#there are SO MANY dp and dpxdc fics

[wemlygust]

I've been too busy being hung up on the fact that this fandom loves to have Danny be a trans boy or nonbinary, but at the same time Danielle is ALWAYS a cis girl even though she's Danny's clone, and even when she has Danny's memories and is supposed to be a thorough copy of him personality-wise too. If Danny is a boy (cis or trans, either way, doesn't matter) and Dani is a copy of him, then it would make sense that Dani might be a boy also, yeah? Gender may be male or otherwise. The body Dani was born in does not determine what their gender is.

Bodily form and chromosomes don't automatically tell you someone's gender, and in some contexts this fandom remembers that, but I feel like in the context of Dani everybody forgets? Somehow? And just gets swept up in "this one has boobs and a high voice so she's a girl of course!" despite all the factors that make that NOT an "of course". (Maybe because of how the show framed it like that? But DP and DPxDC fic strays from canon a lot otherwise!) Or, we could have a trans girl Dani, in which case here is a very easy explanation for why Danny's clone is a girl despite being a genetically identical clone! You could make a whole subplot about her discovering this and differentiating herself from Danny. Maybe he leaves on his usual worldwide adventure, and then like halfway through a long fic she comes back. She startles Danny this way, does Dani shenanigans related to whatever the main plot is, and then goes again, and Danny is left rearranging his mental model of Dani while he's also trying to do whatever other things he's doing. I think it'd be fun and give Dani a bit of depth in a novel way. Or we could have both trans boy Danny and trans girl Dani, or vice versa, at the same time. Maybe make them swap names and shapes and confuse fucking everyone they know; it'd be hilarious. But no. Danielle is never trans, always cis girl. Because. ?????????? I'm not condemning anyone for this at all; I think some of the authors who are all unanimously making Dani a cis girl are themselves trans, even. Even for trans people it can be hard to escape the culturally pervasive "these observable characteristics = sex = gender" brainworms. Nothing so deeply ingrained in so many cultures, and taught to everyone in a myriad ways from birth, can be easily booted from someone's brain even when they're trying their darndest. I'll grant that cis girl Dani/Ellie/Danielle is a very fun character nevertheless, though. I especially love the more chaotic/troublemaker versions of her. Finally... Lots of this also applies to Dan. I don't think I've ever encountered a trans or nonbinary Dan.

Speaking of Dan, people are always treating him like he's an older Danny, full stop, and forgetting he's also part Vlad, for some reason. /rant I love the DP and DPxDC fandoms I just wanted to vent a little about this particular thing

In the rush to punish and embarrass Superman for his actions in Young Justice (2010), the DPxDC fandom has forgotten that Danny may also have complex feelings about the invasive and horrific events leading to Dani's creation. This narrative denies him the right to process his trauma and indeed normalizes the idea that a teenager can and should be okay with a child being unexpectedly forced upon them. In this essay I will-

[starry-bi-sky]

FUNNIEST fucking shit that comes with making Danny eleven years old when he had his accident in "late at night, when the nightingale sings" is the implication following, that everything that happened in the show did too. And I fully intend on (mostly) keeping it like that. There'll be some changes (of which I need to figure out) but for the most part??? Yeah relatively the same.

Like I FULLY intend on keeping Dark Danny occurring 6 months post accident. Do you know how fucking HILARIOUS that is??? That Dan got his ass kicked by a goddamn FIFTH-SIXTH GRADER?? I'd never show my face ever again. Homeboy spent the last ten years being a one-man mass extinction event, only to get his ass beat by a kid who hasn't even lost his last baby tooth. That's hysterical. I'm losing my mind just thinking about it.

AND PARIAH DARK TOO. Imagine being an eons old tyrant capable of dragging whole towns down into your dimension, and you get singehandedly shoved back into your coffin in less than 48 hours by a kid whose bedtime is still 8:30. You didn't even have the time to expand your army! You were still trying to take over the city the kid came from!

And he just!!! Shoves you back in!! Insane! This kid hasn't even been dead for a full year yet! He's still growing in his ghost fangs! And he just knocked you flat on your ass in an oversized mech suit. What the fuck! It's like looking down and seeing a four week old kitten meowing very indignantly at you and trying to bite your feet, except that kitten is also actually a black-footed cat and they have a 60% kill success rate, and oops! Now you're dead. You took too long laughing at the kitten trying to attack you that it clawed up your pant leg and ripped out your throat.

COULD I, realistically, span these episodes out over the course of 2.5 years prior to Danny's family dying?? Yes I could! Do I think it's hilarious (and horribly traumatizing, which makes it twice as fun) to shove all of this into the span of (roughly) a year instead?? Yes. Because the show has such a skewed timeline that I've always just assumed that at the end of the show, Danny was starting his sophomore year in high school. So fuck it, lets go for it!

[ghostbsuter]

"Constantine, if you leave now, you bet I'm going to hire the best hunters in Royal name to hunt your goddamn ass down."

Seeing the man freeze, he continues, eyes hardened with determination and shoulders tense.

"You leave now, and your life is over. The observers demand your head, Connie. I could barely talk them into bringing this to court. Believe it or not, you grew on me, stupid man."

His escorts, Nightwing and Kidflash, were tense next to him. Wary of him now that he stated his intentions.

Wonder woman had her sword drawn, brows furrowed at looking between the man and the teen.

—

Or Constantine majorly fucked up that the only reason he is alive right now is because the King of the Infinity Realms (who is a child) likes watching him.

Jesus Christ.

[sleepy-grav3]

The Most Chaotic Animal to Exist: Ferrets

So, you've seen that one post about how Danny becomes the Ancient of The Void, and it's a ferret? And the reblog of him becoming friends with Space, and it's another ferret?

What if... What if there were other powerful ideas or things or whatever that were also ferrets?

Like, you know how Clockwork is the Master of Time?

What if Time was a ferret? Or MULTIPLE ferrets??? Past, Present, and Future anyone??? Or maybe one for each dimension? Or one that has the ability to duplicate???? Or maybe each thing that represents time is given a ferret: one for a clock, another for a calendar, a sun dial, stopwatches, timers-

Dreams. Each dream is a ferret. Nocturn just loves his ferrets. Or maybe it's sleep in general that's a ferret and dreams are just food for it. AND THAT'S WHY NOBODY REMEMBERS ALL THEIR DREAMS. Scientists say that people have like- 4 dreams on average in 8 hours (might've butchered that, it's been a while since I heard that bit. but it's multiple dreams nonetheless... Fever dreams are starting to make a lot of sense now...)

You know what else would be an Ancient? Luck. Like- Lady Luck. It would be funny if she was just the guardian of a bunch of gold ducks, but it would also be pretty cute if the embodiment of Luck is a ferret.

What else could be an Ancient? Idk.

But I'm thinking that this would follow the headcanon about Ancients being a Concept given existence. The Living thought them up and believed enough, but the concept or base element of it all was always there.

Then when you think about DC with deities, it all makes sense. They need belief for power and they can interact with the living realm because their believes thought they could.

On the other hand, Ancients are old concepts that been there basically forever since time in different dimensions isn't linear. They gain power just from the belief that what they're based on exists, meaning, their power is based on their assigned ferret.

City Spirits- Lady Gotham. Curses! MAGIC!!!

What if magic was a ferret too???

What if each curse residing in Gotham became ferret coded???

What if Danny becomes a shepherd but for ferrets?!

And do you know what people who can herd ferrets are called?

Business.

He's a literal business. Oh my god-

Is this a way he can survive in Gotham?!

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Made of Meat

Danny Phantom/DC (Animal Man) crossover (thank you @stealingyourbones for the prompt)

When strange, faintly glowing meat creatures start rampaging through the streets of San Diego, there's only one man to call. And when Animal Man could use a helping hand, Phantom swoops in to assist. Or, Danny Phantom and Animal Man team up to fight the Lunch Lady

Read it on AO3

[Warnings for minor violence, mentions of vomit, and repeated mentions/descriptions of raw meat]

When strange, faintly glowing meat creatures started rampaging through the streets of San Diego, there was only one man to call. 

Absorbing the power of flight from a hawk overhead, Buddy Baker, A.K.A. Animal Man soared toward downtown to confront the monsters wreaking havoc on the innocent civilians of his city, his blond hair fluttering in the wind.

By the time he arrived, the chaos was well underway. Just like the reports had claimed, several unidentified creatures were causing the brunt of the damage, each of them about four feet tall and composed entirely of raw meat, still dripping with blood and already attracting flies, with glowing red eyes and fleshy teeth. Animal Man could see pools of vomit on the sidewalks from people who had evidently been too disgusted by the creatures to hold down their lunches, but he'd seen far worse himself and wasn't bothered by the creatures' grotesque appearance.

He swooped down to snatch a little girl out of the way of one of the things and take her to the nearest screaming woman—her mother, just as he had guessed—and urged them to run. There weren't as many people downtown as Buddy would have normally expected to see at this time, probably most of them already had already run away, but a few stragglers still remained, most of them filming the incident on their phones, some hiding, none of them in immediate danger.

With his bird's eye view, Animal Man had spotted a peculiar woman in the center of the commotion. She looked confused and sickly, with greenish skin. It wasn't her appearance that bothered him, though. Something about her felt off, and it unsettled the hero in a way he couldn't quite put into words. Using the sharp ears of a bat from the nearby zoo, he could hear her even from high in the sky, demanding to know where she was and what was for lunch.

Whoever she was, Buddy was pretty sure she was the woman in charge, and these meat gremlins were her doing. If he could knock her out, or better yet, peacefully convince her to stop, her creatures would stop too.

With the strength of a charging rhino, Animal Man plowed through her meaty minions with little trouble and slammed his whole body into her, sending her flying a few feet to land sprawled on the ground. He rushed forward to pin her so she couldn't get away, and it was then that he began to realize what was so off about her.

Her skin was cold and green, her eyes glowed red, and her clothes were about forty years out of date. But even more strange that that, he didn't feel any connection to her through the Red. The Red connected all animal life, from the tiniest single-celled organism, to the biggest blue whale, and humans were included in that. Through the Red, Animal Man could absorb the powers of any living creature. 

Not this woman, though.

She looked human, and acted human... but she wasn't human.

Animal man dug deeper, trying to feel out a connection to the Green, or the Rot. It was harder for him to sense them, but all three elements were connected, and they encompassed all living things, even after death.

Except for this mysterious woman.

She wasn't fauna, or flora, or decay. And now that he was feeling through the Red, he realized that her constructs weren't connected to it either, even though they looked like they could have crawled right out of it moments before they showed up here. Buddy didn't know how that was possible, but right now, what she was didn't matter half as much as stopping her.

"I don't want to hurt you anymore," he said firmly, "but you have to stop what you're doing, or I'll be forced to. I can't let you keep attacking innocent people with your creatures. It has to stop." 

