#Danny didn't even know the collar was slowly killing him

[menolly5600]

After Danny's human identity was accidentally revealed when he was exploding the GIW bases, the GIW knew who he was and were hunting him in both forms. Danny had been attacking the bases to force people outside Amity to investigate the GIW, and also making sure to free any captive ghosts. But with the GIW knowing that he's got a human form, they modified standard (criminal) meta suppression collars to suppress Ectoplasm circulation and energy activation (based off stolen Fenton tech). Then the GIW distributed the collars to federal and local authorities that were assisting in the manhunt for the meta terrorist. As a large metropolis with high ambient ectoplasm, Gotham received a collar.

Danny was hiding homeless in Gotham and maybe got onto the Bats' radar as a homeless kid. He ended up getting picked up by child services and doesn't want to reveal his powers while waiting for an opportunity to vanish. But someone at the office had clocked this homeless kid as the terrorist and called the cops to pick him up. When the cops took him into custody, he thought he could ghost them because he didn't want to hurt anyone. But they brought the collar and locked it on him when he was distracted. He didn't realize at first it was more than a typical meta gene suppressor.

But the Bats had already been on the lookout for the meta terrorist and were alerted he'd been captured in Gotham. But when they looked into it, they found out that the terrorist is a kid, and is the homeless kid some of them had met before. The cops planned to put him in Arkham until the GIW arrived to collect him.

But Bruce was able to arrange to foster him temporarily because he's a minor and hasn't actually been convicted of any crimes yet. In the national manhunt he's been a suspect and a person of interest, but he legally has rights still and there's been no trial even scheduled yet. Bruce got emergency custody and paid his bail on condition of keeping the collar on to prevent flight risk and to make sure he comes to interrogations and cooperates with the investigation. If he runs or the collar is removed, or he doesn't show for the investigation efforts, then custody will be revoked and he'll be handed over to the GIW to contain.

Danny did try to run at first, but the Bats brought him back. And once Bruce explained that if Danny keeps trying to run or the collar is removed, then the police will have to hand him to the GIW. Bruce explains he's trying to keep him safe while the investigation looks into the GIW and the explosions, because it's suspicious.

Danny doesn't actually know what long term power suppression will do to him. He knows even just the temporary Plasmius Maximus makes him feel weak and exhausted. But he doesn't know that permanently suppressing ectoplasm energy activation will kill him.

The longer he has the collar on, the more exhaustion drags at him. He tries telling the Waynes he needs it off because his powers are a part of him, and he's not actually a meta. He tries to explain he's half ghost, but the Waynes, and the child counselor and therapist they got him, are convinced it's delusions brought on by his victimization at the hands of his parents upbringing and the GIW persecution of him for having meta powers. Basically, everyone believes he's been conditioned to believe he's half inhuman and a monster.

The investigation is revealing that the GIW are violating the Meta Protection Acts and hunting and persecuting metas and nonhuman sentients (aliens) by labeling them as non-sentient ghosts. The attacks were born of his traumatic conditioning, fear for his life, and self-defense against violations of his rights and body. The fact that the GIW does intend to vivisect him as a specimen and are planning his eventual destruction only proves Danny was fighting and attacking them in self defense. Even the Justice League is getting involved in exposing the Anti-Ecto Control Acts as violations of Meta and Alien rights. They're well on the way to being repealed. The GIW is already being shut down and under scrutiny for human and alien rights violations, Geneva Convention violations, misappropriation of government resources, etc.

This guarantees Danny won't be handed to the GIW. But if Bruce can't keep custody then he'll be put in Arkham because of the delusions brought on by his conditioning. So the collar has to stay on. He's still a flight risk, and the child therapist believes him delusional still. Because while ghosts are real, they're not like the GIW reports claim or how Danny claims he's part ghost.

And this whole time, Danny gets weaker and more exhausted. Not even eating more is helping much. He's been trying to hide it, though. He's afraid of showing weakness.

It's bad enough nobody believes him about being a halfa, but it's understandable. Being Schrodinger's boy is hard to wrap your mind around, let alone being a sorta unliving undead being, like some eldritch thing Lovecraft dreamed up. His parents didn't understand. Not even Jazz and his friends really understood completely how his accident changed him on a fundamental level. Even Danny doesn't think too hard about it most of the time. It's easier to just think of himself as a boy with powers, sometimes.

So he hides how weak he's becoming, how ill he's starting to feel all the time. At first he thinks it's because he's adjusting to being without his powers and away from Amity Park, his haunt. He thinks it's feeling ill like he's going through withdrawals. He doesn't want the Waynes to decide he's too weird, too difficult, too creepy, too inhuman. Because he's getting attached, and he kind of thinks maybe they mean it that he's family now, that he's safe. He's kind of hoping they might actually be able to learn to love each other like a family.

But then he starts collapsing. He can't hide it anymore. Like a sickly fainting Victorian damsel, he keeps collapsing at random, fainting and blacking out. They already knew his vitals were off, lower heart rate and temperature. But now he's got arrhythmia and heart murmurs. He's starting to get fluid buildup in his lungs. He's unable to go ghost form, his human half still needs to breathe and have a pulse. His immune system is failing, he gets a cold that becomes pneumonia. Even after rigorous antibiotics and immuno boosters, even after he recovers from the pneumonia, he's still declining.

