#danny is traumatized

[dclovesdanny]

DcxDp prompt

2/2

To avoid the TUE timeline, Danny was sent to live with his Aunt Harley and Aunt Ivy. Danny loved his aunts, and was slowly starting to heal from his family’s deaths.

Then, they heard about the Joker breaking out. He saw Aunt Harley’s hands shake. He saw the constant anxiety in her movements, automatically checking on them every few minutes, and he heard the nightmares and sobbing as aunt Harley worried that the Joker would hurt him and Aunt Ivy.

Danny lost one family. He wasn’t willing to loose another.

Two days later, the Joker’s body was found, mangled and twisted, with a message carved into his back.

Don’t touch my family

[anti-the-glitch-bitch]

The Phantom Soldier 2

The first thing that Danny notices when he comes back to consciousness is the sound of a machine beeping. The second thing is the smell of cleaning chemicals, making his nose wrinkle in disgust. He hurts everywhere, but he couldn’t deny the cool warmth surrounding him. He just wants to go back to sleep. To avoid the pain that he knows is coming any minute now. The pain that has happened every day since he’s been captured.

It takes Danny a moment to realize that he’s lying in a semi-upright position in a comfortable bed. Shock filters through his battered brain and he slowly opens up his eyes in the dimly lit room. It doesn’t look like any room that he’s been placed in before. If he’s being honest, it kind of reminds him of a hospital room, but that’s not possible. His kidnappers would never let that happen.

Continuing his inspection of the room, Danny notices a large window with shades pulled down to dim the bright light trying to come through. It almost looks like sunlight, but it could also be a trick. 

Danny slowly removes the blanket covering him, wincing from the pain that shoots through his body as he does so, and notices the IV in his arm taped down so that it doesn’t move. He can only imagine what these people are pumping into him this time, but he's learned it's best not to fight it if he doesn't want a beating later.

Hopefully it doesn't make him sick this time. 

Danny is weak from the lack of human food and ectoplasm. While he doesn't really need to eat that much anymore, he still needs a good amount of ectoplasm to survive. Hydra wanted to see how long he could last without either, and now it's taking everything he has not to completely collapse. It doesn't help that he had put so much of his energy into his ghostly wail before he passed out. 

Slowly, he positions himself on the edge of the bed. The IV bag is connected to a pole that he grabs with weak hands so he has something to help hold himself up. He isn't the steadiest, but hey, he's standing. 

With a deep breath, Danny moves towards the only window in the room trying not to die again. He's too focused on trying to put one foot in front of the other to look around. He's not even sure how much further it is to the window. 

Honestly, Danny's surprised a scientist or guard hasn't come in by now. This has to be another trick on their part. Something else to force him into obedience or get him another beating. He shudders at the reminder, almost losing his grip on the pole. 

He's nearly to the window when the pole wheels catch on something, tripping Danny up. He loses his grip on the pole and cries out as he falls. He's too weak and too hurt to be able to get up and now he'll never feel the sun on his face. If that's even what the light was. 

Tears don't come as Danny lies on the tiled floor in despair. Hydra made sure to beat those out of him long ago. No, he simply stares at the wall that he's fallen next to, hoping that he isn't punished for getting out of the bed they put him in. He holds onto that hope as he hears the door open and footsteps rush towards him. 

Voices swirl around him, but he's disassociating and can't understand them. Danny remains limp as someone picks him up and gently places him back on the bed. More voices sound, but they slowly stop when he doesn't respond. He doesn't look at them. Doesn't acknowledge them in any way as he stares at the wall. 

