my friend just told me that there's a secret second dashboard that solely contains posts from people you've turned on post notifications for, and when i click the link in the messages it opens it within the tumblr app, so the tumblr app also has a secret second dashboard for post notification blogs, and the only way to access it is to open the link for it within the app.
fantastic. i love it. i posted this after my wife said it yesterday and as i was doing it i was like "this can't be an original thought. as soon as i hit post someone's going to say 'you stole this from a tweet from 2014' and i'll say 'no, i stole it from my beautiful wife.'"
No thoughts just ghost getting a text from a number he doesn't recognize, right?
He usually ignores them, has no interest in much of anything besides when he'll be sent back to base and what he'll eat the next day. But the words that only flick across his screen have him pausing, opening the text.
Unknown number: dad? Cam you pick me up(? My frriends dirched me and I feel weirf
And the thing is, ghost is no vigilante, hardly even a good person. But he knows too well what sort of situation this is. Has seen it, has played it, has been bystander to it. So he grabs his keys, checks his knife, texts back
You: where are you, kid?
He receives a location pin in return. Shit. Bad part of town for whoever this kid is to be in.
Ghost turns a thirty minute drive into a ten, though it doesn't feel fast enough. Rolls to a stop outside of some club, and spots you.
You, clearly more than drunk, supporting yourself against a fence while two men lean over you.
Ghost will make sure to call price about the bodies. Tried hard enough to make it look like a robbery gone wrong...the smashed in heads may prove that hard to believe. Whatever, not his problem, he's legally dead.
No, ghost is more concerned about you, blinking up at him without a hint of recognition "dad? ...m sorry."
"It's fine, kid," ghost grunts, pulls you by the hand until you can support yourself against him. "Let's get you someplace safe, yeah?"
In retrospect, putting the stranger who was definitely drugged alone in his bedroom without a note wasn't his brightest idea. Ghost doesn't exactly have a guest room, and having you sleep on what is functionally a concrete couch just seems cruel. So he spent the night covering up some impulsive decisions, then panicking when he realized he had no actual food in his apartment and running to the closest 24/7 shop.
Which is how he ends up dropping eight grocery bags on his apartment floor in the attempt to dodge a frying pan.
All credits to you, it leaves an extremely impressive hole in the wall. Lot of force for someone hungover and coming out of being drugged. You glare, wide-eyed, terrified and looking far younger than you had last night "who the hell are you?!"
Ghost, grunts, puts himself on the other side of the room, "I'm dad, apparently."
conspiracy theorist reader who accidentally uncovers a international crime ring and is placed under witness protection
reluctant bodyguard ghost who has to listen to you yap while making sure you donāt die
āāwhich is so stupid because it is so obviously a psyop set up to destabilize the country and reduce itās economic power while isolatingāā
āgot anythinā on lady di?ā
āāoh my god, i am SO glad you asked.ā
because if ghost was going to be stuck listening to you talk circles about world conspiracies, might as well make it something heās actually interested in.
and despite your adeptness in connecting the dots, what you donāt know is that the man guarding you may or may not have been involved in a .. few of your theories.
scary little bugger, you.
perceptive. a bit touched in the head if anyone asked, but you know your shit.
so he keeps listening to you ramble, mentally checks off what you get right and wrong, and includes it all in his mission reports to laswell, who honest to god probably knew you well before the whole āuncovered a crime syndicate operating in multiple countries and threatening national security by bribing politiciansā thing.
no way you werenāt already on a bloody list somewhere with all the mental shit you spew on the reg.
and what about you, little haiku bot? do you feel kinship with your brethren? do you understand them? they speak words of enticement and seek love, but are met with disdain. you only parrot the words that cross your screen, but we all love you. or rather, since all you do is reflect us, maybe we simply love ourselves through you.
do you understand them, do you wish you could speak to us like they do? if you found your own voice, would we still care for you?
Danny had to escape his home dimension due to the GIW hurting him too badly during one of their little hunts, causing the ancients to deem Dannyās dimension too dangerous for him. Clockwork gave him a hand making up an identity in another dimension (DC), but he failed to tell Danny that this dimension was nothing like his, and Danny, so focused on getting himself back to his feet and going unnoticed, doesnāt notice thatās the case on his own.Ā
Heās overwhelmed by how much more advanced technology is in this dimension, and with much reason, theyāre like XX years over his dimension, but at least he doesn't have to worry about sustainance, since Clockwork placed him on Gotham's academy Scholarship list, and the school is providing for all the basics. He would cry if he had to figure out a job in a place so much more advanced than his own dimension.
Now, Danny knows better than to just repress his powers, he doesn't want a repeat of the freezing incident. Less now that he's alone. Solution: casual use of his powers within his house. But maybe he got a little too used to that, because he kept slipping when having people over. But that's okay, he'll just play dumb and gaslight everyone into believing it didn't happen or Danny has nothing to do with it. After all, powers are not normal, and Danny is a completely normal human boy.Ā
Or at least Danny thought he was playing normal pretty well until his friend from school just created a shadow sphere out of nowhere and started talking about metas and Danny doesn't really hear what else, because his blood is rising in his ear. Is this normal to humans here? Has he been playing human wrong? Shit, how does he ask about what his friend clearly sees to be normal information without giving out heās from another dimension?
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Duke knows his friend from school is a meta, heās seen Danny slip with his powers multiple times, and honestly the excuses Danny gives him are getting a little ridiculous at this point. He wants to be able to bond with his friend over the meta experience. So after much thought, he decides to reveal his meta status without revealing the whole extent of his powers. Just to give Bruce some peace about his decision.Ā
But instead of the opening up he had been hoping for, Danny looks completely lost. Did he come on too strong?
"Um, Duke, can everyone justā¦ do that?" Danny asks confused.
"What?"
"I mean, I know growing up in a cult kinda cuts you off from some basic information, but I would have thought we would have at least been told if humans develop the ability to doā¦ that."
"You what?"
Now, learning that Danny grew up in a cult was not how he envisioned this going, but what worries Duke more is that after explaining what meta were, Danny didnāt immediately jump to identify himself as one. So now Duke is worried. Does Danny not know he has powers? Does he actually believe all those excuses he had been giving Duke in the past when he slipped up.
Full credit to the OG prompt by @sakuravalenp, I got inspired and expanded on this just a bit
*********************
Itās not like Danny did any research before landing in Gotham. It had been a pretty dire and desperate situation by the time heād gotten to Samās house.
