(DCxDP) | Masterpost | Next to be written
"Alright, Mr. Fenton," his newest social worker started, turning in her seat so she might actually get him to look at her. Danny continued looking out the window and up at the gigantic building they were parked in front of.
"This is your last chance before the system declares you unfit for foster homes and sends you off to juvie. And before you get all uppitty about it, know this is as much your fault as it is the system's."
Danny rolled his eyes, watching as shadows rushed past windows too tinted to actually see into. Another shadow darted past a lower one, dragging his eyes down and toward the door. The shadow was quickly followed by three more, one of them waving something over their head.
Allowing his hearing to spread out from its usual range, Danny listened as muffled shouts filled the air, quickly turning into clear words.
"GET THE MASK, GET THE MASK!"
"SHIT!" fallowed by a thump and the sound of a large piece of furniture tipping backward and landing.
"I GOT IT!" another voice cried.
"HEY, I HAd that, you little shit-"
Danny quickly pulled his hearing back, not wanting to listen anymore. He already knew he was going to hate it here.
"Now, Mr. Wayne has taken in a lot of kids and has been very gracious to open his home to you. Make no mistakes, young man. You will listen to what he tells you, and so help me, if you cause this man any trouble whatsoever, you will regret it. Stay in the car until I tell you you can get out. I need to go over your file with Mr. Wayne first."
She was acting like Danny was some delinquent picked up fresh from a gang fight. He was half tempted to act like it just to spite her, but bit his tongue and continued looking around the place.
The large garden surrounding the building was obviously well taken care of, the green hummed happily as the (what Danny's gathered) rare sun shone in the sky.
His control over plants still needs work, but he's gotten good enough to connect to the green and get the general feelings. Like how the man who just walked out the front doors was greatly loved by the plants, which meant he was the one taking care of them.
"Are you even listening to me?" the lady huffed, unbuckling herself and shoving the car door open. She was already standing and treating the old man before Danny could respond.
"Hello, Mr. Pennyworth, was it? Hi, I'm Ms. Clance, I'm Danny's social worker. Is Mr. Wayne home?" she slammed the door shut and held her hand out for a handshake.
The older man eyed her hand but otherwise ignored it, instead turning to look at Danny, who was still in the car. "That is correct, Ms. Clance. Master Wayne is in his study; he'll be down in a moment to discourse any last minute things you need to cover. Now, why don't we get Mr. fenton inside and aquanted with the others?"
"Hold on for just a moment," Ms. Clance cut in, sending Danny a nervous glance. Danny raised his brow, but continued to pretend he couldn't hear a word they were saying, 'waiting' for her signal to get out of the car.
The front door opened behind them, three heads popping out in an obvious attempt to eavesdrop on the conversation. There was an older guy, maybe in his mid to late twenties, a blond girl, still in her teens, and a guy with eyebags. Though Danny's were definitely worse, he might have Tucker beat. which was worrying, because what could this guy possibly need to pull three all-nighters for?
"I would like to speak with Mr. Wayne before letting the kid settle in. No offence, but I want to make sure Mr. Wayne is serious in wanting to house the kid. We've already had three other families agree to take him on and then drop him in less than a month."
"I see," Mr. Pennyworth hummed, studying Danny with a sharp eye. Danny studied him back; he had good posture, and his graying hair was slicked back. He had a mustache but no other facial hair, so he obviously kept himself well-maintained. Jazz said people like that were more likely to be well-disciplined and lean toward being blunt and honest.
His stance didn't lean toward classic butler, though; it leaned toward fighting and alert. He had experience in the army or something then, which meant Danny would have to keep an eye on this guy. he probably was the one running the house when Mr. Wayne wasn't around. which meant he'd be the one watching Danny the most.
"I still believe the young man should come inside, master wayne doesn't go back on his words, and he'll unlikely do so now."
Ms. Clance warily glanced at Danny, then back at Mr. Pennyworth, a fake smile plastered on her face, before one of the three spying on the cut in," yeah! I want to meet the little guy!"
The door swung open, allowing even more people to crowd around and watch the scene in front of them.
