#Team Phantom is panicking

[ladydisasterinthemaking]

Not my circus, not my monkeys.

Danny couldn’t believe it. He graduated high school with better grades than he imagined. Everything was also falling into place. His parents had accepted him as a halfa, and nothing bad has happened for almost a year now.

Well, he graduated, yes, but his grades weren’t on his sister’s level. Still, it was something he was proud of. Between making sure that Amity Park is safe from ghosts, going to Clockwork every now and then, and making sure he doesn’t fail at any of his classes, the road to a diploma was a hard one. (Although for some reason, the number of ghost attacks had gradually decreased until his usual rogues stopped attacking. They still visit Amity Park, but only to talk, hang out, or spar with him. It was strange at first, but he eventually got used to it.)

And now, in a few weeks, he is officially moving to Metropolis for college to become an engineer. It wasn’t what his younger self wanted, what with wanting to be an astronaut (not that he could be one, after what happened to him in the lab), but it was something more than what he thought he could ever accomplish.

(The deal-breaker was his parent's promise to protect Amity Park. He would have stayed and enrolled at Amity Community College, but his parents told him to live his life to the fullest.)

To celebrate their milestones together, Danny, Sam, and Tucker, together with Jazz as their chaperone for the summer, have decided to go wander around Metropolis and its neighboring cities as 'tourists' (Tucker and Sam had decided to go to Metropolis University, too, with the former studying Computer Science while the latter would take Journalism), partly because they will spend the rest of their college years in the city, and partly because compared to the other cities, Metropolis was safer because of Superman.

That means they can go anywhere and not fight.

'Not my circus, not my monkeys', as the saying goes.

Then Lex Luthor and Superman decided to duke it out in front of the Daily Planet, while the four of them were caught in a bank robbery.

The large LED TV inside the bank showcased the man of steel fighting the billionaire genius as the robbers scare everyone into submission with their guns.

The four of them looked at the LED TV, then at the robbers, and came to a decision.

-

Superman was in the middle of fighting Luthor when he heard the cries of various civilians, and a couple of criminals demanding a bank to let them in their vaults.

Then he heard gunshots.

Fearing for the worst, he quickly defeated Lex, told the cops to ship him back to prison, and flew to the bank, just to see a floating white-haired meta and a teenage girl conjuring plants tying up and freezing the robbers. In the corner was another boy typing on a PDA, and a red-headed girl comforting the other people in the bank.

The four people in question froze upon noticing Superman.

Two large vines immediately snatched the redhead and the other boy, while the white-haired meta phased them down the bank's floor.

So much for the saying, 'Not my circus, not my monkeys'. 

 - 

(This is terribly written. I haven’t done my research. Sorry for the quality of this short fic.)

[bet-on-me-13]

Thats not Fair!?

So! Danny is a Member of the JLA. He is a Millenia Old Ghost who is stuck looking the same as the day he died, so he never aged over all those Centuries. While the JLA is slightly uncomfortable at him being on the Team, they know his circumstances and try to ignore his appearance. He can't control it, its not his Fault.

Or at least, that's what he tells them.

Danny is in fact, a 15 Yr Old Kid, who used his experience as a Time Traveler to trick the JLA into letting him join the Adult Team. He is actually doing a good job in tricking them!

Then, in a complete accident, he runs into Jazz while talking to a few fellow Leaguers.

She showers him in older sister love, hugging him and giving him Nuggies, and when a Leaguer asks how old she is she says "Oh I'm 17, 2 whole years older than this little scamp!"

So there goes that lie.

Fortunately, the League decides to let Danny stay on the Adult Team.

Unfortunately, Young Justice learned about his admittance to the Adult Team and kind of lost it.

"What?! Why is HE allowed on the Adult Team!? He's only been a Hero for a Year! We've all been Heroes for so much longer!?! And for that matter why is Shazam still on the Team!? Is that the new Rule? If you can trick us into letting you in the Team you can stay? Cause we can do that! We can sneak our way in too!"

Basically I want to imagine YJ's reaction to 2 Child Heroes on the Adult Team when they are stuck on the "Baby Team"

I think it would be funny.

[oldblog-batsyheere]

I keep imagining this one scene- usually its Jason or Tim or Damian, or all the Batboys or the Batfam sitting there with cultists or the league trying to summon the ghost king- but put it as just Dick who is a little surprised that he passed the requirement of having died so he can be used to summon this eldritch being that rules the dead.

And when he's bound, placed in front of a Lazarus pit and everyone is still trying to reach him, the being is summoned- and Danny just lurches through the pit hacking and spitting and cursing because this ectoplasm is nasty, what have you people been doing to it?

And the cultists are expecting Pariah Dark. They demand he takes them to the real ghost king. And Dick just has to watch this being with snow white hair and glowing green eyes start to float up and take this sheen of other to him as he goes "yeah no".

And Dick is maybe a little drugged, and has a concussion, but he feels he has an excuse for what comes out of his mouth.

"Nightwing, come in. What's going on?"

"B, I think I found your next kid. I'm gonna marry him. Even if he climbed out of a Lazarus pit and looks a little spooky."

"-what?!"

[darkmodepls]

All the spectral interference is wreaking havoc on the Bats' tracking abilities.

Who knows how long it will take them to figure out the issue, let alone fix it.

Good thing Danny has already clocked Damian as someone to keep an eye on.

Damian Wayne is lost.

An impressive achievement, considering Mother and Grandfather had ensured his thorough education in geography, amongst other subjects.

He’d memorized the cities of Grandfather’s earlier days. He’d even memorized every random small town in Ohio. Damian knew that he had memorized every town in Minnesota just in case he was abandoned there for some reason (a fear that Dick Grayson had long put to rest).

Damian Wayne had never heard of an Amity Park.

“Tt.” He clicked his tongue, quietly glad he was clad in his vigilante armor instead of the banal uniforms of the civilian school he attended. Damian Wayne- Robin- sighed and tossed a line up, zipping to the roof of the building no time.

He tried his communicator.

“Da- bzzzt-! Get you- bzzzt!- wait! Don’t- bzzzzzzzt!- might be long s-bzzzzzzzzzt-!”

Damian tapped at his communicator. “Understood,” he grumbled, with no small sigh of relief. The communicators he used were directly connected to Father’s Watchtower- pardon, the Justice League’s Watchtower… that Father paid for- and reached all around the world.

With a few exceptions that Damian immediately ruled out, it meant that he was in a different dimension. The Robin grumbled, and pulled out a card his Mother had gifted to him. Inter-dimensional displacement was accounted for by his Mother, the daughter of a near immortal evil magician, and the card that could steal local money from anything hackable was the result.

“I might as well enjoy the vacation.”

Damian zipped down, ignoring the strange looks he got from the locals. He walked around to find a vegan place and found one, standing behind a goth girl who was teasing a bespectacled teen.

When he got to the counter, Damian swiped the card after having placed his order. He wasn’t, however, prepared to be accosted a glowing green- irritatingly, traumatizingly close to Lazarus waters- being that looked like a mad scientist.

“TRYING TO HACK-“

A white glove clad fist slammed into the being’s face.

“Oh my god, leave the kid alone, Technus!”

Damian pivoted, sword drawn.

A… floating green being that looked like a teenager grinned at him before opening a thermos.

“Soup time!”

Damian clicked his tongue as the “Technus” was sucked into the thermos. This cape reminded him of John.

“Irritating,” he muttered.

“Hey, kid! Are you okay? What's your name?"

“Robin.” Damian replied begrudgingly. Dick had impressed on him the importance of replying politely and Damian applied the concept in this situation.

“I’m Phantom!”

Ugh, even the grin was annoying. It reminded him of John.

“Apt.”

"You're a mean little kid aren't you?" Phantom grinned. "What's up with the sword?"

"Quiet, plebian. I am ordering my food." Damian turned and completed the transaction.

[somnoir]

Gotham's newest Crime Lord - part 4

Part 3 | Masterpost

Danny wasn't expecting for Red Hood to corner him. He would be lying when he says he wasn't panicking. First of all, they had quite literally strung up the bodies of prominent figures of the court of owls in very public places, then proceeded to order Technus to spread information about the court and their wrong doings.

The next step of the plan had been to publish a list of names—members of the court. Rich fruitloops that they were going to rely on the public to destroy. If the public and the GCPD couldn't do it, Danny had his ways to do so. Hauntings usually drove people mad if done a certain way.

But nevermind that!

His heart was practically trying to escape his chest—not that it was beating but it was there, in spirit (ha). He just wanted to see if little Emily and her sister were being fed by their mom and check if he needed to whisk the kids away and have them reside in one of their headquarters. Dan was more than willing to convert one of their facilities into a safehouse for children. Jeremy and some others were the ones who usually dealt with the house—others being parents are older siblings who got into crime for their family's.

"Phantom."

"Hood."

AAAAHH! The hot revenant really was looking for me! Thankfully, none of his siblings were there to witness how Danny was silently punching the air in absolute joy. Fuck yeah! Hot Crime Lord!

"Lemme guess... The big bad bat ain't too happy about the trouble we caused?" Danny chuckled, tilting his head as he narrowed his eyes. Organized crime was much better than his kingly duties, especially when it wasn't him playing the leader. Dan was doing pretty good as a boss, though Danny was reluctant to admit that in honor of his role as a younger brother.

"Sure as hell." Red Hood snorted, "But that ain't why I'm here, ghosty."

Danny rolled his eyes, gesturing for the other man to keep talking.

"You dealt with the court. Wraith led the mission... Personally. Not you. Not anyone else. It was Wraith, right?" Red Hood hummed, his helmet and modulator hiding everything. It frustrated Danny.

The mission was indeed led by Dante himself. But the operation had been split into three. Dan's team (Skulker, Amorpho) taking on the leaders of the court and disposing of them immed. While Danny's team (Wulf and Ember) were tasked to deal with the talons. Meanwhile, Elle's team (Johnny, Kitty, and Shadow) were tasked with saving the kids that weren't turned into Talons. But even then, Dan took full command of the situation.

It had been Dan who personally hung the Judge of the Clocktower and smeared his blood with some rhyme. It had been Dan who took charge of the remaining Talons once their leaders were dead and hung.

But it has been Danny who took the main Talon, dragged their body to Arkham, and painted a message in glowing, neon green paint. Maybe mixed with a bit of Ecto for better effects.

At the moment, all of the living Talons were in another one of their facilities—one outside of Gotham. Dan was a paranoid bastard, rightfully so, and had ordered the rehabilitation of these mindless soldiers outside of the Bats' territory. They didn't need anyone meddling with this. Not when it was Dan's first time choosing rehabilitation over elimination. In truth, these Talons were just innocent kids turned into weapons by the real monsters.