They did take him to the hospital, but the doctors couldn't find out what was wrong exactly. They did detect a buildup of strange chemicals all throughout his body cells. The chemicals had similarities to many of the chemicals found in GIW facilities. Also the Bats recognized some of the chemical markers Ra's used with his Lazarus water experiments. The best theory from the doctors is that exposure to the chemicals, from his parents' lab and the GIW facilities he attacked, was causing cellular poisoning. There was nothing they could do for him because it was so widespread and systemic.

Bruce insisted on taking Danny home. Even if all they could do was keep him comfortable, Bruce wanted his boy home. And maybe the Bats could find something from off world or esoteric that could save him. Besides, Danny was afraid every time he woke up in the hospital after blacking out again. If Danny had less than a year left to live, he wanted him to be comfortable, safe, and surrounded with family that had grown to love him.

The Waynes had always hated having to leave the collar on Danny. Especially Tim, because he was familiar with Impulse's dark future of control collars. But to keep him at home, even while he's slowly dying, they had to leave it on and being actively tracked as working by the federal government. Otherwise he'd be moved to Arkham for treatment and containment. They didn't want his last months to be in Arkham. The care there might just kill him faster.

Danny was in the manor at first. He was still mobile for a bit after coming back from the hospital. But then his legs started failing as his muscles atrophied and deteriorated. He was blacking out more, his short term memory failing. They helped him move around with a wheelchair for a bit, taking him to meals and to hang out around the manor with the family.

He was confused and sinking into a mental fog more often. He begged sometimes to take off the collar, or to let him go. Sometimes he begged them not to hurt him, begged them to understand that he's still Danny, still human. Sometimes he didn't know where he was and begged his parents not to tear him apart molecule by molecule.

As his digestive organs started failing, he couldn't eat so had to be hooked up to machines and IVs for fluids and nutrients. He was bed bound in his room, trying to make him comfortable. Someone was with him almost constantly, talking to him, taking care of him, comforting him as best they could.

But his mind wandered away more often, dissociating and catatonic. Soon he was rarely aware or lucid. As he wasted away, his organs began failing more and they moved him to the Batcave onto life support. They tried even more esoteric things to save him but nothing was working.

But waking up briefly lucid in the Batcave infirmary gave Danny a panic attack that nearly killed him before he passed out again. They reluctantly conceded having him in his room in the manor was safer. It took a bit of doing, but they got him set back up in his room with all the fancy cutting edge life support equipment. But it was a real chance Danny might die at any time. Despite all the life support equipment, necrosis was slowly setting in across his body, tissue dying while his body was forced to keep living.

After his skin started rotting in places, Bruce and the others could barely tear themselves away, out of fear he'd be gone by the time they came back. But then there was an Arkham breakout. They decided Bruce would stay with Danny so he wouldn't be alone, just in case he woke, just in case he died.

The Joker couldn't directly plant bombs in Wayne manor. Bruce's security system is too good to miss goons sneaking in to plant explosives. Instead he strapped explosives and Joker toxin canisters to house mice and released them onto Wayne property. And just in case they didn't find ways into the manor, he had a goon with a rocket launcher set up in the empty Drake manor next door.

The scattered explosions across Wayne manor were mice detonating in the walls. Some fires started, but the toxin was the most dangerous. The rocket launcher hit the upstairs and blew up Danny's bathroom and part of his bedroom and the hallway, and the room next to his. The concussive blast knocked Bruce unconscious. But he'd been shielding Danny already since the mice started exploding before the rocket hit.

When Jason rushed upstairs to the manor, he tried to rescue them both. But Bruce is a huge guy and Danny is fragile. He tried to drag Bruce half on his back while carrying Danny downstairs, but the toxin laced colored smoke and fire was too dangerous to expose them directly to. Bruce woke enough to slur at Jason to take Danny and save themselves. Obviously concussed, he told Jason not to die again. Jason went out the window with Danny.

He intended to go back for Bruce. Because he's determined to be better than Batman, so he's not going to leave him to die in an exploding building. And he's not going to give the Joker the satisfaction of killing another of them. And he's not going to lose Bruce just when they were starting to get somewhere better between them. But the outer wall under Danny's room is unstable and on fire after the rocket explosion. The fires and gas are so random throughout the building he can't find a safe route back to Bruce without his heavy vigilante gear.

He returned to Alfred who was watching over Danny. They couldn't take most of the life support equipment with Danny, but Alfred has portable oxygen and a defibrillator in case his heart stopped. The other Bats start arriving ahead of emergency services. Most of them split off as soon as they hear Bruce is trapped inside and concussed. Spreading out, they try to find a safe route to extract him. DickBats and Tim check on Jason, Alfred and especially Danny.

Red Robin asks if there are any routes from the Cave clear of toxin and fire. He mentions he doesn't know if the family can handle burying two family members at the same time. Danny's obviously doing worse away from the medical equipment.

Jason snaps that Danny's not going to die, Bruce told them to survive. And they're not going to give the clown the satisfaction.

DickBats determinedly declares Bruce isn't going to die.

This is when Danny's protection obsession is triggered and he jerkily sits up, scrabbling at his collar. He's begging to get it off, he needs to protect.

Jason snarls and goes to get the damned thing off.

Red Robin stops Jason Todd-Wayne. Says if he does it, Danny could be taken away from the Waynes. But if Red Robin does it... The Waynes can't be held liable for vigilante actions. And it might be Danny's last request, the stress might be too much for him, and Tim isn't going to let his little brother die in a suppression collar.

It takes a moment after the collar comes off before power washes over Danny and he's changed. He flies into the manor and saves Bruce, ice putting out most of the fires.