"And you will," Ms. Clance agreed, turning to face the growing group. "Once I speak to Mr. Wayne. We have to go over a few things in Daniel's file before I can sign off on all of this."
"Like, what?" the blond one asked, her eyes meeting danny's as she skipped down the stairs. Danny could just tell she'd be down for all sorts of chaos. And he could also tell she'd be glued to his side until her interest died, which would take only clockwork knows how long.
Instinctively, Danny reached out and grabbed the door, just as someone tried opening it. Glancing up and to the side, Danny met gray eyes. It was the other girl he had spotted a few minutes before.
She stared at him for a moment before smiling and stepping back. 'You can come out,' she signed. Danny glanced back at Ms. Clance, then back to the girl before sighing and getting out.
Her eyes lit up once he closed the door and turned back to her.
"You know sign," she asked, her voice quiet but not obviously disused.
'absoltly not', danny signed just to be a little shit. Turning back, he stared at his social worker, who was watching them in confused frustration.
"Daniel, what did I say about staying in the car?" She looked ready to march over and smack him.
"I thought you decided I wasn't listening?" Danny pointed out, crossing his arms and leaning back against the car. If she wanted to waste time, then that was perfectly alright with him.
"Never mind," she huffed, turning back to the butler. (he had to be a butler; he looked just like the one at Sam's place or the one his parents employed when they had made that deal with the GIW.)
"You never answered my question," Blondy cut in, smiling sweetly at the frustrated woman.
"Like the plethora of misdemeanors?" Danny asked, watching as everyone turned to look at him. The gray-eyed girl had slowly made her way back to join the others, though she still looked happy for some reason.
"no," ms. Clance huffed, obviously starting to get overwhelmed for some reason. she needed to take a step back and breath, there was literally no reason for her to be this agitated.
"More like we need to go over how many times you snuck out, got seriously injured, seriously injured someone else, and sent your last foster parent to a mental facility."
"All classified as misdemeanors, so obviously not that bad," Danny waved off, rolling his eyes. "And Mr. Thompson deserved it."
"You drove that man insane!" she hissed, swatting a piece of her hair out of her face.
Danny blinked at her, tilting his head to the side in confusion, "He was already insane before I got there, though?" which was actually quite annoying. danny's dealt with enough insane people at this point, he'd rather hug Vlad than deal with another one.
"He was not," Ms. Clance sniffed, trying to straighten herself out.
"he definitely was," Danny argued, pulling his backpack tighter against his back in annoyance. "The dude thought locking me in a room and feeding me white rice once a day was perfectly fine."
Danny ignored the sudden stilted silence at his words, choosing to instead focus on the man slowly making his way outside and over to them.
"Would you stop making things up already?" Ms. Clance huffed, "We've already gone over this. There wasn't a lock on your door, and there was plenty of food in the pantry."
Danny rolled his eyes, going back to studying the gray-eyed girl. The happy sparkle was gone, and she was making hand signals that the others around her were focused on. It wasn't a dialect of sign he knew, most likely a self-made code then.
"Don't need a lock to lock someone up," Danny grumbled, turning back to Ms. Clance, "and if that doesn't count as insane, then talking to the shadows on the wall and claiming to be immortal does. Do you know how many times that man tried jumping in front of cars or out of a window? Way too many. So yeah, he deserved to go to the mental institution, where he'll get some actual help."
"right," ms. clance waved off, turning to continue talking to Mr. pennyworth. danny cut in before she could, "so, do you guys make it a habit; lingering back and listening to conversations?"
The rest blinked, then turned to see who exactly he was talking to, their eyes following his as they finally spotted the man they were all waiting for.
"ah," mr. wayne chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "sorry, I didn't want to interup. it sounded important."
"Right," Danny huffed, glaring at the man. Honestly, all the eavesdropping and being loud as hell was turning out to be a regular thing based on the fact that no one else was acting like it wasn't.
Yeah, he was going to hate it here if that was true.
Clockwork has been teaching Danny how to do pretty much everything blind. why is unknown
Untill now
After a way too close call with his parents/GIW he almost got fully dissected! He decided to initiate plan 42 Stich wounds,Grab shit,and hall ass to Gotham. Gotham has enough ectoplasm for him to stay long term not nearly as much as Amity Park but it has enough
After one pain filled flight he arrives in a dungey bathroom in Gotham. He looks in the mirror and sees
Oh
What the fuck!?!?
