bonewaryreblogs

[bonewaryreblogs]

This style is amazing, I'm stealing it

First time drawing him with a bit of my art style!

[bonewaryreblogs]

Chapter 2 is Here!

I had this mostly finished when I posted ch 1 but wanted to wait a bit before posting it cuz that's about all I had written. Ch 3 is mostly done now, but I want to give it a few more passes before I'm ready to post it, too, and hopefully I'll have a good chunk of ch 4 written by then. Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 2 - Uprooting Foundations

-

Two days.

It barely took two days for Jazz and Danny to end up in Gotham.

Neither sibling could sleep after initial contact so they ended up holding each other in Jazz’s room until the sun finally rose, desperate for any comfort they could get. Deeming it close enough to morning to be awake, they got dressed and tried to eat breakfast, only to be interrupted by Jack barreling into the kitchen, grabbing some granola bars while rambling to himself about fueling a breakthrough with wide, manic eyes, and was gone again before either sibling could react. Their father had barely acknowledged they existed. Jazz and Danny silently agreed they weren’t hungry anymore and left.

Team Phantom met up at Sam’s mansion, Sam and Tucker quickly getting over their annoyance at being up so early when informed of last night’s surprise meetings with Batman himself during patrol. While initially upset at being left out of the loop and not getting to meet Batman, the two grumbled understanding that Jazz and Danny wanted to talk to each other first, and it’s not like they kept it secret for long. Admitting what had happened, and what was going to happen, finally broke through the numb shock the siblings had been stuck in all night and they spilled everything; sharing as much of the exact conversations as they could remember and letting all of their feelings out until well past lunch. The siblings were, understandably, a hot mess.

After being force-fed some soup, the only thing their nerves would let them keep down, Jazz and Danny had a long debate about how to spend their parents’ last days hours? of freedom. They didn’t know when Batman would pull the trigger, just that it was “soon”.

While she felt incredibly guilty, Jazz decided that she needed to drop the rope; she wanted to remember their parents as they used to be, equal parts eccentric scientists and loving parents, instead of the over-zealous ghost hunters they had become. While they had always been focused and driven in pursuit of their goals, they had still made time to support and bond with their kids; but even back then, they were headed down a dangerous path, and once the portal opened, they had been locked into a stead spiral towards ghostly levels of Obsession. Danny wanted so badly to disagree, to give them one last chance to change, to get one last hug, one last “I love you” out of them, but ultimately he knew it was a losing battle as long as they had access to their precious ghost science. He was convinced to stay with the family that had always been there for him.

Jazz needed him right now, and the people who lived in that basement lab were practically strangers to the siblings. They weren’t the parents Jazz and Danny remembered, not anymore.

In a daze, Danny couldn’t remember how they’d gotten to Nasty Burger as the sun set, and barely managed to choke down some fries while Jazz’s milkshake sat unfinished and melted. At some point, Jazz received a text from an unknown number. She sighed but didn’t question how Batman had gotten her phone number, and told him about their decision. Batman said the arrest would happen as soon as he returned to town, having left to retrieve a few extra League heroes, and that everything in the house would be seized; if there was anything they couldn’t live without, they should retrieve it now. Due to radiation readings Batman had taken earlier, everything that could be replaced, would be, as soon as they arrived at their foster home, whoever that might be with.

Sam and Tucker waited in the Fenton’s living room, giving Danny and Jazz some privacy to pack before they would spend the night with Tucker’s family. What couldn’t Danny live without?

Clothes could be replaced.

Bedding could be replaced.

Posters and decorations could be replaced.

Knick knacks, model rockets, toys, games, books, all of them could be replaced.

Even his awards had been tainted, his latest achievement years old by now.

When was the last time he’d gotten something meaningful from his parents?

He left with his favorite astronomy encyclopedia, filled with sticky notes and loose papers, and a change of clothes for tomorrow in his backpack, already in his pajamas.

Jazz’s selection was equally bare; a change of clothes, her laptop instead of a book, a binder of evidence to be handed over to Batman, and Bearbert.

Sam and Tucker didn’t hide their surprise well, or their sadness, at how little the siblings wanted to take with them but didn’t push it. Danny and Jazz grabbed a bug-out-bag each on their way to Tucker’s house and they all faked smiles for his parents before holing themselves up in his room. Danny asked Jazz to tell Batman that he wanted a copy of whatever they end up pulling from the lab computers; now that he’d made his decision, he couldn’t bear seeing his parents, even in passing. They seemed to have no intention of leaving the lab, though, and Danny wasn’t sure if he’d be allowed to return after their arrest, assuming he would even have time to. Jazz asked to be informed when the heroes arrived in town, and reminded him to shut down the Ghost Portal before he left. Batman had easily agreed to their requests. Sam and Tucker drifted off at some point, but sleep evaded the siblings once again.

As the second day dawned, the Fentons’ arrest was all over the news, having gone down around three that morning. They had resisted. It was not quiet. Jazz was suddenly glad for the media blackout so no one outside Amity would hear about it.

Batman came to collect the siblings at some point and the rest of the day was a blur of answering round after round of questions with various heroes and law enforcement; Danny didn’t bother remembering where they’d come from, or if they’d all come from the same place, but refused to tell them more than the bare minimum. He didn’t trust any branch of the government with the truth, and didn’t trust his sleep deprived brain to keep it hidden from them, so he just silently stared at the would-be interrogators. He barely answered more of the heroes’ questions, only really speaking freely to Batman. He was the safest option since he’d figured out everything else anyways and seemed undeterred by what he’d learned, and knew better than to reveal secrets. Danny was finally reunited with Jazz as they were strapped into a transport; he couldn’t be bothered to care what kind of vehicle they were in, let alone where they were going, but they were with Batman so it was probably fine.

They both passed out leaning against each other.

-

Danny didn’t remember being carried to bed, but he must’ve been since he woke up in one and knew he definitely hadn’t fallen asleep in one.

Light filtered through his eyelids but he couldn’t bring himself to open them yet; just a few more moments of peace. He heard quiet breathing nearby, slow and steady, and felt hands loosely clasped around his own. The fear of being vulnerable hadn’t even had time to settle before he recognized Jazz’s presence and a tension in his core uncoiled. He hadn’t even known it was there until it wasn’t anymore. 

Jazz was here. 

She was safe. 

He could handle anything else.

Memories from the past few days began filtering into his consciousness, unbidden, and he groaned. Jazz’s hands reflexively tightened around his as she was pulled from her own oblivion.

“Hey,” Jazz breathed, accepting her fate of being awake.

“Hey,” Danny smiled, finally opening his eyes. He chuckled. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks, little brother,” she deadpanned, rolling her eyes but couldn’t stop her own smile. “You always know just what a girl wants to hear.”

“I aim to please,” he grinned back before his smile fell. “So, we’re in Gotham now, huh?”

“Yeah,” Jazz confirmed, looking around. The banter had been a nice reprieve, but the real world demanded their attention. “We did agree to stay with Batman for now, so we must be in his house. I don’t remember if he told us his civilian identity yesterday, but judging from this room, he’s definitely wealthy.”

“I mean, he’d have to be,” Danny said, glancing around as well. “You’ve said yourself that his gadgets can’t be cheap. What? I listen to your superhero rants!”

“Only sometimes!” Jazz retorted, pushing him away with her hand over his entire face, pulling back before he could lick it, just as she had expected him to. She sat up, grimacing as she realized she was still in yesterday’s clothes. “Shoulda grabbed another set of clothes,” she muttered, heading to the bathroom. That was attached to the bedroom.

Holy shit, this room was huge!

Danny sat up, finally taking in his surroundings. He was in a king-sized, four poster bed, the kind he’d only ever seen on TV, and the rest almost looked like a fancy hotel room. There was a desk that held both of their backpacks and the bug-out-bags to his left, an entertainment unit with a flat screen TV that was bigger than anything available to the general public facing the foot of the bed, and a dresser to his right that was probably empty. Otherwise, the room was vast and vacant, impersonal but not necessarily cold. A guest room, then; they’d probably get permanent rooms later. There was a large window with the curtains still mostly drawn to the right, next to a door to the bathroom that Jazz had entered, and on the other side of the room was a door that he assumed led to the rest of the house, next to another, smaller door that almost blended into the wall; he wasn’t sure what that one was for. He heard the toilet flush and started to get up for his own turn when there was a knock at the door.

“Who’s there?” Danny called as Jazz reentered the room.

“Don’t start, Danny,” Jazz pleaded.

“The butler,” responded the posh, British voice on the other side. Jazz sighed. Danny grinned.

“The butler who?”

“The butler who would like to deliver some fresh clothes.”

It wasn’t exactly a joke, but Danny appreciated him playing along anyways, snickering to himself while Jazz opened the door.

“Good morning,” the butler nodded to both of them. “I'm pleased you both are already awake. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, head butler of Wayne Manor-”

“Wayne?!” Jazz gasped. “I was right! Uh, sorry, my name is Jasmine Fenton, but please call me Jazz,” she smiled, ignoring her embarrassed blush and holding out her hand to shake. “But you probably already knew that, right, sorry-”

“And I’m Danny,” he took pity on his sister, interrupting her spiral before it got too far as he came up behind her. “You said something about clothes?”

“Yes,” Alfred gently shook Jazz’s hand with a nod and a warm smile, gracefully ignoring that his spiel had been interrupted and gestured to the rolling cart beside him. “It came to my attention that neither of you brought a sufficient change of clothing with you. These have been generously donated by other residents of the manor, though we will need to acquire more clothes of your own soon.”

“Right, I... wasn’t really thinking that far ahead,” Jazz rubbed the back of her neck self-consciously.

“Same, so don’t feel too bad,” Danny shrugged. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom and then you can shower first.”

“Thanks, Danny,” Jazz smiled, accepting both sets of clothes as Danny wandered off. “I’m kind of surprised you didn’t put us in different rooms, though,” she mentioned as she went to spread the clothes out on the bed to assess them.

“Despite being unconscious, you both displayed distress when separated, even for the short trip inside,” Alfred revealed, face technically neutral but with a sadness in his eyes as he took a single step into the room. Jazz’s eyebrows shot up as she looked at him in alarm. “From what I understand, yesterday was quite the ordeal and we didn’t want to cause unnecessary stress. As much as I would like to allow you both to rest today, there is still much that must be done, but only after I’ve made sure you are both sufficiently fed. Press this button when you are ready for brunch and I will send someone to collect you. Do you or Master Daniel have any food allergies or preferences I should be aware of?”

“Um, first and foremost, don’t call him ‘Daniel’, he hates it,” Jazz said quietly with a grimace as she took the device, glancing over her shoulder at the bathroom door. “As for food, no allergies that I can think of, but Danny hates toast and I prefer lighter foods in the morning. Otherwise, we’ll both eat just about anything that we don’t have to fight first.”

Jazz froze, then cringed; she did not mean for that to come out. Alfred raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t comment.

Danny exited the bathroom, saving Jazz from embarrassment once again.

“Alright, your turn, Jazz,” he announced and Jazz took her escape, patting his shoulder as she passed.

“As I mentioned to Miss Jazz,” Alfred addressed Danny as he approached. “There is much to do today, but that can all be discussed after brunch. I gave her a button to call me once you are both ready. Miss Jazz mentioned your aversion to toast but no food allergies to speak of; are there any other preferences I should be aware of, Master Danny?”

“Ummm, I don’t think so,” Danny replied. “Jazz prefers veggies and stuff over meat, though, especially in the morning. Not that she doesn’t like meat, but it always had a habit of uh coming back to bite us.”

Danny shrugged with a helpless grin but didn’t miss how Alfred stiffened slightly. He wondered how much the butler had been told about what ecto did to meat.

“I see,” Alfred said slowly. “I await your arrival in the Family Dining Room, then, Master Danny. Welcome to Wayne Manor.”

-

Almost an hour later and armed with generic T-shirts and sweats, Jazz and Danny had pressed the button a few minutes ago and were taking stock of the bug-out-bags when they heard a knock.

“Who’s there?” Danny asked again, grinning at his sister’s groan.

“Uh, tank?” the voice on the other side of the door said, unsure.

“Tank who?” Danny’s grin widened.

“I haven’t even done anything yet!” the voice cried and Danny giggled like the chaos gremlin he is. Jazz just sighed and opened the door. The voice belonged to an African-American teen with buzzed black hair and brown eyes, waving a greeting with a bright smile.

“Hey, Alfred told me to- uh to get you,” his cheery greeting faltered partway through as his eyes flashed gold, looking at them in surprise. He shook his head to clear it and smiled apologetically. “I’m Duke Thomas, also pretty new to Wayne Manor, so I know it’s a lot to get used to. Come on, I’ll show you to the Family Dining Room.”

He gestured to follow and started walking away while Jazz and Danny shared a look, confused and mildly concerned, before following. Batman himself had left them here, so he obviously trusted Duke, right? But how much did he know? About the Fentons? About Batman?

“My name is Jazz,” she introduced herself, walking next to Duke and opting to play it safe with secrets, as well as ignore his earlier oddness. “And this is my brother, Danny. We really are in Bruce Wayne’s mansion, then?”

“Yeah, I was already asleep when you two got here or I would’ve greeted you then.”