But when he returns with Bruce, he changes back and collapses again. His human half is still suffering organ failure from cumulative damage. His regenerative healing isn't instant. His body had been devouring his energy reserves to survive and he had almost nothing left to devote to healing. He was starting to regenerate but it will take time he may not have.

Emergency services is arriving by then. Danny and Bruce are taken to the hospital for overnight observation. Bruce, Dick, and the Wayne lawyers have to argue down child services and get permission from the police commissioner to justify removing the collar. Red Robin adds in that the collar was restricting the boy's breathing so had to be removed on site. The doctors verify that the boy is dying and all that can be done is make him comfortable while he passes. He's slipped into a coma and the doctors doubt he'll wake. Arkham, and the hospital, aren't the best places for keeping him comfortable. Bruce, still concussed, pleads to let him take his foster son home so he can be with family when he goes. By late morning they're allowed to take Danny home to die in comfort, without the collar.

Danny's human half has been struggling to heal, but a lot of his tissues are dead and decomposed. He can't heal the dead tissue, even though he can replace the cells in time with his regeneration. He's in a healing coma state as his core gathers ambient ectoplasm and absorbs the strong emotions around him to convert to ectoplasm. His ghost side is storing up energy in preparation for massive regeneration.

Once his core has gathered energy, his human body starts sloughing off the dead tissue. His core forces a self-preservation shift to ghost form and drops all the dead and decaying flesh and organs from his human half. He doesn't need the tissue and organs in ghost form, and can focus all his energy on regenerating his human half while maintaining ghost form.

But during this state, his human brain is offline. It takes a lot of energy to have his brain operational. With his brain comatose and his core acting as a secondary brain and emotional center, it's like he's sleepwalking. He reacts to emotional stimuli rather than logic or reasoning in this state.

Meanwhile, the Waynes had set him up in the Batcave with more equipment. There was some desperate hope he might get better without the collar suppressing his meta powers. He'd been a little better and strong enough to save Bruce right after removing it. But he still hadn't woken up after hanging on for a few more days.

Then his vitals crashed as his brain activity flatlined. Then he changed again, like he had when he saved Bruce. Except this time when the strange energy form floated up above the bed, it left behind a rotting slurry of flesh, organs and crumbling bone.

The floating, translucent, color reversed version of him still looked like Danny. But they couldn't touch him. He didn't respond to their calls. Even when he opened his glowing green eyes, he was unresponsive to them. It was as if he wasn't registering seeing or hearing them. It was as if Danny had died, leaving behind a rotted body and an echo, a shade of a ghost that wasn't a ghost like Deadman is a ghost.

Danny was dead.

Danny's shade haunted the Cave, and later the manor once it was repaired. He haunted them, his gaze distant and unresponsive. The only times he seemed to respond to something was when someone was angry, distraught and grieving, or experiencing an intense emotion. Sometimes his shade would flee the area, sometimes vanishing completely for a while. Other times he'd be drawn to the person, hovering around them as if concerned, but without quite seeing them.

It usually made the grieving worse.

Danny's human mind was catatonic and unconscious. His ghost-brain core was dissociating and running on instincts. He fled from dangerous 'fight-anger' emotions to protect his human half while so weak and regenerating. He was drawn to his family-fraid being happy or (more often) sad. He wanted to soak up the happy emotions, though there wasn't much happiness in the manor these days after their newest brother died. And he wanted to comfort his family-fraid when sad and upset. Instinctively he used as little energy as possible so everything else could go towards healing his human half. So he barely glowed, didn't become tangible and was barely visible most of the time.

But Danny was slowly healing and his tissues and organs slowly being reconstructed while in his ghost form. His ghost form is entirely ectoplasm so it's easier to rebuild the organs and muscles out of ectoplasmic cells. When he's ready to transform back to human form and wake up his brain, the ectoplasmic cells will shift to living tissue cells along with the rest of his body.

But until then, Danny's mentally checked out. And the Waynes think he died, gruesomely decomposing rapidly, and is now haunting them for failing him.

Dp x Dc fic idea that wouldn't let me sleep:

"No, you don't understand! I need my powers. I'll die without them!" Danny pleaded with the officer in front of him.

"Sure, kid, and I need a burger. You'll be just fine without your flight or superstrength or whatever. Look, I see kids like you all the time nowadays. You think just because you have a few powers, you can become some kind of hero. You run away from home, cause trouble in the name of 'justice' or whatever. Then reality hits. You start stealing. What's a few stolen bucks or candy bars in the name of the greater good, right? It's a downward spiral from there. Seems you were pretty far down the spiral. Beating up government agents? Kid, there is no way in hell I'm letting you out of here without the meta power suppressant collar. You're lucky Mr. Wayne was so generous and decided to foster you until we find your parents. I would've sent your troublesome ass back to juvie."

I was thinking this was a bad timeline where the Fenton parents died and Danny ran away. The power suppressing collar does work on him somehow, and cuts him off from his ghost half, which stops the ectoplasm that was keeping him alive since the accident.

I pictured Bruce as the foster parent that decided to help the troubled teen, but it could be anyone. Imagine if Lex Luthor decided he wanted to "help" (read: manipulate the young meta into doing his bidding) Danny instead. Extra angst.

[ectoentity]

Ectoplasm Gives You Wings 0.?

Hey here's a scene that happened long before Danny showed up have fun

Here is the subscription post

Need to know concept:

When you're in a world where wings are associated with ghosts, you're gonna assume that coming back from the dead with wings means you have some unfinished business. Harley Quinn POV.

