#GIW: Hey heroes can we have some help-

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 270

Wing Au? Wing Au. 

But see, ecto-contamination has an effect on those of Amity Park, even more so after their temporary stint into the Zone itself. They were there for hours, if not more, that has an effect on things. It’s like suddenly being transported in the middle of the sight of a nuke, there’s no way you aren’t getting irradiated. 

So their wings might start to… mutate a bit. Just shift and adjust here and there, grow bigger than how they should, with how flight had been lost so long ago. Some now covered in a waxy sheen, others bioluminescent, more with flickers of scales like moths. Others even further changed, the tops opening into maws, eyes blinking amidst feathers, leaves growing from bone like it’s a branch. 

And the Outside remains oblivious beyond the shields, unaware of the rising anger behind it as instincts of predators are returned and brought anew. Where the dead and the living meld into something new. Something Other to what they once were. 

And the GIW are starting to become concerned with how the things inside are searching for a way out. It… might be time to ask for assistance. 

[evilminji]

You know how... world leaders can't just? SAY stuff? Because when they DO it's the Offical Stance(tm) of their Country?

That makes their Fuck Ups(tm) all the more serious. It's WHY they have press teams.

But!!!

WHAT IF?

They said something, PUBLICLY, on LIVE TELEVISION, that? Can not be taken back? Full on "masks off, behold the horrors you have payed for" moment?

Sure, they could SAY "that wasn't me" and "I was brainwashed" etc etc. But? If it's BIG enough? UGLY enough? TRUE??? People WILL find it. Dig and dig and dig like termites in the walls. Hunt like bloodhounds.

Riot in the streets.

Because? All it would TAKE? Is ONE half ghost, a few too many long nights trying to balance college classes and his internship, a bigotry filled call from back home, and staring down that empty fridge with just one box of moldering take out, because he's been too busy and stressed to remember to get GROCERIES AND-

Ah.

So this is what "so stressed you feel calm, I have run out of Fucks too give" feels like. Neat. *picks up phone* Hey, Sam? You still at that protest? Outside the presidential speech? Neat. Don't move.

One Phone Line Express later. SAM is telling him to breathe. Maybe... maybe calm down. Think about this. Others around her can see the same "spark of madness" glint in his almost zen like smile.

It Fiiiiine, Sam.

He's just here to Talk.

He disappears. Sam's freaking out. President stumbles but catches himself on the way to the mike. Up in the watch tower, various Magic users choke on their lunches, because a ghost just possessed the United States President.

ON LIVE TELEVISION.

He taps the Mike, smile, leans in real close like he's gonna Tell You Folks A Secret.... Aaaaand~

"The second you Die, you no longer have human rights. Doesn't matter how brief. Heart stops? You're sub-human scum! Non-sentient by American law. We here in the United Stares PROUDLY desecrate the bodies and graves of the dead. Tear apart the immortal souls of the innocent. And condemn you to oblivion crying, begging, and screaming for mercy! Why, obviously, is an act. Because souls don't have the RIGHT to feel fear or pain!

And YES. We do mean EVERYONE'S. Atlantian, Kryptonian, Martian. Canadian, Mexican, Russian, AND Chinese! I could keep going! Once you die? You belong to the United States to experiment on as we see fit! You're PROPERT now! So turn your nonrights having, nonsentient self in to the nearest GIW! For the good of AMERICA. Ectoplasmic Scum!"

*drops mic*

Jaws are on the floor. This was VETERANS DAY. Dead military Heros and smile for the cameras. A cake walk. Do a patriotism, rah rah. There.... there are DIPLOMATS in the crowd. Sure as SHIT, were more then a few foreign nationals WATCHING. Religious leaders looking on in fury, grief, and horror.

Reporters. Oh sweet Jesus the reporters.

The press secretary faints.

PANDEMONIUM. The president, still dazed and confused from being possessed, gets PUNCHED on live television be his VP, a deeply religious if moderately shady man. Take bribes? VP is cool with that. Bootstraps, peasants, and all that. But how DARE you fuck with the Souls of the dead. How DARE you!

Phones are blowing up, questions are being shouted, the JLA Dark FEEL like they should tell somebody about the ghost kid... but also this feels VERY "Call for help-y" so they might throw their weight around instead and pretend they know nothing. World leader are meaningfully staring at their Dear Beloved Dead Grandmother's photos as they send LIVID assistants to hound the American into answering the DAMN PHONE-!

And Danny?

Danny feels calmer now. He has stolen like....700 bucks from secret security's various wallets. He's going to buy himself BOUGIE groceries. Some...some NICE take out. Maybe a little cake. Yeah~ Cake for Danny~

If anyone needs him? No you don't. He needs to go do some shopping, eat, lie on the floor of his shower and just... vibe for a bit under the spray. In the dark maybe. Sleep for a week. Have his food. Yummy little treats.

Or he's gonna fuckin LOSE IT, man.

(Tucker is actively hacking his college schedule as they speak. He KNEW it. Called it! Too many classes! But does Mr "I can handle it" listen? Noooooooo! Now look what happened! Holy SHIT, Danny!)

@hypewinter @hdgnj @ailithnight @nerdpoe @the-witchhunter

[too-much-tma-stuff]

Finally getting help (prt 4)

Masterpost

The bats worked through the night, coordinating and researching everything that needed to be done. Distortion showed up on the camera which they assumed was Vlad trying to get in but he didn’t manage it. After he finished trying from multiple angels including somehow from directly above (well Zatana did say invisibility, intangibility, and flight were the minimal powers they should expect from creatures of the infinite realms.) He turned human again and spent a long time banging on their front door.

He tried to call the cops but commissioner Gordon called Bruce directly to get the full story then told Vlad it could be dealt with in the morning. Zatana was also coordinating people heading to Amity, a full on raid of the GIW, and the Fentons.

Batman and Superman were collecting all the information that the raid team was sending out and workshopping public statements they could sent out to the public and the government about the unacceptable things they had found and the steps the JL was taking to fix it. The government was not going to be happy they knew, with the JL ‘over-stepping’ into their business and actually getting the word out about the atrocities a branch of their government and their pet scientists had been planning. The JL needed to get out ahead of it before the narrative could be twisted against them.

It was first thing in the morning when they did a live broadcast from the watchtower with Batman, Superman, and Zatana telling the world about the parallel world existing harmlessly along side their own, and the way the government tried to exploit it. The atrocities committed under the name of the Anti-Ecto acts with the ignorance of the public as a cover.

It was at the same time that Constantine, Dick, and Cas were raiding the Fenton’s home. Of course they were armed, but so were the bats, and they were used to fighting people who were armed. It wasn’t a particularly hard fight.

A redhead was sitting wide eyed at the kitchen table. “Can’t we just have one normal day!” She suddenly snapped but she was glaring at her parents, standing up and slamming her hands on the table.  “First you send Danny away with Vlad even though you KNOW they hate each other and it’s a school day and now this! What did you do to bring the heroes down on us!?”

“I don’t know Jazzybear!” Jack half whined as he was forced into power supressing cuffs to neutralize his minor super strength and sat down in the living room.

“I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding, don’t worry sweetie,” Maddie added, both of them were dressed in jump suits which did not help their supervillain vibes.

“it’s not a mistake mate, you’ve been messing with shit you really shouldn’t. And that portal in your basement is a fucking beacon welcoming a war. You’ve gone unchecked for too god damn long, we’re taking over things now.” Constantine told them before stalking down into the basement with Tim on his heels, Batman would be joining them as soon as they were done their press conference.

Cas stayed to watch the parents and Dick approached Jazz gently. “Hey can I talk to you in private please? It’s about your brother,” He said gently and she stiffened immediately. Looking at him in a way that made him feel like she could see straight into his soul and froze him to the spot. After a moment though she just sighed and nodded, beckoning to him to follow her upstairs, to a room that was probably Danny’s not her own. She sat on his bed and grabbed a bear that had been sitting on the edge, waving for him to sit at the desk.

“So, what do you know?” She asked with a sigh.

“Well, last night Vlad took Danny to a Wayne Gala, one of Bruce’s daughter Cas is really good with body language and clocked that something was wrong so she and one of the other kids got him away from Vlad and out of the party. I guess he really needed some adult support because he broke down and told them a lot, about the Phantom thing, the ghosts and… something you’re not going to like. But first I want you to know he’s safe, Bruce Wayne is a licensed foster parent and he’s taking good care of Danny, you can come live with them too if you want.

“We’re going to deal with the ghosts and the GIW and everything else now, I can’t promise by the end of this you won’t need somewhere else to go. I have a feeling if Batman and the Martian family have anything to say about this your parents will end up in prison for their unethical experiments.”

“As long as Danny is okay,” Jazz said firmly. “I was only staying to take care of him anyway, just get me emancipated and a scholarship for Gotham U so I can study while still being close to him I’ll be fine. I’m almost 18 as it is.”

Dick nodded, she was a smart and driven girl, she knew what she wanted, he could respect that. “Now, the thing you won’t like…” he trailed off and took a deep breath. “Danny is pregnant.”

“What!?“ Jazz blanched, gaping at him for a long minute. “That can’t be right! I mean I knew he was trans but he’s usually only interested in girls, how would he even-“ She cut off her eyes widening. “It was Vlad wasn’t it?” She gritted out with an expression the promised excruciating violence.

“Yes,” Dick said shifting awkwardly in his chair.

“Right.” Jazz said and got up, coldly calm. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back.” She grabbed a baseball bat from next to Danny’s bed that seemed to be glowing slightly then marched to the other side of the room, opened a cabinet and pulled out two odd looking guns. Before Dick could say much of anything she had vaulted out of the window and taking off down the street.

“Oh dear,” Dick muttered faintly before heading back downstairs. “Hey Cas can we turn on the news, some sort of local station?” He asked. Cas nodded and searched around for the remote, turning it on to find the channel was already on local news.

Vlad was already on there, talking about how it was awful Bruce Wayne had Kidnapped a local child Danial Fenton, and he could not be allowed to get away with this just because he was rich! But that didn’t last long, they watched for a few minutes before a blur of red hair and blue rushed past the camera.

“YOU TOUCHED MY BROTHER YOU CREEP!” Jazz said as she came out swinging and she must have quite the arm because her first swing sent him nearly flying off the stage. He scrambled to get up as she lunged at him again.

“Now Jasmine you’ve clearly been misinformed, I didn’t do anything-“ His muffled voice was cut off as she swung the bat again and he yelped as she hit him in the stomach.