“It’s alright,” Danny replied, falling into step on Duke’s other side. “Apparently we were both dead to the world anyways.”

Jazz rolled her eyes at the phrasing.

Two quick turns and the three were greeted by a hallway with giant windows to a big, enclosed courtyard, complete with a fancy water fountain in the middle. Jazz hid her awe better than Danny did as Duke chuckled at them.

“That was my first reaction, too,” he admitted. “Just wait ‘til you see the rest of the Manor.”

“I knew the Waynes were rich but I wasn’t expecting knowing it and seeing it to be so different...” Jazz trailed off, snagging Danny’s wrist to drag him away from the window he’d stopped in front of. Danny suddenly snickered.

“What were you saying the other day?” he grinned a little too wide, too sharp, as he turned to Jazz. “About rich, fruitloop mentors?”

“Hey, just because Mr. Wayne is rich doesn’t automatically make him a fruitloop,” Jazz scolded lightly. “I, at least, am withholding judgement.”

“Fruitloop?” Duke repeated slowly. Jazz looked somewhat embarrassed but Danny shrugged, grin returning to normal.

“Our godfather, Vlad Masters, is the definition of a rich fruitloop,” Danny informed him. “Our parents are blind to it, but he keeps trying to kill our dad, marry our mom, and take me as his protégé. Which is kinda weird, you’d think he’d go after you, Jazz, since you look so much like mom.”

“Yeah, well, that’s misogyny for you,” Jazz deadpanned. They both knew exactly why Vlad was after Danny, but keeping this secret almost felt like second nature by now.

They all turned into a wider, impossibly fancier hallway.

“Jeeze, how much farther is it?” Danny complained. “I’m starving.”

“Don't worry, we're almost there. The Family Dining Room is just at the end of this hallway,” Duke assured them. “I warned you this place is massive. I asked for a map when I moved in but I guess it hasn’t been a problem until now, so I’ve been trying to map it out on my own. I’ll show you what I have later. I already ate a few hours ago, so I’ll just be snacking, the rest is all yours.”

Duke pushed the double doors open and led them inside a large room with a long table and a lot of chairs. The siblings paused in the doorway, hesitating, while Duke continued into the room. Danny was finally able to tear his gaze away from the mansion itself long enough to notice the forced casualness in Duke’s movements that betrayed how uncomfortable he still was here and glanced at Jazz. She glanced back, confirming they’d both noticed, and that it somehow made them feel a little better.

“You kept calling this the Family Dining Room?” Jazz asked, hesitating another second before taking a seat at the end of the table closest to them, facing the large windows. “That implies there are multiple dining rooms.”

“The Banquet Hall is through those doors,” Duke gestured to the other side of the room, taking his own seat opposite Jazz, his back to the windows. “And there’s another room or two above us specifically for eating, too, though I don’t remember what their proper names are. Those are the only ones meant for food, but I assume any of the Ballrooms could be used for food too, if necessary.”

“That also implies multiple ballrooms...”

Danny had just taken his seat next to Jazz when the single door in the middle of the wall behind them opened, revealing Alfred and a rolling cart. Jaws dropped and eyes wide, Danny and Jazz had only ever seen so much food at buffets; eggs in every form imaginable and omelets with various filling; waffles, pancakes, and French toast; bacon and sausage, both regular and turkey, and even Canadian bacon; pigs-in-a-blanket and biscuits with gravy on the side; hashbrowns and diced potatoes with peppers and onions; chopped fruit in every color of the rainbow, with both oatmeal and yogurt to mix it in; a wide variety muffins and bagels with cream cheese of various flavors; and were those mini quiches? While mostly breakfast-type items, there were some lunch dishes as well; namely a platter of sandwich materials, including lettuce and slices of various meats, cheeses, and vegetables. There were also several pitchers of drinks and a few things they couldn’t readily identify but looked very fancy and, frankly, delicious.

“Good morning again, Miss Jazz, Master Danny. Thank you for retrieving them, Master Duke,” Alfred acknowledged all three of them as he began unloading the smorgasbord onto the table in front of the drooling siblings. “I don’t know when last you two ate at all, let alone a decent meal, nor am I certain which items you would like more than others, so I made a bit of everything. Eat as much as you’d like, there is always more, and don’t worry about wasting anything you don’t like, it will be taken care of. Growing bodies require nutrients and you are both far too thin. I won’t stand for it. Master Duke, I know you ate not long ago but you are also welcome to whatever you’d like.”

“Thanks, Alfred,” Duke nodded with a bright smile. “I think I’ll just snack on some of these fruits.”

“Very well,” Alfred nodded. “Please inform me if you need anything, or if something is not to your liking for future reference.”

Alfred cleared his throat for their attention, which they all had to drag away from the impressive spread.

“I really do mean that,” he continued a bit quieter, voice full of sincerity. “I take great pleasure in providing for this family, and I promise, whatever your request, I am more than happy to fulfill it. You will never be an inconvenience to me. Now,” his back straightened, his British poshness returning. “I will be in the kitchen, and Master Bruce has been informed that you two are up and will be joining us in about an hour. All business and serious topics will be discussed then and not a moment sooner.”

With various sounds of assent, and a chorus of “thank you”s, Alfred bowed and left.

“While we eat, would you mind telling us about the rest of the family?” Jazz asked, filling her plate and dutifully ignoring Danny already shoveling food in his face. “I know he’s adopted a lot of kids over the years but I’ve never paid much attention to celebrity news.”

“Sure!” Duke said brightly. “I’ve met all of them at least once, but the easiest way to make sure I don’t miss anyone is by order of adoption. So, first is Richard Grayson, usually goes by Dick-”

“By choice?” Danny paused, fork halfway to his mouth, and Jazz elbowed him.

“Yeah,” Duke chuckled. “I asked him about it once; he said English wasn’t his first language and nobody realized what dick meant until it was too late and he was already attached to the name. He’s pretty cool, though, currently working as a cop in Bludhaven, just south of Gotham. Barbra Gordon isn’t officially adopted, since her dad is still around, but she may as well be. Next was Jason Todd, who went missing for a few years, but now he’s back and does not get along with Bruce. It’s apparently better than it was when he first came back but that’s hard to believe considering their current relationship. Then there’s Tim Drake, current Co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises. His family’s mansion is actually nearby but Bruce took him in after both his parents died. He’s kinda weird but an absolute genius. Stephanie Brown is also not technically adopted, but hangs around often enough to be considered one of Bruce’s kids anyways. She has way too much energy but she’s great at parties, and I think she’s in charge of taking you guys shopping later. Cassandra Cain is nice but really quiet and uses sign language more often than not. She’s been trying to teach me but it’s been slow going. Last but not least, is Damian Wayne. He was just dropped off in January this year and is apparently Bruce’s bio-kid, which Damian loves to rub in all of our faces. His mom taught him a ton of martial arts stuff and he is not shy about using it. And then there’s me. Three or four months ago, my parents got caught up in one of Joker’s schemes and were exposed to a ton of chemicals that really messed them up. They uh, they’ve only recognized me as their son once during visits so far. I’m... not ready to talk about it yet.”

Jazz and Danny froze when Duke mentioned chemicals and curled in on himself slightly. They glanced at each other with matching looks of horror.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Duke,” Jazz said quietly, Danny nodding his agreement as he tried to not choke his unchewed mouthful. “You don’t have to say anything before you’re ready, but we’d be more than happy to listen once you are. Our parents had a lab in the basement since before I was born, so we’re both very familiar with the effects of chemical exposure.”

“Dodging trauma, though,” Danny said with a too-bright smile. “Thanks for the run-down. That is a lot of kids. You said Dick isn’t in Gotham but do any of the others live in the mansion?”

“Not really,” Duke shook his head, gratefully returning the smile as the siblings resumed eating at a more respectable pace. “Right now it’s just Bruce, Alfred, Damian, me, and now you two. Everyone but Dick lives in the city somewhere, but Cass and Steph are roommates and live in the same building as Barbra. And if you think that’s a lot, don’t even get me started on the extended family! Not to mention family friends that may as well be family! Those I have not all met yet but I’ve heard good things about them.”

“What’s Mr. Wayne like?” Jazz asked between bites.

“Well, first he’s gonna tell you to call him ‘Bruce’ or just ‘B’, ‘cause family shouldn’t have to be so formal,” Duke chuckled before humming, carefully considering his words. “Bruce is... interesting. The ‘Brucie Wayne’ you’ve probably seen on TV is actually just a mask he wears so everyone underestimates him. He says people are easier to manipulate if they think they’re the one in control, and Tim has adopted that strategy, too. It’s honestly kinda creepy seeing them both go from bubbly airhead to dark and serious as soon as the door closes. Despite being good at public speaking and manipulating social situations, Bruce isn’t great at communicating. Dick says it’s ‘cause he assumes he knows what others are thinking instead of just asking them, and assumes everyone else knows what he’s thinking so he doesn’t have to say it. Everyone I’ve asked says he’s a lot better than he used to be, though; I was told to remind him to think like Brucie to get him out of his own head. He does care, though, and doesn’t even mind saying it, he’s just really bad at remembering to say it.”

“I can only imagine he grew up being alone a lot,” Jazz nodded. “If I remember correctly, he’s an only child and his parents died when he was pretty young, right?”

“Yeah,” Duke nodded, looking away. “Not my story to tell, but I don’t think he ever got over losing them, not that I blame him.”

“Hm. Do you know what time it is?” Jazz asked, silently agreeing that the topic felt a bit too much like gossip. “How long do you think we have until Mr. - I mean Bruce gets here?”

“I think we have, like, ten minutes before we should start looking for him,” Duke said, looking at his watch. “Give or take. It was only an estimate anyways.”

Jazz was picking at a muffin, having had her fill by then, and Danny was finally starting to slow down, too. Duke couldn’t help but be impressed by how much of the spread the two had managed to demolish in less than an hour.

[bonewaryreblogs]

Cosmic Stars

Professor Abraham Davis was a young scientist during WW II and eventually came into the possession of the Cosmic Rod; originally thought to be magical in nature, Davis became convinced it was actually some kind of alien technology and was obsessed with proving his theory. He created the Black-Light Ray by studying the Rod, giving it to his student, Sandra Knight, to become the Phantom Lady, and in return she introduced Davis to her genius cousin, Ted Knight. Initially, the pair reverse engineered the Cosmic Rod to create the Gravity Rod, which Ted used to become Starman through the 1960s and 70s, retiring to focus on science and giving the Gravity Rod to his eldest son, David. Unfortunately, David was killed in action and his younger son, Jack, took the Gravity Rod to avenge his brother. Ted tried to talk Jack out of it but finally gave in, but asked Jack to wait until he’d made something more powerful so that Jack wouldn’t die like David had. Rather than upgrade the Gravity Rod or make something new, Ted modified the original Cosmic Rod into the Cosmic Staff with a combination of science and magic, something that would make Davis roll in his grave but that Ted was certain was the missing piece to their puzzle. Jack was active as Starman through the 80s until he retired in the early 90s, having not found a good successor.

About 10 years later, Ted was on his deathbed in the early 2000s and urges Jack to put the Cosmic Staff to good use after it had been shelved for so long (it may have been talking to him, or that may have been a hallucination). Now in his 70s, Jack knew he couldn’t do it himself, so he dug into family history and found Ted’s cousin Sandra had gotten married and had a son, Sam Kurtis; while Sam had become a small-time villain, he had a daughter, Courtney, with his now ex-wife, who had remarried. Courtney’s stepfather happened to be a retired hero Jack had worked with before; Pat Dugan, as Stripesy, had been the adult sidekick to the young hero Star Spangled Kid until Kid’s death, which greatly affected Dugan. Jack figured Dugan wouldn’t take kindly to Jack trying to get Courtney to take the Cosmic Staff, so he contacted her secretly around 2004, offering her the role of Stargirl.

Courtney did not like the fact that her mother married Pat Dugan; she had nothing against him personally, nor did she hold any loyalty to her bio-dad, but she felt replaced, like her mother didn’t want or need her anymore now that she had a “new family”. She refused to take the name Dugan, keeping her mother’s maiden name of Whitmore, and had been acting out for years now; the latest thing she did was snoop through Dugan’s old stuff and discovered his vigilante past! Not sure how to use this against him yet, but very much planning to, Courtney is contacted by a distant “Uncle” from her bio-dad’s family about becoming a superhero and Courtney jumped at the chance. She joined Young Justice in 2004 at 15.

[bonewaryreblogs]

@touchofhemlocktea

Thanks! I'm pretty proud of the dialogue :)

The portal gets mentioned in the next chapter, don't worry, I haven't forgotten ;)

I Finally Posted Something!

I'm so fucking excited!

Chapter 1 of "Building Ballasts" has finally gotten to the point that I'm ok sharing it. It's the part of the story where Danny and Jazz get Adopted and move to Gotham, but I still want to write the Battle with Pariah and Danny's First Deathday, too, I'll just label them as prequals.

Anyways, here's the link to Ao3 as well as the full chapter under the Read More!

Link to Ao3

Batman had met Danny Phantom on the first day of summer vacation. Phantom seemed young and inexperienced but the group of powerful ghosts had looked to him for guidance, for protection. Batman had watched the ghost hero stand against the self-proclaimed Ghost King Pariah alone...