The woman scowled and stood up, her body passing right through Animal Man like he was made of air, and a chill ran down his spine and he shuddered as he fell a few inches onto the asphalt below.

"What the...?" He tried to grab her again, but he couldn't even touch her. His hands passed right through her, like he was trying to catch smoke.

"You think you can stop me?!" the woman demanded, her hair standing up and writhing like snakes on her head. The meat monsters turned as one and began to converge on Animal Man. "Today's menu is doom, and now, it's lunchtime!"

"It's four-thirty!"

Animal Man snapped his head up toward the sound of the new voice, and saw a teenager flying into view. He wore a black and white jumpsuit, had white hair, and the green glow of his eyes was visible even from a distance. The teen rocketed down and slammed his fists right into the strange woman's face, sending her skidding backwards.

"You!" she hissed, her eyes widening and pulsing red—it was terrifying in person, but Buddy couldn't help the thought that it was reminiscent of a really angry Loony Tunes character.

Immediately, her creatures turned their attention away from Animal Man, and toward the newcomer. Evidently, she and him had a history. And she'd determined that the kid was a higher priority than Buddy was.

"That's right, Lunch Lady, it's me again," the kid said, grabbing a thermos that was hanging off his belt. "And I'm here to tell you that the only thing on the menu for you today is soup!"

Whatever he planned to do with that thermos, he didn't get the chance, as one of the meat gremlins morphed its arm into a long whip and knocked it away from him.

"Ew!" the kid said, dropping a few feet to punch the nearest creature and then dry-heaving for a second. "Are these things raw? Why—eugh!" he cut himself off with a shudder as another one got close and he had to punch it. Clearly the creatures were not his bag.

"Hey kid!" Animal Man shouted, ready to offer his help.

"It's Phantom," the kid shouted back. "Wait, who're you?"

"Animal Man," he replied. "I'll keep the meat things occupied if you can deal with her."

"You sure, dude?" Phantom flew back out of the meat things' reach with a grimace, and dodged the sprays of blood they spewed up after him looking almost as green as the Lunch Lady. "These things are pretty gross. Way grosser than the last time I fought 'em."

"I've handled grosser than them," Buddy assured. "They're not a problem—but I can't fight someone I can't touch."

Phantom turned slightly to look at the Lunch Lady, who was laughing triumphantly, and got splashed in the back of the head by one of the meat creatures still bombarding him. He yelped in disgust, and Buddy pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.

"Alright, deal!" Phantom agreed, wiping the back of his head with a gloved hand. "I'll leave 'em to you, just don't let them merge with each other, or her, they become a much bigger problem that way."

"Got it!" 

Animal Man summoned up some elephant strength, leopard agility and the reflexes of a fly and ran at the creatures. The force of his punches caused them to burst apart instantly, and in the time it took one to reform itself, he could take down three more.

Meanwhile, Phantom shot upward, firing a green beam at the Lunch Lady. His head turned frantically, like he was looking for something, but he didn't seem to find it. The Lunch Lady screamed as he dive-bombed her again, this time sending her through a wall—the wall itself undamaged. She came back through it moments later, back on her feet and angrier than ever. 

As much as he wanted to keep an eye on the kid to make sure he didn't get hurt, Buddy still had to focus on his own fight. Phantom was clearly familiar with this enemy, had apparently fought her before, and he seemed like he could handle himself. None of that stopped Buddy from worrying. None of his worrying changed the fact that he had a job to do.

In his moment of distraction, one of the creatures slammed into the side of Animal Man's knee, knocking him down. He used his elephant strength to throw it off and watched it splatter into a bloody, fleshy mass against a concrete wall. 

As he rolled over to get back on his feet and resume the fight, he saw the thermos Phantom had dropped. It had rolled out of sight under the bus stop bench. That must've been what the kid was looking for! Although Animal Man had no idea what Phantom could need it for, he darted forward like a cheetah on all fours and snatched the thermos up.

"Hey Phantom!" he shouted, jumping to his feet and kicking another creature into pieces. "You need this, right?"

Phantom turned, and grinned widely when he saw what his new ally was holding. Animal Man threw it up to him and he caught it easily and uncapped it right away, aiming it at the Lunch Lady.

Animal Man punched out another meat gremlin as a blue light shone from inside the thermos, and the Lunch Lady screamed and shouted in protest as she was sucked inside. As soon as the cap was back on the thermos, the remaining creatures collapsed into piles of raw meat, covered in rocks and dirt and buzzing flies. How this mess would get cleaned up was anyone's guess.

Fight ended, Phantom flew down to where Animal Man was standing, surrounded by a ring of red meat and plucked poultry, but did not touch down on the ground. A strategic choice, although it was a bit too late for the other hero to do the same.

"Eugh, I smell like a butcher shop and I have entrails in my hair," Animal Man commented, sniffing his sleeve with a grimace. "My wife isn't gonna so much as wave hello until I take a shower, and it's gonna be hell getting the stench outta my suit."

"Oh, uh... here." 

Phantom put his hand on Buddy's shoulder, and a cold empty sensation wracked his body for a few seconds. All the gross chunks and fluids dropped to the ground, falling through him like he was made of air, just like the Lunch Lady had moved through him earlier. When Phantom took his hand away, Buddy was clean. Even the smell didn't seem to be coming from him anymore, although it still definitely surrounded him.

"Wow, thanks," Buddy said, marveling at the distinct lack of red stains on his white gloves which had been absolutely soaked in it a moment before. "That trick must come in pretty useful for you."

"Yeah, well, it's the least I could do after you helped me out," Phantom said. His shoulders hunched and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It was all my fault the Lunch Lady attacked in the first place. I was stupid and forgot to make sure the thermos was empty before I left Amity Park."

"Hey, you're not stupid; don't say that. Everyone makes mistakes, what's important is that you were able to fix it," Animal Man argued. 

Phantom smiled gratefully, and it wasn't until he took his hand away from his neck that he seemed to remember the splatter of blood and juices he'd gotten from one of the creatures and he wrinkled his nose at the red stain on his own glove. He hardly seemed to think about it as he turned himself intangible like he had to Buddy before and let the viscera fall to the sidewalk with a splat.

"So... what was she anyway?" Buddy asked, doing his best to keep a straight face. "The Lunch Lady I mean. She definitely wasn't human, I could tell that much."

"Oh, she was a ghost," Phantom replied. "I'm a ghost, too, but I'm a good guy, I swear. Sorry, I forget not a lot of people have seen ghosts outside of Amity Park. They're super common where I come from."

"A ghost, huh?"

Animal Man considered that. It would make sense. A ghost was dead, but not decaying, not made of flesh or vegetation. Not fauna, not flora, not rot. It tracked with what he had sensed from the woman before. But if Phantom was a ghost too, that meant he'd died at about the same age Buddy's own son, Cliff, had, and that sent a pang of heartache through the man's chest.

One thing didn't make sense, though. Phantom claimed to be a ghost, like the Lunch Lady, but unlike with her, Buddy could sense Phantom through the Red. It was a thin connection, like the kid was hanging onto it by a thread, but it was a solid one, too. If this kid really was a ghost, he wasn't the same as the one he'd just trapped in that thermos of his.

For a moment, Buddy thought about pressing for answers, but he quickly decided against it. It could be that the truth was too personal, or embarrassing, or even dangerous for Phantom to reveal, especially to a virtual stranger, even one who'd helped him out. Besides everyone was entitled to their secrets. Instead, Animal Man smiled at the kid and clapped him on the back.

"That's pretty cool," he said. "Say, do ghosts eat? You should come over to my place for dinner. After a hard-fought battle like that, I'd say you deserve it."

"You can eat after fighting those things?" Phantom looked down at what remained of the meat creatures and gagged.

"Trust me, if I wasn't already a vegetarian, I would be after this," Buddy replied. "My wife's making some meat-free lasagna, and we always have tons of leftovers. She usually doesn't like me taking hero stuff home with me, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind in this case."

"She knows you're a hero?" 

The open shock on Phantom's face was a bit of a surprise, but then again, he had said he was from out of town. Just because Buddy was often swarmed by local paparazzi, didn't mean he was any more than regionally famous.

"Everyone knows," he said with a shrug. "I don't keep my identity a secret. It can get annoying sometimes, but I don't really have any reason to. I'm not one of the big-shots, like Batman and Wonder-Woman. You're not from around here, so I bet you never even heard of Animal Man before today."

"Well... no...."

"Exactly," Buddy made sure to grin wide enough that the kid knew there were no hard feelings about it. "So what do you say? You coming over for dinner, or what?"

"I'd love to, but I can't," Phantom said apologetically. "I have to deal with all this meat and then my—uh... I just have other plans tonight."

"You need help with the clean up?"

Phantom frowned down at the piled of meat still surrounding the two of them. 

Maybe this really hadn't been the best place to discuss dinner plans. Man, Buddy really was desensitized to this kinda stuff wasn't he? For a guy who didn't eat meat, he sure spent a lot of time surrounded by it, both in the Red, and now here.

"Nah," Phantom decided finally. "I think I can just turn the ground intangible and phase everything down under the street level so it can decompose."

"Just turn the ground intangible, huh?" Animal Man huffed a light laugh and shook his head. "Yeah, alright, if you're sure. I should get going anyway. Stay safe, kiddo. Maybe I'll see you around again before you head back home."

"Uh..." Phantom blinked owlishly at him. "Y-yeah... you uh... stay safe too."

Animal Man smiled and nodded, and took off toward his home, borrowing the power of flight from a pigeon on a telephone wire. The way Phantom had reacted, it was almost like no one had ever said that to him before. Stay safe.

Where had he said he was from? Amity Park?

Maybe Animal Man should keep tabs on him from now on, just in case. After all, ghost or not, he was still just a teenager, and all heroes needed allies from time to time.

[luxaofhesperides]

Ghostlight!

"You came?" "You called."

Danny in trouble, Duke to the rescue! (Or it can be reversed!) Maybe they've been online friends or met in person once and bonded over both having all these unexpected powers. Slightly angst.

There was never a point when Danny thought he would need the panic button Duke gave him.

It was a sweet gesture, a way for Duke to show that he cared for Danny and wanted him to be safe. Never mind that Danny can take care of himself, heals quickly from most wounds, and has been the protector, not the protected, ever since the Accident. If it makes Duke feel better, than Danny was more than happy to keep it on him as a token of affection.

The cultists, however, caught him off guard. 

Danny would be embarrassed about being nabbed off the streets so easily if the people who took him weren’t cultists lead by the daughter of a GIW agent, one who disapproved of the scientific approach the GIW took towards ectoplasmic entities and had turned to mystic arts as a way to defy her father. Which, usually, Danny would be all for striking out against the strict expectations of parents and their unwillingness to listen to their kids in any serious manner, but not this time. Not when it ends with him slowly waking up after they chloroformed him, curled up in some magic circle, surrounded by black candles and blue flame, and something in the air that smells of blood blossoms.