Apparently even though Gotham has a decent amount of ectoplasm He didn't know he needed way more to look alive. He looks ill!?! his skin became three shades paler making his bruises and eyebags stand out more. his hair being way more wild than usual and fluffy-er? He somehow looks smaller and skinner than before, and his eyes
Oh ancients his eyes
There still blue but they're diluted they have that heavy milk quality to them and his pupils are permanently dilated. He can see but he looks like he can't
That's why Clockwork taught him how to do things blind so he can pretend to be blind! cuz there's no way people are going to believe that he can see!?!
He grabbed his bag packed and gifted from Sam, Tucker, and Jazz left the bathroom, clossed his eyes, and started to figure out what he should do.
Bruce's adoption sense seems to be tingling He wonders what that's about.
Original idea coming from @the-witchhunter and then added on to by many others.
Dead Man's Diner
---
Danny was tired okay? It may very well be his own damn fault but he can't keep waking up during daylight hours, while yes, he can fully be up and sitting at a desk, the likelihood of him waking up getting shouted at by his boss for sleeping on the job was astounding.
So at 19 years old, freshly jobless, Danny said Fuck it and moved away from Amity Park, Valarie was more than willing to handle the few ghosts that still came through the portal since he became the King.
You might be wondering, why isn't Danny filthy rich and rolling in it as the ghost king? Two words, the Observants.
Those flouting eye bastards had moved in and said that unless he was the king full time, he was unable to access the vaults of the Infinite Realms.
So once again, 19, freshly jobless and wanting to get out of Gotham? Danny was very lucky to have friends that love him far to much, Sam and Tucker both pitched in to move him out to where they had chosen to do collage.
*Gotham* oh Sam was in love with the place, the architecture, the people, (and maybe a certain green supervillian that was determined to make the city better) and Tucker was obsessing over being in the same city as Wayne Enterprises, trying his best to get into their internship program by his own merit rather than just hacking himself into it.
And Danny? He was loving it for a slightly different reason.
While the death rate was unfortunately high in Gotham, that also meant that the amount of passive ectoplasim generated by the deaths was massive, it was almost as rich as back in Amity Park with the portal into the ghost zone!
(Oh and the many job opportunities but Danny was a little less worried about that.)
---
Letting out a sigh, Danny scrubbed at his eyes as he leaned back into his chair, another job he had to turn down due to it being shady as all get out.
4 hours and he was getting payed 200 bucks? Major criminal vibes from that...
Taking a moment to get himself balanced, Danny leaned back and looked to the clunky laptop that Tucker had given him, it was modified to hell and back, so it still ran quickly, but it sure as he'll wasn't pretty.
Clicking on yet another job listing, Danny paused as he felt a shiver run down his spine, and a blue mist pass through his lips, blinking, he twisted around to look at the spare room of Sam's apartment, Ghosts tend not to get close enough to him to trigger the ghost sense in Gotham...
Seeing nothing, Danny turned back to his laptop only to find a piece of paper stuck to the screen with tape, freezing at first, the dark haired man sighed deeply, peeling it off he held it close as he read it.
[Help wanted at Big C's Dinner! Looking for a night cook that knows their way around a kitchen!]
There was a few more lines that Danny's eyes skimmed over, picking up the location that it was at, it even had a decent pay, but he paid more attention to the scribbled on note at the bottom of it.
[Daniel, head to this place at 12 am tonight. While the Observants said that you may not touch a single coin in your vaults, they side nothing of your properties.]
---
So Danny knows how to handle himself, he has fought many, many people and still came out half alive, but even he felt a little on edge coming down to the railroad tracts in Gotham, because apparently that was were Big C's dinner was at...which he apparently owned? Clockwork works in mysterious ways that Danny was so done trying to figure out.
Stepping up to a bit of abandoned tract, he blinked a few times at the site of Big C's.
