#good things the bats figure out he is plasmius

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Danny Is A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

(not in a necessarily bad way and it's by Clockwork's design)

Bats, or Constantine, or the JL, or whoever you want to be close to Danny in this prompt, don't notice it right away. It takes them a while to figure out its not purely coincidence. And even after they do figure it out, they still have their doubts.

The thing is, it doesn't work all the time. It also doesn't seem to have a system or a schedule to it, nor is it any kind of a superpower, as far as they can understand. By God, does Danny have way too many superpowers, but most of them are consistent, and yet this one... is weird. Weirder than anything they've seen before, and they've seen a lot, okay.

It also only works if Danny does it without thinking.

"You know what'd be perfect right now? A cheese sandwich," Danny says over the comms, in the middle of the fight with Dr. Freeze, "A warm, grilled cheese sandwich just out of the toas- Owch, what?" There's a pause. And then, "Guys, you're not gonna believe it, a cheese sandwich just smacked me in the face! I think someone threw it out of the window or something!" Danny sounds bewildered, but excited, and there's a sound of chewing from his comm now. At least he is eating, so that's good.

"I fucking hate robots," he grumbles the other day, punching his way through the Brainiac invasion in Metropolis, with no comm and only for the Supes to overhear, "No, correction, I hate only evil robots. The ones that interrupt my astronomy class. The ones that shoot motherfucking lasers and walk like crabs, and ruin a perfect day, and- I wish- aw, fuck, no, that's bad wording. Don't wish for shit. But if all these robots would just suddenly, miraculously malfunction and stop attacking me and the whole city, that would be, like, real nice of them."

A few minutes later, something goes wrong with the Brainiac's control over the army of robots, and all of them just stop moving and fall down at once. It is deemed as a chance, a lucky shot, a coincidence. Supes keeps quiet over what he heard Danny say.

"Oh, you bitch-ass fruitloop, you know what I want?" Danny yells at Plasmius, as the ghost is laughing like a madman, "I want a fucking brick to fall down right on your head, like, right now! Maybe that can set your brains straight for at least five minutes!" And even before he is finished talking, there's something falling down from the sky and hitting Plasmius's head. It's not a brick, to be exact, it's Miss Martian's shoe, though. She has no idea how it even came undone and fell from her foot. But it did somehow knock Plasmius out cold, so there's that.

It doesn't happen all the time. Red Robin does the math - the improbable accidents only happen in about 26% of the situations, given that Danny says something. It's by no means a reliable power. It also doesn't happen only during the fights: there were numerous times when Danny just said something like 'I wonder if the cafeteria serves garlic bread today' and sure enough, there's garlic bread there. Even if it was not on the menu. Ever.

They try to question Danny himself, but he has no idea. He doesn't even notice the coincidences most of the times - which is not surprising, knowing that they only happen in one out of four situations and Danny is known to have a short attention span. So, after a few unsuccessful investigations and failed attempts at calculating how this even works, they all give up. It has never jinxed anything, as far as they know, so everyone just leaves it be.

Danny is just magically lucky like that.

Meanwhile, Clockwork is having a good laugh about it. Danny's suggestions amuse him, and it's funny to watch the other superheroes having a mental breakdown over it, so he rigs the timeline from time to time. Just a little.

[savanir]

Death of the Father, Death of the Son

Part 2

part 1 is here and the og prompt can be found here again thanks for the prompt @mynameisjag as you can see I am not done with it yet

The aftermath of the gala was an absolute disaster in Jazz’s humble opinion.

At first she didn’t know what to think… 

When they wheeled out the body bag that supposedly had Vlad’s corpse in it, it just didn’t feel real.

Everything became a lot more real when her mom got back from her trip to the forensic lab, It really was Vlad. The GCPD went through this whole identification of the body process, everyone was already pretty damn sure for obvious reasons but they had to follow protocol. Elaborate time wasting in Jazz’s humble opinion.

Jazz stares at her phone while sitting in the overly expensive fancy hotel room fauteuil. All of a sudden she no longer really minded that Vlad had given them all their own private hotel room, the girl wasn’t stupid… She knew he did it in the hopes that her mom would magically change her mind about him and this way she wouldn’t get in the way. Interrupt them. Whatever.

But now it just gives her privacy and room to think. And think she does, thinking is all she seems able to do now.

This whole mess is just great rep for Gotham… ‘out of town millionaire gets assassinated on their first night in the city. zero hesitation’

People are mass sharing all the leaked dirt on Vlad on social media with the hashtag #Welcome to Gotham.

At the very least any potential harassment towards her or her mom was nipped in the bud once it became widespread that Vlad had actually hired some guy to kill her dad.

Ancients…

He hired a mercenary, some assassin, to kill her dad. Jazz vividly remembers when Danny would vent about the things Plasmius would threaten him with. but she always figured he did it to rile her brother up. 

For some reason she could believe the whole making her brother his son thing, just like she got the marrying her mom thing. And yet she never thought he would actually follow through on the murdering her dad thing.

…And what does this mean for Danny?

her phone is still blowing up but the only people she actually responds to are Sam and Tucker. Sam is mostly worried, asking how they are holding up and if she needs to come over and kick some corrupt police butt, or overly pushy paparazzi butt, or just nosy people in general butt. The offer is sweet but Jazz already saw how her mom verbally tore the rumour about a ‘battered wife/gold digger��� situation apart with facts and logic, so she’s not worried.

Jazz supposes that’s a good thing that somehow came out of all this… her mom got some of her spark back. 

Meanwhile Tucker is all in the GCPD systems and sharing the results of the police investigation with the rest of the team.

because of that Jazz knows that the Bats have already shown up to do their own brand of investigating, and also that the police don’t know shit.

It figures… The police also didn’t know shit when her dad was murdered and Danny got kidnapped. And they were all too happy to accept the fake dead Danny that got found in the forest, welp, kid found, he’s dead, case closed.

useless.

It’s been several days now and it’ll probably take another week or so before something concrete gets brought to the public.

Jazz thought she might get a vigilante visit at some point but they haven’t shown up yet. At least not to ask her anything… who knows maybe they have already spoken with her mom and she simply decided not to tell her as to not distress her or something, that would make sense.

—✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*---*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—

It’s late in the evening now but she checked up on her mom earlier that day, she had been furiously going through all the things Vlad had gifted her and tossing them in a tiny and overly full garbage can.

“Jazzikins, once this whole thing is over we should head straight to his Wisconsin estate and burn it to the ground” Jazz can already see the fire burning in her mom’s eye, she’s completely serious.

“that will probably be extremely suspicious and get us in a lot of trouble mom” It would be very cathartic though, she will admit that.

Jazz had sat down and watched her mom go about her business, exorcizing Vlad from her life perhaps.

Eventually her mom sighed and asked, “how long do we still have to stay in this awful place?”

"We have to be available for the GCPD because they are still doing their investigation. They will most likely still have some questions, and i want to make sure there will be no misunderstandings with the notary later as well"

"That's my smart girl" Maddie pinches Jazz's cheek, "what do they still even have to investigate... though, perhaps it would be a good thing if they found his killer, that way I might be able to thank them myself"

Jazz winces, "Mom..."

"You're too sweet jazzy, you got that from your father" Maddie gives Jazz a kiss on the forehead before she goes back to what she was doing before.

Internally Jazz disagrees with her, she doesn't feel bad for Vlad at all, she's just looking at the bigger picture because she has info nobody else does.

Whoever killed Vlad was prepared to kill a halfa... and the implications of that fact terrify her and give her hope at the same time.

Danny is still out there somewhere, but he's most likely being exploited in some way.

—✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*---*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—

And here she is, still staring at her phone, refreshing the feed and gradually feeling more worse as she skims the headlines.

the psychiatrist in her is telling her she’s doom scrolling and it’s unhealthy, what is she even looking for here? If the authorities identify the killer, will they even tell her? Tell her mom? they probably would to ‘aid with the grieving process’. but that tends to only happen when they have actually caught the killer.

And who knows when that will happen.

This is pointless anyway, if something useful gets found out Tucker will most likely be the first to know out of all of them.

Jazz refreshes the feed again.

nobody seems to think a Gotham rogue did it, they would have made it a spectacle. 

No, all the theories seem to think it was most likely the work of underground crime syndicates, or Vlad pissed someone off in some other country while doing business, and Gotham was simply the easiest place to get him killed, even though now the Bats are on the case. or, or…

She groans, gets up and makes herself some tea when she hears it. She’s turned around with the Fenton Anti-Creep stick raised and ready before she really knows what she’s doing and she sees two figures emerge from the shadows. Big and small. Batman and Robin.

Robin pointedly looks at the creep stick, batman disregards it entirely, "we would like to ask some questions"

Jazz looks at batman and then at Robin and then just sighs, grabs her tea, accepts that this is happening, sits down with the stick ready to go at any time and says, "go ahead"

Robin takes a strategic spot closer to the window, perched on the back of the gaudy couch for some reason and Batman gets closer perhaps to loom over her more? But he also sticks to the shadows, perhaps to make her feel a bit less intimidated with the distance? She decides to just stop thinking about it from that point on.

