#Metagene DC

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"FOR I HAVE DISCOVERED THE SECRET OF THE METAGENE!" -- SUPERPOWERS BIOLOGICALLY EXPLAINED IN THE DC UNIVERSE.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on the DC Universe equivalent of Marvel's "X-gene," the introduction of the "metagene" in DC Comics -- artwork from "Invasion!" Vol. 1 #1 ["The Alien Alliance"]. December, 1988. DC Comics.

"The question that launched my caste superiors on their invasion of Earth was: what is it that allows a handful of otherwise normal humans to survive near-encounters with death -- and more -- to develop super-powers? The answer is the metagene -- a biological variant lying dormant in select members of the human race... until an instant of extraordinary physical and emotional stress activates it. A spontaneous chromosomal combustion then takes place..."

-- THE DOMINATORS, on the biological origin and/or function of the metagene

STORY/SCRIPT: Keith Giffen & Bill Mantlo

PENCILERS: Todd McFarlane

INKERS: P. Craig Russell, Al Gordon, various

COLORISTS: Carl Gafford

Sources: https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Metagene, Zip Comic, various, etc...

[satoshy12]

Wing Danny AU + DCAU

It happened after the Portal had shocked him that Danny started to grow wings on his back. His family, like the rest of Amity Park, was not sure what to say and just accepted that Danny had awakened his metagene.

His family seemed to be happy; Jazz started to read books about birds and, with Ms. Teslaff's help, tried to teach him how to fly. Only a few in the city thought he had died and become an angel, with his halo of white hair and white wings, but that was only a small group.

Danny's life was going pretty well, he would say. The town accepted him even with his change, and his parents did not think he was a ghost.

Everything was going pretty well, but then the Gordanians came, mistaking him for a Thanagarian child and attacking him, wanting to kidnap him for ransom or something similar. Thanagarians are pretty protective of their hatchlings, unlike the strong Gordanians who allow their young to join them in war.

Danny let himself be kidnapped as he could see space! His parents did not know about it, but his friends did. He returned after one week to Amity Park.

They never learned about all the chaos and destruction Danny had caused the Gordanian race and army, and how the Thanagarians and their allies finally defeated them.

Danny is now a hero for the galaxy against the Gordanian Wars, and they want him back with them.

[tofuingho]

I like to think that the reason Jack and Maddie never noticed Danny's ghostlyness is because one (or both) of them are related to a rogue with visible mutations.

Obviously, you've got people like Poison Ivy, Two Face, and Killer Croc, but there's also The Penguin, Joker, and Bane. Seriously, how f-ed looking was Danny Devito's Penguin? Bane weirdly makes a lot of sense since Jack is also built like a firetruck. But, you could pull from any heroes Rouges Gallery.

Anyway.

So eventually, Danny starts to have ghostly features in his human form. Glowing eyes, razor sharp teeth, or an odd skin color. Of course he'd freak out and try to hide it from his parents, but eventually they notice anyway and sit him down to have the "talk". Just not the one he's been expecting.

This ends with Danny having an existential crisis. Is he a halfa or is he a meta?

[radiance1]

Mad scientist Fenton.

And I mean MAD.

Danny didn't have the intelligence of his mother, who was able to calculate complex things in a matter of seconds and come up with theories that would go against the nature of the very world and make them work.

He didn't have the kills of his father, who was able to take his mother's theories and bring them to, able to build complex machinery at the drop of the hat out of less than capable materials.

Nor did he have the mastery of the human mind like his sister, who could run circles around anyone if she so wanted, build them up from nothing or completely and utterly break their mind if she so chose.

But what he did have, was an understanding of the human body on par with that of his sister's mastery of the mind. What the body was capable of handling, how much he could push the body past its breaking put before it broke.

How much he could change before they could be considered more than human. Where exactly he needed to make their body betray them, and instead become subservient to him.

And yes, dear sister. Such a thing is far more profound than making their own mind betray them.

Danny wasn't human, not anymore at least. He modified himself far too much to be human, despite looking like one. Ghostly remnants run through his veins, not enough to make him anywhere near ghostly, but enough for it to matter.

Ghost and human biology were fascinating to him, really. It was so interesting to see how the plant his dear friend grew would affect them so, whether it was beneficial or harmful, it didn't matter to him, really.

Speaking of his dear friend.