Just that little bit of activity has exhausted him, and he doesn't hesitate to fall back into the comforting darkness of sleep. 

~~~

Murmurs coax Danny out of his sleep. Murmurs that sound unfortunately close to him. Like, right next to him close. 

He tries not to stiffen up, to stay as relaxed as possible but the machine next to him gives away the rapid beating of his heart. The flurry of activity surrounding him makes him afraid of what is going to happen next. Nothing good ever happens when there are this many people around him.

The strangers try to talk to him. To get him to say anything. A few even try to get him to open his eyes, but when he remains still, the voices slowly dwindle until there is only the steady beeping of the machine. 

Danny can feel the IV taped to his skin. Can feel the way the gown shifts across his many wounds that stopped healing a long time ago. He can feel the thin blanket draped across him as he adjusts to find some kind of comfortable position (no position is comfortable).

Danny slowly opens his eyes, blinking his eyes rapidly at the bright light. He closes them and tries again after a few moments, letting himself adjust to his surroundings. 

It appears to be the same room as the one he woke up in last time. With its white walls and large window with the shades closed, though this time there’s no light coming through the shades. Danny doesn’t see any cameras in the room, but it’s best not to test the limits of his freedom.

It’s best not to catch their ire.

So, Danny lays in bed waiting for whatever terrible things the scientists have in store for him today. Maybe, hopefully, if he does whatever they want without complaint, they'll start to feed him again. He doesn’t even know how many weeks it's been since he's had anything to eat.

Voices outside the door catch Danny’s attention. They must be right outside the door because he can hear them clearly. Though, it’s not like they’ve ever tried to keep their voices down around him before. He’s just an object to them anyway.

“-doing?” a male voice asks.

“He woke up a few hours ago, but won’t respond to anyone. He flinches away when we touch him, but otherwise doesn’t object. He wouldn’t even open his eyes to look at us. He’s been through a lot, Tony. It’s going to be a long time before he’s ready to pretend to be human again. Be patient with him. If you upset him, I’ll have no problem kicking you out.” a stern female voice replies.

There’s a small laugh but it doesn’t sound happy to Danny. “Doc, I’ve been through all the files. That kid was an experiment to them. Bucky was more of a person to them than that kid was. They did things to him that I’m not sure even a Super Soldier would survive. I sent over the files but to tell you the truth…from what the files say, I don’t think that kid is alive. If he is then he’s made of tougher stuff than all the Avengers combined.” Tony (Danny thinks it's this Tony person the doctor is talking to) says.

Danny hopes they aren’t talking about him, but he sincerely doubts it. They’re outside his door, after all. 

The door starts to open and Danny panics. He doesn’t want to know what they’ll do to him. Doesn’t want the pain to start again, but knows if he doesn’t let it happen, it’ll only be worse in the end. The machine next to him goes haywire as his heart picks up its pace again.

A stern Asian woman in a white lab coat rushes over to his side, checking the machine and silencing the alarm. Danny takes no notice of her, but he does watch as a shorter man in jeans and a t-shirt comes trailing in behind her. He doesn’t look like a scientist and maybe he isn’t. Maybe he’s the person in charge of the scientists. The person that the scientists always talk about.

“Hey. Can you tell me your name?” the stern woman says with concern and it draws Danny’s attention. Sometimes, they pretended to be nice.

Danny wants to tell her, but at the same time, he doesn’t. His throat aches from the ghostly wail that he hasn’t used in some time. He isn’t sure when the last time he spoke was. He’s not allowed to speak unless ordered. Like the lady wants him to do now, but his throat hurts.

He opens his mouth and…nothing. Trying to talk just causes him to cough. Danny starts to panic, because he knows that punishment comes when he doesn’t do what they want.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything right now. I’ll get you some water and we can try again later. Right now I just want you to rest.” The doctor looks concerned with her soft oval face and the wisps of brown hair that have fallen out of her bun but that’s probably because he’s broken.

 A broken asset is a useless one.

Danny watches the doctor give the man a stern glance as she leaves. The man is staring at him and it’s making Danny nervous. He doesn’t know what the guy wants. He wishes the man would give him an order. Say something. Do something. Just…

“Hey kid,” the man finally says. His voice is concerned and his body language screams awkwardness as he rubs the back of his neck. “Listen. I know you’ve been through a lot, but the people here are good people. You won’t have to deal with anything like what those Hydra goons did.”

The man walks a little closer to Danny’s bed. He doesn’t seem at all concerned that Danny hasn’t said a word to him, he just continues to talk.

“We’ll get you all fixed up and then when the Doc okays it, you can live on the compound with me and the rest of the team. How’s that sound?” The man's eyes soften from that intense stare to something sadder and his smile disappears when Danny doesn’t give a response.

Not answering a question usually gets him a punishment, but the lady told him not to say anything. Is this man in charge or the lady? Who is he supposed to obey? Danny opens up his mouth to try and say something, anything, so the man won’t get angry with him, but nothing will come out. Just a wisp of air and a cough. 

The cough hurts his throat and he tries to swallow the dryness away but it's no use. Thankfully, that doctor comes back. Unfortunately, she comes back with a whole tray of items and it scares him. Danny doesn't show it, though. He just watches with a blank expression. 

“Tony, I told you not to upset him. This is the exact opposite of that,” the doctor says, glaring at Tony as she puts the tray down on a rolling table near the window. 

Tony takes a few steps back, giving the doctor space to roll the entire table over to the bed. “I'm offended, Cho. I didn't do anything. You can even ask Friday. I'm being a good boy. All I did was say that once he heals up enough and you give the okay, he'll be moving into the compound with the rest of us.”

Danny watches the back and forth happening between the two people trying to figure out the dynamics. They talk to each other like equals, making this situation a bit more confusing to Danny. 

Doctor Cho grabs a white styrofoam cup and hands it to Danny gently. He takes the cup and looks inside, finding it filled with little chips of ice. “You are severely malnourished, so no real solids or liquids right now until we can get your body used to nutrients again. You can munch on ice for now to help with your throat, but do it slowly so you don't overwhelm your body.” Danny gives a nod to the doctor and immediately puts a few pieces in his mouth letting the ice melt to help ease his throat. 

The doctor gives Danny a nod and a smile. “That's good. If you need more ice, just press this button here,” She grabs a remote from beside the bed and hands it to him, pointing out one of the buttons. 

“I need to take a look at your bandages and change some of them. Is it okay if I touch you?” the doctor asks, as if Danny has any real choice. He has no idea what their plan is, but it’s best to just go along with it until someone gives him a direct order or his handler comes in to get him.

He looks between Tony and the doctor before giving a small nod. The doctor turns to the table again, putting on some gloves before grabbing a few things. Danny doesn’t want to see what this lady is about to do to him, so he watches Tony instead. Watches the way Tony messes with his phone for a few minutes before putting it up and turning his attention to him. 

“So, you got any parents out there missing you, kid? If you know their number, I can give ‘em a ring so they don’t have to worry about where you are anymore. I looked through all the files but it never mentioned a family and facial recognition can’t seem to get an ID on you. Friday’s still looking, but it’ll help us out if you can tell us anything.” Tony’s eyes never waver from Danny’s and it makes him uncomfortable.

This is a trick that Danny knows well. The trainers and scientists used this trick all the time to see if his time in the chair had any effect on him. They’d pretend he was rescued, ask him really personal questions about his life and family, and then, if he didn’t answer how they liked, they would punish him and put him in the chair. They’d done it so many different ways and times that Danny no longer trusts anyone that asks those sorts of questions.

Danny stares at Tony, swallows, and then says the required response. “This asset has no family.” It comes out raspy and barely audible, but he manages to get the words out. 

Tony looks away for a moment with a frown that he quickly hides. Danny catches glimpses of several other expressions, but he isn't sure how to interpret them. 

A gentle poking in a particularly painful area makes Danny wince and look at the doctor. She’s putting some sort of cream on a nasty gash that’s bruised. “Sorry if I hurt you. I just need to wrap this back up and then I’m done.” She’s very quick with her work, and soon Danny is bandaged back up and bringing his gown back down.

Doctor Cho places the blanket and flips the end of the blanket back over Danny’s waist with a smile. “There. All done. I’ll leave you alone now, but if you need anything, push that little button I showed you." She picks up the tray, leaving the table next to his bed and walks towards the door, whispering something too low for Danny to hear as she passes Tony and leaves the room.

When the door closes, Tony drags a chair over to Danny’s bed and sits down. “I feel like there’s a misunderstanding between the two of us so let’s start over. My name is Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man and a member of the Avengers.”

There's a brief pause from Tony as he waves a hand toward Danny in a flourish that Danny really isn’t sure how to interpret. Is he waiting for a response? There was no order given or question asked for him to answer.

“Are you my handler?” Danny’s head cocks to the side as he watches the man’s shoulders slump just briefly. It isn’t a response that Danny expects or can decipher, but he briefly worries that he might have made a mistake asking that question.

“Oh, kid.” Danny’s maybe-handler sighs, giving him a sad smile. “This isn’t Hydra. I know you don’t believe me, but you will eventually. Do you remember your name? Cause I know it isn’t ‘asset’.”

Another trick.

“My name is the Phantom Soldier. What are my orders?” Danny asks, placing the cup on the table and readying himself for whatever this man demands.

“Just focus on getting better, okay?” 

Not a request that Danny is expecting, but if they want to use him for something, then he’ll need to be in peak condition. He gives Tony a small nod in response.

Tony looks at his watch and his phone before returning his attention to Danny. “Look, I gotta go do a few things, but I’ll check on you before bed. I know Cho said you can use the button to call her, but if you need anything, anything at all, then just let my A.I. Friday know. Say hello, Friday.”

Danny jumps as a female’s voice comes from nowhere. “Hello. If I can be of any help, please do not hesitate to let me know.” Danny can’t see any cameras or speakers, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

With no other response, Tony leaves the room.

The minute the door shuts, Danny relaxes. Picking up the white cup, he sucks on a few more pieces of ice. A tentative touch on his neck with the hand that doesn’t have an IV tells him that he doesn’t have that horrible collar. Not that it means much. His throat is still messed up from his last ghostly wail that he can’t even do a small one. He’ll have to hope these people don’t put the collar back on before he can gather his strength again.

Danny’s throat is rough, but his actual neck doesn’t feel bad. He would say the gash on his chest hurts the worst, but honestly he’s so used to being in pain at this point that he isn’t particularly bothered by it. No, the worst is the bone deep fatigue that never seems to go away. The kind of fatigue that can wear a person down until they give up. The kind of fatigue that Danny’s been dealing with for years now.

Settling into the bed a bit more, Danny looks around the room. There isn’t much aside from the medical equipment. The walls are a bright blue that lightens the room up. There are no lights in the ceiling that Danny can see, but the entire room is lit up. The room is also large enough that another bed sits on the other side of the room. Far enough that each person can have privacy and yet close enough that if there was another person, they wouldn’t have to shout to have a conversation.

Two large TVs sit on the wall opposite the beds, though they’re both shut off at the moment. Danny can’t remember the last time he was allowed to watch television. His kidnappers always tell him that objects don’t get to have luxuries, and that’s what he is, isn’t it? 

An object.

A weapon.

Certainly not a person. At least, not anymore.

They’ve made sure of that.

Danny lays his head back, and even with the lights on, falls asleep to the sounds of his heartbeat beeping on the machine next to him.

~~~

Tony paces back and forth in his lab as the anger boils underneath his skin. If he could go back in time, he absolutely would just so he could destroy those fuckers again. Except he’d make the pain last longer. Maybe employ Natasha to use her skills in torture.

“This asset has no family.”

Watching that suspiciously blank face on the kid's face as he’d said that had made Tony's heart shatter. He never wants to hear anything like that come from the kid ever again. Unfortunately, Tony knows he'll probably be hearing things like that a lot until the teams are able to earn some trust and reprogram the brainwashing. 

He's not sure if his B.A.R.F. program will work on the kid as easily as it did on Barnes. From the files the genius had read through and Cho's reports, the poor kid isn't completely human. He isn’t a mutant or Inhuman either, lacking the genes to be classified as such. Something about his DNA is hard to test and his blood deteriorates too quickly to really do anything with. By the third test, it’s deteriorated so much that none of the normal markers will work. 

Tony needs Barnes. As much as he hates to admit it, talking to the guy might give him the insight Tony needs to help the kid.

“Friday, can you ask Barnes to come to the lab?” Tony sits down and pulls up the footage from the kid’s (he really needs to come up with a name for him) room.

A moment later, Friday responds, “Mr. Barnes is on his way down, Boss.”

Tony doesn’t reply, instead he watches the entire interaction between Cho, the kid, and himself, trying to get a clue on what to do. He knows it’s not really going to help, but he needs to do something or he’s going to start throwing things.

Tony is on his third playthrough when Barnes walks through the lab doors. “Friday said you needed to talk to me but she didn’t say why.”

“C’mere and watch this,” Tony replies. “I figured it’s best to go to the expert on brainwashing. Maybe you’ll be able to tell me the best way to help this kid.” Tony restarts the video, not giving Barnes a chance to object.

Barnes sits down on the nearest chair, his eyes not leaving the hologram. If Tony hadn’t been watching the guy, he’d have never caught the rage and fear that passes over his face. It’s quickly replaced with guilt, but Tony leaves his questions until the video is done.

When the video is done, Tony stops it. “What did you see that I didn't?”

The super soldier turns to Tony with that same guilty look. “Tony, I don’t think I'll be able to help you. I don’t remember much, but I do remember them using me to beat the shit out of that kid. He heals from just about anything and I was used as punishment when he wouldn’t do what they wanted. He’d been there maybe 6 months by the time I managed to get away. Anytime they wanted to put him in the chair, they had me beat him within an inch of his life.”

Tony stares at Barnes thoughtfully. If that's the case, then introducing Barnes to Phantom (ugh it's better to just call him ‘the kid’) will be a horrible decision. God, everyone on this team needs therapy.

Except maybe Sam.

And Vision. 

And maybe Rhodey.