"Yeah, Wraith personally led this one." Danny pressed a hand against his hip, defiantly looking at the brick house that was the Red Hood. God, he almost didn't want a growths spurt if this was their height different. "Heard you've been snoopin' around, Red. What? Didya miss me?" It was teasing, a joke. He didn't expect much from it. He leaned in, grinning even when his mouth couldn't be seen, before pulling back as fast as he could.

But Hood sighed, letting out the hottest quiet laugh he could ever muster and tilted his head. "Yeah... Kinda missed you, ghosty. The kids were lookin' for yah. Emily was screamin' for yah on the roof two days ago."

Danny blinked.

Oh....

OH!

"Sure, sure." He immediately dismissed it, trying his best to make sure that his fast didn't go all purple, because apparently, that's the ghost version of blushing. Shit. "But the big bad Bat ain't too happy with us, yeah? I mean. Stringin' up the Judge and Talon gets you on his naughty list."

"Can't say he's pleased about it."

"Yeah, well, we ain't apologizing for that shit. The court wasn't on our radar before but they took one of our kids. Wraith is known for being one hell of a monster when it comes to kids." Danny scoffed, "They were turning them into weapons, Hood. I'd be okay if you want to throw them into Arkham, but the Judge and Talon? Somethings are more important than morals."

And Danny fucking knows that. He knows that some things should be out above morals, that they should be more important. His parents had failed to do that, failed to put their family above their morals and beliefs. The reveal was never going to be good. Not when Maddie Fenton fell to her knees, unable to accept that her baby died and demanded for him to give her back her son. It had hurt when she couldn't accept that Danny was Phantom and Phantom was Danny.

It got worse when they found out about Dan and Elle. They were hysterical. They stopped eventually. No more hunting, no more trying to protray ghosts as evil. They stopped helping the GIW. But they still couldn't accept it. They just vanished after that, leaving Danny and Jazz with Vlad, who had thankfully redeemed himself.

Danny knows what it meant to put something above your morals. Knows how valuable that is.

He shook his head, once again getting his head out of his heart and turning back to Red Hood. "Get to the point, Hood. You weren't looking for me for no reason."

"Well I've got someone who wants to meet the Wraith. The Court... They were almost involved in the court and was targeted." Red Hood tried to explain, making sure to sound as vague as possible. Danny could—kinda—understand why he was. Keeping someone anonymous until they couldn't. "Was wonderin' if you could set up a meeting. I don't think there's anywhere in Gotham that's basically neutral ground at this point but I'm willin' to bet on an area that you guys won't start a fight."

Danny paused, trying to simplify that damn request in his head. Hood wanted a meeting with Wraith, to introduce someone. And about the location? He was right. The entirety of Gotham was someone's haunt, every part of it was claimed. Even when the people were living, some were so damn liminal that certain areas were basically haunts now. Crime Alley being one of the biggest areas to end up becoming a haunt.

He could only think of three places that could somehow be considered their haunt: The Hill, where their main base was, the Narrows where Dan was trying to take over Arkham to make the security better, and possibly the Docks and Harbor. But there wasn't a solid claim on any of them, except for the Hill. It was one of the poorest and most crime-ridden areas of Gotham. The locals were hostile as hell when they first arrived, but after the Ghosts started cleanin' up the streets, helping people by offering a steady income, and keeping the kids safe, they eventually welcomed the Ghosts with open arms. It helped when Dan started weeding out people that were extorting the area.

That area was a no-go, obviously. Not their base.

"Gimme a second. Gotta ask about this before discussing a location." He whipped out his phone, modified perfectly by their resident technopath, Tucker-fucking-Foley.

D1: Got Hood here.

D2: Ew

D2: I don't wanna hear you moon about your revenant

D1: you're a bitch

D1: fuck you

D1: 🖕🖕🖕

D1: but that's not it

D1: he wants to set up a meeting. Said he'll introduce someone that Court tried recruiting

D2: Bet Vlad's castle that it's Nightwing

D2: he fits the Court's recruits

D1: what??

D1: all of the bats fit the MO

D2: yeah but Nightwing's the most flexible one. Idk

D2: Gut feeling

D2: Tell em I'm willing

D2: only on Sunday tho.

D1: K

"Good news! He's willing to show his ugly mug."

Red Hood snorted.

"Bad news—" and now he stiffened, "Wraith's only available on Sunday. Busy sched, see."

"Alright," Hood sighed, "Where are you guys willing to meet?"

Again, that was a problem. Danny might suggest the Bowery but that was too close to Hood's haunt. It wasn't until he felt the tug in his shadow that he goes stiff, blinking before he saw Hood's shadow move behind him. Instead of a hulking man, it was transforming into a classy looking woman—it reminds him of that lady from Resident Evil. The shadow moved, holding up what seemed to be a cigarette. The blankness of darkness morphed and now there was a white grin spread across her face.

Lady Gotham adored her knights but he was sure Red Hood was her favorite. Danny suspected that the city spirit had a hand in his resurrection—to which he was sure that had paperwork he'd need to process soon. But the city spirit was accommodating and welcomed them into her territory, with the promise that their intentions wouldn't turn malicious and destroy the city.

Danny couldn't help but laugh, eyes glowing green and Hood took a instinctive step back. "Heard you bats and birds got yourselves a cave." He tilted his head. "Gotham Cemetery. It's where you'll find ghosts."

The cemetery. The one area that was a haunt to all the dead and never the living.

Before Red Hood could even say another word, Danny floated of the ground, mockingly saluted the revenant, and phased through the wall.

NAILED IT!

"Lil' wing, I'm not sure about this. Doesn't it sound creepy that they want to meet in the cemetery?"

"I have a theory. I am 90% sure that the Ghosts of Gotham are actual ghosts."

"Why's you say that?"

"I had Tim and Babs help me investigate the other known members. All of them can't be detected by cameras cause the footage gets all fucked up. So we had to resort to teaditional means. Seriously, the demon brat and I had to follow that Johnny and Kitty duo around Gotham just so he could draw them properly! I kid you not, I saw those two phase through other vehicles when they were zoomin' around the streets."

"And?"

"There's a possibility that those two are from Gotham. But get this... All the matches are people who were confirmed to have died decades ago. Like... When B was a teenager."

Dick flinched. Okay. The new rogue organization might actually be made up of legitimate dead people.

"Shit."

"Right back at you."

The cemetery was already in their line of vision. Even if Dick Grayson was the target of the Court, Nightwing came with the package. Meeting Wraith as Nightwing was pretty reasonable if you had to ask him. And Jason had done his best to hunt down Phantom after Bruce forbade them from interacting with any of the ghosts unless they were starting trouble first.

Hopefully, this meeting would go well...

The cemetery is quiet once they start walking. The shadows seemed to be more lively, moving and rising like curious children wanting to catch a glimpse.

"BOO!"

His escrima sticks were already in his hands and Jason was already cocking his gun.

Phantom was floating there, upside down as Lazarus green eyes stared back at them. The obvious echo of laughter making the graveyard more eerie.

"Quit that!" Jason snapped, glowering at Phantom but slowly lowered his guns.

"Awww! C'mon now, Hood. You’re acting like you’ve seen a ghost—but a really good-looking one!" Phantom promptly runs his fingers through his hair, winking at Jason before laughing it off like it was nothing.

"You're horrendous."

"Hey, hey, hey! I'm supernatural and beyond this world!" Phantom proudly declared, clearly on the roll. But Lazarus green eyes fell to Nightwing. The reaction reminded Dick of a curious cat.

"Shit, it really was Nightwing you were talking about. I owe Wraith a hundred bucks now, birdie." Even though his mouth couldn't be seen, Dick was pretty sure that Phantom was pouting. "C'mon, birds. The boss is talking to some ghosts over there."

"So... You're really ghosts?" Jason asks, walking beside the floating ghost while Dick trailed back a couple of steps.

"Kinda? There are different kinds of ghosts, really." Phantom shrugged, going silent again. "We usually help out the other ghosts that can't meddle with the living realm. Lotta ghosts in Gotham with unfinished business."

"What kind of business?" Dick frowned.

Phantom turned to him, mischief in his eyes as he pressed a finger against the place where his lips should be. "Now, now. I ain't tellin' you, birdie. Client confidentiality and all that."

Jason grumbled something unintelligible.

"Now that ain't nice, Hood."

And then Jason grunts in response.

"C'mon, Hood!" The way Phantom whined, Dick was very sure he was pouting. "Tsk, tsk. Stop ghostin' me, wouldya?"

Dick held back a snort. While Jason's glare could be felt through his mask.

"What? That wasn't so bad! Wow... This crowd is dead."

Jason groans and Dick didn't even hide his laugh. Okay, maybe Phantom was pretty okay if you could ignore the fact that his group was pretty homicidal if needed.

"And there he is!" Phantom sounded almost mocking, the tone so strangely familiar to Dick. (Twas the sound of a younger sibling rolling their eyes). "Wraith! Brought the birdies!"

"Seriously?" Jason groaned again but stopped. Dick didn't think he was being unreasonable because holy shit!

Wraith had the same white hair as Phantom with skin paler than the damn moon. But unlike Phantom, the ends of his hair looked like fire. Red eyes instead of green... And built like a brick house, because what the fuck was that?! He was taller than Jason and Bruce! Maybe even standing taller than Superman if he stood a little straighter.

He wore the same monochrome outfit that Phantom wore and a mask that covered his mouth. With round, red tinted glasses over his eyes. Wraith was talking to the air, well, the dead. Dick could see the faint outline of a young woman.

The fucking fridge, Wraith, turned towards them once Phantom called for him.

"You fuckin' twerp, can't you see I'm still talkin'? Rude little shit."

And Dick may have realized something else. Oh. OH! That's why it was so familiar, that behaviour and mocking tone! Fucking shit, were Wraith and Phantom brothers?

Red eyes were soon trained on him. Wraith looked him over once, before humming with a smirk.

"So I was right... Nice to meet you, birdie."

Masterpost

[thevoidstaredback]

Barry knew something was wrong when he woke up that morning, but he couldn't place what. There was nothing wrong in the house, nor with his family. His team were as normal as they could be, and none of his rogues had gotten out, nor was anyone causing any trouble in Central City. Then, just as he'd gotten off work at the police station, an emergency meeting for the Justice League was called. Ugh, David's gonna be pissed that he has to call out again!

The Watchtower, when he got there, was a mess. Heroes were obviously panicking, and there must be magic users on board because there were things flying every which way. The meeting room, however, was somehow worse.