“YOU GOT HIM PREGNANT! YOU DID THIS! YOU SHOULD BEHIND BARS NOT BEHIND A PODIUM YOU FROOTLOOP!” She shrieked as she swung again and this time he managed to dodge. The cameras following them as Jazz chased him down the street, the sound of his supplications and her shrieking fading out as they became more and more distant.

It took a frantic moment for the camera angle to switch to something else, maybe a drone, which was able to follow them down the street.

“You Don’t UNDERSTAND! I didn’t want to hurt him! I just wanted a perfect son! If he had just agreed to be my son none of this would have happened! When I knew it failed I told him to let them die!” Vlad yelled at her, though that did NOT seem to comfort Jazz at all. She had devolved into shrieking book titles like curses as she chased him with the bat and shot at him with the guns though her aim didn’t seem very good.

Well they had him admitting to it on camera now. As he watched a new actor joined the fray, a girl in a red jumpsuit holding a blaster.

“You did what to Danny!?” She demanded as she pointed the blaster at Vlad.

“Oh cheespuffs!” Vlad breathed, his eyes widening as Jazz trailed off letting who must be Red Huntress take over the chase as Vlad shouted about how he had made her! He had given her her weapons she couldn’t use them against him! Which did not seem to be stopping her.

The camera fuzzed out for just a second and then Valery was chasing a ghost with red eyes and a white outfit. Cas was laughing silently at the show and both of the Fenton parents seemed to be in shock. A few minutes later Jazz walked back in through the front door looking tired.

“Turn that off please,” she sighed as she put the bat down.

“Of course,” Cas agreed and picked up the remote again, turning off the tv. 

“Vlad didn’t actually do that, did he Jazzy?” Jack asked softly, he sounded so hurt, as if he had any fucking right!

Jazz looked at him blankly. “How many times have we tried to warn you about him? How many times has Danny told you he didn’t feel safe with Vlad? But as usual you couldn’t see past your own desires. I’m going to go see if the trenchcoat guy needs any help getting into your files,” She sighed before vanishing downstairs. 

Dick glanced at Cas, and then followed them, she would have no trouble watching the Fentons and staying quiet whereas Dick felt like he was about to explode. Batman joined them before long and between the three of them they shut the bulkheads on the portal and locked them, secured dangerous chemicals and devices, and downloaded everything they could. There were plenty of prototypes and blueprints, and stuff that could generously be called research.

It was obvious these people were geniuses but it was even more obvious that at some point they had become careless and obsessive. Half of the writing on the blueprints wasn’t legible, dangerous chemicals were not in proper containment, and the weapons were not locked up. Looking at all of this it wasn’t surprising that two of the people they had been involving in their research suffered exposure, it was a surprise more hadn’t. It was easy to tell when Bruce came down he was horrified, it was in the way he froze when he saw the lab, as if his brain was struggling to process just how irresponsible the Fenton parents had been.

“You must be Jazz, it’s nice to meet you. Danny speaks highly of you,” He finally rebooted to say when she waved at him. 

“I love my little brother, I always did the best I could to keep him safe from… all this,” Jazz said gesturing at the lab with a sigh. “I wish it had done any good.”

“You did plenty of good,” Dick put in. “Trust me, to a kid having someone care about them can make all the difference. 

“All those nights I patched him up after he came back from fighting ghosts. He healed fast but still. I can’t believe… he’s already been through so much and we knew Vlad was up to something! Ellie said she was our cousin but she looked just like him, I should have kept a closer eye on-” She cut off and shook her head. “He’s a good kid, of course if he couldn’t give the babies up, even if it would be better for them if he did. I hope he knows I’d support him either way, I hope he didn’t not tell me because he thought I’d be upset at Him.”

“I’m sure he didn’t,” Dick assured her gently. “Being a big sibling is hard, I know. But trust me you’re doing a great job, better than I did with my brothers,” he said, patting her shoulder. “You can ask him yourself later though. We have a lot to get done today to make sure he’s safe.”

She nodded stubbornly and doubled down on her work, directing them occasionally to where she knew they’d find more weapons or logs. She knew her way around the lab to a disturbing extent. 

Bruce and Dick both got a notification from Agent A saying that after a substantial sleep in Danny had woken up and was having breakfast. He seemed worried about the family but he was taking it alright, especially since he knew they were busy people. It did motivate Dick to clear things up as soon as they could so that they could get back to Danny though. The last thing he needed was More stress!

They had plenty of evidence of the Fenton parents breaking the law to call the police and have them taken away which gave them all the time they needed to strip the house. They got everything they could and decided to leave Constantine at the house to watch the portal until they could figure out how to shut it down completely without causing any damage. It seemed unstable so they didn’t want to risk it just now, especially without Danny’s input because according to Jazz Danny had made genuine connections in the Infinite Realms. 

They wrapped up this stage of the investigation before dinner after being up for about 36 hours. Of course they weren’t Done, there was still plenty to do investigating the government, how they’d gotten away with this and if they had any other nasty tricks up their sleeve. They’d have to manage any backlash from this unilateral move, and they’d have to figure out what to tell the public about Danny since Bruce would be fostering him. But all that could be done after having a family dinner with their new brother and a nap. 

part 5

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[flamingpudding]

Gaming Pal Prompt

A/N: Random Idea that was stuck in my head after reading about a Pen Pal Prompt

It all started with a simple accidentally created open lobby. Sam, Tucker and Danny were just playing Doom in a four person Lobby that was supposed to be passcode locked and private so that it was only the three of them playing. But one of them must have forgotten to lock it as suddenly a random player joined them as well as the in-game voice chat they were using.

"Sup. Mind if I join the game? My last lobby kicked me."

"Why? Too good or too bad?"

Tucker shot back, not minding the new player. The three would just have to watch what they talk about during game time.

"Don't know. I think they thought I cheated."

"Pff, sore losers. Maybe you can help these losers kick ass."

"Oh shut it Sam, we will wipe the floor with you now!"

"A challenge huh? That sounds interesting. I am Tim by the way."

"Sam."

"Tucker."

"Danny."

The friend request was sent after the game in which Tim did help Tucker and Danny beat Sam. Only for Sam to demand a rematch to regain her victory streak. From then on the random player regularity started joining in on their games whenever he happened to be online at the same time.

Of course the trio filtered their talks over voice chat. Making sure they wouldn't let anything atrocious slip. Though they did have some fun telling a non Amity Parker about the shit that goes down in their town and Tim always appeared interested to hear more about the things going on. Always curious and full of follow up questions, that strangely focus on who the attackers were ( always ghosts really they don't have any other rogues aside from maybe the fruitloop) and other times very much focused on their local ghost hero Phantom. He was also strangely interested in the whole GIW situation and sounded rather confused when they mentioned the Anti-Ecto Acts.

Aside from that Tim practically became a part of their little group. Their online Gamer Pal who knew nearly as much about their rogues and local Hero (thanks to all the questions he asked) like they did. A full fledged Team Phantom member who just didn't know the main secret of Danny actually doing the Ghost fighting as Phantom and being the one getting hunted by his own Parents and the GIW.

So of course the day came where Sam, Tucker and Danny forget to filter their words. It was during one particularly exhausting day when Danny had only had like 4 hours of sleep because he had studied all night for an English Test and then Skulker appeared to hunt Phantom and Danny's parents showed up too, making souping the Hunter Ghost especially difficult.

"Ancients, Skulker just had to decide on hunting you today, didn't he Danny?"

"Don't remind me. He is still souped in the thermos, but dodging Mom was harder with so little sleep."

"Should you like take a nap then man?"

"Nah I am fine for gaming night."

"Hey Danny, you did escape the blasters unscratched right? Your mom is the better shot after all."

"Nearly. Mom landed a couple of hits but it's almost healed already, just some small burn marks left."

"I am sorry, WHAT?! Did you guys just say that Skulker, the one that's hunting Phantom for sports, was hunting Danny. Danny was the one to Soup him not Phantom and Danny's Mom shot and hurt her own son with one of these ecto-blasters?!"

[ew-selfish-art]

DP x DC AU: Danny desperately wants to find the explosion guy. Tim is really good at covering his tracks... he didn't account for ghosts.

The explosions make it onto TV as purported terror activity and most people haven't heard of that part of the world much less ever given a second thought to care about it. The only real reason it gets reported on has something to do with the Justice League and... Danny knows too much.

He's been in training for Clockwork's court (which he's suspicious of- feels like kingly duty bullshit- but Danny is playing along out of curiosity for now) and he's learned a lot about how the living and non-living worlds collide. That means learning about CW's usual suspects- one of which just happened to have a ton of bases around the area Danny was seeing on the news.

It didn't take long for Danny to try to piece together that whoever blew up Nanda Parbat was trying to fuck with the League of Shadows, and was doing it successfully. Less green portals in the world the better, same goes for assassins. But it gets Danny thinking... Maybe he can employ similar tactics on the GIW Bases that keep spawning on the edges of Amity Park. It would at least set them back while he and his friends navigated the help line desk to request Justice League intervention. None of them can leave Amity Park, so outreach is going to have to be creative.

So Danny figures he'll just find the guy. Call up some ghosts who were there, or er, came from there and get a profile and track him down. But the ghosts keep saying it was The Detective. Annoying!

Danny goes full conspiracy theory, gets Tucker and Sam involved, and begrudgingly asks Wes Weston his thoughts.

He hadn't expected Wes to garble out a thirty minute presentation (that had 100 more slides left to go before he cut it off) about how Batman totally trained with a cult and so did his kids. Danny kind of rolled his eyes but... hey, new avenue of searching in the Infinite Realms at least.

The ghosts confirm that Bombs is for sure not Batman's MO- But maybe his second kid would know? The second kid was already brought back to life though, so no way to easily reach him... Danny starts to realize that this might be the work of a Robin now. Wasn't the red one known for solving cold cases? (Sam provides this information- its a social faux pas to not know hero gossip at Gotham Galas- everything she's learned is against her will).

It all comes to a head when Danny goes about the hard task of opening a portal for the guy to come through at just the right time, explain the infinite realms so he doesn't panic and then describe what the fuck was going on with the GIW. It takes months, just over a full year, of random (educated guesses) portal generating- Finally, Red Robin drops into the land of the dead.

"So, you're the guy I've got to talk to about explosions right?" Danny enthusiastically asks.

Tim thinks he's died and landed in the after life following 56 hours of being awake and plummeting off the side of a building into a Lazarus pool. Nothing makes sense about the kid in front of him.

"Yeah, I got a guy for munitions." Tim answers cooly.