Her mastery over Botany was as masterful as ever, so many different plants her power let her twist to her every whim, not to say that her power was the only reason she was as masterful as she is, her skill was nothing to scoff at.

From man-eating plants and all the way to ones capable of sentience. Last he heard of her, she even managed to bring back multiple plants from extinction, including multiple subspecies of blood blossoms!

He didn't know how she did it, and most probably never will, really.

But it was so fine to see the effects said plants had on both humans and ghosts.

His family all had varying achievements. From his dear mother and father, who broke the laws of nature to open a portal to the land of the dead with nothing but science, to his sister, who somehow managed to overcome human nature itself. To his dear friend Sam who brought back multiple different plants from extinction, and created entirely new species of plants, to his other dear friend Tucker, able to create living souls out of AIs.

All of them managed to do what should have been impossible, practically going against the laws of the world itself, in some cases.

Now he just needs something that would prove himself upon the same level as theirs, not that he really needed too, they'd love him regardless. But there was just something he should be capable of doing that would go against the very law of this world.

He just needed to figure out what.

[mattzerella-sticks]

If Junior Year isn't ending with PvP dynamics between the Bad Kids and the Rat Grinders the other way I see this going down is that whatever the big bad of the season is has their final battle, the Rat Grinders will be involved in some way and they will either -

a) realize they are out of their depth when they try to fight alongside the Bad Kids because they never worked on TEAMWORK and they learn FAST by working together with the Bad Kids and the rivalry is quashed

or

b) die because they rush in ahead of the Bad Kids and when the Bad Kids finally arrive they find all the Rat Grinders defeated

[dogwithglasses]

Is Connor Hawke a freakin metahuman or not

(I know he becomes a metahuman during ga/bc but that’s not what I’m talking about)

In 2002 there was a book titled JLA: Ultimate Guide to the Justice League of America, published by DK Publishing with a “From the Archives of DC Comics” stamp on the front. It says, and I quote, “Years studying hand to hand fighting at the ashram have honed Connor into an unparalleled opponent whose metagene enables him to have phenomenal ‘physical memory.’ Once he has witnessed a move, Connor can instantly adapt it to his own growing repertoire of martial arts disciplines.” I have NO clue where they got that info

In Robin #79 written by Chuck Dixon in 2000, Connor fights a demon but gets knocked out. Tim Drake thinks to himself that Connor is “a major league meta-human all star.” Chuck wrote that! At that point he had written more Connor content than any other writer!

In 2002’s Green Arrow #14, after Connor gets shot by Onomatopoeia, a news anchor says ““…but sources tell us that as he’s not a meta human…”

Does he have a frickin meta gene or not lol

[trainer-sean]

I mean the meta suppression collar should be only usable on Meta Genes. Not lab accidents that alter the dna or body. Like Caitlin Frost, she'd need a specially made Suppression collar because her powers aren't a meta gene, and even then the collar isn't all that effective and dangerous for her, because her power is basically Heat Vampire, she makes ice by absorbing all the heat in the area, kinda like Ultimate Bigchill from Ben 10.

Since when am I a meta???

You know, after years of figuring out his ghostly abilities, Danny really thought he's got a pretty solid grip on how and why they work.

Except the electrokinesis. In the heat of combat? Sure he can use it. But instinctively flinching everytime he used it intentionally means it's hard to practice with. Which, fair, he and electricity really doesn't mix well. He could half live with that.

Point is, Danny Fenton is a dumb kid that opened an interdimensional portal on top of himself and died. Then he got better and it comes with a laundry list of powers. Because he's also a living ghost now, apparently.

Simple story.

So color him very surprised when Tucker bugged him to take a DNA test. Instead of uncovering some hidden ancestry, they found out that he, Danny Fenton, is also a meta.

Whaaaaaat? However did it happen? Is it one of the thirty different lab accidents in his home, counting since this start of this month?

Yeah ok he isn't really that surprised, considering. The real head scratching thing is figuring out what exactly did it change.

And here he thought he has his powers figured out... Whatever could this mysterious non-ghost power be?

[vm-haunts]

Me: haha I'll just make up a timeline for this crazy crossover idea.

Me, a week later: what the fuck what the fuck how did I end up with so much plot how is it still expanding oh my god stooooop.

Aaaanyways. I don't know if I'll ever got it properly written, but this monster of a plot bunny now covers several major events and I'm losing my mind...

But anyways, cliff notes version on the plot and how far it stretches:

..