And win.

That was weeks ago.

Batman knew that Phantom was too powerful to be left to his own devices. He would be a difficult, if not impossible, enemy to defeat if he ever went rogue. But, how do you eliminate such a threat?

You become their mentor. Their safety. The person they turn to when they’re at their breaking point.

And you make sure they don’t break.

~@~

Phantom smiled as he flew through the cooling, almost-autumn air, the sky still painted in a purple indigo ombre from the setting sun. He only had a week and a half before school started again, so he wanted to enjoy what time he had left of summer vacation; and what better way to relax than patrolling his haunt, making sure it, and all of its inhabitants, were safe? Phantom was so glad he finally had an explanation for that deep itch that protecting others scratched. Sure, it was because of his ghostliness, the implications of which were still a little uncomfortable to think about sometimes, but at least he knew there was an explanation for it, that he wasn’t just crazy.

A shadow shifted in his peripherals and Phantom immediately braced himself for an incoming attack. His ghost sense hadn’t gone off but ghosts weren't the only ones attacking him regularly, and they were being nicer to him lately anyways. Besides, a quick reaction time had saved his half-life more often than he’d care to think about.

What he didn’t expect was to see Batman on a random rooftop a ways off.

Phantom had felt like he was being watched for most of the summer, so Batman had probably been in Amity for about as long. Since Phantom hadn’t actually seen him earlier, Batman must have kept himself hidden the whole time he'd been here, so Phantom only saw him now because Batman wanted to be seen. Which means he probably wanted to talk, since the alternative is a fight and it would probably be more obvious if that was his goal.

Phantom hesitated. He was supposed to meet up with the rest of Team Phantom for patrol, and they’d be suspicious if he was too late, would probably go looking for him, and if Batman had wanted to talk to all of them, he would’ve shown himself to all of them. Nodding to himself, Phantom turned to face Batman and held up his hands, both index fingers pointing up, extended his left hand at arm’s length, held his right hand to his chest, then moved his right hand towards his left hand. Finally, he pointed towards the center of town. It was sign language, loosely meaning “I’ll meet you” and a general direction for where. While he didn’t use them often himself, since he was usually the one fighting, they had all learned some hand signs in case they couldn’t talk for one reason or another, and Phantom recognized them well enough even if he didn’t practice them much.

Batman nodded sharply and Phantom smiled, giving a playful salute before taking off again. He’d just have to convince the Team to patrol separately tonight so he could talk to Batman alone without raising suspicion.

-

Thankfully, it hadn’t been all that hard to convince them to split up and Phantom headed into town, quickly found Batman again, and floated at eye level a careful distance away. Sure, they’d been on the same side against Pariah earlier that summer, but that was an apocalyptic emergency so there was still a non-zero chance Batman agreed with the Anti-Ecto Acts. It had been a month and a half, there was no doubt he knew about them by now.

“Hello again, Batman,” Phantom greeted. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“You didn’t seem surprised to see me,” Batman stated in lieu of his own greeting.

“I had a feeling you were here but couldn’t really confirm it,” Phantom shrugged, playing it cool but not taking his eyes off Batman. “So, do you need something or is this more of a personal visit?”

“A bit of both,” Batman admitted. “Is there somewhere more secure we can talk?”

Suspicion rising along with one eyebrow, Phantom hesitated.

“... Sure, follow me.”

Confidant Batman would keep up (and wouldn’t shoot him in the back), Phantom flew off to the Library, the tallest building in the area he was supposed to be patrolling. On the Library’s roof, Phantom “sat” cross legged in midair a few feet from a small table with four chairs and a patio umbrella, letting Batman decide if he wanted to sit or stand. Batman looked around suspiciously.

“It’s already closed for the night and the janitors don’t come around until later. Plus, the cameras are just for show, they’re not even plugged in,” Phantom explained his choice. “I have to at least pretend I’m patrolling my section. So. Why are you in my territory? Illinois is pretty far from New Jersey.”

“You and your team have been doing well, considering what you have to work with,” Batman started without preamble, apparently electing to stand. Phantom sat up a little straighter at the praise. “However, you are all young and untrained. I have reason to believe the situation here is going to shift soon and I don’t want you four to deal with it alone. I have Oracle looking into the GIW but communication is difficult with the media blackout they’ve established-”

“Media blackout! Tucker totally called it.”

“- But what little I’ve managed to discover on my own is troubling, to say the least,” Batman continued as if Phantom hadn’t said anything. “That will take time and legal action to take care of, but it will be taken care of. Unfortunately, there is a more time sensitive issue that concerns me. The Doctors Fenton meet the criteria of supervillainy and I intend to arrest them for it.”

“WHAT!?” Phantom cried in shock. “No no no, there must be a mistake! My- the Fentons aren’t villains! They’re just eccentric and misguided!”

“They regularly shoot to kill at the town’s local hero,” Batman stated flatly.

“Like I said, misguided,” Phantom argued with a helpless shrug. “They think they’re doing the right thing, and it’s not like they’re the only ones.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time a genius turned into a supervillain because they thought the ends justified the means,” Batman barreled forwards, ignoring the bait to distract him. “They are a danger to those around them, regularly causing far more property damage than you or your rogues, their ideology is at risk of classifying more than just ghosts as non-sentient, which is concerning enough on its own, and they are, at best, neglectful of their children’s safety.” Batman narrowed his eyes. “And that’s not even counting their interdimensional crimes.”

Phantom froze, eyes wide.

“... interdimensional...?” he choked.

“They punched a hole into another dimension and began hunting and experimenting on the native residents of said dimension,” Batman spelled it out and Phantom cringed as he realized Batman wasn’t wrong.

“It sounds really bad when you say it like that,” he shrank away, hands fidgeting nervously. Batman narrowed his eyes.

“Regardless of their beliefs, Phantom, such acts are grounds for war,” Batman emphasized and Phantom stiffened. “If we don’t take care of this problem ourselves, someone else will, and the rest of the planet may get caught in the crossfire. As a hero yourself, I’m sure you understand that I cannot let that happen.”

Phantom looked away, eyes wide and unseeing as the implications set in. He felt a thousand miles away from his body, thoughts buzzing as he couldn’t breathe. Thank his ghostly biology that he didn’t need the oxygen in this form.

“You’ve done well keeping the peace so far,” Batman said, a little softer. “And I know it’s hard to betray loved ones-” Phantom’s head snapped up. “- But you must recognize that they will inevitably do something that cannot be undone. Yes, it might be done to you, and you will forgive them because they’re your parents, but it might be to Ember, or the Box Ghost, or any number of the peaceful ghosts that inhabit this town. I’ve seen you release the ghosts they do catch, but what happens if you’re too late? You can’t be everywhere, Phantom. You’re already running yourself ragged trying to plug leaks, and that's without school taking up more of your time and attention. As heroes, we have a responsibility to anticipate problems and solve them before they happen if we can, not just clean up the aftermath.”

Batman paused to let Phantom process this, his face saying everything Batman needed to hear of his racing thoughts, before he finally settled into somber acceptance as he floated limply a foot lower than he started. He gave a hollow chuckle, with a smile to match.

“Shoulda known you’d figure me out,” Phantom murmured, focusing on the revelation that was easier to swallow. “Can’t hide anything from the World’s Greatest Detective.” His fake smile fell as he curled in on himself. “I know they’re not the best parents, but they’re still mine...”

“I know,” Batman said in an empathetic rumble, accepting the implied surrender before he straightened. “Once they’re arrested, they’ll have a choice. They can go to court and face trial, or they can take the plea deal they’ll be offered.”

Phantom looked up, a fragile hope in his eyes.

“They would still, technically, be serving a prison sentence, but they would be able to work at the Justice Foundation as reforming villains as a form of community service, directly supervised by Justice League heroes and trusted affiliates. Despite their beliefs, they are still brilliant scientists, and humanity can still benefit from their work, but they will lose custody of you and your sister, as is standard procedure for any dependent of a reforming villain.”

Phantom’s face fell at the thought but he didn’t interrupt.

“You won’t be cut off from them, though,” Batman continued. “There would be generous visitation available, but it would be entirely on your terms. They could request to see you, and you would be informed of the request, but they couldn’t demand it; you would never be forced to see them if you didn’t want to, though you could visit them as often as you’d like.”

There was a beat of silence before Batman looked away.

“Honestly, I would’ve wanted to get you two out of there anyways,” his tone was suddenly more disdainful than clinical. “Not only is that entire house a deathtrap, to say nothing about their lax lab safety, but it’s only a matter of time before they find out about your condition, or your sister’s contamination reaches a threshold where they no longer see her as their daughter. You’re a smart kid, Danny, I know you can see it. Denial is only going to get someone hurt.”

Phantom’s eyes widened in shock, then horror as reality sank in.

“I hadn’t... thought about Jazz being in danger...” Phantom trailed off, barely audible as his hands covered his mouth. “We have some contingencies for me, but...”

“I would prefer to have your cooperation with this,” Batman continued, back to distant but determined. “But I will be arresting them in the next few days, with or without your help.”

Phantom flinched but didn’t object.

“Since they will be arrested as interdimensional supervillains, the Justice League will be in charge of placing you and your sister with a foster family. We will ensure you two stay together, at least, with either a League hero or a trusted associate. However... I would like to take you in myself.”

Phantom’s jaw dropped, slowly turning to face Batman.

“You have a lot of potential as a hero, as do the rest of Team Phantom,” Batman continued, with the ghost of a smile. “However, since only you and your sister are being displaced right now, I would like to train you two personally if you’d like to continue on this path. I will accept if you decide you want to be placed with someone else, and I won’t force either of you to join Gotham’s nightlife if you decide to focus on your civilian lives instead, but know that the offer stands. I want you to have as much say in your future as I can reasonably give you, considering the circumstances. Take some time to think, but your sister also needs to know. I had planned to tell her tonight as well, unless you’d prefer to tell her yourself.”

“This is... a lot,” Phantom said slowly. “As much as I’d like to be there when you talk to Jazz, I’m going to need time to process all of this and I don’t think I can finish that before Jazz would need to know.” He took a deep breath he technically didn’t need. “I’m gonna go ahead and patrol while you go talk to Jazz. Oh right! What about Sam and Tucker? They’re part of Team Phantom, too, and you said we all have potential, so...”

“I did,” Batman nodded. “However, they still have families to return to, while you and your sister are being displaced immediately. The Justice League will be keeping an eye on them, though. They are capable individuals, despite their age, but more than that, they have proven to be highly motivated to change the world for the better. That drive is hard to come by and is far more important than any superpower. They’d likely become heroes even without our intervention.”

“Yeah,” Phantom said quietly, smiling slightly despite himself, full of pride for his two best friends. “Yeah, ok. I think I can live with that.”

“Have a good patrol, Phantom,” Batman nodded as he turned towards Jazz’s section, obviously knowing where to find her already. Just how much did he know, anyways?

“Yeah, you too,” Phantom replied reflexively before screwing up his face, Batman already long gone. “Or something. Close enough,” he sighed and flew off.

He had a lot to think about.

-

Team Phantom reconvened around midnight.

The Box Ghost was the only troublemaker tonight and Sam had proudly announced that she’d handled him all by herself; they were all supposed to call Phantom for backup if they had to fight a ghost, but Sam always liked to push her limits. While praising her, Jazz and Phantom had shared a look, a silent acknowledgement that Batman had, indeed, spoken to them both.

Neither said anything to Sam or Tucker.

The siblings managed to act relatively normal, at least nothing that couldn’t be explained away easily enough, and said their good nights as they all headed home, Sam and Tucker on their scooters while Phantom transformed so Danny could ride back with Jazz in her car, citing that he was just a little tired tonight, nothing to worry about. They trusted Sam and Tucker, of course they did, but this was a little too personal to share just yet, even with them. At least, not before they could talk to each other first.

Finally alone, the car was quiet and tense as Jazz drove even slower than usual, neither knowing where to start.

“Guess you were right,” Danny’s whisper was deafening in the silence. “You and all your psychobabble. Even Batman thinks we’re in danger with mom and dad, and he lives in Gotham.”

“I’m sorry, little brother,” Jazz breathed, eyes locked on the road.

“’s hardly your fault,” Danny shook his head. “You took care of me more than they ever did.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“It wasn’t your job.”

They lapsed into silence again. Neither really wanted to rehash the old, tired argument; there was too much going on right now.

“I feel awful admitting it,” the steering wheel creaked in Jazz’s grip. “But I’m... relieved that they’re being arrested.”

Danny bristled, biting back the compulsion to defend their parents, before slumping into his seat with a defeated sigh. Jazz would’ve known the words were empty anyways.

“He asked for our help,” Danny said, looking out the window without really seeing anything. “I won’t stop him, but I don’t think I can help him, either. Even though I realize now that you’re in danger, too, I-I don’t know if I can betray them like that. It goes against everything in my core...”

Danny’s voice cracked at the end, tears pricking at his eyes. Jazz bit her lip hard to keep herself from breaking down, too; she had to keep it together, keep her eyes on the road ahead. For Danny. She swallowed hard.