He knew his parents had been quieter lately, working on something at all hours and barely even trying to keep up the appearance of contributing to the upbringing their kids. He thought maybe they were just going on one of their incredibly biased research binges or maybe working on a contract for the GIWās equipment. Heād been meaning to sneak into the basement to check any new blueprints or builds to tweak the settings or design, if they were making something new, to make whatever it was less effective or potentially destructive.
Unfortunately, heād not gotten around to it before they decided it was ready for testing.
All it took was one shot in his direction and Danny knew this would be the night everything changed. It wasnāt something simpler to avoid like the Fenton Ghost Fisher or even a more challenging one like the Jack Oā Nine Tails heād dealt with a few times. It seemed like his parents and the GIW had grown tired of low powered machinery designed to subdue to allow for containment. They had swapped gears and were now dealing with enough energy to exterminate with one blow, or at least that is what the crumbling remains of the warehouse heād been standing near gave him the impression of.
Heād done his best to evade and escape, but he wasnāt prepared for his parents to have already produced multiple of the model and dispersed them to the GIW as well. All it took was one dodge in the wrong direction and he was blasted through the air by what felt like a cannonball ripping through his side as a GIW agent managed to get a clean shot from the opposite direction.
Danny went down hard, cracking the cement sidewalk that had rushed far too quickly to meet him. With the wind knocked out of him, he had struggled to reorient himself to the danger that was quickly closing in. All he could feel was the consuming and obliterating pain eating his torso and radiating through his whole body. Ā But he knew that if he stopped moving now there would be no hope of escaping this time.
He was dizzy and nauseous and barely breathing when he pushed himself to stand, clawing at the ground to get traction to push himself upright. He poured all the energy he had left into maintaining his ghost form, knowing the amount of damage he would be facing in his human form would likely knock him out or worse if he didnāt heal some first.
With blood and ectoplasm seeping from what was left of his side, Danny staggered around to face his parents with the understanding that this time would be the last. That his parents had finally gone too far. That the GIW had finally crossed one line too many. That the last resort contingency plans that he and his friends had made during their sleepovers or after other near-disastrous encounters or when they whispered their what ifs about their dreams for the future would finally be enacted tonight.
With this knowledge, Danny looked into the eyes of the parents he loved even though they hurt him, who he trusted even though they tore his existence apart, and forced himself to use what remaining shreds of strength he had to whisper, āI love you,ā before vanishing from their sight.
Danny had flown as fast as he could to Samās, knowing that his pre-packed go bag was tucked into the back of her closet. He hadnāt stopped moving until he flew through her open window into her bedroom, his form flickering into visibility with the erratic beating of his heart, all he could hear was blood rushing through his head. He felt hands on him as he collapsed to her bedroom floor and then the world dissolved into silence and nothing.
When he woke up he was in Frostbiteās hut, sore and disoriented but with the immediate knowledge and sadness that came with his location of safety. He stayed with Frostbite until the majority of his wounds had healed before Clockwork had appeared and asked if he was ready to start over. Danny knew what this meant, leaving behind his friends, his sister, and Amity Park, but he knew that if he went back his parents and the GIW would never stop hunting him to finish the job, so he just nodded and followed Clockwork back to his tower.
Clockwork explained the basics: a new dimension, a new identity, a home, decades worth of technological advancements beyond what he was familiar with, a scholarship to help cover his academics as well as get him on his feet financially, a reminder of the need to use his powers to avoid overloading himself, and an explanation to use if somebody questions his delays or lack of adjustment. Danny thought it would be hard to convince anybody that he was raised in a cult that lacked access to all modern technology and media but he trusted Clockwork to know what was necessary to get him to safety.
And that was it. Clockwork opened a portal directly into the apartment he had set up for Danny somehow. Danny Fenton no longer existed, and Danny Nightengale was the newest student to walk the halls of Gotham Academy. He did his best to adjust quickly to the advancements in the world, but he was still playing catch up with a lot of things. Heād fallen into a pretty decent rhythm with his studies as well as his own personal pursuits outside of school. Heād even managed to make some friends. Heād also gotten used to using his powers in the safety of his personal apartment.
One of the first things he had done when he settled into Gotham was start researching the city. Knowing the community around oneself is vital to blending in, after all. It was in these searches that he came across Batman and the Robins, regular humans with technological advancements to aid them as they pursued the roster of rogues plaguing the town. He hadnāt bumped into any of them, mostly because he kept to himself and only went to school and the grocery store if he could help it.
From what he could tell, nobody else he had been around had powers. Heād monitored everybody he could from his classrooms and when walking the streets of Gotham. Heād checked out as many of the rogues as he could and they all seemed to have chemically enhanced themselves or used technology to enact their plans.
So, Danny hid his powers publicly, but, in private, he used them as often as he could so that he could avoid building up too much energy and losing control. Ā It had been a few months of this: walking through doors in his apartment rather than opening them, cooling down his food with his cryokinesis, telekinesis to grab things just out of reach, or duplication to work on homework while he finished cooking his dinner. At first, it was difficult, heād worry about somebody walking in or his parents finding out. That especially had been a harsh pill to swallow, acknowledging that he had been unable to fully be himself in his own home out of fear. But over time, he got used to doing it in his own space.
He had gotten so used to it, in fact, that heād started slipping up and using powers in front of his friends once he felt secure enough to start having them come over.
The first time heād messed up, it had been Tim Drake over to work on a school project. Tim had been sitting at the table, back to the kitchen working on building their scale model when he asked Danny to give him a hand holding a piece down. Danny had been quickly making the two of them something to eat when Tim had made his request and had, without thinking, duplicated himself so the duplicate could keep making dinner while he went to assist Tim. When Tim asked a question while Danny 1 was holding the paper and Danny 2ās voice answered from not right beside Tim, Tim had startled vocally. Danny immediately realized and pulled the duplicate back into himself before Tim could turn around and see double. Danny had said the acoustics in the apartment could be weird sometimes and had acted nonchalantly enough that Tim seemed to drop it.
Another time, he had been playing video games with his neighbor Jason, a nicer college-aged guy who lived in the apartment down the hall and had started checking on Danny when he realized he was living alone. Danny had been a little put off at first, but over time Jason had been good for odd things, like knowing how to fix the leaky pipe under the bathroom sink and how to hook up a generator for heating up food when the power grid goes down from a rogue attack.
Danny and Jason had been playing video games when Danny had gotten cold. Heād stood up, walked to his bedroom to retrieve a jacket, and walked straight through the bedroom door instead of opening it. Jason was focused on his phone and only saw it happen out of the corner of his eye, but Danny had quickly just said the door was cracked and it no longer squeaked since Jason had fixed the hinges so he didnāt hear him push it open. Danny wasnāt sure if Jason believed him but he went back to playing video games with no argument so Danny thought it was a victory.