There are voices speaking, but he can’t make out what they’re saying over the pounding in his head, his heartbeat stuttering in his chest with each gasping breath he takes. 

Whatever they’re doing, whatever’s got him bound in the circle, makes his blood feel like its been lit aflame, agony coursing through his veins. He tries to grit his teeth and bare it, but it doesn’t become any more manageable.

No, it gets worse the longer he’s awake.

Danny tries to move, tries to get to his feet, but all he can do is curl up tighter, a sob forcing its way out of his throat.

“I know you’ve got some connection to Phantom,” he hears someone say, both by his ear and so far away he can barely make out the words. Danny whines, trying to insist that they’re wrong, he’s got nothing to do with phantom, but the voice continues. “Come on, cooperate with us and this will end sooner for you. You can’t lie about this; you wouldn’t be feeling anything if there was no connection.” 

A hand brushes against his forehead, burning hot, and Danny turns his face towards the ground trying to move away from it. 

“I knew ghosts had to have some tie to the living world. And a living anchor would make the ghost stronger… If only dad would listen to me.” The voice sighs, and the words help him put the pieces together and realize this is the daughter of the GIW agent that came closest to finding him when he first ran to Gotham. 

It’s been close to a year since then. He thought they’d stopped looking. 

Really, he should have known better.

The hand leaves his forehead and he hears the leader bark out an order. Voices surround him, chanting, as they rise out of the dark. 

A red glow begins to fall on everything, enough that Danny can see it through his barely open eyes. A shudder runs through him, and he feels his transformation try to begin.

NO, he thinks desperately. He tries to force it down but it fights against him. It’s agony, pain on a molecular level, the feeling of dying over and over and over again.

NO, he thinks, STOP I DON’T WANT TO DIE SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME.

And then, unbidden, a single word rising in his mind. Duke.

Duke will help him if he knows Danny needs help. Duke has been kind and welcoming and helped Danny find his footing in Gotham, never judging and always quietly offering a hand in support. He’s the person Danny’s closest to in Gotham, someone dear to him, a light in the dark. 

He gave Danny a panic button.

Contrary to popular thought, Danny isn’t an idiot. He knows Duke is the Signal. A few too many incidents where Duke had disappeared and the Signal appeared to save him tipped him off. It didn’t help that Duke acted the same in and out of costume, and he always, always grabbed Danny first at the elbow, then slid his hand down to his wrist. 

Besides, who else gives panic buttons to their friends? Danny would have done the same to Sam and Tucker if they weren’t always attached at the hip. He’s a (former) teenage vigilante too, he knows how being involved in this kind of thing invites trouble into the rest of his life.

Duke can help him. He’s a hero. He’s saved Danny before.

He’s his friend. Danny trusts (wants to trust, so badly) that Duke will help him even when he’s not fully human, fully alive.

With trembling hands, he reaches into his jacket, to the panic button. It’s a simple necklace with an unassuming metal rectangle dangling off of it. It’s flat and thin, but the top gives way to a button that Danny clicks three times in quick succession. 

He waits a moment, trying to breathe through the pain, and clicks it three times again.

Please hurry, Duke, he thinks, hand falling limply to the ground. 

“Let’s try this, instead,” the leader says, and the chanting falls to a quiet murmur to give way to her voice as she begins reciting something.

It starts at his feet. They cramp up suddenly, then pain crackles up his bones like lightning, digging deep into him. It feels as if a thousand knives dig into his abdomen, cutting in deep and twisting.

Danny chokes on his breath, then screams, trying futilely to scramble away. All it does is make him writhe on the ground, back arching enough that he can feel the strain of it on his spine, but it doesn’t matter because he’s forcing down his transformation again, smothering Phantom as much as he can.

His breath mists out before him. His fingers go numb, frost spreading across the floor.

Tears slip down his face as Danny pants for breath.

It hurts. It hurts like nothing has ever hurt before, but he refuses to give in. If they find out he’s Phantom, they’ll only do worse. 

Please, he thinks again, deliriously.

As if hearing him, a window shatters above him and the cultists break off in screams. 

Forcing his eyes open, Danny squints through he tears and watches as the shadows around them rise up, roiling, and crash against the cultists. The force of it knocks them down, leaving them to claw desperately at their faces as the shadows cover their nose and mouths, cutting off their air. The leader is yelling, rage clear in her voice, shooting out magic spells at the Signal.

The Signal is usually a friendly figure. He’s safe, something whose meer presence makes people feel safe. His smile means everything’s alright and when it’s directed to Danny, he feels like nothing bad can ever happen to him again.

The Signal isn’t smiling now. 

He’s furious, expressionless and stone cold, bashing away the spells with shadows or light, advancing on the leader like an avenging angel come to deliver justice. 

He takes her out with hard hits, striking methodically. It’s not quick. She doesn’t get the kindness of being knocked out; no, he snaps a wrist, breaks her nose, slams her down on the ground and cuts off her air with a knee until her struggles die off and she’s left limp on the floor. 

When he rises, surrounded by shadows still moving restlessly, illuminated only by the flicker blue flames of the candles, he should look terrifying. 

All Danny feels is relief so sharp it worries him that his chest was cleaved in half without him noticing until now. He shivers against the floor, too weak to reach out to the Signal.

It’s a good thing he doesn’t have to. 

The Signal picks him up with careful hands, checking him over for injuries.

“Duke,” Danny murmurs, slurring a bit. The torture is definitely at fault for it, but the sudden absence of all that pain doesn’t help him sound any more coherent. “You came.”

“You called,” Duke says, “Of course I came. I’ve been looking for you for hours. You never showed up for our study date and I know you always try to reach out if you can’t make it. I’m just sorry I didn’t find you sooner.”

“S’okay, ‘m not mad. Was scared, but you made it better. The panic button…”

“It’s how I found you. I’m so glad you were wearing it today.”

Danny tries to smile, but the most he can manage is a twitch of his lips before his head tips forward to rest against Duke’s armored shoulder. “I always wear it.”

Duke’s grip on him tightens for a moment, then he begins walking, taking Danny away from the magic circles and the prone bodies of the cultists who had watched him be tortured and decided to keep going. Danny shudders again, his entire body aching. His transformation is still fighting to come out, but it’s not as strong anymore. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Duke says into his ear. “I’ll take you to the hospital.”

“No! No hospitals, please. I can’t let them know… they’ll find me…”

Duke shushes him soothingly, tucking him more securely against his chest. “Alright, Danny. No hospitals. But I am going to call Batman for a pick up to get you to one of the people we trust for medical care.”

“But Batman doesn’t work in the day.” Danny’s too exhausted to sound confused, but it must go through anyways. Duke laughs lowly, and the sound helps unwind the last of his nerves coiled up tight in fear. 

“Danny, it’s well into the night. You were gone for hours. Longest hours of my life.”

“Sorry,” he mumbles, 

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault. Hang on, Batman’s nearly here.”

In any other circumstance, Danny would be excited to meet another hero. Especially Batman, one of the original heroes of the modern age. But all he wants is to go somewhere safe so he can curl up and cry, then sleep for three days before he pretends to be a normal human again. Ideally, he’d stay with Duke until he felt safe again, but he doesn’t want to take Duke away from the city that needs him.

His ears perk up a bit when he hears the smooth rumble of an engine stop in front of them. A door opens with a click without Duke needing to grab the handle, and then Danny is carefully being deposited in the back seat.

“Wait,” he says, trying to grab for Duke’s arm only to have his fingers fumble and grab nothing. Duke doesn’t move away, though, and instead grabs Danny’s seeking hand. “Stay? Please? I just—” his voice shudders, cracks, fractures apart. “I just want to feel safe.”

There’s a pause, a stillness in the air, before Duke says, “Okay. I’ll stay.” And then he’s sliding into the backseat, pulling Danny in to lean against him, curl into his embrace.

“Signal,” Batman’s low, gravelly voice says. There’s something in his tone that makes Danny tense up, prepared to take off, and his transformation pushes at his skin, ready to come out.

“He knows who I am, B,” Duke replies. “He’s trustworthy. Besides, just because he knows me doesn’t mean he knows you.”

“We will be discussing this later,” Batman says, dark promise in his voice. It’s just how he talks, Danny’s sure, too used to years of making himself the scariest thing in the dark. That doesn’t change the fact that Batman can be terrifying, and Danny can’t imagine he’ll take kindly to the fact that Danny knows Duke’s identity.

Fear slithers up his spine, and he can’t stop the transformation this time. The rings of white light flash over his body in a second, leaving Phantom in his place. 

Danny lets go of his legs first, glad to be free from their aching weight, and without a body made of flesh and bone, the hurt begins to fade away until it’s just an unpleasant memory. 

“What—” Duke starts to say just as Batman says, “Signal—”

They must have some sort of silent exchange. There’s only a heavy tension in the car and the barely audible rumble of the engine as they drive towards their destination, whatever it may be. Danny sinks into Duke some more, sighing in relief as a hand comes up to card through his wispy white hair. 

“Danny,” Duke says, “What’s this?”

“It’s why they hurt me,” he mumbles against Duke’s chest. “It’s why they keep hunting me down. I want them to leave me alone. I’m tired.”

Embarrassingly, his voice cracks on the last word and more tears fall down his cheeks. He hears Duke move, and then hands, bare and gloveless, wipe his tears away with a gentleness that makes his heart ache.

“They won’t be able to hurt you again. You’ll be safe from now on, Danny, I swear it.”

“S’okay if I get hurt,” he says, “It always happens. Promise to save me if this happens again?”

“I’ll do whatever I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again. But if it does, then I promise to always save you. I gave you that panic button, didn’t I? As long as you keep it, I’ll always find you.”

“You’re a good person, Duke,” Danny says, voice falling quieter as his exhaustion catches up to him. “I’m glad I met you.”

He thinks he feels a soft touch to the top of his head. A kiss, maybe, though it’s not likely. But he wants comfort, and he’s endured a lot a pain so he allows himself to hope and be delusional. With the warm that spreads through him from Duke’s soft kiss to his head, Danny gives in to the siren call of slumber.

“Get some sleep, Danny,” Duke says, voice hushed. “I’ll stay with you as long as you need.”

I know, he doesn’t say, too tired to open his mouth again, You’re always here. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

He falls asleep easily after that. There’s nothing in the world that can hurt him while he’s in Duke’s arms. He’s never been safer.

[wolfjackle-creates]

WIP Wednesday

Enjoy another snippet of the fic about ghost Robin haunting Jason! I really need to think up a title. Maybe I'll brainstorm some ideas and put out a poll to see what everyone likes.