“You won’t have to,” she finally said as she pulled into the driveway, turning to him. “I’ll take care of that part. I’ve been compiling evidence for years, planning to take custody of you as soon as I legally could.”

Danny stared at his sister in shock.

“You were gonna...” he trailed off. Ruin your life for me, was left unsaid. He huffed as the tears escaped, roughly wiping them off his cheeks with the heel of his palm. “Honestly, I really shouldn’t be surprised. You’ve always put me first,” Danny’s voice was scratchy with barely contain emotion. He gave her a grim, joyless smile. “I guess, if it means you can finally take care of yourself instead of trying to raise me, I can’t be too mad about all this.”

“Not to mention you can finally get a mentor out of it,” Jazz suggested hopefully. “One that’s human, and isn’t a crazy fruitloop!”

They both laughed so they wouldn’t cry, exiting the car. Before Danny opened the front door, though, Jazz pulled him into a tight hug, which he returned immediately, despite his surprise. Neither commented on the other’s trembling.

“Whatever happens,” Jazz took a shaky breath. “Just know that I love you, ok?”

“I love you too, Jazz,” Danny squeezed tighter. “More than all the stars in the sky.”

[bonewaryreblogs]

Rory the Ragman

Almost 4,000 years ago, Jewish communities often used magic golem spells to create protectors for their communities. One variation created an object called the Great Collector Artifact that “collected” fragments of the souls of those who wielded it, amassing hundreds of thousands of fragments over millennia; each fragment held the skills and abilities of a former wielder that could be used by the next, from “artistic” skills like lock picking or glass blowing to more combative skills like martial arts or borrow abilities like the strength of a body builder or the speed of an Olympic Runner. This eventually includes a number of more magical abilities like limited telepathy within their community and teleportation, collected from metahuman wielders, though these are more difficult to collect; meta users were more rare anyways and would have to wield the Artifact for an extended period of time to be collected properly. The Great Collector Artifact had been called many names and taken many forms, including a dagger, cloak , and spear, among others, as it must be recreated and rebound each time it is destroyed; it loses some of its fragments each time, but does retain most through the transfer. Its current incarnation is called the Suit of Souls and consists of a jumpsuit or sorts, made of various bits of fabric sewn together.

Jerzy Reganiewicz was the Ragman during the Holocaust when a sort of failsafe was activated, teleporting him to somewhere in the USA; the Ragman was designed to inspire hope in their community and they couldn’t do that if they were dead, so the failsafe was set to remove the Ragman from a hopeless situation to fight another day. Jerzy was crushed by his (perceived personal) failure to protect his community from the Nazis and refused to put on the suit ever again. Jerzy started a new life as Jerzy Regan and kept the suit locked deep in storage, until he died and his son, Gerry Regan, found the suit while going through his father’s things. As soon as he touched it, the suit bonded to him and the soul fragments told him their story, begging him to make them useful again. He obliged, until he was too old and passed the responsibilities to his son, Rory Regan, who eventually joined Justice League Dark. Rory is useful not only for his abilities as the Ragman, but for his skill at appraising ancient and potentially magical artifacts.

WW II was around 1940, so let’s say Jerzy was around 35 when he was teleported to the US and had Gerry when he was 40 or so around 1947. Gerry would be at least 20 when he has Rory, so that would be 1967, who would then be 37 when Danny gets his powers in 2004. Let’s say he inherited the suit at 30, so 1997 when Gerry was 50, well within retiring age for a hero, and Jerzy probably died 20 years before that in his 70s while Gerry was in his 30s. That sounds plausible enough.

[bonewaryreblogs]

I Finally Posted Something!

I'm so fucking excited!

Chapter 1 of "Building Ballasts" has finally gotten to the point that I'm ok sharing it. It's the part of the story where Danny and Jazz get Adopted and move to Gotham, but I still want to write the Battle with Pariah and Danny's First Deathday, too, I'll just label them as prequals.

Anyways, here's the link to Ao3 as well as the full chapter under the Read More!

Link to Ao3

Batman had met Danny Phantom on the first day of summer vacation. Phantom seemed young and inexperienced but the group of powerful ghosts had looked to him for guidance, for protection. Batman had watched the ghost hero stand against the self-proclaimed Ghost King Pariah alone...

And win.

That was weeks ago.

Batman knew that Phantom was too powerful to be left to his own devices. He would be a difficult, if not impossible, enemy to defeat if he ever went rogue. But, how do you eliminate such a threat?

You become their mentor. Their safety. The person they turn to when they’re at their breaking point.

And you make sure they don’t break.

~@~

Phantom smiled as he flew through the cooling, almost-autumn air, the sky still painted in a purple indigo ombre from the setting sun. He only had a week and a half before school started again, so he wanted to enjoy what time he had left of summer vacation; and what better way to relax than patrolling his haunt, making sure it, and all of its inhabitants, were safe? Phantom was so glad he finally had an explanation for that deep itch that protecting others scratched. Sure, it was because of his ghostliness, the implications of which were still a little uncomfortable to think about sometimes, but at least he knew there was an explanation for it, that he wasn’t just crazy.

A shadow shifted in his peripherals and Phantom immediately braced himself for an incoming attack. His ghost sense hadn’t gone off but ghosts weren't the only ones attacking him regularly, and they were being nicer to him lately anyways. Besides, a quick reaction time had saved his half-life more often than he’d care to think about.

What he didn’t expect was to see Batman on a random rooftop a ways off.

Phantom had felt like he was being watched for most of the summer, so Batman had probably been in Amity for about as long. Since Phantom hadn’t actually seen him earlier, Batman must have kept himself hidden the whole time he'd been here, so Phantom only saw him now because Batman wanted to be seen. Which means he probably wanted to talk, since the alternative is a fight and it would probably be more obvious if that was his goal.

Phantom hesitated. He was supposed to meet up with the rest of Team Phantom for patrol, and they’d be suspicious if he was too late, would probably go looking for him, and if Batman had wanted to talk to all of them, he would’ve shown himself to all of them. Nodding to himself, Phantom turned to face Batman and held up his hands, both index fingers pointing up, extended his left hand at arm’s length, held his right hand to his chest, then moved his right hand towards his left hand. Finally, he pointed towards the center of town. It was sign language, loosely meaning “I’ll meet you” and a general direction for where. While he didn’t use them often himself, since he was usually the one fighting, they had all learned some hand signs in case they couldn’t talk for one reason or another, and Phantom recognized them well enough even if he didn’t practice them much.

Batman nodded sharply and Phantom smiled, giving a playful salute before taking off again. He’d just have to convince the Team to patrol separately tonight so he could talk to Batman alone without raising suspicion.

-

Thankfully, it hadn’t been all that hard to convince them to split up and Phantom headed into town, quickly found Batman again, and floated at eye level a careful distance away. Sure, they’d been on the same side against Pariah earlier that summer, but that was an apocalyptic emergency so there was still a non-zero chance Batman agreed with the Anti-Ecto Acts. It had been a month and a half, there was no doubt he knew about them by now.

“Hello again, Batman,” Phantom greeted. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“You didn’t seem surprised to see me,” Batman stated in lieu of his own greeting.

“I had a feeling you were here but couldn’t really confirm it,” Phantom shrugged, playing it cool but not taking his eyes off Batman. “So, do you need something or is this more of a personal visit?”

“A bit of both,” Batman admitted. “Is there somewhere more secure we can talk?”

Suspicion rising along with one eyebrow, Phantom hesitated.

“... Sure, follow me.”

Confidant Batman would keep up (and wouldn’t shoot him in the back), Phantom flew off to the Library, the tallest building in the area he was supposed to be patrolling. On the Library’s roof, Phantom “sat” cross legged in midair a few feet from a small table with four chairs and a patio umbrella, letting Batman decide if he wanted to sit or stand. Batman looked around suspiciously.

“It’s already closed for the night and the janitors don’t come around until later. Plus, the cameras are just for show, they’re not even plugged in,” Phantom explained his choice. “I have to at least pretend I’m patrolling my section. So. Why are you in my territory? Illinois is pretty far from New Jersey.”

“You and your team have been doing well, considering what you have to work with,” Batman started without preamble, apparently electing to stand. Phantom sat up a little straighter at the praise. “However, you are all young and untrained. I have reason to believe the situation here is going to shift soon and I don’t want you four to deal with it alone. I have Oracle looking into the GIW but communication is difficult with the media blackout they’ve established-”

“Media blackout! Tucker totally called it.”

“- But what little I’ve managed to discover on my own is troubling, to say the least,” Batman continued as if Phantom hadn’t said anything. “That will take time and legal action to take care of, but it will be taken care of. Unfortunately, there is a more time sensitive issue that concerns me. The Doctors Fenton meet the criteria of supervillainy and I intend to arrest them for it.”

“WHAT!?” Phantom cried in shock. “No no no, there must be a mistake! My- the Fentons aren’t villains! They’re just eccentric and misguided!”

“They regularly shoot to kill at the town’s local hero,” Batman stated flatly.

“Like I said, misguided,” Phantom argued with a helpless shrug. “They think they’re doing the right thing, and it’s not like they’re the only ones.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time a genius turned into a supervillain because they thought the ends justified the means,” Batman barreled forwards, ignoring the bait to distract him. “They are a danger to those around them, regularly causing far more property damage than you or your rogues, their ideology is at risk of classifying more than just ghosts as non-sentient, which is concerning enough on its own, and they are, at best, neglectful of their children’s safety.” Batman narrowed his eyes. “And that’s not even counting their interdimensional crimes.”

Phantom froze, eyes wide.

“... interdimensional...?” he choked.

“They punched a hole into another dimension and began hunting and experimenting on the native residents of said dimension,” Batman spelled it out and Phantom cringed as he realized Batman wasn’t wrong.

“It sounds really bad when you say it like that,” he shrank away, hands fidgeting nervously. Batman narrowed his eyes.

“Regardless of their beliefs, Phantom, such acts are grounds for war,” Batman emphasized and Phantom stiffened. “If we don’t take care of this problem ourselves, someone else will, and the rest of the planet may get caught in the crossfire. As a hero yourself, I’m sure you understand that I cannot let that happen.”

Phantom looked away, eyes wide and unseeing as the implications set in. He felt a thousand miles away from his body, thoughts buzzing as he couldn’t breathe. Thank his ghostly biology that he didn’t need the oxygen in this form.

“You’ve done well keeping the peace so far,” Batman said, a little softer. “And I know it’s hard to betray loved ones-” Phantom’s head snapped up. “- But you must recognize that they will inevitably do something that cannot be undone. Yes, it might be done to you, and you will forgive them because they’re your parents, but it might be to Ember, or the Box Ghost, or any number of the peaceful ghosts that inhabit this town. I’ve seen you release the ghosts they do catch, but what happens if you’re too late? You can’t be everywhere, Phantom. You’re already running yourself ragged trying to plug leaks, and that's without school taking up more of your time and attention. As heroes, we have a responsibility to anticipate problems and solve them before they happen if we can, not just clean up the aftermath.”

Batman paused to let Phantom process this, his face saying everything Batman needed to hear of his racing thoughts, before he finally settled into somber acceptance as he floated limply a foot lower than he started. He gave a hollow chuckle, with a smile to match.

“Shoulda known you’d figure me out,” Phantom murmured, focusing on the revelation that was easier to swallow. “Can’t hide anything from the World’s Greatest Detective.” His fake smile fell as he curled in on himself. “I know they’re not the best parents, but they’re still mine...”

“I know,” Batman said in an empathetic rumble, accepting the implied surrender before he straightened. “Once they’re arrested, they’ll have a choice. They can go to court and face trial, or they can take the plea deal they’ll be offered.”

Phantom looked up, a fragile hope in his eyes.

“They would still, technically, be serving a prison sentence, but they would be able to work at the Justice Foundation as reforming villains as a form of community service, directly supervised by Justice League heroes and trusted affiliates. Despite their beliefs, they are still brilliant scientists, and humanity can still benefit from their work, but they will lose custody of you and your sister, as is standard procedure for any dependent of a reforming villain.”

Phantom’s face fell at the thought but he didn’t interrupt.

“You won’t be cut off from them, though,” Batman continued. “There would be generous visitation available, but it would be entirely on your terms. They could request to see you, and you would be informed of the request, but they couldn’t demand it; you would never be forced to see them if you didn’t want to, though you could visit them as often as you’d like.”

There was a beat of silence before Batman looked away.

“Honestly, I would’ve wanted to get you two out of there anyways,” his tone was suddenly more disdainful than clinical. “Not only is that entire house a deathtrap, to say nothing about their lax lab safety, but it’s only a matter of time before they find out about your condition, or your sister’s contamination reaches a threshold where they no longer see her as their daughter. You’re a smart kid, Danny, I know you can see it. Denial is only going to get someone hurt.”

Phantom’s eyes widened in shock, then horror as reality sank in.

“I hadn’t... thought about Jazz being in danger...” Phantom trailed off, barely audible as his hands covered his mouth. “We have some contingencies for me, but...”

“I would prefer to have your cooperation with this,” Batman continued, back to distant but determined. “But I will be arresting them in the next few days, with or without your help.”

Phantom flinched but didn’t object.

“Since they will be arrested as interdimensional supervillains, the Justice League will be in charge of placing you and your sister with a foster family. We will ensure you two stay together, at least, with either a League hero or a trusted associate. However... I would like to take you in myself.”