"What the hell is going on?" The Flash demanded after ducking behind a chair.

"Constantine and Deadman are on a warpath!" Aquaman helpfully supplied from where he was hidden behind his own chair.

"I gathered that much," Flash shouted over the noise of a chair being shattered against the wall behind him.

Aquaman scowled at him. "The hell do you want me to say? I don't know what's got them so upset!

The door opened again, announcing Batman's presence. He cleared his throat and the room instantly fell silent. Things kept flying around, but they were much more lax than they had been. Cautiously, the gathered heroes emerged from their makeshift hiding places to sit in their chairs.

"What's this about, Constantine?" the Dark Knight asked once everyone was seated.

Instead of the Brit, the ghost beside him was the one to answer. "You idiots-" he growled, "-have really fucked up this time!" he shouted.

Flash idly noticed that only the heroes operating in America were present. Huh. He had a dream just like this last night!

Or was it the night before?

"Slow down," Wonder Woman said. The Flash quietly joined her for her next line, "What's going on?"

The Flash continued to speak with Constantine, his voice quiet and simultaneous with the magic user's, "The US Government are more aware than any of us-" Flash's voice got louder as he spoke with the occultist. Aquaman side-eyed him. "-are comfortable with. The fact that they hid it 'til now is baffling."

"Flash?" Aquaman muttered to him, "Are you okay?"

Flash shook his head and continued speaking in tandem with Deadman, his eyes going wide. "It's been brought to my attention that your government has been targeting my people." The ghost was now looking at Flash, too.

Flash finished for him, "They've taken a child."

Ulike his dream, the room was silent. Everyone's eyes were on The Flash.

"Flash?" Superman asked, "What's going on?"

"Time Loop."

Several tense seconds that Flash knew they couldn't afford to waste passed. Batman said, "Time loop?"

Flash nodded. "Time Loop."

"What do you know?" Wonder Woman asked.

"The government took a child. We need to get to Amity Park, Illinois and get a handle on the-" he looked to Deadman, "-ghosts?" When Deadman nodded, he continued, "Ghosts and see if we can get any information out of them."

Zatanna entered the room then, just as Barry remembered she would, turning the projector on and joining Constantine and Deadman at the front of the room. She didn't start speaking, though. Instead, it was Constantine.

"Phantom's a small time hero in Amity Park. For a while, he was the only thing standing between an interdimensional war." He looked The Flash in the eye, "How many loops is this?"

If Zatanna was surprised about the whole time loop revelation, she hid it well.

Flash shook his head. "Two, I think."

Batman took over the conversation from there, Robin at his side, probably communicating with his own team. "Flash and Superman, you need to check everywhere for Phantom; keep your comms on and open. Zatanna, Constantine, and Deadman, I want all the information you have yesterday. Everyone else, set up a perimeter ten miles out from Amity Park-"

Deadman froze, just as Barry knew he would, and disappeared. Zatanna's and Constantine's phones both started ringing. Then, the alarm started to blare.

"Robin," Batman continued through the noise of the heroes jumping into action, "What do you have for me?"

"Amity Park, Illinois," the young vigilante stated, reading the information off of his wrist computer's holo-screen and relaying it as quickly and coherently as he could, "It boasts to be the most haunted place in America. It's a hot spot for ghost hunters, though other supernatural 'experts' frequent there. Other than that, there's a firewall completely blocking off information coming out of the town. I don't think it's a stretch to say that there's limited, or at least filtered, information going into the town."

"Hm." Batman tapped his comm, "Cyborg, get me all the information about this town as you can."

"Got it."

"Robin,"

"On it, B."

"Hn."

***

Barbra was having a pretty normal day. She'd had a pretty good day at school, finished all her homework, and had even gotten to spend some time with her dad! Then, just as she was ready to go out as Batgirl, Batman called her.

Normally, Batman calling her isn't a cause for alarm. However, she knew for a fact that he was with the Justice League today. It was why she was getting ready to go out so early!

Ghosts, as it turns out, are elusive. Whether it's purposeful or not, it doesn't matter. What does matter is why the hell Batman, who hates dealing with anything supernatural, needs her to find information on ghosts of all beings!

She really wants to know what goes on in that man's head.

Actually, no, she really doesn't.

"Hey, Dickie," she greeted.

"Hey, Barbie," there was a smile in his voice, "What's up?"

Right the the chase. "B's acting weird."

A goran. "What'd he do this time?"

The hostility when talking about Bruce was not lost to her. "He's got me looking into ghosts. Any idea why?"

"Ghosts? He's with the JL today. Wally said there was an emergency meeting called about an hour ago."

"That's what I thought! But he just called and has me looking into ghosts. You think there's a correlation there?"

A sigh. "Most likely. Why doesn't he just ask the JLD? You've got more important things to be doing than doing research for him."

"Aw," she cooed exaggeratedly, "You do care!" She could practically hear his eyes rolling on the other end of the line. "Anyay, while I've got you here, are you gonna be coming to Gotham any time soon? I haven't seen you in a while."

Dick was quiet for a moment, the small chime of an incoming call making him groan in frustration. "Probably a lot sooner than I would like."

"Oh?"

"Bruce's calling. I'll let ya know what he says."

"Got it. Good luck, D."

"I'll need it." he scoffed, hanging up.

What a mess.

Part 6 Part 8

[runfromthemedic]

Danny Phantom adopts more kids than Bruce Wayne

I’ve seen a lot of fics going around about how Danny will get summoned as the Ghost King via cultist and dpxdc fics going around and I had an idea.

So Danny (ages 14-16 ish depending) gets summoned a lot, and in those summoning's there is usually a sacrifice. Normally, if the sacrifices are kidnapped adults and the like Danny beats up the cultist and just lets the sacrifices go.

But what happens when the sacrifices are younger?

A literal child gets offered up, a soul contract binding them to Danny (probably as a slave or food or whatever, I just think like John Constantine’s contracts but without the con). Danny still beats up the cultist but now he has a kid with a soul contract that he can’t break without severe backlash happening to the kid and there already pretty hurt form the cultist.

Panicking and worried about the kid, Danny seals the contract but with some adjustments, so now for all intent and purposes he now has a kid. 

Danny takes the kid back to the Far Frozen for Frostbite to heal, constantly sending calming emotions to his new kid while panic texting Sam and Tucker they had a kid now and spamming Jazz with questions on how to parent.

Many freak-outs and logistic family meetings later and they’ve worked out a relatively (more like half-way) decent plan for parenting. The kid is very happy with the new and loving parents and auntie and things calm down as much as things can with three liminal teenagers, a half-dead one, and a elementary schooler can between parenting, going to school, ghost king duties, and hiding all of this from Jack and Maddie. 

Danny cries the first time the tot called him Dad. Sam and Tucker record this for blackmail. Danny gets even when Sam and Tucker breakout the waterworks when they get called Mom and Pops.

And then a few months later another summoning happens, this time with a 17 year old. They get adopted.

Five months after that, another summoning, this time with two 12 year old's. They get adopted.

Thirteen months after that, another summoning. The kids 15. Adopted.

Two months after that, summoning and there’s three of them. All adopted.

By the time Danny, Sam, and Tucker are about to hit college age they have thirteen kids give or take.  All of them call the Trio Dad, Mom, and Pops. Doesn’t matter if some of the kids are older. Team Phantom are the best parents most of them have ever had. Age is blatantly ignored in most situations. Dani is considered the oldest. The first adopted kid is considered the second oldest, etc.

Danny’s castle in the Infinite Realms has a room for all of this kids and portals going out into different dimensions depending on where the summoning happened. The Trio didn’t want to completely uproot any of their kids lives so they make sure all of the kids have the right records, access to schooling, etc. 

Cue two of the kids (maybe three if you want John Constantine drunkenly auctioning off his at the time non-existent first born, accidents happen, the whole hodgepodge family has a understanding to punch Constantine on sight if they ever see him on their siblings/sons behalf) being from the DC universe.

Older of the two goes to Gotham U (I think studying communications, politics, philosophy etc to be able to help Danny with his Ghost Kind Duties) and the younger getting a scholarship to the fancy rich kid school Damian attends. 

Danny’s kids are about as liminal as they can get between the adoption contract, all of the ectoplasm exposure, and the kids all living in the Infinite Realms the majority of the time. Damian and the younger get along like a house on fire be cause they have similar interest based on life. I think the older sibling somehow befriends Tim Drake, Tim possible develops a crush.

Batman is very paranoid about the two possibly metas around his kids

[doctormead]

A twist on the summoning prompt

Ok, we've had many variations on Danny being summoned by cultists, villains, JLD, JL and bored kids at a slumber party, but what if DANNY tried to do a summons?

The scenario: Danny finds out that, once he hits 21 (let's say he's 16 when this little bombshell gets dropped on him), he's gonna be landed with the Kingship of the Infinite Realms. No, he can't get out of it. No, he can't abdicate to someone he thinks will do a good job. AND, if he can't hack it once he hits that age, the consequences will be...unpleasant to say the least.

Queue panicked questioning of various friendly Ancients who say they can't be his mentor for this (conflict of interest/inadequate scope for what he needs to learn/obscure excuse). Clockwork finally tells the desperate teen that, if he looks hard enough, he will find an appropriate mentor.

Well, Danny doesn't think he has time to search for such a mentor and taking out an advertisement in the IR's local newspaper equivalent may as well be painting a target on his back. But, he HAS been summoned a few times and thinks that two can play at this game.

So, with the help of Sam, Tucker and Jazz, he tries to come up with a summoning ritual for a mentor. The requirements are extensive but specific: non-hostile to Phantom (they initially thought about using "friendly to Phantom" but figured that would be too limiting given their situation), able to instruct in multiple forms of combat, able to instruct in strategy (small scale as well as large scale), able to instruct in management and politics (also on various scales) and, most importantly WILLING to be a mentor in such subjects.

The circle is cast and, when the smoke clears, a very startled Batman is standing in the center. Team Phantom didn't think they'd need to specify that the new mentor also be a ghost.

[samgirl98]

Forgotten Demon Twin 11/?

Prev | Next

Danny had wanted to do nothing more than wallow in self-pity in his room. Vlad had left him feeling discombobulated. He had no idea what to do now. Should he risk it and tell his parents he was Phantom? A little girl’s wails brought him back to the present.

Right, a ghost was attacking.

People ran as the ghost attacked at the mall’s parking lot. The screams weren’t loud, which just went to show how used they were to ghost attacks. They were focused on getting the hell out of dodge. Why did ghosts always attack in crowded areas, though? It made life so much harder for Danny.