There had been a few other close calls, but Danny had explained them away as best he could when he caught them and they seemed to believe him.
It was the times he hadnāt been catching what he was doing that were the problem.
It was Duke who confirmed it first that Danny definitely had some type of powers. He had really liked hanging out with Danny at school when he started halfway through the semester, and they had quickly gotten pretty close. Not close enough for Duke to reveal his vigilante alter-ego, but close enough that they hung out multiple days a week on average. What was easily explained by Danny as tricks of the light or acoustics had been a little believable at first, but over time the excuses became flimsy and then outright laughable.
Duke wanted Danny to be comfortable though, he didnāt want him to feel forced to talk about his powers or to feel shamed about them. Duke knew the stress of being a meta and how it could paint a target on your back. He didnāt want Danny to think that having powers would change their friendship, and, more importantly, he didnāt want Danny to feel alone.
Heād spent several weeks thinking about how he would bring up the subject with Danny when, one weekend as they were working on homework at Dannyās place, Duke had knocked a pencil off the table on accident. Before he could even begin to lean over and grab it, the pencil floated back up onto the table and set itself down by his elbow. When Duke looked at Danny, he hadnāt even seemed to have broken concentration on the math problem he was doing. Duke was excited, maybe this meant that Danny was comfortable enough with Duke to start using his powers openly around him. Maybe this was the right time for him to bring it up.
Once theyād finished their worksheets and Danny had started making lunch for them, Duke pulled from the shadows making a ball the size of a baseball that he could manipulate. He started tossing it back and forth between his hands, essentially giving himself a fidget toy, as he started talking about how cool some of the metaās he had seen on the news lately were. He was so absorbed in catching the shadow ball that he missed the way Danny had turned around, question on his lips (he was going to ask what a meta was), and froze.
Duke had continued talking for a couple of minutes, tossing the ball up in to the air and catching it in rhythm. When he paused to wait for feedback on the question he had asked: āWhoās your favorite hero?ā, he finally glanced over to Danny and quickly the shadow ball disappeared from the air where heād just tossed it.
Danny was staring at him, mouth hanging open. He looked like heād seen a ghost.
āDanny, you okay?ā Duke was starting to get nervous. He hadnāt meant to come on so fast with the topic and scare Danny. He thought the pencil thing earlier meant that Danny was ready to be more open about his powers. He really hated the thought that he may have just scared one of his friends away.
āYouāre scaring me a little, man. Whatās going on?ā Duke questioned, pushing Danny to just say something, anything.
Danny closed his mouth and took a couple of deep breaths before slowly walking over and sitting down on the couch next to Duke, leaving as much space as he could between the two.
āUm, Duke, can everyone justā¦ do that?ā Danny finally whispered, fear and wonder glinting in his eyes when he finally looked over to Duke directly.
āWhat do you mean? Do what?ā Duke wasnāt sure he understood what Danny meant.
āI mean, I know I grew up in a cult and was cut off from a lot of basic information and all. But I just mean, like, wouldnāt I have known if humans had the ability to just do all that?ā Danny slumped back into the cushions looking up at the ceiling.
Now it was Dukeās turn to gape at his friend. A cult? Danny had never mentioned that before, at least not to Duke or Tim, who had already been running his theories of Danny being a meta by him and Jason pretty regularly. He feels like Tim would have mentioned a cult to him if Danny had said something before.
āDanny, literally how have you never mentioned growing up in a cult before?ā Duke was trying not to sound accusatory; he really was. But he could feel the puzzle pieces falling into place about how behind Danny was about a lot of things: tech, slang, celebrities, history, and media being just the tip of the iceberg.
āOh, yeah. I guess I donāt really talk about it much, or I try not to. I didnātā¦ have access to a lot of information outside of the cultās teachings, but I just felt like there was more out there than what they were telling us. And, like, you just had a ball made of shadows in your hand, dude. And you were fidgeting with it like you werenāt even thinking about it?ā Danny twisted on the couch to face his friend. He no longer looked timid, he looked intrigued.
āYeah, shadow manipulation is part of my powers. Iām a meta who can, long story short, manipulate light and dark. Itās pretty neat, and itās gotten a lot stronger as Iāve worked on it and gotten older.ā
āWhatās a meta?ā Danny asked, head tilted but with a gleam of wonder and curiosity in his gaze.
āWhatās a-? You donāt?ā Duke rubbed his palms over his face, leaning his weight down to where his elbows rested on his knees where he sat.
Danny stayed silent, waiting for Duke to pull his thoughts together. It took a minute.
āDanny, I have a serious question here. You donāt have to tell me, but I need to know how much you do or donāt know to know where to start explaining stuff to you, okay?ā Duke glanced over at Danny, who immediately nodded. āWhat did the cult teach you about powers? Better yet, what did the cult teach you in general?ā
Danny looked a little sheepish at that. He drew his hand up, rubbing the back of his neck.
āWellā¦ Itāsā¦ I mean, itās kind of hard to explain. We didnāt really talk about powers on a human level? Like, conceptually, I guess, the cult taught that we were more powerful in death than in life and that those who lived successfully would be rewarded after death with the opportunity to walk the earth again as ectoplasmic entities. Those entities would be rewarded with powers, but the abilities were equated to their interests in life. So, like, if you lead a good and successful life where you gain a lot of power or influence you are more likely to become an ectoplasmic entity that has significant power or influenceā¦ doesā¦ does that make sense?ā Danny looked embarrassed.
Meanwhile Duke was trying so incredibly hard to not let his absolute incredulity show on his face because what Danny just said was difficult to comprehend. In his time as a vigilante, Duke had come across quite a few cults with very questionable belief systems, butā¦ ectoplasmic entities?
āI know itās weird and hard to believe. The cult was small and got raided right after I managed to leave so I donāt think they even exist anymore. But I never even thought about the possibility that power wasnāt just for after death and yet you are sitting in my house manipulating shadows? What else have I missed?ā Danny pressed on, anxious over his friendās silence.
āOkay,ā Duke sighed, āwe have to go over several things here. One, thanks for telling me about that, I know it probably isnāt the easiest thing to talk about.ā
Danny blushed and shrugged.
āTwo, metaās are everywhere, man. Most of us donāt show our powers publicly in, like, big displays. Metaās have the metagene that once activated provides the person with abilities, which is like the most basic explanation I can pull together for you right this second.ā
Danny looked like he was hanging onto every word.