Phantom’s jaw dropped, slowly turning to face Batman.

“You have a lot of potential as a hero, as do the rest of Team Phantom,” Batman continued, with the ghost of a smile. “However, since only you and your sister are being displaced right now, I would like to train you two personally if you’d like to continue on this path. I will accept if you decide you want to be placed with someone else, and I won’t force either of you to join Gotham’s nightlife if you decide to focus on your civilian lives instead, but know that the offer stands. I want you to have as much say in your future as I can reasonably give you, considering the circumstances. Take some time to think, but your sister also needs to know. I had planned to tell her tonight as well, unless you’d prefer to tell her yourself.”

“This is... a lot,” Phantom said slowly. “As much as I’d like to be there when you talk to Jazz, I’m going to need time to process all of this and I don’t think I can finish that before Jazz would need to know.” He took a deep breath he technically didn’t need. “I’m gonna go ahead and patrol while you go talk to Jazz. Oh right! What about Sam and Tucker? They’re part of Team Phantom, too, and you said we all have potential, so...”

“I did,” Batman nodded. “However, they still have families to return to, while you and your sister are being displaced immediately. The Justice League will be keeping an eye on them, though. They are capable individuals, despite their age, but more than that, they have proven to be highly motivated to change the world for the better. That drive is hard to come by and is far more important than any superpower. They’d likely become heroes even without our intervention.”

“Yeah,” Phantom said quietly, smiling slightly despite himself, full of pride for his two best friends. “Yeah, ok. I think I can live with that.”

“Have a good patrol, Phantom,” Batman nodded as he turned towards Jazz’s section, obviously knowing where to find her already. Just how much did he know, anyways?

“Yeah, you too,” Phantom replied reflexively before screwing up his face, Batman already long gone. “Or something. Close enough,” he sighed and flew off.

He had a lot to think about.

-

Team Phantom reconvened around midnight.

The Box Ghost was the only troublemaker tonight and Sam had proudly announced that she’d handled him all by herself; they were all supposed to call Phantom for backup if they had to fight a ghost, but Sam always liked to push her limits. While praising her, Jazz and Phantom had shared a look, a silent acknowledgement that Batman had, indeed, spoken to them both.

Neither said anything to Sam or Tucker.

The siblings managed to act relatively normal, at least nothing that couldn’t be explained away easily enough, and said their good nights as they all headed home, Sam and Tucker on their scooters while Phantom transformed so Danny could ride back with Jazz in her car, citing that he was just a little tired tonight, nothing to worry about. They trusted Sam and Tucker, of course they did, but this was a little too personal to share just yet, even with them. At least, not before they could talk to each other first.

Finally alone, the car was quiet and tense as Jazz drove even slower than usual, neither knowing where to start.

“Guess you were right,” Danny’s whisper was deafening in the silence. “You and all your psychobabble. Even Batman thinks we’re in danger with mom and dad, and he lives in Gotham.”

“I’m sorry, little brother,” Jazz breathed, eyes locked on the road.

“’s hardly your fault,” Danny shook his head. “You took care of me more than they ever did.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“It wasn’t your job.”

They lapsed into silence again. Neither really wanted to rehash the old, tired argument; there was too much going on right now.

“I feel awful admitting it,” the steering wheel creaked in Jazz’s grip. “But I’m... relieved that they’re being arrested.”

Danny bristled, biting back the compulsion to defend their parents, before slumping into his seat with a defeated sigh. Jazz would’ve known the words were empty anyways.

“He asked for our help,” Danny said, looking out the window without really seeing anything. “I won’t stop him, but I don’t think I can help him, either. Even though I realize now that you’re in danger, too, I-I don’t know if I can betray them like that. It goes against everything in my core...”

Danny’s voice cracked at the end, tears pricking at his eyes. Jazz bit her lip hard to keep herself from breaking down, too; she had to keep it together, keep her eyes on the road ahead. For Danny. She swallowed hard.

“You won’t have to,” she finally said as she pulled into the driveway, turning to him. “I’ll take care of that part. I’ve been compiling evidence for years, planning to take custody of you as soon as I legally could.”

Danny stared at his sister in shock.

“You were gonna...” he trailed off. Ruin your life for me, was left unsaid. He huffed as the tears escaped, roughly wiping them off his cheeks with the heel of his palm. “Honestly, I really shouldn’t be surprised. You’ve always put me first,” Danny’s voice was scratchy with barely contain emotion. He gave her a grim, joyless smile. “I guess, if it means you can finally take care of yourself instead of trying to raise me, I can’t be too mad about all this.”

“Not to mention you can finally get a mentor out of it,” Jazz suggested hopefully. “One that’s human, and isn’t a crazy fruitloop!”

They both laughed so they wouldn’t cry, exiting the car. Before Danny opened the front door, though, Jazz pulled him into a tight hug, which he returned immediately, despite his surprise. Neither commented on the other’s trembling.

“Whatever happens,” Jazz took a shaky breath. “Just know that I love you, ok?”

“I love you too, Jazz,” Danny squeezed tighter. “More than all the stars in the sky.”

[bonewaryreblogs]

Impossible Task? Not when you hire a ghost!

Bruce and Damian have a deal that if Damian can keep an animal hidden from everyone in manor—meaning he can't ask anyone else in the family to help him—for 1 month he'll be allowed to keep it. There are a bunch of other rules and amendments that apply, but by the end a contract is signed by the two of them.

Damian starts to pretty quickly regret agreeing to the deal when it becomes clear that he won't be getting anything past Alfred. It also doesn't help that the rest of his siblings have made it a game to see who can catch him the most. Because of this no animal has ever lasted more than a week.

This leads to Damian planning the ultimate animal hide-a-way plan for the next time he comes across an animal he must have. The problem is that no plans he comes up with works; until now!

It happened completely at random, he had been walking down the street when he noticed a boy around his age laying down in the alley, his arm outstretched under a dumpster. The boy clearly doesn’t notice Damian’s approach because when he starts to question what the other is doing he simply vanishes from view for a second before reappearing.

The boy just as quickly is pulling his arm out from under the dumpster and in his hand is now a small, fluffy gray kitten. Damian knows the little kitten would be the perfect friend for Alfred the cat.

After a bit of discussion Damian learns that the boy’s name is Danny, and is currently living alone in a run down building in Crime Alley.

Now Bruce said that he wasn’t allowed help from anyone in the family. Danny is NOT family and can turn himself and an object he’s holding invisible. Damian hires Danny to live in the manor for 1 month and to make sure no one sees either Danny and the kitten.

He’d normally be more invested in finding out more about this unknown meta, but he has a kitten to take care of now.

[bonewaryreblogs]

Boston Brand, the Original Ghostly Hero

Boston Brand was an aerialist at a circus and was shot dead during one of his performances; because he died in his performer outfit, that is what his ghost form wears naturally. His murder was never solved and Boston refused to rest until his killer was brought to justice; since the circus was performing near the Himalayas, Rama Kushna of Nanda Parbat heard his plea and was impressed by his tenacity, granting his wish and helping him remain on the physical plane as a ghost. Unfortunately, Boston was no detective, so he never found his killer, wandering restlessly but refusing to move on.

Boston wasn’t strong enough to influence the physical world much, but he did little acts of kindness as he wandered; things that would usually be brushed off as “good luck”, like a pickpocket tripped; a mugger’s gun jammed or the safety was still on; mild possession to nudge someone to do the right thing, to influence them just enough to bring it to their attention and strengthen their mental debate about helping without them realizing there was an outside force at work. He still ached for justice but this was enough for now.

He eventually found himself in Gotham and encountered Batman, subtly helping the hero in little ways, until he saved Robin (can’t decide which one) from what would have been a deadly accident, confirming Batman’s suspicion of his existence. After they are both safe, Batman says aloud “I don’t know who or what you are but… thank you.” Boston possessed Robin and apologized that this was the only way he could communicate with the living, giving him a brief summary of his origins. Batman decides to repay Boston by solving his cold case and Dick is triggered by how similar it is to his own story when he inevitably hears about it (I might even make it the same circus so Boston might have known Dick’s parents before Dick was born).

Boston is grateful and begins to cross over to the afterlife, meeting Rama Kushna again and the two talk. Boston decides that he kinda liked being a wandering “good luck” charm and decides to remain in the physical plane as a ghostly hero, taking the codename Deadman. For his selfless desire to help others, Rama Kushna grants him more power, turning him into more of a wight than just a ghost, as well as the ability to contact her any time. He helps several heroes with supernatural problems, especially those related to ghosts or other undead beings, happily joining Justice League Dark when given the chance.

[bonewaryreblogs]

A Quiver of Broken Arrows

One of the last things Oliver Queen did before becoming Green Arrow was have a whirlwind relationship with the hippie Moonday (Sandra Moonday Hawke), but he fled when he realized she was pregnant, getting stranded before she even gave birth. Connor Hawke was born and Oliver returned before Connor’s first birthday, tracking Sandra down but only to give them money, as he still didn’t feel ready to be a father. Sandra rejected the money out of spite, tried to raise Connor alone for a few years, and eventually moved into The Ashram Monastery in Napa Valley, California (just north of central). Oliver kept track of the pair and, once they moved in, regularly gave anonymous donations to the monastery, to ease his own conscious if nothing else. He also went there in disguise a few times to meet his son, who was none the wiser; Sandra wasn’t sure the first time Oliver did this, but definitely recognized him the second. She was still salty that he abandoned them but hesitated to call him out; she didn’t want a relationship with him but didn’t want to deny Connor one if he wanted it.

While there, Connor was taught archery, among other things, until he was 15 and Oliver accidentally let their relation slip. Oliver fled and Connor confronted his mother, who confirmed the relation and Oliver’s identity. After some research and preparation, Connor left the monastery and broke into Queen Mansion to confront his father, realized Oliver was Green Arrow, and demanded he be taken on as his protégé. He didn’t actually know what he wanted from Oliver at first and made a snap decision, which he's not sure if he regrets or not.

Connor is apparently only ever known as Green Arrow, so I decided to give him the name Sherwood until Oliver retires.

So, if Connor is 15 in 2006, joining Young Justice shortly after Danny, he would be born in 1991, and if Oliver was stranded when he was 20, he would be born in 1971, making him 11 years younger than Bruce. If Oliver returned a year after being stranded, and Green Arrow debuted shortly after, that would be 1992; Roy was apparently 13 when he became Speedy, maybe a year later in 1993, so that would make him born in 1980. This would give Roy and Jason about 2 years of overlap where they could become friends before Jason dies in 1995.

Roy could have his falling out with Oliver in 2000, about Roy joining Young Justice at 20 rather than the Justice League proper; Roy became the anti-hero Red Arrow, still struggling to figure out who he is, when he meets Jade Nguyen, who is a very bad influence on him as Cheshire, until their daughter, Lian, is born in 2003 and their paradigm is forcefully shifted. It takes some time to straighten themselves out, and are just starting to get their shit together around 2005, joining the Outsiders as Cheshire and Arsenal at 26 and 25 respectively.

[bonewaryreblogs]

The Early Years of Alfred and Bruce

Jarvis Pennyworth, former Wayne Buttler, died when Bruce Wayne was 4, giving the title to his 25 year old son, Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred had done a number of things before taking the job, including but not limited to: fathering a child, whom he immediately abandoned (Julia may or may not become important later, I haven’t decided); joining the British Army at 18, where he excelled as a field medic (apparently contracts are 4 years); joined a secret organization, before killing the crazed leader; became an accomplished actor at the Globe Theatre; and probably more. These may or may not be listed in chronological order.

He was 29 when Martha and Thomas Wayne were killed and he became Bruce’s guardian. 8 year old Bruce was not coping well and was expelled from several private schools before Alfred decided to homeschool him by age 10. When this also seemed to be failing, Alfred made a deal with Bruce; as soon as he graduated high school, even if it was early, Alfred would arrange a globetrotting trip to learn about the world firsthand. Bruce didn’t seem to care until Alfred hinted that Bruce could learn from the best how to fight, and more importantly, how to fight crime; to make sure no other child had to lose their parents like he did. Alfred was well aware that Bruce had become obsessed with his parents�� deaths and decided that the only thing they hadn’t tried yet was leaning into it, so Alfred taught Bruce what he’d learned from his time in the Army to keep the boy motivated until he graduated at 15 and Alfred kept his promise.

From martial arts to military strategies to detective work and beyond, Alfred would either drop Bruce off with his teachers and pick him up a few months later, or Alfred would stay and learn what he could as well. Whenever he couldn’t stay, Alfred would make connections with locals as a traveling healer, or learn the newest schemes criminals were using, or network with both legal and illegal organizations, or any other way he could think of that could potentially be useful to whatever path Bruce decided was best.

Initially, Bruce thought to become a politician and/or a Crime Lord, and try to take out the “competition” as a way to rid Gotham of crime; if he could wrestle control of the bigger criminal organizations, or muscle them out of the city, then he could dismantle them from the inside. He didn’t like the idea, it was risky and chafed at his morals, but it was a potential solution. Then Superman debuted when Bruce was 17 and he realized that, while his original plan might have worked, being a hero aligned with him better in every way; sure, it wasn’t a perfect solution, but neither was the Crime Lord route, and at least this way he’d be able to look himself in the mirror and not want to vomit, which had started to happen as he tried to prepare himself for the role of Crime Lord.

