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tumbling-darkling · 3 years ago

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Date Night

Bruce got the call early in the evening, Gordon’s voice practically shrieking over the phone in anger and confusion. It took Bruce a moment to calm the man down so he could manage to get something coherent out of him.

Apparently, Harley and Ivy had broken out of Arkham, all in a blink of an eye. Even more, no law enforcers could get close to the pair as they publicly paraded around Gotham. Luckily, no one was getting hurt, but the pair generally being out of Arkham was concerning. Especially how they escaped.

Shortly after the call, Bruce dawned on the suit and went to do some quick pre-vigilante research to get a clearer picture of the situation. Which only made the situation of escaped villains more concerning.

He pulled the security footage and found that their escape was just as Gordon described it. They straight up disappeared.

One moment they are in the prison, the next they disappear into thin air. Not at the same time though, one at a time. Ivy being the first before Harley. Which was a smart choice, since Ivy had heavier security in regards to her meta status, if Harley had vanished first, Ivy’s security would only have gotten heavier.

The two then reappeared outside of the prison just as they disappeared, by popping into existence one at a time. And they skipped off.

Then there was the fact that no police force or even vigilante could manage to get close, Tim calling in shortly after to report that he tried to approach only to blink and find himself in a library. All officers reported the same thing, that upon getting too close or entering an area the two were currently residing, they would blink and find themselves somewhere else completely. Other officers reported the officers that woke up in random areas acting weirdly before they entered these areas. Freezing up, turning, then running in the opposite direction.

There was also the report that many officers felt a chill in the air before these instances would happen, a feeling like they were trespassing would take hold, and many of them even began to jump at the shadows. Reports of green eyes blinking from the shadows by those who said ‘fuck that’ and went home right after.

So Harley and Ivy were running around town while some sort of entity protected them.

Batman didn’t know much about Magic, it was something that was difficult to grasp or understand, but this had magic painted all over it. He decided now was the time to act though as he stood up and leapt onto the batcycle, speeding into the city as he connected to another league member who may be able to help.

The line clicked as it indicated that he was connected to the other side, “Constantine, I need you at Gotham immediately.”

John stared at the phone in his hand, blinking slowly before he slammed it into the floor after Batman hung up on him.

That fucker did this every fucking time.

Bruce arrived in front of a Carnival, the pair of villains' last seen location. Constantine should arrive shortly, but he might as well see if he could get more information regarding this escape.

He took a step towards the gates when a voice stopped him, “oh fuck Batman himself showed up. Probably should have expected that after encountering a Robin.” Bruce spun towards the unfamiliar voice, a batarang in hand as he searched for the source, surprised that he couldn’t seem to spot one. “I don’t suppose you would leave if I asked?”

“Are you the one keeping people from arresting Quinn and Ivy?” Bruce demanded.

“Oh yeah, that’s me,” the voice sounded young.

“Why? Did they hire you? Threaten you?”

“What? No! No, I just owe them a favour is all. And we have an agreement! It’s just a date night, no killing or crime or nothing. Only couples stuff.”

Batman couldn’t help but lower his batarang, “… you broke them out… for a date night?”

Suddenly a white haired teenager with glowing green eyes popped into existence, floating above the gate leading to the carnival, “well I’m not going to just let them out to cause crime! That’s the opposite of what I normally do. Nah, it’s like their one year anniversary and I wanted to do something nice cause they helped me out once.”

“So… no crime,” Bruce deadpanned.

“No crime,” the kid shrugged.

“What about after the date?”

“Oh I’m putting them back where I found them. That’s part of the agreement.”

Bruce had to process this for a moment, then grumbled under his breath, “and Gordon made me think they were planning on destroying the city.”

“Oh they totally wanted to blow stuff up but I said nope, the moment they want to try any crime stuff they go back sooner than promised.”

“And they listened to you?”

“Well they can’t really stop me,” the kid grinned. “So you can go back to your batcave or something, it’s handled. Oh and tell the police dude to stop sending his officers after them, overshadowing gets pretty annoying after the 20th time.”

Bruce just stared at the kid, then sighed and turned around, walking away as he spoke into his comms, “Robin, keep an eye on them for the rest of the night but do not engage.”

“Already in position.”

Bruce would never admit that he was relieved to leave the scene, he didn’t fully trust this kid, but there was something foreboding about him. An energy that twinged every flight instinct he had trained to push down. He didn’t trust him, but he did believe the kid, if only because he felt that if he didn’t, then that kid could easily take him out without a thought.

It wasn’t until he reached the cave before the goosebumps finally faded and the chill disappeared.

Just as promised, the two villains were returned to Arkham before sunrise the next day.

The only thing that indicated their disappearance was their more cheery moods, and odd gifts left in their cells.

A plant that Ivy couldn’t seem to control, but also couldn’t be picked up by any guard in the facility, Ivy being the only person who seemed able to touch the plant.

And some sort of glowing green dog that came and went as it pleased. A dog that seemed to especially like Harley.

Bruce was relieved that the kid kept his word, but a nagging bit of missing information still ate away at Bruce’s mind.

Why did he owe Harley and Ivy?

It drove him to visit Arkham just to ask the pair.

He asked Harley first since she was more likely to talk.

“Oh, Danny? Yeah! He is such a nice kid! Wish more men were like him, honestly. Yeah, the poor kiddo was being thrashed by some sort of vampire dude who was saying some really creepy shit. You know? Like, the kind of language that makes you think: that dude is straight up possessive and psychotic! Ives and I were doing some good ol’ vandalism when we saw him and he got knocked down in front of us. And oh boy that kid looked so scared! Biggest eyes I’ve ever seen, looked like he was hurting real bad based on how beat up he looked. We couldn’t just let that kind of abuse happen to a kid! We may like crime but we have standards, Bats!

It’s really funny though because when we tried to smack him around our punches just went through the fucker. And then, this kid, this absolutely best to shit and back kid, stood up and tried to defend us from this fanged dipshit! Real hero type, honestly if he had black hair I’m pretty sure you would have recruited him as another Robin by now. Tried to get us to run away or something, dropped this weird ass thermos, so I did the logical thing! I picked it up and threw it at that vampire! It hit him too! Left a huge ass bruise on his head! So then I picked it up, tied it to a stick and beat the shit out of him while Ives covered me! Turns out that normal vines can block whatever pink shit he was throwing around.

It was great, I basically had him running with his tail tucked between his legs! We forced Danny to stick around so we could patch him up, and he was practically passing out on us! He actually did pass out! And he-! Oh wait I’m not supposed to tell you that part, I am a woman of honour! Anyhow, we patched him up, fed him some of the best fucking food he could ever taste and we got pretty close to adopting this kid. Seriously Bats, I thought you were crazy for having so many Robin kiddos but man, it all makes sense! Helping out a kid that could kick ass and having them look so happy and greatful? Best fucking feeling. But he had other places to be, so we said farewells! He visits every few weekends or so for brunch, bringing us nice stuff. Oh did you see that plant Ivy got from him? Told us it’s a ghost plant! Crazy, right? Ivy is fascinated by it. It’s a shame he doesn’t lean more towards crime, super goodie goodie. He came to us and told us he could let us have a lovely date night as long as we don’t cause trouble. A little disheartening that not even a tiny explosion would be allowed but! A night out was perfect.

We are gonna get out again on our own anyway, cause some mischief, blow up some pollution plants, that kind of thing. Apparently he has a friend who totally admires Ives. Best kid we could have helped out.

Oh! And he’s dead!” Harely finished her long story.

Bruce nodded with a grunt.

“Thank you for your honesty, Quinn.”

“Any time Bats, I’ll see ya next week!”

Bruce paused, then glanced slightly behind him, “what makes you think I’m coming back?”

Harley grinned as she leaned against the bars of her cell, “You’re addicted to knowing everything. And the fact that the kid is a ghost is gonna drive you crazy.”

Bruce turned his head back towards the exit, but didn’t move.

“I’ll tell you one thing. Me and Ives don’t know how he died, and neither of us killed him either. Again, we don’t really try to kill kids. Just rough them up if they are being little shits.” Bruce didn’t make a noise at her reference to fighting his kids. “Oh and Batsy? Don’t ask him how he died when you find him. It’s fucking rude.”

Bruce continued to walk, not commenting on how she seemed confident that he would find a way to find the kid.