“I’m here for your crown, Phantom.”

Danny ignored the giant green flame ghost and used a freeze ray in the hopes of stopping it. The ray hit, but it didn’t even slow the ghost down. As soon as it hit, the ice melted into a puddle of water. Danny didn’t let the minor setback deter him.

“You don’t deserve my crown or my kingdom, you flaming bag of gas.”

“Roar!”

“Did you—did you just literally say ‘roar’? What the actual fuck?”

The ghost didn’t say anything but turned into a big ball of fire headed straight for Danny. Danny looked around, noticing that there were still people in the parking lot. He did the only thing he could think of: he went up to the ghost and put a shield around it and himself.

The good news was that only Danny was hurt, and he could contain the fire within a very small radius.

The bad news: the flames went up into the sky, burning an ectoplasm green. There was a zero percent chance that Batman and his brood didn’t see that and would be sticking their noses into Danny’s business.

Dammit, now he was on a time limit. He didn’t want to have to deal with them.

“Now you’ve done it,” Danny said, “You’re going down!”

Danny ignored the burns on his body and flew up to the ghost, his hands glowing blue with ice, and punched it in the face.

“Roar!”

“Stop saying that,” Danny uppercut it, and it went down. Thankfully, it shrunk as it fell.

Danny took out his thermos and was about to suck it in when his parents showed up. Fuck!

His parents sometimes teamed up with Danny to take down a bigger threat, but it was always a fifty-fifty chance. They could easily start shooting at him as they could to the other ghosts. Danny didn’t want to take that chance. He sucked up the ghost and then flew as fast as he could. Even then, his parents started shooting at him.

Dammit!

“Get back here, Ghost boy,” his mom yelled out.

“Yeah, you menace, come back and fight us, you coward.”

Danny dodged a shot that almost clipped his shoulder. His mom was way too good at aiming. He was so busy keeping an eye out for his mom that he didn’t notice his dad aiming the bazooka at him. By some twisted miracle, his dad’s shot hit the mark. Danny yelled out in pain. He was already hurting from the burns the flame ghost had given him, and now the ectoplasm shot gave him another wound.

“Got him, Maddie!”

“Great job, sweetie,” His mom pointed a thermos at him.

Danny tried turning invisible. He flickered in and out of the visible spectrum. If some of his powers were acting out, he must be more tired than he thought.

“It’s working, Mads,” his dad yelled out.

Danny froze. What was working?

Suddenly, Danny fell from the sky. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t fly anymore. He hit the pavement hard, leaving a crater behind.

“Ugh. Ouch,” Danny shook his head, trying to get rid of the ringing in his ears.

Suddenly, white rings appeared around his waist. Danny panicked as he tried to keep the transformation under wrap. It didn’t work.

As he transformed back, Danny felt a body on top of him.

The Fentons saw a white light wash over Damian Wayne. They panicked for a moment, thinking it was their son. Once they blinked away the white spots, they noticed a boy who looked too much like their son covering another body.

Damian groaned as he fell on top of the ghost boy. Except it wasn’t the ghost boy. Both of their blood ran cold. Maddie and Jack noticed jeans and a white t-shirt with red accents. They noticed the messy black hair. With growing horror, the Fentons realized that the boy on the floor was their son, bleeding and with burn marks.

“No,” Maddie said in disbelief, “No!”

She ran up to the two boys and picked up Danny.

“No, my baby boy,” she cried out.

A hand she didn’t know fell on her shoulder. She tensed, ready to attack.

“We have to hide before someone figures out about Danny.”

Dick Grayson looked at her with a look of sadness and pity.

Maddie swallowed down her feelings. Dick was right; nobody else could figure out about Danny being Phantom. Her blood froze completely when she thought about what the GIW would do if they found out.

“Jack, open the GAV,” she commanded. Her husband did so. Damian had finally recovered and jumped in, followed by Dick. Maddie let them. Besides, she had questions.

“You knew about Danny being Phantom. How? You’ve only been in town for two days.”

Dick and Damian looked at each other.

“That’s not something we can answer without the rest of the family and Danny awake,” Dick said.

Maddie let it go and held on to her son tighter. All this time…all this time, they had been shooting at her baby boy. How had she never noticed it? She was a horrible mother!

“Mom,” Maddie looked down at Danny, “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, my sweet baby boy. I’m the one who should be saying that not you.”

Danny closed his eyes, leaving Maddie lost in her thoughts. She would make this right. She had to.

____

“We have a situation,” Bruce said. They had suited up to see what the explosion had been, their secret identities be damned. His son might be in trouble.

“Yeah, old man, it’s the explosion.”

“No, Dick texted. The Fentons found out that Danny is Phantom. They’re asking questions.”

Every one of his children looked at each other. Things were moving fast and quickly spinning out of their control. Should they tell the Fentons their identities? They knew about Danny, but that didn’t mean they had to tell them their secret.

“We don’t have to tell them our secret identities, but,” Bruce added, “We can make up half-truths that protect us but also explain how we know Danny is Phantom and why we aren’t reacting as civilians would.”

“Like what,” Jason asked.

“It’s a public secret that Wayne Enterprises funds the JL. We can build off that,” Bruce said.

“I think,” Tim said, “you should go alone. If too many of us show up, we could freak them out. That way, we can stay here in case Constantine calls. We can figure out these Anti-Ecto Act Laws. Maybe you could even get some insights from the Fentons.”

The rest of his children nodded.

“Fine, I’ll keep you updated.”

Bruce left wondering how things had gotten so out of control.

Without thinking, Bruce got into the backseat of the car.

“Where to, sir,” Alfred asked.

“To the Fentons,” he answered absentmindedly. It wasn’t until the car was moving that Bruce remembered.

Alfred was dead.

I will say this is not how I thought this chapter would go. I had it all planned out, and then, bam, a curve ball hit me, and I was writing something else.

Hope you liked.

[thelemoncoffee]

very very strange au concept surrounding a Phantom thief au DICE mission tactic

it started with Beez suggesting an au where DICE has more than 10 members and some of them are assigned to dress up as clones of Kokichi to throw police off, but it got weirder from there-

then we went "hey what if they chased Kokichi into a warehouse and came face to face with several clones" having to try and catch as many as they could and hope they caught the real one, if he was even in the group to begin with

next logical leap was to expand it to the rest of the og DICE- ie: DICE grunts having whole teams of people who are similar heights to the og DICE dressing up in their uniforms and committing smaller thefts as "copycats" around the city, committing some of their thefts shortly before the time real heists is set to happen to draw police away from the heist

how much worse can this get you may ask? why not become clones the detectives and police who are after them? how fucked up would it be to have DICE members impersonating higher-ups in the police force or Detective agency on their case? imagine seeing the coworker you jsut saw leave the building now suddenly in a meeting on the third floor.

how confused and panicked do you think Shuichi would be if he saw himself staring back at him down the hall?

[puppetmaster13u]

Which Fic Should I work on

(All DP Crossovers & lil information blurbs below the poll)

Down in the Deep- A Danny Phantom & Pressure crossover with lil baby (snek) man Danny and a panicking guess-Im-Dad-Now Sebastian (big snek man) Solace. Over 18849meters below sea level. [Art and AO3 link can be found under the tag #Down in the Deep Au]

Brothers, Dear Brother- A Danny Phantom & DC crossover where Danny is reincarnated as a superwonder clone, and him (and Match) are living on the streets trying to figure things out. [You can find the thread(s) and AO3 link under the tag #Clone Danny]

Crashing In- A Danny Phantom, DC, & Flight Rising crossover where a two-headed dragon Jason comes home to a few hatchlings somehow in his safehouse. Who weren't always hatchlings- not that he knows that. [Some things may be found under #DPxDCxFR or #Dad Hood]

Delving in the Deep- A Danny Phantom, DC, Pressure, & Dredge crossover with eldritch merfolk-esque ghosts, alongside the GIW and Urbanshade temporarily teaming up. And a hint of body horror. [No tag rn, but posts/links will be under #Delving in the Deep Au]

[tencitizens]

The Dead of Knight

a dpxdc fic by @tencitizens and @afathomedinsmoni for @patrol-partners-batphandom

Chapters: 2/15

Summary:

“You’re…” he trailed off, trying to make sense of the intrinsic knowledge that warred with all of his training. “You aren’t human.”

Eyes, bright green, seemed to dig into his very being. “Are you?” the boy asked in a mere whisper, an echo of surety immediately knocking Jason off balance.

Or: Danny gets dimensionally yeeted and leaves Team Phantom panicking in his wake. Meanwhile, Jason’s pit rage was under control—until something showed up in his Alley that calmed it. And now there’s a shit ton of League assassins in town. What the hell, Talia?

Fandom: Danny Phantom x Batman (All Media Types)

Rating: T

Pairings: Danny Phantom/Jason Todd, eventual Bernard Dowd/Tim Drake/Wesley "Wes" Weston, Jack Fenton/Maddie Fenton

Ch. 1 TWs: mild bleeding, mild panic/disassociation

Ch. 2 TWs: medical malpractice, PTSD flashbacks, medical abuse, minor gore, and minor use of dehumanizing language

[meowmeowmeowmeow4x]

Dark Blue Moon and the Suffering Sun Part 12

MASTAPOST

huge credit for their support and betaing to @brekitten

And credit to @adonneniel for sam’s last line :3

Tucker’s fingers flew over the keyboard as sweat rolled down his eyes. The cave was supposed to be cool and damp, but he felt as if placed under a heat lamp. Lines of code, addresses and file names filled the screen. New windows and notifications popped up faster than he could chase them down. The presence of his giant in the hacking world crept closer and closer. His chest cramped from heavy breaths. Sam was barely a few feet away, muttering an incantation, but the distance felt like miles. Each new line of code seemed to shift the walls of the cave inwards or outwards depending at random. He kept going. He couldn’t stop. Not with Danny out there and alone.

He always thought himself as good at hacking. Good with tech. The guy who could turn Skulker’s suit into puppetry. The guy who could out-hack fucking Technus. But maybe he was always just a small fish in a small pond. As the enemy hacker closed in on Tucker, each wave surrounding him, infiltrating like rats into a battered house of cards.

Tucker knew it was inevitable, but to see it happen was something else.

The enemy hacker got it. Got everything Tucker had ever stored on this laptop. His location, his destroying of evidence. His tampering with the sonars to ignore Danny. His attempt at erasing the video footage showing Danny sneaking off. Everything was in the hands of a stranger whose face Tucker would never see.