Bruce was 20 years old when he returned to Gotham, though he wanted to save his debut until after he had started rumors of Batman, the Dark Knight that fights crime from the shadows. Alfred is 41 and helps Bruce from the background in any way he can.

As Red Hood, Jason unknowingly took the Crime Lord route Bruce had abandoned; he has no idea and Bruce has no intention of letting him find out.

[bonewaryreblogs]

Masterlist of Danny's Many Powers and Abilities

Using the list of powers and abilities from the Danny Phantom Wiki as a base, I have listed and described as many of them as I could think of that Danny will have in my story and my explanations of how and why they work, including some that weren’t listed that I thought made too much sense to leave out and deleting/combining some that I thought were superfluous. This is now what I would consider to be the definitive list of what I will be using in my story. Yay.

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“Human-Ghost Physiology” - Danny is a Lich

For this universe, Danny is considered a lich, which I’ve defined as a magic-inclined person with a ghost core and a living body; a non-magic person with a ghost core and a living body (like Jason) would be classified as a revenant, while a magic-inclined person with a ghost core but no living body would just become a ghost (or a wight, if they were powerful enough). There is no such thing as a “natural born” lich, since the required ghost core can only be formed by converting a living soul into one, but their altered physiology could be compared to Atlanteans or Amazonians. Liches are very unique individuals, as their powers and appearance are influenced by their environment, how they became a lich, and their own expectations. Danny’s ghost form is unique to him, to accommodate the massive amount of magic/ectoplasm he absorbed while he died; of the other two well-known liches, Vlad uses the equivalent of a glamor spell combined with minor shapeshifting to hide his now naturally vampiric appearance, while Ra’s didn’t change much physically because of how many dips in a Lazarus Pit it took for his soul to convert into a core.

What Jack and Maddie had mislabeled “ectoplasm” is actually a mildly corrupted form of Waters from the Fountain of Life (my creation), which is used to make stuff like Ambrosia and is what watered the Christian Tree of Life and gave it its powers; the Lazarus Pits contain a super corrupted form of these Waters and kryptonite is a crystalized variant, with inconsistent degrees of corruption. Since Danny had been exposed to some version of this substance since before he was born (cuz y’all know Maddie ain’t letting a little thing like pregnancy slow her down!), he likely would’ve developed some kind of magic ability on his own; however, since he was already so aligned with ecto, he was able to absorb a ridiculous amount of it at the exact moment he died a violent death, turning him into a very powerful lich. If Danny had been any less ecto-contaminated by the time of his accident (even being as liminal as Sam or Tucker), he would’ve simply died and become a wight. Danny also isn’t naturally inclined to magic, like Zatanna or Constantine, so without the constant exposure to ecto, he would’ve grown up with no magic affinity and no special powers (he’s more into science anyways).

Danny’s second form, along with a general misunderstanding of what actually happened, led Team Phantom to call Danny “half dead/half alive”, “half a boy, half a ghost”, and a “human-ghost hybrid”, which led to them coining the term “halfa” that the other Ghost Zone ghosts adopted for Danny as well, since none of them knew what a lich was either. This misunderstanding, as well as Danny’s understanding of/exposure to ghosts in general, also led to his powers initially manifesting in ghost-like ways; he expected ghostliness, so that’s what he got. However, as his powers develop and he’s exposed to more ideas, those powers will manifest in less ghostly ways, including being able to access regular magic and learn spells the normal way.

Danny has some degree of access to most of his powers in his human form, but they are highly limited compared to his ghost form due to his limited access to his otherwise massive amount of ecto, and using them wears him out fairly quickly. Most liches would need to have years of training to get to the level that Danny started out as, and his ghost form resists using magic less than a physical body would, granting him unfettered access to every drop of his crazy amount of power. Danny basically has three “settings” that he can use: a human form that has been lightly enhanced to peak human capacity, a human with activated ghost powers (human+), and a ghost form. I will be detailing each mode separately, unless specified otherwise.

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Generally Enhanced Physical Abilities

Strength

Human Form: While Danny was forced to go to Taekwondo until the beginning of 8th grade (a few months before getting his powers), his strength was average at best. He was never able to gain much muscle, partially because he got by in the class with the bare minimum effort, and while he is still considered “lean” at best, he is now as strong as a professional athlete; maybe not circus-strongman-strong, but still pretty strong.

Human+: Danny can lift Batman in full gear over his head without too much trouble, though maintaining this would be a struggle due to his stamina.

Ghost Form: While we don’t have a definitive measure of his strength, Danny can easily carry Sam and Tucker indefinitely; has carried decently sized groups of people and picked up groups of ghosts (a dozen or more each time) and only needed a short breather to recover; and is regularly seen hurling large objects at his opponents, like a 12-15 ton school bus. He has been shown to rip apart reinforced titanium with his bare hands.

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Durability

Human Form: Danny is somewhat more resistant to damage/injury than the average human but it is still well within the margin of error for a human. 

Human+: While it hurts just as much, the actual damage Danny sustains when his powers are activated is minimal, which helps him recover faster. This just barely breaches normal human levels of durability.

Ghost Form: While fighting ghosts, Danny has been thrown through walls and created impact craters in the ground; he might struggle to stand at first but only needs a few seconds to recenter himself and keep fighting. He seems to have a high pain tolerance, though he may just be prioritizing the fight in his mind and labeling the pain “unimportant” until later.

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Agility

Human Form: Due to his Taekwondo training, Danny has athletic level agility; it was barely average before he got his powers due to slacking off but can now maintain his agility without further training.

Human+: When activated, Danny can dodge and weave at the level of an expert fighter, though he can’t maintain this for long.

Ghost Form: Danny has been shown to easily dodge attacks, both physical and energy based, though these are sub-bullet speeds. He is also able to manipulate his body into non-human shapes to avoid being hit.

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Flexibility

Human Form: Danny has the flexibility of someone who stretches regularly, even though he doesn’t. He can also now pop his joins out of their sockets and back in with relative ease, though it isn’t entirely painless (but his healing factor helps). This also doesn’t happen without him consciously deciding to do it, so it won’t happen on accident if he’s hit just right.

Human+: Danny has been shown to turn his head 180 degrees with no negative side effects and can contort himself to inhuman degrees. Again, it might not be painless but his healing factor makes sure there is no lasting damage.

Ghost Form: In his ghost form, Danny can become effectively boneless to contort into any shape and even extend body parts away from his main body, including his abdomen.

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Speed

Human Form: Danny’s running speed is still average at best; he’s more of a sprinter since his stamina prevents him from running long distances.

Human+: His running speed doesn’t really increase with his ghost powers, but he can jump higher and longer, which helps avoid obstacles. He is also capable of flight, which can help avoid obstacles as well, but it is still only about as fast as his running speed.

Ghost Form: While flying, Danny can easily surpass 100 mph and maintain that speed for several hours, though his flight equivalent of a sprint is constantly getting faster. While running only, his speed is limited to how quickly he can move his legs.

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Reflexes

Human Form: Danny has trained his reflexes to be athletic level in Taekwondo, despite his slacking, and can now maintain that level without further training.

Human+: Similar to agility, Danny has expert level reflexes when his powers are activated, though he can’t maintain this for long.

Ghost Form: In ghost form, Danny has dramatically enhanced reflexes, being able to dodge attacks with ease, even if he can’t see it coming; he was once able to catch an arrow with his bare hands.

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^Coordination

Human Form: While slightly above average before due to the Taekwondo, Danny is able to easily catch things or balance objects, even without looking due to his enhanced senses. He had also trained himself to be mostly ambidextrous at one point, able to do most things reasonably well with his left (non-dominant) hand, as well as being able to do two different things with each hand (pat your head and rub your belly type stuff).

Human+: Aside from heightened senses helping him keep track of things, he is pretty much the same.

Ghost Form: Danny is fully ambidextrous in ghost form, along with superhuman senses to keep track of things, as well as being able to do very different things with both hands and even legs.

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Equilibrium

Human Form: Danny had, and still has, decently above average equilibrium and could fairly easily balance on 4 inch balance beams, though now he has the confidence to more than just walk; he did train this a bit in Taekwondo, but not much.

Human+: Since he can fly, he can also “nudge” his body to stay in position; this uses less energy than full flight but it does still use energy. Otherwise his equilibrium doesn’t actually change much.

Ghost Form: Danny’s body seems to adjust almost instinctively to remain in a state of perfect equilibrium in any position imaginable, including crawling on a wall or ceiling. This is also helped by his flight capabilities and the flexibility of his ghostly physiology. He can easily walk a tightrope even without the rest of his powers.

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Stamina/Endurance

Human Form: Danny has below-average stamina, even after his accident. He may even suffer from mild asthma now, on top of his naturally low core temperature leading to early heatstroke, and his low heartrate having trouble keeping up with the demand of rigorous exercise.

Human+: Even with his ghost power, Danny barely has average stamina, which he burns through quickly when using his powers in human form. He can push himself through sheer force of will, but he will pay for it later, needing a long time to recover depending on how much he pushed himself.

Ghost Form: Unhindered by human physiology, Danny can and has fought at full tilt for hours in ghost form before fatigue begins to impair him.

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Senses (all of them)

Human Form: All of Danny’s base senses are at peak human levels, as high as is possible within the limitations of human physiology. He also has a “6th sense” for ectoplasm, and eventually magic in general, which he calls his ghost sense that is passively active all the time (he literally can’t turn it off) that acts as a perimeter alert for nearby ghosts (as soon as he focuses on it, he automatically activates human+, so his base human form only has the perimeter alert).

Human+: Pretty much all of Danny’s senses are enhanced past what should be possible for a human when concentrating on that sense (which unconsciously activates his ghost powers), though he can usually only focus on one sense at a time to avoid sensory overload. He can see just fine in the dark (though bright lights can still be a problem), see things far away with enhanced clarity, and almost microscopically small details; he can hear things above and bellow the usual range of frequencies a human can hear, as well as things quieter or further away than a human; humans can already detect near microscopic defects via touch, but his sense of touch is heightened even more; he can identify many substances via taste, including mixed substances, but can only name them if he already has that knowledge; he can filter and track specific smells as well as identify substances by smell, but can only name them if he already has that knowledge. His ghost sense is also heightened to be able to identify specific characteristics of the ecto he senses; if it belongs to a ghost, how far away and in what direction they are, as well as how powerful they are; he can tell the difference between raw ecto, filtered and unfiltered, ambient, tainted/corrupted ecto (like Lazarus Water), “pure ecto” (straight from the Fountain of Life), and probably more as he gains more experience; eventually, he is able to branch out to other types of magic, but identifying the differences is still hard while in human form. His eyes usually glow when accessing these senses.

Ghost Form: All of Danny’s senses are at superhuman levels, though thankfully his ghost instincts are able to filter what’s important and what’s not to avoid sensory overload. Some specific examples are: his ghost sense can now also pick up on the general emotions of those around him, though he is particularly aware of fear (so he can “eat” it, but he doesn’t realize that til later); he can use both telescopic and microscopic vision, though thankfully only when he’s concentrating on it, which helps with his precision/accuracy for blasting, throwing, and shooting; he can hear heartbeats but can’t actively identify whose heart it is without other clues; his ability to tell the difference between different types of ecto/magic is also sharper and more accurate; and probably more that I can’t think of immediately. I will update the list if I think it’s important.

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Healing

Human Form: Danny heals faster than average but still within the margin of error for a human. Damage to his human form does not carry over to his ghost form, but healing will cease while his body is in stasis in the pocket dimension.  

Human+: He has to consciously think about it the entire time, and it makes him very tired and hungry, but he can cut his recovery time in half while his powers are activated. He sometimes uses a form of meditation to cut that time further, to almost a third of the projected recovery time.

Ghost Form: If given even a few moments to catch his breath, Danny can recover from minor injuries, like bumps and bruises, in seconds. Cuts and larger abrasions can heal in minutes; you could actually watch his skin close up. His suit is basically a part of him and can “heal” as well. Damage to his ghost form does not carry over to his human form; however, his ghost form still needs time to heal, and if Danny tries to transform too soon, the damage to his ghost form could still be present.

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^Reconstitution

If a ghost’s body is sufficiently damaged, they will retreat into their core to heal; this leaves their core vulnerable but allows all of the ghost’s efforts to go into healing. How long the ghost must remain in their core depends on multiple factors, including access to ectoplasm, the quality of said ecto, any damage sustained to the core, environmental factors like keeping an ice core cold or a fire core warm, proximity to those bonded with the ghost, generally positive feelings from those around them, and more. If the ghost is severely injured but not enough to retreat into their core, they will eventually heal from any damage to their body, including regrowing limbs, so long as the damage didn’t have a psychological component and the core itself was undamaged.

For Danny, all of this holds true for his ghost form but not for his human form, which would not be able to regrow limbs.