Batman goes over the statements Jazz already gave to the police, she mostly focuses on her drink while she elaborates on some of the things she said, but eventually…

“Most people seem to think this was an act of revenge but when the police asked you what you think the reason is why Masters got murdered you simply stated you don’t know, judging by the footage of the interrogation you were agitated”

Jazz frowns, “it had been a long day, at the time I wanted it to be over with”

“These statements are vital, especially from close acquaintances”

Her jaw tightens, “so you would like me to give a proper answer now?”

Batman stays quiet,

“The revenge part is obvious, but I just don’t think that’s all there is to it. I think someone wanted shut him up”

“and why would you think that?”

Jazz thinks very carefully and makes a decision.

“Vlad was not an easy man to kill…” she trails off, still thinking about how she’s going to explain this one properly, without revealing everything.

Batman stays quiet again, Robin however pipes up, “Because he’s rich?” 

She had basically forgotten he was there and there is a moment where she just blinks at him still perched on the back of the couch, “Well, as I am sure you both have seen by now he was more than capable of paying his problems to go away, but no, that’s not what I meant”

“hrn, go on”

Jazz swirls what little tea she has left and kind of wishes it was actually some kind of alcohol… even though she’s too young for that, and then she goes on, “Vlad was not human, not fully anyway, I don’t… know… exactly what his other half was-”

 A lie, but Batman decides to leave it be for now, no need to interrupt the young lady here, if he were to point it out she might clam up and stop talking entirely. 

"-He had gifts, one of them is intangibility, another invisibility"

They are aware that something is very different about Vladimir Masters. That much became clear when they activated the scanners they got in the forensic lab and took a good look at the corpse themselves. Those results confirmed some of the claims and accusations that everyone saw during the gala.

And it seems those close to the man knew of it as well.

Jazz goes on,

"Whoever attacked him must have been prepared for that... and considering there are only four people who know about it at all, that is… before… you know," she trails off.

"Only four" Robin mutters. 

Batman glances at the boy before asking, "Who knew?"

"Uh, me. Uhm two friends of mine who are currently back in Amity Park... and my brother, Danny"

"Tt, So that's three"

"Robin-" 

"My brother is not dead!" Jazz slams her hands on the table,  "The monster who killed my father kidnapped him, and now they are using him! The body that was found in the woods is a fake, planted by Vlad so my mom would stop looking and focus on him instead"

"Why would he-" Robin starts to ask while keeping a careful eye on the absolute vehemence coming from Jazz. One thing is very clear to both him and Batman though, Jazz believes what she’s saying wholeheartedly.

"He was an idiot, and obsessed with my mom. That's a very long and frankly unimportant story, but the proof is all in Vlad's lab in the basement of his estate. I can proof the body that was found was fake, my brother is alive" she buries her head in her hands, suddenly all the anger seems to be replaced with sorrow, 

"he's alive"

Robin shuffles uncomfortably side to side. He's gotten better at comforting distressed civilians but he's a little out of his depth right now. seeing as this is sorta his fault right now.

He looks over to his father to see what he'll do.

Batman just looks contemplative. Which isn’t useful for the boy at all.

It's then that Nightwing speaks up through the communicators to them, "B, I'll go to Amity Park and investigate both the Fenton household where the attack happened and then check out her proof at Masters estate"

Batman really doesn't like the full picture that's being painted here.

"Miss Fenton,"

Jazz rubs her hands over her face before taking a deep calming breath and giving batman her full attention again, "yes?"

"If I understand this right, you're saying you think the same assassin who took your father's life has now targeted Mr. Masters."

"Yes"

Robin shakes his head, "most assassins have some code of honor. It would certainly be a bad look to go after a former client like that"

Jazz scoffs,"Well it's been several months now. I don't know if Vlad kept in contact with that monster and managed to piss them off after the fact, that too could all be on his computers in his lab"

Batman grunts and  heads for the windows and Robin hops up to follow, "You'll hear from us miss Fenton"

She lets out a shaky breath when she's sure they have well and truly left. She figures she should update Sam and Tucker that she finally got a bat visit but the urge to refresh her social media and news feed doesn't come back.

With the supposed World’s Greatest Detective on the case she’s certain actual progress will finally be made.

She just hopes it’s not too late.

[britcision]

Alright I think I’ve seen a couple smaller versions of this in bits and pieces so if you have them please share, but I figured that as someone familiar with neither show initially I’m in a good position to do a DPxDC onboarding post!

Since neither source material is particularly helpful in understanding the madness we have created, here is what I consider important to know for each (please add in with anything I miss!)

Danny Phantom (DP)

Main Characters

Danny Fenton - is a Phantom. Died as a teenager by accidentally activating his parents’ portal to the Ghost Zone/Infinite Realms but was also revived, becoming a half ghost half human (halfa)

Is the only superhero in Amity Park, fighting ghosts and sometimes ghost hunters to keep humans safe from ghosts and ghosts safe from humans

Has beaten the Ghost King in single combat, and is therefore sometimes considered to be the new Ghost King

Jazz (Jasmine) Fenton - Danny’s older sister, basically his parent, very into psychology and very against the influence their actual parents have had on Danny due to their obsession with ghosts

May/may not know about Phantom, usually considered the Mom Friend of Team Phantom whether she knows or not

Jack Fenton - Danny’s dad, 6’9 koolaid man, loves ham and fudge and breaking through walls instead of the door beside him. A very bad shot but extremely enthusiastic in that 90s dad cartoon way

Prone to believe absolutely anybody but Danny is a ghost, especially when Danny does ghost things in proximity

Extremely intent on the destruction of all ghosts, convinced they do not have actual feelings and should be destroyed pre Phantom reveal. Afterwards, can be either accepting or homicidal towards Danny

Maddie Fenton - Danny’s mom, ridiculous kung fu warrior and engineer, madly in love with Jack and they are sickeningly cute all times except Christmas

Sometimes notices they have kids that need caring for, sometimes curbs Jack’s wilder impulses, she’s the brains of the team

Same ghost views as Jack, but she’s more perceptive and intelligent, which can be used for good or evil

Tucker Foley - Danny’s best friend, likes meat and technology and arguing with Sam

A Black young man with a signature red beret and PDA in the OG show, usually acknowledged to be on par with the bats’ technical skills as he’s an incredible hacker

Danny’s Guy In The Chair, but he will get out of his chair and throw down as needed

Sam Manson - Danny’s Obligatory 90s Cartoon Love Interest, goth and ultra-recyclo-vegetarian child of millionaires who will not be stopped in her crusade for justice

She’s the one who dared Danny to go into the portal that killed him, the guilt she carries for this varies

She is in combat as much as her humanity allows, but also in a support role most of the time

Dash Baxter - Danny’s Obligatory 90s Cartoon Bully, the usual blond beefy jock. Can be surprisingly sensitive and intelligent, probably from being tutored by Jazz

[ETA] Valerie Gray - former antihero with a grudge against ghosts (her dad lost his job because of Cujo), she was given an anti ghost suit by Vlad and worked for him to fight ghosts until learning he is a half ghost

Canon never names her alter ego but we call her Red Huntress, she’s hot headed and impulsive and absolutely dated Danny while trying to murder Phantom - Danny knew the whole time but she did not

She is also Black

Wes Weston - Does Not Exist In Canon. We made him up because Danny had a bracelet that was supposed to say Sam but was shown backwards all episodes so it just says Wes

Knows that Danny is Phantom, INTENT on telling absolutely everyone, and is never believed

Vlad Masters/Plasmius - the only older halfa in the show, and one of Danny’s main villains. A billionaire who went to college with the Fenton parents and was slowly killed after exposure to the first trial portal

Blames Jack for his exposure and is obsessed with stealing Maddie from him and marrying her himself as he believes should have always happened

Her opinion does not factor into this, and she largely treats him with disdain but tempered for her husband, who adores Vlad unequivocally

Dani/Ellie Masters - a girl clone of Danny made by Vlad, the only clone who survived melting into goo. Vlad raised her to try and kill Danny so he could perfect a different boy clone, and kept her isolated

Now that she’s met Danny and been stabilised by him, they are siblings/cousins/besties but she can’t stay in one place, because she wants to experience the whole world

Frostbite - King of the Far Frozen, which is part of the Ghost Zone full of ice. He’s a yeti, and has the zone’s only functional medical facility

Reveres Danny as the Great One, Saviour of the Ghost Zone, and taught him how to use his ice powers

Clockwork - Master of Time, tends to show up in a purple hooded robe with a clock around his neck and rapidly cycle through ages and speak in riddles

Sometimes communicates by leaving green stick notes on things, but never with a direct answer. Considered Danny’s mentor and sends Danny on adventures through time to preserve the time stream

Notably involved in the whole Dan Phantom fiasco

Dan Phantom - an older version of Danny from the future where Danny’s ghost half was removed from his human half, stole Vlad’s ghost half, and destroyed the world because Danny’s whole family and friends were killed in front of him