Who is he kidding, everyone on the team needs therapy.

“I'm not telling you to go into his room and interrogate the kid, Barnes. I'm asking you what I can do to help this broken and brainwashed kid that's not even fully human.” Tony gestures from the ex-assassin to where the hologram used to be. “From a previously broken and brainwashed person to another. I need suggestions that I can use to help earn his trust so he can get better.”

That seems to surprise Barnes, probably because Tony has never asked for his help before. They usually avoid each other like the plague. 

Tony sees the surprise and shrinks in his chair just a little. He turns and rests an arm on his table. Fiddling with a few metal pieces strewn around, he avoids Barnes’ questioning look. 

“I know we haven't gotten on the best of terms and I know it's not your fault. What happened in Siberia never should have happened. A lot of anger and secrets were thrown around and none of it was your fault. It was equally Steve’s and mine. We both made mistakes.” He runs a hand through his hair, messing up the perfectly styled locks. 

“The two of us have too much pride, and so we walk around on eggshells while trying not to step on each other's toes. I should have talked about this sooner with you, but you run away from me everytime we’re in the same room together and I just didn’t want to bring up something so painful.” Tony drops the piece he’s playing with and turns to look at the ex-assassin. “You went through a lot of pain with Hydra. You had to go through so much on your own just to remember a small part of your past. I’m sorry about what happened that day.”

This appears to completely blindside Barnes. He clearly never thought something like this would happen. Clearly didn’t think he deserved an apology. “I thought you hated me and were just doing this because King T’Challa asked,” Barnes says. “I didn’t want to bring up any bad memories, so I just stayed out of your way. I know things are still a little tense between the teams and I didn’t want to make it worse.”

“Well, gee. Now I feel even worse for not talking to you sooner,” Tony says with a small chuckle. “Nah. Don’t worry about it. If anyone is gonna make things worse, it's probably going to be me. Don’t worry about it, really. Pepper and Rhodey know how to make sure I don’t put my foot in my mouth.”

When Tony doesn’t get a response, he pulls up the hologram again. “Now, how do I help this kid so he doesn’t have to go through the deprogramming alone?”

[schrodingers-deadbitch]

I've decided to write an actual story based very loosely on my first two post because I'm almost finished all my exams then after that I'm technically finished with school and I'll have a lot of time on my hands so... Enjoy?

Yeah enjoy.

Half A Corpse

Prologue/Summary

There are only a few things Danny could remember from before his life as Daniel Fenton. One of those things would be his real name.

Not that ‘Daniel Fenton’ wasn't his real name, it was. It was given to him by his parents (sister), recognized by the law, and known by everyone else around him. It's the name that he calls himself everyday. It's the name that he claimed and grew into. The name that he chose. His name is Daniel Fenton. But it wasn't his true name.

His true name, a name given to him long ago by a mother who he has long since forgotten. A name being called out by a distant voice filled with both joy and malice. A name that brought him mostly pain but also comfort. A name that, despite how long it has been, still rolls off of his tongue with so much ease. A name that tasted of the sweetest honey and the most deadly of poisons simultaneously. His true name is Danyal Al Ghul.

***

There are a lot of things Danny could remember from his life as Daniel Fenton. A lot of it was either failing English (or just school in general), or fighting ghosts. Some of it is hanging out with his sister and his best friends, (sometimes like actual kids!).

Majority of it was just him hiding. From the GIW or his parents? He didn't know. Most of it was just him protecting. Ghost or human? It didn't matter. It was always just him, alone in his room, in the dead of night. Doing what? Patching up himself after a long night of ‘patrol’; his homework still in his bag. Long forgotten. Why didn't he do it? He was ‘saving it for another day’.

Daniel could remember pain. So much pain.

He didn't remember how it happened. He didn't want to remember how it happened or what had happened. He didn't want to remember anything. He just wanted to forget it all and pretend it never happened. He wants to forget the pain. He wants to forget everything.

He wants to forget.

He wants to forget.

He wanTS TO FORGET!

HE WANTS TO FORGET!

HE WANTS TO FORGET!!!

He forgot. What happened?

***

His name is Daniel Nightingale. Danny for short. He recently moved to Gotham with his siblings and with the help of his best friends.

His parents? They're dead.

He doesn't remember much from before moving to Gotham but that's ok. He's got a feeling that that's a good thing.

What he thinks isn't a good thing are the leather clad furries and the rich kids who had taken an interested in him and his family. Especially the ones with familiar faces.

[batsyheere]

I sometimes just imagine the first time Phantom is introduced to the league as like, a fellow big league hero. As someone who works with Justice League Dark and took down the Ecto Acts with his own team and allies to be included under the meta acts like aliens. He knows Constantine and Zatanna and is a pretty common name in the magical community now even if usually as his human form "just Danny".

And suddenly he is surrounded by these "big time heroes" and aliens and champions and most would assume he'd be overwhelmed or in awe. Maybe nervous, or weirdly fixated on being in space.

But here's the kicker- Danny is dead. Technically part of the category ecto-entity, ghost, and thus belonging to the Infinite Realms. He has met a vast variety of characters who are far more chaotic and legendary than these people who have so much interpersonal drama it looks like one of the soap operas Tucker refuses to admit he watches. Wonder Woman? Danny has lunch with Pandora and visits the Greek sections of the realms when he needs to research old prophecies. Superman? Kryptonite is like rock candy and the dead of Krypton are either very sweet or very condescending and Danny has seen both in the Boy Scout. The less said about the Green Lanterns the better. The Flash family are entertaining but also headache inducing because Danny has heard the complaints about the timeline. Half a dozen other heroes and vigilantes have their own dramas that Danny could pick apart at the source for the many issues that started said drama, and that's not even beginning on the issues with Batman and the weird galley of children he has who are sometimes even worse than the dark knight himself.

Meanwhile the League find themselves growing more concerned and horrified the more Phantom manages to reference his adventures and rather stressful start as a vigilante. Constantine hasn't been more entertained in years.

[tanglepelt]

Selling your souls comes with consequences.

John never really cared. Easy enough to find loopholes and screw the other party. Easy to get away with it, for the most part. Every now and then it bites him in the arse.

This is one of those bloody times.

Of course he felt the pull. Someone in possession of a soul fragment was in danger. One the cusp of dying.

Bollocks.

He would only be able to ignore it for so long. Bloody hell why did it happen in the middle of. Meeting. This is why he hated these things.

He’d have to summon the entity.

Ain’t the first time. He’d already found a loophole. Summon the thing and send it right to its home realm. Ain’t his problem then.

Following the pull.

The bloody ghost king.

The one who had been sealed away.

Who released him and what in bloody name could do that much damage to pariah dark.

Summon the mad tyrant and shoot him back to the infinite realm. Get him out of here as soon as possible. That thing would ravage this world.

John with the help of several JLD members sets up a summoning circle. One equipped to contain, re send and hide the signature of said being. He doesn’t want whatever can hurt the ghost king finding their way to the watch tower.

Because yet again. He was in a bloody meeting. Now all the oh so helpful non magical hero’s are on standby. As if they could touch a ghost.

As long as they didn’t touch the circle. Whatever.

Now as he activated it, the circle blowing brighter and green.

There was no bloody way.

That was a human. One absolutely saturated in ectoplasm. But still alive. How did a bloody human beat pariah dark.

Who the f was cutting the kid open?

This was bad.

The minute the kid set his eyes on Superman. Kid was cussing up a storm, just like he was. About how they bloody stay away from him.

Zatanna had already broke the circle. She wasn’t sending the kid back to the realm.

Superman was approaching the bleeding out king while the king? Was shouting at him. Batman calling for medical.

It was a mess and no one was happy.

He didn’t know if it was a blessing or not when the kid passed out. Meant the kid for patched up.

No one mentioned how the kid was muttering about how he was Danny. Begging for his mom to stop while knocked out receiving treatment for his wounds.

He needed a drink.

**

Last thing Danny could remember was talking to his parents. Then the pain.

Wait.

They experimented on him. Cut him open.

Where was he?!?

A quick check, cuffs preventing his powers still on but no straps. We’re his wounds treated? Who stitched him up?

He was in a room. A view of space??

Superman.

Oh no.

No no no.

He saw Superman

A member of the justice league. Did his parents hand him off to the league? We’re they working for the Giw?

How did he get here? What was going on?

Superman was opening the door. His hands held up.

Superman: we mean you no harm. We want to help.

Danny: bill shit. You’ll just turn me over back to my parents or the guys in white.

Superman: we won’t

Danny wasn’t listening just screaming at the man to go away. If that was true the cuffs wouldn’t be on him. They were clearly lying. Playing with the un-sentient thing before them.

It looked as if Superman was about to say something. Then stopped himself. Only leaving the room and Danny alone.