Somehow he was leaving with more questions than answers.

John Constantine glanced around the city, then felt his phone ring and picked it up and growled, “where the fuck are you and what is this emergency-?”

“It’s been taken care of. I no longer require your services for now.”

Batman hung up.

John Constantine slammed his phone into the pavement, “THAT ASSHOLE!”

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livmadart · 3 years ago

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Crossover with Ghostbusters! This is specifically 2016 gb, cause that’s my favorite and i rewatched it recently. There were a few interesting parallels—

-the ghost trap is called a thermos in one scene

-there’s a thing called a “ghost chipper” and yes that’s a wood chipper for ghosts

-two characters canonically enter a ghost portal and leave it with white hair

That is all

#danny phantom #danny fenton #danny phantom fanart #dp #crossover danuary week 2022 #ghostbusters

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tomboy014 · 3 years ago

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I just like the idea that Ember isn’t the only undead artist still trying to make it in their afterlife. Entities include Ember, a boy band that’s just refused to let the genre die, l'Opéra des Morts, (think Trans-Siberian Orchestra but they play metal, one of Sam’s favorite bands) and Elvis impersonating an Elvis impersonator doing a really bad Elvis impersonation.

I also like the idea that Franchouchou has an absolutely massive following in the Ghost Zone.

Full disclosure: Lily’s head and Danny’s face shape were traced to make sure I kept everything on model with the show’s style

#crossover danuary week 2022 #Danny Phantom #zombieland saga #trans #lily hoshikawa #danny fenton #franchouchou #my art

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goodfish-bowl · 3 years ago

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A Machete and a Silver Chain

Danny Phantom and Gravity Falls Crossover

Summary: Dipper knows something is off with that new guy working the night shift at the only gas station in Gravity Falls, Danny.

AO3 Link

Words: 1927

Notes: Was supposed to be for Crossover Danuary Week 2022, but meh, better (super) late than never.

Dipper wanted proof. He craved it. He wanted to show Mabel that the cute guy she’d been doting on for the past few days was a threat. Dipper had the insatiable need to prove that Danny, the night shift employee at the only gas station in Gravity Falls, wasn’t human.

This Danny guy had started working there some time a few weeks after the twins had arrived in Gravity Falls. Candy and Grenda had quickly told Mabel about the development, including all the rumors. Danny was from out of town, looked to be in his teens, but when asked, said he was 18. No one knew him, he was a complete stranger. He never gave a last name, only to call him Danny. No one even had an idea where he lived, but the only time he was ever seen was late at night, working his shift at the gas station desk.

Now, when Dipper had first met the guy, he’d seemed nice (Wendy seemed to like him an uncomfortable amount, which only upset himself further, not that he would admit it,) but he sent chills down Dipper’s spine when those striking blue eyes stared at him a second too long. Mabel immediately fell in love (despite the fact that the guy was clearly not interested and at least a couple years older than her), but that wasn’t really surprising. The trio of girls giggled and gossiped about him, making up all sorts of stories about who he was and where he came from. Dipper was forced to listen to as many different iterations of cheesy romance tropes as he could remember. Runaway prince, undercover agent, runaway undercover agent, runaway undercover agent that was actually a prince…

“Maybe he’s a vampire or something?” Dipper threw out there.

Mable gasped, “I wonder if he sparkles in the sunlight?!”

“No!” Dipper exclaimed, “Vampire’s are dangerous, Mabel, and they definitely don’t sparkle.” Dipper quickly brought out his journal, quickly flipping to the page on vampires and shoved it in his twin's face. “See?! Dangerous! Vampires only look attractive so he can lure you away and eat you!”

“But the danger, Bro Bro, it makes the romance so much sweeter… a forbidden romance…” Mabel swooned, and the other two girls joined in.

Dipper groaned in agony, “Fine! Get yourself eaten. I’m going to actually do something about this!” He declared, jumping from his position on the bed and stumbling out of the room.

Dipper rushed through the Mystery Shack, nearly falling down the stairs, nearly tripping Grunkle Stan, punched in the code to the vending machine, and rushed into the hidden spaces below.

“Grunkle Ford!” Dipper called once the elevator reached the second floor.

“Ah, Dipper,” Grunkle Ford greeted, “Just in time! I could really use your help cleaning-”

Dipper cut off Grunkle Ford before he could get much farther, flipping to the page he had just shown to Mabel, and showing Grunkle Ford in turn.

“I think the new guy at the gas station is a vampire,” Dipper stated.

“Oh?” Grunkle Ford hummed, hand on his chin. “It’s been a while since I’ve heard of a vampire in Gravity Falls. They typically prefer more populated areas, but I suppose an isolated town in the middle of the woods has its own benefits,” Ford mused. “Can you describe him?”

Dipped nodded, “Yeah, um…” Dipper thought back on his meeting with Danny, “He’s really pale, he most likely says he’s older than he is. No one ever sees him during the day, only during his shift at the gas station. No one knows where he lives…” Dipper tried to think of something else, when another memory resurfaced, “His hands are super cold! Like holding onto something frozen. He didn’t show his teeth when he smiled. Oh, oh, oh! And his eyes! They’re really blue, but they do that thing, like a cat! Where they glow!” Dipper had almost fainted when the lights flickered and he saw bright green eyes in the dark, not that he was going to tell Grunkle Ford that.

Grunkle Ford seemed to think about it for a moment, “Yep, that sounds like a vampire, alright. Dipper, do you remember how to get rid of a vampire?” Ford asked.

Dipper pondered for a moment before answering, trying not to look at the book for the answer. ”Wooden stake or silver?” He guessed.

Ford grinned, “Those will hurt the vamp, but not kill it. To kill a vampire you need to behead it.”

Dipper paled, “Behead?!”

Ford sighed, tired but sympathetic. “Vampires are dangerous, Dipper,” Ford explained, “If we don’t get rid of him, he could hurt a lot of people, that’s not even counting the people he might have already killed.”

Dipper gulped, not liking the idea, but agreeing that it sounds reasonable, “Alright, I guess. But we have to make sure first. Do you have anything for that?”

Ford hummed in thought, snapping when he obviously had an idea, and began rummaging through some drawers in the lab. Dipper watched anxiously. He really hoped Ford wouldn’t just outright kill Danny. Sure, Danny could be a dangerous vampire, but he could also just be a weirdly creepy guy. Dipper didn’t like the idea of hurting someone who didn’t deserve it. (Dipper didn’t want to think about how Ford probably wouldn't have checked to make sure Danny is a vampire first if he hadn’t mentioned it.)

Ford pulled out a thick silver chain with a cross dangling from it with a triumphant shout. “Silver! It won’t kill him, but it will certainly do the trick of proof. The cross is iron too. Won’t hurt a vamp, but it works on a lot of other things,” Ford explained, and Dipper mentally jotted down notes. (He would physically jot them down later.)

Ford checked the clock, “Six o-clock, sun sets in a couple of minutes,” Ford turned to him, “Are you ready?”

Dipper nodded, swallowing his doubt and the dreadful feeling in his stomach that something bad was going to happen.

Dipper carefully watched Danny through the window to the gas station. Neither Dipper nor Ford could find out how Danny had arrived, he had just walked out of the back like he had been there the entire time. (They’d been staked out here for about an hour and a half, watching people come and go, Danny had only been on shift for about a third of it.) Ford was waiting until the lull in late night activity, so that there were very little chance of them being interrupted should something go south. Mabel was most definitely asleep by now, but Dipper was helping people, so he’d stay awake for as long as it took.

Ford gave Dipper a light shove somewhere around 1:30 am, jolting the boy away from his half-doze. Dipper gave a small, started yelp at the sudden contact, only to be shoved quickly down by Ford. Danny was looking over in their direction, eyes narrowed. Dipper stiffened, there was no way a normal person would have heard that. Ford and Dipper stayed frozen for what could have easily been twenty minutes, before Danny went back to paying attention to whatever he was doing on the laptop set up in front of him.

Ford handed Dipper a machete when it was time, one that was sharp and light enough for him to use. He still held it unsteadily.

“Hide it under your jacket. I’ll be the one to check, you’re my back up,” Ford ordered, and Dipper nodded, slipping the machete into the back of his jacket.

