Gotham Academy remains intact.
There haven't been a lot of Gotham history-focused stories since the Rebirth era, so we still don't know how the Arkhams vs. the Crownes were regarded among the rest of Gotham's high society, but ultimately the Crownes are new money compared to the Arkhams. After all, you don't get more 'founding family' than literally being one of the original founding inhabitants of the village. I think it's probably safe to say that the Crownes were definitely of higher social status than the Arkhams during the 1800s, though, at least as far as current continuity is concerned.
I think there's probably space to say there are now six Founding Families (Waynes, Kanes, Cobblepots, Elliots, Arkhams, and Crownes) in canon rather than the four we originally started with—and we should also probably factor in families like the Logerquists (Jon Logerquist is generally recognized as Gotham's founder) and the Orghams now too—but I think for purposes of canon, the Arkhams take precedence over the Crownes for 'Founding Family' consideration.
AU where instead of going back to Gotham after the end of her og Batgirl series Cass instead vanishes on a quest to revive Steph from the dead. Because she's died twice and been revived, which means everyone else in the world deserves at least two do overs as well.
Bruce panicks and represses, Babs openly panicks and freaks out, Tim is... Not fine but doing better than the other two, because Cass texted him about it before dropping off the face of the earth, basically letting him know she was going to try and bring Steph back from the dead and asking him if he could look after her rose in the manor. A second text came in ten minutes after that informing him that the rose's name is Bob.
So Cass, like in canon, ends up taking over the League for a bit. Only this time she's doing it to learn more about resurrection. She doesn't kill Nyssa, but she does fake her death in front of Talia, because she can clearly see that something isn't right. Cue Nyssa being locked up, Cass trying to figure out how to unbrainwash Talia, and Damian meeting his future sister absolutely disgusted that someone is daring to usurp his birthright.
Cass: Oh I don't actually want this job, no worries. But uh... You're Batman's son, yes? I will be taking that job later. Sorry.
So Cass uses the League's resources to find out ways to bring Steph back, while also turning the organisation into an entirely nonlethal operation. They do some good work, she's not willing to throw them all out. They're wounded damaged assassins, of course she's going to look at them and go "I can fix them."
She eventually tracks down a device that can warp reality, (personally I'm thinking a Kheran Dream Engine, because Cass would listen to the warnings of it possessing you and the only way to get free being torture and death and be like nice. Let's give it a shot) and uses it to rewrite the universe so that Steph was just recovering with Leslie, undoes Talia's brainwashing fully, and also makes it so that Bludhaven never got nuked. She tells no one that she's planning this of course, so it ends up being a very emotional and confusing day for Leslie and Dick.
She then buries the device in the middle of nowhere. Because wayyyy too much power. Heads back to the League where she gets Talia to torture her to death and then drop her in the Pit so that she's free from the influence of the reality warping device. This is not a pleasant experience for either of them. Damian tries to watch and Talia uses her mom voice for the first time ever to tell him absolutely fucking not.
It works in the end. Talia offers to take the League back from Cass but Cass can tell her heart's not in it and is like nah. You go do your own antihero espionage stuff, you deserve it. And Talia's like that sounds wonderful but what about Damian?
And that's how exactly a year and a half after cutting all contact, Cassandra Wayne, The One Who Is All, head of the League of Assassins, comes strolling into a Wayne gala with Stephanie Brown on her left, Talia Al Ghul on her right and Bruce's unknown biological son in front of her.
Bruce shatters his champagne glass. Babs drops hers on the ground. Tim passes out and Dick is in too much shock to catch him.
I wanna write a tough love scene between Bruce and one of the kids but idk how to do it bc it just seems abusive
I'm sort of a believer in tough love and I think the main thing is knowing when to stop. Beating them down, invalidating them, ripping apart their self-esteem, overall hurting them for the sake of it—that's abuse, no question.
Tough love is a "say it once, then hands off" kind of approach. It's communicating expectations and boundaries clearly the first time, and after that, letting them deal with the natural consequences. Oftentimes, you're talking directly to the part of them that they don't wanna take accountability for. On the receiving end, it won't feel good at first because you're not dressing it up with platitudes or other fluff, but the difference between that and abuse is that tough love doesn't leave a bad feeling after the issue is resolved.
So a (pretty lame) example with the batfam:
Bruce: "If you keep up this reckless streak, you're going up end up in a dangerous place where not even I can reach you and you'll just have to hope you can find your own way out."
Stephanie: "Whatever, you have no idea what you're talking about."