DPXDC Prompt #5

Danny finally told his parents about his ghost half and they didn’t take it well… he found himself strapped to a table as they did horrific experiments on him. He couldn’t escape to the zone when he gets out no if the observants or his council found what humans did to their king it wouldn’t end well.

His ex mother stood over him as he struggled and begged, didn’t they love him? I guess they loved their work more. Maddie finally uncovered his core and Danny knew he was screwed… until he felt a pull, the pull of a summoning, well anywheres better than here he’d just have to hope for the best

He finds himself on the floor of the watchtower… shit, the universe really did hate him didn’t it?

John Constantine’s soul is partially owned by the Ghost King so when he felt one of his ‘masters’ in trouble he had no other choice but to summon him, he feared whatever hurt the King knowing how all powerful he was but he wasn’t expecting the kid bleeding out from what looked like a fucking vivisection being preformed on him…

no one’s happy…

[misclotus]

I’m not sure when during my first listen of TMA I started to headcanon Jon as having a lot of nervous ticks and bad habits similar to Danny— whether it be how they both obsess and throw themselves completely into things or how Tim describe’s Danny’s dramatic manner of speech. Regardless, I imagine Tim picking up on these similarities, giving him a sort of brotherly fondness for Jon at the start and making his anger towards him in the end only worse. Because why does it have to be Jon of all people that reminds him of Danny, even after everything he’s done?

With all that out of the way— here’s some incredibly angsty art :D

The first image I imagine takes place shortly before Jon becomes the head archivist at the magnus institute™️, the second showing Danny and early season 2 era Jon, and the last with season 3 era Jon and Tim

there’s a ton of tiny details and character design things I did specifically to make myself more sad so have fun looking for those <3

[charlietheepicwriter7]

G̴̩͍͆͆̈́e̵̹̣͆t̷̬̋ ̸̻̮̎̒ĭ̸̏̃n̵͙̋͐ ̸̛̳̃t̶̪̣̅ḣ̸̳̇͜è̵̠̲͖̔̑ ̶̢̹̖͗͐̀Wa̵̬̞͝ṫ̴̩̣̣e̶͉̲̯͂̏̎r̴̉

It was a simple mission. Damian was working with Father to confirm the existence of a Lazarus Pit below Gotham, as Ra's Al Ghul speculated. And they had found it, deep in the caves below Gotham. A Pit the size of an Olympic sized swimming pool, bubbling and steaming. He'd only looked away for a moment.

"Kin-slayer."

Standing waist deep in the water stood Damian's reflection. The hair might be white, and the eyes glowing with the waters, but it was his face. But not his face alone.

Danyal's ghost glared at him. "Get in the water."

Father threw a batarang at him, but the metal flew straight through his head like it was air. Danyal didn't even glance at him, his eyes fixed on Damian. "Get in the water," he ordered again. He stepped closer to the shore and the green water sloshed up the bank higher than it was before. "Or I'll raise the tide so high, all of Gotham will die. So get in the water."

Damian's heart jumped into throat. "Wait-"

"Get in the water."

Father shoved Damian behind him, as if it would protect him, as if he could stop Danyal. "Stop this, please-" If he could just explain-

Another step and the waters surged forward, nearly touching Father's boots. "I'll make whirlpools so profound, your entire family will drown," he promised.

"NO!" Not his brother, his kind brother-

"THEN GET IN THE WATER!" Danyal snarled, revealing monstrously sharp teeth and a black tongue from Damian's poison. "G̴̩͍͆͆̈́e̵̹̣͆t̷̬̋ ̸̻̮̎̒ĭ̸̟̰͙̏̃n̵͙̝̟̋͐ ̸̛̳̃t̶̪̣̅ḣ̸̳̇͜è̵̠̲͖̔̑ ̶̢̹̖͗͐̀w̵̜͍̤̌a̵̬̞͝ṫ̴̩̣̣e̶͉̲̯͂̏̎r̴̉͜!̷̡͔́̀̽" He lunged and Father pushed them back down the passage they'd come. "Don't mistake this for a bluff, brother. You've lived more than enough. Just get in the water." Damian swallowed, throat dry. Was this Danyal's revenge? Did he finally have to face what he had done?

"Robin, who is this?" Father snapped, trying to keep retreating down the cave. But Damian wouldn't let him; the waters, and Danyal with them, would only follow.

Danyal looked between them, scowling. "G̴̩͍͆͆̈́e̵̹̣͆t̷̬̋ ̸̻̮̎̒ĭ̸̟̰͙̏̃n̵͙̝̟̋͐ ̸̛̳̃t̶̪̣̅ḣ̸̳̇͜è̵̠̲͖̔̑ ̶̢̹̖͗͐̀w̵̜͍̤̌a̵̬̞͝ṫ̴̩̣̣e̶͉̲̯͂̏̎r̴̉͜!̷̡͔́̀̽" he snapped again. "I'll take your father and gouge out his eyes, unless you want to stop being a coward and choose to die. Now... get in the water."

[mutable-manifestation]

Oh man okay but-

But this is the Wayne family, right? and I know you probably meant an actual burger but my mind first went to "they bought the rights to open a Nasty Burger so now there's one in Gotham relatively nearby and I just-

I'm just imagining this is post-TUE. Like. Clockwork didn't undo Danny's failure to save them but he refuses to go with Vlad. But before he goes full nuclear (running away to the GZ forever) he just like. Demands blood tests. If Aunt Alicia can't or won't take him there has to be someone else who he's at least vaguely related to that would take him in.

Normally they'd just go with his parents' will but the person on his case is from Amity and thus aware that Danny and Vlad have major beef. And Danny is desperate. Like begging on his knees threatening to run away never to be seen again even it he has to take the phrase "go to ground" literally to not be caught (and Danny just means phasing through the dirt to the other side of the planet but the caseworker takes it as a suicide threat so now everyone involved in his case is absolutely tiptoeing and Very Against sending him with Vlad because what the hell did the guy DO to make a kid who just lost his everything unwilling to turn to someone at least familiar. To make it so he'd rather go with a stranger???)

Turns out he does have a relative - Tim Drake is his second cousin. Currently in the care of Bruce Wayne. He's not technically related to Wayne but given the guy's habit of taking in kids and Danny's horrible panic around going with Vlad they figure it's worth a shot. Plus Bruce might be the only one who could handle whatever legal battle Vlad might try to make of it.

That's how he ends up with the Waynes, desperately trying to be useful so don't throw him away and extra worried about it because Bruce isn't even really related to him and Tim's distant enough that they didn't know the other existed.

And when he says he misses Nasty Burger he's lost in thought, muttering it under his breath. But he misses Nasty Burger because he misses the afternoon's spent there with Sam and Tucker, or even the occasional family outings there when he and Jazz could convince their parents that, no, the hotdogs are too organized to deal with and they're all too tired let's get some food and sleep before we handle the revolt.

Danny misses Nasty Burger in the sense that he misses what was - but he's also traumatized about it.

And of course the Batfam would know his family died in a Nasty Burger, but everyone processes trauma differently.

It's entirely reasonable to think Danny might not have associated the disaster with the chain itself, but rather with just the sauce tank or maybe even just the explosion. The sauce is no longer permitted in the US, so the tanks wouldn't be there even if they were a part of the trauma.

And this is the first thing Danny has ever requested from them.

So they get a Nasty Burger up and running.

But when they go on a family outing-

When they pile out of the car-

When Danny finally takes in his surroundings, having spent the ride over staring at his knees and trying his best to be unobtrusive-

He curls into a tiny ball on the awful parking lot pavement and has a panic attack - only distantly aware that the Wayne's are panicking around him which honestly just makes it worse because oh no he's causing trouble what if this is what makes them throw him out - until he finally, mercifully passes out.

The new wayne sibling concerns his family danny the new sibling can get anything you just have to ask the thing is no one can figure out how like it started small like tim saying god I'd kill for [hyper specific coffee brand he got one time 2 years ago from a coffee shop on a mission] and the next day danny places the coffee down infront of tim

Now danny refuses to answer how or where he got it from but the others of course have to experiment and so they start experimenting like they mention more and more obscure until eventually damian asks for a legendary magical sword and danny doesn't doesn't have it in the the usual 2-3 days they think it's bust but Don't mention anything

(Can't exactly reveal you were doing experiments our new brother and taking advantage of him as well)

Until a week later daimian wakes to a gleaming sword of legends on his bed

Meanwhile danny who is freshly traumatised is going if i prove myself useful they won't throw me out right?

[faeriekit]

#attempted murder for the ask game! 🌱

"...So I'm dead now," Danny ends his story, face in his hands.

"You were dead before this," Sam points out. She takes a bite out of her perfectly carved celery sticks.

"I know, but now I'm dead dead," Danny groans, earning a pat on the back from Tucker. "Like. Dash pushed me off a bridge. And sure, it was an accident, but come on! There's no way I could survive that if I wasn't...me! I can't, like, reappear after that! I should have been a goner!"