College trio was involved in the dionesium (aka Lazarus water) research, and somehow they're actually the more ethical bunch. Which is saying a lot considering.

DP events happened but they encountered and got help from several DC magic users during it. Budding occultist Sam for the win. (no agit yet and no phantom planet either)

The GIW got somewhat reformed, thanks to the help of Team Phantom's JLD friends. However at some point they got new management. Now instead of destroying ghost, the new comers are interested in the correlation of ecto-contamination, liminality... And secretly, in the increased success rate of induced metagene activation in liminals. Yikes, they somehow got worse.

Again, the Fenton parents are somehow the ethical ones here, despite everything. They refused to work with the new branch of GIW, stuff escalated (don't they always), and now they're dead. And in ghost jail. At least Vlad is there with them for the heartwarming reunion.

So Team Phantom ended up faking their death and goes on the run while raiding GIW bases, and along the way they found a weird guy (Jason). Weird guy's mom showed up and. Well guess they're involved with assassin cult's power struggle now, at least they get to help a guy out.

More shenanigans later they ended up with some monks in the Himalayas, and- wait Danny what do you mean you know them? Oh yeah Plasmius's little stint with the Infi-map... Gotta love time travel.

Anyway, after Danny got scammed for long overdue property damage fees and Jason got a pair of cool swords, they met Talia again and she brings news! Totally no ulterior motives or anything :) (Sam called her out to her face and she just smiled)

Jason, considerably more chill in this au, is still unhappy about... Well. Everything in Gotham.

Cue the Red Hood stint but with much more control and less blood shed. Which ironically made RH more intimidating because he moves like a ghost(duh). Especially when Jason's main act of revenge is 'pranks', which reads as mild psychology warfare actually. But hey the bats did that to themselves, he did nothing wrong (besides being a drug lord).

Red Hood peaceful mode does however attracted some unwanted bird themed attention, the Owl's not the Robin's. And well, undead Talons sneaking around undead experts, what could go wrong?

Everything apparently. Because on top of the Rh stint, Jason is somehow also infiltrating the Court of Owls now. As his real identity Jason Todd-Wayne no less. But the real suprise is Danny running into his parent's old researches, and. Well, the poor talons need help, might as well join in with the infiltration.

Some more shenanigans later it ends in Jason and co. quietly turning the talons against their old masters, and oh boy did they overachieved the goal of getting a foot into Gotham's crime world. Must be Danny's Fenton luck.

Ol' Batsy is very very not happy about that development by the way. But he can die mad about it as far as Jason is concerned.

...

The end. Of part one.

Stay tuned for part two, where we cross AGIT with crisis.

And massive thanks to @taddy-cat, a large part of this is inspired by the lovely discussion with you!

[toastling]

I think if any person in the DC Universe deserves to break their limiter, One Punch Man style, it's Dick Grayson.

Especially if it confuses the hell out of everyone because they can't figure out what the deal is or why he suddenly went bald. He doesn't have a metagene, he's not an alien, no gods have claimed him as one of their numbers. But there he is. Pimpslapping Darkseid for tyranting a little too close to Bludhaven.

[artemismoorea03]

DP x DC Prompt: Not As I Appear

(Can also work for Marvel if that's what you wanna go with :3)

Danny is not a Meta because that would mean he had a MetaGene, he's not an Alien because he was technically born on this planet. However he died and was reborn between this realm and another so he was technically a Cross-Dimensional Being. But of course he couldn't just say that. The Anti-Ecto Law's were still heavily in place with "science" backing it up and a mixture of an Amity Park blackout caused by the Ghost Investigation Ward (GIW) and the ectoplasmic energy naturally produced by the area - it was hard to protest the science already available. So he couldn't say he was Phantom or protest the science so he found himself in a pretty tough spot when he couldn't explain the 'strange readings' to a group of Meta-Human Traffickers when they kidnapped him from Amity Park.

He also couldn't explain to the group that came to save him and the other hostages when they found him single-handedly putting an end to the trafficking ring on his own. Instead he could just look at the person in front of him with an unsteady smile as he said.

"I promise it's not what it looks like, but if I told you the truth things will get even more complicated."