It was a decent sized Dinning Car, with a ramp that attached itself to a proper street, it had peeling green paint and dirty white accents with charming rusted steel connecting it to the tracts, the only thing new looking on it was a bit banner stretched across it, stating the name "BIG C'S ALL DAY EVERY DAY BREAKFAST CART! OPEN 24/7!"
The windows were close off by tinted yellow blinds, but he could still see light coming through them. Stepping up the ramp Danny felt the cart under him shudder and something inside of him fluttered, and by the time he was opening the door he could feel the reason why.
The very cart was *alive*, taking a quick breath, Danny could practically taste the energy from it, there was a buzzing undercurrent of excitement that rung through the whole cart.
A little unprepared for his, Danny just smiled warily, "Uhh, hey there? Anyone around?" In response to his words the cart shuddered, the blinds dancing up and down and he could hear the squeel of the wheels.
"O-okay then, um my name is Danny Fenton...Clockwork sent me?" There was another flapingnof the blinds, and the small wooden flap that let people into the back lifted up suddenly before clacking down loudly.
Taking a steadying breath, Danny slipped through the bar and into the back.
It was surprisingly clean and orderly, the stove and fryer looked over than his parents but well maintained, the flat top was perfectly scrubbed and was already heating up.
As Danny looked around, he felt a familiar shiver run down his spine, looking around once more, Danny fell into a fighting position as he spotted the figure of a familiar foe
"Lunch Lady? Aren't you a little far from home? What did your order of fist not come in?" The bright rings of light around Danny's waist swirled into life as he went into his ghost form.
He got a thrilling grin from the older apparition, but she only crossed her arms, "While we can tumble later little King, Lord Clockwork sent me personally, said you need a bit of help learning how to cook? And ain't nobody better slinging food than me, dead or alive!"
---
Down in the dripping depths of the cave system deep under Gotham, one Bruce Wayne, still in his Batsuit sat in front of the Bat Computer, eyes glaring at a map of Gotham.
He had been tracking a strange energy pattern that made its way through Gotham, he had first thought it was some sort of layline, but the more that he tracked it the more he realized it was closer to watching a person's walking patterns, sometimes following roads, and sometimes crisscrossing through streets and alleyways.
But tonight that power signal tripled in size, off-putting energy that Bruce hadn't seen it done before, tapping the com on his ear, he spoke clearly "Nightwing, take Red Robin and investigate the coordinates I am sending the both of you, observe it, I just got a massive spike in an energy at that location."
There was silence for a moment before the com crackled and his sons responded "Got it B! Me and RR needed a little time together huh Babybird?"
There was a quiet hum from Tim, before the teen spoke "On route Batman, after this I am heading in, we have a meeting with a suspect in the morning B, Vlad Masters has been poking around Gotham."
The Justice League has been dealing with matters related to the Undead recently. And JLD could barely handle the undead. That is until Constantine had called in a favor from someone he knew. A young man in a black trench coat with a skeleton following him everywhere, that skeleton had a burned headband on it.
The young man is a necromancer, and he is very good at handling the matters of the undead. He just has a bit of disdain for the Justice League and keeps to himself whenever he is around any Justice League member. The only person he seems to trust is Constantine, as he doesn't even interact with the rest of the JLD members. The young man had told them that he's only helping because he owed Constantine quite a few favors, and once Constantine used up all those favors on helping the Justice League, he's done with them, which means he'll leave the Justice League and Justice League Dark to deal with the undead.
Danny's life was as good as it could get. His parents had accepted him as Phantom, Clockwork assured Danny that he doesn't have to be the Ghost King just yet, his grades are steadily rising, and he is scheduling fights with his Ghostly Rogues.
That is until the GIW had shown up again. They were in the process of isolating Amity when the entire city fought back against them.
There were a few casualties, which mostly consisted of people Danny is close to. His parents, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, Valerie, Dash, Mr. Lancer and Star had perished during the struggle, and only those close to Danny hadn't become Ghosts. There wasn't enough to recover from them. Danny only has a few things to remember them by. His mom's Goggles, his dad's fudge recipe, Sam's bracelet, Tucker's PDA, and Valerie's earrings. Jazz was the only one to be buried, as she still had a body that wasn't vaporized.
He tried looking for Dani and Vlad but learned from Technus that they were captured and ended by the GIW. Now, the only person he has to lean on is his "Uncle" Constantine.