"How do you feel about secretly sanctioned government operations that violate protected rights?"

"Gotta get rid of 'em some how. Need me to point you in the right direction?" This might as well be happening.

[bet-on-me-13]

Danny goes on Vacation: Bad Ending

(Kind of a Part 2 to This Post, and specifically the comment made by @gamermineral about the GIW)

So! Danny has not had a Vacation in Years. Not since the day he became a Hero.

Its not even that he hasn't tried before, its that every time he does it all goes horribly wrong.

The first time he ever tried taking a vacation, Undergrowth broke out of the Zone and took over the town for a 2nd Time. It took a week to fix that mess.

The next time, he tried just going away for a few days, and that was the day Aragon and Vlad teamed up to try and take over the City.

The final time was a few years later. He had mostly managed to establish a Stable Situation after months of Hard Work. The Rogues weren't attacking as Frequently, and in fact many of them had become good frenemies with him over the years. Their Battles were more like Play Fights at that point, although he did need to keep them from going too far and hurting civilians.

He thought he was safe for a few days break in the next city over...

Turns out some random Cult decided to Summon Pariah Dark out of his Coffin in them middle of a Major City that very day. That Incident had both Secured his Position as the new Ghost King, and had caught the attention of the JLA. They approached him afterwards offering a position on their Team.

Still, Danny held off on having a Vacation for a while longer. He still didn't know if it was even worth asking them to cover for him, the situation was mostly peaceful and they weren't that big of a threat usually.

Eventually though, after a few months of working up the nerve he asked the Team if they could cover for him so he could have a Vacation. They had enthusiastically agreed, happy to help even if it was a supposedly easy job.

Danny left them a few instructions on what to do in the case of a Rogue Attack, and left for his Vacation in Space.

But he still wasn't fully sure, so he went back to check on them after 2 days. It seemed like everything was actually fine, and he left again.

A week later, he was feeling nervous again, and check up again. And it still seemed to be going well.

After one more minor checkup, he felt secure in the safety of the Situation. So he left to deep space for the remainder of his Vacation and enjoyed the hell out of it. He felt free for the first time in YEARS!

But the situation wasn't going nearly as good as the Team had lead on.

The Rogues were too powerful for the initial team dispatched to handle the threat, and they needed to call in a few more Heroes to fight them off. When Danny showed up for his check in, they had played if off as Much as they could and sent him on his way. Then they did the same for the next two times.

The JLA Team was struggling far too much, much more than they could handle. But they didn't want to call in high level members, they had too much pride.

And unfortunately, the GIW was there to "help" them. They said that they could use the GIW Tech at their disposal to contain the Ghosts until the Hero of the town got back, that their weapons were Optimal for battling them without hurting them.

And the JLA Team took up the offer.

The next time they beat a Rogue, using GIW Weapons, they sent them to the nearby GIW Base and called it a day. And they continued doing that for the entire month Danny was away. They didn't know better, they would later claim.

Danny returned from his trip happy as can be. Until he sought out his Fight Buddies, and could find none of them.

"Hey guys, I just checked up on the Zone." Said Phantom, "And I couldn't find any of my Rogues. Do you know where they are?"

One of the Team Members who had taken over Amity for the month responded, "Well, we weren't having an easy time forcing them back through the Portal, so we took up the offer of some Locals who said they could help."

"Oh!" Said Phantom, "So Ms Mason and Mr Foley helped? Or was it Mrs. Grey? Or the Fentons? What did they do to keep the Ghosts from the Zone?"

"Oh no, it wasn't any of them" Said the Team Member, "It was this little organization called the Ghostly Investigation Ward, they helped us contain all the Rogues in their Base. We started last month, and-"

And Phantom stopped listening after that. His Heart stopped, his blood drained from his face, and he felt a deep sense of horror permeating his Core.

The GIW had captured all of his Friends.

And the JLA had helped them.

[luxaofhesperides]

Ghostlight prompt: Danny and Duke being childhood friends, but Danny tells Duke the moment the accident happens and such cause he trusts him, only for Danny to go radio silent when giw decide to block the town communications in senior year.

So Duke-does he tell Danny he's Signal or not? Up to you-gets worried the longer no contact goes by.

Maybe the away game thing seen in other posts where the sports team still does away games and Danny gets enough good will with star or dash maybe and they send a message to Duke that's some coded phrase and Duke knows shits going down?

(yourlocalcorviddad, it's a side blog so didn't want to send from main sorry)

Danny is not someone who is on his mind a lot, these days. It’s to be expected, considering how distance and their double lives eat up all the time they have to talk. Really, it’s a miracle that they were able to speak enough to learn about their own individual vigilante work, especially with Duke bouncing around foster homes for a good portion of that time. 

They haven’t spoke in months but that’s normal for them.

Duke thinks he can be forgiven for not knowing something was wrong. He still won’t forgive himself for it.

“Danny’s gone?” he repeats, feeling numb. There’s static ringing in his ears, his entire world hollowing out.

The guy in front of him looks grim, unable to meet Duke’s eyes. Did he introduce himself? Duke can’t remember, can’t keep his spiraling thoughts straight in his head. “He’s gone. His entire family is gone and we haven’t been able to call for help because… well…”

“It’s those guys, right? The ones in white?”

“You know about them?”

“Danny told me. Danny told me a lot about what he did in Amity Park.”

The guy lets out a slow, relieved breath. “Good, then I don’t have to explain. Sorry, it’s just that it’s not something we talk about, especially out in the open. After the last few months, things got really bad. We know the GIW took the Fentons, but we can’t find out how or why and they’ve got us on a tight lockdown.”

“Then how did you get out?” Duke asks. Another arguably more important question pops into his mind a second later. “Actually, how do you know about Danny and… you know. The other things.”

The grimness on the guy’s expression fades away some beneath the sudden shame and embarrassment. “Oh, that. Well, I dunno how much he told you about his, like, daily life, but, um. I’m Dash. Baxter. I bullied him?”

Dash. 

Dash. That’s a name he recognizes. 

Danny’s complained about Dash a lot in the past. Since they were in middle school, really. Duke would always get mad on Danny’s behalf about how terribly he’s being treated, how no one would stop such obvious bullying. And every time, Danny would laugh it off and say in that soft voice of his, It’s alright, Duke, really. Having you care is more than enough for me.

It never stopped the bullying, though, but the way Danny talked about Dash changed when they both entered high school. He was still annoyed about everything Dash did, but there were less insults about him, less venting about every little thing that pissed Danny off about him, as if he just didn’t care anymore.

And there is, of course, the most memorable time Danny called Duke about Dash over the summer.

Hey, Danny, Duke had began, only to be cut off by Danny yelling, I kissed Dash?! Or he kissed me?! What am I supposed to do now!

And Duke, despite the jealousy he felt at hearing that Danny and Dash kissed, laughed so hard he cried while Danny yelled at him to be helpful. 

There wasn’t any discussion on Dash since, beyond a comment here and there about a funny fanboying thing Dash had said about Phantom. The focus of their conversations shifted towards how hard it was to be heroes or vigilantes, quiet reassurances that they’re both doing the best they can, tips traded about best ways to patch themselves up and get through the night. Sometimes, it felt like Danny was the only person in the world to really know Duke; all his pain and promises, his dreams, everything he was Before and who he became in the After.

He’s missed Danny, but the last message Danny sent him told him that things were getting rough in Amity Park, and to not call or contact him until he reached out first.

So Duke trusted in Danny and focused his attention in Gotham, putting his all into becoming a better hero, someone people can rely on. 

He thinks that maybe he should have fallen into the Bats’ bad habits of invading privacy to make sure Danny’s okay. 

Too late for that now, though.

“I know you,” Duke says after a long moment. “He talked about you sometimes. Come with me, we have a lot to discuss.”

Dash looks appropriately nervous, but he doesn’t argue. 

It’s a tense, quiet walk to the library where Barbara works. She’s stationed at the front desk when he arrives and greets him with a smile, eyes flicking towards Dash in question.

“Hey, Babs, got a private study room open?”

Her gaze sharpens and Duke can’t help the feeling of relief that flows through him, knowing that Oracle is ready to look out for him. “Let me check,” she says, turning towards the computer to click around a few pages. “Study room 8 is open.”

That’s the study room with a working lock and soundproofing. It also has cameras and a mic inside, but all the other study rooms have one too, just for safety purposes. Things could always go terribly wrong when people are locked together in a small room, and having video and audio evidence of what happened has assisted in more than a few cases. 

He leads them up to the second floor, past the students studying and the group of young children in the back corner of the library listening intently to a read aloud. 

The only occupied study rooms are those up front, closer to the stairs. The back rooms are empty and quiet, the perfect place for a little impromptu interrogation.

“So,” Duke says as he closes the door to study room 8 behind them. Dash sits down as if this is just a casual conversation, but the way his foot taps against the floor betrays his nerves. “Danny’s gone. And somehow, that lead you to me.”

Dash glance around, then leans closer to drop his voice into a harsh whisper. “The Guys In White got some insane upgrades a few months ago and forced every citizen of Amity Park into a surveillance state. The entire Fenton family is gone, but we all know it’s really because they want Danny.”

“Explain the situation in Amity Park some more.”

“Well. It’s like this: we didn’t take them seriously, so they upped their moves and got us trapped. No one goes in or out of Amity Park without good, verifiable reason. We have a curfew and we can be randomly stopped and searched for ectoplasm or exposure to ghosts. Most of the ghosts have left, but a few of the stronger ones hang around to cause trouble to get the GIW off our backs for a bit.”

“So how did you end up in Gotham?”

“I was invited to tour the college. And since outsiders were expecting me, the GIW let me go. But there’s definitely some that tailed me to Gotham, but I can’t find them at all. Even talking to you now is a huge risk for me.”

Which means they don’t have much time to talk before someone comes looking for Dash. His words, paired with everything Duke’s heard from Danny, paint a deeply unpleasant picture in his mind. “Are you going to be in trouble?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. It’s Danny we’re all worried about. He told me before he got caught that if anything happened to him, I should find you. Tucker helped us narrow down where exactly you are and sent you that text to get you to where we met.”

“What do you think I can do?”

“I don’t know,” Dash admits. “But Danny trusts you, and he needs your help.”

Duke was never going to say no to this request to begin with, but damn if those words don’t make him want to run to Amity Park without waiting for anyone else.

“Okay,” he says. “Okay. I’ll help rescue him and bring down the GIW. You should go now, before they get too suspicious.”

“What are you planning?”