[later in the story]
Stephanie: *makes reckless decisions and winds up in a situation where no one can help her except herself, just as Bruce said*
EDIT: Alternatively, if it's after the fact:
Dick: "The whole mission is blown because of one detail."
Bruce: "Perhaps. What are you going to do about it?"
Dick: "What am I supposed to do?"
Bruce: "I can't tell you. You took the lead. It's your mission."
Since Batgirl #1 is out and thriving, I thought it'd be fun to dive into the history of Cass' dialogue throughout different writers/runs. This is not comprehensive - I'll miss some writers, but I'll be covering her generally most known runs in mainline continuity (so no DCeased, Shadow of the Batgirl, etc.). Not a linguist by any means, so linguists on here feel free to chime in! (I'll also give opinions on which interpretations I personally prefer at the end).
Without further ado, we'll start at the beginning:
Kelley Puckett - Batgirl (2000)
Pre-issue 4, Cass speaks minimally in one-word sentences and doesn't have internal narration. Post-issue 4 (when a metahuman changes Cass' brain), she develops an internal monologue and begins to speak longer sentences. I'm splitting Puckett's Cass dialogue into 3 stages: early, middle, and late.
Early (#4 - #12): Cass speaks short, fragmented sentences. Each word has an ellipses between them (panel 1 above, from #7).
Middle (#13 - #24): Cass continues to speak incomplete sentences (often missing a subject or pronouns), but without ellipses (panel 2, from #13).
Late (#25 onwards): Cass begins to speak complete, simple sentences, punctuated by a few ellipses (panel 3, from #33). She continues to speak grammatically (though slowly) throughout the final part of Puckett's run.
Dylan Horrocks - Batgirl (2000)
Horrocks writes very similarly to late-Puckett, with Cass speaking in full, simple sentences, punctuated by the occasional ellipses. Horrocks introduces two new elements to her dialogue:
Cass stutters, sometimes repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence (panel 1 above, from #39). This is mostly used in the earlier parts of Horrocks' run.
She quotes reality TV (panel 2, from #51).
Maybe because of the reality TV, Cass also speaks more colloquially here than in Puckett's run, using phrases like "come 'n' get it" (from #57).
Andersen Gabrych - Batgirl (2000)
Gabrych's run focuses heavily on Cass' dialogue. Panel 1 above, from #58, suggests her narration boxes are another form of dialogue - Cass is speaking into a recorder. Several features of Gabrych's Cass dialogue are:
Ellipses: Even more than his predecessors, Gabrych scatters ellipses throughout Cass' speech (panel 1).
Fillers: Cass extensively uses filler words such as 'uh', 'um', and 'like' (panel 1, panel 2 from #61).
Longer sentences: Cass is more talkative and speaks longer sentences (panel 1, which is basically more words per panel than Puckett and Horrocks combined).
Wordplay: Cass often ponders definitions and word structures (panel 1, 2).
Adam Beechen - Batgirl (2008)
After evil Cass (that dialogue is not worth discussing), Beechen gets another chance with Cass in this miniseries. More than any other writer, Beechen differentiates Cass' internal monologue from her dialogue - her narration boxes are much wordier than her speech.
Her dialogue is a more loquacious version of late-Puckett or Horrocks: full sentences interspersed with ellipses (panel 1, from #1). The ellipses drop off towards the end of the series.
Her narration boxes use a variety of sentence structures and vocabulary. They read more or less as fluent English (panel 2, from #4).
Scott Snyder - Gates of Gotham (2011)
Snyder's Cass somewhat resembles mid-Puckett, using short sentences without ellipses (panel 1, from #2). She speaks a fair amount, but is more taciturn here than in any previous run. This is partially due to her not having narration boxes.
A unique feature of Snyder's Cass is preferring formal to informal speech. Though she uses contractions (panel 1), she goes large stretches without them (panel 2, from #3). She also omits the subject of a sentence only once in 5 issues, whereas native speakers (like Dick) drop the subject all the time ('have you ever been to Paris?' vs. 'ever been to Paris?'; Snyder's Cass would always say the former instead of the latter).
Sidenote: Batman & Robin: Eternal (2015)
Quick note about B&R:E: Cass is reintroduced into canon after being erased by the New 52, which means she's back to having very limited language ability. The series is scripted by multiple people, so it's hard to analyse. Suffice it to say she speaks in monosyllabic words, at most a short, incomplete sentence, but is mostly silent.
James Tynion IV - Detective Comics (2016)
Because Cass' language ability has been reset, Tynion develops her speech along the lines of Batgirl (2000).