"I mean, it was probably an accident," Tucker adds encouragingly, continuing the patting. It's well meant but not helpful in the slightest. Danny groans.

"Congrats on faking your death by accident," Sam says through her celery. She offers Danny a celery stick in commiseration. He eats it, but it tastes like nothing. "Have any big plans?"

"I dunno. Die?"

"You did that already," Tucker and Sam point out.

Danny puts his face in his hands. "I... Did he even report me? Did he even report that he probably killed me? Like...to anyone?"

Tucker pulls out his newest PDA, Pollyanna. A few taps of the stylus. Some scrolling "...Nah, dude. No news, no cops. Legally, you're still alive."

And they sit there, in Sam's room, in silence, wondering how one of their classmates managed to mostly get away with murder.

"...Think he'll cry if you show up to school tomorrow like nothing happened?" Sam mutters, more out of spite than anything.

Everyone looks at each other.

"...Ten bucks," Tucker says.

"No bet. I do the scary eyes and he probably pisses his pants," Danny snorts.

"It's a deal," Sam decides. "All in on making Dash have a mental breakdown?"

Hands go in. One, two, three— Danny and Tucker whoop as their three hands go up, the two high-fiving as Sam holds in her cackle.

"Jazz is going to kill us," Danny snickers, almost guilty.

"After Dash killed you? Please. If anything, Jazz might fetch the Jack O' Nine Tails and kill him first."

[hypewinter]

During a press conference for the newest Justice League member, Phantom, a reporter asks him "Do you have anything to say to all the children who aspire to be like you?"

Phantom looked at the reporter puzzled before saying, "Children wanna be like me? Why? I'm a bad influence."

[dclovesdanny]

Dead Serious

4/4

Danny had made peace with the fact he did not have a soulmate. He had! After several years of no response to the countless drawings and writing notes on his skin, he had grown resigned to the fact that he was part of the 5% who did not have soulmates. He was fine with that.

(Dash would tease him about how no one would ever love him, adding salt to an already irritated wound. His parents were soulmates, and he remembered when he was drawing on his father’s arms and watching as it appeared on his mother’s. Jazz had been drawing and writing to her soulmate for years. Her soulmates name was Jason, and she always talked about how he was with her. She was one of the few people who comforted him when he stopped drawing or writing to soulmate. )

Damien taught at an early age that there was no use for soulmates. They were only distractions. He knew grandfather had no soulmate, and his mother had never responded to her own. He never responded to the drawings on his arms notes the notes in English on his (and he didn’t try harder just because he wanted to read his soulmate writing that would be ridiculous.)

Damien never told his family about having a soulmate. Even as he slowly got used to the differences between them and slowly learned how his grandfather was he could never bring himself to respond to the slowly lessening drawings and messages.(He couldn’t bring himself to respond because deep down he knew he didn’t deserve a soulmate. He was a monster, a demon. He didn’t deserve it.)

Danny stopped trying so desperately to contact his soulmate at age 11(the age he held his sister as she cried, her soulmate’s last message scribbled in desperate frantic writing on her arm. He never resented his parents so much when they didn’t even leave the lab for two days, not paying any mind to their sobbing child on the floor above them.)(it was the first time he didn’t envy having a soulmate.)

He was fourteen when he started drawing on his arms again.(it was shaky, much more than the older drawings, but even if he didn’t have a soulmate, he wanted to leave them a mark, just in case, the same way Jazz wrote quotes from different books on her arms.)

(When he found out Vlad didn’t have a soulmate, he refused to acknowledge another similarity they shared. He refused to think about how Vlad’s desperation made Danny think of his own desperate writing for his soulmate. Soulmates were a topic he never spoke of, and Vlad must have known, must have found out about how Danny didn’t have one, but he never commented on it. (It was the only boundary that was never crossed.))

(Damian wasn’t disappointed when his soulmate stopped writing to him. he didn’t trace over his arms, wishing that he had the confidence to write back. He didn’t spend hours wondering if his soulmate was gone without knowing Damian had seen him. He didn’t trace over the drawings his soulmate made with awe after four years of silence.)

Damian always covered up, so he was the only one who noticed when his soulmate started writing to him again. Never sentences never notes like they were before, but shaky drawings appeared on his skin. They were less detailed than before, almost shaky, as if the person drawing them couldn’t hold a pencil, steady, but they were real. Damian never said a word.

It was October 15 when Damien saw something on his arms that made his blood go cold. A message that he read over and over while commandeering the plane and ignoring the rest of his family yelling for him to explain himself. He desperately calibrated the jet while staring at the words, praying to a God he did not believe in that he would not be too late.(Unaware that Todd was following going in the same direction with the similar message written on his arm from a girl that Jason had deemed too good for him.)

Dear soulmate, even if you aren’t there. Everyone in Casper high is writing on their arms and I might as well try to warn someone. I am from Amity Park, Illinois, and we are under attack. The GIW have cut all outside communication. We are currently hiding in Casper high school, barricading the entrances, but it will not last long.

According to the government, we are not legally sentient or human. The agents outside want to dissect us, citing that we are scum. I don’t want to see my classmates die at the hands of my parents. I don’t want to see my friends and my sister die.

I don’t know if you are there, or if I really don’t have a soulmate, but I don’t want to die (fully) without leaving some sort of note.

My name is Danny. I love you. I’m sorry.

[anti-the-glitch-bitch]

The Phantom Soldier

@codename-alias Thanks to this beautiful person I've started a new story. It's going to be covering harsh topics such as torture, PTSD, and whatever else I come up with in the future. So, if this isn't for you then just rest assured I'll soon get back to posting about Danny and the Batfam.

Chapter 1- You with those sad eyes

Tensions are still high between Tony and the Rogues after the incident in Siberia. Once Steve had gotten far enough away, he’d given Pepper a call to send someone for Tony, feeling guilty about leaving him stranded in the cold as injured as he was. It’s a couple of months before Tony is healed both physically and mentally from the pain that Steve had wrought upon him, but he does eventually use the phone that Steve had left behind. 

Steve had apologized for what had happened in Siberia but doubles down when anyone says anything bad about Bucky. Tony had realized that both of them had acted in the heat of the moment but ultimately still feels betrayed at the secrets that should have been aired long before that moment, and can’t quite trust Steve to have his back.

Bucky holds such phenomenal guilt at the anguish he had caused that he hides in Steve’s room back at the tower most of the time. Anytime Tony and he are in the same room together, Bucky immediately disappears in the hopes that Tony won’t hate him any more than he does. It helps to soothe some things in Tony, but until they talk it out everyone walks around on eggshells.

While the two teams try to figure out a way to balance this fragile truth, Steve brings to light the Hydra cells that still seem to be in play even after the mass info dump. They’re so well hidden that Steve and Natasha can’t figure out where to go even with her amazing hacking skills. So, they think that maybe Tony might have better luck, and luck he has in spades. 

Tony creates a program that searches for key files by infiltrating the entire net, no matter how deep it has to dig. Anything that had to do with Hydra, the Winter Soldier Program, or the Super Soldier Serum is viciously dug into and scrutinized. They manage to find several active Hydra cells in this way, although, by the time the teams get there, the entire place is always emptied of everything but the office furniture.

It isn’t until they come across a small piece of information about something called The Phantom Soldier that Tony decides that they need to use a different tactic since they are obviously not getting anywhere. When Tony asks Bucky if he’d heard of or seen this “Phantom Soldier Project”, Bucky pales.

“Well, that’s not a good sign. Come on, out with it. What’s got you looking so scared?” Tony asks as he leans up against the kitchen counter.

“The Phantom Soldier was something I was supposed to train,” Bucky says. “My handlers liked to talk about Phantom, and from what I could piece together when I broke free, it was a kid. Or…something that looked like a kid. Hydra made a deal with some government agency called GIW. They believed that ghosts are real and have the ability to mimic human form while only having a more animalistic mind. The GIW captured one who looked like a kid but had more power than the gods.” Bucky looks apprehensive as he continues, his expression darkening. “I don’t know what Hydra gave them in return for this kid but one of the few things I do remember is them hooking up a teenager to the chair. The one that wipes minds. That wiped my mind.” He sits down in one of the chairs at the island, avoiding Tony’s gaze..

“That sounds both insane and horrible. How come you didn’t bring this up before?” Tony asks, crossing his arms.

With his head in his hands, Bucky groans, “Because I thought it was just more nightmares. I can only remember bits and pieces of Phantom and I really thought it was just one of the many things that I’d made up. I mean, who actually believes ghosts exist?”

“I would say no one does but I would be lying. The things we’ve seen make me believe in a lot nowadays.” Tony starts messing with his phone. “Friday, add all this information to the search parameters and see if we can’t find something. Make this a high priority.”