They were all together to be killed as part of an intervention when Danny was caught cheating on a test. This gives Danny understandable issues about how easily he could go bad and destroy the world

Skulker - an early recurring baddie who is a Kraven the Hunter knockoff, considers himself the Ghost Zone’s best hunter and wants Danny’s pelt for his wall

Actually a tiny little guy inside the helmet of a big mechanised suit, rarely a serious threat

Ember - a young ghost musician who can hypnotise people with her music, craves an audience and another early recurring villain

Dates Skulker I guess

Johnny 13 and Shadow - ghost biker boy and his sentient shadow familiar, dated Danny at some point, but in a permanent ongoing relationship with Kitty

They usually only cause trouble when they fight, break up, wreak havoc, and then eventually get back together

Kitty - once Overshadowed Paulina the generic Pretty Girl to date Danny to get back at Johnny for their break up

She wanted to be a lawyer before she and Johnny were killed in a wreck, sometimes implied to have been caused on purpose by her father

She and Johnny are often Danny’s allies, against other ghosts if necessary

[ETA] Cujo - ghost puppy, very playful and usually about beagle size, but he can grow or shrink at will into a terrifying house sized attack dog. He can make portals so no, you are never safe from Cujo

[ETA] Wulf - werewolf ghost and friend of Danny’s who can also create his own natural portals. He wears pants

Important Terms

Core - a small glowing orb that houses all a ghost’s memories, thoughts, emotions, and vital organs. Can correspond to an element, granting elemental powers after some intense ghost puberty

Requires ectoplasm to form and be maintained but does not exist in canon

Obsession - ghosts are powered by their emotions at death and an Obsession, usually what makes them become a ghost instead of passing on in the first place - does not exist in canon

Danny’s Obsession is usually Protection, Space, or both

Vlad’s Obsession is Maddie, and acquiring Danny as a son once he learns Danny is a halfa too

Dani’s Obsession is Travel

Halfa - half a ghost, half a human, with the ability to transform between human and ghost forms (usually characterised as a colour inversion of hair and clothes)

Powers are basically Everything That Would Be Funny, because it’s a Saturday morning cartoon

Vlad’s specifically include electrocution, duplicating up to thousands of himself, invisibility, intangibility, hand lasers, super strength, healing, and mind control

Danny’s include ice, strength, bendy noodle body, put self in video game, hand lasers, heat vision, ghostly wail (big ol sonic scream, bad for the throat), duplication, teleportation, and literally anything else that was fun for the episode in question

All ghosts seem to get invisibility, intangibility, flight, telekinesis, and ectobeams (lasers from various body parts)

Overshadowing - similar to possession, when a ghost takes over someone else’s body, gaining access to core memories if they look

Sometimes different from possession specifically and considered less invasive, but still invasive. Danny does not like doing this

[ETA] Anti Ecto Acts - a series of laws signed into existence to declare all ectoplasmic entities as nonsentient creatures, able to be experimented on or destroyed at will

Referenced literally once in canon in a single line that basically says “you are under arrest for being a ghost” - after Danny is outed as a halfa, we have obviously extrapolated it into the worst thing possible

Canon calls them Anti-Ecto Control Acts

[ETA] GIW - Guys in White or the Ghost Investigation Ward, they’re literally a colour reversed Men in Black joke to have a government agency that focuses on ghosts

They don’t care about collateral damage and will blow anyone up on their way ghost hunting

DC (Disregard Canon apparently)

Main Characters

Listen I’m not doing all of them so HOEDOWN STYLE I GUESS

Alfred Pennyworth - best Batman character, super butler, makes the best cookies

Bruce Wayne - Batman, may/may not be good batdad

Dick Grayson - Robin 1, responsible for pantsless Robin and excessive flips, grows up to be Nightwing

Jason Todd - fandom woobie, Robin 2, tried to steal the tires off the Batmobile and hit Bruce with a tire iron, killed by Joker, came back evil and thicc as Red Hood and nearly killed Robin 3

Has the Bad Juice in him cuz of being brought back from the dead so he has Pit Rage, which most people apparently only get for a little bit and then either die or go permanently insane

Tim Drake - Robin 3, abandoned rich kid who blackmailed Bruce into letting him be Robin after Jason died, because Jason was his hero and Tim thinks Batman needs a Robin to stay sane. He’s right, but was Robin-fired basically as soon as Damian showed up, is Red Robin now

Never sleeps, overcaffeinated at all times, a better detective than Bruce and a supervillain in basically every AU

Used to be bi but is legally gay now apparently

Stephanie Brown - girl Robin, far superior as Spoiler and Bat Girl, sassy bitch who tells Bruce to fuck off the most of all the Robins ever and this is an Achievement she must fight for constantly but always wins

Cassandra Cain - assassin baby of Lady Shiva, not taught to talk by her dad cuz he sucks, semi- or nonverbal and deadass supernaturally good at reading people

Decided that killing was bad actually the first time she did it so fuck assassins she’s Black Bat/Batgirl/Orphan now and she does not have mouth holes in her mask (possibly because she is not white, depending on why you think Batman always has his)

Damian Wayne - Consequences from Bruce’s playboy slut days, he knocked up supervillain Talia Al Ghul and thus this bab was raised by assassins and thinks stabbing siblings is an acceptable greeting

Likes the animals and is secretly soft but will fucking kill you before he admits it

Duke Thomas - Criminally Underused, older than Damian but babiest bat as the Signal, Gotham’s only daytime hero and only meta hero. Second Black hero cuz Lucius Fox exists and so does his son

Never a Bruce-appointed Robin but was trained by 4 previous Robins (no idea where Steph was for this) simultaneously, swears as much as Jason but has living parents sometimes so that’s wild

Kate Kane - Batwoman, definitely fucks

Luke Fox - I think he is Lucius’ son, Lucius made all the bat tech but Luke is going to punch bad guys directly, has a hero name probably that might be fox related

Diana Prince - Wonder Woman, an Amazonian warrior who fucks with Cronos I guess

Donna Troy - I have never fucking seen her in dpxdc but she is Wonder Girl I think and she also fucks

Clark Kent - Superman but also a nerd, treats his clone badly and will never be forgiven

Connor Kent/Kon El - said clone, made by Lex Luthor from Superman’s and Luthor’s DNA because what says hate like making a baby! Mistreating that baby and reminding him he’s meant to be a weapon

Deserves all the love and sometimes his powers don’t work because cloning is hard

Jon Kent - Superman’s son with Lois Lane, got all his dad’s powers but apparently not his mom’s cuz he is still a himbo

Lois Lane - the world’s scariest reporter who will make all corrupt officials quail because you can’t fucking threaten her, she will tell you to go fuck yourself and if you try and shoot her Superman catches the bullet

Barry Allen - the Flash, does not believe in ghosts even though he can run so fast he travels in time so he’s clearly the arbiter of what makes sense

But I guess you can’t catch him to tell him he’s wrong so

Hal Jordan - Green Lantern, Space Ho

Lex Luthor - surprising dad energy for a bald supervillain who hates aliens (blame halfagone)

John Constantine - super thot and mage, will sell his soul to anyone who offers to gain immortality because no one can decide who gets to keep his soul so they just spite reviving him

Has the actual worst luck and finds out just slightly more than he fucks around but he hasn’t died yet so it’s working

Zatanna - magic lady who does spells by saying words backwards, the competent adult

Boston - Deadman, an Actual Fucking Ghost Member Of The Justice League, What The Fuck Flash This Is Workplace Harassment

Cannot be seen or heard without magical assistance, so way less of a problem than Danny Phantom ghosts

[ectokelpeigh]

WWDITS (tv) x DP

We’re going to roll with my headcanon that Vlad is incredibly sensitive to any mention of him looking like a vampire because it makes everything 10x funnier ok

Vlad goes to Staten Island meets our beloved nest of disasters because [reasons]. Maybe there’s an artifact in the house he really wants/needs? So he snoops around as Plasmius but he gets caught? Anyway, the vampires either a) recognize him as a ghost and are about as weird around him as they were about their own ghosts in 2x02, or b) assume he’s a vampire, and any protests/corrections from Vlad (and Guillermo, guardian of the brain cell) fall on deaf ears because they’re all just Like That. 

The (actual) vampires’ individual reactions:

Nandor is immediately taken with Vlad. He ignores every word Vlad says and knows absolutely nothing about him by the time they all part ways, but feels so connected to his style that in Nandor’s mind, this is his new best friend (cue bad mood for Guillermo). They wear capes, they are conquerors, they love their pets, they wear boots with pointy toes. Bonus points if Nandor notes that Vlad’s look is “a little much” at some point because irony is delicious.

Nadja cannot stand this creep. Spends hours in a ‘confessional’ interview listing everyone bastard she’s met in her long life of which Vlad reminds her, exactly how she mutilated their corpses, and how much pleasure she took in it. 