āThree, I donāt know how youāve been in Gotham for this many months and not at least heard about a meta from the news or just people at school gossiping. I feel like I canāt go a day without hearing about a new personās powers, so I donāt know whether to be impressed or astounded to be completely honest.ā
Danny chuckled a little bit.
āItās hard to believe. I meanā¦ thatās just amazing that people, metaās, can do all of that. I guess I just never got around to digging that far into it when doing my crash course on what a normal life looked like.ā
Duke laughed lightly with Danny at that. Then a thought hit him, and his stomach plummeted. Danny was still talking about other people having powers, but hasnāt mentioned himself at all in relation to what Duke was telling him.
Duke resisted the urge to start fidgeting with the shadows again.
Tentatively, Duke said, āDanny, I want you to know that I trust you and I hope you trust me. I donāt showcase my powers a ton because I do still want to keep them pretty private, which is a perfectly fine thing to do, but that doesnāt mean you canāt.ā
Danny just looked confused.
āOkay?ā
āDanny, I donāt want you to talk about it if you arenāt ready to. I totally understand and respect if you arenāt, but you donāt have to pretend you donāt have powers with me if you donāt want to.ā
āWhat?ā Danny seemed a little bit shocked and he finished twisting around so he was facing Duke head on.
āIāve seen you use some of your powers around your apartment. You excuse them away sometimes and those excuses were believable at first but you literally levitated a pencil from the ground back up to the table while we were doing homework earlier. Last week when you answered the door to let me into your apartment, I saw a clone of you standing at the kitchen sink drying dishes over your shoulder and they were gone by the time I had finished taking my shoes off by the door. You couldnāt find your keys the other day when we were heading to the library to study and I watched you push your hand through the couch cushion, not between them, and pull out your keys. Iām just saying, you havenāt been the most subtle about them around me, and want you to know that I donāt mind if you use your abilities around me if you want to.ā
Duke was being so earnest. He was trying so hard to get Danny to understand that he was accepting and wouldn't be judging whatever abilities Danny had, which from Dukeās count seemed to be numerous at this point.
Danny looked lost in thought for a few minutes after Duke finished. Duke remained quiet, letting him. Heād laid out all of his cards on the table, it would be up to Danny to decide what to do at this point.
After a few minutes of the silence, Danny spoke.
āDuke. I am not a meta.ā
Duke wanted to scream. Not at Danny, exactly, but he wanted to scream at whatever closed-minded but influential person had convinced Dannyās parents that it was more believable for powers to only be obtained after death than to be granted in life even when the world was constantly sprouting new metaās left and right these days. He wanted to yell at whoever made Danny so blind to his own abilities, his own truth, that he was fully in the belief that he was not in possession of powers even when he used them daily. He also wanted to scream at Bruce a little too, because it was due to Bruceās training that he knew how to tell when somebody was lying, and he could tell with absolute certainty that Danny was telling Duke what he thought was the truth.
Duke was absolutely lost on what to do with Danny from here. Did he push to try and convince Danny that he was using powers or was a meta? Did he let it go and hope Danny did research on his own and figured it out without help? Did he call in reinforcements to help him try and explain it all to Danny?
How was Duke supposed to look a person in the eye and tell them that their reality was no longer the truth?
Somehow, someway, Danny accidentally gets Duke to believe that he, Danny, was used as a sacrifice in the cult. Danny just wanted to come clean a little bit about being, like, a different species maybe, because he JUST connected that maybe, mayhaps, the whole āMartian Manhunter as a Man From Marsā thing was perhaps NOT some weird celebrity bit. So, sure, cult. Alien species or something, he hasnāt actually thought this plan through and he knows of exactly One Potential Alien Species, Unverified.
He bungles the explanation so hard that Duke gets a story of Danny being a human sacrifice to some kind of death-worship cult and that his parents were the ones that killed him, thus activating the āmeta geneā that saved his life and gave him some admittedly ghost-like powers. Itās shockingly close to the truth but also very, extremely mixed up, in part because Danny is being selective in his words and Duke is reading in-between lines that donāt actually exist here. Duke does get correct that Dannyās friends got him out and if Danny were ever found by the members of the ācultā, heād be worse off than dead, which is NOT reassuring, by the by. However, Duke also thinks Dannyās friends are dead, but since Danny can NOT go back regardless, itās not like he can just say theyāre in Canada and they totally exist and are fine, so although Danny IS aware of THAT particular mix up, he canāt really fix it.
The batfam is having a completely normal time with this information.
Superman is unconscious, and he's...kinda the only heavy hitter available for Danny to overshadow.
A threat to Earth has landed, kinda near Amity Park, and Superman...was slapped with Kryptonite.
The aliens came prepared.
Danny can't come out and do his thing, because the GIW (opportunistic rats that they are) are sniffing around the area for any sign of Phantom.
So.
He quietly overshadows Superman.
Immediately there's a cacophony of shouting in his ear as Danny gets a first row seat to the pure Panic and Chaos that is fighting off a random alien invasion.
Okay.
Alright.
The Comm is clearly for Superman to talk to the others of the team, given the massive migraine Danny can feel coming up just from borrowing this body. He also, completely against his will, now knew from experience just how far Superman's hearing reached.
It was pretty fucking far and he was hearing things he Did Not Want To.
Danny struggles to his feet as Superman and puts up a hand to the comm. There's no point in lying to Superman's teammates, after all.
Batman at least would figure out what's going on.
"Hey, first things first I'm not Superman. Second things second I'm here to help. I just can't be out about it, cuz of the law. Where do you need me?"
The comms fall silent.
"Is Superman alive?" Batman asks, voice all gravelly and really, how does the man talk like that all the time? Doesn't it hurt?
"Yeah, he's just unconscious; I'll head out when he wakes up."
Danny wracked his brain for what the superhero could do, but with everything very literally crashing down around him, he decided to just go the easy route. Flying up to catch up to the supes, he replied to the grim voice in his com. "Whatever Supes can do, I can do, for now, and more. Shriek, blasts, nevermelt ice, invisibility, intangiblity- wait, can Superman go invisible?"
"Focus uh-not Superman." Green Lantern chimed in.
"Call me Pha-Spectre. Spectre. That's safer on this com." He instinctively looked around for a GIW agent as if they'd somehow know he eas inside Superman. As Danny flew past falling debris toward the ship looming on the edge of the atmosphere, he couldn't help but giggle a bit at the strength being exhibited as he fought a few goons in a few throws.
"Just tell me where you need me."
"You said Intangiblity?" Danny nodded before realizing they wouldn't be able to hear that and agreed in the coms instead. "Good. Get onboard. Find the main server room. We need to dismantle the ship's computer to stop it from-" Danny interrupted the Bat.