They emerged from their hiding spot and casually walked into the gas station, a small bell announcing their arrival. Danny looked up for a split second, blue eyes piecing them, before he returned to his work. Dipper still felt like he was being carefully watched, the uncomfortable chill of the machete against his shirt feeling like it was burning him. Ford beckoned him to a place between the shelves and away from the cameras, a blind spot, then began gesturing with his hands in some sort of code.

Ford agreed that there was something up with Danny. Dipper was supposed to stay crouched down until Ford signaled him. Ford was going to approach Danny now.

“Young man, could you take a look at something for me real quick?” Ford asked, pretending to be the old man he really was.

“Huh?” Danny asked, looking up somewhat surprised, “Sure, I guess?”

“I have this old chain, and the clasp is broken, but my eyes aren’t what they used to be. Do you think you could latch it for me?”

Danny shrugged, “Sure thing.”

Ford pressed the silver chain into Danny’s hand. No reaction. Danny looked at the chain.

“Huh, this is quite the piece,” Danny hummed. Then he went to grab the cross to get a better look at the cross.

Danny let out a startled gasp when he made contact with it, yanking back his hand in shock. The cross had burned him, not the chain. Ford lunged all the same, easily clearing the counter, and making a grab to pin Danny on the ground. Danny shouted and grunted, trying to get Ford off of him and Dipper rushed out of his position and gave the machete to Ford across the counter. He couldn’t see the fight on the ground behind the counter, but from the sound of it, Ford was barely able to keep Danny down.

In that second when he handed off the machete, Dipper got a glimpse of the situation. Ford had his arm pinned against Danny’s throat, who was snarling back, sharpened canines snapping and scratching at Ford trying to escape, eyes blown wide in panic and doused in a toxic green Dipper had never seen before. Ford snatched the machete and held it to Danny’s neck, the point drawing a thin line of blood. Danny froze, muscles still drawn taunt, and Ford rasped on top of him, holding Danny in place.

“I don’t know what you are,” Ford growled, “but the only beings I know that are burned by pure iron are much more dangerous than vampires.”

Danny didn’t say anything, probably due to the machete at his neck, and Ford’s attention seemed to be drawn to something Dipper couldn’t see.

“I wasn’t hurting anyone,” Dipper heard Danny whisper, sad and solemn, but it was nearly drowned out by Ford’s startled shout,

Ford shot to his feet and snapped his head around, looking for something. Ford easily cleared the counter, and Dipper glanced over it. Danny was gone… but he had been there just a second ago. He had heard the creepy teen speak. But no one was there now. Ford rushed through the gas station for a minute or two, looking for someone that wasn’t there, before slumping in on himself with a tired sigh.

“Grunkle Ford,” Dipper asked hesitantly, “What happened?”

“He got away,” Ford admitted, exhausted,“He slipped right through the floor once he was able to gain his bearings. I don’t think he’ll be coming back here anytime soon either.” Ford glanced at the machete and approached Dipper. “But this wasn’t a wasted trip, look.”

Dipper glanced at the blood on the tip of the machete. It was red and green, a neon toxic green to be exact, but neither was able to fully mix with each other, creating a marbled effect.

“Do you know what Danny is?” Dipper asked, almost fearing the answer.

Ford looked down, shoulders tense and jaw clenched.

“Dangerous.”

#danny phantom #danny fenton #goodfish writes #crossover danuary week 2022 #crossover #tw:blood #gravity falls #dipper pines #ford pines #and a little bit of Mabel

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scarlette-foxx · 3 years ago

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Crossover Danuary Week Day 3- spiderman

Based off of this post by @phantom-phoenixx . May do more with this later

#crossover danuary week 2022 #Xover Danuary 2022 #dp crossover #dp crossovers #scarart #danny phantom #dp #dp x spiderman

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raaorqtpbpdy · 3 years ago

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Not Possessed by an Evil Mummy

((I don’t know how to add a “read more” so I’m just gonna post the first few paragraphs and then an AO3 link.))

Tucker Foley didn't understand what all the fuss was about when it came to mutants. Ever since their existence was revealed, people thought mutants were either some kind of gods, or like, the incarnation of evil. Maybe it was just because he was friends with Danny, but Tucker had trouble seeing mutants as anything but just people, usually people who are in over their heads.

The Fentons had tested both their kids for the X-gene out of scientific curiosity, and neither Jazz nor Danny had it, although being around ectoplasm their whole lives had made them pretty weird anyway, plus after Danny's accident... well, turned out not everyone with superpowers was a mutant. Sam's parents had her tested for the X-gene as well, although they did it out of fear that their only daughter might turn out even more of a freak than she already was, dressing like that... acting like that. Much to their relief, Sam didn't have it either.

Tucker never took that test. His parents offered, but given that he'd have to go to a hospital to get tested, he gave it a hard pass, and that was that. Neither of his parents had mutant powers, so he wasn't too worried about it. Besides, superpowers were kind of Danny's thing, and the Universe didn't put two people like that in the same tiny friend group, right?

Read the whole thing

#crossover danuary week 2022 #xover danuary 2022 #crossover #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #fanfic #marvel #x-men #tucker foley #mutant Tucker #sam manson #danny fenton #jean grey #professor x #charles xavier #ao3 #xover danuary week day two #crossover danuary week

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amorpho · 2 years ago

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Crossover Danuary Week- Event Master Post

GEN INFO- Crossover Danuary Week

▪︎

There are three ways to participate with the prompts:

A) the fandom/general listed at the top (ie, monday is avatar. Make an avatar crossover)

B) the prompt listed at the bottom (ie, monday has the Pardon prompt. Make a dp crossover with a fandom of choice using that prompt as a theme. Mostly an option for people who dont know the fandoms we chose)

C) use both prompt and fandom (ie, on monday make a Pardon-themed avatar crossover)

▪︎

In general, each January will have a timeframe set in place for these major parts of the event:

-Suggestions Form Open (gives fandoms)

-Voting Poll Open (Narrows down fandoms)

-Event Info Early Release (Confirms Fandoms. A little extra time so people can prepare before the event)

-Event Week (Posting happens this week)

-Possible Honorable Mentions (Not guaranteed to be on the chart, but sometimes it will)

▪︎

The post released mid January will have the info in a convenient infographic.

Example of infographic from 2022:

#Crossover Danuary Week #Xover Danuary Q/A

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chasingrabbits-art · 3 years ago

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Crossover Danuary week day 4: free day

Me, draw Danny Phantom with Will Wood lyrics? What kind of degenerate do you think I am?

Also here's the hidden track:

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the-b1ah · 3 years ago

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Ok I’ve been thinking about this one for awhile!!

So when Uraraka talking about how she thought that deku meant dekiru, Danny in true Danny fashion chimes in that he thought it was a pun but as the only English native speaker the other three don’t get it.

I love this crossover so much it one of my favorites to daydream about especially when you throw in some dadzawa.

#art #art stuff #animation #fanart #danny fenton #danny phantom #crossover #crossover danuary week 2022 #danny phantom fanart #mha #my hero acedamia #deku fanart #deku #izuku mydoria #mha fanart #bnha #bnha fanart #dpxmha #dpxbnha

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gilbirda · 3 years ago

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Hidden identities? Never heard of them (BatmanxDP crossover)

DPxBatman crossover

After the disturbing discovery of one Daniel Fenton and his nightmarish abilities, the Bat knows he had to do a more hands-on approach and investigate the boy on-site. His sons tag along 'to help', of course, because what could go wrong?

“Batman?” she asked Bruce. Wow. Three seconds in this place and a random person figured out his secret identity.

Has to have read the prequel for this, for context. But not super mandatory.

<< Prequel

Thanks to the lovely beta @bubblegumbeech!!

From my series, You and me and our best friend makes three

[Read on AO3][Read on FF.net]

Dick had seen the recording. He had seen it. Tim had seen it. Jason had seen it after he came back online. Damian did not want to see it but saw it as well. Cass and Steph saw it in the middle of their date and it ruined it. Oracle sent it, of course, so she saw it happen in real time.

The recording. Of an eighteen year old boy devouring an eldritch god like it was nothing. The sounds… Well, maybe they all had nightmares for a while after seeing the video. Damian said he was used to it, but Dick had seen him with dark circles under his eyes at breakfast a few times.

So now the question was, why in the heavens were they in Amity Park, where the boy lived? Where a god that was capable of destroying their universe was living inside said boy?