Laszlo: Vlad is relieved when Laszlo steal him away from the group to “converse in a more civilized space”, thinking Laszlo is the most normal of the bunch. Really Laszlo dragged him there to coach him on picking up sexual partners. Laszlo is convinced this pathetic chap needs to get laid pronto. Based on Plasmius’s aesthetics Laszlo assumes he’s super old, and he’s obviously been a frustrated virgin this whole time. But good lord no he’s not volunteering, he has standards. It goes as well as you think it does. We learn that Colin Robinson has taught him the word “incel” as some point.

Colin Robinson: fucking thrilled when he realizes he has an excuse to feed with some oddly specific Packers trivia. Vlad already knows every “fun fact” Colin Robinson has in store, which makes it all even juicier. When he runs out of trivia, he starts brainstorming ideas for Vlad to purchase the team. They’re all very obvious and/or generally terrible ideas. Fun plot twist: it turns out energy vampires temporarily get ghost powers if they feed off a halfa (including the ability to turn into a human, which is entirely useless to him because it’s not like he has any of the classic vampire weaknesses anyway but it’s a neat trick)

Of course I’m not leaving out Guillermo, but I don’t think he interacts with Vlad much. As usual he’s too busy solving the problem. + he has the good sense to avoid him. While the others occupy Vlad driving him crazy, Guillermo looks into Vlad’s personal history and Amity Park. He can’t stop whispering yikesyikesyikesyikes for three days at the shit he finds. He figures out the halfa thing almost instantly (the vampires have seen Vlad in both forms but assume it’s classic shape shifting, not some alive/dead thing [vampires: “you can turn into a human but not a bat? what’s the point?” Vlad: “What’s the point of turning into a bat when you can already fly without wings?”). 

What does Guillermo do when faced with a threat like this? Fucking handles it that’s what. But as skilled as he is, wooden stakes and holy water don’t do shit to Vlad (he stakes him in human form once and Vlad is more upset about ruining his suit than anything). 

So he scours the web for ways to deal with this kind of ghost, and on the way down that rabbit hole he comes across the Fentonworks site. Being their ridiculous selves, Jack and Maddie have a big old family photo of themselves and the kids that takes up the entire home page. Seeing Danny’s face (obviously the Ghost Boy of Amity Park with different eyes and hair, how is no one else seeing this?) and recognizing the Fenton name from his initial research on Vlad (news clipping from the accident), it doesn’t take long for Guillermo to figure out the personal connections. He somehow gets a hold of Danny and begs him to come deal with this bullshit, please. Danny whines “Aww, can’t you keep him for like, another week? It’s been so peaceful without him around.” but shows up the next day on their doorstep, arms crossed in a huff: “I’m here to pick up the trash.”

Vlad is thrilled to have an excuse to get away; his powers are haywire for [reasons again] and the personalities in the group are so obnoxious that he couldn’t speak long enough to make an excuse to leave before he’s interrupted again.

Except.

Guillermo never mentioned anything about vampires to Danny. But these are. Real vampires. His jaw drops and he bluescreens for a hot minute until he busts out laughing and cannot stop for the life of him.

Now, Danny showed up as Fenton and Guillermo hadn’t told anyone they were expecting a guest, much less a half-ghost (they wouldn’t even listen when he tried to explain Vlad’s situation), so when Danny literally falls over with laughter but “catches” himself with levitation before he hits the floor, all vampires present throw confused looks between each other then at Guillermo in unison. The first time Danny hears Nandor, Nadja, or Laszlo speak with their accents and fang-lisps he laughs so hard he involuntarily goes ghost, which makes him laugh harder because “you literally have me dying laughing here.” 

For weeks after the fact, Danny only speaks to Vlad in a terrible imitation of Nandor and Nadja’s accents. Vlad absolutely ruins his day when he points out how much the stupid “hero voice” he uses as Phantom sounds like Laszlo.

Guillermo and Danny keep in touch, mostly texting each other out-of-context quotes from their respective ridiculous Masters (ba dum tss)

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Eidolon 7 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary:  AU: What started off as the result of a simple act of rebellion ends up causing his life to spin out of control. How will young Danny cope with the results as well as a past that has a strange habit of coming back to haunt him.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, kidnapping, and various other things

Parings: hints of Danny/Sam much later on

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr

7. First Confrontations

It had been about two weeks since Danny had decided to visit the cemetery on his own. As he traveled the familiar paths, he constantly checked his surroundings for a sign of another's presence. Although he wasn't exactly, happy he felt that there was a need to check, it was better to play it safe. That creature had been there once after all, so who was to say that it would not appear again?

Without even realizing he had been aiming for it, he soon reached his favorite part of the grounds. A small stone terrace decorated with a couple benches sat neatly out of the way of both graves and the normal path. Since it was surrounded by trees, it was often easy to miss by visitors, assuring he would be able to think in peace for a while.

Words and images manufactured from hours of speculation kept swimming around his head. He tried to make sense of everything, but it just seemed to make his confusion worse. The puzzle of both his past and his parents' was not only vast, but complicated. It was likely it was possible to solve it; however he was pretty sure that there were several pieces that he still didn't have.

The new information about his unknown parents seemed to take precedence over any other thoughts. They had disappeared after being attacked, yet Winston had never actually said if they were still alive. Maybe his guardian withheld the information because of concern, or perhaps he didn't even know for sure. So, was it possible that they could still be out there somewhere? Wouldn't that be nice? But, he knew that it was incredibly unlikely just because of how much time had passed. Besides, he'd have absolutely no idea what he would say to them.

There was also the issue of the guy that had attacked his parents… Plasmius, or something like that. Winston seemed very hesitant to talk about him and had even danced around the subject once he had gotten a chance to ask him for details. Although he couldn't say for sure, it felt as if something big was being left out of the story, even if he had no idea what it could be. Was this Plasmius just an unorthodox researcher with some frightening ideas? Or was there more to it? Tucker had suggested that he could be some type of crazy arms dealer (though he personally didn't understand how weapons and paranormal science could mix).

Danny took a moment to both rest his mind and to attempt to figure out how to make his hand visible again. Shortly after his conversation with Winston, different parts of his body had seemingly begun to randomly disappear. The first time it happened, he had been trying to wash his face the one morning, only to realize that the wash cloth was seemingly floating in mid air. Although his hand reappeared only a few moments later, he was absolutely amazed that none of the neighbors called the police because of his regrettably very unmanly scream.

Since that initial incident, he was still no closer to understanding why it happened. It was possible that it was somehow related to the incidents where he fell through a solid object. However, he was currently unable to rationalize how that was possible. The only thing he could say was he was absolutely terrified of what it might be doing to his body, and what his friends might think if they happened to be unlucky enough to ever get to see it. That was why he had not contacted them in over a week.

He ran his hand through his hair as he sighed. No matter how much he tried to wrap his head around it, there was just too much he didn't know which prevented him from piecing everything together. Although he was definitely hesitant about contacting them, his friends, but talking to them over the phone would definitely help calm the chaotic storm in his mind, even if they couldn't contribute anything thing.

After glancing at his watch, he realized that Winston was probably going to be expecting him back home soon. As he got up off the bench, he inadvertently shuddered after a strange, almost breeze-like chill caressed his body which was almost immediately replaced by the feeling of being watched. "H-hello…?" he stammered, hoping that it was just his imagination. The last thing he needed at the moment was a repeat of what happened the last time he experienced this feeling.

"Okay… You're losing it," he told himself when nothing answered him. "There's nothing here except you and some dead people… Nothing to worry about… unless Amity Park has suddenly become Pittsburgh…"

"Zombies… How amusing. It always astounds me how the mind of a teenager can jump to such things."

Danny felt himself grow rigid as a sick sort of recognition ran through him. There was no way he could forget the sound of that voice, not after the terror he felt the last time he heard it. The chilling yet oddly sophisticated tone told him that whatever was speaking was definitely the very same creature he had encountered last time.

"W-who… what are you…?" he asked it, hoping he could possibly keep it occupied long enough for him to magically figure out a way to make an escape. The only problem was that he had this sinking suspicion it was smarter than him.

A strange and unnerving chuckle answered him. "I take it that you've heard of ghosts before, my boy?"

"So… you're telling me that you're a ghost…?" he asked slowly while he tried to figure out what was creepier: a disembodied voice talking about ghosts or it calling him 'my boy'.

"And you got it right on the first guess. I must say that I'm impressed."

His eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out where it might be. Sure he was definitely scared of it, but currently the anger at it actually questioning his intelligence was currently overriding his fear. "Are you just here to annoy me?" he snapped. "If so, you're really doing a good job."

"Oh, I assure you that I have more important things to do than to wound the pride of an adolescent," it told him with a flourish before its tone became one of hunger. "I'm here to take you away from this world."

He slowly began to back up. Its voice had originally had sounded like it was coming from terrace boundary, now seemed like it was coming from right in front of him. And, it definitely felt as if something was standing only a few feet away from him, even if he couldn't see it.

"Are you afraid?" it asked him it an amused tone. "You really shouldn't be. Daniel, you don't belong in this world. You never have."