“Sir, it would appear that someone has tried to do a media blackout for anything related to Phantom,” Friday replies. “I’ve started the process of deciphering all information and tracing back to whoever might be placing these orders,” she informs Tony as large files of information are dumped into his phone. It’s going to take him hours to go through everything.

“I don’t care where it leads back to,” Tony says. “Find out what’s going on and who’s doing it. Quietly, if possible. If not, well, they can try and do something about it. See where it gets them.”

~~~                                                           

It takes almost a year before Friday can track down a Hydra cell that still seems to be active. More pieces of information are found about The Phantom Soldier the deeper Friday digs. Like how they acquired the subject when it appeared to be 16. The different ways they tortured the creature. How it seemed to have a weakness to electricity. A few pictures are even found to go along with some of these reports.

The more information Tony goes through, the more sickened he feels.

Tony has to find this kid. 

Thankfully, Friday is able to narrow down the location of the cell and finds it outside a small town in Missouri. The population of the town is only in the hundreds and seems to be isolated enough that the nearest city is two hours away. A perfect place for Hydra to hide.

Tony has both teams meet him in one of the meeting rooms for a debrief.

Natasha, Steve, Bucky, and Sam all sit next to each other while Vision, Wanda, and Pietro sit at the end. Tony stands at the front of the table where a large TV sits on the wall. Rhodey, Bruce, Clint, and Peter sit on the other side. Tony had tried to get Peter to stay behind but the teen had heard about the torture that the Phantom Soldier had gone through and wouldn’t take no for an answer. So, rather than argue with him, Tony let him in on the meeting. Besides, the kid might be able to help in the long run.

“Friday found the base for an active Hydra cell near a small town in Missouri. From the heat signatures, the base is extremely large.” Tony activates a hologram that sits in the middle of the table. It spreads across the table showing off the building and the surrounding areas, including the entire town. 

“From the thermal images Friday has been able to get, there are a large number of Hydra inside. There’s a particularly large cold spot that I think might be where they’re holding Phantom,” Tony says, glancing around the table at everyone. “The security in this place is some of the most high-quality shit. Obviously, it’s still not as good as mine, but some of it is better than what the army has. Friday will be able to hack into it, but someone needs to get her into the system first.”

Natasha clears her throat. “I’ll sneak in to activate her. What kind of security are we looking at?”

Tony flicks his wrist and the hologram changes to show a bunch of different devices. “Their security cameras have both thermal and night vision with very few blind spots. I should be able to give you a jammer that will loop the feed for a few minutes,” he says. “There’s something in the walls that I haven’t figured out what they’re for, but they do have an off switch. They aren’t supposed to inflict harm,  that much I do know. I think it’s some kind of shield, but with an amount of power usage that I’ve never seen.”

He zooms in on a couple of the devices, rotating them so the holograms can be seen from all angles. “Some traps are embedded into the ceiling in case of any subjects escaping, although they only come down if an alarm is sounded. I’ll cook up something that will help you out just in case. You’ve got the typical guards patrolling the place.” Tony zooms back out and surveys his former teammates. “That was all I could find so far. The notes mention something about ‘ectoplasm’, but I haven’t been able to find anything out about it, so I’d just watch out for anything suspicious.”

Natasha nods. “Maybe Bruce can find something out about it from his peers? If it has anything to do with ghosts, then there has to be some kind of information floating about in the scientific field?”

Bruce quickly adjusts his glasses as he speaks up. “I asked around if anyone had heard of anything like ectoplasm and when I mentioned ghosts they laughed at me,” he says. “If it is connected, then the information is so well hidden that the rest of the community has never heard of it.” 

Peter raises his hand as he looks around at the group nervously.

Tony sighs and rolls his eyes. “Kid, this isn’t school. You don’t have to raise your hand.”

“Oh, uh, ok.” Peter looks at Tony before pressing on. “When I was starting middle school, there was this thing going around on Facebook. Some kid from a town called Amity Park was talking about how haunted their town was. The posts continued for a few weeks before it just stopped. When I tried looking into it, all I could find was a deleted account.”

“So, besides talking about how haunted it was, was there other information?” Steve asks. 

Peter nods. “Yeah. This kid would talk about whatever ghost seemed to be attacking the town. After a while, they started talking about this ghost called Phantom that would fight the other ghosts. The kids seemed to like him alright but none of the adults could stand him. The kid even posted a video of one of the attacks but the quality was really bad and it was hard to see what was going on. Something about some ghost called Skuller or Scaller or something. It was like something was interfering with the video.” He shrugs and relaxes back in his seat. 

“Huh. I'm surprised the media didn't pick up on that. Sounds like something that would definitely grab the news attention,” Sam says, leaning forward slightly. 

Wanda stops looking at the hologram to stare down Tony. “It doesn't surprise me that someone shut down any way for this kind of thing to get out. In the world we live in now, it wouldn't surprise us to find out ghosts are out there, but back then? It would cause panic and fear. Not to mention the army trying to figure out how to turn them into weapons if they can.”

“Except Hydra found out about it first and it looks like they turned this ghost kid into a weapon. How much you wanna bet they're the ones behind the blackout?” Sam says. 

Nat scoffs and shakes her head. “That's not a bet I'm willing to take. I'm surprised this wasn't part of the info dump that went out. Otherwise, this news would have been everywhere.”

“Maybe a completely cut-off section of Hydra? One that wasn't part of the rest of the system, but how that’s possible I don't know.” Steve says with a shrug, while the rest of them wonder how something so monumental could have been kept hidden for so long. 

“When are we heading out?” Rhodey asks. “And who's going? A facility this large means you're going to need a lot of backup.”

Pietro scoffs at the assessment and everyone turns to look at him. He shrugs. “I could take out the entire place in seconds. I could do that before your computer even hacks the place.”

“Is that so?” Tony says, crossing his arms. “What are you going to do if you come across this ectoplasm stuff and you can't get past it? Or it hurts you, or it negates your speed? We don't have enough information about this place for you to go in unprepared. Maybe after we get the defenses taken down you could, but it's still dangerous with that Phantom character around.”

Wanda hits her brother's arm lightly. “Think before you speak, brother. Not all problems can be solved with your abilities.”

“Most can,” Pietro mumbles quietly enough that no one comments on it. 

“As for everyone going,” Tony says as he claps his hands together, drawing the attention back to him, “We need Nat to sneak in and get Friday into Hydra’s system. Everyone else hangs back until security is down and their alarms are useless. Then Cap and his bestie can break down the front door while the twins go in the back. I want Vision to hang back until we find out just where and how to help this kid.” 

He shifts his attention to Rhodey and Bruce, who are sitting next to each other. “Sam and I will be air support while Rhodey makes sure the army comes running to sweep up the mess we are definitely going to be making. We don't know what state this kid is gonna be in if we even find him, so I'm going to have Cho stay on the plane with Bruce as her assistant. I don't think we'll need mean and green, but I'd feel better if Cho had someone with her, just to be on the safe side.”

“Mr. Stark, what do you want me to do?” Peter says, looking excited about the prospect of getting to go on an Avengers mission. He’s never gotten to go with the team on these sorts of things, but he really wants to go and help the poor soul that's been tortured. 

“Yeah, no. You are gonna stay here and man the helm. Your aunt would kill me if I let you go,” Tony says as he waggles a finger at the kid. It may be childish but nobody ever said he was mature. 

Peter sputters his protest as he stands up, gesturing wildly as he talks. “I can help! I swear I won't get in anybody's way or get hurt. I can even be backup like Mr. Banner! Mr. Stark, please, please, let me go with you.”

Peter pulls out his ultimate weapon and gives him the puppy eyes. The others look away except for Clint, who has kids and has become immune to that look no matter what his wife says. 

“No. Nu-uh. Nope. Not happening. Absolutely not.” Tony completely avoids the look by staring down at his phone. “There's no telling what this kid can do and I'm not going to be the one to tell May that you got hurt because you wanted to tag along on a mission way above your pay grade. You can monitor the progress from the safety of the tower and that's final.”

With a sigh, Peter drops back into his chair the way only a teenager can. “Fine but I get to meet him once you get him back here and patched up.”

The genius stares at his apprentice for a moment, just long enough to make the teenager squirm in his seat. “We'll see.”

“How long before we're ready to go?” Steve asks as he watches Peter slump in his seat, defeated. 

“I'll leave now and let the higher-ups know to be ready. Let me know when we can move in.” Rhodey says as he stands up and hugs Tony before leaving the room. 

“Be prepared to go by midday tomorrow,” Tony replies “Hopefully, Friday will have even more detailed information for us.”

The groups leave after that, all going their separate ways to get ready for the mission. All except Peter who glumly goes back to Queens to do his evening patrol. 

~~~

“Okay, people! We land in 10. Everyone knows their part, so do your last-minute checks now.” Natasha says from the pilot seat of the Quinjet. 