The only thing keeping him from fully breaking down was the comfort that the real incriminating data was safely locked away in his room, on a server that would brick itself if anyone other than Team Phantom tried to get in. That he made sure of, not just with tech, but with Sam’s spells.

It was cold comfort, though. Not a complete catastrophe, but still fucking awful.

Tucker sat back, watching glumly, helpless to do anything more. His deletion program ran in the background, destroying everything, but it was too late anyway.

Sam growled in frustration. “It’s not working. This stupid Mercator Projection map is fucking with the spell. I can’t tell if he’s in Hawaii or Mexico City.”

She crumpled up the cheap map they’d bought from the tourist shop and stomped on it with a thumping vengeance. They would’ve brought an entire globe, the bigger the better, but that would get them noticed, and flying under the radar was the whole point.

“Any luck?”

Tucker gestured to his computer, about to be bricked again. “This guy’s a monster. A monster. I’m like a tiny ant compared to him. Every time I make a move he’s made fifteen more.”

“There’s gotta be something else we can do. Come on, Tuck-”

Then the waterfall sprayed over the cove, revealing the Fenton Family SAV.

Shit.

He and Sam locked eyes in a second. Then they broke eye contact. They and Danny had gone over plans for what to do if certain things happened. If someone stole the files on his servers. If someone followed Danny without noticing. If someone found their cove.

Above all else, above everything else, don’t tell them about Danny. Don’t even hint towards it. Play dumb and obfuscate.

Tucker realised belatedly that they never got to practice all of those plans.

Mrs Fenton leapt off the bow, and marched like a woman possessed. Her eyes narrowed. Her shoulders squared up. Her jawline set.

Tucker felt like he was going to die.

“Where’s Danny?” Mrs Fenton all but ordered. “Where is he? Is it true? Is it true that that- that- that Phantom brainwashed all of you into helping him!? What did Phantom do to him?! What happened to my baby?!” Each question echoed louder, more panicked than the last.

What was the rulebook for this situation again?!

Tucker’s mouth dried. Every millisecond not responding put the fear of God into his heart. “Who the heck is Phantom?”

Mrs Fenton’s expression hardened further, if that was possible. Wrong thing to say, fuck.

Sam stepped in front of him, pose defiant, but arms shaking just enough for Tucker to notice. “That’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve been looking for Danny because the adults sure as fucking hell won’t.”

Looking for him, and Damian Wayne, but maybe bringing him up was going to be more trouble than it was worth, seeing as behind Mrs Fenton, Danny’s dad and holy shit was that Bruce Wane trailed up behind her. If it weren’t for the situation, Tucker felt like would’ve died anyway from meeting his idol.

Mr Wayne spoke up next. “I’m sorry we neglected the case of your friend, but you should’ve informed the authorities as soon as you suspected. How long have you known and not told anyone?”

Because telling people about Danny would land him on a VIP seat in the operating theatre! Because it was your freaking son he was trying to save?

Tucker couldn’t tell them that. What could he tell? He clenched his jaw like a vice, searching for a way out of this…

“You guys don’t get to tell us what to do.” Sam ground out. “We’ve been helping Phantom protect this freaking island from the sirens for months, with no help from any of you.”

Right! Good work Sam. Just a tiny hint of the truth and the real secrets stay hidden. Sam, he could kiss her right now (not that he’d ever want to).

Mrs Fenton raised her voice. “Samantha, we’ve been over this. Phantom isn’t a hero like Batman or Wonder Woman or Superman. He’s an inhuman monster staking claim over a territory. He’s tricking you kids!”

“Phantom’s saved us more than we could count! He’s risked his neck for this town.” Sam spat out, squaring up to Mrs Fenton on her steel-toed boots.

“He’s protecting his assets! If Phantom is such a protector, then why would he threaten the mayor, lead the invasion of town and work with Showenhower!?”

“It was all just a m-misunderstanding, Mrs Fenton, I swear!” Tucker said.

Mrs Fenton continued. “And now Danny’s gone. We know he’s been supplying Phantom with our inventions. Don’t you try and play dumb with us, young man. We’ve seen the footage of Danny sneaking out.”

Tucker’s blood ran thinner, and thinner. The cold sweat returned in full force.

Mr Wayne came between them, trying to put space between the two, without much success. “Please, if Phantom is hurting or threatening you in any way, it’s ok to tell us. We can keep you safe. We just need to know what happened to Danny.”

Sam gulped. Loud enough that even Tucker could hear it. It was at times like these Tucker wished Danny’s parents were as inattentive as they were made out to be by the public.

Their silence spoke volumes enough. Tucker wasn’t Batman, and neither was Sam. They didn’t have the chops to talk their way out of this, not enough Charisma to hit the DC checks, but they were also cornered here by the adults. One way or another, Tucker feared for Danny’s secrets.

Mr Fenton spoke up next, his voice uncharacteristically contemplative. “When I showed Danno the new security system and cameras in the lab and arsenal two weeks ago, it felt like he wasn’t as pumped up as I was. At first I thought it was nothing, but looking back it almost looked like fear.”

Well duh! You were showing him all the stuff you were gonna use to tear him into itty bitty pieces! Who wouldn’t be afraid for their life?!

Bruce Wayne crouched to their level, eyes soft like they were traumatized orphans that he was gonna adopt or something. “Did Phantom threaten Danny into giving him wea-”

“NO!” Tucker shouted instantly. A beat passed. His voice echoed through the cave. Shit. With the way the adults were looking at him, he might as well have said yes.

Sam pushed Mr Wayne away, or at least she tried to. The man barely budged, so she just stepped back from him. “Why do you care?! Already looking for another kid to replace the one you lost?”

The Fentons’ eyes widened, their faces in shock. Mr Wayne looked like he’d been punched through the gut and made into a donut. Ouch Sam, what the fuck?!

His voice lowered into a dark timbre, his expression steely cold. “I don’t want any more kids to get hurt. This Phantom needs to be stopped.”

Sam clutched his hand like a clamp. Tucker’s heart sank. What had they just done?

Please be alright, Danny, and Damian Wayne…

In an ocean far far away…

Damian sniffed the water as he clung to Danny’s shoulders again, his tail wrapped around the black and white boy’s waist. The kid had been doing that a lot lately, sniffing. Claimed it was to hone his senses.

“I believe I can smell Atlanteans nearby.” Damian said. Danny took the moment to verify his suspicions with his whole whiff.

“Yeah, looks it.” Danny said. He was a little suspicious though. Damian had refused to speak about what happened in the Atlantean outpost and how he got all this cool stuff. Surely he could’ve have fought them off, so he probably snuck around. Danny couldn’t imagine how terrifying that kind of thing would be. At least he knew his parents and what they were capable of when sneaking around the house and Amity. This kid was literally just some normal rich kid until all this happened.

“Why do you mention it?” Danny asked.

“I believe we it would be beneficial for us to partake in raid.”

Danny blinked.

A raid.

“You raided the Atlanteans and got this stuff. Like, legit raiding.” Danny said, dumbfounded.

“I met little resistance.”

Danny needed a moment to breathe here. His gills flexed open and closed.

“And now you want to raid another settlement. Why? We’re still good on food, and we even have veggies!”

Damian shook his head. “We need a map.”

Danny huffed, fins straightening. “We have a map literally up there!” he pointed up at the orange and purple sky over the sunset. The brightest stars were already beginning to show, with many more on the way.

“The Atlanteans likely keep maps of the local area, including human settlements and islands. There we can find further resources, and establish contact with the human world again.”

Huh. That was actually a pretty solid plan. His friends, sister (and maybe parents, if they noticed) were likely worried sick. A phone wouldn’t do them very well in the water, but even just a call letting them know they were ok would do wonders for their mental health.

That still left one teensy, tiny little issue, though.

“But how did you raid them the first time?!”

“It matters not.” Damian said, fins puffing up with pride. “All that matters is that with your skillset, such a mission will be as easy as breathing underwater.”

This kid was having way too much fun boasting of things no kid should’ve been able to accomplish. Then again, he showed some pretty insane marksmanship with the Wrist Ray the other day, so maybe he really did have the chops to back the ego up.

That acknowledgement did not stop Danny from pulling Damian to his chest, and administering a thorough nooggie, however.

[uvobreakmylegs]

Bystander

💕Happy (Belated) Valentines Day💕 (again lol)

Warnings: graphic depictions of violence, murder, death, gore, blood, stalking

Word count: 6.1k

The sound of the woman's neck snapping echoed out into the night air, and she let out one final gasp as she fell to the pavement, the broken bone jutting out of her neck unnaturally.

“No! Kim! Goddammit no!!”

Phinks turned away from the woman's body in order to face the man screaming at the other side of the lot.

Tears were falling down the man's face, but he froze when he saw Phinks' attention turned to him – he was the last one standing. Everyone else from the group that had tried to jump Phinks was now dead, reduced to lifeless bodies scattered in different areas of the lot.

Despite being confronted with the fact that the people he'd teamed up with had died, it didn't push the man to try and attack Phinks for the sake of avenging his fallen comrades – in fact, it did the opposite.

The man turned around and began to run.

That was more than a little pathetic, Phinks thought to himself, although he could understand that reaction at least somewhat.

That guy and the others had been completely unprepared when they'd made the attempt on his life, their skills nowhere near being able to even scratch him. It was just another instance of sub-par nen users who'd learned nen in the fastest way possible and spent little to no time in trying to develop a worthwhile ability because they were too eager to try and get revenge on the troupe. It was something he and all of the others were used to by now.

Annoying, but at least it was easy enough to take care of. And with this guy, he could do so without too much effort.

Phinks leaned down, picking up a small bit of rubble that had come from the aging parking lot while the man continued to run. He infused the small stone with a bit of nen, and as the man turned to continue his escape past a building, Phinks threw it in the man's direction.

It punctured through his neck and tore through the throat muscles before it came out on the other side.

The man immediately fell to the pavement, gasping as he rolled over onto his back while he clutched at his neck, his fingers quickly becoming stained with red as he tried to prevent the blood that came gushing out of the wounds. If he was a bit more competent and a bit less panicked, he likely wouldn't have had any trouble dealing with that wound. But after what he'd seen happen to his companions, he had lost his composure in record time and wasn't able to think rationally.

As he looked at the man and the amount of blood that was slowly spreading out over the ground, it didn't feel necessary to walk over and finish the job. While Phinks didn't tend to be one to prolong the deaths of his victims, with the way things were going, the guy would be dead within a few minutes. No need to spend the extra effort when the outcome was already clear.