"Wh-what do you mean?" The fear was present in his voice now, and there was nothing that he could do to attempt to hide it. He backed up until he felt tree bark pressing into his skin. Whatever this thing was, it had managed to corner him.

He glanced around desperately, hoping there was something he could do. However, his attempts stopped when he realized a figure was slowly starting to materialize out of the air. He could tell it was humanoid in shape, but the features were still too burry to make out.

Once again, the voice, which seemed to be coming from the slowly emerging figure, chuckled. "Oh come now Daniel, haven't you realized that you feel more comfortable among the dead than the living?" Apparently, it took the confused look on his face as a confirmation as it continued. "I've watched you for a while now. I know that you come here because it seems to call to you. It's the only place where you can connect with the other side, whether you realize it or not."

His focus turned away from the conversation as he noticed that the figure appeared to be reaching out for him. He batted the hand away, surprised when he felt the resistance of another person. With the realization there was something physical there, he tried to further push himself away from it, but instead of finding the resistance of the tree, it felt like he was suddenly stumbling through a wall of water. The next thing he knew, he was sitting on the ground facing the opposite side of the tree.

"Good… It looks like your powers are developing quite nicely." The creature's voice now seemed to contain a dark interest as it again moved closer, undeterred by what had happened. It's form, though still hazy, was now visible enough for Danny to clearly identify it as having more of a male build. "Though, they're still tied to your emotions, which won't do you much good at the moment."

"P-powers?" he almost choked as he tried scooting away from it, ignoring the fact that he now had a chance to run. "What are you talking about?"

"So Winston really hasn't told you anything. It's such a shame." For a moment it appeared that it would say something else, but tilted its head as if it was listening to something. "Your friends have remarkable timing," it told him in a tone that clearly expressed that it was not happy about the intrusion.

He had no idea what it meant until he heard a faint voice calling his name. "Sam?" he shouted back in a surprised terror. "Don't come closer! Get out of here!"

"DANNY?" Her voice sounded closer.

The creature chucked yet again. "Oh, don't worry, I can wait a little longer before I claim you. Just be prepared." The voice seemed to fade away along with the pale outline of whatever it really was.

As soon as he felt like the creature was truly gone, he breathed deeply in relief only to jump at the sounds of Sam finally reaching him. He had just enough time to look up at her before one of his arms decided that it no longer cared for the rigidity of the ground and sank right through it before getting stuck.

…

"So… where's Tucker…?" he asked in an attempt to strike up a conversation after he and Sam rather awkwardly started back towards the entrance. It was definitely a risk for him to speak as his stomach started to turn against him, which apparently was going to happen every time something weird happened. But, knowing that he had frightened one of his only friends was enough to get him to try.

She was silent for a moment before she spoke, making sure that she did not glance at him. "He's waiting near the entrance… He said that he was too frightened to go any further than that."

"Oh…"

He bit his lip as he tried to figure out something else to say. Sam had managed to handle seeing him try to free his foot from a floor quite well, but apparently watching how it had happened was a little too much for her. He wished that there was something that he could say that would help, but what could he say when he didn't even understand what was happening?

"Um… Danny…" He glanced over at her only to realize that she had stopped a few feet behind him. She was uncharacteristically playing with the hem of her skirt before she looked up at him with blazing eyes. "What's going on? Now I'm all for the weird and freaky, but even this is starting to get too weird, even for me!"

"Sam…" Before he could really say anything, she interrupted him.

"If you want me and Tucker to continue to be your friends, you've got to start explaining things! This is the second time that I've seen some part of your body get stuck into something solid. That's not normal no matter how you look at it! What are you? What was that thing? What's going on?"

"Do you think I know?" he snapped at her, causing her to stop her rant and stare at him. "If I knew what is happening to me, don't you think I would have said something after Tucker fainted?" Getting irritated was definitely not the best idea since his stomach decided to forcefully remind him that it was already upset with him. In an attempt to keep everything under control, he sat on the ground while resting his head on his knees. This illness thing was really starting to get on his nerves.

A hesitant touch caused him to glance up. Although it was very clear that she still felt uncomfortable, Sam had decided to come over and gently run his back in a somewhat apologetic attempt to make him feel better. "I'll wait until we get out of here before I ask anything else. You need time to feel better, and Tucker'll mentally need to prepare himself. I swear he can be so cowardly sometimes."

…

As he watched his friend try to find ways to rationalize what he was told of what had occurred in the graveyard, he grimly decided he would rather deal with attempting to escape from that creature… or ghost, if that's what it really was, than dealing with Tucker's spastic response to his fears. After meeting up with him at the entrance of the graveyard, they had relocated to Tucker's house to talk things over.

"So, you're telling me that this thing told you that not only do you not belong in 'this world' but that it was going to take you away too?" Tucker asked as he adjusted his glasses. "What's to say that it's not going to come after you while we're around?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," he sighed, for what felt like the thousandth time that day. "From what I understand, it could have very easily have taken me away earlier today, but instead it decided to leave when Sam appeared. It doesn't make much sense to me either, but I guess it would rather take me when there was no one around to watch…"

"But why?" Sam's tone made it clear that she held a great deal of skepticism about the motives of the creature. "I mean… I was the only other person around earlier, and it had plenty of time to take you and run, or fly, or whatever… you know what I mean… before I even managed to get a good look at either of you. There's just something that doesn't feel right about it."

Although Danny hadn't thought about it before, she had made a very valid point. That thing could have done anything it wanted with him, yet it decided to leave him alone again. There really seemed to be no logical reason for it. Well, no logical reason that he could come up with. For some reason, it just felt like it was somehow playing a game with him.

"Wait a minute, Sam! You actually saw this thing?" Tucker demanded, completely ignoring everything else that she had said. "What did it look like?"

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment before she spoke. "Why do you want to know? I thought that you were afraid of this thing…"

"I am, but I'd like to know what my doom looks like so that I have a better chance to be prepared."

"Tucker, we're dealing with something that's calling itself a ghost, meaning that it can become invisible. How is that going to help?"

For a second, he thought that the word 'ghost' was going to cause Tucker to go into another set of hysterics, but instead he smile rather broadly. "Well, if that's the case, than I guess I don't need to worry all that much."

"Wait a minute, you've been scared of this thing for two weeks and now it's suddenly fine? What's going on?" Danny asked after he shared a very confused glance with Sam.

Tucker gave them a rather surprised look before he started to look up something on his PDA. After mere seconds, he shoved it towards them so that they could get a glance at the article he pulled up. "I'm actually surprised that you haven't heard about this Sam, especially because of how interested you are in all things dark and creepy, but if that thing really is a ghost, then it's not going to leave its haunt."

"Wait, that's right!" Sam exclaimed after handing the PDA back to Tucker. "Ghosts tend to haunt places that have some sort of significance to them, and they're never seen anywhere else. So if that thing's haunt is the cemetery, then…"

"It's going to stay there…?" Danny asked with a little bit of uncertainty.

"EXACTLY!" Tucker nodded to himself, pleased that everyone now seemed to be on the same page. "That means that I don't have to worry about it. But… just in case… what did it look like?"

He just shook his head. "I… I'm not entirely sure."

"What do you mean you're not sure?"

"Um… well, it was almost like it was slowly coming into focus the whole time it was talking to me, and I was more focused on trying to escape than anything else…."

"You had to have seen something?"

The desperation in Tucker's voice made him try to revisit the encounter to see if anything in particular decided to stick out at him. "It… was about the size of a normal man," he said slowly after a moment, "and was wearing black gloves."

"And it had a cape," Sam added.

"It had a cape?" both he and Tucker asked rather incredulously.

She nodded. "That's really the only thing that I know I saw."

"Wait, you're telling me that this thing thinks that it's some sort of demonic superhero?" Tucker practically demanded.

"How should I know what it thinks? And what makes you say that?"

After that simple question, the three of them managed to somehow get into a rather complicated debate about the various superhero universes. Although it was completely off topic, it was definitely a very welcome distraction from the earlier events of the day.

Although he kept trying to push it from his mind, there was something that nagging him about the encounter. Sure, Tucker might be convinced that the self-proclaimed-ghost would not appear anywhere else other than the cemetery, but he wasn't as sure. All of the ghost stories he had heard had taught him that ghosts were not able to hurt the living, yet he was absolutely certain that if it had wanted to, it could have easily have killed him or Sam. Assuming that it had that sort of power made him wonder if it could throw the other 'rules' out of the window too.

The only problem was that he didn't have the necessary information about it though. Hopefully, he would never get a chance to learn it, but something told him that he wouldn't be that lucky. The only thing he could do was wait and see what happened in the upcoming days.

=================================================================== Okay, there's a few notes for this chapter:

1) Story timeline rundown: Ch.1 Sat Ch.2 Sat night Ch. 3 Sun Ch. 4 Wed afternoon Ch. 5 Wed afternoon Ch. 6 Wed night Ch. 7 Sun (two weeks after chapter 3)

The story starts in the 2nd week of September (the year is rather unnecessary to know). The reason is that this is what came to mind when I first started working on this, and that I have absolutely no idea when Danny's actual birth date (if there is an official one) really is.