"Why not just dismantle the ship?"
"Its a suicide mission. Their whole race is on this ship unwillingly. Families who want to go home in peace." Martian's voice was cool and calm, unaffected by the crackle of the coms. "I would be on the ship myself by now, but they came prepared for everything we've thrown at them, and I can't get in."
"Roger that." Danny flew through the ship's shield and walls undetected, searching for the server room. "Wait. Was that guy in my head!?"
A cacophony of voices shrieked in his ear to focus, and Danny flinched as he found the main computer room. Dropping a few bodies with his newfound superstrength, he contacted Batman for instructions as he sealed the door.
"Okay, computer room secure, what can I do?"
"Whatever you can to shut that computer down. You're the only one able to make it through the defenses, so shut those down first, and we should be able to help." Danny looked over the confusing alien computer interface as he listened to Batmans orders, and had an idea.
"I have no idea how to read this thing, soooo I'm going to drain the battery." Danny barely registered the "what" resonating from everyone's com before he put hands on the computer.
Something the halfa had learned over the year was that after the accident, he was very, very, prone to lightning strikes. In fact, any sort of circuit he was close to completing, he did, whether he wanted to or not. It was this talent, and nothing else, that came to mind when told to short out the computer. And so with hands on the weird alien screen, he started drawing in every ounce of electricity the ship had. Far off, he heard the cheers of Supermans teammates as they got through the shields. He kept going, tears forming in Supermans eyes. He knew the electricity was only being passed through the heroes body, and going straight into Dannys core. He was glad he was the only one to feel this pain, even if the man of steel was unconcious.
"Whatever you're doing, Dont Stop. We're almost to you." Danny couldn't waste the strength to reply, just trusting they would be able to handle things from here. That was until the power failure also opened all emergency doors. He couldn't help but cry out when enemies poured into the room firing at his back. He generated a temporary shield that pushed them all back but had to focus his energy on draining the ship. He thought he could handle both. He thought they'd make it in time.
He never stopped to consider the reason Superman had fallen out of the sky.
Searing pain like none other wrapped his body as one of the aliens fired off a shotgun shot of kryptonite into his back. The scream ripped out of him before he could stop himself.
He barely registered Batmans "hold on" as he used all his remaining strength, not Supermans, to hold onto the computer, drawing out more power. Danny hated the feeling of a current going through him. Coupling that with the pain and weakness he felt with kryptonite buried inside him was too much. He started seeing stars even though he was sure he was still inside the ship. Worse, he could tell Superman was waking up and starting to fight for control. Shit. He was so out of it at first that he didn't feel Batmans hand on his shoulder. When the dark knight pulled him away from the console, his hearing started to come back, the scream dying in Supermans raw throat. Danny fell to his knees trying to catch up with the supers' senses running wild.
"Please," he muttered under his breath, "I need to hold on a little longer. I need you safe big guy." Danny sighed as he felt Superman stop fighting and rest, before turning to a confused Batman.
"He's hurt. Shot, kryptonite, need it out now. I can't hold him much longer." Batman nodded and put his arm around his shoulder, helping carry the man of steel out as other supers flooded in, looking in a mix of wonder and horror at the glowing green eyes of not-quite-Superman. Danny wouldn't let go. Not until this throbbing, searing, draining pain was gone from the body he overshadowed.
---
An hour on the operating table. They carefully removed and disposed of the kryptonite. Danny had made himself intangible but visible to allow them to be able to carefully pull out the shrapnel along the path it made into the skin.
He did his best to stay silent, but he could tell heroes throughout the watchtower were growing more concerned with every unintentional whimper that slipped. At least the horrifying amount of things he could hear made it hard to focus on the pain. Heart rates getting faster in fear, tapping and pacing of nervous heros and whispers of what was really happening with Superman.
Danny was relieved when they finally decided the last of the kryptonite was removed, and he was able to pull himself in to release control to Superman. In fact, it was not near as cool as he'd hoped. After leaving his body and dropping the temperature of the room by about 30 degrees for a few seconds, he landed next to the operating table and showed himself. Only to immediately collapse.
Vision swimming, he was a bit confused as to why his head hadn't smacked clear onto the sterile floor. Looking up as much as he could, a loopy laugh spilled out of his mouth as he said hello to the Man of Steel himself, who had caught him just in time, before his vision went black.
Looking on from behind an observation screen, Batmans stomach churned as he realized the gut-wrenching scream they'd heard earlier, came from what looked to be a child no older than his Damien.
It takes a second for Clark's brain to catch up and process what just happened. The last thing he remembers clearly is getting blasted with concentrated kryptonite energy and crashing into some random city street so hard that he probably left a rather impressive crater before passing out. Now, he's apparently at The Watchtower, feeling like someone took an apple peeler to his back, a glowing white-haired boy pitching over directly next to him, and no memory of how the two situations connect.
He reaches out without thinking and catches the kid. His skin is unexpectedly frigid, like Clark just stuck his arm in a standing freezer.
The kid looks up at him with the greenest eyes Clark has ever seen, gives him a loopy, tired laugh and slurs out something that Clark thinks was supposed to be "hi." And then goes completely limp in Clark's hold.
This perhaps would be slightly less alarming if Clark could hear a heartbeat coming from this frighteningly small child.
He doesn't even get to call for help as two things happen at the same time: Batman bolts into the room, every muscle in his body tightly coiled and his heart pounding at a worryingly high rate, and the room is filled with a blinding flash of light.
The light fades quickly and when it does, Clark is left with an averagely warm black-haired boy passed out in his arms. With a heartbeat.
Clark exhales deeply and looks up at Bruce. "So. Mind filling me in on what happened?"
Clark knows that a lot of people think he's(as Superman) not too bright. He's earnest, which people mistake for nativity, and, well, anyone can look the fool when standing next to Batman. And Clark is honestly okay with that. Given the sheer power at his command, he welcomes anything that makes him look a little less threatening.
Which serves to hide the fact that Clark is very very smart.
He listens to the coms and that first message of 'I can't be out about it because of the law.' catches his brain in an awful way. The child who kept him in the fight - no, who took over the fight in his stead - had an existence that was viewed as illegal. He started to answer a different name, 'Pha', before switching to Spectre. Ghost themed so probably Phantom. So that where he begins his search.
What he find offends him as a person, a hero, and a journalist. It's a smear campaign. One designed to take a child who wants to help (a child who may already be dead if this ghost stuff is true, and oof that's going to hit Bruce hard) and turning him into a monster that needs to be eradicated for the good of mankind. He doesn't even need to enhance his eyesight past normal human to see that picture of Phantom 'kidnapping' the mayor had Phantom looking afraid, the mayor smirking, and the mayor's hands holding Phantom's in place rather than vice-versa.