“I got a couple of friends who are good at destroying government property. Trust me, you’ll see what we’re up, we’re pretty noticeable if we’re pissed off enough.”

“Don’t take too long then,” Dash says, standing up, “I expect a good show from you. See you around, man.”

And with that, Dash pats Duke’s shoulder and leaves the study room. Duke doesn’t follow after him.  He’s got a rescue to start planning, and the less time he wastes, the better.

In the end, it’s pretty simple. It’s not a hard mission at all when the time comes for them to act, but the amount of data they gather and have to shift through is daunting. But that’s more Tim and Barbara’s forte, so he trusts them to handle it. 

Together with Red Robin, Spoiler, and Black Bat, they hit Amity Park hard and fast. 

One night was spent learning the lay of the land and every station and lab set up by the GIW. The second night was spent burning it all down and tossing open cages full of green blob ghosts and a few transparent, weakly glowing human ghosts. Stronger ghosts, glowing brightly, joined them in a few places with battle cries and maniacal laughter.

They split up and took down all the bases and patrol stations on their own, sweeping through the city like vengeful shadows. 

By dawn, the GIW were in shambles, without any bases or equipment, and rounded up for arrest. 

Cass was the one to find Danny and his family; his parents were forced to create weapons for the GIW under threat of Danny and Jazz’s torture. Danny was locked up like an animal and studied. Jazz had restraints on, including a muzzle, and a bloodthirsty rage in her eyes. Apparently, she had put up the most fight and, while being studied for repeated exposure to ectoplasm and radiation, started biting people.

The Fentons are big names in this conflict. Tim makes the executive decision to burn one of his out-of-state safehouses so they can hide and recover in peace, then promptly moves them into it as soon as the EMTs give them the all clear. They’re gone by the time the sun is rising over the horizon, and the curious Amity Parkers that have gathered behind the blockade of police cars have to be reassured that the Fentons have been taken away for their protection, not for further abuses. Even then, tensions are high and the locals are clearly prepared to start rioting now that they have a chance to fight back.

As vigilantes, they’re not meant to interact with cops much. Perhaps it’s simply their experiences in Gotham that keep them at a distance, disappearing into the neighborhood the moment attention shifts off of them. Either way, Duke is hurrying out of Amity Park with the rest of the team on his heels, eager to return to Gotham and follow up on their own leads to make sure the GIW is properly gutted and dismantled. 

Duke heads off for the Hatch as soon as they reach Gotham, hoping to shed the suit and finally be able to call Danny. The guilt of not noticing how bad things had gotten rolls through his stomach, and more than that, he’s missed hearing Danny’s voice. 

The first few calls go straight to voicemail. Duke leaves a quick message asking Danny to let him know how he’s doing as soon as he can talk. 

Then he goes for a shower and to change into civilian clothes, prepared to make his way to Wayne Manor to let Bruce know how everything went. And hopefully distract him from his Disappointed Father/Leader Lecture about taking on missions behind his back, as if Duke can’t handle himself. And also because Bruce has no leg to stand on when it comes to this. He’s fully prepared to throw that entire lecture back into his face at a moment’s notice.

The post-mission exhaustion is hitting him hard and fast. Duke has to brace himself against the wall once he’s out of the shower, resisting the urge to just lie on the floor and sleep there until he starts feeling more human. 

Somehow, he gets himself into some sweatpants and a plain shirt, pulls on a pair of mismatched socks, and begins gathering his things so he can get to the Batcave. 

He’s in no state to be driving. Maybe someone would be willing to take him there?

Just as he reaches for his phone to thumb through his contacts and see who he can bother, it buzzes in his hand. Duke blames the way he jumps on his exhaustion, then blinks his tired eyes to squint at the name that pops up onto the screen.

Danny.

All at once, his exhaustion fades away. A rush of adrenaline runs through him as he scrambles to accept the call, already pacing around the room so he doesn’t fall asleep. 

“Hello?”

There’s a moment of silence, then the exhale of a breath that turns to static over the call. “Duke,” Danny’s tired voice says. “Duke…”

“You doing okay? I couldn’t get to you before you and your family had to leave and go into hiding, but I’ve been worried about you, man.”

“I’m good. We’re all fine, now. Fentons are strong, you know? We’ll bounce back in no time.”

From what he’s heard about Danny’s family, that’s most definitely true. He’s seen the pictures of walls Jack Fenton has burst through with his body. It’ still hard to believe that no one in the family is a meta, outside of Danny.

“You need anything? I can get it to you, just say the word. Anything at all.”

Danny hums, then asks with a playful note in his voice, “Anything?”

“Anything.”

“I need you. How fast can you come meet me? I’ll even pay for express delivery.”

Duke laughs, so relieved at hearing the lightness return to Danny’s voice that he feels weak in the knees. “It’ll be at least two days. I gotta sleep and debrief with Batman before I can see you. It’s gonna take some time to get out of Gotham again.”

“Maybe I can go to you, instead,” Danny suggests. “Fly over and be there is less than an hour.”

“Are you in any shape to be flying right now?”

“I’m fine! Already healing and everything,” Danny insists.

“It might be dangerous if any rogue GIW agents go after you.”

“Well,” Danny says, “That’s why I need to get to my knight in shining armor sooner rather than later, right?”

Duke bites his lip to fight back a smile, blinking his eyes forcefully to keep them from closing under the heavy weight of exhaustion. “Does that make you a damsel in distress?”

“I mean, I did need rescuing, so I guess? I’m not much of a damsel, but I could put on a pretty dress for you. It’ll be like playing pretend when we were kids.”

“Oh, man, I kinda miss those poofy dresses. I think I could still rock on, put it on top of the armor when I go out for patrol.”

Danny snickers. “Signal: the most well dressed vigilante in Gotham.”

“That’s me, baby!”

The last of the agonizing fear that’s choked him since he first talked to Dash finally melts away. Danny’s fine now. Everything’s okay; the GIW are done for and there’s plenty of people willing to look out for the Fentons. This will never happen again.

“Hey,” Danny says, voice suddenly turing more serious. “Send me your location. I wasn’t joking when I said I could fly over to you. And before you say anything! I do need it; Jazz and my parents are smothering me and I just need to get away from everything and pretend all of this never happened.”

The admission softens Duke, makes him shove away everything that tells him this is a bad idea, that Danny needs more rest first, that having Danny fly over alone and without warning any of the Bats fills Duke with anxiety. 

He does miss Danny. More than he can put into words.

“Yeah, okay,” he says at last. “Come meet me, Danny.”

He texts Danny the location of the Hatch before common sense tells him to be more careful with his base of operations. Not that it matters, anyways; if there’s anyone in the world he trusts with everything, it’s Danny. 

Then he sends the Bats a quick text saying he’s crashing in the Hatch and to not bother him until the sun is fully up two days from now. Oracle gives him a thumbs up emoji, which is a good guarantee that she will personally see to it that no non-emergency messages interrupt his rest and recovery time.

Duke has no idea how long it will take Danny to get to the Hatch, so he putters around, cleaning up the space and straightening it out in an attempt to keep busy enough that he doesn’t crash. Travel really takes it out of him. It’s one of the cons of being born and raised in Gotham: he doesn’t have the stamina to travel outside of it, especially when they were there and back in less than three days.

Thank god for Tim’s many motorcycles and his tendency to see the speed limit as a weak suggestion that can be ignored while on a mission.

Ultimately, the call of sleep is too strong to resist. 

One moment, Duke is sorting through files on the Hatch’s computer, and the next moment, he’s face down on a bed with his face shoved into a pillow. 

Blearly, he manages to pull his phone out of his pocket and send Danny a typo-ridden text that hopefully gets across the message of might be asleep so just come in, don’t wait for me to answer the door.

He’s out like a light as soon as it sends. The last thing Duke registers is his phone dropping out of his hand and falling against the mattress with a little bounce.

When he begins to wake up, something’s changed. As much as he wants to go back to sleep, awareness comes back to him slowly and Duke forces himself to claw his way out of unconsciousness to figure out what, exactly, is bothering him so much. Until he figures out what’s changed in the room, he won’t be able to sleep because he’ll be worried about someone breaking in.

His mind comes back online long before his body does. It’s only when he tries to move that Duke realizes he’s no longer alone on the bed; there’s someone wrapped up in his arms, body temperature a little too cool to be a normal human.

Blinking open his eyes, Duke looks down at the head of messy black hair and feels Danny’s soft breath ghost across his chest. 

“Danny?” he manages to say, voice rough with sleep. 

Danny hums and doesn’t move.

“Hey, look up. Let me see if you’re really alright.”

“Mmm, no,” Danny mumbles, burrowing his face into Duke’s chest some more. “‘m sleepy.”

A good argument. Duke is also sleepy. 

“Fine,” he says, “Check in the morning, then. G’night, Danny.”

“Night, Duke. Thanks for saving me.”

He tightens his grip on Danny, contentment burning warm in his chest. “Always, Danny. I’ll always save you.”

That’s why he’s a hero, after all. To save others, to reach a hand out to everyone the way he needed when he was younger. To keep the people he loves safe. To make sure Danny always finds a way back to him. 

This is what makes all the pain of this lifestyle worth it.

Danny makes everything worth it.

(@yourlocalcorviddad tagging to make sure you see this!)