If you don't get the Pittsburgh reference, it's okay. Pittsburgh's often called the zombie capital of the world because of how many zombie films have been made there.

[darks-ink]

Disinterred CH.15

Chapter 15: Clean It Up

And Amity Park… Amity Park was used to dealing with the unusual. The impossible. The non-existent. So, really. Having a ghost and a clone of said ghost testify for the crimes of another ghost… It wasn’t that far out of there.

(Tumblr hates links and I want this to appear in the tags so… for author notes/full fic summary/links to the other chapters/mirror links to AO3 and FFnet, click here)

“We need to talk to detective Payton.”

The woman behind the desk quirked an eyebrow at him, then glanced at the group behind him. “If you have a crime to report, you can speak to whichever officer is available.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Danny insisted. “It involves a case he was working on.”

She opened her mouth again, clearly intending to shoo him away. Jazz cut her off, however. “It’s really important, please. Can you just contact him and tell him that the Fentons want to talk with him.”

The lady glared at them shortly, but complied. The call involved a brief back-and-forth, but once Payton had heard the words “Fenton” and “case” he seemed to have made up his mind.

Sighing, the woman at the desk put the phone down again. “He’ll be here in a few moments.”

“Thank you.” Danny grinned, just a little too pleased with the small victory. Hey, he would take whatever he got right now. Any distraction from the upcoming conversation was more than welcome.

When Payton appeared he looked more than a little resigned at the sight of their group of teenagers. “I thought that the Fentons wanted to talk to me?”

“We’re temporary stand-ins for his parents,” Sam said with a shrug. “They’re… occupied.”

Payton sighed but, to his credit, didn’t otherwise react. He simply led the four of them to an empty room so they could talk.

“What is this about, then? Because I’m guessing that the ‘case’ you wanted to talk about is yours?”

“Yeah,” Danny confirmed with a nod. “We… We kind of left our some details.”

“You are aware that it’s illegal to lie to the police?” Payton crossed his arms, a mild glare send towards the teens.

“We didn’t lie!” Sam exclaimed, throwing out her hands. “We just didn’t tell the entire truth.”

“Is that so?” Payton didn’t look particularly convinced. Danny didn’t really blame him. In fact, he kind of felt bad for the officer. His involvement in the case certainly made it a lot harder than it had any right to be. Ghosts, in general, made work for the police difficult.

“When we talked about my… ghostly nature,” Danny started hesitantly, “we implied that my… more ghostly appearance was just a one time thing. It’s not.”

Payton nodded, now looking slightly more believing. “Is this related to your glowing green eyes during the confrontation with your parents?”

“Uh, yeah. I can trigger the whole transformation on command, but the glowing eyes happens for all sorts of reasons. Usually when I’m using my powers or when I’m experiencing really strong emotions.” Danny shrugged. “I kind of… use my more ‘ghostly’ form as a disguise of sorts, so people don’t recognize me.”

“But what would you need a disguise for?” Payton squinted at him, suspicion clear on his face. “Nothing illegal, I hope?”

Danny snorted in response, leaning back in his chair. “Hardly,” he said, before tapping into his powers to make his eyes glow on purpose. “Come on, it can’t be that hard to figure out.”

Payton scrutinized him for a few long moments, eyes gliding over him. Then the man sat forward, arms resting on the table. “You’re saying that you are Phantom? Well, that certainly explains why you laughed when I said that if Phantom thought you were okay, it was probably safe to trust that judgment.”

“What can I say, ghost hunting runs in the family.” Danny smirked, a rather Phantom-like expression, to drive the point home.

The detective continued to eye him, then sighed. “You do realize that this isn't going to change the decisions we made last meeting, right?”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed with a shrug. “I mean, I guess I’ll try for college but if I can’t get in I’ll just work for my parents. I’m already following their footsteps as Phantom anyway, might as well give inventing a shot too.”

Then his expression fell again. “But to get back to the original topic… I’m not just telling this for fun. It’s a secret for a reason.”

“Yes, I suppose it is,” Payton agreed, sitting back again. “What is it then?”

Danny frowning, running through his options. Apparently he took too long, because Jazz spoke up. “He’s not the only one. Not the only one with a human and ghost appearance, I mean.”

“And you’re telling me this because… you don’t think they deserve their secret if you didn’t get to keep yours?” Payton queried, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“No,” Danny bit out. “I’m telling you because he’s a jackass who uses his powers for bad purposes!” The vivid green light from his eyes flickered on the desk in front of him, but he ignored it. “He hurts people, he manipulates people! And he has gone too far!”

“And who is he, then?” Payton seemed genuinely intrigued. Apparently Danny’s rant had convinced him to at least play along.

“In human form or ghost form?” Tucker piped up. “Because he looks drastically different and he has no problem flaunting that fact.”

“In his ghost form he calls himself Plasmius.” Sam crossed her arms. “But the public usually calls him the Wisconsin Ghost, I believe.”

“The blue skinned vampire ghost?” Payton frowned. “I’ve heard of him, yes. Known to cause problems, picks fights with… Phantom.” The last word he said more quietly, realization of Phantom really being a 16 year old apparently striking him.

“That’s him,” Danny confirmed. “His human form is also well-known. Old family friend of my parents, current mayor of the town…”

Payton grunted. “You’re saying that the Vlad Masters is a ghost like you?”

“How do you think he won the election?” Jazz questioned with a scoff. “He didn’t stand a chance until he overshadowed most of the voters.”

“And that’s just one of many sketchy things he has done with his powers.” Tucker’s jaw visibly tightened at the thought of everything the man had done. Of what he had tried to do to him. Danny was glad for friends like these. “Stealing money, overshadowing business rivals to take over their companies, attempted murder of Jack Fenton…”

“Kidnapping Maddie Fenton, twice. Kidnapping Danny at least that often, including trapping him in ghost-proof bindings and electrocuting him,” Sam continued. “Sending potentially dangerous ghosts to Amity Park, in the hopes to either kill Jack or hurt Danny.”

“And that’s not even to mention that he tried to clone me,” Danny joined in. Then with a grimace, he added, “And emotionally abusing the one clone that survived. Well, as far as a ghost can survive, of course.”

Payton blinked, apparently stunned by the information overload. Then the last part processed, and he frowned. “He cloned you?”

“Not very successfully, but yes.” Danny shrugged, a faux casual air about him. “She didn’t quite come out right, and she wasn’t stable. But she’s with my parents now, and we managed to save her.”

“Which is also why they’re not here,” Tucker explained, leaning on Danny’s shoulder. “Hence Sam and I as the replacement parents.”

Payton remained quiet for a few moments. Then he sighed. “You are aware of how bat-shit insane this sounds?”

“Welcome to my life,” Danny said with a snort. “Or, well, you know what I mean.”

“We can’t just take your word for all of this,” Payton insisted. “It sounds… Well, it sounds too bizarre to come up with, but that doesn’t mean that it’s true.”

“And we can provide you with whatever proof you need.” Sam glowered at him. “We just need your assurance that you’re gonna look into it, and that you’ll do your best to arrest Vlad.”

Payton sighed, looking like he was very much regretting his involvement in this case. Again. “Of course. That’s literally my job, miss Manson. Although I do wonder how you expect us to arrest and contain a ghost.”

“Inventions to restrict his powers exist,” Tucker supplied. “You can probably move to arrest him the normal way, since he won’t be expecting you to know. Use some ghost-proof cuffs and you’ll have him before he realizes.”

“Fine. It’s a deal. I’ll need all evidence you have of his crimes, including witness reports,” Payton instructed, looking like he was trying to get back in control of the situation.

Danny nodded, then pulled out his phone. “I’ll call the Red Huntress. She was one of the people Vlad manipulated, and he straight-up tried to hire her to catch the clone when she escaped.”

Looking he was going to regret asking, Payton nonetheless asked. “I thought the Red Huntress didn’t like Phantom? Or ghosts in general?”

“Misunderstanding,” Danny explained, waving Payton’s concern off with his hand. “We got everything figured out, and she knows of both my identities.”

“Of course,” Payton groaned. “And I’m guessing you know who she is, then?”

“We all do.” Sam grinned at the clearly overworked detective.

The detective only groaned, but didn’t say anything. Danny figured he had a pretty good idea of what the agent was feeling like.

But it was for a good cause.

It took a few days to gather all the evidence the police required. The witness reports alone took a considerable chunk of time, considering the sheer amount of people in Amity Park alone that knew about Vlad’s shady business. Aside from the Fentons (all five of them) and Sam and Tucker, Valerie also had to be included.

And sadly, that was easier said than done, as she needed to reveal her identity for the report to count. After all, a judge wouldn’t just accept the statement of a masked vigilante that no one knew.

Thankfully she trusted Danny’s judgment (and, of course, the judgments of his friends and Jazz) and allowed Payton and his team to know. They were… less than pleased to discover that she, too, was a teenager.