Constantine has helped Danny many times during his first years as Phantom. That's why Danny owes Constantine so many favors. He had tried to call help from the Justice League whenever Constantine wasn't around, but he was just brushed off. Hence why he doesn't like helping the Justice League's undead problems. He had also asked Technus to put his information and anything else related to him under lock and key. He doesn't want the Justice League to access and have files of his information. He's got Jazz's skeleton with him because he's taken up the role of Ghost King, and it came with Pariah's ability to raise a skeleton army if need be, but he only uses it on Jazz and other nearby buried bodies to help him deal with undead that aren't Ghosts. He also doesn't want to show his Ghostly half to the Justice League.
He's gotten quite good at hiding his mental presence from the Martians on the Justice League, but some of his emotions and thoughts slipped through. Now, the Justice League is being annoying to him by trying to apologize to him for whatever it is they did to him so they could still rely on him for any undead related issues.
AKA "Dead on Main idea where Jason Todd accidentally-on-purpose adopts kid!Dani and Dan without realizing their 'father' is literally the High King of Infinite Realms, Space, and the Dead" prompt!
Ngl, this is somewhat inspired by that one family who's cat had another family and they didn't realize until the cat came back in a little outfit.
Imagine 10-year-old Dani in an Etsy Phantom hoodie and 14-year-old Dan with a spiky bedazzled jacket. Jason's like, "What's that?? I didn't buy that for you??" And they say, no, our other dad did!! :)
And then it just kind of morphs into a divorced-parents-getting-back-together trope where Jason casually mentions his "kids' dad" and people just assume he's separated. Why should he correct them? He's never met this "Danny" guy, but he's still Dan & Dani's other dad and they clearly love him. So what if people end up calling Jason "Danny's husband"? (He doesn't know why Constantine called him the "King's consort" that one time and Constantine really didn't have time to explain before Jason straight-up decked him in the face.)
Danny, who's probably in his 20s or something at this point, is just eating ramen when Sam and Tucker bust into his apartment.
"When were you going to tell us you were married to the Red Hood?? The Crime Prince of Gotham?? Danny, you're married to a legitimate crime lord???"
Danny, noodle hanging out of mouth: What??
So, yeah, that's how Danny finds out he's apparently married. Clearly, Danny has to go searching this evil-ass Cursed City for his wayward clone kids and find out who his "husband" is.
The Anti-Ecto Acts applied only to North America.
The USA and Canada both permitted the capture, experimentation, and termination of ecto entities.
One night, after weeks of being constantly hunted down, Danny decided it was time to leave the continent.
At first, he was terrified.
He didn’t even need false documentation, since the GIW wasn’t looking for his human identity, and Jazz helped him get everything he needed.
He… didn’t even have to buy a flight or something, since his speed could get him anywhere.
So, a bit anxiously, he traveled down to South America.
He had a pretty good time!
People were friendly and welcoming, excited to share the beauty they had with them and Danny found himself so much more interested in other cultures.
Being surrounded by languages, Spanish, Portuguese, and even some Indigenous ones became much easier to learn.
Traveling around wasn’t a problem, he often found people happy to take him in for a shower and a meal.
It wasn’t safe all the time, but it wasn’t because he was a ghost, which was somehow nicer.
With much less anxiety, he started to travel even more.
Africa was the obvious choice since it was the closest continent.
The main cities were rich with people and modern buildings, making him feel a bit out of place like he was in a cleaner version of Hollywood.
Going away from touristy sites, everything started to become more bare, the people still welcoming, but weary of noisy strangers. Wich was understandable, so next came Asia, then Europe, Australia, and Antarctica.
By the time Danny was in his twenties, he had pretty much visited almost every country on Earth.
He was having fun, he really was, but in every new country he visited, he was reminded how much he wished he was waking up in his bed, spending the days with his family and friends.
Once, he met a guy in London, whose soul looked like Swiss cheese, that he helped with some ghost stuff. He was recognized as from America, so he explained what he was doing all the way in England. Apparently, the guy had connections with the Justice League and promised to help.
At several spots, he even met with Dani. Every time they saw each other, they remembered that, even if it was so diverse, the World was still very small.