[moonlupine]

id like to add that while i was Thinking this went in like, 4 different directions

direction 1 was going from state to state to riot and tear down any and all GIW bases, either disregarding heros or having them join in when they realize that Something Hinky was goin on w this supposed governement division wait a minute-

direction 2 was, they go straight to either gotham or metropolis since i'd imagine that despite outside forces (cough Luthor or corrupt officials cough) that they have some of the best resources for metas or otherwse cause A) Wayne enterprises cause duh or B) metropolis because idk its metropolis, so they go for help or refuge or something

direction 3 was, well actually i see a lot of stuff how gotham could be a good source for ecto, since its almost a literal hellhole and def cursed and im sure a cursed city would be like 'yeah sick' to suddlenly getting these Nice Strong Occupants despite what anyone else would say about it, since Amity is yknow, d u s t (reduced to atoms) PLUS brucie wayne is seen always donating to charity and sets up help shelters for homeless and meta's and stuff

direction 3.5 was hey, bruce wayne is the Prince of Gotham, and does a lot for the city, and is putting so much effort into this city that anyone else would have given up on (sound familiar?) and Gotham is hella cursed, so like....  👀 👀 👀 👀 Monarchy Meeting anyone?

and then direction 4 was like, hey actually what if Amity Park is in a different dimension (as i love to see in dpxdc crossovers), and their town is gone, the world turned against them, theyre outnumbered 100 to 1, time to fight their way to Wisconsin to get to Vlad's portal to get the fuck out of dodge (in this instance i like to think that at some point vlad was stuck in amity w/ everyone else, and experiences a "No one can terrorise my godson but me!!" moment, and joins their side because haha oh wait this affects me too and i didnt think about the consequences if the GIW actually got competent because i didnt think that was an option [in the other directions i think it can go either way on if vlad is with them or against, but i like the idea of disehlved and war torn mr masters kicking ass to protect this scrungly ass teen he calls his godson]) and they end up going through the portal, and travel through the Realms but have to find another dimension to reside in quick because liminals need human stuff and ecto stuff, and they have kids and babies (i mean its a whole ass town), and the universe they end up in is, of course, the DC universe and the JL are like 'w h a t' when this big ass group of refugees pops up in an abandon town/series of warehouses/field/idk and its like 'oh shit does that kid/teen/young man have a crown oh no oh fuck this could mean war if this is a super strong and durable race looking for a home we need to make sure no one fucks this up and declares war because desperation = b a d

Mob Song But For DPx DC

okay so like, i was listening to the Mob Song from Beauty and the Beast (the metal cover by jonathan young) and like

I had some Thoughts

The people of Amity Park, marching across the US, absolutely fuckin livid and done with everything the GIW has ever put them through, from disturbing the peace to attempted genocide, and now they have no amity left, nothing but the people, hurt and dirty and pissed, because goddamn it, that was their home, and now the teenagers and the fentons are leading the charge, because the kids went through puberty in an ectoplasmic marinade, and while ALL of amity are liminal to some degree, the kids and young adults all have it the most, theyre the one's with uncanny perception and strength, talking to plants and tech and being far to flexible or durable, and the whole fenton family is very much liminal, it just too too long for the Drs to realize, but they did, and they listened, and its no excuse for everything that happened, so they're giving it their all, every ounce of energy is going into the facts, the real ones

People have signs, and megaphones, shouting that 'they are people too' and 'they deserve better' 'it's been years, metas have their rights, why dont we?', there are signs, calling for action, pleading for help, sharing stories, listing out the sins of the GIW and the US government, whether it was intentionally malicous or negligent and ignorant of something that 'wasnt real'

It's like everything developed overnight, the figurative internet black hole where amity was gone, the GIW firewalls torn apart, the town that was just another nothing name on a map is here and present and so so pissed

The heros of the world wake up, turn on their news, and see absolute chaos, because its a whole fucking town that essentially didnt exist for years, and now it does and it is loud about its presence, tired of being smothered to nonexistence, and it's their mission to tear the GIW apart, in any way they can

[grounded-gryphon]

I'd Die (Again) For Y'all (Part 9)

Hey -- Tumblr's done something new with tags so i can't just copy paste the tag list anymore. Which means there's a good chance I typo'd. If you got tagged in this by accident, my apologies. I am trying to only tag folks who ask to be tagged.

Bruce was not worried. Precisely. He trusted his children. All of them. Mostly.

So he was not worried. He was concerned.

Red Hood has been out of contact ever since he left the Watchtower. That's a good thing. It means not even Oracle knows that Jason was involved in Phantom's escape.

Not that Batman doesn't trust Oracle, but the GIW has unknown capabilities and the fewer people who know the better.

But Red Hood is also a potential target for the GIW. ("Watch your back," Jason whispers in his memory, reminding him that it's not just Jason who's a target. He will worry about that later.)

Phantom was still an unknown. Batman had been convinced that he was non-hostile, but his reaction to the medbay proved that he could still be a threat.

Batman could not afford to be distracted by worries right now.

He had Flash in front of him. Flash, who had not managed to get the flash drive into the GIW's equipment, so Cyborg and Oracle didn't have the direct access they would need.

Because whatever capabilities they had, the GIW had extremely good -- worryingly good -- cyber security.

Flash also had an armful of strange weapons. And a mulish expression that said he knew he had messed up but was prepared to argue about it.

Batman needed to follow up with Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman. He had chosen not to monitor the meeting, trusting his teammates to handle things (And his kids wondered why he was a paranoid stalker…) while he caught up on Dr. Atom's and Oracle's reports.

"Hn."

Flash's expression wilted a bit around the edges. Then redoubled.

Batman bit back a sigh. There were limits to the effectiveness of lecturing his teammates. --And he needed a distraction.--

"It could have been worse," he said, taking the equipment and stalking out of the room. He needed to talk to a weapons expert and test these out somewhere safe.

Luckily, he had a weapons expert and a target range at home.

And if anything would make Jason come out of hiding, a chance to try out new guns with Alfred (followed by tea and cookies) would do it.

----

Wonder Woman's head hurt. As an Amazon and daughter of Zeus, she generally didn't need to deal with illness. Stress headaches, on the other hand… too bad she couldn't have one of her teammates split /her/ head open and instantly be better. (Granted, Zeus had gotten an instant full-grown child out of that deal, which going by some of her colleagues' experiences might have been worse than any headache.)

"So. Martain Manhunter -- a founding member of the Justice League, a hero who has saved Earth in whole or in part on multiple occasions -- is, in fact, an ecto entity with no true thoughts or emotions who has been deceiving us for decades and exists only to bring destruction on the world."

Pleased that she seemed to finally understand, the head of the GIW nodded vigorously. "Yes! It must have infiltrated your organization from the very beginning. This is why we must work together. If you allow us onto the Watchtower, we can test for further ecto contamination and inform you of other threats.

"Its ecto levels are on the low end. Its lack of power is probably why it has not caused trouble yet," Agent D put in (Wonder Woman couldn't help thinking of him as "Tweedle Dee.") "Surrounded by true heroes it would lay low rather than draw attention to itself. Ecto entities aren't sapient, but some of them are capable of animal-like cunning."

"They… what?" Wonder Woman's headache doubled. Did he just…?

D repeated himself. He did just.

Thankfully, J'onn had retreated into the Javelin when it became clear the agents would only grow more belligerent in his presence. Cyborg, next to Diana, was coughing in that 'I'm really laughing but trying to hide it' way. Diana wished she could enjoy the joke.

As far as diplomacy went, this mess had already been what some of the younger heroes called 'trash fire.' Or perhaps 'dumpster fire'.

She now understood what they meant when they said someone 'threw napalm on the fire'.

"Excuse me a moment," she said.

Stepping far enough away they shouldn't be able to overhear, she activated her comm. "Ms. Lane, this is Wonder Woman. I am about to make your job harder."

A few minutes later, she returned to where the GIW agents were waiting.

"I admit, the idea of the Justice League being infiltrated by hostile elements is concerning. The timing, however, is unfortunate. This matter is not the only one the JL is trying to deal with.

"I can bring you to the Watchtower, but due to security issues, it will be several days before we are able to return you to Earth. I realize this is an inconvenience, but we would appreciate any and all information you can give us."

Dee practically started salivating. The leader and until-now-silent third agent had the sense to hesitate. "I'd need to speak with my superiors. But if they give the okay, we'd be happy to help."

"Thank you," Wonder Woman said and smiled. Ms. Lane had warned her not to lie to the GIW. "I can fix the fallout of anything else. But if they catch you record lying, we're screwed," the reporter had said.

That was fine. Wonder Woman didn't lie.

---

Jason was poking at the magical suppression bracelets Phantom was wearing. "We may need Replacement's help with this," he said. "If it doesn't go 'boom', 'bang' or 'roar' I'm out of my depth."

They had been awake for two hours, and both were avoiding everything that had happened or been said since Tim left the night before.

"Nah, I can get them," Phantom said rubbing the back of his neck. "I, ah, I'd been planning on filching some tools and disappearing. You know…"

Rolling his eyes, Jason stood up. "Alright, let's get to one of my safehouses and I can get you your tools."

Looking around the apartment, he ripped the sheets off the bed and dropped a twenty and a burner phone on the table. The burner had a single contact number -- one of his closely guarded Red Hood phones that he was pretty sure even Oracle hadn't found yet.

Largely because it had been used maybe a half dozen times.

He'd need to switch phones after this, but having a line his lieutenants could reach him and not worry about bat interference was a fucking blessing that was worth jumping through a few hoops.

Phantom was waiting for him quietly and didn't say anything as Hood slipped his helmet back on and led the way to his bike. He put on the extra helmet when Hood handed it to him. Something in his eyes had Hood worried, but priorities.

Riding in daylight and full Red Hood gear with a passenger attracted attention, of course. Rather than try to be sneaky, Hood drove straight into the heart of Crime Alley and one of his more public places of business. Realizing Phantom didn't know what to expect, Hood waited before getting off the bike. "I can't take you to a safehouse directly. I'm too visible. So we're going to get some help. You trust me?"

For a long moment, Phantom didn't respond. Then he nodded. "Avenger."

"I'm gonna make sure you don't need to be avenged, P."

Sammy and Lisa were on site, bickering as usual. They shut up when Hood and Phantom walked in. Phantom started to take his helmet off but stopped when Hood shook his head.

"Hey boss," Sammy said, "all good here."

"Always is when you're on, Sammy. Lisa, how's tricks?"

Lisa had started as one of his girls. Worked her way up to lieutenant and sheer grit and meanness.

"Three assholes with broken fingers for trying to touch without paying first. They all apologized and left a nice tip. Patty says he's getting bored with how well everyone is behaving."

Patty (who would punch you if you called him Patrick) was nearly as big as Hood and looked nastier, but was a lot calmer. Perfect for helping the girls and boys stay safe on the streets. He was too good at his job to move somewhere else, but…

"I've got an extra job for him if you think yous can spare him a week or two."

Lisa thought a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, we can do that."

"Aight. My friend here needed to lay low for a bit. He brought me some info on a personal threat that's got the Old Man worked up. I don't plan for it to touch the alley, but you know how it goes."

Sammy nodded and Lisa threw him a sketchy salute. "We'll keep a lookout. Anything we should be alert for?"

"Should be easy to spot. Assholes running around in all-white suits."

He waited a moment, but when neither of them said anything else, waved to Phantom. "I need you to take my friend to Jason's place by the backways. Don't rush it, but no one else sees him.

"I'm going to be… busy for a while. Don't worry if you don't see me around much. I'll check in as I can, and you have the emergency number."

"You got it, boss. Is this, ah, family business?" Sammy asked.

Lisa froze but Hood laughed. Sammy was the only one who referred to the bats and birds as his family, and probably the only one who could get away with it. But he'd been doing it more and more since he'd confronted Batman on Hood's behalf six months ago.