So he began to walk away from the scene, keeping an eye on his surroundings. There was an off-chance that there were still one or two from the group that were hiding, waiting for Phinks to lower his guard and strike when he felt it was safe. That had happened at least once with him, and a few different times with some of the others: blacklist Hunters, ones who actually knew what they were doing, would con those who had just learned nen into being bait for the troupe, and after they had been finished off, the Hunter would swoop in and try to kill off that troupe member.

And people said the Phantom Troupe were the bad ones.

Phinks had allowed himself to get a little distracted after he'd determined that there was no one else hiding in the darkness, and as he made it to the other edge of the lot, he noted the storm clouds that were in the sky. A bad storm was coming, it seemed.

“Oh my god!”

He'd been just close enough to hear those words being exclaimed.

Back in the direction where he'd had left the man.

Phinks looked back, and while he couldn't see everything from where he was standing, there was definitely someone now leaning over the man with the neck wound.

“Are you alive?!” he heard the new person say.

The next bit wasn't as audible, but Phinks was able to make out what sounded like someone gurgling in response.

So the guy was still alive.

Phinks sighed.

He could probably leave it. There was a good chance that the guy would bleed out before help could arrive. But there was a slim chance that he could survive his injuries. If that happened, it'd become a bigger mess that Phinks wouldn't want to deal with; leaving the would-be avengers alive tended to only make them come back stronger and a bit more cunning.

With another sigh, Phinks turned around and began to head back to the scene he had just left. This is what you get for not finishing him off, he said to himself. And he knew a few of the other members of the troupe would have criticized him for leaving the man in the way he did.

So much for not spending extra effort.

Staying in the shadows, Phinks took his hands out of his pockets and cracked his knuckles as he got closer to the man and the new person hovering over him.

You were kneeling down next to him, already looking overwhelmed by the sight of the man on the ground in a pool of his own blood.

“Why would someone do this?” you asked aloud, your voice wavering somewhat. It didn't seem like you were actually asking the man on the ground next to you, more like you were asking yourself.

You didn't appear to be anything other than an ordinary civilian, and Phinks doubted this group would've involved someone like that in their plot to kill him. So you were completely unrelated to the guy and the group who'd jumped him and just happened to be in the wrong place when you caught sight of him.

“Hang on, I'm gonna – gonna stop the bleeding,” you said to the man as you removed your hoodie. You pressed the fabric against the wounds in his neck while you tried not to hyperventilate, breathing out through your mouth as you did your best to keep yourself calm.

“I need you to hold it for a second, o-okay? So I can get my phone....”

You trailed off as you grabbed at your bag with one hand while still holding the hoodie to his neck with another. However, the man wasn't listening to you. He had his eyes fixed on Phinks, who was still standing in the darkness.

With the damage to his throat, the man wasn't able to say much and had been limited to grunts and moans. And instead of holding the hoodie like you'd told him to, Phinks watched as the man grabbed at your arm, getting bloody hand prints all over your skin as he tried to get your attention, tried to point out the murderer who was watching you fish your phone out of your bag.

Phinks needed to kill you before you were able to call anyone. And with how defenseless and unaware you were, that wouldn't be an issue.

The man sensed it when Phinks' aura flared with the intent of killing you, and he pulled at your sleeve again while he tried to get your attention.

The guy hadn't been able to run from him; did he really think that you'd be able to get away? Did he really think that Phinks would allow you to get away once you saw his face?

You paused in your search for your phone to look back down at the man. His arm then began to move, fingers straining as he tried to point over at Phinks.

Phinks already saw the way this would play out: you would look over to where the man was pointing, see him, and in the split second you had to realize that you were looking at a murderer, Phinks would rush forward and snap your neck like he'd done with the woman minutes prior. The man who lay next to you would follow shortly after, and then all the loose ends of this annoying night would be tied up.

That was how it was supposed to go.

But then you did something that surprised him.

Instead of looking behind you, you reached out and grabbed the man's hand.

“You're not gonna die, okay? I'm going to call for help, and someone'll come here who can fix you up. You're gonna be okay. I promise.”

There were tears pricking your eyes as you said that, though you were desperately trying to keep your composure as the situation was still stressing you out of your mind. But even then, you tried to reassure the man by smiling at him.

“You need to help me, though,” you said, “you-you're losing too much blood, you'll die if you lose anymore. So you need to press this against your neck. Put pressure on to stop the bleeding.”

With that, you took his hand and pushed it against your hoodie, trying to get him to help in applying the correct amount of pressure.

“Please. I don't want you to die.”

Your words seemed to have had some affect on the man, because after that he did as you said and pushed on the sides of his neck. Unbeknownst to you, the man finally realized that he needed to use his nen to keep himself from bleeding out.

You seemed to find the way he held at his throat encouraging, and you reached again for your bag with some reassurance that the man wasn't going to immediately bleed out without you.

But as you finally pulled out your phone and began to dial emergency services, you gave the man your name and then asked if he was able to speak. The man shook his head as best he could.

“That's okay,” you said, “you can tell me later.”

You hit the call button while the man looked back to Phinks. His eyebrows furrowed and he seemed confused as to why the spider had yet to attack you.

The weird thing was that Phinks didn't really know either.

There was literally no reason for him to stand there doing nothing while you continued as you were, calling for help and bringing in more potential witnesses.

Yet Phinks had been caught off-guard by the things you'd said to the man. Why that was, he wasn't completely sure, but for now, at least, he found himself wanting to wait and see what else you'd do.

Meanwhile, you'd managed to connect to someone.

“Please, I need an ambulance,” you told the operator, “I found a man – I think he got shot. I-in the neck. I'm trying to stop the bleeding but I don't know how long he'll last.”

You tapped on the screen to turn on the phone's speaker before you put your hands back on the sides of the man's neck, pressing the hoodie that was now thoroughly soaked with blood as you gave your location to the operator so they knew where to send the ambulance.

After that, you were talking to him again, the operator still on the other end of the line while you were trying to keep the man awake by speaking to him, a whole bunch of meaningless information spilling from your mouth. The area where you lived, what you did for a living, stupid facts about your life, and you even bothered to mention some upcoming video game that you were excited for, telling him that once he got better that he needed to tell you about himself and if he also liked video games.

In between all of that, you kept repeating that it would be okay.

After a certain point, Phinks had to wonder if you were saying that to reassure yourself.

It wasn't long after that the storm clouds hanging over your heads all this time decided to make their move, a drizzle of rain beginning to fall. You clearly realized that the water would be bad for the open wounds on the man's neck, and so you told him to press down on the hoodie again while you looked for an area where he'd be dry. You decided to move him by grabbing his ankles and pulling him to an area with a cover, all the while apologizing again and again in the event that you managed to hurt him while you did that.

How long was he going to let this go on for? Humor your attempts at keeping this guy alive before he stepped in and put an end to it?

Currently you still had your hands around the man's throat, keeping the pressure on his neck while the chill that the rain brought caused you to shiver. There was still no sign of any ambulance coming, though Phinks could still hear the operator assuring you that it was on its way.

Phinks noticed when the man turned his head back in his direction, staring at him once more. And that time, you noticed as you turned your head to follow his gaze.

The instant he saw your head begin to move Phinks got out of the way, finding cover fast so you wouldn't see him.

At first all he could hear was the sound of the rain falling to the pavement.

“Oh god.”

Your voice was trembling when you said that. You now saw the other bodies in the lot and it hit you that you were in a lot more danger than you had initially thought, if you'd even been thinking about your own safety at all before.

Phinks could hear the voice of the operator coming from your phone as they asked what was wrong.

“There's.... There's others. In the parking lot. On the ground,” you said, “I don't.... I don't see anyone moving. I-I'm too scared to go check over there.”

“You don't need to go over. Just stay where you are,” the operator told you, “do you see anyone other than the ones on the ground?”

“No.....”

“Then just keep doing what you're doing. Help will be there soon.”

“Right... Right. It'll be okay.”

Phinks peered out from behind his cover and found that your attention was on the man again. You were still talking to him, still repeating over and over that everything would be okay, and when sirens began to sound in the distance, you pointed it out to him and told him that help would be there in no time.

The cheerful demeanor you were trying to keep up for his sake was a lot more forced now. Phinks had to wonder what exactly had been going through your head when you first saw the man – you didn't think to check your surroundings at all? You just saw someone who was dying and didn't think anything beyond getting him help? That was beyond stupid, especially when you believed that the man had been shot.

The growing sounds of the sirens indicated that they were getting closer, proving you right that they'd be here soon. Phinks needed to decide on what he was going to do.

By now it was impossible to keep anyone else from getting involved – him standing around and doing nothing while you called for help had seen to that. Even if he killed the two of you right now, you and the rest would be discovered shortly. Not that big of a deal for him, as he was certain he could disappear while emergency services were still processing the scene.

But he didn't really feel like killing you for some reason.

And since you weren't leaving your spot while you helped that guy cling to life, killing him without you seeing would be difficult. But even if he was willing to let you live, he couldn't leave that guy alive.

When the flashing lights of the ambulance could be seen in the distance, a new thought occurred to him, and it was then that Phinks made the decision to leave. Once again keeping to the shadows within the lot, he intended on leaving the crime scene before doubling back.

He glanced back at you one more time while he could still see you. You were still reassuring the guy while you slowly began to relax just a little, confident that he'd be saved and that you'd been able to help him.

There was literally no reason not to kill you. Not only that, Phinks was aware that by his feet were a few more bits of rubble. He could easily do to you what he'd done to the guy, and this time make sure he killed his target by aiming at your head.

Why he still chose not to kill you, he had no clue.

Phinks found himself watching you a lot after.

Days had passed since that night and no one else came after him. It was unlikely that there'd be any connection made between him and the crime scene left behind, and there had only been one person who had seen his face in that lot. That loose end was now tied up, so he didn't have any other reason to stay in the area.

But Phinks still wasn't sure what to do with you.

Technically he didn't have to do anything; you hadn't seen him, and the man hadn't communicated anything to you, so you knew nothing about Phinks or the troupe. He could just leave you alone, forget about you completely and that would be the end of it.

But just like he'd been when he had stood by and let you call emergency services, he had no clue what was driving him to keep an eye you in the following days. No idea why he bothered to track down where you lived and watch what he could through your windows.

And he didn't know why that one moment kept replaying in his head – where you had grabbed at that man's hand and smiled as you tried to reassure him, promising him that he wouldn't die and trying to give him the motivation to keep fighting and live.

He thought about it a lot until he got to the point that he found he didn't want to think anymore about why he was watching you so closely, and just chose to watch you as if that was what he'd always done.