Ever since Joker died, Harley expected his killer would come after her. She hadn't been with him for a couple years, but that hardly made up for the shit she'd done while they were together. Really the only surprise was that they hadn’t killed her first as a warning to him.

So when she walked into her apartment kitchen to see a guy with huge wings wearing a red helmet, Harley wasn’t terribly surprised. Not about the break-in or the gun pointed at her, at least.

"How'd'ya manage to fit those things in here?" she asked. The guy didn't answer. The wings flexed like he wanted to open them, but there wasn't any room.

"Harley," the Red Hood said, sounding very intimidating with some kind of voice modulation. "You know why I’m here."

"I can make a guess, big guy," Harley said sadly. "Nothing I can do to change your mind?"

"You let it happen. You helped him. Why should you escape justice?"

"I did my time for most of it. And I spent the last couple a years trying to put him in the ground. That doesn't fit into your equation somehow?" She tried edging slowly to a shelf where she had a gun of her own. Red Hood noticed. He stepped forward and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt.

"Did any of that bring back the innocent people you killed? The children you tortured?"

"Woah, woah, woah, time out. I never did anything like that to kids." Harley held her hands up in a T shape above Red Hood's fist. "I did some awful stuff I ain't proud of, but I never tortured kids."

"You didn't seem to care that he did."

Harley sighed and lowered her hands onto Red Hood's arm and tried to look into the eyes of his weird helmet. "What do you expect to happen here? You want me to beg until you feel satisfied? Sorry, buddy. Not really my style! I don't like a lotta what I did back then, but I can't fix it. I'm trying better now. If that's not good enough for ya, that's too bad."

The Red Hood didn't move for a moment. It was kind of creepy, if Harley was honest. He didn't say anything, he didn't twitch. Was the guy even breathing? It was always hard to talk to someone in a full face mask. There was no way to tell whether they were even listening. Contrary to popular belief, Harley didn't talk just to hear her own voice! Not often, at least.

The hand let go of her shirt. Harley pulled back to regain her balance, but she didn't relax just yet. There was still a big murderous birdman with a gun in her apartment. Even if he wasn't about to shoot her just now, he was still dangerous.

"Fucking hell," the guy said. He seemed to stagger backwards until one of his wings clipped the half-wall separating the kitchen from the living room. Then he leaned against the pillar heavily.

"Shit. You're right. This is pointless. Why am I here?"

Harley took her chance to grab her gun just in case, but Red Hood didn't seem to notice. She stared at him with suspicious, narrowed eyes. "Do you mean here in my apartment, or are you really having an existential crisis right now?"

"I'm not having a- Fuck. I guess I am." He held his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, Harls."

Well, that was an unusual nickname. It wasn't something she heard much outside of kids from the Bowery or Narrows. Most other kids in Gotham got swept up by their parents before they could talk to her.

"You lose somebody?" she asked softly, gun tucked in her pocket. "Sibling? A kid?"

Red Hood choked out a bitter laugh. "Myself." When Harley's eyebrows did a wild semaphore of emotion, the asshole deigned to explain. "He killed me. I... I came back. Figured, y'know, I must've been brought back for a reason, right?" He sunk down further against the pillar, the white tips of his mostly-black wings spreading across the floor like the fabric of a cape.

Damn, Harley thought. That made a fucked up amount of sense. "I can't really blame you for thinking that," she admitted. "The feathers a new fashion choice then?"

"You could say that. Shit." Red Hood reached up to the bottom of his helmet and depressed some trigger there. Harley heard a hiss of pressurization before it popped off the guy's head. The first thing she saw was black hair. That wasn't surprising. The surprising thing was when he leaned his head back against the pillar, revealing a young face and a shock of white hair in his bangs. Then he opened his eyes, and they were as blue as the sky.

"Hey kid? What did you say your name was?"

He took a devastatingly long time to respond.

"They called me Robin, once."

[five-rivers]

Dentition

Here's what you need to know about ghostly dentition: For the first few years of unlife, the ghosts of humans have teeth of roughly the same size and shape as they did while alive. However, these are the ghostly equivalent of baby teeth. After a ghost has been dead for at least two years, but no more than five, their teeth will begin to change shape. Change shape, not fall out and be replaced. Ghost anatomy is much more plastic than that of a human. This process takes about one month, give or take. Additionally, if the ghost is one of the lucky few to become venomous, their venom sacs grow in at the same time. Once the process of growing the teeth and associated structures is complete, the fangs are retractable.

Here's what you need to know about half ghost dentition: Half ghosts undergo a similar process. Their human halves reflect the changes. However, they do lose their initial set of teeth to make room for their new ones.

Here's what you need to know about Danny Fenton: He is a half ghost. His luck is also incredible.

Not in a good way, of course.

.

Danny's whole mouth felt tender, and he didn't know why. The feeling had been building since yesterday morning, but, by this point, it had become almost unbearable. That, coupled with the growing desire to chew on and bite things, was slowly driving him insane.

"It almost sounds like you're teething," said Sam.

Danny grunted dubiously. He had all his adult teeth.

"I mean, it might be a ghost thing," clarified Sam.

"Or you could have burned your mouth on something without realizing it," offered Tucker. "Or you could be getting some canker sores?"

Danny shook his head. That's what he thought at first, when the pain had been limited to the roof of his mouth and a few places on his gums, but now it was everywhere.