"Not exactly, but like I said, the Old Man's worked up and will try to stick his nose in. You'd think the fucker would understand 'plausible deniability' by now."

"Got it."

He and Lisa exchanged glances and Lisa nodded.

"Alright, Mr. Smith," she said to Phantom, "It'll take a few minutes to arrange things, but Hood's got a room back here you can wait in if you'd like. We'll have you where you're going in under an hour.

"And once you're there, you're safe. /No one/ in Crime Alley fucks with Jason."

Hood chuckled and turned to Phantom. "Still good?"

Phantom nodded.

"Aight, I'll see you later. Stay safe and tell Jason 'hi' for me yeah?"

Another nod -- Hood was really worried now -- and Lisa was leading Phantom away.

As he watched Phantom walk away, the pits, which had been quiet since he broke into Phantom's cell, were stirring again.

He had been avoiding thinking about it. Avoiding paying attention. If he thought about it, about Phantom having a connection with the pits… Phantom -- the /Protector/ trusted him.

After knowing him less than a day, Jason would burn the world down if anything happened to him.

He could deal with the pits being weird around Phantom. Phantom /trusted/ him.

Prev

______

AN: I got a few comments last time about the GIW pulling guns on Martain Manhunter and didn't they realize the JL has aliens. MM died and was resurrected in the Final Crisis comic run. I'm adding that this this fics headcanon for shits and giggles. I won't pull on Final Crisis too much -- if only because I don't remember most of it. But it adds a bit of crack I couldn't resist.

I meant to include a phantom POV scene in here, but it's already nearly twice as long as previous chapters, and that scene wasn't going to be short. So you'll see what's going on with Danny next time. (Short version, trauma catching up with him. Lots of trauma.)

If you like this, you might like my slow burn, why choose, queer vampire romance Last Lady of Luna. Season 2 just started on my website.

re: the tag list. I'm going to take a leaf from a couple of other folks and make a masterpost/subscription post for this fic. If you still want to be tagged for accessibility reasons or something, let me know. I won't stop tagging entirely, but I will be cutting down the list drastically.

tag list under the cut

@8-29pm @admiralwidow @ailithnight @androcat191 @andsatisfactionbroughtmeback @annkan7 @apointlessbox @beacedocrime @beepboopimaproblemchild @blep-23 @breesperez139 @bun-fish @chaos-n-kindness @charcoalstainedbones @consouling @crystalqueertea @d4ydr34min9 @darkstarsapocalypse @drowningroane @enderglace @ever-changing-weirdo-3100 @everything163 @fenanoni @firegirl108 @fisticuffsatapplebees @gaelic-holiday @ghostpyre @gildedphoenix @girlnic @greenmuffinofdoom @help-i-need-a-cool-username @icedbluesoul @idkmrpianoman @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @igotafewbadideas @introvert-even-on-the-internet @istillhavenosociallife-blog @jaggedheart11 @jarlyd @kaneking-ken @kjoboo91 @lazy-bouqet @liandrin @library-cat-in-the-window @meira-3919 @mentalcarebear @mokakacoco @mossy-bonez @mygood-bitch99 @nexthenerd

[impudentmiscengenation]

Broadcast

Danny fiddled with the microphone pinned to his shirt, biting his lips nervously. He should never have agreed to go on ‘Paranormal Press’ to talk about his ghost half. Never. This was dumb, so dumb. Why was he so dumb? He glanced off to the side to see his parents giving him a thumbs-up from where they were, talking to some big-shot GIW scientist that the ‘news’ had also been interviewing. Of course they’d be grinning and excited; why not? They aren’t the ones that have to go on live television and talk about what were the most intimate parts of themselves.

Danny scowled to himself and tried to get comfortable in the black leather seat that he’d been given. Seated across from him was the reporter who would be asking the questions. The reporter, a gentleman in his early forties named Rich, gave the boy a small, crinkly-eyed smile. The brown-eyed man gently moved the teen’s hand from the microphone. Danny went stiff and dropped his twitching hand onto his knee.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s like camera’s not even there, if you don’t think too much about it. I was nervous my first time on live T.V., too, so I know how it feels.” Rich gave the boy a reassuring nod. Danny tilted his head to acknowledge that he’d been spoken to but remained rigid. Rich stroked his freshly-shaven chin before grinning.

“Y’know, the first time I did a live show, I was so nervous I got really bad gas.” Rich found his cheeks tinting at the not-so-fond memory of his late teens. Danny looked at the man and allowed himself a small, amused smile.

“Really?” He asked, intrigued and a bit more relieved. Rich grinned, glad to see that his confession had produced the desired effect on the teen. There it is. The reporter nodded.

“Mmhmm. Totally. It was foul, too. My co-workers wouldn’t stop calling me ‘Rich the Ripper’ for months.” Danny chuckled quietly, behind his hand out of respect, and looked at the plush violet carpet, mirth dancing in his blue eyes.

“That sounds… awful.” Rich laughed quietly as well.

“Yeah, it was pretty bad. This stays between us, okay? I really don’t want that nickname coming back.” Danny laughed and the two shook hands.

“Deal.” Suddenly a voice offstage called their attention.

“We’re live in thirty!”

Danny gulped. She didn’t mean thirty minutes. Rich cleared his throat and Danny glanced over, relaxing slightly at the older man’s calming gaze.

“Just breathe, you’ll do great. You saved the world from a glowing green asteroid; how hard could a little interview be?” Danny grinned and looked down a bit, pink staining his cheeks. Rich chuckled and straightened his notes, crossing one leg over another. “Just focus on me,” the seasoned reporter advised coolly, “I promise you that this’ll be over before you know it.” “Fifteen seconds!”

Danny took a deep, steadying breath and made himself comfortable in the seat that he’d been provided with. Focus on the questions, Fenton. Just relax. You’ve stuffed countless ghosts back into the ghost zone, faced your evil future self, and generally gone through Hell and came back unscathed! This is just a dumb interview! You can do this! “Five! Four! Three!...”

Danny snapped up to a decent posture and forced himself into a collected countenance. Even Rich found himself impressed at the boy’s sudden shift before he gave a dazzling smile to the camera. “Good evening, everyone. Today is a special day; I’m Richard Rossum of Paranormal Press here with Daniel Fenton who, up until just a few months ago, was avowed as a normal high school student in the not-so-normal town of Amity Park in Michigan; however, the Disasteroid debacle of several months prior is what forced a change, so to speak. I don’t suppose I have to tell you that I am not only speaking to Amity Park resident Daniel Fenton, but will also have the pleasure of addressing proclaimed hero, Danny Phantom.” Rich adjusted his focus and beamed at the halfa, who, in turn, responded with a slight quirk of the lips. It wasn’t necessarily awkward, just a bit unnatural. He was still fraught with nerves.

“So, Danny, what part of all this has been the most difficult to get used to?” Danny swallowed and looked at the space between Rich’s eyebrows. “Well, I guess not having to dodge into a porta-potty to switch forms is pretty neat.” Rich chuckled and Danny grinned, gaining a bit of confidence from his jest. “Out of everything? … I have to say that it’s a bit odd to, well, not be ignored. I mean, before all of this, I could just kinda do my own thing and nobody would really pick up on it but now it’s like I can’t do anything without at least someone noticing.” Rich nodded.

“I suppose that would be taxing after a while. Now, from the Disasteroid incident we were informed that not only do ghosts exist but half-ghosts as well; can you elaborate on this?” Danny blinked and tilted his head to the side a bit. “Well, I’m not really a scientist like my parents but I have picked up some things from wandering the ‘Zone.” Before Rich could think to ask about the Ghost World, Danny continued. “So, ghosts are… formed when a human dies and their emotions leave a strong enough imprint behind into ectoplasm-which is the stuff that ghosts are made out of. Usually, the stronger the emotions a person leaves behind when they die, the stronger their ghost is when it materializes in the Ghost Zone.” Jack wiped a tear from his eye backstage; he knew his son would follow in his footsteps! And the way he went about it, he sounded just as smart as his mother, who was also beaming. The boy had a far-off look in his eyes and Rich could tell not to interrupt him, the boy was deep in thought.

“A halfa… Well, we’re… I’m different,” Danny adjusted his statement, looking towards the floor. “Obviously there’s not a lot of, y’know, science behind this but… I guess I’m the product of a half-death. Like, I started to die but because there was a lot of ectoplasm, my ghost formed immediately and, as a defense mechanism, I switched forms before it was over which preserved my human half.” Rich heard murmurs and other forms of quiet exclamation from the studio; Danny either didn’t notice or didn’t care. The boy looked back up from the floor and nodded to Rich, who took the hint and looked at his notepad before frowning and looking back at the boy. He cleared his throat.

“You say that you, in a sense, died. How did you die, then?” A chill swept through the room. Those watching on the television could feel it and saw the shiver that ascended Rich’s spine. Danny’s black hair covered his face and he had a hard frown set on his lips. Rich was about to open his mouth to take back the question, obviously he’d set his interviewee off somehow, when Danny let out a small noise, a laugh almost.

“Yeah, I sometimes forget that the human world isn’t really… acquainted with weird ghost formalities.” Danny looked up and brushed the hair from his face, calming his expression and taking back the chill from the room. Rich frowned.

“What do you mean?” Danny shrugged his shoulders. “To be honest, if you asked anyone in the ‘Zone that question, you’d probably get your lights punched out. It’s… really rude to ask a ghost how they died. It’s the sort of thing that you’d have to gain a certain level of trust before even really broaching the subject…”

Silence as Rich kicked himself mentally. The murmuring hadn’t stopped and Danny let his smile drop, facing toward the back of the room. As Rich was about to ask another, more safe, question, Danny interrupted his thoughts with an answer. “I was electrocuted.” The boy’s eyes closed. “I… Wandered into my parent’s lab one afternoon with my friends. I kinda told them about this invention that my parents made but that it fell just short of working so we were gonna check it out… I went inside and… Turned it on while I was still in it… And the rest is history.” The teenager now looked slightly sick and completely miserable, the hands in his lap were trembling. Rich felt a stab of guilt that was nothing compared to what the boy’s parents were feeling just offstage. The reporter cleared his throat with a small smile. “Alright then, next question! So, having parents with lots of paranormal knowledge; how do you think you were able to keep your secret under wraps for so long?” Danny’s attitude changed and he rubbed the back of his neck with a crooked grin.