Part 1 is here

And onto part 2 (1.2k words)!

-----

Looks like he was breaking his promise to Jazz to not do any ghostly business tonight. Of course Jazz’s boyfriend would be haunted by a ghost that needed help. Why was he even surprised? He adjusted the strap of his backpack to hold it more firmly. Hopefully something he’d brought would be enough and it’d be just a matter of getting Robin alone for a few minutes.

Jazz let go of Danny’s hand to take Jason’s as he led them down a hallway. Robin tightened his grip on Alfred before letting go and giving Danny a sad smile. Both Jason and Robin would point to objects and rooms as they passed. Danny paid extra attention to the items Robin pointed out that Jason ignored: a crack in the wall, a mark that had never been painted over, the chandelier he decided to hang from for a few seconds.

Voices echoed out of one of the upcoming rooms, and Jason slowed. Jazz leaned over to whisper something in his ear. Robin had the opposite reaction and shot a grin at Danny and flew to the doorway, waving him to come inside.

Danny couldn’t help but smile back at his obvious excitement. Jazz caught his expression and narrowed her eyes at him. Oh, she was not going to let this go.

With a deep breath, Jason entered the room, Jazz and Danny right behind him. “Hey everyone, this is Jazz’s brother Danny.”

Inside, too many people were gathered on a collection of chairs and couches. One man was sitting upside down on a chair, his feet on the back cushion and head inches from the ground. He grinned at them and did a flip that somehow ended with him on his feet and halfway across the room in the space of a breath. Robin cartwheeled to him.

“Hey, Danny, I’m Jason’s older brother Dick! Glad you could make it. Jazz says you’re always busy.” He held out his hand to shake, unknowingly passing it right through Robin.

Danny couldn’t help but look at where the arm passed through the ghost, but did have the wherewithal to shake Dick’s hand.

“Dick? You really use that by choice?” The words were out of his mouth before he could think. Embarrassed, he slapped his other hand over his mouth at the same time Jazz hissed a warning at him. “Shit! I mean—”

Only to be cut off by everyone laughing. Dick waved off his apology. “My parents were immigrants and it’s what they called me. After they died, I decided to stick with it. Don’t worry, I’ve heard all the jokes.”

“He’s made most of them, too,” added another black-haired boy. This one looked to be close to Danny’s age. “I’m Tim. We’re glad you could make it. Jazz mentioned you’re usually busy with work?”

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah. But I spent the last few weeks making sure I could get tonight free with minimal chance of interruption.” Not that it worked, his eyes flicked to Robin who was now hugging Bruce Wayne, the only person of the bunch he recognized on sight. And, what was that feeling radiating off Bruce Wayne? It was like liminality, but not quite. Had he died?

“Welcome to my home, Danny,” Bruce Wayne stood and came over to shake his hand with a wide grin on his face. “I’m Bruce and these are my kids.”

“Oi! Don’t call me your kid!” protested a blonde girl. “Hey there, I’m Steph and I’m just here for the food and to give Jason a hard time.” She also felt strange. Not a ghost, but the touch of death lingered. What sort of family had Jazz gotten involved in?

The rest of the group introduced themselves. Both Damian and Cass were liminal as well. So, out of the ten people he’d met tonight, three of them had died and two were as liminal as Sam, Tucker, and Jazz.

Completely ignoring the fact that Danny was trying to come to terms with all the death in what was supposed to be a normal rich family, Robin was doing even more antics to get his attention. He greeted Dick just as warmly as he had Bruce and Alfred. Cass, Tim, and Damian were the other three he seemed to like the most, though they didn’t get hugs. He didn’t react at all to Steph or Duke. He sat on Barbara’s lap for a minute, too, before returning to Dick’s side.

No one noticed the ghost desperate for their attention. Not even Jazz.

Barbara took the time to point out where the drinks were located and Danny looked over the selection of pop before grabbing a coke. He closed his eyes at the satisfying sound of the tab opening and sighed at the first taste.

One of the boys laughed and said, “You’re acting like you haven’t had a coke before.”

“Nope. I’m acting like I love coke and haven’t had any pop at all in ages.” He plopped down on a couch next to Jazz who ruffled his hair.

“Have you been traveling that long?”

Danny shrugged. “How long ago was our last phone call?”

“You don’t remember? Last week.”

“Grandpa had me doing favors for him. He dropped me off this morning.”

Jazz huffed in the way that indicated she was very annoyed. But it’s not like Danny could just not do the things Clockwork asked of him. Besides, his most recent trip was fun. He’d gone to another planet! He couldn’t wait until he could tell Jazz all about it.

Jason looked at them curiously. “You’ve never mentioned a grandfather before, Jazz.”

“Oh, he’s not really our grandfather. Just someone who helped Danny out once and decided to stick around. They’ve gotten close over the past few years. He’s fond of me, too, but we don’t have the same relationship.”

“Grandpa’s great. If infuriating at times. But favors for him are always interesting.”

“Next time feel free to invite him,” offered Bruce.

The image of Clockwork in Wayne Manor caused Danny to snort into his coke. “I don’t think he’d fit in here,” was all he said. Though maybe Robin would appreciate another ghostly visitor.

Dick did a cartwheel and landed upside down on an armchair. “What, too uptight for the likes of us?”

The last prank he and Clockwork had played on the Observants played in his mind and he smiled wider. “Not at all. You just come from different worlds.”

“I’ll have you know I grew up on the streets in Crime Alley.”

“I was a circus performer.”

“I was raised a rich kid through and through, but I hardly spend times in the upper echelons of society.”

“My dad’s in prison.”

“I’m a librarian.”

“I’m a foster kid.”

Danny held a hand up and laughed. They were still from different worlds, but he couldn’t explain he meant Earth versus the Infinite Realms. “I get it, I get it. I’ll let him know next time.”

“If he’s still in the area, you should invite him,” said Dick. “Alfred’s food is to die for.” Robin was hanging upside down next to Dick nodding solemnly.

Danny tried to stop himself, he really did. He even managed to keep from saying he’d been there done that, but he couldn’t keep from laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe.

-----

Part 3

And for the tag list!

@addie-lover-of-stories, @justwannabecat, @gin2212, @amercurio, @regonold, @overtherose, @readerzj, @sjrose1216, @echoednonny, @deeterzz, @blu-lilac, @number-one-jew

[sagetsukimura]

So, um

Broken Bonds by SleepingDead is really good, and I highly recommend it

Emotional, really well written, long chapters, amazing characterization. Unfinished, but holy crap it's a good read. I can't wait for more, it's been a rollercoaster of feelings and I'm tap dancing just thinking about it lol

So if you're looking for something to read ...

[phantomskeep]

The Spirit of Gotham is a lesbian.

Pariah Dark is a seahorse dad.

These are now the facts of life, thank you for coming to my DP x DC TedTalk.

[prfctparis]

I’d Give You My Lungs So You Can Breathe (I’ve Got You, Brother) [CH2]

AO3 Link / Ch1 / Next / Masterlist

summary:

Danny Fenton was adopted at age ten, with little to no memories about his former family. At age fourteen, he died yet lived and those memories began to return. He didn’t do anything about those memories – didn’t plan to, at least not yet – but then he got captured by the GIW, saved by his friends and someone who might be his sister who he only somewhat remembered, and taken to Gotham to, apparently, his biological father for safety until further notice.

Team Phantom was there, too, and they did not sign up for this family drama.

a/n:

here’s chapter 2!! ch3 will be up in a few days :)

warnings for entire fic:

canon-typical violence of the DC variety; angst; memory loss/repressed memories; do i need to say major character death(s) or is that just a given for this fandom; questionable parenting tho every parent is trying to do good & care for the kids; implied/referenced past child abuse bc of the child assassin backgrounds; pls tell me if i missed something

CHAPTER SPECIFIC WARNINGS: mentioned/implied vivisection, but i don’t go into detail; athanasia mercilessly kills so many people; violence; blood; i think that’s it?

CHAPTER TWO —

When the first appearances of the Guys in White were seen back in October, Danny had no idea it would lead to this—

Locked to a metal table with scientists surrounding him and two assassins on guard at the door.

That was really all he was aware of. Everything else? Only pain. A dull burning pain that went throughout his entire body, and the cause was the IV attached to his arm. The contents were unknown, but Danny knew some percent of it was made out of blood blossoms – just enough that it didn’t kill him; just enough that it rendered him useless against them.

A metal mask covered his mouth and nose. It kept him from speaking, or biting, or screaming.

There were one or two other things that did something�� Danny didn’t remember. It’s all been so fuzzy lately. It made something in the back of his mind panic.

More pain washed through him. It was worse this time, like it always was. Each day hurt a little more. Each day he got a little weaker.

What were they doing to him?

Danny squeezed his eyes shut. He breathed through it the best he could.

His chest ached, as if there was an open wound.

He peeled opened his eyes.

Oh. Right. That’s what they were doing to him.

Vivisection…again.

Lovely.

He distantly heard the door open. The scientists began to speak; a conversation started above him that wasn’t about his guts, for once. He did his best to focus on listening to them.

“…ill haven’t found the ghost’s core…” one said. “There is a high chance he won’t survive another operation after this one.”

“As long as he survives this one,” a different voice said.

And it was…familiar? Why–

A hand touched his hair. He flinched involuntarily, eyes rapidly blinking. When his vision focused and he trailed his eyes upward, fear gripped him instantly.

“I want the pleasure of killing you for good, Phantom,” the face from his nightmares spoke. “Or should I say,” the grip on his hair tightened and the man sneered, “Dányál.”

+++

Voices filtered through the vent grate from the room they were over. Three people were at the console; in front of them, multiple screens showing the security camera’s feeds played before the operatives’ eyes. A few of them were loops, curtesy of Tucker Foley and his way with technology.

Two more people were in the security room, as well, but they didn’t speak. Athanasia could just make out the edges of their shadows from where they stood at the door. They stood stock still; posed and ready to begin fighting at a moment’s notice.

Three GIW Operatives. Two members of the League of Assassins. Five in total.

She’s had worse odds.

Mentally, she quickly devised a plan that wouldn’t get them caught, and then acted.

Ever so slowly and quietly, she lifted the grate. One of the GIW operatives stood up and stretched. The man moved to stand directly under the grate, unaware of Athanasia and unknowingly making this a bit easier – something she was definitely not going to complain about.

She dropped out of the vent, directly on top of the operative and consequently knocking him out. Drawing one gun from the holster on her back, she shot the two League of Assassins members before they could even react. Thanks to the silencer on it, the gunshots were barely audible, and two bodies fell to the floor with twin thuds.