Jazz, who was on spring break from college and driving the three of them home from school, made a face. "I hate to suggest this, but do you think Mom and Dad could have put something anti-ghost in our food?"

Danny groaned and let his head fall against the dashboard. It did him no good. In fact, jostling his face made his mouth ache even more. It would be like his parents to unintentionally and unknowingly poison him in the name of protecting him from ghosts.

"I'll cook tonight," said Jazz.

.

Despite Jazz cooking (and nothing coming to life!), Danny mostly pushed his food around his plate and avoided everyone's eyes. He wasn't sure if the pain killed his appetite, or if the idea of his food being poisoned did it. Either way, he wasn't hungry. He did, however, chew on the collar of his shirt until it was wet and disgusting.

Immediately after dinner, Danny slouched up the stairs and made a beeline for his room. He wanted to sleep this out, if at all possible.

He threw off his normal clothes, threw on his bedclothes, and collapsed, wrapping his covers around him and rolling over instead of climbing under his covers like a normal person. That was fine. He wasn't a normal person.

He went to sleep.

.

A dream about swimming ended when the thought that the water was only wet on his face crossed Danny's mind. Slowly, he pulled his eyes open, and his brain eventually processed the fact that (a) it was still dark out, and (b) his face was pressed into a truly prodigious amount of drool.

He sat up, the fabric of his pillowcase trying to stick to his face. He threw the pillow to the side, and walked to the bathroom to try and clean up a little before going back to sleep. Usually, Danny had pretty good night vision, to the point of being able to see in the dark, but his vision and brain were so fuzzy at the moment that he fumbled for the bathroom lights anyway, and hissed as the bright lights temporarily blinded him.

Finally, his eyes adjusted enough for him to look up, into the mirror, and his heart almost stopped.

He was covered in blood.

His hands flew up to cover his face as he stumbled back against the far wall. Yes, he was half-ghost and had technically died, that didn't make him immune to shock or particularly happy to see blood all over the side of his face. It hadn't been drool sticking him to the pillow. Not just drool, anyway. It had been blood.

Why was he covered in blood? Had he turned into a vampire in the night? Did he hurt someone? Were vampires based on half-ghosts? Considering Vlad's aesthetic...

No, wait. On second glance, the blood had a distinctly sparkly cast to it. He stepped closer to the mirror, and a shiver of relief work its way into his body. That shimmer was ectoplasm. It was his blood.

But why had he been bleeding? Maybe he had bitten himself.

Or, more likely, whatever the heck was going on with his mouth was reaching a new level of bad. His teeth, now that he was thinking about them and not the blood, hurt much worse than they had when he went to bed.

Hesitantly, he probed his front teeth with his fingers. They moved.

THEY MOVED.

.

Danny did not often sneak into his sister's room at night for advice, but 'not often' was a far cry from 'never.' Jazz wasn't surprised when he prodded her awake. Sleepy, yes, possibly just a little annoyed at waking up, though that vanished when she saw Danny's stricken face, but not surprised.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I think I'm losing my teeth," said he little brother, eyes wide and a touch too bright in the dark.

Alright, that was unexpected. "What?"

"I woke up, and my teeth were bleeding, and now they're all loose." His voice wobbled.

"Oh," said Jazz, still trying to kick her brain into gear. "Um. Is it a ghost thing, do you think?"

"I don't know," moaned Danny. "Nobody talks to me about anything." He sniffed. "What am I supposed to do?"

That was a good question. What kinds of options did Danny have?

"Do you have any ghost friends you could talk to?" she asked.

"Maybe," said Danny. "But they're far away, and they don't really have human teeth."

Jazz refrained from asking what kind of teeth they did have. She'd known about Danny's ghost powers for over a year, now, and she still only knew a fraction of what he got up to.

"I know you're not going to like this, but, um, what about Vlad?" Danny gave her a horrified glare. "I mean, he knows more about ghosts and half ghosts than we do, and he won't want anyone, you know, examining you. Which is what is going to happen if your teeth fall out."

Danny wilted, and put his hand to his mouth. "I guess." He shook himself. "I woke up in a puddle of my own blood and drool. Mostly blood."

"Ah," said Jazz.

"I'm going to go now."

"He might not appreciate you waking him up in the middle of the night," warned Jazz.

"Vlad doesn't sleep," said Danny.

"I'm sorry," said Jazz, "is that, like, a real thing, or some kind of joke? I'm too tired to tell."

"He's too evil to sleep."

"Danny, really. Don't antagonize him when you want his help."

Danny put his arms around his knees and looked very small. "Okay," he said. "You're right. But what should I do until then? What if- What if one of my teeth really does fall out?"

That image was more disturbing than it had any right to be. "Just go to sleep, and if your teeth do start falling out... I guess we'll deal with it. I've heard putting them in a cup of milk and spit helps preserve them? So they can be re-implanted?"

"Oh," said Danny. "I guess that's good to know."

"Get some sleep," Jazz said again. "First thing tomorrow, I'll drive you to Vlad's."

"I'll just fly."

.

The conversation with Jazz had been painful. Talking should not be so painful. It sucked. It was the worst. And he was not able to get to sleep again.

As soon as the sun was up, Danny left to harass Vlad. Which was how his brain pronounced 'ask Vlad for help.'

He could hardly believe he was doing this. It was so stupid. Vlad hated him, he wasn't going to help. Maybe he should ask Clockwork, or make the flight to the Far Frozen, even if he wouldn't be able to put up a good fight against a ghost in this state. After all, Vlad would probably try to fight him. At least random ghosts in the Ghost Zone might leave him alone.