The days after the incident you spent most of your time hiding in your apartment, and on occasion you would pull away at the closed blinds just a little bit to glance at the outside. Only for a few seconds before you would quickly pull away.

You seemed pretty jumpy.

The theory that was starting to go around was that the group had died due to gang activity – if that was what the police ended up deciding on, that was probably why you were so nervous. You likely feared that you'd gotten involved with something you shouldn't have, and now there were dangerous people that would be after your life. And if you knew how Phinks had followed that man to his hospital room and broke his IV before jamming the two pieces through his skull, you'd have good reason to believe that your life would come to a grisly end.

You must've heard what had happened to the guy you'd tried to save – it'd been pretty big news over the past few days, a parking lot full of murder victims and the one survivor of the initial attack being found dead in after. People were at a loss as to why exactly the group from the “Back Lot Slaughter” had died and why the survivor had been hunted down.

Your name hadn't been released in any news reports, it looked like. Likely out of fear that it would make you a target.

After a little bit longer you left your apartment for a short period of time to get groceries, and the entire time you glanced over your shoulder while trying hard to act like you weren't. And when you were on your way back from shopping and found that the area around you appeared to be empty, you not so subtly reached into your bag so you could close your fist around your keys, ready to use them as a weapon if case anyone attacked you.

If you were that worried for your life then why stay here? Didn't you have friends or family who lived out of town that you could stay with?

Apparently not, as you stayed where you were, eventually leaving your apartment more frequently when you went back to work. Evidently you felt it was safe enough that you could head back out more often.

He needed to move on, however.

Phinks had only been in the city because he'd been heading back home after a job, and he'd never been intending on staying as long as he did; just one night at most. Really, he should've been trying to figure out if that group had known he would be there or if it was just random chance that they'd come across him. Not wasting his time watching someone like you.

He needed to figure out what it was that he wanted from you and then be done with it. Either by doing what he should've done that night, or.....

…..

Or what?

That was still unclear – what exactly he wanted from all of this. And once more he that he didn't feel like thinking about it too much.

Still, he wasn't going to continue like this indefinitely. So it needed to end soon.

He felt like he was about to reach that point one late afternoon a couple weeks after. He wasn't getting anything out of watching you hide away in your apartment, and it would be best to head back home and forget about the whole thing.

He was just about to head off when he noticed something.

You'd gone out for work and did a bit of shopping before coming back today. Another quick trip where you grabbed essentials while looking over your shoulder. So he found it odd when he saw you exiting your apartment again, hurriedly locking up the door before you turned away and headed back in the direction of the store you'd gone to earlier.

You must've forgotten something. And it must've been pretty important for you to go get while you felt that your life was in danger.

As usual, Phinks followed from a distance, close enough to keep an eye on you but not so close that you'd notice him.

At the end of your short but tense walk was the store you'd gone to earlier, and Phinks hung back, not feeling much need to follow you inside. If it was just one or two items that you were running inside to grab, it'd look weird if he went in and then back outside so shortly after you.

Apparently the thing that was important enough to make you go back outside was body wash, as you came out of the store with a bottle of the stuff in hand. Your pace was still somewhat hurried, and as you began to approach the stairs at the side of the store that lead down to a sidewalk, he got out of the way before you could spot him, heading down the stairs himself.

There was an automatic thought that he needed to get to a place where you wouldn't see him so he could follow you back, and he began to do that before he stopped. He knew he needed to stop this; following you back to your apartment would be doing the exact opposite of that. It was time to leave and not bother with you anymore.

Or maybe he could stay where he was so you would need to get close as you walked by. The entire time since he'd first seen you, you'd been at a distance. Maybe if he saw you up close and saw just how much of a stressed-out wreck you'd become in detail, the sight would annoy him enough that he'd be able to forget the way you'd been with the guy he killed. Maybe that had been the solution the whole time.

So Phinks stayed, standing against the wall at the bottom of the stairs while waiting for you to come down. You were at the top of the stairway not long after, and as you began to descend, he noticed the way your eyes glanced over at him before you looked to the path in front of you.

Not the reaction of someone who recognized a person who'd been at a crime scene, so at least that confirmed that you hadn't seen him that night. At least there was that.

What exactly had caused what happened next, he didn't know. It looked like something had distracted you, and you turned your head over your shoulder right as you were descending the stairs.

Phinks wasn't sure if you'd misjudged the steps or if it was something else, but you managed to lose your footing and began to fall face-first down the stairway.

The stairway wasn't a long one, but you'd bang yourself up falling from that height, maybe break a few bones.

It was lucky that he happened to be right there to catch you.

Though it was more like he broke your fall as you landed against him, face-planting into his chest.

But he grabbed you by your arms after to make sure you didn't go anywhere.

You pulled back slightly when you regained your footing and stared at him for a few moments. And when you finally processed what had just happened, a look of mortification formed on your face.

“Oh my god – I'm sorry,” you began, “thanks for catching me. Sorry that happened.”

“It's okay,” said Phinks, “didn't want to see you get hurt.”

“Thanks. Still, I'm sorry.”

You'd averted your eyes, clearly embarrassed.

And he still had his hands on you.

“What caused that?” Phinks asked.

“Nothing. Just me being stupid. Sorry,” you answered.

Then you looked at one of the hands on your arm, and then added “sorry, you don't need to hold me anymore. I'm good now.”

He let go of you, albeit reluctantly.

You side-stepped him almost immediately, giving him a weak smile as you said “thank you again.”

Then you began to continue down the stairs as you'd been before you tripped.

“Leaving already?” Phinks asked, an brow raised.

“Ah, yeah. Sorry.”

How many times were you going to apologize?

“I'm... I'm late for something,” you added.

“... Okay. Sorry to hold you up, then,” he said.

“You're fine. Thank you again.”

With that, you continued down the stairs, heading away from him and back to the safety of your apartment.

You glanced back at him a few times as you did, a small worry growing in you every time you found that he was still staring at you. After a certain point, you didn't look back anymore, but your pace did quicken shortly after that.

After you turned a corner, you were out of sight.

It was time to go for him as well.

… Except for whatever reason, Phinks found himself going back in the direction of your apartment.

The blinds were drawn shut when he got back, and no doubt you'd done your routine of locking and bolting the front door. You might recognize him if you peeked out through your blinds again, so it'd be best to make sure you didn't manage to spot him.

As the sun set and day turned into night, he saw that the lights inside your apartment were still on. And they stayed on when the normal time for you to go to sleep came and went.

You couldn't still be awake, could you?

With no one else in the area seeming to be active, Phinks approached your front door. While he probably wouldn't be able to figure out exactly what you might be doing, he'd probably be able to tell if you were asleep or not.

When he stood in front of it and quietly listened, he heard something coming from your apartment.

The sound of running water.

…. Phinks felt it was a weird time to get a shower.

….

If he went in there now you wouldn't be able to react immediately.

Why that thought crossed his mind he had no clue, but the instant it did Phinks was heading back down the stairs of your apartment and making his way towards the side of the building. Right under the balcony attached to your unit. Going in through the front door would make too much noise and alert your neighbors, so going in through an entrance where the obstacles in his way would be minimal was more ideal. So he climbed up.

A metal latch on the inside of the sliding door of your balcony was all that stood in his way, and he broke it easily when he forced the door open. There was a bit of noise when he wrenched the metal apart, and he waited a moment to see if any of your neighbors would step outside to investigate. But no one came, so Phinks stepped inside and slid the glass door shut behind him. It wouldn't lock now, but that didn't really matter.

You were supposed to be taking a shower, but after taking a few steps into your apartment, he noted that he didn't hear any water running. Instead, he heard different noises coming from the bathroom; what seemed to be the sound of your feet hurrying across the tiled floor.

He reached the small hallway right as you flung open the bathroom door and stepped out with only a towel wrapped around you.

Your eyes landed on him immediately and you froze.

Terror quickly took over your features as you stared at him, an intruder in your apartment who had come in when you had least expected it and were completely unprepared.

There was also recognition in your gaze; it was only a few hours ago that you'd seen him, so that wasn't too surprising.

A period passed where neither of you said anything.

And then-

“Hey-” Phinks began.

That single word forced you out of your shock as you bolted for the kitchen.

He followed.

You were trying to get at a knife block, your finger brushing against the hilt of the biggest one when he grabbed you around the waist and pulled you away from it.

You shrieked when he touched you, but the noise didn't last long as he clamped one of his hands over your mouth, muffling your screams as you tried to cry out for help.

The two of you ended up on the floor of your kitchen, his one arm wrapped around both of yours and keeping their movements limited while his other hand stayed on your mouth. You were trying to grab at him as best you could while you kicked your legs out in an attempt to escape his grip. All while you cried into his hand, the tears beginning to run down your face.

Phinks kept holding you, knowing that eventually you'd run out of steam.

And after a few minutes like that, you did. Now you were still, shaking in his grip while you continued to sob into his hand.

It was the second time he'd had his arms around you, he noted. Odd how the first two times you had physical contact with each other you ended up being held against him in some way. Odd, but he didn't mind it.

He noticed when you began to move again, trying to wiggle one of your arms out of his grip. The reason for that turned out to be in an effort to adjust the towel you were wearing. During the time when you were struggling, it had become loose and fallen open. Now that you weren't in as much of a panic, you were clearly feeling embarrassed and wanted to cover yourself.

Phinks decided to take a chance and took his hand off your mouth, and while you let out a shaky breath after, there were no more attempts to scream on your part. He hummed as he adjusted the towel so you were covered again, happy that you weren't being difficult. At least for now.

Once that was done, he wrapped that other arm around you, making you continue to sit like that with him. The drops of water that had remained on your hair and skin were soaking into the material of his tracksuit, but he took more note of what he smelled when he breathed in. A nice scent on your skin – that body wash you'd bought earlier.

As much as he wanted to say that he liked it, it'd probably be a weird thing to mention that he thought you smelled nice, at least in this situation.

He refocused when he saw you glance over your shoulder, still trembling as you looked at him. You probably wanted to know what was going to happen to you, but you didn't seem willing to say anything.

Since you wouldn't speak, he went first.

“I was being nice to you earlier and you blew me off,” said Phinks.

A sob was still coming out with every other breath, but you managed to pull yourself together enough to begin to form a response.

“I-I-I'm s-sor-”

“Don't say that you're sorry again. I heard enough of that earlier.”

You quickly clamped your mouth shut while he continued.

“Do you know why I'm here?” he asked.

You didn't say anything at first, seeming hesitant to answer.

Phinks huffed.

“You wouldn't stop talking when you found that guy in the lot; now you're barely speaking even when I want you to.”

That statement of his seemed to confirm some things in your head.