She then threw two manji shurikens at the operative who reached to call in reinforcements. One went into the back of his hand, and the other his forearm. At the same, the third operative rushed at her. Just in time, she dodged to the side and pulled out a dagger, finding a home for it in the man’s gut, slicing upwards. She trained the gun on the one she threw the shurikens at, and a bullet landed right between the eyes, slumping in the chair he never got a chance to get out of.

The man she landed on began to move. She stomped on his temple with the heel of her boot, hard enough to kill. The man went limp immediately.

“It’s safe,” she called, and moved two of the bodies from underneath the vent. Blood was already pooling and made sure not to step in it. “Do not land in the blood, unless you want to be the one to get us caught by tracking red footprints everywhere.”

Red Huntress, AKA Valerie Gray, came down first. She whistled lowly as she took in the room. “Damn,” she muttered. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were an assassin.”

Next came Samantha Manson as Athanasia went to move the two LoA members from the door. She glanced over her shoulder as Manson said, “You didn’t believe her with all the weapons she carries?”

Red Huntress slipped off her helmet. “Excuse me for not immediately believing someone when they tell me they’re the long lost twin assassin of our friend. Which, by the way, I’m still iffy on the twin thing. You’re too different.”

Athanasia raised an eyebrow. “Wow, it is almost as if we are fraternal twins with different personalities, and have been separated for eight years.”

Red Huntress rolled her eyes. “Geez, okay. Chill with the smartass-ness.”

“Look, I understand your distrust, Valerie,” Manson said, “and I didn’t believe it at first, either, but who else could she be?”

“You can still be a genetically altered clone,” Tucker Foley said from where he was wiggling out backwards of the vent. “Like Ellie.”

“I can promise you that I am not.”

“Not helping, Tucker.”

Foley finally fell down. Athanasia was quick to move, and placed a hand on his shoulder as he became unbalanced.

“Don’t put your left foot down,” she ordered.

He froze. “Um.”

She turned him until he wasn’t about to step in a puddle of blood, and then let go. “Okay.”

He hesitated, but did put his foot down. Then, he took a large side step away from both the blood and Athanasia. “Thanks,” he said, a little awkwardly.

She nodded once. Then, turning on her comm while wiping off her dagger on her pant leg and sheathing it, she said, “Weston, do you copy?”

Foley moved to the many consoles of the computers. He sat down in a chair, the furthest from the one with the dead body, and pulled out equipment from his backpack. Manson followed and watched the screens with a keen eye, and Red Huntress stayed near the door, though watched the camera feeds as well.

“Loud and clear, Phantom’s twin,” Wesley Weston replied. “Your get away car and it’s driver are in position.”

“Good. Stay connected to this line. Depending on how fast everything goes down, we will need extraction at a moment’s notice.”

“You got it, dude.”

“Have I mentioned how nice these comms are?” Foley questioned. “Because I’m in love with them.”

“Only about a hundred times,” said Manson.

“Can you blame me? Even scrambling their signature with ectoplasm, the sound is so clear. No type of ghostly feedback whatsoever. I need them for myself once we’re done here.” As he talked, he worked on connecting with the GIW’s system, hacking away undetected. “Where did you get them?”

“I stole one from Batman and then replicated it.”

Silence fell. Foley froze for a second time, and Manson’s expression turned into shocked disbelief. Red Huntress mouth parted in surprise.

Then, all at once, they began speaking.

“No way you did that–.”

“You’ve met Batman?! Do you know his identity because I have a theory–”

“Everything you say makes me more confused–.”

“You replicated tech from Batman?!”

“Guys. Guys!” Athanasia raised her voice. “Focus,” she snapped. “We are on a time limit, here.”

“But–”

“Shut up, Weston,” she ground out.

Wesley let out a disappointed sigh.

“The shift changes in forty-five minutes,” she reminded them. “Unless we want GIW operatives and more assassins to find us earlier than planned, I suggest we get to work on saving Danny.”

That settled things down quickly.

Part of her regretted not doing this by herself, which had been the original plan, even way back when she first heard her twin was within GIW custody. She had been so tempted to go in there with no plan at all, to find Danny and get him out. But she wasn’t familiar with the GIW. Luckily, she knew who was, and she went to them.

(Neither Manson or Tucker trusted her, or even believed her, those first couple of weeks.)

Even still, she sent a message to Damian asking him to look up the Ghost Investigation Ward. She didn’t get an immediate response from him – not like it mattered. The moment Danny’s best friends allowed her to work with them on saving him, Foley had created a device that scrambled any and all tech to keep them from the GIW’s eyes, and consequently everyone else outside of their area.

And then she learned the League of Assassins were working with the GIW, for some reason.

She tried to back out, to convince them to let her do this part by herself. The League was dangerous, simply put, and she didn’t want anyone, especially the people Danny cared most about, to get hurt or worse by them. But Danny had a good group of friends who were particularly stubborn and headstrong. As annoying as it was, she did like that about them. It meant they weren’t going to give up the search anytime soon.

Valerie Gray and Wesley Weston joined in on the mission a few weeks ago, when she and Manson and Foley were finalizing the plan. They realized it would be best to bring in another person or two, just in case.

And so, she was stuck with what they deemed as ‘Team Phantom’. A group of not so regular teens from a haunted town, who were definitely a little odd but trustworthy.

Team Phantom was good – each of them in their own ways.

So, as much as she regretted this, she also was glad she decided not to go in alone. It was easier. Nicer.

They also may be growing on her. Like mold, or moss, or fungi, or something.

She didn’t really know how to feel about that.

“Okay,” Foley mumbled. “Let’s see… Ah, 3D floor plans. Sweet.” He pulled up the floor plans on his laptop. “So we’re here,” a green dot appeared on the 3D floor plan where the security room was, “on the first floor. These are the exits,” he highlighted them in a light orange, “and the far left ventilation shaft on the roof is where we came in,” it was highlighted a darker purple while the rest of the vent system became more of a lilac color, “There’s three floors, not including what seems to be a secret basement. It’s not on the original floor plans I found, but it is on here and there are cameras.”

“That’s probably where they’re keeping Danny,” Red Huntress said as she walked up.

Foley pulled up the basement cameras. Empty holding cells filled up three of the screens. All of them were closed, except for one. The door was left open, with only part of a thin mattress on a metal frame in sight because of the angle.

“Are there any cameras for the room at the end of the hall?” Manson asked, cutting into the disappointed silence. She pointed at one screen, where a inconspicuous door could be seen.

Athanasia kept her eyes on the screens as Foley worked. Worry are her up alive on the inside, but she refused to show it.

“…No,” he said, and the disappointed silence returned.

“That’s not suspicious at all,” Red Huntress muttered sarcastically.

“Yes, there has to be a reason there are no cameras,” agreed Athanasia.

The other girl suggested, “I can check down there after I comb through the first floor like we originally planned.”

She frowned a little. “It may be heavily guarded.”

“I regularly fight ghosts. This is nothing.”

“From what the cameras can see, the basement doesn’t have many guards,” said Foley. “Operatives are walking around, and maybe one or two of those assassins, but other than that there’s no one.”

“Then Danny’s not there,” Manson said.

“If you really are up to it,” started Athanasia, “you should still check it out, Red Huntress. Perhaps there might be something the Doctors Fentons left behind before Danny was able to send them to the Infinite Realms.”

If that was where they were. Manson and Foley explained to her that had been the original plan when Danny went to save them.

Red Huntress nodded with determination. “I’m up for it, definitely.”

“Which floor is most heavily guarded?”

Foley’s eyes went from the security feeds to his computer, back and forth again and again. “From what I can tell from the cameras, they’re all equally distributed on each floor. Definitely one of the top floors, though.”

“There are some labs on the second floor,” Manson commented. She pointed at another screen, where one operative entered a room as he held some sort of vial and clipboard. She then pointed to a different feed from the same floor, where it showed a couple of operatives leaving a room with mechanics of some sort. “I’ll take this floor. Destroy what they have by planting the bombs, take what may help us figure out how to fight against them better, and what they might have gotten out of Jack and Maddie.”

“So, that leaves Athanasia with the third floor, and me here corrupting any files in their system they about Danny and ghosts in general, while also leading you guys around to avoid getting caught,” Foley concluded. “Right?”

“Right,” the girls chorused.

“Send Weston a file of the 3D floor plan,” Athanasia ordered. “It will aid him in knowing the possible exits he might have to meet us at.”

“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that,” Wesley said.

“I figured.”

“Hey, rude.”

She ignored him. She went over to the body in the chair, and took back her manji shurikens. Like she did with the dagger, she wiped off the blood on her pant leg, and put them back in their respective sheaths along her thigh, nestled with the others.

Mentally, she quickly made note of her other weapons. The gun holstered on her right thigh, and the dagger sheathed on the calf of the same leg; the twin swords sheathed in an X on her back; two more guns holstered at her lower back, which were made with knives that came out of the grip when needed. She had hidden types of shurikens, a small knife hidden in the sole of both boots, and not to mention her fists and feet and teeth. (Biting was very effective, okay?)

Red Huntress had her usual weapons, plus the bombs, as did Manson and Foley. Athanasia made sure they knew how to handle them correctly one more time.

And then the search and rescue began.

Red Huntress parted with Athanasia and Manson at the security room’s door. Foley led the former one down the hall, while the latter two were led to the staircase. One floor up, and Manson parted from her to scope out the second floor.

Foley spoke the most, informing them of incoming GIW or LoA people. Red Huntress gave a few updates on the bomb placements, and Manson, after having slipped into the first empty room on the second floor, told them she found pieces of a prototype of the Fenton’s portal machine.

“Take the important pieces if you know what they are. Place a bomb on the rest to destroy them,” Athanasia told her.

“I’m taking the blueprints, too. We can check to see if they’re at all accurate with Danny later,” replied Sam.

“Where the hell did he come from,” Foley’s voice came through, confusing the girls.

“What? Who?” Manson asked.

“Some regal, evil looking dude is in the basement. I think he came out of the room that doesn’t have cameras, but I’m not one hundred percent sure… Is it just a thing that bad middle aged men have pointy-ish hair?”

Athanasia faltered three steps away from reaching the third floor. “What.”

“Plasmius’ hair curls up, so it sort of looks like devil horns or something. This guy’s hair is similar but not as dramatic, and the points are more on the sides than the top of his head, but I think it’s because it’s just slicked back. Guy’s got a thing for dark green, too.”

Dread began to fill her gut.

“Maybe I can meet him half way and beat some answers out of him,” Red Huntress bit out.

“Do not,” Athanasia hissed. “Stay the hell away from that man, and do not go into the basement until he is out.”

“Why not?” asked Manson. “It’s just an old dude, apparently. We have experience fighting them.”

“Unfortunately,” Red Huntress grouched. “Is he another Vlad? Because I do not want to deal with that.”

“He’s getting in the elevator, so Val should be safe if–.”