Yeah, he didn't believe that either.

He set down right outside Vlad's front gates, invisibly, not sure if he should just phase in, or if he should press the buzzer and wait outside. Usually when he came to Vlad's he was with his parents, Vlad had dragged him there, or they were already in the middle of a fight. He wasn't sure how to... petition Vlad, and that was what he was doing.

Danny pressed the buzzer. Ancients, he hoped Vlad was here and not in Colorado or Wisconsin.

"What?" came the short, clipped, reply. Clearly, Vlad was annoyed at being bothered so early in the morning.

"It's Danny," said Danny. "I need to talk to you about something."

There was a long silence, and Danny wondered if Vlad had chosen to ignore him.

"Daniel." The smoothness of Vlad's tone was broken only by the crackle of the intercom. "What an unexpected surprise. Do come in. I am in my dining room, and I am sure you can find your way."

Given permission, Danny phased through the gates and then the walls of Vlad's mansion. The dining room was, as Vlad had intimated, easy to find, and Danny dropped his invisibility.

Vlad did not look up from his breakfast, which seemed to consist of some kind of complicated omelette. At the smell, Danny's stomach growled. He hadn't a full meal since this time yesterday.

"So," said Vlad. "To what do I owe this pleasure, Daniel?"

Danny looked up at Vlad, then away, then at Vlad again, then away. He glared at Vlad's clean, shiny floor.

"Well, I do hope you haven't come because some cat ghost stole your tongue," said Vlad, sarcastically.

"My teeth are falling out," said Danny. They were certainly looser than yesterday.

Vlad stared at Danny for several heartbeats, then started laughing. He actually slapped the table a few times. Danny glared. If he knew how to do the eye laser thing, Vlad would be on fire.

"Oh, my dear boy," said Vlad, "forgive me. Has no one told you about ghost fangs?" He suppressed a snicker with his hand.

"No," said Danny.

"Well, that's quite an oversight in your education, isn't it? If you had accepted my offer..." he trailed off suggestively, almost purring.

Danny tried to purse his lips, but winced as doing so pushed his front teeth back.

Vlad smirked, and gave him a quick rundown of how teeth developed in the recently dead. "... of course, he finished. Half-ghosts like us are different. We, unlike them, do lose our original teeth. But you'll be glad to know the whole ordeal will be over in a month."

"A month? My teeth won't grow back for a month? Vlad, I have school! I can't hide that I don't have any teeth for a month!"

"Doesn't your spring break start today?" asked Vlad patting his lips with a napkin.

"What does that matter if this will last a month?"

"Calm down, boy. Your most visible teeth should regrow themselves in a week." Vlad pushed his food aside. "Of course, those will include your fangs, and part of why this takes a month is that the last molars and the muscles and bones involved in retracting and extending the fangs are developing. Nevertheless, that shouldn't be an issue so long as you avoid talking and eating around people less oblivious than your father."

"Hey!"

"Or perhaps you could convince people that you are wearing novelty fangs. Your friend Samantha enjoys that kind of thing, correct?"

"It's Sam," grumbled Danny, resenting the fact that Vlad was giving him good advice. "What about before my front teeth grow back in?" he asked. He didn't want to refer to any of his teeth as fangs. He didn't even want to think about having fangs.

(Hair made of fire and eyes as red as fresh blood flickered in his mind's eye.)

"Well, as I said, you're on spring break. Wouldn't this be a wonderful time to take advantage of, say, an internship opportunity with your beloved godfather?"

"I'm sorry, what? My what?"

"Me, Daniel. I'm offering to let you stay with me until your teeth have grown in enough to pass muster."

"Absolutely not," said Danny.

Vlad scoffed, and leaned back in his chair. "Don't mistake me. I'm not doing this out of some misplaced sense of altruism. I don't want anyone looking too closely at your anatomy."

"Gross."

Vlad ignored the comment. "If you are found out, the best defense of my identity, that no one knows half ghosts are possible, vanishes. This is merely enlightened self-interest. Does that make you feel better?"

Oddly enough, it did.

"Good. Now," he made a little shooing motion with his hands, "go home. I will make arrangements with your parents."

.

Danny arrived on Vlad's doorstep, his father in tow, making a valiant but ultimately futile attempt to avoid playing with his now very loose front teeth.

"V-man!" exclaimed Jack, exploding through the door without bothering to knock. "It's been forever!"

"It's been two days, Jack," said Vlad, repressively. He had, wisely, been waiting at the top of the wide stairs that led to the mansion's second floor.

"But it feels like so much longer!"

"I wish," muttered Vlad.

Jack, undeterred ran up the stairs and hugged Vlad.

"Yes, yes," said Vlad, strained, "very good. Now, Jack, Daniel and I have a very busy day ahead of us. I'm afraid we must be off at once."

"Aw, already?"

"My pilot doesn't like waiting."

Danny leveled a baleful glare at Vlad. The man hadn't mentioned anything about leaving Amity Park.

Jack skipped out the door, and the GAV sped off.

"Oh, do stop looking at me like that," said Vlad. "We aren't leaving your precious town, although I'm sure it would survive just fine without you."

"Then why-?"

"Well, we certainly couldn't have your parents dropping in at all hours to check up on you, could we?" Vlad shuddered dramatically. "In any case, I have your room made up. Follow me."