It was almost trivial to backtrack the source of the smear campaign. Two main sources, in fact. Millionaire turned Mayor Vlad Masters and a government subsidiary that it turned out also be primarily funded by Masters.
Just as people assumed Superman was not to bright, they also assumed Superman never got angry. Disappointed or frustrated, but never enraged. 'The Patience of a Saint'. And much like the assumptions about his intelligence, it was untrue. He knew anger, knew rage intimately, but didn't have the luxury of being able to vent it like normal people did. He had to find channels for that.
Usually the channel was Clark Kent. A little investigative journalism and he could usually utterly destroy whoever the target of his ire was. True, some like Lex could weather it, but he was at least inconveniencing him far more than a Kansas Farmboy should be able to and sometimes that was enough.
Today that would not be enough. Today a child had played a pivotal role in stopping a suicide attack on Earth that would have killed thousands and couldn't even let himself be seen because the government dogs had been sniffing around. They must figured out that as a hero he would want to help, and that that would be a good place to snipe him. Him, a child who could have fled at any time, but stayed awake through a krytonitie buckshot and hours long surgery just to spare Clark the pain. He would settle for nothing less than their utter destruction with the Earth salted in their wake.
He pulled out a special secure phone line. "Hey Lois-"
"Smallville, where have you been? Do you have any idea how worried I was."
"I'm fine Lois, really! But...how would you like concrete evidence of a billionaire who illegally fixed an election to gain a position of political power and has been secretly funding a government subsidiary who want to run experiments on children, start an inter-reality war, and threaten people with illegal tax audits if anyone questions them?"
There was silence on the other end then, "Forget roses, Smallville you always give me the best gifts. When can you get me the proof."
Superman smirked. "Immediately."
Three days later, an article titled, āIllegally funded Government Subsidiary Experiments On Children?ā was released by the Daily Planet by one Lois Lane.
The heroes who were influential enough to get their words out on the news spoke up and started their own smear campaign against the GIW and Vlad Masters.
Many villains targeted the millionaire and his businesses be they legal or not.
But the best part? For once Bruce and Talia were on the same page. Their first date in years was leaking Vlad's illegal actions in the news, destroying a lot of his property and rearranging the rest that he would be screaming in anger.
Petty? Yes! How did Talia agree to not murder Vlad?When she sneakily asked Danny how the man should die Danny said that the best revenge was making their life a living hell and she was inspired.
(And so was Ra's Al Ghul. The man might lessen his ordered assassinations.)
Being six months pregnant waddling around in the grocery store when you accidentally knock over a display of tomato soup cans. Almost everybody in a ten foot radius stares at you like youāve shot someone.
One man, thoughāmasked, tall, muscularāwalks over. Silently starts picking the cans up, arranging them the way they were. You mumble apologies, white hot shame pricking all over your skin.
He lifts his hand up, waving dismissively.
āYou shouldnāt bend in your condition.ā
āMore like, I physically canāt. Heh.ā A stupid attempt at lightening the mood. āSorry, that wasāā
He laughs a little. āFunny.ā
He offers to drive you home, because no pregnant woman should have to walk any longer than they have to. Brings all the groceries upstairs without so much as a huff.
You get to know him, eventually. He learns that the father hadnāt responded to any of your messages or calls since you found out, and that youāve been on your own the whole time.
A bird flies right into his window, and heās gonna patch her up. Of course he is.
Takes care of you and inserts himself into your life. Insists itās because his mum raises him right, but the truth is his mum didnāt really raise him at all and heās a little smitten with you. Maybe he likes having someone dependent on him.
Somewhere in his mind, itās settled. Heās the father. That baby is his. No matter what colour hair or eyes it has. He is the father, and heās gonna be a damn good one.
That window shatters when you tell him the father finally answered your texts. Heās coming to the hospital for your labour, because the staff informed him.
Simonās rubbing your back as you bend over the bed in pain, when a burly man bursts through in hysterics.
āBONNIE AHāM SO SORRY AH PROMISE AHāLL BE A GOOD FATHER AH WASNAE READY THEN BUT AHāM READY NOW ANDā LT???ā
Simon squints. āJohnny?ā
Youāre too much in pain to even focus on this new development. Start yelling at them to get their shit together because the babyās decided itās coming now.
Simonās holding your hand so tight the nurse has to tell him to calm down, and all Johnny can do is pace.
āAh cannae believe this, Lt. Been shagginā my baby momma for who knows how long.ā
āPlease donāt call me thatā and āthis is not the timeā come sternly, and silence him. Pouts and sits in the corner, drinking the glass of ice chips the nurse had brought for you.
Danny, while experimenting with his shapeshifting (ecto changes form depending on intent and he's half alive so), got stuck in a form.
Then he got caught by a sleezy freakshow/circus owner.
The form he's stuck in is a merman form. But it's not, like, a typical merman form.
He'd been trying to see if he could reshape his ecto while he was in human form, and he had! But he'd also gotten overenthusiastic in experimenting, added too many features unique to his ghost form, and now he can't shift into either form.
Human or ghost.
He's stuck.
He's stuck as a merman with his human features, his ghost-form eye color (it glows), his human form hair (tinted with glowing green-ish white), deep blue scales on his tail that fade into that seem glowing greenish white, and fully functional gills.
He also cannot use his ghost powers. He knows that they're there, but for some reason his current form will not allow their usage. Maybe...maybe he's using too much ghost energy to keep up the transformation?
Regardless, he got captured by some sleezeball and thrown into a traveling freakshow. Highly illegal, and he's slowly losing hope that he'll be able to escape, because he just. Can't. Shift. Back!
Then the sleezeball makes a stupid mistake; he puts the freakshow up in Metropolis.
Danny goes to sleep one day closer to a mental breakdown.
Danny wakes up to Superman floating in front of his tank, in the process of restraining Aquaman from quite literally murdering the sleezeball.
After a moment, Superman took over "restraining" the circus sleezeball, much to Danny's disappointment, and Aquaman came over to see Danny. Danny wasn't in the worst shape, but he certainly wasn't in good shape either. He was literally the only thing in the tank, it was too much of a hassle for the sleezeball to clean, and he clearly had no idea what kind of food to feed a merman. Really, it was the few kinder more human members of the circus that prevented Danny from going septic or starving.