Everyone adds the last bit of necessary items to their persons as the jet lands. 

Natasha leaves the jet first, quickly and quietly easing herself into the building unseen. Tony had been able to get better pictures of the guards and had made her a matching outfit to go over her Widow outfit. Between that and the face cloaking device she wears, she’s unrecognizable. 

It doesn’t take long for her to find an empty office with a usable computer. After powering up the device, she sticks the flash drive holding Friday in. It only takes five minutes before Tony is on the comm telling her the security system is down and all parties are go for entry.

It doesn't take long for the Hydra agents and staff to start rushing around in a panic. Pietro finds Natasha almost instantly knocking out any guards that come around. 

“Hold your breath. Tony wants me to take you to the lab where the scientists are,” Pietro says, grabbing Natasha’s arm with one hand and bracing her neck and head with the other. 

This isn't the first time he's done this to one of the team members. They've all practiced this maneuver during training so that the motion doesn't catch anyone unaware. So, she does what he says without question. 

It barely takes a second as they zip through halls faster than the eye can see. Thankfully, Natasha’d had the foresight to put her hair up so that the flowing red locks wouldn’t tangle into a horrid mess. The sudden stop unbalances her for a second.

The entire room of scientists are in shock as Natasha and Pietro suddenly appear. The scientists startle as their brains finally kick into gear but before they have the chance to react, Pietro already has them tied up with tape around their mouths.

“Well, that was easy,” Natasha says amusedly. “What’s in here that he wants…” She trails off as she looks around. On one wall are large screens showing off a lot of information on one subject. Hurrying over to them, Natasha takes pictures of each screen so they can be inspected much closer later.

Going through a computer, she finds a file on The Phantom Soldier Project. Not only does it include information about the various ways they tortured the subject, but it also has information on how they’re controlling it. The file also tells her exactly where the kid is now.

“If anyone can hear me, Phantom is in a cell on the Northwest side,” Natasha says into her comm. “His room has those weird shields in the wall preventing him from getting out, so you might have to break down the door. There should also be a collar around his neck that prevents him from using his abilities. Someone try to get to him before Hydra activates him!” As she speaks, Nat pulls out another flash drive and starts downloading all the files she can get her hands on.

“We’re on it,” Steve replies into the comms.

Natasha pulls the flash drive out of the computer and places it in a nearly invisible pocket in her suit. “The lab is secure and I’ve got the flash drive. Anyone need help?”

“I could use-” Clint’s sentence is cut off by a grunt as a Hydra agent manages to kick him in the knee. He’s at a disadvantage as the number of agents overwhelms him. 

Natasha doesn’t have to say anything to Pietro before he’s rushing her to Clint’s side. 

There are small burns all over Clint from the guns that Hydra has, something the two Shield agents have never seen before. The gun barrel glows a bright neon green with the same colored smoke coming off it. Clint grits his teeth from the sharp pain.

Natasha and Pietro make quick work of the agents, taking a few of the guns in the process. 

“What in the hell is this powered with?” Clint grunts as he stands up, grabs a dropped gun, and looks it over. “Is this that ectoplasm that Tony was talking about? It hurts like a bitch.”

Suddenly, a large explosion shakes the entire building and several alarms go off, bathing the hallways in red. A high-pitched scream echoes through the comms along with static and sharp crackling.

“What was that?” Tony shouts, sounding slightly distracted.

“Wasn’t from my end,” Natasha and Wanda say at the exact same time.