Danny picked up his luggage, no longer pretending he found it heavy now that his father wasn't around to see, and trudged up the stairs after Vlad.

The room was nice. Too nice. A little too space-themed for his peace of mind as well, with the stars on the walls, spangled bed sheets, and planet-shaped lamps on the bedside tables. The game console in the corner had the effect of making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Please tell me you set up this room in the last two days."

"Don't be ridiculous. I've had this room decorated like this since I moved in. I had hoped you would come to your senses."

"My senses. Right," said Danny, trying to decide if it was too late to hide at Sam's for a week. Sadly, it probably was.

"Well, get your things put away, and meet me downstairs for brunch in half an hour. I doubt you've eaten much since we last spoke." Vlad strode out of the room, not looking back.

Danny stared after him, unsure if he should feel touched or creeped out. Both, maybe.

Finally, he sighed and heaved the suitcase up onto the bed. He had asked for this, he reminded himself. Not the bedroom. But Vlad's help.

If there had been any other friendly ghosts within flying distance...

Okay, he'd still have needed the cover, and Jazz, Sam, and Tucker could only do so much.

Danny finished unpacking in a few minutes. He hadn't brought a whole lot of stuff with him. Just enough clothing to last a week without washing, the thermos, some homework, the Spector Deflector, the collapsible version of the Boo-Staff, some Fenton Sleeping Bag Capsules, in case he had to run and spend the remainder of spring break roughing it in the woods.

Okay, he didn't think he'd have to do that, otherwise he wouldn't be trusting Vlad even this far, but it was better to be safe.

He walked downstairs, slowly, then started to look for the kitchen, vaguely worried about being ambushed. He wasn't. Point for Vlad.

Another point for Vlad - He was actually cooking.

"I doubt you want to eat anything too tough at the moment," said Vlad, "although once your new teeth grow in, you'll be gnawing on things before you know it. So, I'm making eggs. You aren't allergic to anything?"

"Not other than blood blossoms, no."

Vlad sighed and tipped the eggs he was frying onto a plate. "Shall we let bygones be bygones, little badger? At least for the duration of our little truce? For the sake of your problem, if nothing else."

Danny's lips twitched, sending a wave of pain across his face. "Yeah, okay," he said. He reached out for the eggs.

Vlad passed him the plate. "I'd like to do some scans of your teeth, when you're done."

"Why?" asked Danny.

"So suspicious," said Vlad. "Remember, you asked for my help."

"Last time you wanted to do scans of me, you were trying to clone me."

"This is different," said Vlad. "Although, I do wonder if Danielle will be losing her teeth, soon. Something for you to watch out for, hm?"

"What do you want to do the scans for, anyway?" asked Danny, picking up a fork.

"Oh, the usual. Making sure your teeth are growing in properly, checking if you'll be venomous, that kind of thing."

Danny dropped the fork. "That's an option?"

Vlad smirked. "Oh, it isn't very likely, but... You do have very odd luck, Daniel."

And didn't Danny know it.

"I'll pass on the scans."

"Really?"

"Cloning," Danny pointed out.

Vlad sighed. "I suppose you have something of a point. Let's make a deal. If I haven't done anything sinister by the middle of the week, you get those scans. It will, after all, be much harder for me to help you without them."

Danny frowned. "I didn't know that you were going to 'help' me beyond, you know. Hiding me."

"Please, Daniel. I'm trying to convince you to join me. I'm hardly going to deny you medical care while you're here. Besides, if you go back to your parents looking like a trainwreck, I'm the one who will get in trouble. Assuming they notice, of course."

Well... when he put it like that... "You're awful," said Danny.

"And yet, here we are. So, what is your decision?"

Danny sighed. "I'll think about it."

[flipwizardstarlight]

Danny keeps telling Tim and Steph through ASL (the giw are absolutely gonna end him the moment they get him back to the place they have been using as a base while waiting on the un, they can't risk the un not going with it and rescuing him, he knows too much and is too powerful) about the locations of every GIW base he knows about, how many humans they have killed, how many ghosts they have ended, how many metas they have locked up on suspicion of being ghosts/liminals, how much security they have and who to go to to get tech that can get past the GIW ghost magic firewalls.

Cass is the first one to realize he is going to die if they don't get him out of there immediately and she looks at bruce (who is following the asl conversation also but not partaking because the GIW are paying attention to him) and she blocks Danny's view of her hands to sign "they are going to kill him. I'm extracting him the moment he leaves the room" and bruce gives a minute nod so she texts jason (not allowed in the meeting because he is technically still a wanted criminal but is hidden outside as backup in case shit went south-you thought they didn't do any investigating before they went? Nah bro, they realized there was magic fuckery going on with their tech systems when barb couldn't hack in and got super sus and very worried about what they need to hide using *fucking magic* so they all came with batgirl, red robin, and black bat in the room with bats, nightwing and robin openly waiting outside as civilians, and red hood in the shadows in case things got messy) to be ready for an as quiet as possible rescue (how did jay not see the kid going in? Simple, they were holding him in the basement there to make sure no one would see him going in until they had presented their side of things. They know how sus it looks on the surface, they didn't want to risk any heroes seeing the kid beforehand and jumping the gun).

Someone asks to speak to danny, since he is muzzled so he can't actually speak for himself (also for added oomph he cant speak anyway, they fucked his vocal chords up beyond recognition so he couldn't wail, the muzzle is because he bites AND to keep anyone from realizing he can't speak anymore) and they refuse stating he doesn't know english and has a powerful sonic attack.