[thenixkat]

love how much DC consistently just hates the idea of prison reform, prisoner's rights, and treating prisoners like people…

folks in the Batfam debating about murdering the Joker.

again these are the kinds of things I think about from Barb's end on the whole pressuring Ted back into his costume. She doesn't want to be tech support she wants to be on the field with like half the writers for her Oracle run. And sure some of them are just kinda ableist.

also Barb took one break date and the Joker starts a prison riot

also all of these villains just… following the Joker's lead even tho they should know it wont go well if they do and it doesnt b/c he jokerizes them all (which makes them more dangerous b/c the Jokers just the biggest bad ass ever right after Batman) of course the metagene inhibitor gas mixed with the compound that made the villains throw up turns into Joker venom for reasons

totally the prison using those to control the dangerous super prisoners wouldnt have tested shit out b4 hand

and joker venom makes everyone joker b/c reasons even the folks that are not human or have radically different anatomy and physiology due to their meta powers

RIP to Ted, man is not allowed to be in good comics regardless of whether or not real snakes have ears, Copperhead should still be fucked up by the sonic vibrations shaking the shit out of his organs

b/c that's the correct lesson. Never take a single day off of superheroing and vigilance. Sure you will burn out but if you dont stay vigilant then bad shit will happen to yer friends and family

heheheh good for Orca I hopes she gets to eat as many prison guards as she pleases

why do the Joker's plans involve creating a gravity well?

also i guess we had to Jokerize everyone otherwise the villains might not want to listen to the Joker after getting their power dampening collars off king shark is here too

huh Nightwing keeps getting sexually assaulted and that's likely part of why people call him a slut/slutshame him

like I know he got raped by Harley Quinn in one animated thing and folks thought it was funny and also slut shamed him for getting raped so how much of his comic reputation as a slut is just people slutshaming him for getting sexually assaulted by ladies?

of course Batman and Nightwing can outrun a gravity well forming

everyone knows collapsing gravity is slower than a man carrying another human being can run

of course Ted wouldn't know anything that's happening. It's not like the Bug is a state-of-the-art listening device that would have picked up on all of the nearby radio signals like folks communicating. And its not like the Bug doesnt have dozens of Snoopies, mini Bugs for spying on shit that could have been deployed

"The Bug isn't built for speed and power" bullshit. The Bug is built for power as much as stealth and can top out at 600 mph. Also I like how Batman and Nightwing have no issue outrunning a gravity well but the Bug, a vehicle that is built with an antigrav device that is literally how she flies has an issue escaping from a gravity well

just the fact that no one is allowed to upstage Batman, the Batman understudy, or the Joker and how obviously other heroes have to get nerfed to make this happen or how other villains have to get turned into Joker to make shit happen is just so… blatant

see the problem that i dont believe that the Joker has the influence or ability to coordinate shit on this level.

The USA needs to pay reparations to the people of Rapa Nui for the shit the Joker and the jokerized villains did

They can explain the jokerization shit in-universe all they want, they wont convince me that this wasnt an ass pull

Like why the fuck would being jokerized make all of these villains subserviant to the Joker and all work together instead of clashing and not wanting to be ordered around by this one Joker if they;'re all Joker man Harley Quinn looks so much better in an actual clown suit

also the Joker wants an heir so plans to fuck Harley, her consent is not an issue for him. I'd care more if she werent also a rapist

right.. Lex Luthor is president i think Oracle you use a wheelchair why is yer floorspace this cluttered?

anatomy

Oracle you can't hit your boyfriend just b/c yer upset. That's called abuse

also folks still debating about killing the Joker, who's currently dying of a tumor, when like between yall superhero and the USA penal system the Joker should have been sentenced to death ages ago. He's literally not insane, that insanity defense shit should not have worked for him the first time he got caught again after breaking out of Arkham

Nightwing, the Joker is literally a special case. With the sheer amount of his body count and the fact that the justice system has continuously failed with dealing with this asshole. If you dont want to kill him, that cool, just stay out of the way while other people kill him

The fucking slippery slope argument for not killing a dude who's got thousands of murders under his belt. Like… idk this is not the moral quandary that Nightwing is trying to make it out to be.

half way through Joker: Last Laugh like imagine if Nightwing tried that same argument to a crowd of people who've been victimized by the Joker or had a relative killed by him? He'd get mauled half to death like Jason did in Legends

[mamawasatesttube]

I’m having trouble getting a straight answer on whether or not Kon can use TTK under a red sun. The answer from googling seems to be “depends on the writer”. You’re kinda my go-to Kon expert, so I was wondering if you knew

yes.