Knowing that it had been Vlad who pushed her into ghost hunting in the first place… Well, that eased their moods a little. Besides, she and Phantom now worked together – and they trusted Danny to keep the people of Amity safe. From ghosts, at least. Human crime… Well, that was their job.

Additionally, there was some trouble with Dani’s witness reports. Law wasn’t exactly made with cloning in mind. Legally, Danielle Fenton didn’t exist.

But then, neither did ghosts.

And Amity Park… Amity Park was used to dealing with the unusual. The impossible. The non-existent.

So, really. Having a ghost and a clone of said ghost testify for the crimes of another ghost… It wasn’t that far out of there.

Most of the people involved who knew enough about the case to know that three of the people involved were ghosts… Well, they were just glad that the ghosts were solving their issues like normal people. Instead of, you know, blasting each other to bits on the streets.

When Danny first heard people mention it, it had been some of the other officers of Payton’s team. People who knew he was a ghost, but who hadn’t been told about his Phantom alter-ego. He immediately thought back of all the times he and Vlad had brawled and burst into laughter.

The officers looked at him like he had gone crazy, eyebrows raised. Between giggles, Danny managed to explain himself. “You- You really don’t know the half of it.”

That hadn’t really explained anything to the cops, but Payton coaxed them back to work before they could question Danny. The detective attempted to glare the boy into behaving himself, but failed once more. Now that he knew what the boy had faced off against, he wasn’t surprised.

Finally enough evidence had been gathered. The cops set out, armed with anti-ghost weaponry and ghost-proof cuffs. A cell had been prepared beforehand, covered by a ghost shield provided by FentonWorks. A special one, they assured, which would hold even the most powerful and skilled of ghosts.

Payton double-checked his gear. Then he gave the start signal, allowing his officers to pour into the mansion.

Within minutes the team returned, guiding Vlad Masters in their middle. The man was dressed, as always, in an impeccable suit. He frowned at Payton when his guides stopped him in front of the detective.

“Sir, with all due respect, but what on Earth is happening here?”

Payton offered the man a lopsided smile. Then in one swift movement he cuffed Vlad’s wrists together, preventing his escape.

“Vlad Masters, also known as Vlad Plasmius, you are under arrest for… Well, for a lot of crimes.” His smile grew a little wider, a little more genuine. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court.”

Vlad’s eyes widened, his gaze shifting between his bound wrists and the police officers surrounding them. Payton ignored him, continuing with his whole rights speech.

“Wait, no,” Vlad pleaded. “You must be mistaken- I have never heard of a name like ‘Plasmius’ before.”

“Save it for court.” Payton shoved the man forward, towards the van that would transport him. Several officers, all armed with ectoplasmic weaponry, would ride with him. The cuffs should prevent him from using his powers to escape, but better safe than sorry.

Then he turned towards the rest of the officers still waiting. He inclined his head towards the mansion that stood before them, looming in the approaching dark.

“Well then, let’s see how many sketchy things we can find in here. Sources say that he has an underground lab hidden, like some kind of supervillain.” He grinned at the crowd of police. “First one to find and enter it without disturbing actual evidence gets a reward.”

He clapped his hands together. “Ready, set. Go!”

And then the officers were off, leaving Payton to observe. The boy had been right. Arresting Vlad had been easy, as the man hadn’t expected them in the slightest.

How clever he thought himself. What a sham.

The Summer vacation hadn’t done much to calm Casper High’s rumor mill. The turbulent arrest of ex-mayor Vlad Masters right after the start of said vacation had spurred on all rumors. Not much was known about it, but that didn’t stop the teenagers. They whittled away, discovered the smallest details. Any slip-ups were gladly accepted and brought into the rumors.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise that they discovered that Danny Fenton had been involved as well. Not as a perpetrator, oh no.

As a victim.

Which, of course, combined well with the previous rumors of him being a ghost. It didn’t take long for the first theories to emerge, suggesting that Vlad was his killer. That he had played a critical role in the death of Danny Fenton.

And so when the school year started, against all odds… The rumors hadn’t died off. Quite the opposite. Even more people than before believed that the boy, now in his final year of school, was a ghost.

So they kept their eyes open for his arrival.

Eventually, their wait was rewarded. The doors of the school opened, and in the opening he stood.

Lanky, with unbrushed but shiny black hair. Icy blue eyes that, ironically, sparkled with life. A surprisingly healthy gloss to his pale skin. A playful but kind smile on his face. For once, he looked well-rested. No bags under his eyes.

Perhaps… Perhaps Vlad Masters really had been responsible for his death. Perhaps Danny Fenton could finally rest easy, knowing that the man was finally arrested.

His outfit was much like the usual.

The girl he had his arm wrapped around… much less so.

She, unlike Danny, looked uncertain. Shaky. A red beanie sat perched on her head, but messy black hair still spilled out of it.

Her eyes, blue as the skies, glanced around the entrance hall with vigor. She looked guarded, like she was expecting someone to suddenly attack her.

She had her hands stuck in the pockets of her oversized blue hoodie. A crease in her brow suggested, however, that said hands were clenched into fists.

Standing right next to Danny Fenton, it was very very clear that she looked almost exactly like him. A little younger, perhaps, but undeniably identical.

The crowd parted the let the two through. But they remained nearby, hovering around the two. Waiting. Watching.

In the end, it was Dash Baxter who decided that he’d had enough. He stepped forward, breaking from the line and into the circle of personal space that had been granted to Danny and his… whoever she was.

“Hey Fenton,” he bit, stressing the last name of the ghostly teen. “Who’s this?”

“Oh hey Dash,” Danny greeted as he turned to face the other boy. He pulled the girl next to him a little closer to his side, drawing a displeased hiss from her. “This is Danielle, or Dani.”

“With an i,” the girl muttered under her breath, barely audible.

“Okaaay.” Dash frowned, looking between the two. “That still didn’t answer my question of who she is.”

“Oh, right.” Danny flapped his free hand. “She’s my dead sister.”

Dash froze up, and sharp intakes of breath could be heard from everywhere in the crowd. “She’s your what?”

“My dead sister,” Danny repeated, finally releasing the girl to reach towards his locker. Then he looked over his shoulder at the crowd and grinned.

And stuck his arm right through the still closed locker door.

“Funny how that works, huh?” he said, with his arm still waving through his locker. He looked like was searching for something without being able to see it.

Dani, meanwhile, seemed to have gotten over her nerves. She leaned back against the lockers, standing right next to Danny. She was still eyeing the crowd, however, a little warily.

Soft mutters could be heard from the crowd, but no one had a real response. Sure, everyone had been convinced that Danny was a ghost. Hell, Dash had even seen the boy go intangible before.

But this was undeniable proof. And it was a lot less feeble than a whiffed punch by a jock.

Finally Dash got his thoughts back in order, though. “So why’s she here now?”

“Well,” Danny hummed as he finally pulled his arm out of the locker again. Held in his hand were several books for school. “You guys all knew I was a ghost anyway, so she didn’t have to hide anymore.”

He turned back to face his once-bully with a lopsided grin on his face. Then he shrugged. “Besides, where else is a ghost going to get an education?”

[threewaysdivided]

Idea for an Age-swap AU

We’ve recently seen some age-swap and role-swap AUs floating around the DP fandom.  The most common of these are the direct reversals, where Vlad is the teenage protagonist and Danny is the adult villain.   Now, I’m not the hugest fan of the straight-swap versions because it’s not particularly interesting or in-keeping with the canon characters.  If Danny becomes the amoral villain and Vlad the plucky protagonist then you basically just have the original Danny Phantom again, except with the characters wearing each other’s skins.

However, a version of the age-swap that keeps the characters closer to their canon personalities has great comedy potential.

Imagine this:

Young!Vlad is a disaffected but highly intelligent freshman whose ‘genius’ is seemingly unrecognised by everyone in town.  Pretty much everything sucks for him - he’s bored at home because his parents are always away on work, he’s bored in class because he finds the material too easy, the school’s head jock and posse make a policy of ruining his day, the student body president is ‘inept’, and - despite Vlad’s intelligence and apparent ability to analyse people - he never seems to make it into the spheres of the influential or popular classmates.    He’s aloof and vaguely disdainful towards everyone around him, except for his two best friends; the naive and eccentric but occasionally brilliant Young!Jack, and the beautiful and sharply intelligent Young!Maddie.  He hangs out with them partly due to their mutual interest in the paranormal, but also because Maddie is the only person in town he sees as an equal and he really wants to date her (too bad she’s always making eyes at Jack).   [If you’re looking for a reference he’s basically a cross between Sue Townsend’s Adrian Mole and Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated]

Like in the original series, the three of them attempt to build a proto-ghost portal as a step in their research.  This one goes even worse (after all, it was built by teenagers) and Jack rushing to activate it gets Vlad blasted with way more ectoplasm than in canon.  Just like the original it lands him in hospital for a bit - but in this case only a few months.  On coming back to school he is very resentful (mostly towards Jack though he’s a bit miffed that Maddie didn’t come to visit his room while he was awake) both for the accident and the Danny-like power-problems he’s experiencing.  Although in Vlad’s case he hides them from his friends and outwardly acts like everything’s been forgiven.