That’s what Tim was asking when a girl around his age stopped and turned to look at them. That wasn’t weird in itself, people usually stopped and stared when the bat-family was around even in their civilian disguises (Dick liked to say it was their amazing good looks, but they probably recognized Bruce Wayne and/or that they were rich). But this normal looking girl stopped, narrowed her eyes and approached them with a determined step.

“Batman?” she asked Bruce.

Wow. Three seconds in this place and a random person figured out his secret identity.

“And I guess you are the other bats,” she continued, one hand on her chin in a pensive gesture. She nodded. “Figured this would happen a bit later but, whatever,” she shrugged. “Come with me.”

Bruce found his voice at last. “How?”

“Who are you?” Jason tensed, seizing her up like she was a threat. Maybe she was. Maybe she was a spy.

“Oh, I knew I was forgetting something.” She slapped her forehead. “My name is Jazz, I’m Danny’s sister.”

Oh, right. They had seen the family photo, should have recognized her, but it was like their memory couldn’t retain the actual features of her face.

Dick and Damian looked at each other, coming to the same conclusion. Some kind of sorcery was going on here.

“I can take you to him, if that’s why you came here.”

“It is. But we need to know how you recognized us. Security reasons and everything, haha.” Dick tried to word it in a nicer way than what Bruce would demand.

Jazz’s eyes glinted with something between sadness and pity. “You have the same body language as my brother.”

***

Jazz guided the group towards a house a few streets down, successfully saving them the investigative part of finding out where the Fentons lived - but it wouldn’t have been difficult with the gigantic sign on the outside of the house. So used to being secretive, the bats found it irksome that the hero they came to visit was so obviously recognizable.

Or maybe it was a more ‘hiding in plain sight’ kind of thing? Phantom managed to hide his identity for four years without any of the help or resources they had.

Jazz warned them that Maddie and Jack, her parents, would be at the house somewhere. Bruce took note of how the girl mentioned them by name and that while she tried to keep the serene smile in place, the corner of her lips twitched when she talked about them.

“His parents tried to exorcise him, bats.” Constantine wasn’t crying, but the hand holding a cigarette was trembling, “That is bad. Really bad. I don’t need to know the ritual they used because he is not possessed and that is a bad thing to do when the subject is not possessed, you know?”

“What would it do?” he’d asked.

“Exorcisms are meant to extract a malevolent entity from a body and destroy it, what the fuck do you think it would do to a half-ghost?”

“Should we expect hostility from them?” Bruce asked, his voice lowering to his Batman tone.

Jazz smiled more honestly but shook her head. “No. And if they did, all their weapons have been, uh, removed. Mom is a black belt, though.”

“We all are.” Jason’s smile was meant to be intimidating.

She nodded. “Good.”

She guided them to the kitchen and asked if anyone wanted a glass of water. She mentioned that if they wanted to stay for lunch that they should say so now to give her time to get groceries. Damian frowned and looked at the jars innocently resting over the counter. Wasn’t that food?

“Oh, that’s not edible. Nothing in this kitchen is.” As if to make a point, she walked to the fridge, opened it and gave them a moment to notice the eerie glow of the food inside.

“What the-”

Tim flinched when a sausage opened its eyes and growled at him before jumping and-

BANG

The sausage fell down, shot by a strange looking gun in Jazz’s hand. The barrel was still smoking as she closed the door of the fridge before more food came back to life to attack them. Her smile was mocking as she re-concealed her gun inside a pouch strapped to her waist.

“Nothing is edible. So yeah, if you want to stay for lunch please say so.” She tilted her head. “Or if I should expect more people. I remember there were more bats.”

Jason was the first to snap out of it. “No, the girls decided to stay and keep an eye on Gotham.”

“Shame, I wanted to meet Black bat. She rules.”

After that, the tour continued through a door to the basement, which was only illuminated by the glow of a portal swirling inside a mechanical contraption on the opposite wall from the stairs. The rest of the lab was bare, with obvious spaces where something should be but wasn’t anymore. One wall was dented as if something big had crashed against it, and a suspicious circle of symbols could be glimpsed, despite someone obviously having tried to wash it away.

Bruce nodded at Tim, who took a photo of the circle with a tiny concealed camera. This was a recon mission after all, even if their initial idea to be completely undercover went out the window.

“Danny told me he told you.” Jazz had stopped by the portal. The light coming from it bathed her in a green glow, and with the way her eyes betrayed nothing of her feelings, she looked as inhuman as her brother. “About how he died here. About my parents-”

Her eyes wandered towards the washed paint on the floor.

“I hope you value the trust he puts in you. In the League.”

“The Justice League will never betray the trust of your brother.” Bruce promised.

“My brother… Danny is a very good boy. Very trusting. Loving,” she pursed her lips. “What my parents did to him that day almost broke him, but he adores the heroes of the mighty Justice League enough to give adults a second chance. Please, prove me wrong. Prove that he didn’t make a mistake when he trusted you guys.”

The four brothers looked at Bruce. The man had been panicking for a whole week after he came back from the special mission where they summoned the Ghost King. They almost never saw him cry, except when he was on the verge of an Emergency Adoption protocol, or when a child died because he couldn’t protect them. After they saw the recording and Oracle shared the files, they learned Danny fit both criteria.

Bruce was very aware that after a bad experience with an adult (abuse, he had to say the word), a child was very unlikely to trust another adult. Heck, Jason still didn’t trust him and they had talked it out and everything. That young Danny had gone through things Bruce couldn’t describe and still requested the League’s support with a smile was a feat in itself.

“I swear by my name, my reputation and my whole career that we, and I vouch for the Justice League as well, do not bear any ill intent towards Danny. We want to help. And we deeply regret our neglect of the ghost situation in this fine city.”

Jazz nodded, but her expression didn’t change. “And why are you here today?”

It was weird that she was asking this now, right in front of the portal to where Danny was, so deep inside her house (the basement, no less, where she couldn’t really escape from them).

“We want to understand,” Tim said.

That made the young woman smile. “That’s the correct answer. You pass the test.”

She looked at something behind them just before they heard very faint footsteps coming from the stairs.

“Ugh, I was getting tired of keeping quiet anyway. What took you so long, Jazzy?”

“I had to get them to the basement, Ellie,” Jazz explained, as if it was obvious.

“Ohhhhhh, an ambush. Makes sense.” The batfamily turned to find a young child, younger than Danny, but an almost identical copy of the boy, only as a girl with longer hair. The similarities only went skin deep though. Where the boy had been tense and skittish, the girl was very open and showed complete disregard of the five vigilantes when she turned her back on them.

Either she was too trusting and innocent, or she was confident in her abilities. Danny had promised that he was the only ghost with his… condition. But this girl, a clone obviously, could have inherited more than his ghostly appearance.

“Let’s go already! I wanna see Danny,” the girl, Ellie, whined.

“One sec.” Jazz pulled her phone and tapped on the screen a few times. Almost immediately a very big vehicle came through the portal- some kind of hybrid between a spaceship and a plane. It hovered a few centimeters over the floor.

The brothers and Bruce jumped back so they wouldn’t be squished.

“A warning would have been nice,” Jason growled.

“Oops,” she said with no remorse. “Get in, boys.”

They noticed how comfortable Jazz looked, manning the thing: hitting buttons and preparing to travel inside the portal, as if she had done this many times in the past. She probably had. It reminded Bruce of his kids.

“Buckle up, we could encounter some ghosts on the way that may not be kind.”

“Does this thing have-”

“Weapons?” Jazz interrupted Jason. She clicked a button and a shield enveloped the vehicle. At the same time, something revved and a robotic voice announced that the Specter Speeder had been armed. “Yeah.” Her lips curved a little.

Jason put a hand on his chest, leaning to whisper in Dick’s ear. “I think I’m in love.”

From outside the vehicle, the clone girl snickered, obviously having heard him.

The trip inside the portal was uneventful. After freaking out a little that their phones and devices stopped working - Jazz explained that until they got to the castle and Tucker fixed them they couldn't contact the human realm - and feeling nauseated for a second there - Jazz said it was normal-, the young woman piloted them carefully through an endless sea of green and purple doors, passing by floating isles that seemed abandoned.