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^Drug Resistance

Human Form: Most human-grade medications don’t work on Danny, or at least not for nearly as long, due to a combination of enhanced metabolism and his ghostliness protecting his organs, but this also extends to drugs like chloroform or other sedatives, as well as more “recreational” drugs like alcohol or weed. If his body senses any foreign substances in him, it will automatically activate human+ to protect him, though with enough meditation, Danny is able to suppress the ghost instincts and let the drug affect him at least a little bit, though it still has to combat the metabolism.

Human+: Once his ghost powers activate automatically upon sensing a foreign substance, Danny’s healing factor will kick in to protect his organs from damage while his already fast metabolism is sent into overdrive to get rid of the drug as quickly as possible. His ectoplasm may also react to certain drugs in different ways than are typical of humans (especially made up substances like Joker Gas or Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin).

Ghost Form: Most chemical and biological drugs have absolutely no effect on Danny’s ghost form, as he doesn’t have working organs for them to alter; his lungs don’t process the air he breaths (doing so is only a reflex anyways; he doesn’t need to breath), his heart doesn’t pump blood, his brain doesn’t have neurons to fire, etc. There are, however, “drugs” made specifically to affect ghosts or other magical beings.

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Paranormal Immunity/Magic Resistance

Human Form: Since ghosts and other “supernatural” things are based on magic in my story, Danny has a natural resistance to magic attacks/effects. This can be overpowered if Danny has been compromised or the attack/effect is strong enough.

Human+: With his powers activated, Danny is somewhat more resistant to magic attacks/effects, if only because he is braced for/expecting it.

Ghost Form: Unless the magic attack/effect is specifically designed to affect ghost-like entities/ectoplasm (or is electricity based for Danny in particular), Danny has a near complete immunity to magic in his ghost form.

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Decelerated Aging

While his body does age, it will take him a few decades to achieve a fully adult body (but he will get there eventually!), and once he reaches peak physical condition (equivalent of a 25-30 year old) his aging will stop altogether. His ghost form, technically, doesn’t age, as is the case with most ghosts; however, his ghost form is a reflection of how he sees himself. The changes to his human form will be slow and subtle enough that he will change his ghost form subconsciously to match.

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In conclusion, all of Danny’s physical traits and abilities are at the peak potential for a human body in his human form (except for his stamina), further enhanced when activating his ghost powers in human form (despite the energy drain), and superhuman when transformed into his ghost form. Unless otherwise specified, all of these abilities are considered passive and always active (or at least activate automatically when he needs them), even if he pretends they aren’t to keep his cover.

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~@~

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Ghost Powers

Danny has no access to these powers in his base human form, unless specifically indicated as being a passive ability, so I will only be talking about the human+ and ghost forms in this section.

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Transformation “Going Ghost”

Ghost Form: When his body was flooded with ectoplasm at the exact moment he was electrocuted to death, he gained a lot of magic potential which his human body couldn’t contain. The extra power was channeled into a second form, which he can access at will. Anything he is wearing while human is stored in a pocket dimension of sorts and returns to his body upon transforming back; however, the reverse is not true, as anything he is wearing while in ghost form (aside from his outfit) will still be on him when he returns to human form. He is eventually able to add things to his ghost outfit by infusing the item with his own power and “accepting” it as part of him.

Human+: When using his ghost powers in human form, some of Danny’s ghostly traits will manifest, especially a green glow from his eyes. His body eventually starts gaining non-human traits more permanently, even without his powers being active; the first change he actually notices is fangs, which he can’t decide if he likes or not.

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^Access to a Pocket Dimension

While in human form, his “ghost form” is basically pulled back into his core, only able to release small amounts of energy into his human body at a time. When he transforms, his human body is taken into a pocket dimension while it is replaced by his ghost body as it expands from his core, and vice versa. He eventually learns how to access the pocket dimension in ghost form via “phasing” his hand into his chest, limiting the size of what he can store to less-than-chest-sized; he can take things from his human form (like grabbing his phone from his pants pocket) and add things to it (with enough effort, he could even change the shirt his human form is wearing), but it will all be pushed out of the pocket dimension once he transforms back into a human, appearing in front of his chest after the transformation rings pass it, and will fall to the ground unless he catches them.

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Intangibility (partially shifting into a pocket dimension)

Ghost Form: Danny can pass through solid matter, either his whole body or limited to specific parts of it. This ability can be extended to other people and objects but only while he’s in physical contact with them; if contact is broken, the ability transfer will cease. Other humans may feel strange when this power is extended to them, as Jack Fenton stated his stomach felt funny and Sam mentioned a tingly sensation but not in a bad way. Danny can use this power indefinitely on himself, but extending it to others takes more energy. Danny can touch and be touched by other ghosts who are also intangible. This is different than the density shifting Martians use, so they can’t touch Danny even while both are intangible (and vice versa), and also different still from a speedster “vibrating their molecules” to pass through solid objects.

Human+: This ability was the hardest for Danny to control at first and would activate randomly, often at inopportune times, and still might activate involuntarily if he’s startled. He can use this power indiscriminately as human+, but extending the power to anyone/anything else will fatigue him. It is often activated in tandem with invisibility but it is very much a distinct ability.

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Invisibility (partially shifting into a pocket dimension)

Ghost Form: Danny can make himself invisible to the human eye as well as to other ghosts, though that takes more concentration. He also can’t be seen by most scanning devices, unless they have been specifically modified to see ghosts. He can do this with his whole body indefinitely, or he can limit this power to specific body parts, including his muscles while leaving the bones visible underneath (useful for setting broken bones). This power can also be extended to people and objects via physical contact; once contact is disrupted, the power will stop. He does still give off a heat signature that can be picked up on infrared, even though it is generally bellow room temperature and shows up as a cold spot.

Human+: While it often activates in tandem with intangibility, they are very much distinct abilities. It may also activate involuntarily if Danny is scared enough or “feels like he wants to disappear” due to embarrassment or discomfort. Danny can use this power indiscriminately as human+, but extending the power to anyone/anything else will fatigue him.

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Flight (gravity manipulation/nullification and telekinesis)

Ghost Form: Danny’s flight works by nullifying the effects of gravity on himself, then using a form of telekinesis to move his body around. This makes his hair flowy and move like he’s underwater even when he isn’t actively using it. While flying, his legs often become a ghostly tail, but not always; this seems to happen subconsciously but he can consciously control it if he wants to. He can easily reach and maintain 100+ mph for hours on end and is getting faster all the time in the flight equivalent of a sprint. He can also fly to and through space with few-to-no negative side effects. He can maintain floating indefinitely and can extend the gravity nullification to other people or objects, allowing him to lift things heavier than he could if relying solely on his physical strength, but the effect can only it extend so far.

Human+: While considerably slower, Danny can still float and extend the ability to others, though his stamina is still a limiting factor for length and extension. While active, his hair and cloths have a distinct “floaty” underwater effect, just like his hair in ghost form. This effect extends however far his gravity nullification extends.

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^Wall Walking (gravity manipulation)

Ghost Form: Danny can manipulate his “center of gravity” to accept a different surface as the “ground” but only for people and objects he is touching. If he tries to throw something, it will be affected by normal gravity again, so he must take this into account when he uses it.

Human+: Danny is unable to access this ability outside of his ghost form.

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Overshadowing (possession)

Ghost Form: Overshadowing is a form of possession and therefore follows many of the same general rules, though it appears to be more temporary than full possession, which takes longer to set up, last longer with less energy consumption, and is harder to break than the quick overshadowing. Danny can possess the mind and body of a person or animal as well as objects, completely controlling their actions. The subject has no real memory of anything they did while overshadowed, but there may be a lingering influence left on the subject based on whatever Danny made them do. When Danny leaves the subject, they will usually feel disoriented at best, often weak or ill, and potentially even pass out. Danny can channel most, if not all, of his ghost abilities through the subject, though it is unknown if this has any lasting effect on the subject, like using the subject’s life force to power the abilities. Subjects with more will or general power than Danny can kick him out. The subject’s eyes will generally glow green while being overshadowed by Danny, though he can suppress this effect with concentration.

Human+: As with most of Danny’s powers, it drains his energy to use it outside of his ghost form. He also can be overpowered more easily due to his diminished access to power in human form.

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^Software Fusion/Technopathy

Ghost Form: If Danny overshadows technology with some kind of internal processor, he can basically grant himself limited technopathy as long as he is overshadowing it. In at least one instance, he overshadowed a video game and essentially “overshadowed” his game avatar while still having access to his ghost powers. This may or may not develop into full technopathy, as Dan was able to hijack a communicator at a distance and through a ghost shield, but this is unconfirmed.

Human+: Along with the usual excessive energy drain, the reach of his influence is greatly diminished while in his human form.

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^Exorcism

Ghost Form: If someone is possessing a subject, Danny can remove them by either overpowering the possession with his own or, if the possessor is weak enough, by grabbing the possessor’s soul/core with his intangible hands to push or pull their spirit out of the body. It is unknown if he can remove a subject’s natural soul from their own body to force them into astral projection, or what kind of effect this might have on the empty body and disembodied soul. He can only do this to those with weaker wills or less power than himself (or if he has their cooperation).

Human+: Along with the usual excessive energy drain, Danny’s diminished power in human form is what is compared to the other possessor.

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^Dream Invasion

Ghost Form: If Danny overshadows a sleeping subject, he enters their dream and can influence it. The subject will not remember the dream any more than they would naturally remember any other dream.

Human+: Danny has less influence over the dream and will tire more quickly, repelling him from the subject if he gets weak enough.

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Duplication

Ghost Form: Danny can create duplicates of himself made of ectoplasm. The duplicates have all of his powers, memories, and abilities but no soul/core, though the amount of energy in a duplicate is limited to how much he is able to separate from himself, resulting in his “real” body having less energy as well. The duplicate can “poof” if damaged enough or if it runs out of energy, but if he is able to remerge with the duplicate he regains whatever power the duplicate still had left as well as their memories, though they may not be as clear as if he had experienced them himself. This is one of the few abilities that took Danny a while to figure out, let alone master.  

Human+: Danny is unable to create duplicates while in human form, but both he and the duplicate(s) can turn back into a human once created.

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Spectral Body Manipulation

Ghost Form: Unhindered by muscles and skeletal structures, Danny can bend, twist, split, and otherwise contort his ghost body beyond the limits of normal human physiology, usually to dodge incoming attacks. This is often reflexive and can cause the human part of his mind some distress as it breaks the mental map all bodied individuals subconsciously have.

Human+: While bound by the internal structures of human physiology, Danny is far more flexible than even trained contortionists, and can fairly easily dislocate his joints if desired; the pain is minimal and his healing factor repairs any damage almost immediately.

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^Elasticity

Ghost Form: Danny has the ability to stretch any part of his body in an elastic fashion.

Human+: Danny cannot access this ability in human form.

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^Size Alteration

Ghost Form: Danny can make his entire body bigger or smaller, but this takes concentration; he will snap back to normal size if his concentration waivers even a little. He doesn’t even think about this as a possibility until it is suggested to him much later.

Human+: Danny cannot access this ability in human form.

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^Ghost Tail

Ghost Form: While largely an involuntary action, Danny can turn his legs into an intangible, cone-shaped tail when flying or floating.

Human+: Danny automatically forms his legs into a ghostly tail when flying or floating for more than a few seconds while in human form, but he could, theoretically, fly or float while retaining his legs, though this would likely require concentration.

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Vacuum Resistance

Ghost Form: Danny appears to be largely unaffected by the vacuum of space, stardust, or cosmic radiation, and doesn’t need to breath, though not breathing for an extended time will get uncomfortable for his human mind. He technically doesn’t need a mask or helmet but may not be able to be heard without one due to the lack of particles to carry the sound vibration. It is possible he could learn to communicate via waves of ectoplasm, but this is currently only theoretical.

Human+: While he may be somewhat more resistant to the vacuum of space, stardust, or cosmic radiation, his human body is not immune, and holding that resistance saps his energy as well. He does still need to breath in human form, even if it’s not as much.

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Underwater Breathing

Ghost Form: Since he doesn’t need to breath, and might not even have lungs, Danny can survive just fine underwater, though his human mind might be uncomfortable with the idea of “breathing” underwater.

Human+: Danny can hold his breath longer than should be possible, even for those specifically trained to do so, but he does still need to breath eventually. The world record is over 20 minutes, which Danny can easily achieve while meditating, though any activity will diminish that time.

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Ecto-Energy Manipulation

This can be used in a wide variety of ways, so I will be tackling those independently.

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Ghost Ray

Ghost Form: Danny can fire green laser-like blasts of ecto-energy from pretty much anywhere on his body; his hands/fingertips feel the most natural, but his eyes are a close second. It can also be concentrated into a ball that he can throw at a target, which usually causes more concussive damage but has also been documented to melt steel.

Human+: While he can access this ability in human form, it is highly limited, usually to just small lasers from his fingertips, which he can only hold for a few seconds.

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^Repulsion Field

Ghost Form: Danny can send out a pulse of energy in all directions from his body to repel large groups of attackers. He can also limit the direction to just 360 degrees around him and not up or down.

Human+: This ability generally requires more energy than Danny has access to at a single time. If pressed, he might be able to perform a weaker version of this in a single direction.

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^Energy Strike

Ghost Form: Danny can channel ecto-energy through his fists and legs/feet to enhance the strength and piercing potential of his physical attacks; it can even allow him to cut through objects as hard as steel like a blade.