As he gains controls of his powers, Vlad decides to put them to use ‘correcting’ some of the ‘wrongs’ in his life; serving disproportionate comeuppance to the jocks, subtly embarrassing Jack in from of Maddie, scheming and manipulating his way through the school’s systems, and generally messing with people to alleviate his boredom.

It basically turns into a Deathnote-like moral situation, in which Vlad is a nominal ‘hero’ on the best days and an entitled, arrogant person at worst.  He may be the protagonist but he’s sure not the ‘good guy’ of this story. (He still makes himself a vampire-style suit and goes by Plasmius in ghost-mode because despite being highly intelligent he’s also a dumb 14-year-old who unironically thinks it looks cool.)

How does Danny get involved?

While Vlad is still in the nominally-heroic part of the story (dishing out retributions to people who actually had it coming, chasing away some minor ghosts that were attracted by the portal explosion, manipulating outcomes that fix genuine problems etc.) he starts to notice an older person hanging around and following him. At first Vlad’s concerned - has someone caught on?  Is it an enemy ghost?  A rival trying to take out the competition? - until Phantom introduces himself.  Danny’s a lot of things but subtle is not one of them.

Older!Danny is in his early 30s.  His parents were some of the first modern ecto-scientists and successfully built a working portal (the source of the accident that gave him his powers) but because the hauntings stayed localised near the portal (never spreading beyond his own hometown) their ecto-research didn’t reach mainstream science beyond a few ‘professional ghost-hunters’, paranormal aficionados and an obscure branch of government that mostly just makes messes bigger in their attempts to ‘contain and study all unauthorised ectoplasmic entities’.

Despite his unease, Danny is honestly happy to meet another half-ghost. He might have reservations about actual teaching (“I’ve got an Engineering degree, not a Dip. Ed.”) but he genuinely wants to help this new kid through what he remembers being a tough period of power-adjustment and guide him to use his abilities productively.   Unfortunately, Vlad is having none of it - who is this condescending fool to tell him what to do?  In his eyes Phantom is either trying to recruit him so that he can use his power (after all, that’s what Vlad would do) or he’s an idiot for wasting such potential. Actually, he must be an idiot either way because who else would try to manipulate someone of Vlad’s intelligence?

Eventually this devolves into a cat-and-mouse game in which Young!Vlad uses his brains and abilities in attempts to manipulate his way into Maddie’s affections, positions of influence and possession of powerful items, with Phantom having to step in and ‘defeat Plasmius’ before someone gets hurt.  Unlike in canon, where Vlad mostly toys with Danny to demonstrate his superiority, Young!Vlad learning techniques from their fights is intentional on Older!Phantom’s part. Phantom really wants to give this kid a chance to turn things around, and figures that letting Plasmius experiment with his powers in a relatively safe space might help Vlad get under control and avoid the temptation to do something truly stupid.  Unfortunately, all this actually does is teach his accidental-arch-rival to be a more competent villain.

Shenanigans ensue:

Vlad deliberately creating dangerous situations so that he can impress Maddie by ‘dramatically rescuing’ her from the ‘evil Plasmius’.  What he forgets is that, under her pretty face, Maddie is a top-tier asskicker - at least a third of the time the love of his life hands his ecto-hide to him long before Phantom can intervene. He’d find it attractive if it wasn’t so humiliating.

Jack also proves disturbingly competent with his ‘anti-creep stick’.  It’s literally just a baseball bat with a cross-stitched handle and the club logo sprayed on the side but Vlad still makes a point of stealing and destroying them whenever Jack makes a new one.

Maddie concludes that Plasmius and Phantom are both evil and working together.  

Vlad: “Of course, but as the older and stronger, Phantom is clearly in charge.  If we get rid of him then surely Plasmius will leave.”

This results in Vlad doing a very careful dance whenever he and Danny are in ghost mode while Maddie and/or Jack can see them.

In attempt to ‘eliminate the competition’ Vlad considers alerting the Guys in White to Phantom’s status.

Danny: “Look, kid. Vlad. If you go to them with that intel they’re going to wonder how you got it.  I might survive - my company holds the patents for a lot of their tech - but you’re a high-schooler.  You really want to risk outing both of us?”

This is one of the few things they eventually agree on: Under no circumstances is anyone to intentionally involve the GIW.

Vlad tries to recruit other ghosts in attempt to keep Phantom distracted.

This mostly consists of him failing to intimidate Skulker with his scrawny teen stature, then flattering him into it because “surely as the first and strongest of his kind Phantom would be a much worthier prize for such a skilled hunter.”

He has more luck with the resentful Yiddish vultures, although they can’t do much beyond being a nuisance.

The Box Ghost offers his services.  Repeatedly.

Vlad travels to Amity Park in attempt to steal ecto-tech from Fentonworks.  On arrival he is horrified to see just how haunted the town is due to its permanently active portal.  He beats a fast retreat after getting cornered and resolves to come back with better plans.

Vlad returns to Amity Park in attempt to recruit more minions from the thronging masses. This is somewhat successful, but a few rogue ghosts follow him home - forcing him to try to contain the situation while hiding it from Maddie and Jack.

Youngblood starts messing with Vlad’s schoolmates (interfering with some of his social schemes in the process).  As an adult Danny is incapable of seeing him, and Maddie and Vlad’s tendency to act older than their age means that Jack is the only one with a real handle on the situation.  Eventually (to his intense horror) Vlad has to do things Jack’s way to solve the problem

Jack: “You know what V-Man, I’m glad to have you back.  You’ve been so serious these last few months, I was worried you’d forgotten how to have fun!”

Vlad: *audible teeth-grinding*

Vlad refuses to swear because he thinks it’s a sign of inferior intellect and therefore beneath him.  Danny doesn’t swear because he’s desperately trying not to teach this kid any more bad habits.

Vlad makes a deal with Technus to steal some software for use in a financial scheme. Too bad that they make this arrangement in the same week that local Information Technology rising-star Tucker Foley is invited to speak at the school’s career day.

Vlad’s plans failing because his ‘superior intellect’ leads him to over-engineer excessively complex schemes.

Danny: “You know you could just have done this, right?”

Plasmius later tries Phantom’s suggestion and Danny is kicking himself because darn it I was trying to get him to knock it off, not give him pointers.

Vlad attempting subtler social schemes (e.g. overshadowing staff and student council members to make changes).  These sometimes work but other times Jack messes up the plan with his overenthusiastic support for his ‘best friend’.

Danny eventually recruiting one of Vlad’s classmates Red-Huntress-style because look, I’m running my parents company, volunteering at the observatory and trying to keep the ghosts under control.  I can’t be constantly flying to another town to make sure Plasmius isn’t bringing on the ecto-apocalypse.

Out of respect for Vlad’s privacy Danny doesn’t reveal the secret identity thing. Instead he asks them to keep Plasmius under control and also look out for Vlad Masters because the ghost might be interested in him.

What Danny didn’t notice was that this kid really doesn’t like Masters and has a pretty big grudge against Plasmius after being on the receiving end of one of his schemes.  What should have been a simple recon job instead ends up with them aggressively pursuing an intense rivalry with both of Vlad’s halves.  They also get overzealous in their ecto-hunter task and start going after Phantom as well.  So now Danny has two problems.

Jazz Fenton (a qualified and practicing psychologist in this AU) takes a job as the school’s councillor.

While there she works to convince Vlad of the benefits of altruism, tries to wheedle him into confessing his connection to Plasmius (Danny told her everything) and attempts to foil his social manipulations.  The first two aren’t met with much success but she does get in the way of the third a few times.

For his part Vlad tries different schemes to get her fired or make her leave so that he can continue plotting without interference.

Vlad sneaks into the Ghost Zone in attempt to steal a powerful item (Ring of Rage, Pandora’s box, the Fright Knights Soul Shredder etc.).  This goes about as badly you’d expect.  Unlike in canon, where Vlad bails and makes Danny deal with it, Older!Phantom drags Young!Plasmius back by the ear because you made this mess so now you’re going to help clean it up.

Phantom: “So, did we learn anything today?”

Plasmius: “I should do more research before handling powerful objects.”

Phantom: *aggrieved sigh* “You know kid, I honestly thought you were smarter than this.”

Whether Young!Vlad eventually learns his lesson or keeps spiralling until he becomes a canon!Vlad level criminal chessmaster is something that could go either way.  

What I’m getting at is:  Can someone please do a version of the age-swap AU where Vlad Masters/Plasmius is an intellectually snobbish, overly theatrical, entitled adolescent ‘mastermind’ (who isn’t quite as bright as he thinks) and Danny Fenton/Phantom is the well-intentioned and experienced adult hero (but poor teacher) who really wants to give this kid a second chance but is getting more and more done with all the villainy nonsense.