i'm sure canon is at least kinda inconsistent about this (dc does, after all, stand for "dunno consistency") but here's the logic i follow when it comes to ttk. you'll have to forgive me for just referring to certain issues without actually citing numbers or anything, i have a migraine and a half this morning and don't wanna deal with checking i'm so sorry but if you want me to find a specific one i mention at some point later just remind me and i'll try in a few hours if my brain stops hurting!

but anyways. yes, i do believe kon can use ttk under a red sun. why? ttk is established as a metagene, not a kryptonian power. even before he's got any of his sunlight-processing powers (which are repeatedly established as coming in as he grows up, both before and even after the geoff retcon), he has the full extent of his ttk.

now, wf3 and also the aftermath of sins of youth do both suggest that he is still tied to sunlight-processing in some way (after all, why else would kryptonite have affected him in wf3?), so that's definitely an inconsistency. however, i posit that since ttk is a metagene, even if his body is powered by sunlight, he should still be able to access it. (depowered kon arc post-sins of youth still works in this way if we assume he was just Really Fuckign Tired and also the magic was still impacting him.)

but honestly the biggest reason i say that yes, his ttk still should work even under a red sun, is in supergirl vol 5. kon himself isn't there at the point i'm thinking of, but there's an arc sometime before last stand of new krypton (the hunt for reactron, iirc, but don't quote me on that) in which kara, thara ak-var, and chris kent all get slapped with red sun projector collars. this neutralizes their kryptonian powers, but chris specifically says he can still use his telekinesis.

now people who know more about editorial impact on the superfam than i do can definitely chime in here, because i'm just going to refer to stuff i've read but don't have sources on immediately on hand, but. why does chris have ttk? well, because before infinite crisis killed kon off, kon was supposed to be nightwing. (i know there was an artist who tweeted about this. i don't remember who.) in fact some of the dialogue written with the nightwing in new krypton reads kind of like kon, specifically the way he introduces and brags about his ttk, imo. this was later retconned into being chris. therefore, chris has ttk, which is explained away as being some general phantom zone related weirdness. (as a matter of personal taste i think it kind of diminishes the POINT of ttk being to imitate kryptonian powers to give it to chris, so i like to pretend that he has some weird psychic stuff going on instead, to keep chris and kon distinct, but thats kinda beside the point.)

SO. all of that to say. it's sort of a matter of opinion because you can construct an argument based on canon both ways, but i personally fall into camp ttk is a metagene and therefore can only be suppressed by meta-suppression tech, not red sun.

[hashtagdrivebywrites]

Hello, yes, howdy, welcome to...

✨Hashtag's Fic Masterlist✨

A little about me:

She/her pronouns

I write and sometimes make art

Here is my Ao3!

Asks are open! or you can drop me a message if you want to

I like ask games, but I might be late or accidentally lose track of them before I can respond to them (whoops!)

I'm into a lot of stuff so this blog/page/black hole will be a mixed bag of fandoms

[Updated October 10, 2024] - Fic links below:

Published, In Progress:

Imprint (DPxDC) (Baby G.K. Danny, Halfa Dad Jason, Fright Franklin Pickle Girl Knight, oddball co-parents, attempted qpr relationship) 10/10: Chapter 13 done - trying to finish out the arc so I can MAYBE get this thing back on a bi-weekly schedule again 😭

Meandros (AC: 3 x AC: Odyssey) (Time travel/Reincarnation, Kid Desmond, OC's, Deimos!Kassandra, dumb mercenaries with a big bro/dad complex, Desmond "I'm Done" Miles) 10/10: Chapter 13 done - trying to finish out the arc and picking at the sequel drafts

Published, Complete:

As Long as Stars are Above You (TMNT (mostly Bayverse and Next Mutation)) (Family Fluff, Surprise Baby Acquisition, Good Big Bros, Momma April) 15 Chapters; 39k words; Sequel in progress

Our Mother Breathed Fire (GOT) (Dragon POV, kind of a character study? I don't know) 1 Shot; 2k words

Your Blood That I Bleed (AC 1, 2 & 3) (Family of Choice, Immortality, Cat Dad Desmond, Assassin Dads) 10 Chapters; 74k Words

"In The Drawer" - On Hiatus until I can give it the attention it needs:

A Place For Us (Batman (mostly Arkham Knight)) (Families of Choice, Kids, Adoption, Bat Fam coming back together) 4/12: My first fic on Ao3 and it's been set aside for a complete overhaul because there's no structure/direction and there's a lot of issues with how I was writing/presenting the characters.