He was in South Italy when his phone rang.
It wasn’t hard to keep in touch with his friends and family, sending them photos or even packages of stuff he found traveling.
He answered Jazz, as she started to cry happily about the Anti-Ecto Acts being revoked.
He… hadn’t actually believed Jonh.
His mind was blank, with her sister excitedly talking over the phone.
After five years.
He could go back home.
Incorrect DPxDC quote:
Jason: *learns he has contaminated ectoplasm and an only partially formed ghost core* can I get that in writing?
Frostbite: Certainly!
Later
Jason: *rolls up to the Batcave where everyone is meeting* GUESS WHAT? I DID come back wrong.
Dick: Jaybird, no you didn’t-
Jason: *slams doctor’s note on the meeting table* GHOST DOCTOR SAYS SO!
I’ve hinted at it in other posts I’ve made, but the idea that Danny is just a little to non-human for people’s comfort is a head cannon I love. Which is half the reason he ends up in Gotham.
Gotham is cursed. Like full on, cursed the land the city was built on it’s imbedded in the brick and mortar of the buildings, cursed. But it leaves all Gothamites with a certain level of tolerability.
So Danny, who had the police called on him 5 different times during a college visit in metropolis because he was just a little too uncanny and everyone felt a certain degree of uncomfortable around him, learned that gothamites still pick up on the uncanny, but they can ignore it. At most he kinda get’s side eyed when he passes by, but most of Gotham gives off an odd vibe so they take it at face value and move on. Danny is not a registered rogue and is also not actively holding them up and they have better places to be.
That doesn’t mean it’s always ignored though. After Danny is admitted to the aerospace engineering program at Gotham U a Twitter account pops up that’s just called “Local GU Cryptid sightings.” It’s just pictures of Danny sleeping in the weirdest fucking places or security footage of him that keeps bugging out because they learn that they can’t take pictures of the kid without the footage going a little buggy.
The students in Danny’s cohort use the account to gauge Danny’s sanity level. They were not afraid to ask what was up with him, and instead of saying he’s a ghost he admitted to essentially living above a radioactive portal that contaminated him. His eyes glow and he has sharper teeth and ears. Also digital anything cannot capture his likeness.
And this was fascinating to them. They started doing some research because they wanted to know why some images had more distortion than others. Turns out the more tired Danny is the more distorted the photo becomes. So every now and then you’ll see someone snap a photo of Danny and be like “go home!” (They refer it to it as Danny’s sanity level because one time he started laughing so hard they thought he’s been gassed, but turns out he hadn’t slept in a week).
Still, it’s sorta become a game. Like how there are accounts that post pictures of the campus squirrels. It’s just that but with absurd Danny sightings. Someone caught him asleep in a tree once. No one knows how he got up there but he was sleeping against a gargoyle in the middle of the night and for the life of them they couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t just go home (he likes sleeping under the stars sometimes, even if he can’t see them through the smog). A teacher sent a student to retrieve something from storage. Danny was also down there, and can apparently see in the dark since said student turned the corner to a dark hall and glowing green eyes. (Geezus Danny you scared the shit out of me. Now don’t move. I need proof this happened or no one will believe me.)
It’s all pretty harmless. The first time Danny gets caught up in a rouge attack his teenage vigilante instincts kick in and he decks the leader in the face knocking him out cold.
Bruce is concerned because footage of the fight is distorted but both Jason and Tim take one look and laugh. “It’s just Danny. We already vetted him. He’s good,l. Remember the GCPD’s request about that kid who disarmed a bomb and disappeared? That was Danny. He was tired and likes to canabilize machines for his projects.”
Danny not a born Gothamite, but he certainly feels like one so they accept him into the fold easily enough.
The rest of the broadcast faded to background noise as the Teen Titans sat in stunned silence. The pride from the announcer, in his all white suit and dark sunglasses, felt thick and oily and slimy as it made their hackles raise.
They'd heard of the G.I.W. a few times in passing, but even Phantom had brushed the group off as a non-issue, saying he'd been dealing with and evading them for three years. The group was supposedly as incompetent as incompetent got.