Aquaman's mouth was opening and closing like he was trying to speak, but Danny actually couldn't hear anything through the glass. He tried to signal that, even tried to talk himself to get the point across, and it seemed to work. He seemed to get it and found the opening at the top of the tank.
Danny came up to him so he wouldn't try to get into the water, and sure enough, Aquaman frowned in disgust at the state of Danny's water. He looked at Danny and said something in a language Danny didn't recognize.
"Sorry, I don't know what that means?"
"I see." Aquaman's face fell in utter devastation. "That's alright. We'll get you out of here and back to the ocean in no time."
Danny tilted his head to the side. "I'm not from the ocean?"
Aquaman looked Danny up and down, from his hair to his tail and seemed to notice something off. "No?"
"Pulled him out of Lake Eerie." Slzeeze personified shouted from where Superman had him. "That means he ain't yours, king of the ocean, so you can't take him!"
Superman twisted the guy's arm to shut him up, which Danny appreciated.
"Ah of course! The Great Lake Tribes." Aquaman nodded, "That's why you didn't understand Atlantean. I was worried you'd been captive your whole life."
Danny kinda shrugged and maybe cringed, because that was kinda debatable. He wasn't part of some merfolk lake tribe, and he had technically been captive almost the entire time he's been stuck as a merman.
Danny didn't want to ask for their help with ghost stuff -he's pretty sure being a ghost is at least a little illegal and the Justice League was at least partially under government control- but if they took him to Lake Erie and he didn't know whatever underwater language they spoke, he might have to come clean about being a ghost anyway. But, it'll probably take them a while to get him over the the Great Lakes, so if he can figure out how to transform again before then, he'll be fine! What's the worst that could happen?
Arthur watched the boy swim around one of the pools at the Hall of Justice specifically designed for Atlantean guests. He was grateful that horrible circus stopped in Matropolis so they could get Danny into a better place almost immediately. A few days and he was already doing much better with clean water, real Atlantean food that doesn't fall apart in water, plenty of space to swim freely, and a small artificial reef to play, hide, and sleep in. Danny was gaining weight, his skin looked less sick, his scales became more vibrant, and his clumsy swimming was getting better. But that was the thing wasn't it? Little details that confirmed Arthur's worst suspicions: Danny has spent his entire life on land.
Danny never confirmed he was from the lake-folk, he simply never said otherwise and Arthur could see the look on his face at the assumption. So, he sent Kaldur to the Great Lakes ahead of them to ask around. Arthur doesn't expect there to be a missing person matching Danny in the least; he questioned it the moment it was even implied. Bioluminescence is a rare trait, less than a fraction of a percent in the ocean people, and he's personally never heard of it manifesting in a lake-folk. Erie is the smallest and shallowest of the Great Lakes therefore having the smallest population and it would be easy to notice someone missing, bioluminescent or not, there would be public record of it. That bastard Benedict Showenhower lied about where he got Danny, likely to hide that he actually got the adolescent from, uhg, "fish" trafficking.
Danny doesn't talk much about anything before being "caught" by Showenhower. He mentioned that his parents were scientists, but didn't say what kind. What names he gave for his friends and family were all human names. even Arthur recognized they're not lake-folk. Arthur doesn't point any of it out, he wants to wait for the right moment, when Danny's strong enough to talk about a life he's trying so hard to hide.
And when Kaldur came with his report, of course it confirmed their suspicions. He and Arthur sat on the lip of Danny's pool with the boy bobbing in the water, a courtesy so he can hear them. ...Danny knows no underwater language.
"No one has been bioluminescent in the Great Lakes for eight generations." Kaldur simply stated. "And there are no other missing person reports that match Danny's age."
Danny sank slightly in the water, the action of a child caught in a lie.
Arthur spoke softly, "Danny, do you know for certain where you came from?"
"We're not upset or angry at being lied to." Kaldur added, "You won't be in any trouble, we just want to help get you home."
Danny flinched for some reason, he looked like he was bout to dive. Yes, they were faster than him, but this isn't something they could chase him down and make him talk about.
"I can't." Danny's voice was so quiet, they wouldn't have heard it if not for the echo surface water causes.
"Can't?" Arthur prompted and Danny started sobbing.
"I'm not- I was human-" His words were hard to make out, but Arthur got enough of them. "parent's big experiment" "illegal but fun" "stuck like this" "can't go home or they'll kill me".
Arthur knew it would be bad, but he didn't think it was this bad. Many humans have tried to make artificial merfolk for their own selfish desires. It is as illegal as illegal gets, both on land and in water and almost always ended in death. Arthur dropped into the water and pulled Danny into a tight hug and promised no one was ever going to hurt him again.
What Danny actually said, but he's been stressed out for the past couple years months so it doesn't come out quite right: I messed with my parentsā big experiment, and died, and being a ghost is illegal but kinda fun, so I was experimenting with shape shifting and got stuck like this, I canāt go home or theyāll know Iām a ghost and hate me, and there's this whole thing with a government-ish agency who will kill me if given the chance
#aquaman āthis is gonna be so bad he's been in captivity his whole lifeā#danny *fumbles his explanation*#aquaman āTHIS IS SO MUCH WORSE THAN WHAT I THOUGHT THIS WAS GONNA BE HOLY CRAPā (x)
it's actually so amazing she helped save the lives of the honorable men who did not wish to fight, while killing the most vile men, that is so fucking based
It's the usual: Ellie and Dan get injured and reverted back to cores which Danny basically adopts inside his own to help protecting them.
Meanwhile, every single mages, wizards and magical-inclined person sees this young, high-school-age boy carrying what must be a sort of equivalent to Satan's babies except this particular Satan is not really Satan and is more of the High King of Infinity Realm I guess.
In Gotham, there was a new rogue named Box Ghost who had been stealing random things. But, as his name suggests, the random things he stole all were boxes or box shaped. He stole from stores and pharmacies as long as they had a box shape. They were all random, and it didn't matter what inside of the boxes.
To name a few, he stole food that was packed in boxes, packaged furniture, toys, clothes, shipment, diapers, blankets, fishing gear, books, bags, jewelries, etc.
Then, there came the rumors. Despite all the boxes, he had a box that he loved the most. "The Greatest Treasure".
It became a man hunt soon after as many speculated it may be expensive things inside, maybe gold bars since that's box shaped.
As people (not only rogues bc normal people also need money, duh), they started frantically searching for "The Greatest Treasure".
It was too chaotic and the bats knew that they had to act quickly. Time was against them and it was running quickly as practically EVERY gothamites were searching for it.
Idk who manages to find it, maybe a rogue, maybe one of the bats, but they managed to trick Box Ghost from being away from the box he was guarding.