Unpublished, In Progress:

And Longer Still If I Can - sequel to As Long As Stars Are Above You (TMNT) (Family and Found Family, Kid Fic, Adventure Fic, Larval Form Mutanimals) 10/10: On pause!

Red Devil Rowdy (title may change; DPxDCxSDxSPN) (Paranormal Mystery/Detective Fic, Family Reveal, Identity Reveal) 10/10: 4/5 Chapters done - working on that fifth then will be ready to post

And Still You Stand, Sturdy and Smelling of Smoke (DC x Spider-man) (Peter Parker Fist Fights the League, Catatonic Jason, Hyper Independent Tim) 10/10: On pause!

Illing and Able! (title may change; DSxTMNT) (Time Travel, Older Turtles (21), Mom Friend April, Gratuitous Use of "Bro", "Dude" and "Yo") 10/10: First arc finished! Will be published in the same update w/ Imprint 13 and Meandros 13!

Holy War is On The Phone (DPxMHA/BNHA) (Ghost Prince Danny, Undercover Investigation, Fake Family, Pissed Off Danny) 10/10: On pause!

Redline (DCxMHA/BNHA) (Robin!Jason, Jason has the Metagene, Accidental Dimension Travel, Pro-Heroes/Older Class 1-A) 10/10: Finishing the first arc!

(Recently fallen head over heels into a Star Wars hyperfixation, which has naturally spawned a bunch of WIP's of its own, so expect some content soon (EDIT: there's three independent SW wips and three crossovers with other fandoms in progress - will list them soon on the WIP list (10/10)))

[radioactive-earthshine]

whats the problem with how DC uses the word metahuman? i thought they were just the DC equivalent of humans born with powers?

Because (depending on the writer and series) uses the term 'metahuman' or 'meta-humanoid' or just 'meta' to describe;

1.) normal aliens with powers, regardless if they look human or not. 2.) humans that came into powers by external factors and do not have powers on their own by rely on an external factor. 3.) homomagi and other magic users.

among other various examples where the term does not apply because these people, while they have powers, are not metahuman. The term has been used as a blanket term for anyone that that has abilities a normal human doesn't have, which while it makes things easy, is not accurate.

Granted, there is some overlap and mushy areas for who is and is not a meta and some that you can debate if they ARE meta, but characters like J'onn and Mon El are not meta.

Kon, is meta (TTK) - but he also has Kryptonian abilities making him extra special. He's also now half human so the term is valid.

Rokk Krinn is not meta because his abilities are natural to his people, and he's not human.

Mon El is not meta because he is a Daxamite and he is normal, but his biology changes under the conditions of a yellow sun like Kryptonians, and he's not human.

Some series have also made the term VERY clear in that in order to be a 'meta' you must be 1.) human or have some human dna 2.) possess the metagene and 3.) have some sort of powers. I very much like this definition as it gives some solid rules for who is, and is not a meta.

TLDR: just because someone has powers, does not mean they are meta.

[havendance]

I am now thinking about a DC/The Old Guard Crossover:

Even in this universe where there's a billion different funky and weird things going on, the old guard's deal is still unexplainable. They've had a lot of time to look into things over the years and it isn't the metagene or magic or nth metal or aliens or the gods or the red or the green or the speedforce or any of other myriad freaky things going on in the DC universe.

They definitely have beef with Ras al Guhl, and probably also Vandal Savage and honestly the Order of St Dumas too I guess.

The point of this crossover is obviously to throw together different Rucka characters so Kate Kane is the newest member of the Old Guard.

(Sasha Bordeaux would be my second choice, and probably Renee Montoya as a third because while Renee is a very Rucka character, she is a very Rucka character in a different way)

Kate does not die when the religion of crime stabs her through the heart.

Maybe it heals just a little quicker and Kate makes a fuller recovery than expected. I'm not sure whether the regenerating abilities of the Old Guard are related only to death or if they manifest prior to death.

She does die though, in a cave in Britain (sigh, due to DickBats giving her an overdose of morphine). No one realizes that she didn't actually need the Lazarus pit in order to come back to life.

Afterwards, Kate starts having strange dreams. She assumes it's due to the pit.

Until that is, a woman shows up, shoots her before she has a chance to reacts, and explains that Kate can't die when she wakes up.

I think chronologically I'd put this before the events of The Old Guard, so Nile hasn't shown up yet.