Clint and Natasha look at each other with concern on their faces. “Steve.”

~~~

“We’re on it,” Steve says, grunting as he takes a gut punch from an agent.

Bucky appears suddenly and picks the agent up. As if the guy weighs nothing, Bucky throws him at a wall, swings around, and punches another agent in the face with a harsh crunching noise. With a practiced elegance, the two super soldiers dance around each other with ease, each fending off a blow that was aimed at the other. They’d spent so much time together that they knew each other's movements without having to communicate it.

By the time they’ve gotten the agents taken care of, the floor is littered with bodies. Most are unconscious but there are a few who met the wrong end of Bucky’s guns. There are scorch marks mixed in amongst the blood splatters along the walls from these new weapons, but Steve and Bucky’s bodies are already healing, leaving behind red welts instead of burns. 

“We need to hurry, Steve,” Bucky says. “If Hydra has done to this kid even half of what they did to me, then we’re going to be in for a rough time. We have to hope that they haven’t been able to activate him.” Bucky continues in the direction they were headed before they got ambushed.

“What do you remember about this kid, Bucky?” Steve asks as he takes off after him.

“He wasn’t human. They made him wear this thing that prevented him from using his powers. It was a collar but it would inject him with this poison so that he was too weak to escape. They made me train him to fight without any of his abilities so I don’t know what he can actually do.” Bucky grimaces slightly as he continues. “They were still trying to turn him into an obedient little soldier when I left. Something about his physiology prevented the chair from being completely effective.” He sounds regretful. His role in this made him ashamed even if it wasn’t his fault.

“Did they try and add any…accessories to him like they did with you?” Steve asks.

“I don’t know. Well, I don’t remember,” Bucky replies.

They slow down as they come to a section of the building on the northwest side. It’s glowing slightly with the same neon green that came from the Hydra weapons. Steve’s pretty sure that this is the correct area, but he doesn’t want to be wrong and come across another new weapon that Hydra has made. 

The hallway they’re in is filled with steel doors. There must be about fifty doors lining both sides of the hallway with no markings on most of them. Bucky and Steve each cautiously open a door and find that the room inside is an empty cell. 

The rooms are dark, with only the light from the hallway shining in letting them see just how barren it was. The only things in the rooms were a simple toilet, sink, and bed. Leaving the door open, Bucky and Steve move on to the next room.

They check room after room, only to find them all empty. When Bucky gets to a door marked with a number, he whistles to get Steve’s attention.

The room is locked and they don’t have the time to find the keys, so they try to bust down the door. With both of them kicking down the door at the same time, it finally dents inward enough to peel away from the walls. Both of them grab a side and pull, using the entirety of their strength until they’ve ripped the door off the hinges.

Inside is a kid who looks like they’re on their deathbed. They’re lying on the bed with their back to Bucky and Steve. Neither Bucky nor Steve can hear a heartbeat, but the kid doesn’t stop them from coming into the room.

This room is brighter than the others, a soft green light bathing everything in a sickly glow.

“Hello?” Steve walks forward cautiously.

The kid doesn’t move and they still can’t hear a heartbeat. When Steve finally gets over to the kid, he puts two fingers on their neck to check the pulse. There’s no heartbeat and the kid’s skin is cold to the touch. With a sad sigh, Steve leaves the kid where they are and turns to Bucky. Bucky looks upset when Steve shakes his head, but there’s nothing either of them can do, so they move on.

They quickly realize that the doors with no markings are all empty, so they only go after the doors with markings. With each unmoving kid that they find inside, the super soldiers become more and more hopeless. It isn’t until they get to the end of the hallway that they realize that they only have one door left, and with it, all their hope that the person inside is alive.

Steve and Bucky rip the door off its hinges, but before Steve can walk inside, Bucky puts a hand on his chest to stop him.

Inside the center of the room is a glowing boy, kneeling and chained to the floor. He can’t be more than 17 or 18. His hair is pure white and floats as if gravity has no hold on it. His eyes are clenched shut and he looks absolutely terrified. There’s a thick metal collar around his neck that hangs around his neck tightly. Chains hang from his wrists and ankles, leading to several metal loops in the floor, all tightly drawn so that he’s forced to kneel.

The kid has no shirt on and looks malnourished, his ribs practically poking through his skin. Wounds and bruises cover every inch of exposed skin, making it hard to tell if the slight green from his skin is natural or if all the injuries cause it. The poor boy is hunching over as much as he can with the chains attached.

Bucky takes a step forward into the room, but it’s Steve that calls out gently. “Phantom?”

A sharp intake of breath comes from the kid and he flinches. He opens his eyes and his gaze immediately locks on to Bucky. Panic and terror flood through his glowing emerald eyes as Phantom starts jerking viciously on his chains.

“Nononononono.” Phantom cries over and over again, desperately trying to get away from the person in front of him. “I’ll be good. I swear. I’ll do better this time. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Please don’t hurt me. I swear. I’ll be good. I’ll do it right. Whatever you want.”

Anguish twists Bucky’s expression as he listens to the teen’s frantic pleading. He’s frozen to the spot watching the tortured soul trying to break free of his prison. What did they do to this kid? he thinks. Fuck. What did I do to him?

Steve slowly walks past Bucky, towards the struggling boy. With all his strength, he crushes the collar and rips it off Phantom’s neck. It takes Phantom only a few seconds to realize he no longer has the steel wrapped around his neck, but when he does, it’s like his whole demeanor shifts.

There’s a cunning gleam in his eyes and with a deep breath, Phantom screams loud and clear. The sound is deafening, forcing both Bucky and Steve to cover their ears. Phantom stops and takes an even deeper breath and the scream becomes something more. 

It’s a banshee scream that sends Bucky and Steve flying back through the doorway they’d walked through. They’re sent flying all the way out of the room into the opposite side of the hallway with such force that they dent the wall. The longer the wail goes on, the more the walls start to shake, until the walls are shaking so much that debris rains down onto Bucky and Steve. They’ve just managed to get themselves up when a loud explosion suddenly erupts in front of him, knocking them back into the same wall with such force that they’re knocked unconscious. Their bodies slowly slide down to the floor, and the last thing they hear is someone screaming their names.

[schrodingers-deadbitch]

Half A Corpse

Chapter Two

To put it lightly, Damien Wayne did not like his new classmates. That shouldn't have meant anything really since he didn't like people in general, (only being able to tolerate a few); but there was something about those two that unnerved him.... a lot. But he couldn't quite tell what it was that did.

Maybe it was their slightly luminescent and unnaturally colored eyes? Or was it their slightly blue/green-tinted skin? Maybe it was their otherworldly beauty? (Seriously no one should be that pretty!!) Probably how when they when they both walked and run they made no noise unless they wanted to be heard. The way their hair moved even without wind? How their laughs didn't sound... fully human?

Honestly, Damien could go on and on with reasons as to why both Samantha Manson and Paulina Sanchez freaked him the fuck out but that wouldn't change the fact that he had to do a group project with them. And it definitely wouldn't change the fact that were in the car with him heading to the manor to start said project.

He didn't understand what his History teacher was thinking pairing him and the new students together for a group project. Maybe it was because of their studious nature? It's only been a couple weeks into the school year and they've already shown themselves to be excellent students. And they did spend a lot of their time in the library either studying or completing assignments. Especially Sanchez who was clearly the more social of the two.

But if that were the case maybe that's why they were partnered together. They were loners who never really talked to anyone and so was he. Did the teacher put them together hoping that they would become friends? Preposterous! Damien Wayne didn't need any friends! He was the Blood Son! The one and only.... The one and only.

He sighed and dropped his head, the lie he repeatedly told himself echoing in his mind. But it wasn't a lie, not exactly anyways. He was the Blood Son. The one and only. It was just that there was once a time when he wasn't. There was once a time when there was another.

He could still remember him so clearly. His laugh, his smile, his sparkling blue eyes that looked exactly like father's. He especially remembered the freckles that littered his skin like the stars did the night sky. Oh how he loved the stars. The stories they told and the histories they held. He loved everything about them.

That's why he wanted for his final memory, his best memory of him to be of them playing together, under the moon and stars that he loved so much.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He didn't want to think about him. Not right now anyways. He saved those memories for the rear occasion that you were able to Gotham's night sky. Even if it was just a pinch.

“-ien. Damien.”

His eyes snapped open and saw the two girls staring at him curiously.

“Are you okay?” Manson asked him, some concern could be heard in her voice. “If you aren't feeling well we could start the project-”

“No everything is fine. I was just thinking about some stuff.”

The two girls eyes met each other's then gave the boys an unconvinced look but did not push the matter further. Manson's phone then pinged, she went to answer it frantically.

“Anyways!” Sanchez continued, “We realized that when given this project most people would go with things like the Egyptian pyramids or the Mayan temples but we wanted to do something unique.”

“Unique how?” Damien asked skepticism clear in his voice.

“Well what if we did the histories of certain constellations?” Manson answered, now frantically texting on two phones.

His heart skipped a beat. A small smile appeared on his lips.

“Yeah, that does sound a bit unique.”

The sound of texting in the car got louder and louder and even more frantic as the seconds past by. Both girls looking even more worried. It was now time for Damien to ask the question,

“Are you guys okay?”

Both girls eyes were locked in his directions now. Emotions that he recognized but somewhat couldn't comprehend swirled with in them.

“Yeah we're doing fine but our friend isn't doing so hot.”

“May I can what's wrong?”

Manson's shoulders tensed, a look filled with guilt, worry and confusion graced her features.

“Uhhh, some really bad stuff happened to this friend a couple months ago and now their mental stability is absolute shit-”

“Not that it was any good in the first place.” Sanchez muttered but with seemingly no ill intend.

“But they were moved here to Gotham a couple of weeks ago and was doing very well but I think I fucked up.”

Damien's eyebrows quirked upwards. “Can I asked how?”

“She sent him a picture."

Damien was now very confused to say the least.

***

*Plant Queen sent a photo~*

All his life Danny has always felt a bit odd. A bit empty. Like massive parts of himself were missing. And that was true if you thought about it. A boy who could barely remember even half of his life was bound to feel like a puzzle with only a few pieces connected. Only a few pieces visible.

But just because the other pieces were somewhere in the dark didn't mean that they weren't there. If he felt around enough he could touch them, feel them almost. And a lot of the time they hurt. Like open wounds that never got the chance to close. To heal. This one for some reason... this one fucking hurt.

[ghostbsuter]

"I can see dead people." He mentions with a shrug, using the chopsticks to fish more noodles into his mouth.

Dick stares at him. "Huh."

"Is that why you help?" He asks, getting more spring rolls.

"Yeah. Once someone becomes a ghost, word gets out quick, and they come to me. Always tatling about unfairness and justice." The kid waves the words around, rolling his eyes.

Dick just pretens to he uninterested, despite his mind racing at the new info. He is piecing past moments together, every shadow leaping away, every note with tips, leads and—

Huh.

"Do you... like it? Doing all that?" Richard approaches thus carefully, brows furrowed at the kid opposite of him.

Danny moves his head, giving a 'so-so' answer. "It's not much to like, I can see ghosts, and they know it and use it. If it brings them to peace or whatever– well, that's just a plus."

Dick stares. He places his chopsticks down and looks at Danny worried.

In turn, the kid sighs. "Sometimes gifts become curses the longer you have it."

And Dick understands.

Mind made up, he throws a pair of keys at the kid, watching fondly as the other catches them with confusion.

"Next time use these, instead of entering through the window."

Danny mock-salutes with a shit eating grin. "Yes, Officer grayson."

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 295

So, maybe Danny should have been more specific when he said he wanted to get reincarnated, because this? Is not an ideal situation. 

See he’s fine with being a clone, really, but uh, apparently the scientists want to terminate him- which, like dude, he’s not even melting or actively dying! So what if he failed at their tests, his body is three, give him a break! 

Well, at least it’s given him certainty in getting out, because these are Not good people. He wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and- hold up, another clone? Brother? Two brothers? One aged up, one in the middle of it- since his own aging-up failed past three? 

Oh hell no, they can’t experiment on his brothers, those are his brothers and living people just as much as he is! Time to break out- and he’s taking those papers thank you- and gonna’ grab his… he’s gonna’ call them his triplets because they’re the same age, just aged differently. 

Now hold his hand, they’re runnin’ to the mountai- oh thank fuck, the physically-oldest of them can fly. To the mountains while they have the cover of night and they can figure things out. At least his life isn’t boring yet…

[bluerosefox]

Family Resemblance

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I

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I had another 11pm brain worm.

Enjoy

-x-x-

Daniel Wayne, the younger toddler brother of Bruce Wayne and the son of Martha and Thomas Wayne had been kidnapped the night their parents were murdered.

Daniel had been snagged the moment their killer heard people headed to the alley and Bruce in his state of shock didn't realize it until it was far to late and could only scream in horror (from everything) as his baby brother is crying his name. (If you wanna make it even more heart wrenching, make it Danny's first time being able to say Bruce's name right and/or Bruce had said some mean things to Danny earlier after he accidentally broke something of Bruce's, something like 'I wish youd go away' or 'I never wanted a brother, you're such a bother!')

Bruce is being held by Alfred as some police officers are chasing down the Wayne's parents killer while some stay behind to see if they could do something.

Minutes turn to hours and as they wait, praying the police at least found Danny, Bruce is ridden with guilt. From his parents death to allowing his brother to be kidnapped.

Eventually the police return to give Alfred and Bruce the news. And it's not good.

The killer escaped and Danny was nowhere to be found.

And it would take many years before he would be found.

-x-x-

Bruce gets a call from Damian during school hours one day. When he answers he is greeted with Damian demanding him to get to the school and explain himself.

Confused Bruce asks what does he mean and Damian responds with

"The two new students in class today are the spitting images of you and I father! Either they are poorly created clones or you have more hidden blood children!"

-x-x-

Meanwhile the very students being discussed are calling up someone too

"Ellie? Dan? What's wrong? You better not have made too much chaos already, I just paid for the uniforms for that place."

"DAD! I THINK ANOTHER ONE OF THE FRUITLOOPS FAILED CLONES SOMEHOW SURVIVED!"

"What?"