“Heh, luck? … To be honest, I’m surprised myself. I guess those of us who knew were just real careful; I don’t really think that there’s much else to it. Luck and caution.” Danny shrugged his shoulders and Rich nodded.

“Fair answer. So, being half-ghost yourself, what is your opinion overall of ghosts?” The boy frowned in thought.

“Well, that’s kinda like asking what I think of humans as a whole. I mean, it’s a pretty broad spectrum that you’re referring to. Some ghosts want nothing but power and will do anything to get it, some humans are the same way. Some ghosts want to help others any way they can, some humans feel the same… Most ghosts kinda just want to be let alone, which I can respect as long as their ‘being alone’ doesn’t, y’know, cause issues. I think what I’m trying to say is that you can’t base your perspective of ghosts because of one nasty encounter; it’s bound to happen, just like going about your life and meeting terrible humans. In fact, I know a whole lot of ghosts who are absolutely terrified at the idea of humans.” Danny paused to grin, as if thinking of a fond memory. “So… Yeah.” He looked at Rich with his boyish smile. The reporter nodded and adjusted his leg.

“Alright, then. What is the most powerful enemy you have faced thus far?” The boy pursed his lips and went quiet. “Hmm, that’s tough, actually. I guess… hm. I guess I should say Pariah Dark was the hardest ghost I’ve ever had to fight. Especially considering I couldn’t have done it on my own.” He mused aloud and Rich tilted his head to the side.

“Could you give us a bit… More on this ghost?” Danny made a noncommittal sound before nodding his head and continuing.

“Well, Pariah Dark was a really ancient ruler of the Ghost Zone. The proclaimed ‘King of All Ghosts’. As you can imagine, he was pretty… difficult to deal with.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously and Rich got the hint to begin to stray away from the topic. A woman cleared her throat and pointedly looked at the clock to remind him that he was on a bit of a time-crunch here. He needed to be quick with the five minutes he had left. “Alright, how about we start to wrap this up, then. What do you think is the most powerful ability that you have currently?” “My Ghostly Wail, for sure.” He said without hesitation, nodding to affirm himself. Rich grinned and continued along with this train of thought.

“Can you tell me about it? What does it do? How do you do it?” Danny looked even more uncomfortable and Rich started doubting himself. Was he asking all the wrong questions? The boy cleared his throat and adjusted himself in his seat.

“Well, it’s… It’s a bit tough to understand, really…” He mumbled before biting his lip. Maddie and Jack Fenton were just as confused from where they sat on the sidelines. Usually Danny was pretty ecstatic when demonstrating what he could do. Not once had he tried to perform a ‘Ghostly Wail’ for them, let alone have such a strong adverse reaction to it. Rich told himself not to interrupt the boy. He was obviously going to answer the question; the teen was looking for a way to articulate himself. Seemingly having found an answer to an internal question, Danny swallowed hard and continued to face the carpet. The teen’s face was more hardened than it had been (and much more distant than it usually looked, Maddie noticed).

“You remember when I told you that ghosts form out of strong human emotions bound to ectoplasm, right?” Rich nodded and Danny continued, speaking softly. The producers turned up his microphone to catch his words, which they hung onto like a lifeline. “Well, sometimes it’s not just emotions that get left behind. Sometimes there are… traces of certain memories or experiences that also go into forming a ghost. Sometimes these traces turn into abilities unique to the ghost that possesses them. Most of the time, these traces are what fuels ‘obsession’ in ghosts. Like, hunting, for example.” Danny grinned for a moment before regaining his somber expression. He sighed quietly and plucked at his shirt. “... When I went through the portal it… It really hurt. It was… awful. The worst thing I can think of, really. And… As I was, well, practically dying, I screamed.” He paused and the boy almost looked ready to vomit. Maddie was horrified into silence, covering her face with gloved hands while her husband was uncharacteristically stoic, frowning with his brows drawn together in concern. Rich leaned forward whilst Danny continued.

“A while after I became a halfa, I fought a really bad ghost. He was winning and I panicked. I yelled at him, screamed at him, and found out that I could project that sound so that it’s unbearable to those who hear it. It, very literally, blows them away.” Danny picked at the hem of his shirt again before finishing up with his answer. “I found out myself that my Ghostly Wail is unique to me in that… Well. When I tap into that power, I’m releasing… My dying screams.” His voice faltered for a moment and he heard his mother let out a choked sob at the mention of her child, her baby boy, going through that amount of pain. Danny steeled himself and forced a grin at the reporter. “But it’s pretty powerful. It’s really only a last resort attack because it just drains me, but it gets the job done, in most cases.” He shrugged to play off the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Next question?” Rich smiled.

“Actually, we’re just about out of time. Thank you so much for your time, Danny. Just the few answers you’ve given us today will undoubtedly shake things up in the paranormal scientific community!” Rich chuckled before facing camera #1 again to give his conclusion speech.

Danny waited in his chair until a woman’s voice echoed “We’re clear!”; the boy stood and-before he could be enveloped in his parents’ hugs-flew through the studio’s ceiling and into the crisp evening air.

I would rather take a beating from Skulker in my human form than do that again. Danny mused to himself as he twirled in the breeze, allowing the air currents to drift him further into the stratosphere and away from the studio, where plenty of baffled people were chattering away below him.

[evilminji]

(O.O ) The PONDERING is back!

You know Walker?

One of the Zone's literal ACAB? We are shown in one episode, that real world items? Against The Rules(tm).

Now, that COULD just be HIM being An Asshole? But let's be real! Unlikely. Rules/Laws get made for a REASON, generally. Usually because someone ruined it for everyone by being an asshole. Taking things too far.

You start OUT with the obvious Rules. Like "Don't Tear the Zone Apart." And "No Genocide of Literally Everything Forever You Fighty Little Assholes" but over time? You have too add stuff. Like "George is Forbidden to use the fax machine and he knows why" and "Ice Lairs and Fire Lairs have to be X distance apart AND YOU KNOW WHY"

And? IS there a central Governing body, regulating the Zone Rules? Nope! Pariah's in nappy time! BUT the manic, Iron fisted, Obsessions of THE LAW across time and space are sure willing to step up and help keep order. It... KINDA works!

And they MOSTLY have the same-ish Rules!

Like NO FUCKIN LIVING WORLD STUFF. Because? To GET such contraband? You'd have to break containment of the Zone, go THROUGH a random ass natural portal, that may or may NOT be safe, may or may NOT ever RECONNECT to the Zone, to literally terrorize the unsuspecting living souls (assuming you can FIND any), on the other side, JUST to drag that shitty candy bar back home.

Leaking ectoplasm the whole time. Poisoning the air, land, and sea. Making NEW ghosts where there might not have been any. Effectively making you their deadbeat parent. Which is premeditated child abandonment. And you DEFINITELY didn't PAY for those objects. Thief.

So, NO. No Living World Shit.

BUT!

Like city states! The Area of influence each Law Man(tm) has? While wide and sprawling? Does NOT perfectly mesh together like puzzle pieces! There ARE dead zones. Lawless, "unclaimed" areas.

Which? Are not so unclaimed.

For just as The Law has it's Obsession? So too, has the Underworld. Shaddy casinos and auctions. Black markets run like street fairs. What some Ghost Weed? They can hook you up, man. Vinnie over there was a Runner during Prohibition. He knows where ALL the classy joints are.

He can hook you up with some REAL nice Living World collectibles.

From All Over.

And? I bet it's that LAST bit? That REALLY sparks Danny's interest. He saved the guy from the GIW, who may or may not have busted him trying to... uuuuh... LIBERATE, some fine scotch for the bar back Zone side. Who's to say, really? Regardless, Vinnie? Pays his debts, you here.

Beside... the feral little gremlin kinda scares him. Good quality to have, no question, but maybe cool it with the biting? You don't know where they BEEN. You'll get a disease.

Now... all you gotta do, see, is... *mutters* *map scribbling* *bad idea enabling*

Which? Constantine! League Members of your choosing! Like a field trip from hell! Some how in the SINGLE shadiest den of Obvious Criminals you ever did see. The sky is green and they aren't in their dimension anymore. Circle up! NOW. Young Justice shoved to the INSIDE of the circle, adult heros on the outside.

Constantine? Knows where they are and wishs he didn't. He... he's not sure he CAN get them back. Going to try obviously. But no one panic. Don't show fear. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING. Start walking.

Danny? Loading up the speeder~ Christmas gifts for daaaays~~☆ Everyone is Salty but respectful, cause anti-ghost tech meant they couldn't steal it. They did TRY. But... fair play, kid. Nice ride.

Only? Right before he gets in to leave? Some vibrating blur shoots over? Talking fast and followed by an older blur? Oh hey, humans. Like... ALIVE humans. Sup?

@the-witchhunter @hdgnj @nerdpoe @hypewinter @mutable-manifestation

[whathehe11]

When the alert first went off in the watchtower, they thought that it was just one of the young justice training exercises that went out of hand.

They quickly realized they were wrong when Robin walked in the Watchtower with Kid Flash chatting about how great it was to have a day off every once in a while.

With that said they decided it best to send Superman off to investigate since all the justice league members were accounted for.

Coordinates in his high speed justice league GPS (tm) Superman was off. He flew to the lake in the middle of nowhere Illinois when he started to hear sobbing.

He slowed down and approached the origin of the crying with caution. Floating above the middle of the lake was a glowing, floating white haired boy of around 14/15 with a small green (also glowing) puppy in his arms.

“Cujo, what am I gonna do? It’s been almost a week and I still haven’t been able to find a portal home.” The puppy, Cujo apparently, just snuggled closer and licked the boys face.

“I know it’s not your fault bud, but I’m really worried about back home. What if there was a ghost and I wasn’t there and someone got hurt. What if Jazz or Sam or Tucker went in and tried to stop it and got hurt. Oh god, what if the GIW or my parents captured a ghost and I can’t get them out?!?”

Superman may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but he’s pretty sure this kid is lost, and some kind of hero. He decided to make himself known by clearing his throat

“Hey kid. You ok? You seem a little lost.”

The boy must not have heard him coming because he jolted up, tightening his grip around his dog.

His eyes were puffy and wet from crying and the tip of his nose and the apples of his cheeks were tinged green. He was snarling at him, with his too sharp to be human teeth but frankly, he still looked young and scared more than anything.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

“Nothing.” Superman gave his most reassuring smile. “Just wanted to make sure you were ok. It’s just it’s not every day I get to see someone crying while floating is all.”

The boy looked at him up and down.

“You’re floating. Can’t be that unusual. What are you?”

Superman slowly got closer. “I’m Superman. Im from Krypton. It’s a few planets over. What about you?”