Ellie was floating in circles doing loops and tricks that Bruce remembered Danny doing, and he wondered if it was a Phantom thing or a ghost thing. So far he hadn’t met many ghosts so he had to file the thought and come back to it when he met more.

“We are close,” Jazz announced, taking a left by a skull-shaped island, stepping on the accelerator and gunning it towards the next big island they could see in the distance.

It was a castle - or more like a miniature city. There was a giant main building with tall towers and an inner patio filled with trees. Surrounding it there were more buildings in many sizes, but from the distance they couldn’t really tell what they were for.

Jazz approached the main one, and once she parked the Speeder close to the entrance she turned it off and opened the vehicle’s door. She turned with a sigh. She seemed tired.

“The air is safe for humans here. Please don’t try to leave the island.”

They nodded and got out of the vehicle. An armored ghost received them.

“Lady Jasmine, welcome back.”

Jazz hummed in greeting. “Is Danny in?”

“I believe he is still at his lesson with Lady Samantha.”

“Ok, thank you.” She turned towards her guests. “They are with me and under my protection. Spread the word.”

The ghost did a salute before floating back to his post and talking with another soldier ghost, and then flying into the closed doors.

“Let’s go.”

Inside the castle was cold, very cold, and for a moment Dick regretted not bringing the suit, at least under his civilian clothes. He asked Jazz about it and she said that sometimes Danny couldn’t help it, that the castle answered to his moods and thoughts, and since he had an Ice Core he naturally leaned into colder temperatures.

Whatever that meant.

The walk was uneventful, they passed by beautiful paintings that glowed, a series of tapestries depicting Phantom doing heroic stuff, and a portrait. At first it looked like a normal family portrait, like those back at the Manor, people posing and smiling for the painting; but the bats only recognized Danny, Ellie and Jazz from the picture. The other two people - a dark skinned boy with glasses and a girl with a striking pair of purple eyes around Danny’s age - weren’t his parents.

Nobody commented on it.

Jazz opened the giant doors to something that looked like a throne room, but it was currently bare of any furniture except a lonely throne at the back, on a raised dais, looking like a normal chair made of wood. Humble, even.

They didn’t stay too long in that room. Jazz guided them straight towards a side door and into a series of labyrinthic hallways, through more doors and finally to a door from where crashing noises came from. On their way they encountered servants or more soldiers, who simply saluted her with a bow and a “my Lady” and a polite nod towards the guests, the only thing that felt normal. They had trained in etiquette long enough to nod back by muscle memory.

“Okay Sam, hit me with everything you got.” Danny’s voice was clear. “Remember, focus on your target, charge and blast.”

“You make it sound easy,” a female voice hushed. Sam, presumably.

“You can do it, love.”

“Shut up,” she said, but her voice wavered.

“One day I’ll find a pet name you like. Hey!” A boom and a crash. “That was uncalled for!”

“I hit the target.”

Jazz rolled her eyes and muttered ‘lovebirds’ before opening the door.

“Danny! Your friends came over to play!”

The boy turned and smiled when he saw who was at the door. “You’re here!” He waved enthusiastically.

He was going to say something else, but a green beam hit him in the face and launched him backwards to the wall behind him.

“Ancients, Danny, I’m sorry! I meant to hit your shoulder!” The black haired girl from the painting rushed over and helped him regain his senses. The bats tensed, but apart from having a slight red mark on his cheek, the ghost was fine.

When Danny stood up, the burn was gone.

“No harm done, sugar.” He smiled, not afraid to show sharp teeth.

Sam punched him in the shoulder, and for the first time the bats noticed she was wearing some kind of magical armor, with runes and designs glowing over the metal, giving the girl an extra ghostly glow.

“She’s completely human, but she has a special suit, well, more like an armor.” Danny had said about his girlfriend.

Bruce now understood what he meant by that. He wasn’t really fond of magic, but understood and valued the execution.

“Never call me that. Ever.” She went for a kick, her knee guards shining a bit brighter, but the ghost caught her foot before it made contact, flipped her around and threw her to the floor.

“Nice try, Sam.”

“One day, Danny.” She said, jumping back to her feet and hitting her forearms together, deactivating the suit. The glow was gone and she was a regular human wearing armor. She turned towards the bats still at the door and nodded in greeting. “I’m Sam. If you call me Samantha I’ll kill you in your sleep.”

“Be nice Sam, they’re the Bats!” Danny seemed excited, floating towards the group. He hugged Jazz and turned around. “Where’s Dani?”

“She wanted to check on the kids first.”

Sam and Danny nodded. “Maybe she’ll join us for lunch.” Sam commented, her hands going for the clasps of her suit, making sure they were secure. “Hey, I’m going to change and take a quick shower.” She then put one hand on Danny’s arm, their eyes meeting for a brief moment. Damian had seen that look in his mother’s eyes whenever she talked about Father. “See you later.”

The Fenton siblings were left alone with the bat family.

Danny clapped his hands together. “So! What do you wanna check out?”

***

They found Tucker at his private lab-slash-alchemy room-slash-manly den. Tim recognized the type of space they walked in, because it reminded him of his own room when at his worst sleep deprived manic moments of genius.

He noticed the empty cups of coffee abandoned on the table and smiled. A kindred soul, at last!

“Hey Tuck.” The ghost approached the other teen hunched over his desk tinkering with something. Danny removed one earbud carefully, making Tucker jump.

“Hey Danny, didn’t expect you back from training so soon.” He tilted his head upwards, expecting a kiss. The white haired boy leaned in to give a quick peck.

“Yeah, Jazz and Dani are back early too. Apparently they found some interesting people on their way here.”

Tucker turned to look over his shoulder when Danny looked up, and by the way he jumped and sputtered in place one would say he was having a heart attack. Tucker proceeded then to close books, cover strange weapons with white sheets and shove junk into drawers.

“You should have warned me that Tim-motherfucking-Drake was going to visit! Ancients, Danny! I told you….” The complaints turned into angry mumbling as he dragged the smirking ghost by the hand while trying to put some order in place.

He gave up mid-way and ran towards the bats still at the door, pushing them back to the empty hallway, shoving Danny away and closing the door with a bang.

Tucker rubbed his face as he tried to control his breathing. When he turned he looked just as tired and sleep deprived as Danny, but a wide smile adorned his lips.

“Heeeeey,” his voice trembled a little, eyes not staying on any of the bats for more than a few seconds. “I’m Tucker. Tucker Foley. Tech geek and genius extraordinaire.” Danny snorted from where he was floating. “Shut up Danny.” He extended a hand towards Tim. “I’m a fan of your work, Mr Drake.”

Tim shook his hand, blinking slowly. Was everything always this chaotic around here?

“And of course I’m a fan of your work, Mr Batman, sir,” Tucker shook Bruce’s hand. “And the Justice League. Thank you for everything you guys do for the world.”

“And what about everything I do for the world?” Danny floated upside down towards Tucker, pouting.

“You know you are my favorite.” The boy got on his tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

Danny’s cheeks were tinted a bit green.

Dick thought he was going to die of cuteness. He had to lean onto the wall for a moment, noticing how the stone, while cold, was pulsing with something warm from beneath, like a heartbeat.

“Ugh,” they all heard Damian murmur, “I knew I should have stayed home.”

“Ugh, Dannyyyyyyy,” another voice complained, but this one was louder. “If ya’ll are going to be mushy and corny again I’m leaving!”

Ellie (Dani?), the other ghost girl, and very probably Danny’s clone, made herself visible. Her arms were crossed and her face was scrunched in an expression that mirrored Damian’s.

“Ellie!” Tucker extended his arms and the white haired girl smiled and floated right into his chest, making both tumble a bit backwards. “Good to see you.”

She rubbed her cheek on his shoulder. “Good to be back.”

“You can let me go now,” he laughed, but the girl only curled her legs around his waist.

“Nah, you are warm.”

“Oops, my bad,” the Ghost King laughed and the temperature drastically went to a more adequate human temperature.

Bruce looked around for vents, but there were none. Danny caught his eyes. Bruce thought he was being subtle.

“Everything is automatic around here. You only have to ask.”

“Because… the castle obeys you?” The words sounded weird even when Bruce said them out loud.

“Everything obeys me.” The kid’s smile wasn’t a happy one. Behind him, the girl and the other boy sobered for a moment. “And everyone. If I wanted to.”