“If you go against him, you will die. What floor is he going to?”

“Let me get into the right elevator’s cams… It looks like he pressed for the third floor.”

Her breath hitched, and Athanasia cursed in Arabic under her breath. A sneer formed on her face. She took a step back, only to nearly slip off of the step. Quickly, she rebalanced and turned, and hurried back down the stairs.

��Maybe it wasn’t him. Maybe she jumped to conclusions too fast.

“Is he gray at the temples? Tall? Goatee minus the chin hair and mustache?”

“Um… yeah.”

Okay. She didn’t jump to conclusions.

“Okay,” she muttered. “Okay,” she repeated in Arabic.

“Atha–.”

“Do not use my name,” she spoke so fast she wondered if they even understood her. “Call me…” Her mind went to the few times she aided Red Hood in Gotham from the shadows. She knew that he knew she was there, but neither one of them spoke to each other or made it known to the civilians, which freaked them out a bit when a bad guy would be impaled out of nowhere. A few had started to use a name for her. “Use Shrike.”

“Is everything okay?” Wesley asked.

The others answered ‘I don’t know’ in varying ways at the same time.

Fear gripped at her, causing her mind turn into a whirlwind. She did her best to calm down so she could think rationally about this, but the only thing her brain could truly focus on was that Ra’s al Ghul was here. Her grandfather. The man who ran a sword through her twin’s chest with no remorse.

And if he’s here… He knew Danny was alive. There was absolutely no way that he didn’t.

She didn’t plan for this. Stupid. How did she not think of the possibility of Ra’s being here?

“You all continue with your parts of the plan, except for Red Huntress. I will be going to the basement in your place; stick to the first and second floors. No one is touching the third floor.”

“Now, wait just a minute–.”

“I will not wait–.”

“Um, it’s a figure of speech–,” Foley tried, but Athanasia continued over him.

“I know that, and my statement still stands. Follow my orders unless you want to die by the sword of the Demon’s Head. Are there stairs to the basement?”

A beat of silence.

“…No. Only the elevator.” Just as she reached the stairwell’s door, Foley added, “Two assassins are about to enter your location, Ath– um. Shrike?”

Athanasia ducked behind the door as it opened. Keeping her footsteps light, she stayed next to the door as it moved to close, out of their immediate line of sight. When the door shut all the way, she lunged with her dagger in hand, grabbing one assassin from behind. One hand covered their mouth while the other lifted her to slit their throat.

Assassin #2 immediately noticed what was happening, and drew a sword to attack. Athanasia used the first one as a shield before shoving the body away as she drew one of her own swords. It didn’t take long for her to overtake Assassin #2, though they did get a couple hits in. She now had a cut on her cheek, and a bruise forming on her side from a harsh kick.

Before speaking, she muted her comm.

“Pathetic,” she sneered, holding Assassin #2 against the stairwell’s railing by her forearm on their chest and sword against their neck. “Is this really what the League has become? I was expecting a harder fight.”

“You,” they hissed, a little bit shock on their features and disbelief in their voice. “You are supposed to be dead.”

“Are you really surprised?” she questioned. “Look at who my grandfather is. But that is not what I am here for.” The blade pressed harder against skin. “I am here for Phantom. Where is he? What does the League want with him?”

“Why should I tell you? You will just kill me after.”

“And you think I will let you live if you refuse?”

The assassin raised their chin in defiance. “There is a reason you left the League, no? It is the same one why Ra’s killed your brother. The Terror Twins – both too soft and weak to follow simple orders. You and him are the pathetic ones. Not us.”

Athanasia raised an eyebrow. She didn’t verbally rise to the bait. She merely pulled back enough to where she kept the assassin in place with the sword, and removed her other arm. In a flash, Assassin #2 moved to knock the sword away, but she was faster. She drew out a gun and shot them in both knees and one shoulder.

Assassin #2 crumpled with a shout of pain.

Sword now sheathed but the gun still on hand, she bent down and lifted him back up by gripping his hair.

“That,” she began, “That was me being nice. You seem to have forgotten who I am: Athanasia al Ghul, daughter of Talia al Ghul and the greatest detective in the world, and granddaughter of Ra’s al Ghul. I was trained as a potential heir, and lead the Demon’s Fist. I am the Demon Princess of the League of Assassins, dead or alive, and let me be clear that I have not lost my touch over the years I have been gone. I know multiple ways to kill you before you can take your next breath, before you even know what is happening.

“You think I will not kill you if you refuse to give me answers? Perhaps not immediately, but I will leave you writhing in pain until it is the one thing you beg for, and who’s to say I will do it even then.

“So. Let’s try this again.” Her finger flicked the button on her gun that released the knife in the grip. The blade pressed against Assassin #2’s neck hard enough to draw blood. “Where is Phantom?”

For a moment, she thought they weren’t going to answer. Then, resigned and obviously mad about it, they told her, “There is a floor below the basement. Phantom is there.”

“See? Now was that so hard?”

The assassin stared with a heated glare. Before she could act properly, they raised their good arm and slashed at her. The knife cut into the forearm that held her gun, and instinctively she dropped it as she moved away. They lunged for a killing stab at her chest, but by then she was ready to block the attack. One hand still gripping their hair and the other now holding back the hand wielding the knife, she twisted the wrist until it broke and bashed their head into the edge of the steps.

Assassin #2 went limp.

Were they breathing? She didn’t know, nor did she care.

Careful of her now wounded arm, she picked back up her gun. The knife went back in its hiding place, and she put the gun securely in the holster. Then, she turned back on her comm.

“I know where he is.”

+++

Getting to the basement was easy. With Foley’s help, she avoided operatives and assassins on the way to the elevator, and that was that. He also unlocked the door at the far end of the basement’s hall. It had been locked via a hidden mechanical lock that she would have needed false identification for if Foley wasn’t with them. It took only just under two minutes, and then the door opened with ease.

Athanasia took a step into the doorway, and then froze.

“Shrike?” Foley asked. “Why did you stop?”

“Is she in the room?” Manson asked.

“She just, um, froze in the doorway. Are you okay? What is it?”

“…I am,” she said. “But I think it’s better if I do not tell you.”

A League issued torture room. Nothing about it said it was for the Ghost Investigation Ward.

The only thing that eased her mind a little was that it obviously hadn’t been used in a while.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and then continued on. Soon enough, she found a hidden staircase, and went down without hesitation.

“I’ve got no eyes on you, Shrike,” Foley reminded her. “Stay safe.”

“Give ‘em hell,” Manson said.

“With pleasure,” she replied back.

The hall she entered from the stairs was reminiscent of a League base. Her fingers twitched, an uncomfortable feeling settling in her stomach at the sight. Pushing that aside, she walked down the hall at a steady pace towards two LoA members guarding double doors.

They noticed her immediately. It quickly became a fight of two against one, but it ended just as fast. She picked up their respective swords and twirled them in her hands as she walked to the double doors, kicking them open.

Everything and everyone in the room stopped.

Athanasia didn’t give them a chance to act first. The two assassins that guarded the inside began to fight back almost instantly, but it took the GIW operatives and scientists a few seconds to do the same.

The fight was brutal. Against the most people so far today, though it wasn’t necessarily hard, it was the longest one yet. They used their numbers to their advantage and attempted to overwhelm her, but Athanasia was quick to improvise and seek out the weaker of the fighters first.

By the end, Athanasia was out of breath and bloodied (some hers, some splatters from the assassins and operatives) and bruised. There was even a burn or two from the ectoplasmic guns the GIW wielded. The two swords of the League members from the hallway were impaled through two of the scientists that had been standing over her twin.

Dányál – Danny. Currently in his Phantom form. He was strapped, locked in, on a sleek medical table and a mechanical mask over the bottom half of his face. A y-shaped wound on his torso was only partly stitched, and there was an IV of unknown substance stuck into one arm. His expression was scrunched up in pain, white hair matted with sweat and eyes squeezed shut and jaw visibly clenched even through the mask.

Athanasia pushed aside the part of her of that wanted to be sick, and rushed to his side. She carefully pulled out the IV first, locking the tube so no more liquid would get out. Then, she went to the mask.

Danny flinched back.

She halted her movements.

“Dányál,” Athanasia spoke shakily, and corrected to, “Danny,” when his expression twisted even more. “Akhi, it’s me. I have come to help you get out of here,” she said with forced steadiness in her tone.

His eyes cracked open, the usual icy blue currently a Lazarus green. There was no recognition in them. Only confusion.

She knew that would be the case, but it still hurt.

She held up her hands to show that she meant no harm. Hopefully the blood splattered on them wouldn’t cause him to freak. And to her relief, he didn’t. He slumped a little, as much as he could with already laying on the table, and she began to work on removing the mask. After flipping a few latches, it came undone with a hiss and she tossed it to the floor.

Danny gasped, jaw dropping open. He went to speak, only for his voice to get caught in his throat and cause a coughing fit.

“I think it will be best if you don’t speak,” Athanasia murmured, and moved to unlock him from the table.

The coughing subsided, then turned into groans and hisses of pain.

“My name is Athanasia,” she introduced herself. “I am here with your friends – ‘Team Phantom’ as they call themselves.” The cuffs released him, but he still had GIW issued bracelets of sorts on his wrists. It affected his abilities, if the fact that he wasn’t healing fast was any indication. The others explained he had a super fast healing ability, and right now it seemed to be nonexistent. “We are here to get you out. No matter what.”

Danny groaned. “Still… Still hurts.” His voice was rough and hoarse.

Athanasia didn’t know what to say to that. So, she smoothed back sweaty bangs from his forehead, something she knew Mother did the few times she was allowed to comfort them when no one was around, and looked around the room. A table of medical supplies were nearby. Ignoring the scalpel, she grabbed a roll of gauze and bandages. (As well as an empty vial, which she filled up with the stuff that was in the IV.)

Carefully, she helped Danny sit up.

He hissed in pain again. It shifted into a whine.

“Sorry,” she said sincerely. “This will may hurt some more. Prepare yourself.”

“Hurts,” he mumbled. “The blood…”

“There is a lot of it,” she muttered. “On both of us.”

Athanasia wrapped the gauze around his torso as quick as she could, hoping it was tight enough to stall most of the bleeding but also loose enough that it wouldn’t unravel. When she finished, she allowed him to lean against her.

She soon noticed the lack of speaking in her ear. With a slight frown, she touched the comm, and was instantly met with Team Phantom talking over each other. She must have turned hers off without realizing while fighting.

“He’s here, and alive,” Athanasia spoke. “What the hell are you guys yelling about?”

All at once, they quieted. Then—

“Oh, thank the Ancients!” Foley exclaimed. “Don’t go offline like that again!”