So then how? And when? It'd only been a few days since he'd said he was going to visit his sister. He wasn't even expected back for another week and a half.
How had they gotten their hands on Phantom, who could consciously control how physical he was at a given moment?
And how could they have "Discorperated" a ghost?
Would Phantom return?
Could Phantom return?
What, exactly, did they mean by "Discorperated" anyway?
Each member of the team was now looking at each other as thoughts swirled and unasked questions remained unanswered. The News was muted, though no one could quite remember who had hit the control. "Tense" wasn't quite the right word to describe the air, but it was awfully close.
Kon snapped his head to the side, however, breaking the silent group staring contest when he heard the nearly silent wet sniffle from behind the couch. Straining his hearing and every other power under his command didn't reveal anything else to him, however. He didn't hide anything when asked, and it gave them the slightest hope that, just maybe, their friend might still be around.
---
The Justice League had cracked down hard after one of their own, a hero, a child, had been hurt. Possibly permanently.
It only took Batman and Oracle a week to access the G.I.W. test logs. Find the video and written reports of the direct application of Ectoranium leading to "Destabilizing of the Concentrated Ectoplasm at the Core of the Entity."
Superman had cursed when those words were read at the next League meeting, his hands clasped tightly in front of his mouth as he trembled with barely restrained fury. He wasn't the only one, either. They all felt like they had failed.
---
There were riots, ongoing, demanding justice for the ghost, the boy, who'd saved so many people and never asked for anything in return. Everyone who knew anyone was speaking up, interviewing with talk shows, news broadcasts, podcasts, papers, and magazines. Word was getting out everywhere, and even other countries were having protests. After all, the League protected the world, and the Titans had gone just as far.
---
A Shadow seemed to have taken up residence in the Titan's Tower. A few weeks had passed now since Phantom had last been seen.
It didn't take long for word to spread, and now they were holding a small seance with Zatanna and Raven. An untouched Ouija board and radio set in the center of the small circle. Lit candles formed a loose circle around their circle of friends.
One of the candles briefly flickered a signature green as Zatanna led, offering the radio and board for whatever spirit was with them to use, but not to keep. The radio briefly lit green before sputtering and dying.
"Spirit with us, what is your name?" Names hold power, after all, and with a name they could banish the spirit if they need to.
The plamchet slowly moved across the board, pausing deliberately to spell D-A-N-N-Y.
"Danny, do you know the name, Phantom?" Words had to be very deliberate with unknown spirits, after all. Zatanna was more familiar with the rules, so she led for now.
The plamchet slid over to YES.
"Danny, does Phantom still exist in some way beyond memory and word and deed?"
YES.
"Danny, will you tell us how you know Phantom?" Indirect, with an opportunity to elaborate. Not every spirit would answer a question like that, but if the spirit was especially helpful, it just might.
YES. A-M. Hope blossomed for a moment, and in the pause, the plamchet continued. D-A-N-N-Y-P-H-A-N-T-O-M.
"Phantom's name is Danny? And you are Phantom, Danny? Is that correct?" The last thing they wanted was false hope, so better to clear everything up if they could.
YES. YES. YES.
Hopeful looks were shared around before excitement filled the room. Their friend was here, still. Zatanna gave a nod for the Titans to keep going.
"How are you feeling, P?"
W-E-A-K.
T-I-R-E-D.
"Is there anything we can do to help? We miss you, man."
There was a pause before it moved again. M-I-S-S-U-2.
S-T-A-R-S-?
"You wanna stargaze with us tonight, P?"
YES P-L-S.
"I'll get the blankets!"
kind of gory? Not in a violent way.
Danny felt cold.
Not his core cold, or winter cold, more like a “walking around without clothes cold”.
Skulker was right, at the end.
He got his pelt, and now…
Well, Danny was walking around without skin. Hence, the cold.
He wasn’t really worried, it would grow back like his missing organs did when the GIW emptied him out.
Long story short, Skulker was a bitch, he should probably find a way to stop dripping with blood (and possibly a coat) and try to figure out where he ended up after taking the wrong portal while escaping.
He was doing well at this point, he thought. The city he was in was gloomy and humid, which was nice since he was starting to dry out pretty fast.