Jason felt something weird in his chest, a constriction of some kind, and green eyes flashed when they met his.

“You feel it, don’t you? I knew there was something different about you. The Realms welcomed you like one of its own.”

“If you have read the report I did for you, dear little brother,” Jazz’s voice was overly sugarly, betraying the sarcasm, “you would have known that your favorite hero Red Hood is actually a revenant.”

“I… read it? Diagonally.” Danny flinched under his sister’s stare. “I also skipped some pages, maybe.”

“I’m his favorite?” Jason turned to look at Tim, who shrugged.

“Danny! You can’t just… ugh!” She lifted her arms and face to the ceiling, exasperated.

“Little brothers, am I right?” Dick elbowed her softly, stage-whispering with a smile.

He didn’t see Damian drop kicking him until it was too late.

***

Finally they were sitting down in what looked like the dining room. The one they were used to back at the manor was more modern and was better decorated than this, but the medieval-like theme that was all throughout the castle was nice as well. At least now that they weren’t on the verge of trembling from the cold.

The table they were sitting at was small, with just enough seats for the bats to be on one side and Phantom and his people on the other, no one seated at the head of the table. Real cozy.

It was time for some introductions, formally.

“Name’s Danielle, or Dani with an i, or Ellie. I don’t care. I’m technically three years old but whatever. I’m a clone. I live by my rules.” The girl went first, confirming their suspicions.

“Figured.” Bruce nodded.

“You don’t look freaked out by the clone thing.” Danny tried not to look tense, but now that they were sitting down and nothing could buffer the interaction between them he was more the nervous teenager he should have always been.

“There are no official records about her, yet she looks a lot like you.”

“Also she’s not the first clone we’ve met,” Jason leaned back against his chair, smirking. “Superman has a clone too.”

“No shit!” The clone girl’s smile was radiant as her hand slapped on the table. They heard a crack.

“Dani, careful.”

“Yeah, sorry.” She seemed sheepish for a second, but turned to give the bats her whole attention. “When can I meet this clone? Is he as strong as Supes? Or she, I don’t assume.” she showed a little fang as her smile turned cocky.

“His name is Connor and I think he’d like to meet you,” Tim was the one that answered. “About his powers, he is not a perfect clone- hm, bad wording… I mean, he is different from the original and doesn’t have the same powers.”

Dani seemed to deflate a little. “Shame. I bet I could snap the blue boy like a twig.”

Jason choked on his own saliva. Damian tried to help, but the pats on his back packed a bit too much of a punch.

“Ellie, I don’t think-”

“But I still want to meet a fellow clone. Unionize, you know? We need to have our own superhero club thingy,” she interrupted Tucker, continuing as if what she was saying made sense.

“Ellie, I don’t think that Batman wants to hear planned acts of violence against another Leaguer,” Sam said as she walked in the room, freshly showered and wearing normal earthly (goth) clothes. She had a bit of make-up on too.

Sam sat on Danny’s other side, right in front of Tim, who waved with a smile on his lips.

“Hey, sorry I took so long, Frighty intercepted me on the way.”

“Everything alright?” Tucker asked from Danny’s other side.

“Yeah, he wanted to check if everything was okay with my room.”

“You live here?” Damian asked, honestly curious.

“I moved here recently,” she nodded. “I, uh, I had to move out from my parents’ house.”

“Pamela and Jeremy, right?” Bruce’s memory clicked at last and made the connection between this girl and the Mansons. “I knew I was familiar with your name.”

“Yeah, Mr Wayne, the Mansons have been trying to get your attention for ages,” she chuckled. “Mother- I mean, Pamela,” she growled, “always insisted on leaving a good impression on the Waynes, especially the sons.”

“No way!” Danny turned with a wide smile. “You’re joking! Did she really try that?”

Sam chuckled as she gestured towards where Jason and Tim looked at her with horror from the other side of the table. “Who do you think she made me wear those dresses for?”

“Do you have photos? Please say yes.”

“Yeah, but only with Dick,” she shrugged. “I think it’s back at my parents’ house. Pamela framed it and everything, hoping it could become a good thing to show our kids in the future.”

She barely could finish the phrase without bursting into laughter, followed closely by a loud bark from Jason and a groan from Dick.

“She tried to do it again when Jason made his debut, but when he died, she jumped into Tim like nothing happened.”

“Ha! Do you hear that, replacement?” the man managed to say between fits of laughter.

“Your mother at least nailed the black hair and blue eyes theme,” Tucker joined in, giggling.

When the words were processed, Danny’s face became a beacon of green light from his blush, his eyes unable to look at any of the Waynes. He hid his face in his hands.

“And the superhero type!”

“Please stop talking,” the ghost groaned.

Sam and Tucker high fived over Danny’s head.

“I could find the photo if you fixed my phone,” Tim offered. “Jazz told us you can adapt it for this place.”

“Also hook them up to the wi-fi,” Jazz spoke from Dani’s other side, sipping a cup of tea she picked up before going to the dining room.

“Oh, yeah, just a second. Danny?” Tucker looked at the other, one hand opened, expecting something.

Danny groaned. “Do I have to? You have legs, you know. You can walk back to your office.”

“This is way cooler. And don’t you want to show your new friends how OP you are?” He wiggled his fingers. “My tools, now.”

The ghost rolled his eyes but gestured with a hand at the empty space in front of Tucker. One second and a medium sized bag appeared there like magic. The boy wasted no time and opened the bag, searching for what he would need and placing it over the table. With another wordless gesture he asked for their phones.

Bruce looked interested in the display. “Magic?”

Danny shook his head. “I can’t do magic. I don’t get it.”

“That’s because you don’t believe, buddy,” he said, already dismantling the first phone and carefully searching for the pieces he needed to fix.

“I told you it’s all gibberish to me.”

“And I told you to read the book I lent you.”

“And I told you I can’t understand computer science either.” He moved as if he wanted to push the human.

“Move me and I’ll stab you in the eye with this.” He waved the screwdriver, glaring behind his glasses.

“What does computer science have to do with magic?” Tim tried not to appear nervous as Tucker touched the innards of his phone.

“Oh, it has everything to do with it! The logic is the same, you only need to learn the language and the rest is a walk in the park. Also, ectoplasm goes great with electricity.”

“Timothy, cease the idea.” Damian leaned in, glaring at his brother.

“Barbara will want to know about this, though.”

“Oracle? Yeah, we’ve been texting about it for a few days. She seems nice.”

Honestly? Nobody was too surprised about this.

“Can we talk about the fact that you seem to know more about us than we do about you?” Jason lifted a hand, leaning in with a serious face. “Like, for example, how did you know I was a zombie?”

“A revenant.”

“That.” He nodded towards Jazz, who sipped her tea.

“Uhh… We had to make sure you guys weren’t sociopaths.”

“Tucker, don’t lie. You love the Justice League.”

“They may be sociopaths in disguise!” He briefly looked up from his work. He had drawn a few symbols on the phone battery and was dropping a few drops of something neon green over the circuits. “And I had to try and see if I could hack the Watchtower. Sorry Mr Batman, sir.”

Bruce just sighed, accepting what was happening. “How did we not notice you?”

“I’m a ghost in the machine,” he said, doing jazz hands. Sam snorted. “A mix of magic, some ghostly help and my mad hacking skills.”

“Oracle knows about this?”

“Who do you think told me what not to break?” At Batman’s slight eye twitch, Tucker tried to backtrack a bit. “I mean, I told her I would do it with or without her help, and she preferred to make sure I wouldn’t cause an international incident, so,” he shrugged. “Here’s your phone,” he said after reassembling the device and handing it back to Tim.

“My baby,” the hero murmured, turning it on, glad to see that everything was fine. The wifi connection was good as well. “Barbara says hi.” He read the screen for a moment, typing in the family group chat that everyone was fine.

Suddenly Danny tensed and looked at the door. Seconds later, a servant entered, bowed lightly and approached the table.

“Queen Dorathea of the Dragon Islands is requesting an audience.”

“Official visit or is she just here to talk?” Danny asked, preparing a sigh.

“Official, sir.”

The ghost looked up at the ceiling, groaning. “Ok. Ok, let’s go.” He looked back down at the bats and smiled awkwardly. “Sorry guys, duty calls.”

“Can we join you?”

“Yeah, Dragon Islands? We gotta see this.”