“…I’ll think about it,” Athanasia said, vaguely confused. Why were they so worried? She handled everything just fine. “But it’s time to get out of here.” She paused as she helped Danny off of the table, only for him to nearly collapse. She cursed, ducking to place his arm over her shoulders to hold him up that way. “…And maybe someone should come down and help me. Danny will not be walking on his own anytime today.”

+++

Leaving the hidden headquarters of the Ghost Investigation Ward was not as easy as infiltrating it. (Although, it was easier than those months of searching for it – it was hell, never knowing if they would ever track the new location down). One of the assassins who guarded the outside of the medical room Danny had been in, was able to find just enough life in themself to send an alert out about intruders.

The two basement floors quickly became a point of interest for GIW operatives and LoA members alike.

Athanasia fought like hell, though her moves were limited. Keeping them away from her twin brother and fighting at the same time was tough. He was practically limp against her side, and from his feet movements, she knew he was trying to move on his own, but – body weakened and powers snuffed out because of the GIW cuffs – he was unable to do much of anything.

She made it to the first floor of the basement eventually, injured more than she’d like to admit. Her hair was falling out of the high pony she had put it in, the ecto guns gave her burns, there were new cuts and what may be more accurately described as gashes, and a few new bruises as well. Danny unfortunately got hit once or twice in the crosshairs.

That led her now.

Athanasia al Ghul didn’t let herself be cornered often. But to keep her twin safe? She’d do it a thousand times more. Danny, on his feet, was slumped against the wall behind her. She stood directly in front him, guns with the knives drawn and aimed at the group of enemies. She was not letting them touch Danny again.

Before anyone had a chance to act, the elevator door dinged open. Everything paused. Tucker Foley stepped forward just enough to stop the doors from closing.

Everyone stared.

He waved. “Hi.”

Red Huntress and Sam Manson jumped from a lone vent grate from the ceiling, using the confusion Foley caused to their advantage. From there, it was back to fighting.

When she suggested someone to come help her, this was not what she had in mind, necessarily. She wasn’t complaining, though.

Red Huntress judo flipped an assassin into an operative. They went down like bricks into a third person.

“Go!” Manson shouted. “We’ve got this, A– Shrike! Get him out of here!”

Athanasia hesitated, but listened. As much as she was wary of them handling themselves against the League and wanted to help, she wanted to get Danny out of there more.

Lifting him up bridal style after putting her guns away, she muttered an apology when the movement tugged on his injuries, and then ran for the elevator Foley held open. As she got closer, he ducked in and spammed the close button. She slid in right as it began to close, kicking Foley to one side of the elevator as she pressed herself to another.

Three ninja stars struck the wall they were just in front of.

The doors shut.

They stared at them in silence as Foley pressed the ‘1’ button.

“How did you…?”

“They can be predictable sometimes,” she admitted.

Foley ‘huh’ed. “Well… Thanks.”

Once the elevator stopped and opened, they were back to running. Foley used his Fenton Works weapons he had to take out whoever tried to attack them.

“Main entrance, Wesley!” Athanasia shouted into the comms.

“But that’s the most obvious one?” he questioned, though she heard the vehicle start in the background.

“It’s the closest one– hey! Watch the face, man!” Foley shot at an assassin who tried to hit him with shurikens. They went down immediately with a pained groan.

Just then, a large green blast burst through the hallway’s floor. Athanasia stopped, boots squeaking against the floor, and Foley’s halt was more of a stumble than anything. Before they could question what was happening, Red Huntress flew up on her board with Manson balanced behind her, the girls back to back. Red Huntress shot her large ecto-gun back down the hole.

“How you like that, assholes?!”

Manson fiddled with what looked like tiny rockets on her wrist. “Let’s go, let’s go!” She shot one down the hall behind Athanasia and Foley, right at another group of operatives.

Foley backed up, then ran and leaped over the hole, bolting to the main doors of the headquarters. Athanasia did the same, stumbling a little on the landing, but she recovered quickly, and mumbled another apology when the jostling caused Danny more pain. Red Huntress and Manson followed on the former’s hover board.

As they got closer to the doors, a line of League members convened in front of them. None of them stopped running as Red Huntress shot at them, and then again at the door.

“Setting the timer on the bombs,” Manson told them just as they got outside. “Twenty seconds.”

“Wes, where–”

Tires skidding on pavement interrupted Foley. A black van came to an abrupt stop ten feet away, and the back door opened. “Right here!” he yelled from the driver’s seat.

Foley helped her get Danny in the van first, carefully placing him on the second row. They then piled in with the door shutting behind them, and Wesley peeled off, the other two girls zooming in the air to follow.

The bombs went off.

The previously hidden GIW headquarters went up in flames.

“Any followers?” asked Athanasia. She opened the sun roof, and moved to the front seat as Foley maneuvered the backs of the second row to fold backwards.

Manson dropped onto the roof of the van, and then into the vehicle itself. “Not that I saw,” she said.

“Hm.”

“I’m going to make the van invisible just in case, though.”

“For how long?” Wesley asked.

“As long as I can.”

Foley spoke up from where he now sat, with Danny’s head cushioned in his lap, “Don’t overdo it, Sam. You’re still new to magic.”

“No promises.” Manson got situated in the third row of seats. “I’m not letting those fruitloops find us, Tucker.”

Red Huntress then came into the van, board disappearing as she did so. “I think the explosion will be keeping them busy for a while.” She slipped off her helmet, eyes falling to Danny while she sat at his feet. “How is he?”

Foley shook his head. “In bad shape.”

Athanasia frowned, and from a pocket pulled out the vial of the stuff from the IV. “This was in an IV they were giving him. I have no clue what it is, but I believe it was harming him.”

He took the vial with a frown.

“We need to get him someplace safe,” Valerie Gray said. “Or… You guys do. That is, if the plan is still for Wes and I to go back to Amity Park and Ellie.”

Foley nodded. “Yeah, it is. Get to Amity Park, and tell Ellie to find Jazz – she’s been out of the loop for too long.”

Gray winced. “Oh, she’s gonna pissed.”

“I know where we can take him,” Athanasia told them. She reached to the built in GPS to start inputting the address. “He will be safe there, and they will help us keep him safe.”

“Are you sure?” Foley asked.

“Absolutely.”

If not, then Jason Todd lied about Bruce Wayne being a good man.

Once the address was put in, she pulled out her communicator – the one that was part of a matching set. She debated on whether a written message or a voice call would be better…

Gray leaned between the two front seats. “That address is in Gotham, New Jersey.” She looked at Athanasia incredulously. “How the hell is that safer?”

“Because I’m taking him to our father.”

[aggressively-hyperfixates]

Batfam adopting danny is over, make place for wonderwoman taking care of him, she would absolutely know how to raise a child the healthy way, i need more wondermom

DP x DC prompt # 6

There’s a kid crying, a blue skinned white headed kid that was just sitting there crying his eyes out in a panic as he was covered in a very large and dark cloak that was dwarfing him… that was cute to see but, the thing wouldn’t be an issue if there weren’t for the clusterfuck of dead cultist surrounding a green ominous portal under him while the poor kiddo shed luminescent tears nonstop.

“Why is there a kid?” ‘dumb question to ask Captain but sure let’s go with that yeah?’ scoffed annoyed Constantine after eyeing the magic champion while some of the members of the Justice League finished some of the goons that were still alive and resisting, Constantine just watched in dumbfounded stupor the crying baby eldritch abomination still wailing over there.

“I’ll go check on him first” said Wonder Woman, being the first to react after finishing her part, slowly walking forward with gentle steps and humming tunes to make the small baby calm down a bit and refocus on her. Dianna never went too closer to grab the small kid, but she slowly crouched in front of him, palms out and leveling her face in a calm expression, so the kid wouldn’t freak out while she still hummed songs and cooed calming words.

The poor kid wails gradually subsided and ‘oh my god, why are those eyes way too green!’ His eyes were completely black except his irises being a bright neon green shine, his small body trembled when only small hiccups stayed, in his small crying fit the lad had ended up sucking his thumb in a desperate attempt to calm down while looking for any non-frightening competent adult and after only seeing Dianna in front of him he tried to raise his small arms towards her but immediately cried as his arms wouldn’t move at all.

“I think the little boy is injured…” said Wonder Woman, breaking the silence once all suspects were aprehended and tied down “explain what you can see Wonder Woman” chastised Batman as he tried to walk towards her to check on the small boy only to be stopped by Superman, who had his eyes shinning red as he looked at the kid “For what I can see, the small child seems to have some broken bones and some internal bleeding… also there’s seems to be a sphere in the middle of his chest?”

“The demon baby is hurt?” Constantine blurted out incredulous, Zatanna wacked him furiously for that comment “if you haven’t heard what Superman said, he said he saw a sphere so it’s not a demon John! it’s a tuttelagé you idiot!”

“How the fuck would you know that isn’t a démonos, Z?!” cussed the magician as he moved a bit back while Zatanna then moved towards Wonder Woman, with spells already healing the poor baby body “tuttelagés are known to be protective spirits of kids that died wishing to protect their loved ones, their wish is then concentrated in their chest as a sphere so to see a young one hurt like this…” Wonder Woman looks grimm at the implications while Zatanna finish healing the young spirit and allows Dianna to pick him up once he’s done healing and calmed down bit.

“Someone must have hurt his protegué so bad that his body is getting affected by it” sentenced Batman as he glared with concern at the small baby who now is now resting his head in Wonder Woman arms and falling asleep.

MEANWHILE

Danny is soo scared and hurt all around his tiny body, the wounds he had while being subjected to the examine table makes him tear up in pain while also making his chest feels funny once the weird forced summoning spell stops pulling his being into existing; green stops flooding his vision only to be meet by a dark and open space full of dead people dressed in weird costumes, so the only answer he has to this is to wail.

Because thats all he can do now, cry. He cries and cries after all what had occurred to him; he cries for his parents betrayal and rejection of his being, he cries for the cruelty they subjected him into, the torture he had to endure and almost making his core break, he cries for his friends deaths when they tried to free him from all his pain but failed.

He cries and cries until the pain into his core is unbearable because he just lost his fright, his connection to the living, his reason of being here. He’s still crying when his senses tenses the moment something changed in his surroundings, he hears fighting and grunting and something falling down and he cries harder; because he’s scared and tired and he just wants Jazz to carry him and…

There’s someone humming, nice humming, calm humming, steps coming closer and then he looks up, scared and hurt and just tired only to find a beautiful black headed and blue eyes woman dressed in a nice outfit crouching in front of him, she’s humming something to him and just looking at him with calm and such gentleness that it makes him croon at her because he feels his core sing ‘she’s nice and pretty and safeSAFEsafeSAFE’ he tries to reach out to her but his arms fell numb and ouchie and he looks up to her, in a silent plea for her so she would carry him but she’s not moving, just looking at him gently.