Early Tynion has Cass speaking single word sentences (panel 1, from #938). Very similar to pre-metahuman touch Cass in BG (2000).
During the League of Shadows arc, Cass begins to speak a few words at a time, often separated by an ellipsis (panel 2, from #956).
Afterwards, Cass' friendship with Basil Karlo blossoms, leading to this run's most distinctive language feature - Cass improves her speech via studying and quoting Shakespeare (panel 3, from #958). Her improvement is reflected in the rest of the run through speaking longer and more frequent sentences.
Bryan Hill - Batman & The Outsiders (2019)
Like other writers, Hill's Cass generally uses short, simple sentences. She frequently drops the subject or pronoun in a sentence (panel 1, from #1). Hill doesn't use ellipses to separate the sentences, opting for periods most of the time.
Cass sometimes omits other words from her sentences too, dropping articles like 'a' and 'the' (panel 2, from #4), prepositions like 'to', and verbs like 'is' (panel 3, from #9). This peters out in the second half of the run.
Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad - Batgirls (2022)
Similar to mid-Puckett, Batgirls has Cass speak mostly in short, 1-2 word sentences (panel 1, from #2). Cloonan and Conrad occasionally use ellipses as well, though mostly for emphasis/natural hesitation rather than indicating a unique speech pattern (panel 2, from #7).
Cass also has a habit of repeating/echoing a phrase Stephanie says (panel 3, from #16). This might be more of a friendship thing than a speech thing, though.
Alyssa Wong - Spirit World (2023)
Wong's Cass uses short sentences sometimes interrupted by ellipses, like late-Puckett and Horrocks (panel 1, from #1). Generally, if the sentence is three words or less, there won't be an ellipsis (panel 2, from #5).
Kelly Thompson - Birds of Prey (2023)
Thompson's Cass draws on a lot of previous iterations, but is somewhat unique as a whole. Some elements of BoP Cass include:
She speaks in sentences of varying lengths, but rarely with more than one clause (panel 1, from #1). Thompson is more strict about not using commas with Cass than most other writers.
Cass is a little more talkative (panel 2, from #5). Her sentences are fairly lengthy compared to most other runs, and she doesn't always opt for the shortest way to say things ('where is it?' instead of 'do you know where it is?'). Thompson also doesn't use ellipses, which adds to the sentences feeling longer/more complete.
BoP is ongoing so Thompson may add more to her speech.
Sidenote: Ram V - Detective Comics (2023)
Putting this in a sidenote since there's not much to say, but Ram V takes after mid-Puckett, with Cass using shorter, incomplete sentences. Cass almost always omits the subject of a sentence; her dialogue is as short as possible while retaining clarity.
Thoughts
Because Cass' language disability is a core part of her character, but learning to speak is also a core part of her character, I prefer writers who emphasize her unique speech patterns without reducing her range of expression. My favourites are:
Gabrych - by far the person who put the most effort into his dialogue, Gabrych-Cass has such a vibrant, distinctive style of speaking. The narration boxes, Cass' wordplay, and the use of fillers and ellipses all combine for a speech style that highlights her disability without reducing her to it.
Puckett/Horrocks - combining because they are really very similar. Puckett and Horrocks both use ellipses to great effect, and is a great style to emulate for Cass in an earlier stage of life. Horrocks' use of reality TV is severely underutilised. Puckett, of course, is the gold standard for typical Cass dialogue - if Gabrych's style is a little too much, Puckett and Horrocks are the way to go.
Tynion - mostly because of the Shakespeare thing. It's such a beautiful and clever way of showing her progress, and the amount of symbolism you could do with Cass quoting Shakespeare is unmatched.
I don't super enjoy the more talkative Casses (Beechen, Thompson to an extent), though I kind of like Snyder's take because there's a sense of Cass being very careful with her speech there. If you're writing Cass for a fanfic or something, I would avoid Hill's Outsiders; the run is great, but Cass' ungrammatical speech is unusual and doesn't jibe with the rest of her depictions. Ram V and Wong are relatively good depictions to draw from though.
Of course these are my opinions! I may have gotten some things wrong/overgeneralised stuff, so take all this with a grain of salt. All you need to know is you should read Batgirl (2000) :).
I saw another post criticizing Bruce for having children fighting at his side, and I must say: tell me you don't know shit about the batkids' stories without telling me. Bruce fucking tried to stop those kids from being vigilantes, but they keep doing it behind his back, so he decided the best thing to do was to give them the proper training, an armor and to have them stick at his side so he can watch over them. You know, like a parent telling their underage children that they can drink alcohol but only at home where they can watch over them.