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“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck-“
Jason stared at the walking flayed guy who was taking a nice stroll around the block.
Every step he took left a matching bloody print, and he could see every single fiber of the muscles tense and relax.
The more he stared at it, the more he hated it.
He immediately reached for the coms.
“I fucking hate it, what the fuck-“
He heard the others connecting.
“Hood, everything alright?”
“Fuck no, oh my god, I’m not gonna be able to sleep anymore, that’s the most fucked up shit I ever saw my entire life, what the fuck”
“Hood, report. What’s going on?”
“OH MY GOD!” Everybody heard Oracle almost shout from the coms “That’s ugh- I’m gonna throw up, that- ugh-”
“Right?!”
“Hood! Report right now!”
“It’s like-It’s like this guy, walking around without skin and-“
Hood looked down at it. It was looking back.
“You know I can hear you, right?”
Dp x dc: batshit crazy driver au.
Bruce hired a new personal driver for the Wayne's. He was a nice enough guy. His grades weren't great, but he was a great driver and very patient. Like, really patient. Like, he is so unbothered by traffic, stupid drivers, and villain attacks, its kinda scary. But all the background checks came back clean. Minus his mad scientists parents, of course.
Daniel (Danny) Fenton. He could relate to any of the Wayne kids and hold an intelligent conversation with Bruce. Bruce feels that he doesn't need to be all Brucie Wayne around the young man. He doesn't know about their nightly activities yet, though. They're not quite sure if he even needs to know.
The first sign there was something more to Danny happened when Tim was sitting in the passenger seat. Tim was struggling with a math problem. It was driving him nuts. It only took a quick glance for Daniel to solve it, though, "it's thirty-six"
"What?"
"The answer is Thirty-six. You forgot to carry the three."
"Huh..."
He was right, Tim made a simple mistake, sure. But that was advanced college level math. Danny was a straight c student and never went to college. It only took him a momentary glance to solve it. Tim, though suspicious, chalked it up to a simple case of gifted kid syndrome. He related to it and began to consult with Danny on some of his math problems. Danny was more than happy to help, for a price, of course.
Then, there was a villain attack. The villain's goons ran rampant through the city, terrorizing anyone unfortunate enough to be outside at the time. But not Danny, they'll tried, oooh they tried. But those goons swiftly found themselves zip tied, in the trunk of a car, and on their way to jail. All while Danny blasted some music by a small artist named 'Ember'.
Alright. He is in Gotham, and his mother was a black belt, so maybe he was just well trained. Its good to know how to deffend yourself.
Then, Damien was kidnapped. It was so fast they barely saw, but a white van sped by and grabbed Damien as he made his way tawords the car. Initially, Damien expected the chauffeur to panic and call the police. But when shouting and cursing were heard from the front seat, and the men in the back slipped the van door open to check behind them, it was revealed Danny had followed them and he had a gun.
What could only be described as an action movie chase scene ensued. Every corner they swerved, every shortcut they took, Danny was right behind them. Driving like a bat out of hell, he shouted and fired at the wheels of the van. Knocking one out, the van swerved and was forced to come to a stop.
A kidnapper grabbed Damien by the hair and held a gun to his head, but before the threat could even leave his mouth a bullet flew through his hand. He dropped Damien and fell to the ground screaming, clutching his hand.
The kidnapper in the van already took off running but was swiftly stopped by Redhood arriving just in time to see Danny helping Damien up and checking him over, profusely apologizing for "letting this happen."
When asked why he did all of it, his simply answered, "I don't think I would get paid if I let Mr. Wayne's kid die! I can't let a kid die in general!"
Bruce, of course, gave the young man a bonus and a few days off for the stunt. Accompanied wlth a few stern words about safety. What was truly remarkable was that there was not a single scratch on the car. Untouched, meaning he never hit anything during the whole ordeal. "I just learned what not to do from my dad!" He joked, but Bruce felt that, despite the clear joking tone, there was some truth to the statement.
The family is suspicious, very suspicious. The man they previously viewed as their simple and humble driver turned out to be a monster of a fighter, and they have no idea how or why.
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A/N: Feel free to add onto this in any way you would like :3