Kate doesn't go with them. She's Batwoman. She has her mission. She has Gotham. She isn't going to stop.

"I'm a rich heiress," she says. "No one's going to bat an eye if I don't age."

"Until they do," Andy says.

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

And for a while, no one does.

The DEO discover her identity, but they don't discover her greater secret--that she can't die.

I think it doesn't really sink in that she can't die. Kate still tries to avoid it and that helps keep the secret. Sometimes though, she doesn't have a choice. She will spend her life if necessary--all of Gotham's vigilantes will--Kate's bar for necessary is just lower. When that happens she always seems to make a miraculous recovery or have excellent luck.

She tells Maggie her identity but not her secret. Things don't work out and Kate never gets to the point where that has to change.

Batman is the first to notice Kate isn't aging because of course he is. He does know about the Old Guard because of their aforementioned beef with the League of Assassins and because he has notes on everything.

Bruce noticing is Kate's sign that she needs to make a decision. He may be the first to notice, but he won't be the last. Soon, gossip will turn pointed.

Now, if Bruce were the one to end up in this situation, his course of action would be obvious. He would immediately ditch Bruce Wayne and become Batman full time and Batman would haunt Gotham for all eternity.

I'm not sure if Kate has that same single-minded devotion to Gotham. Her primary motivation is that she wants to serve. Gotham and the Bat symbol give her away to do that. She may haunt Gotham for a while, maybe a lifetime or two, but in the end I think she does join up with Old Guard and join them in their never ending fighting and dying.

[doors-to-infinity]

A DP x DC crossover. A what if went through my head. What if somebody from the DCU gets incomplete information about a Halfa, wants one, can’t reach them because they’re too far away in a different universe?

And decides- then we’ll make one (with the incomplete information they have) and control them! Because they come to the conclusion that halfas are pretty powerful. (Spoilers: They are in this AU!)

So the prompt:

Somebody from DC researching different universes finds out about halfas - specifically the most recent entity (Danny, not that they now that) - ghost portals, the Infinite Realms, while lacking crucial details. What they pick up leads them to the belief that they could turn a human into a monster capable of adapting their strength and powers to anything.

So they kidnap Batman - as one epitome of what an average human without modifications., enhancements, metagene, etc. can achieve - and somehow brute reverse-engineer the transformation via ectoplasm. (Not Lazarus Waters.)

'Somehow' means that they don't replicate the exact details of Danny's accident. It’s simply impossible because they're in a different universe with different rules and there's various differences between Bruce and Danny.

He 'survives' as a halfa, because he clings to his love for his family and friends. He doesn't want to leave them hurt again, his children orphaned (once more) and his father lost of his son. That lets the universe-boundary-shattering metamorphosis take hold. His body is torn apart and put back together, ectoplasm infusing him.

It also fries his memories (temporarily). He only remembers that he has to 'protect' someone, with his focus being on the outcast and children. It’s not an obsession, more like the only lead he has in his worries. (There are no ghost obsessions in this AU.) He flees, frenzied in pain and lack of memories, and believing for the short-term future that he's dead so he's stuck in ghost form.

Not that anybody has these details at first because their experiment goes horribly wrong for these people as well as Bruce. Their memories get fried as well that they don't even remember their research on different universes or that they had Batman kidnapped. Any records were destroyed. The portal blew up.

Unfortunately it’s enough for those who paid for them to keep looking for Bruce.

It leaves Bruce's loved ones believe that these people might've killed him. There's simply too much of his blood on the scene and everything points to human experimentation.

Bruce drifts in the physical world and feels drawn to Gotham, where he becomes a helpful, protective cryptid.

Danny, in the ghostzone, feels a full-body shiver. He’s no Ghost King, will never be, but somehow he senses that something has happened.

Clockwork’s senses have alerted him to this and he’s grim.

Remember - halfas are powerful in the AU. Bruce has no idea what happened to him and is in a bad mental state from his half-death on top of his already existing trauma. He fears that his family is dead but doesn’t know and the uncertainty makes things worse for his mind.

Nobody has idea what he’ll be able to do because the way he became a halfa, his mental state, his experiences, his age, all differs from Danny.

I promise for this would be a happy ending, if bittersweet. Bruce died - he was changed in a way that can't be undone. Not to mention the side-effects as well as adapting to that he's a new species. His loved ones at least thought for a few weeks that he was completely gone.