His eyes lit up when he mentioned the planets, green freckles lighting up like little constellations. His aggression stopping for a few moments before getting defensive again.

“Superman is kinda an audacious name dontcha think? Besides, I’ve never heard of krypton.”

“It’s a name I was given. I was hesitant at first but what the news publishes is what the news publishes and I’ve been stuck with it since. As for not knowing krypton, it was unfortunately destroyed when I was a baby. It’s been gone over 30 years now.”

The boy looked back at Cujo, holding him tightly to his chest.

Superman sighed. “Look, I just want to help. I heard you saying you were lost. Something about not having a portal? I have some friends that are experts in magic and that kind of stuff. We can help you get home.”

The boy still didn’t look convinced.

“We have food, a place for you to stay if you want. It’s in space. It’s not safe for you alone out here.”

“Alright. But only cuz it’s in space. And I want to go home.”

Superman nodded and took them back to the nearest Zeta tube.

Cujo pulls Danny into a natural portal during one of their walks. It closes before he can get back through. He zips around the planet multiple times to try and find another but he can't. Danny stops midair and cries. He's stuck.

The Watchtower suddenly picks up something fast moving back and forth on Earth before it suddenly stops over a lake. When Superman is sent to investigate, he finds a sobbing teen being comforted by a green dog.

[grounded-gryphon]

I'd Die (Again) for Y'all (Chapter 4)

Prev

Jason had been to the Watchtower before, but never as Red Hood. The Watchtower was for heroes and Red Hood wasn't welcome. Not unless he was sneaking around doing Batman's dirty work, anyway.

So much as he fucking hated to admit it, it was maybe a good thing he had Timmers on comms helping him find his way around. Not that he'd ever admit it to anyone. Especially B.

Actually, B would probably be pissed he'd involved Replacement in this little unofficial outing. Yeah, Jason was a-okay with Timmers whispering in his ear. More than. Wouldn't mind hearing it more--

Red Hood cut that line of thought off like a knife. He couldn't afford to get distracted, and he had no business thinking that way about Tim, ever.

His luck was with him for once, and the room they were keeping Phantom in (it wasn't actually a cell, wonder of wonders) wasn't hard to find. No guards, so B had cleared the way as promised. The door was locked, but the lock was a piddly thing. Cyborg was clearly in on B's shenanigans and putting in just enough effort to not make it obvious. Either that or he owed Timmers one hell of a favor.

Between what B told him and the video Red Robin had shown him, Hood was prepared for anything from Phantom being terrified into catatonia to needing to fight off a rabid weasel.

Somehow, it's always the things you don't expect.

~~~

Danny didn't know what was happening. Somehow, that was scarier than knowing he was going to die.

Well, no, it made perfect sense, actually. Danny was already dead, had been for six years. Sure, he'd managed to screw up dying, but he'd done it. He knew about dying. It might hurt -- it might hurt horribly. But sooner or later, it ended.

He'd panicked when he saw the GIW. Somewhere, he'd maybe hoped that if he fought back, the hero might just kill him rather than hand him over.

Instead, he was... here. Waiting for... whatever came next.

Which was... Which was the door opening and his ghost senses flaring to life for the first time since they'd locked the cuffs on him!

"No." The word burst from him. "No-no-no-no-no. You can't be here. They'll find you. They're HERE!"

He was on his knees -- tears falling like rain and freezing on his cheeks.

"Hey, it's--"

Danny stared up at the stranger. Halfa, his ghost sense said? No important. There wasn't /time./

"NO! Don't talk, run!" he begged, "They won't kill you. Don't you understand? Get out before it's too late!"

But the stranger didn't run. Didn't listen. They stepped into the fucking cell and closed the door behind them. If Danny wasn't trapped in these cuffs, he'd have grabbed the stranger and thrown them out himself. But he couldn't. He couldn't protect them. He couldn't--

"Look, we don't have time. I know you don't have any reason to trust me, and I have no clue who 'they' are. But I'm getting you out of here. Whoever you think is after me, you can tell me when we're safe, okay?"

"You don't understand," Danny whispered brokenly. "You can't save me. They can track me now but they don't know about you yet. If they discover you... you'll never be safe again."

The stranger crouched down in front of Danny, gleaming red helmet angled in a way that somehow conveyed seriousness or concern. Up close, it was obvious the guy was huge -- nearly as big as Jack had been. Danny wasn't a small man, but next to this guy, he felt tiny.

Physical presence aside -- and the guy had it in spades -- this close, Danny's ghost sense could read him a bit. Something about his core made him seem... not familiar, but still like Danny should recognize him. And Danny knew he'd never met, or even heard of, this other halfa. The strangeness of it was enough to momentarily break through Danny's panic.

"Who are you?" The guy tensed, and Danny didn't think he would answer.

"If I tell you, will you stop arguing and come with me?"

"I... alright. If it'll get you out of here faster, yes." Once he got a hold of some tools, Danny could get these cuffs off. And then he could ghost the guy. If he moved fast enough, he wouldn't lead the GIW to this other halfa.

"Aight. I go by Red Hood."

Danny felt his eyes go wide, ice tried to crackle around his core. "The avenger," he breathed. No wonder this man had seemed familiar. He was a legend. And he was here.

"What? I don't--" Red Hood, the avenger, had come to save Danny. For the first time since he saw Superman, Danny believed he might actually survive this.

The hero's confusion was obvious. Which wasn't surprising. If not one whiff of the man's being a halfa had slipped into the legends, then he had no connection with ghosts or the infinite realms at all... That was okay. That was for later.

But if Red Hood lived up to the legend at all -- then fighting together, they might actually have a chance.

Danny stood up. "Let's get out of here."

~~~

"Hood?" a voice whispered in his ear.

No one could blame Red Hood for having emotional whiplash. But he was okay. He was handling it. The pits being weird? Not a thing. They were the pits -- of course, they were weird. Just because this was a new type of weird didn't mean anything. Especially when he had bigger problems -- problems like convincing this guy to let Hood save his fucking life.

So when the dude agreed to leave in return for Hood's name?

Fuck, yeah, whatever. If it got them out of there, Red Hood would be happy about it.

"Hood!"

But it was the whiplash's fault. There wasn't any other reasonable explanation. Because in the middle of a life-and-death semi-authorized break out from the fucking Watchtower, when this guy learned Red Hood's name and stopped panicking on a fucking dime, looked at him like he was a real fucking hero…

When he was willing to trust Red-fucking-Hood to keep him safe from the real heroes (From Batman)…

And then he stood up, and for one moment, Jason was staring right at his crotch…

The dude wasn't a twink. Had looked incredibly average sitting on the floor, actually (for hero versions of average, anyway. Muscled but could clearly disappear in a crowd if not for the shitty fashion choices and glowing white hair). But when he stood, and Jason, still squatting, saw those hips at just the right height for grabbing and…

It was a moment, okay?

"Damn it, Jason, what's going on!" Replacement sounded frantic, and that shook Jason out of his shock. He never again wanted to hear Tim sound so scared.

"I'm okay, Timmers," he said into the comm as he stood to lead Phantom out the door. "We're on our way out."

***

Next

Hehe, yeah, so?

That thing with the poll?

I lied. (not really)

Half way through the poll's run my friend gave me an idea. So Danny isn't Danger Twink OR built like a brickhouse, but a secret third thing that's going to make both Jason and Tim drool.

(I don't think it's going to come up much, but Jason and I are both from northern New Jersey. Sometimes, he's going to sound like it, aight.)

Tag list:

@ailithnight @library-cat-in-the-window @paper-bag-boy @beepboopimaproblemchild @mygood-bitch99 @thewondersoflebanon @overtherose @kyrianclawraith @ghostpyre (original artist/prompt maker) @cursedchaosboys @serasvictoria02 @ever-changing-weirdo-3100 @that-tooth-stealing-fuck @phantom-dc @yukkikatsuki @skulld3mort-1fan @soupfilledboots @help-i-need-a-cool-username @fisticuffsatapplebees @kaitouhime @soren1830 @nottmuchtopost @why-must-i-be-like-this @screamingtofillthevoid @emergentpanda-blog @introvert-even-on-the-internet @charcoalstainedbones @starlightcat04 @ajrose1216 @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @pastalavistamf @lazy-bouqet

[mutable-manifestation]

On the angst route:

Everyone is tense as Batman asks "New guy?" deceptively lightly.

Except Captain Marvel just completely ignores him, face a picture of panic and distress as he zips over to be next to the spot he'd just pointed to chanting "Hey, hey, it's okay, come on deep breaths." to what looks like empty space.

They can't see hear Danny's hiccupping sobs or see his lunging hug.

They do notice Captain Marvel jolt a bit, and they're on high alert when they notice the fabric of his suit crinkle as if someone is hugging him - a hug that he returns with a pat - presumably on the shoulder, possibly on the head.

They all notice that the someone is rather short.

They all hear him ask "How about you tell me what's wrong?"

They don't hear Danny detailing how they've been ignoring him for weeks.

How he just wanted to interact with some fellow heroes - how they didn't have to be friends or anything. How he just wanted some tips at least, but they ignored him.

How they left him to die when he was caught in attacks in their cities as a civilian, and he had to save himself.

How they've been acting like he's not even there.

Captain Marvel looks around at his allies, their incomprehending gazes, the way they seem to look around the kid but never at him.

The Wisdom of Solomon already gives him the answer, but for the kid's sake, he asks "Can any of you see him," nodding down at Danny.

A wave of head-shakes and 'no's resound, Flash tossing out "Gonna be honest, Cap, I thought you were losing the plot for a second there till I saw your suit crinkle."

"And I suppose you can't hear him given the lack of reaction to his explanation," he hums, glancing down at a much calmer, if more confused, Phantom - as he'd introduced himself.

This nets the same response.

The discovery that a child ghost has been following them around - a dead child - trying to ask for help, trying to get advice to protect his own town only to be ignored at every turn by the people who should have helped him?

Hearts: Wrenched.

Additional angst unlocked: they learn about some of the threats he'd fought off and think "How long have these attacks been going on, how long was this city without a defender, did this kid die & take up the job bc we didn't notice anything was wrong in time?"

More additional angst: Danny mentions the GIW in passing and when they ask for clarification they learn Danny's kind don't have rights and there's a government branch dedicated to hunting & catching him for "lots & lots of painful experiments"

Short DPXDC Prompts #604

Phantom, much like Deadman, cannot be seen by anyone besides those liminal, magically gifted, or was magically given true sight.