“Why did you try so hard for that guy, anyway?” Phinks then asked.

When you didn't answer that time, he chose to ignore that and continued with “what I don't get is how long it took you to realize that you were in a dangerous situation. You thought that the guy had been shot and didn't think that there'd be repercussions for trying to help him?”

“You... You heard that?” you asked.

“You weren't being very quiet; anyone could've heard you.”

“..... You killed those people?” you whispered.

“That's a stupid question, don't you think?”

“... Are you going to kill me?”

In response to that, Phinks finally loosened his grip so he could turn you and have you face him. Your hands immediately went to clutch at your towel and you looked terrified and confused.

Phinks still remembered how you'd been with that guy. How you'd begged him to help you help him, how you'd smiled at him as you told him that he'd make it, how easily you opened yourself up to a dying man and tried to make him promise that the two of you would talk again once he recovered from his injuries.

How you gripped his hand in an attempt to comfort him.

That thought had Phinks reaching over and grabbing one of the hands you had clutched against yourself. You let out a soft yelp as he pulled it away from you while he focused on how soft your hand felt in his.

Why had such an action stayed with him?

…..

He once again decided that he didn't want to think about it.

“I won't kill you,” he said, realizing that he hadn't answered your question.

“Why?” you asked.

Instead of answering, Phinks pulled you in closer, ignoring the way you began to panic when you saw how close his face was getting to yours. You were trying to escape the hold he had on you again, and when that didn't work, you pressed your free hand against his chest to try and keep him away from you.

He grabbed that hand as well.

When Phinks pressed his lips against yours, you whimpered.

He ignored it, far too taken by the thought of how nice it felt to have you like this.

Without anything to hold it up, the towel ended up falling off of you completely, and once again you let out a sad noise against his lips.

Phinks didn't do anything that time.

That was your own fault.

[op-sys-chaos]

I love “Danny retires and becomes a mechanic for the Watchtower” fics

But I wanna see ones where Danny is still an active hero and in fact a JL member who just also happens to have a day job as a mechanic on the Watchtower

The chaos of a new member to the mechanic team being like “oh my god Danny just abandoned what he was working on when Superman came by and gestured at him! He should be fired” and an experienced person being like “no that was the ‘we need you on this thing’ gesture” “oh so we can get called to help the JL??? Cool!!” “No, just Danny.” “Why?? How’s that fair??” “…he’s a member. He’s Phantom.” “…….WHAT-“

The hilariousness of a new JL member seeing a mechanic walking towards the meeting room and trying to block him like “I think you’re lost buddy” and he just laughs and goes “cute” and phases through them. New member is panicking until Danny shifts into Phantom, at which point new member freezes, panicking bc they just tried to stop a new teammate from entering the briefing. Or even funnier, he plays along with it and the JL has to tell the new member to let him through. (Especially if it’s someone with a temper and an ego like Guy Gardener who would be all “You’re not allowed in here, you’re just the help” and get very embarrassed to find out that this little dude is a powerhouse.)

The shenanigans of someone assuming the Watchtower is undefended bc it’s only the mechanics up there, only to have Phantom, who’s scary as fuck when he wants to be, kick their ass

I just wanna see the nonsense

[thevoidstaredback]

Barry knew something was wrong when he woke up that morning, but he couldn't place what. There was nothing wrong in the house, nor with his family. His team were as normal as they could be, and none of his rogues had gotten out, nor was anyone causing any trouble in Central City. Then, just as he'd gotten off work at the police station, an emergency meeting for the Justice League was called. Ugh, David's gonna be pissed that he has to call out!

The Watchtower, when he got there, was a mess. Heroes were obviously panicking, and there must be magic users on board because there were things flying every which way. The meeting room, however, was somehow worse.

"What the hell is going on?" The Flash demanded after ducking behind a chair.

"Constantine and Deadman are on a warpath!" Aquaman helpfully supplied from where he was hidden behind his own chair.

"I gathered that much," Flash shouted over the noise of a chair being shattered against the wall behind him.

Aquaman scowled at him. "The hell do you want me to say? I don't know what's got them so upset!

The door opened again, announcing Batman's presence. He cleared his throat and the room instantly fell silent. Things kept flying around, but they were much more lax than they had been. Cautiously, the gathered heroes emerged from their makeshift hiding places to sit in their chairs.

"What's this about, Constantine?" the Dark Knight asked once everyone was seated.

Instead of the Brit, the ghost beside him was the one to answer. "You idiots-" he growled, "-have really fucked up this time!" he shouted.

Flash idly noticed that only the heroes operating in America were present. Huh. He had a dream just like this last night!

"Slow down," Wonder Woman tried to placate, "What's going on?"

Now it was Constantine's turn to talk. "The US Government are more aware of magic then any of us-" He clearly meant the JLD. "-are comfortable with. The fact that they somehow hid it until now is baffling."

Since when is the US Gov. aware of anything? Flash quietly wondered.

Deadman, visible to everyone and slightly calmer than before, said, "It's been brought to my attention that your government as been targeting my people." He held up his hand and raised his voice to stop anyone from interrupting him before they could. "They've taken a child."

This time, both the ghost and the occultist allowed the noise to overtake the room. Superman was the one to put a stop to it by directly asking the two, "What do you mean they've taken a child?"

Zatanna, fashionably late, entered the room and clicked on the projector like this entrance had been practiced. If Flash didn't know any better, he would've thought she had practiced it. As the screen lit up, she took place beside her two teammates. "Phantom is a small time hero in a nowhere town in Illinois - at least, it usually sticks to Illinois - called Amity Park. We've been keeping tabs on the place, though Deadman here is the only one to have ever had repeated contact."

On the projector screen was the picture of a child near or in his mid-teens. He wore a black HAZMAT suit with white accents, white knee high boots, and white elbow gloves. His hair was white and his eyes the colour of cartoon radioactivity. He was snarling in the photo, obviously having been taken during a fight, if the ready stance was anything to go by.

When Zatanna moved to the next slide, it was an overshot of a place that was somewhere between being a town and a city. It was big enough that not everyone could possibly hope to know everyone, but small enough that everyone knew someone who knew someone. Based on the experience of several heroes, as well as several different statistics, it didn't look like the kind of place that would have a lot of police needed crime, let alone a dedicated hero.

"Several World Ending events were started and stopped here." Constantine continued, "Remember six months ago, when natural disasters erupted all over the planet? We tracked the epicenter to here. Same as four months ago when three quarters of the planet's population took an impromptu nap."

The slide was changed to show an empty field. "Two months ago," Deadman picked up, "The entire town and everyone in it disappeared off the face of this planet." Again, he waited out the uproar from the Justice League, continuing as though uninterrupted after they'd quieted down. "Three days later, it all reappeared," The picture was replaced by another overshot of the town, but there was a green tint to it. "A week later, I was called back to my home in the I̷͈̋̿̀̚n̶͙̙̲͇̤̪̅͋͘f̶̟̰̬̤̀̉̕i̵͕̫͖͔̟͝n̸̮͙̋̎̆̈́̂̈i̷̬̫̤̱̱̒͌͌t̷͉̪̐̂̿͝è̴̙̊ ̴̪̠͍̞͆̌̀R̵̻͙̺̯͌e̸̫͉̖̙̖͐͆͊͠ȧ̵̭̻̩̙͇̔͜l̴͔̝͒m̸͖̦̟̠̭̥̄̇͆̀s̶̢͉̳̪̦̹̑͠. That is where I offically met young Phantom."

"Why is it green?" Aquaman wondered.

"Were you keeping tabs on the place before or after this all happened?" Batman asked over him.

"Before," Zatanna answered, "An interdimensional rift opened up in the town eleven months and five days ago. A second one opened up in the same town ten months and two days ago."

"Why didn't we know about it?" Flash asked, nothing else joining the pure curiosity in his voice. "This kinda seems like something all of use should've been told about."

The magician shook her head. "Because this is our area of expertise, not yours. None of you could've done anything except make things worse if you knew."

The speedster nodded, accepting the answer easily. He didn't like working with magic. He didn't understand it, and it took way too long to actually start believing in the stuff, but he knew there was no way he'd be useful in situations that relied on magic. Best leave that to the professionals.

"I went to the town to scope things out and met Phantom," Constantine said, the slide changing to show another picture of the young hero. He was hiding in an alley, staring at his hands with something akin to fear in his eyes. "He let me take a look at the rift, explained a few things to me, and then we set up a means of contact, though he only ever talks to Deadman."

"Wait," Robin spoke up from where he was beside Batman, "I know that place!" Batman didn't show any reaction other than turning to look at his protege. Robin, for his part, glided smoothly past the look from his mentor. "Me and the rest of my team passed through there about three months ago. We met the town hero, but it wasn't Phantom."

"What do you mean?" Wonder Woman asked.

"The town's hero is called Red Huntress. She's helped out the Young Justice a few times in the past few months with some supernatural issues. She deals mostly with ghosts, though."

Deadman bristled, obviously not liking something that the boy had said.

"Oh?" Superman asked, "What did she tell you guys?"

"That Phantom's one of her rogues." Robin said, "Apparently, he causes a lot of property damage and doesn't stick around to help with relief efforts. She told us that he also kidnapped the mayor, and has attacked the local high school too many times to count."

"That's a load of shit," Constantine muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, "Phantom has only ever worked to protect his town. Red Huntress didn't show up until two months after he started his work!"

"We wait to act until we have more information," Batman, the paranoid bastard, ordered, "As soon as we know exactly who we can trust and what we're going into, we'll stick to recon."

Deadman slammed his hands on the table. "You're government took a child! This is not the time for recon! This is time to act!"

"Recon." Batman stood. "Robin, I want a report from you about your team's interactions with Red Huntress, as well as a report from herself. Constantine and Zatanna, I want a full report on everything you know about Amity Park and whatever's going on there. Dismissed." Then, he walked out of the room, Robin trailing closely after him.

"Um, Bat?" Fash stood, stopping Batman and Robin in the doorway, they both turned to face him, "Maybe we should hear them out? This sounds serious."

Batman stared at Flash for a moment longer before walking back into the room. He gestured for the three present members of the Justice League Dark to continue.

Deadman had a small look of relief flash over his face. "Your government's been sending ghost hunters to Amity Park for the better part of a year now. They were dead set on catching Phantom, and now they have. We don't know-" He cut himself off. After a few seconds, he disappeared completely. Constantine's and Zatanna's phones both went off. Nearly an entire minute after Deadman disappeared, the alarms in the Watchtower went off.

"Fuck," Flash swore.

Part 2 Part 4