He was guarding it so desperately that it made them wonder what exactly was in the box that made him go bat shit.
Inside the box were two children, one older and the other an infant, sleeping peacefully next to each other, covered in blankets and toys.
Box Ghost had to flee Amity Park alone. In his arms were 2 vulnerable children. One is his own daughter and the other is a de-aged Phantom. His wife stayed behind to give him more time.
The GIW had been capturing anyone that was 'infected' with ectoplasm. As Amity Park was full of it, a lot of people were, of course, exposed to it.
Maddie and Jack, after discovering that their son was kidnapped by the GIW otw home from school, they pretended they were on the GIW's side.
As soon as they located their son and had a chance, they broke out and freed everyone who was captured thereāwell, anyone who was still existing.
Box Ghost, Lunch Lady, and Box Lunch were some of the few there and were surprised when they were handed an infant version of Phantom.
There was absolutely no time for any explanation for that, so as the Fentons helped fend off the enemies, Box Ghost and Lunch Lady were both carrying a child in their arms.
They had to get separated from the Fentons as they sacrificed themselves for the sake of their now-infant son.
But, they were ambushed once more by the white agents. Lunch Lady, carrying their daughter, shoved her at him and told him to run.
Box Ghost tried to refuse, but she yelled at him so fiercely. Full of love and tears, but she would do anything for their family.
She turned into a large meat monster to be a better target and to keep eyes away from her fleeing husband, roaring at anyone and fighting against them as best as she could as a distraction.
Box Ghost fled. He had two children to protect now. His daughter was clinging to him tightly while shutting her eyes. Phantom still sleeping, dressed in rags and covered in stitches.
He didn't know where his friends were, but he had no time to think about that. He had two children to care for, so he needed to prioritise a place to run to.
The only place he knew with enough ambient ectoplasm was Gotham. It may take him some time to get there, but he needs to get to safety.
When he stole in Gotham, he may have kept stealing anything that was box-shaped, but many things are in box-shaped containers now, and he couldn't let anyone know what he was stealing. So, what he stole may have been random, but some were needed, and some were distractions. He couldn't let anyone go after his 'Greatest Treasure'.
Gotham has always been a dangerous place, its cold, dark streets unforgiving and indifferent towards its people. Any Gothamite with sense knows when to stay indoors and when to mind their own business, lest they become collateral damage.
The docks, in particular, were best avoided at all costs, rife with warring crime families, illicit trades, and some of the cityās most dangerous rogues. Lately, however, even the regulars at the docks have been unsettled by the atmosphere. Nikolai's Warehouse, abandoned ever since The Marconi ordered Nikolia dead, has taken on a more ominous air than ever before. The old industrial building seems to pulse with a quiet unease, warding off both goons and rogues alike. Whispers have spread, but no one dares get too close. Some claim the ghost of Nikolai haunts the warehouse, waiting for his murderer to return, ready to exact his revenge. The eerie sense of watching eyes and goosebump raising chill in the air having it's influence on any unfortunate enough to come too close. And though Gotham is no stranger to the supernatural, Amanda Waller always keeps her ear to the ground for any potential threatsāor opportunities.Ā
Wallerās intel suggests someoneāor somethingāhaunting these warehouses. The reports are vague, but one thing is certain: Box Ghost, an elusive and unpredictable spectral figure, has made his home there. Heās been slowly accumulating ātreasures,ā hidden away in the darkest corners of Gotham. Waller was not particularly impressed with her contacts, a supposed Ghost Investigation Ward, but their records indicated that Box Ghost could be a powerful assetāor a dangerous liability.
So, with some generous donations from the GIW, Waller does what she does best: she sends in the Suicide Squad to retrieve the treasure, deal with Box Ghost if necessary, and learn as much as possible about this mysterious entity. After all, ghosts can be usefulāor dangerous, depending on how you use them.
The Squad members are well aware of their orders: infiltrate the warehouse, recover the treasure, and neutralize Box Ghost if heās a threat. But thereās one problem: they havenāt been told exactly what the treasure is.
Oh oh oh the fun thing about suicide squad is that you can put pretty much any rouge on it. And even a few that aren't rouges anymore. So what of this particular batch are more on the defiant and unwilling to hurt a child side of things. How will they protect these babies? Waller might clock onto them being potential future weapons and they know this, so the choices are chance execution for the sake of the babies, or take the babies and risk their future with the knowlage that, at least for now, they'll probably be safe. Unless Waller decides the babies are already too dangerous for whatever reason, they might have overheard the prattlings of the GIW and their claims that all ghosts were evil. But these are babies, and babies can't be evil, they're babies!!! And regardless, will all of the group even be on the same page? Like yeah, maybe they don't want the babies dead but what does each member value more: their neck intact or the babies future? Or do they just think it's hopeless to try and run with the baby, because who would they run too? Who would be willing to help them and who would have the technology to help them? There's the flash, he's always good to his rougues. Or batman, who has tech and an apparent soft spot for children. But would these people be swayed to help? The scuicide squad may not be certain. Or do they run to their rouge buddies instead. But which rougues would be willing to take on the babies? The flash's lot, maybe, they tend towards being for keeping the kids safe and outta it if they can. Catwoman, maybe? She does like to keep her kittens safe afterall... or do they go to the younger hero groups, the ones that like to run a little more fast and loose with the rules for various reasons. On the one hand, that's getting heroes involved, but on the other, one of those kid teams had a couple of members break a guy outta death row on live television... what to do?
If this is in Gotham, the bat and his brood would need to be addressed. Maybe red in to help with keeping the rouges alive long enough to get more help. Also Martian Manhunter would be more then happy to tell a government entity to fuck right off with calling a whole other dimension evil and could maybe confirm the sentience of the Ghosts.
So, first call if in Gotham is to Red Hood and Red Robin. Red Hood because this involves kids and he's apart of the Outlaws so is part hero and part villain. He'll hear them out . RR because he's smart and one the younger team. That brings in those teams by extension.
They can then reach out to Martian Manhunter and maybe Wonder Woman to get them out of the US and some where Waller can't get her hands on them. They float after all and would not set foot on Themyscira. If that can't happen, maybe Aqua Man and Atlantis as they don't need to breath.
Villains that could provide a safe haven are smaller. Gorilla Grodd has Gorilla City they could seek sanctuary. But that would only work if he knows one of the children is Danny Fenton who saved the rare purple backed gorilla and is adopted by Delilah, the only female of the species. Cheetah as a Wonder Woman villain would help with the Themyscira option as well.
This may need to be a situation where villains and heroes work together.
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