Tim signs to ask what the real reason is and danny just reaches up slowly and moves the heavy leather collar they have on his neck down so tim can see the absolute mess of a scar on his throat and tim. Well. Tim is the smartest planner in the room but this guy has said he is his age, clearly knows english and asl, has given them enough information that even if he was lying they would be able to find out quickly, has implicated these guys in the kidnapping torture and death of literally hundreds at this point, has not once asked for help getting himself out only asked that they don't listen to the giw and that they investigate and save the people they can, and is clearly going to be killed once he leaves.

Tim texts cass and jason "change of plans" does not elaborate and then signals a no-questions-asked get-shit-done cause-problems-on-purpose code to the former yj members in the room.

Chaos reigns as they cause a ruckus and in the chaos tim slips danny out of the room and to cass and jason to get him out while tim deals with the fallout of causing such a huge incident. He has no regrets when, two hours later, oracle makes herself known in the un systems by pulling up different instances of all the nasty shit they have been doing to these people, including several conversations that top operatives have had pointing to the fact that they know the species is sapient and sentient but they want to destroy them and their home anyway in the hope of overcoming death entirely.

More chaos.

Danny, meanwhile, is chilling with Cass and Jason in the far frozen (they told oracle that was the plan once they got Danny's chains off and delivered a laptop capable of bypassing the ghost magic bullshit to her, so she knows where they are and that they are safe), drinking tea and chit chatting while Danny and jason both get some medical attention. Cass does too (lazarus pits are a poison that means a slow end to most anyone who encounters them unless they have a particularly strong will, cass survived her initial poisoning but there is still yuckyness that needs cleansed and healed, jason was dead a lot longer then her and had actually formed most of a core before he got thrown into the pool so the poison stuck around a lot longer and the worst of it is gone but there is still some in his ectoplasm so he needs some more medical attention then cass does).

Danny never quite gets his ability to talk back but he can still use his wail. They are able to repair his vocal chords enough to make a lot of fun noises but a lot of the sounds that make up words just can't happen anymore.

The batfam that was at the un finally get home and alfred is having tea with clockwork and frostbite while danny, jason, and cass nap in a pillow fort in one of the family living rooms. Alfred is getting tips for taking care of the liminal members of the household and for taking care of danny.

Batman like "huh?" And alfred like, "ah yes these are master Danny's grandfather and primary care physician. He will also be master Jason's pcp from now on, as it turns out master jason is very similar to master danny in the way he came back to life. He will also be more then happy to consult with anyone else who has been exposed to the pits, says they are some kind of poison."

Bruce like "alfred what" and alfred like "here sir, i have the papers filled out already, all we require is your signature. I figured i would wait on you to get home to sign them instead of forging your signature, since you do so love to pretend to be the one to make the decision to adopt the children."

Tim and steph, meanwhile, are fighting over who gets to try and date the guy first. Oh they know he is gonna need a lot of time and therapy before he is ready for that but they are weak and he is very pretty.

Jokes on them tho, he and jason are already falling in love.

DP x DC prompt #104

Danny was so happy that he was finally getting an audience with the UN and the Justice League to tell them about Ghosts and the horrible treatment of the American Government. He just wished that the meeting wasn't in the form of him covered head to toe in ghost suppressors and used by the GIW as a demonstration as to why he and his kind need to be completely exterminated.

[sayatumbles]

THIS! This is the addition I was hoping to see. Not a Danny who grew fond of the Waynes while slowly dying in their care, unable to escape or make them understand that the collar was killing him, but a Danny who saw them as his cruel captors who chose to believe the organization that was trying to capture and dissect him. Who chose to believe he was delusional because the idea of him being half ghost didn't fit with their idea of how the world works.

I want a Batfamily that realized the error of their ways far, far too late and have no way of making it up to the brother they nearly killed. The brother they grew to love so very much as he lay decaying, trapped in his own body. And they have to try and gain his trust because they do love him- even if they don't actually know him. Even if they let him be tortured because they didn't believe him.

Even if he hates them.

And he does hate them. He has nowhere to go, but he's definitely not staying with them. But his ghost side is weakened by having to basically grow him a whole new body, so Danny can only rely on his human half when he runs.

The Bats, being the Bats, bring him back every time.

Dp x Dc fic idea that wouldn't let me sleep:

"No, you don't understand! I need my powers. I'll die without them!" Danny pleaded with the officer in front of him.

"Sure, kid, and I need a burger. You'll be just fine without your flight or superstrength or whatever. Look, I see kids like you all the time nowadays. You think just because you have a few powers, you can become some kind of hero. You run away from home, cause trouble in the name of 'justice' or whatever. Then reality hits. You start stealing. What's a few stolen bucks or candy bars in the name of the greater good, right? It's a downward spiral from there. Seems you were pretty far down the spiral. Beating up government agents? Kid, there is no way in hell I'm letting you out of here without the meta power suppressant collar. You're lucky Mr. Wayne was so generous and decided to foster you until we find your parents. I would've sent your troublesome ass back to juvie."

I was thinking this was a bad timeline where the Fenton parents died and Danny ran away. The power suppressing collar does work on him somehow, and cuts him off from his ghost half, which stops the ectoplasm that was keeping him alive since the accident.

I pictured Bruce as the foster parent that decided to help the troubled teen, but it could be anyone. Imagine if Lex Luthor decided he wanted to "help" (read: manipulate the young meta into doing his bidding) Danny instead. Extra angst.