Dick became Robin because he wanted revenge over his parents' murder. He would run out in the street of Gotham as a 8 years old, all alone, to go fight Zucco. Bruce helping him make Robin was the compromise to keep Dick safe, because the child would not listen. (And yes, it wasn't the case in the very first canon, but it was like the 40s. Do you know how many kids fought against the Nazis in Europe at that time???)
Barbara Gordon is not his daughter and he has no authority on her being a vigilante. He cannot even ground her.
Jason became Robin after helping Bruce take down Ma Gunn's school. It is implied by Bruce, while talking to Dick, that he offered Robin to Jason as a way to gain a child because he missed having Dick around. He didn't need a Robin, he just missed having a kid. Bruce used the Robin mantle with Jason like people use churu to appease stray kitten. AND JASON'S DEATH, let's talk about it. Jason ran away, which leads to him being killed, after eavesdropping on Bruce and Alfred talking about Jason's mental health. Jason is benched as Robin, but not because Bruce thinks he killed someone like fandom says, but because Bruce knows it is not helping or healthy for Jason. They are talking about getting him help for his traumas and how violence is not helping Jason. And, when he is older and has healed, they can try again if he wants to. That's why Jason or people saying that Jason died because he was a soldier, or blaming Bruce for Robin's existence is false. When Jason died, Bruce was against Jason being Robin for his own health! And Jason knows that, he heard the discussion, he wasn't bench like how so many of his siblings are, with little to no honest explanation. Jason died in the Robin's costume because of his own stubbornness, not because of Bruce. (And that's not blaming Jason for his death. He is not to blame, but neither is Bruce. It's just about the Robin's colors. Jason would not have been wearing them at the time if he listened to Bruce.)
Tim Drake imposed himself as Robin. Bruce was against it, Tim literally went "Don't care, didn't ask". And Tim was already following them around before. Bruce already have Jason blaming him for making Tim Robin when he had no control over that.
Stephanie Brown became a vigilante before Batman knew her. He has tried SO MANY TIMES to make her stop, and so many fans hate that he did it. Make a choice, is it bad that he didn’t stop her more or that he didn’t let her more be a vigilante? He even got his kids to try to make her stop. AND SHE IS "KILLED" TO TEACH HIM THAT MAKING KIDS VIGILANTES IS BAD WHEN HE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE OF HER BECOMING ONE AND TRIED TO STOP HER! No shit the man blames himself for things that are not his fault, everyone does it.
Cassandra Cain was 17 when she becomes Batgirl, so I don't know if she counts. But when Bruce tries to make her stop for her own health, with the support of Barbara and Alfred, Cass is devastated and doesn't obey him. She puts on her costume and fights him physically.
Damian Wayne was trained as an assassin. In every version of him being introduced to Bruce, Bruce is against making him Robin and Damian keeps sneaking out. Damian wants to prove himself to his father so bad and refused to be kept away from the fight. In the comics, it's Dick, DICK, that makes him Robin when Bruce is gone, because Bruce was against letting Damian out at night.
Conclusion: Bruce is a tired father of a bunch of kids that cannot understand they should stay home at night and not be vigilantes.
Literally!!!!! Batman has so many kids because Gotham and his own lifestyle make them think they have to. No matter how much he wants them to stop. They'd fight anyway.
If Dick didn't become Robin, he'd be Robin without Batman. If Jason didn't become Robin, he'd be going out as Jason anyways because he's got a heart of gold and a willingness to help others no matter what. If Tim didn't become Robin he'd be going out there anyways, untrained. If Damien didn't become Robin, he'd be out there killing and causing so much havoc.
Barbara went out as Batgirl because she wanted to. She became Oracle because she wanted to. He's got so little on her that she can actually cause more damage if he dared to try.
Steph? Literally nothing was stopping her. If this was an AU with no Robins or Batgirls excluding Babs, Spoiler would still roam the streets. Even then she'd be out there on a lesser scale.
Cass? Like he ever had a choice in stopping her. She wanted to do good without killing. If there wasn't ever Batman, Cass would STILL be out there fighting the good fight.
Literally the only Robin he was "most responsible for" (not even by a whole lot) was Jason. And he didn't even want Robin as much as he missed having a child. Literally empty nest syndrome.
If Bruce had his way, his kids would all be tucked into bed at night, sleeping away the nights. But his kids have other plans. It's literally just the Gotham and Lazarus Pits vibes that make children want to punch the criminally insane at night.