“Is it safe for us?”

Danny blinked. “Sure, why not? Dora is a friend.”

Tucker decided to stay back to fix all the bats’ phones. Jazz stayed as well to keep him company and finish her tea, as the rest went on towards the throne room. As they walked, Damian approached the floating figure of Danielle, who looked bored.

“Do you really think you can defeat Superman in battle?”

“What, like it’s hard?”

The young Robin didn’t know if he should smile or frown. “I have seen him do things that are out of this world.”

“He’s an alien, right?” Damian nodded. “Well, I’m a ghost, and a powerful one.” She smirked, doing a little loop in place.

“Holy shit, that’s right. Superman is an alien.” Danny turned from his conversation with Jason. “And I talked with him. I touched him.”

“First, that’s weird. Second, you are the freaking Ghost King, dude.” Tim rubbed his face. “You understand how that’s freaking bonkers, right?”

“Yeah, and also you are bonded with-”

“Don’t.” Dick jumped, he didn’t see the ghost approach him, or the hand on his mouth. His heart started to pick up speed.

Before I say more I would like to ask for your absolute discretion. This information is classified even in the Ghost Zone and only some of the Council are allowed to know.

Right.

Nightwing forced his heart to slow down and nodded. “Sorry,” he said when Danny went back to where Jason had stopped walking to stare.

“It’s okay. I don’t really mind, but even if this is my castle…” He looked troubled. “It’s best if…” he trailed off.

There was a moment of tense silence.

Sam sighed, taking Danny’s hand between hers and pulling him back towards the throne room.

“Sorry…” the ghost said, looking down.

“You are really quick, kid. Didn’t see you move.” Jason walked to the pair, trying to change the mood.

“Danny is the fastest ghost!” Danielle floated towards the front as well. The rest of the group followed.

“How fast?”

“We don’t know!” She beamed. “Haven’t measured yet, but really fast. Of course I’m pretty fast as well!”

“Does the suit unlock ghost powers for you?” Bruce asked Sam, dodging the argument starting about ghosts, speed and modified motorcycles.

“Why? Interested in one of your own?” The young woman lifted an eyebrow. “Planning on going one on one against Supes?”

“Could you take him out with the suit?” There was no hostility in his face, only curiosity.

“No,” she was shaking her head already. “I’m not that strong even with the suit. And under it I’m still human - If I get hurt I won’t heal magically.”

“Don’t I know it.” Bruce sounded tired, but chuckled. “So would Ellie really fight Superman if they get to meet?”

Sam glanced back at the batkids trying to catch the ghost girl flying in circles around them. “She could and she would,” her smile was cheeky, “she’s freaky strong.”

“Because she’s Danny’s clone?”

Sam looked at the ghost, who shrugged, like he didn’t want to talk right now. “Halfas are strong, and Danny is the strongest. Dani, while not a perfect clone, is very close. Or was.” Bruce frowned. “She was created before the crowning ceremony.” She added as an explanation.

The man nodded, understanding that asking further would not be polite. He didn’t need much confirmation anyway, he had been there when the boy ripped apart a god and devoured it.

Not that he would ever forget that.

The silence was less tense as they approached the throne room, the noise and the screams of outrage from the others as they fought among each other filling in for the conversation neither wanted to continue.

Bruce observed how Danny was spaced out, his eyes dull as if his mind was far away. He wondered if he was talking to the god inside him - and boy, what a disturbing idea to consider.

Said boy turned and looked at him, green eyes piercing. Was it only Bruce or did the hallway suddenly get darker? Where had the noise gone? His world became green and green and-

Bruce blinked. They were already in the throne room and Danny walked forwards to sit on the wooden chair they saw before, his armor materializing with green flames as he sat down.

The chair changed and grew, getting bigger and bigger, and turning into a stone throne with a tall back, the armrests getting longer as he leaned back into it.

Danny sighed. The room grew colder.

“Let her in,” his voice reverberated in the giant room.

A servant that Bruce didn’t see approaching from a side door, bowed, and opened the big doors the bats entered through with Jazz when they first arrived.

Inside walked another ghost, of course, but this one was less human looking than the others they had encountered. Her skin was green, shades lighter than Manhunter, and her eyes were red. When he looked past those features, the ghost was a woman with long braided blonde hair, a tiara weaved with her hairdo, and wearing a dress with long sleeves and long skirt that reminded him of the period dramas that Alfred had hooked him to.

“Your Majesty!” The woman’s voice was nervous. “My apologies, I didn’t know you were with company today!” She bowed to everyone when she got in front of the raised dais. “Greetings, Sir Batman. Your Majesty.” She bowed deeply towards Danny, staying there.

“Rise, Dora. I told you I don’t do pleasantries,” he still sounded tense, but chuckled softly.

The ghost did as she was told. “And I thought I told you it is necessary for you to get used to it.” She hid her smile behind a sleeve.

He smiled back, but leaned in. “I guess since this isn’t a casual visit that something happened. What’s going on?”

Dora’s smile melted from her face at the same time as Danny’s. “My brother escaped. And he plans on challenging me for the throne.”

“And?” he tilted his head. “You can beat his ass. Let him.”

The other royal was shaking her head. “He is hiding behind all the slimy bureaucratic shields he can find. Technicalities, but things that I can’t refute.”

“Just stab him and be done with it!”

“I can’t!” The woman clenched her fists. “The court is already against me! If I go rogue and kill Aragon it will be worse.”

“Okay.” Danny breathed through his nose. “Want me to kill him?”

“It has to be me. In a challenge. Or else-”

“-or else then it would seem like I’m a tyrant that only wants to conquer, yeah, I see your point.” He sighed deeply, deflating on his throne.

Bruce looked back and forth between the two ghosts. He didn’t have the details, but he had hit the wall of politics enough times to understand the boy’s frustration.

“Could I offer an idea?” he ventured, ignoring when his sons gasped behind him. Green and red eyes turned towards him.

“Please.” Danny looked tired, and Bruce understood why he required the League’s counsel. He could be crazy strong, but they didn’t teach politics and the art of negotiating in high school.

They should, in his opinion.

“I’m not familiar with ghost laws, but could it be politically correct to summon this Aragon individual? A summon from the king is not something he could hide from, I assume.”

Dorathea was already nodding. “The king is above all. And if King Daniel commands-”

“No commands. If I can avoid it.” Danny didn’t seem to like this ‘command’ thing. “But I see your point. That scaly bastard wouldn’t be able to ignore a royal summon if he is going for diplomatic war.” He crossed his arms, nodding, the plan turning in his head. “And you wait here for him.”

“And challenge him.”

“Yeah. And kill him.”

Dora nodded. “And kill him.” She frowned a little. “He has to be stopped.”

Once the plan was decided and a date fixed to iron out the details together later, Dora bowed again and left the group.

“Fratricide, huh?” Jason’s voice cut through the silence.

“Huh,” Damian said.

“Huh,” Tim said, a little bit more nervously.

“I’ll try to scale it down to a duel, but Aragon will never stop.” Danny stood quickly, the armor vanishing in flames and the throne morphing back to a simple wooden chair. “Dora seemed to have decided that a challenge to death is the only choice. And it’s her brother, so.” He shrugged.

Bruce nodded. “She knew me as Batman.” He didn’t like it.

“The Council knows about my little side quest with the League.”

“But she recognized me in civilian clothes.”

“Ghosts don’t have the concept of hidden identities.” Danny shrugged again. “We are true to ourselves.”

“But it’s not your secret to share.” The glare was a full on Batman glare.

“Okay, first of all, I didn’t share it, Tucker did,” he crossed his arms, “and it was an accident. Second, ghosts don’t live outside the Ghost Zone, or survive in places without ambient ectoplasm, so it won’t be an issue for you.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“Just give the command, Danny. It will be easier,” Sam grimaced when the other threw his arms up and growled lowly. “It won’t hurt anybody.”

“But it’s creepy.”

“Believe me I don’t like it more than you do, but this is harmless and we don’t want beef with the Justice League,” she said as if that was an argument they had before.

“Whatever.” He focused for a moment, a tiny frown between his eyebrows. “There, done. Happy?”

At the same time he said this, Danielle, who had been silently watching the back and forth from besides Robin, shivered.

“Ugh, disgusting…”

“You okay?” Damian asked.