Until he sees another woman coming closer to them and he tenses up again, afraid and cautious, still a bit frightened by her aura but her hands are starting to glow and he immediately feels his body swaying and feeling a lot better, so he relaxes his body and let’s the pretty woman carry him so he can rest his head and nuzzle asleep.

His core sings pleased ‘I’m safe… she’s nice and safeSAFEsafeSAFE’

[starry-bi-sky]

Blood Blossom Au: Baby's First Commissioner Meeting :)

TL:DR This Post: Danny (orphan) gets poisoned with blood blossom extract by Vlad. He runs away from him and ends up under the care of one Pre-Robin Battinson Batman! Starry is loudly pushing her batdad agenda.

(Also known as "Late At Night, When The Nightingale Sings" on my ao3!)

This was a fun rough idea I've been sitting on for weeks, thinking about how Commissioner Gordon and Nightingale's first meeting might go.

---------------

Commissioner Gordon likes to think that he's adjusting to the new normal of Gotham very well, -- the new normal being grown men running around dressed like bats, in military-grade strength body armor, committing acts of vigilantism, -- and slowly, little by little, he was no longer being surprised when this new normal pops up out of the shadows like the world's most terrifying daisy. His shaving lifespan thanks him for it.

....

The kid is a surprise though.

Granted, he seemed to be a surprise to the Bat too.

There's been a string of murders lately, -- which, in Gotham, is kind of like saying there's been another storm during monsoon season. And there's just been another; in some dilapidated building down in south Gotham, with the broken, boarded-up windows and mildew-crawling walls to match. The victim is a man in his thirties, multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, left in the center of the room for the blood to pool out around him.

The place is already secured when he arrives, the building swarmed with officers and the forensic detectives. The Bat emerges shortly after he does -- or, he might've been here the whole time, hiding someplace dark and shadowy. For his own sanity, Gordon doesn't think about it too hard.

The kid is a surprise, and he appears like a bolt of lightning.

He shows up in the middle of a conversation Gordon is having with the Bat.

A whistle, sharp and loud, slicing through the air, meant for open air rather than a confined space. Gordon's ears pierce and protest the sound, and the solemn, murmured chatter floating through the room abruptly cuts off like the swing of a gavel. As he turns towards the sound -- as they all do -- he swears, up and down, that he sees Batman's shoulders jump, just slightly.

At the source, perched on the window, is a boy. A boy in a gray-blue scarf and an oversized black hoodie, one that hangs off his frame and has ace bandages wrapped around the wrists in some attempt to cinch the sleeves. The hood is up, big like the rest of it, and threatens to swallow the upper half of the boy's face whole in the fabric. What upper half Gordon can see, is smeared with some kind of opaque, black face paint. He's holding onto the side of the frame with one hand, on his hip is a grappling hook. A familiar grappling hook.

Gordon has multiple questions, and his officers tense up.

Martinez puffs up, brows furrowing as his face shapes into a frown. Shoulders rolling back. "You can't be here, kid--"

The reaction is immediate, like a spark to gunpowder, the boy yanks his fingers from his mouth and his mouth twists into a scowl. Head snapping over to Officer Martinez, his hood manages to stay on but Gordon swears that as he bares his teeth, the glint makes them look sharper than they should be. His voice is rasp and quiet and harsh; snappish in its hissing; "Put a fuckin sock in it, Martinez. I'm not stayin."

Martinez reels back, and the boy immediately veers his attention off him. Like a switch, his demeanor drops. Despite half his face being covered, his mouth twists into a cringing, apologetic smile. Slanted and off-beat, embarrassed. It'd be disarming if this wasn't Gotham, and if he didn't just hiss at Martinez like he was about to bite his head off.

"Sorry." He whispers, voice deceptively polite and softer now. Gordon has to strain his ears to hear him. "I was looking for him."

He points his finger towards-- Gordon? No, Gordon follows the direction, and finds himself looking at -- the Bat.

The Bat, who always looks stiff as a pole, now looks even stiffer. Somehow. Well, the explains the grappling hook attached to the boy's waist.

"What are you doing here?" The Bat says, gruff and unable to completely smother the stumble of surprise in his tone.

The boy still holds a sheepish smile, and slips off the window ledge. His feet hit the creaky boards with a near-silent thud, the Batman finds his feet and rapidly begins crossing the room.

Gordon notes the slight tremble in the boy's legs as he straightens. He adjusts his scarf, which droops close to his knees now that he's standing, and slings a backpack -- how long has had that? -- off his shoulders. When the Bat reaches his side, he does as he always does, and looms over the boy like a spectre. A threatening mass of shadows cloaked in all-consuming black. Standing next to him, the boy looks teeny in comparison.

The Bat is a man who terrifies even the most hardened criminals, Gordon has seen grown men shiver in fear at the mention of his name. And yet when the boy looks up at him, he doesn't even flinch.

Instead, his sheepish smile melts away like ice under the sun, holding only traces of his previous embarrassment. It remains as a shadow on his face, a small upturn at the corners of his mouth. The boy pushes his hood back just enough to reveal glinting, ice-flint eyes surrounded in tar-black face paint. He holds the backpack up with one arm. "You forgot this."

[ghostbsuter]

Dani travelled, like, a lot.

She stopped in a city, not too big but not too small either, where arrows wielding heroes residet in.

That's where she met her.

Blue haired, her face covered in a wicked cat-like mask and absolutely smashing the face of a thug.

Elle was invisible, following her and witnessing her transition from vigilante(?) to civilian! She didn't mean to!

A bit of begging to clockwork and some careful crafting had her meet the kick ass girl during rush hour, accidentally causing her drink to spill and fumbling with her words.

To apologise, elle bought her a new drink, gotten her name even (go dani! go!) and they parted ways with her blushing furiously and a smile thrown her way.

Oh Lian Harper, she had her swooning like no other ever managed to do so.

(When she returns to her temporary home, she finds out her landlord and current boss (aka Jason) knows her crushes dad, Roy harper, she might as well have just gotten on her knees and begged him to wingman her.

Jason, from the goddess of his heart (or more like amused beyond measures), did so under certain conditions.

Nevertheless, Ellie is on the war path of wooing the kick ass girl.)

[ailithnight]

DPxDC prompt #15

Demon Twins Fic

But!

Okay, so something I've seen floated a time or 2 from DC is that when using the Lazarus Pits to revive, a person emerges completely healed of all previous injuries or illnesses. Including scars.

Now obviously fandom often plays fast and loose with this rule, given how we like to give Jason an autopsy scar and some folks also like to make him keep the J from the Joker. But let's lean into it a bit here and make it play nice with the DP side of things.

Let's say that it's the ectoplasm, even the rancid stuff in the pits, that heals all scars except Death Scars.

So if Danny was, say, revived in the Pits by Talia before she disappeared him away to an orphanage in Illinois? The Danny that shows up in Amity Park wouldn't be covered in scars from his time in the League. He'd only have the one, the Death Scar.

Similarly, the Danny that stumbles out of the portal wouldn't have any scars from his time in Amity Park. He'd only have 2, the original Death Scar and the new Lichtenberg Death Scars.

Now I've seen it done many times where the Bats/Damian realize that Danny isn't a clone because you can't clone scars. So if Danny doesn't have those scars, and if his DNA is too messed up from the ectoplasm in him to check for any "regular cloning markers"...

Danny, fresh from an autopsy table, runs to Gotham to hide. And because of his inability to walk away from someone in danger, gets found by the Bats. Whether or not they know about Damian's twin beforehand, they are quite confident that Danny is a clone. An exceptionally good clone with nearly perfect implanted memories, but a clone nonetheless. Damian is particularly enraged about this

And poor Danny, already all sorts of fucked up from growing up Damian's lesser, then Dash's punching bag, then an experiment; in the face of Bat certainty and lacking any tangible evidence to the contrary; Danny starts to believe them.

[justaphantomhuman]

little ramble about DPxDC but not actually about the crossover itself, just something i've noticed

it always makes me giggle when I see DC people whine and whinge over DCxDP (not specifically on Tumblr) like "there's just sooooo many fics with this crossover >:(" "ugh, I don't want to read about Danny, he doesn't even go here!"

and like. I don't usually see it the other way round ever?? (again, not talking about Tumblr)

ignore the fact that you can just filter that stuff out on AO3 super easily if you don't want to stumble on it

DCxDP is usually Batman so let's just take AO3's "Batman - All Media Types" tag... that's almost at 140K works.

Like not even all of DC is covered in that 140K, right??

well, there's over 20K works in the Danny Phantom tag WHICH IS ALL DP WORKS IN TOTAL...

so let's check the crossover between those two tags

4,165 works. in that specific crossover (4K for simplicity)

For the Batman - All Media Types tag, that is a ratio of 1:35... 2.86% of fandom works

For the Danny Phantom Tag, that's 1:5... 20% of fandom works

People are tripping out over the (not even - again, Batman doesn't even COVER all of DCxDP) 3% of Danny Phantom crossover works?? Which they can filter out with ONE simple tag??? like if it was the other way round, I'd understand more... bc there's such a higher amount of crossover content in relation to the total content, and there's a billion tags you may need to filter to get it all the way out?? but.. one (1) tag?? interesting

[dannyphannypack]

DP PHANDOM !!!

hello! my name's taylor, and i'm a senior soon to be finishing my undergraduate degree in english & creative writing. last semester (because i hate myself), i decided i just had to graduate with honors. that means, this semester, i'm completing an independent honors study. what beautifully linguistic academic topic have i chosen for this project, you ask?

danny phantom. i sent in a request to do an honors study on danny phantom. more specifically, to "examine the impact of fan communities via interviews with popular fanfiction authors within the danny phantom fandom..." to be honest, i didn't think it'd even get approved. like, it had to go through the chair of the english department?? …and yet, here we are.

my job, now, is to choose popular authors to reach out to for a potential interview, but i worry that the way i lean toward the horror subgenre of dp fanfic may be a misrepresentation of what "popular" means now, meant a decade ago, even meant at the inception of the phandom, when we primarily ran on long-gone forums.

therefore, i'm asking YOU what your favorite danny phantom fanfictions are! long, short, crossovers, aus—send me the fanficiton that got you into the fandom, whose trope you've seen copied time and time again, whose plot had you laying awake at night (or straight up skipping school, like i used to do in highschool...oops). I'm talking the Phantom of Truth duology, I'm talking A Snapping Sound, I'm talking that fuckass dpxdc fanfic with the wax ducky that every dpxdc fic easter-eggs into their plot (just kidding, love you If You Give a Bat a Burger). SEND IT IN USING THE GOOGLE FORMS LINK BELOW! i'll pick the top-named authors to reach out to about an interview.

GOOGLE FORMS LINK

in conclusion,

(oh, & please rb so i can hear from as many people as possible)

💚💚💚