“Yeah, it's just, Ugh.” She stuck her tongue out, as if she had a bad taste in her mouth. “Commands. Taste funny.”

“Enjoy the flavor of ‘it is forbidden to speak, think or write about Batman and his associates’ secret identities’, squirt.” Danny jumped down the dais and ruffled her hair. “Anyway, who wants to see the weapons collection?”

“You have guns?” Jason caught the change of topic and followed, trying to ignore the metallic taste in his tongue and what it implied.

The conversation continued as the group started walking back through the door to the dining room. Dick stood behind to walk besides Bruce, both deep in thought.

After a minute, he had to ask. “Are you still considering adoption?” He pointed with a thumb towards the Ghost King.

“Would you believe me if I said yes?”

BACK TO THE ARCHIVE

<< Prequel

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avaritia-apotheosis · 3 years ago

Text

Crossover Danuary Week Day 1

Day 1: ATLA

Summary: Rumors of a wayward spirit reach Aang's ears. Desperate for a break in his duties as an intermediary between nations, Aang answers the call.

Inspired by @chasingrabbits-art amazing comic for day 1! I had no plans to join the event but this comic was just so good that I had to write something for it.

The end of the war was a celebration, but after that, there came restoration.

The people rebuilt their houses and reclaimed their dead. The land breathed and nature continued on. The leaders of the four nations— three nations— came together to discuss what needed to be done.

War reparations, the process of decolonization, territories to be reclaimed, treaties to be negotiated. There were talks of refugees and of war criminals, of who was to be pardoned and who to be tried. Hours of discussions of sanction, of demilitarization, and enough rough drafts tossed in the trash because of disagreements over certain words or turns of phrases.

Zuko would inherit a nation on the brink of collapse. One whose culture and people were decimated by the propaganda and perils of war. The Fire Nation were a proud people brought low by a war they were raised to believe was right and destiny divine, and now they must learn to rebuild themselves from the ashes of their leaders’ folly.

But, Aang thought, Zuko would be just fine. The newly crowned Firelord may have been young but he was also tenacious and honorable and kind. He would bring honor back to his beloved homeland even if it would take the work of six lifetimes.

Aang would be there to help him if Zuko needed it. And so would their friends.

But even Aang’s patience would wear thin after weeks sitting at the negotiating table. As the Avatar and the only remaining Air Nomad, he acted as the intermediary for the conference. His presence was more symbolic than anything, still a child of twelve no matter that he spearheaded the war and saved the world from untold destruction from a madman. He would pacify when needed, be firm if he must. Most of his time was spent trying to make sure the other leaders didn't try and crucify Zuko and his people, and that the Fire Nation would not be bled dry from war reparations.

Aang was tired. So, so tired of politics. So tired in fact that when rumors reached the conference of a spirit haunting a nearby village, Aang had leapt from his chair and all but jumped out of the nearest window to escape.

“Sorry, guys, duty calls!”

The Avatar was human, sure, but he had obligations to the Spirit World, too.

Riding Appa, the village was only a few hours away. The sun had started to sink into the horizon by the time he arrived, bathing the world in vibrant hues of red.

The villagers greeted him enthusiastically, pointing him to the far eastern reaches of the village where the houses tapered off into a flat clearing and the dense forest beyond it. It was cordoned off. The few that lived in that area decided to stay with nearby friends and family, fearful of accidentally angering whatever spirit wandered there.

Aang left Appa at the village center and went to the eastside alone, his trusty glider in hand.

“Wayward spirit!” He called out. He could hear his voice echoing into the emptiness. “I am the Avatar, the link between the Human and Spirit world! I’m here to—”

A cold autumn wind blew. Aang held up an arm to shield his face from the bits of dirt and dust the wind kicked up.

He opened his eyes.

Aang wasn’t alone.

“Link between the Human and Spirit world, you say?”

On the house next to him, lounging atop the roof, was the spirit.

The spirit’s mouth stretched into a wolfish grin, all teeth and bared fangs. His eyes—an unnaturally bright green—glowed in the darkening sky. “Well, isn’t that interesting?”

The spirit’s hair was paler than even princess Yue’s and seemed to float in an unseen wind. His skin was nearly as dark as hers too, covered in a smattering of freckles that glowed a faint green. (Did spirits have freckles? Aang didn’t even know that was possible. ) He was wearing a strange black and white garb, and a dark ermine cloak hung off his shoulders. One of his knees was bent, arm rested atop it and cradling his cheek. A ring gleamed on the spirit’s right hand, and floating atop his head was…a crown? It didn’t look like any crown Aang had seen before, anyways.

And was it on fire?

Zuko’s crown never did that and he was the Firelord.

“Um…yeah.” Aang rubbed the back of his neck, not really sure what to do next. “Listen, I don’t mean to offend, but I’m gonna have to ask you to leave this village alone!”

“As far as I’m aware, I haven’t done anything.”

“You haven’t?”

The spirit shrugged. “Nope.”

Well then…

“So…have the villagers done anything to displease you?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah.”

“So you haven’t hurt any of the people here?”

The spirit raised an eyebrow. “Why would I do that?”

Aang shrugged, throwing his hands up in the air. “I don’t know! Why are you here, then?”

The spirit shifted his position, now sat cross-legged on the roof, hands clutching his ankles. He looked…kind of sheepish. “Trust me, kid, I’m not here because I want to be. I’m just here because I needed a place to rest and figure stuff out. I didn’t mean to scare all these people but—”

In the space of a blink, the Spirit was looming above him, eyes boring into his own, searching for something. The spirit must have found it as the corners of his mouth quirked up in a smile.

“It’s a good thing I did stay,” the spirit said. “I think you might be able to help me. Something of mine was stolen; a map. I have to get it back.”

This sounded like trouble. Like, ‘finding the remains of an ancient civilization and then getting captured by said ancient people’ kind of trouble. Or “waking up after a hundred-year coma to find out you have to master all four elements in under a year and defeat the Firelord” trouble.

Hmm…

But considering that the alternative was sitting back at the negotiating table again letting this spirit go unsupervised in the Human world…

Yeah, why not? Aang could use a vacation.

“Avatar Aang at your service!” He gave a bow with a flourish, a cheeky grin on his face.

The spirit answered in turn. “Danny Phantom.” The name sounded oddly foreign to Aang’s ears. “Feel free to call me Danny. I have a lot of other names, too, though I guess in this world I would be known as the Spirit King.”

“Well It’s great to meet you— I’m sorry, what?”

Danny pointed at the crown floating above his head. “This thing isn’t just for show, you know.”

Aang picked his jaw up off the floor with as much dignity he could muster. “I didn’t know spirits even had a king. Uh, no offense, of course.”

“They do and they don’t.”

“What does that—”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“O-kay then…” Aang pondered for a moment before coming to a decision. “You know what, if you don’t mind making a couple of stops, I have some friends who would be really helpful with this quest.”

“Hey, the more the merrier.”

Now that Danny stood next to Aang, he finally registered just how human the spirit looked. He looked young— around Zuko or Sokka’s age— though considering he’s a spirit he must have been way older than the rest of them combined. He’s the Spirit King! Of course he was going to be ancient. He probably knew all of the past Avatars and everything about the Spirit World. Maybe he could teach Aang a thing or two.

Aang broke out into a grin, tugging the spirit by his (oddly solid) hand. “Come on then, no time to waste! Appa’s already waiting for us in the village square.”

“Appa?”

“My flying bison!”

“A flying what now?”

As Aang would later learn, Danny may have been the Spirit King but he was woefully uninformed about anything in the world. He didn’t even know what bending was!

“You know,” Aang said. “If you’re a king and all, shouldn’t you be able to just get someone else to try and find the map for you?”

Danny, who was looking over the side of Appa’s saddle and at the ground thousands of feet below, turned to him. There was a sense of wonderment in his eyes at the sight of the clouds spread out like a never-ending blanket before them. “Are you kidding? Sure, I could have passed it onto someone else. But if I did, then I’d have to sit around and do paperwork.”

They both shuddered at the word.

Aang thought back to an incident that happened at the conference three days ago where nearly every single leader got up in arms about which word to use in some section of the treaty. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”

Ugh. Politics.

#Crossover Danuary Week 2022 #danny phantom #atla #avatar the last airbender #danny fenton #aang #dp fanfiction #my writing.txt

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