Human+: Danny can only create what amounts to a protective cover around his limbs to protect his physical body from the force of his own enhanced strength, or to block an incoming attack.

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^Ghostly Wail

Ghost Form: One of Danny’s most powerful abilities is a type of banshee scream, a sonic blast infused with ecto-energy, but he has very little control over it, using all of his energy, and will at least cause him to collapse, usually revert to human form, and potentially lose consciousness entirely. Along with the pure concussive aspect of the Wail, as well as the sonic disruptance and air movement, there is a psychological effect on anyone within hearing range; the disturbing feeling of hearing someone dying painfully. Only those who “died screaming” can develop a banshee scream by tapping into the memory and emotions of their death.

Human+: If put under enough duress, Danny can use a short, less than one second burst of this power; it will leave him winded and potentially disoriented, but still able to move.

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Ecto-Energy Constructs

Ghost Form: Similar to a Green Lantern’s ability, Danny can create solid constructs out of his ecto-energy, limited only by his imagination. They are more radioactive green than a Green Lantern’s (surprisingly) neon green. The amount of time he can hold a shape depends on the size and if it’s taking damage.

Human+: Danny can only make palm-sized constructs in human form, which he often uses to form tools he either doesn’t have access to or has in the wrong size, from wrenches and screwdrivers to power tools. He can’t hold them for very long, though, only a few minutes at most.

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^Ghost Shield

Ghost Form: Danny often uses his constructs in battle to create shields, though these shields do have some unique properties that the constructs don’t. They can nullify or even reflect energy-based attacks (this works better against ecto-energy, but other energies can also be nullified or reflected, depending on their specific properties). While technically not necessary, hand gestures do help him focus on the shield and what he wants from it.

Human+: Danny has barely any access to this ability in human form, just a flat, basic shield for barely a second and with no special properties.

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Energy Absorption

Ghost Form: Danny can absorb an opponent’s ecto-energy, though he must be strong enough to withstand the initial attack for it to work. He can also redirect ecto-energy, often to throw it back at his opponent, which takes less energy but more concentration and reflexes. Whether this works with other types of energy varies depending on the specific properties of the energy itself and how similar it is to ectoplasm.

Human+: Danny cannot absorb ecto-energy in human form, but if he really needs to, he can redirect it. He has almost no ability to redirect energies other than ecto-energy.

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^Power Absorption

Ghost Form: If the energy Danny absorbs has very specific properties, Danny could potentially be able to use those properties for a short time; such as electricity from a Ghost Stinger, or if he absorbed one of Starfire’s Starbolts, his own ectoblasts would have some similar properties for a short time.

Human+: Danny has no access to this power in human form.

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Power Augmentation

Ghost Form: Danny can increase his already superhuman physical capabilities by fueling them with ecto-energy, though this makes him tire faster.

Human+: This is basically the entire principal behind Human+.

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Electrokinesis

Ghost Form: Danny can only really redirect electricity rather than generating it himself or fully controlling it, which is not nearly as precise as actual control. Danny has to understand the physics he is manipulating in order to get the electricity to do what he wants but, if he miscalculates even a bit, he will simply electrocute himself instead, which is one of his main weaknesses due to how he died.

Human+: Danny has no access to this in human form.

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Photokinesis

Ghost Form: Danny can turn an ecto-blast into the equivalent of a flashbang. It can also act like a firework or signal flare, which is usually thrown into the air, or produce light from his palm almost like a flashlight or lantern.

Human+: This ability takes very little energy so Danny can do most of these things in human form, though the “flashier” abilities may take a few seconds to charge.

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^The Void

Ghost Form: Instead of generating light, Danny is eventually able to “absorb” the light in his immediate vicinity, creating a darkness only he can see through that even night vision or infrared goggles can’t penetrate (with a few exceptions, like Signal and Raven). He often did this subconsciously when trying to intimidate a target while exuding “eldritch energy” before realizing he was doing it and trying to control it consciously.

Human+: He has little to no (conscious) control over this, though he can sometimes do this subconsciously to “up the creepy factor”.

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Cryokinesis

Ghost Form: Danny can fire blasts of icy energy from his hands or eyes that can freeze enemies on contact from the inside out, radiate cold energy from his body (to cool the air in his immediate vicinity or freeze objects via touch), and create ice tools and weapons from thin air. Initially, the ice is infused with Danny’s ecto-energy to control its shape but he instinctively pulls the ecto back a few seconds after the ice is formed, making it act like normal ice; however, he is able to consciously keep the ecto infused in the ice to give it special properties, like not melting and being bullet-resistant-to-bullet-proof, depending on the gun/bullet and how much ecto he infused into the ice. He often uses this to create wide barriers that would be too draining to be made out of just an energy construct. He can condense this energy in a sphere, which looks like a snowball, that instantly freezes everything it hits in a splash style burst. His Ice core gives him a near complete immunity to low temperatures, slight resistance to moderately high temperatures (by cooling the area around him), but a near-deadly weakness to higher temperatures that a normal human would simply find uncomfortable. However, if he doesn’t release the power often enough, he could be overcome by his own ice and be encased in it. When using this power, his eyes turn icy cyan instead of their usual ecto green.

Human+: Danny is able to make palm sized objects out of ice and hold it for about an hour before the limited ecto infused into the ice runs out and it acts like regular ice again; he usually does this to make tools he either doesn’t have access to at the time or if the tool is specialized enough to not exist but still mechanical in nature. He is also able to lower the temperature of objects he touches, usually used mundanely to keep his drinks cold without requiring regular ice. This has become his favorite power to use in human form because of how disconnected it appears from his ghostly abilities at a glance; if anyone finds out Danny has powers, he can pass it off as just an ice meta ability. While the average human internal temperature is 98.6°, Danny’s baseline is around 95°, which would normally be considered hypothermic. He can now easily survive temperatures that would cause frostbite in normal humans, however he is also more susceptible to heatstroke and more affected by fevers.

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^Ghost Sense

Ghost Form: Initially just a passive perimeter alert for nearby ghosts, automatically activating his ice powers in preparation for an attack, Danny is actually sensing the ectoplasm itself and has developed it to the point of being able to distinguish different types of ecto, relative strength of the ghost (if it is a ghost), and direction and general distance from himself, as well as starting to branch into sensing general magic as well. It does take an amount of concentration to parse specific differences but he is getting better at doing so subconsciously, especially in ghost form.

Human+: This is a passive ability that is only slightly less perceptive in human form than ghost form. He can still parse the differences, but it takes more concentration.

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^Explosive Snowball

Ghost Form: If Danny mixes his ecto-blasts with his cryokinesis, he can create a “cold explosion”, basically the inversion of a normal hot explosion; instead of heat energy expanding rapidly, “cold energy” expands rapidly.

Human+: Danny cannot access this power in human form due to the amount of energy it requires.

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Pyrokinesis

Ghost Form: While he can’t control or produce normal, combustion fire, he can change the properties of his ecto-blasts, combined with some of his photokinesis, to mimic heat energy rather than their usual concussive/light energy. He can also make his ecto-energy simulate a chemical fire, enough to cause heat and set combustible material on fire (which acts as normal, uncontrollable fire once it’s set), but lacking in certain qualities, like not using oxygen as part of its process as it is fueled entirely by Danny’s ecto. Due to the conflict between fire and his natural ice core, the ability feels unnatural and he can’t keep it up for long.

Human+: Danny has very limited access to this ability. He might be able to light a cigarette, but that is the extent of it.

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Plant Manipulation (potentially, but he already has enough powers to manage)

Ghost Form: Since ectoplasm is a form of life energy, it would make sense that Danny could manipulate plants, but he would need a greater understanding of how plants function and grow to make sure the plant actually did what he wanted it to do.

Human+: Danny might be able to revive a dying plant by pushing his own ectoplasm into it but it takes a lot of energy and the plant may react unpredictably to the ecto anyways.

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Telekinesis

Ghost Form: By separating a portion of his ecto-energy, Danny can encase an object and hold it in mid-air without physically touching it. This is also used in conjunction with his gravity manipulation/nullification to produce the effect of flight, though he doesn’t realize this until later. It takes him a while to be able to separate the energy from himself.

Human+: Similar to many of his abilities, Danny can only access a small portion of his ecto-energy, capping how much weight he can lift and for how long.

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Electronic Disruption

Ghost Form: Magic in general tends to react badly with technology; the more advanced and “digital” the tech, the more it’s affected. Ectoplasm, being a subset of magic, is no different, though it seems to be focused more on disrupting audio and video devices than anything else. Any pictures of Danny’s ghost form seem to be affected by nonsensical motion blur, but if he is consciously thinking about it, the entire picture could have odd artifacting or be pixilated and “fuzzy” while video will suffer similar oddities if it isn’t just pure static. Audio devices, including phones and headsets as well as recording devices, will be staticky at best and Danny’s voice in particular will be pure static. He can “suck it in” to an extent so that others’ audio and visuals won’t be affected (as much) but his own will still be messed up. This can be mitigated with special equipment designed to filter the ectoplasm.

Human+: While his powers are active, Danny will still affect audio and visual devices in relation to how much ecto he is using at a given time.

Human Form: Even without his powers active, Danny has enough ecto in his system to affect audio and visual devices a little bit, unless he is consciously trying not to. The distortion can be corrected for with pure programing rather than specialized equipment.

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^EMP

Ghost Form: If he concentrates hard enough, Danny can completely fry digital technology within a few feet of himself, acting similar to his Repulsion Field.

Human+: It still takes a good amount of energy and concentration, but Danny can fry electronics via touch by flooding it with ecto.

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~@~

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Talents, Skills and Abilities

These are (generally) learned and are thus the same for all forms.

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Quick Learning Ability (Intuitive Aptitude, Power/Skill Replication, Reactive Adaptation/Evolution)

With a constellation of natural intelligence and enhanced observation, Danny is capable of dissecting how something works and how to replicate the results, be it a body movement or something more mechanical, even if he only saw it once. Even before his accident, Danny was capable of, for example, replicating the moves he witnessed while learning Taekwondo, or building a working trebuchet. After his accident, he gained new senses, like his ability to detect ecto and similar energy, as well as enhanced “regular” senses, like sight and hearing; by using these senses, he was able to understand how, for example, an opponent manipulated their own energy to produce a certain effect (like seeing Vlad use a ghost shield) and copy the effect after only seeing it once. When backed into a corner, Danny is also capable of simple “inventing” new powers, or new ways of manipulating his ecto-energy to create a desired result.

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^Intuitive Multilingualism

Like Sam, Danny learns how to speak Esperanto from Tucker, in case he meets Wulf again. He also quickly figured out how to communicate with Sampson through pure observation. He is able to pick up languages quickly, only hampered by his access to the proper vocabulary.

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^Experienced Driver and Pilot

Despite his age, Danny has managed to drive the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle, the Specter Speeder, and landed a NASA shuttle (at least in the show, I haven’t decided if/when that will happen in my story).

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^Experienced Combatant (may be related to Skill Replication)

Danny is able to copy skills after only seeing them once and create new skills on the fly by modifying what he understood of what he observed, even replicating moves his opponent just used minutes, or even seconds, earlier. He managed to keep up with Taekwondo by replicating the moves his teachers demonstrated almost perfectly by dissecting the movements, even though he was slacking with practice and strength/stamina training. After becoming a hero, he was quickly exposed to a wide variety of fighting styles and weapons, replicating his opponents moves and combining them with his strategic mind to beat them at their own game. He also studied choreographed movie fights and video clips of other heroes with abilities similar to his own to get ideas for how to better utilize them.

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^Swordsmanship

Despite lacking any formal training, he is able to analyze and replicate his opponents moves, as well as whatever he may have picked up from video clips and movies.

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^Marksmanship

Though most of his hero experience with accuracy is with his ecto-blasts, he has been exposed to his parents’ gun-like anti-ghost weaponry for years, which can translate to regular guns (and gun-adjacent equipment) easily enough. With his enhanced senses, he might not even need his sight to hit a target.

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^General Weapons Mastery

While he usually defaults to his fists, he can pick up just about any weapon and work out how to use it with no formal training, nor even watching someone use it first.

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^Fenton Weaponry Expertise

Danny can operate his parents' ghost-hunting tech with great expertise, at times even better than his parents.

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Indomitable Will

Danny has exhibited considerable determination once his mind is set on a goal. Even if his chances are slim, he will not back down, though he is not too proud to retreat and rethink his strategy. He didn’t exercise this ability much before his accident simply because he hadn’t found anything he cared about enough to apply himself, but he did still have it; now he has his ghostly Obsession to drive him and the power to back it up.

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^Mind Control Resistance/Overshadowing Immunity

He has been shown multiple times to be able to resist mind control (saving Sam from falling, despite Freakshow’s influence) and resist being overshadowed (one of his clones trying to force him to transform, despite being exhausted). No one can make him do something he doesn’t want to do, or make him stop doing something he has set his sights on.

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Skilled Tactician/Strategist

Danny is adept at dissecting a situation and coming up with a plan to complete his goals, as well as improvising when a plan falls apart and coming up with a new plan on the fly based on the changing needs of the situation. He is also not too proud to abandon a plan that is not salvageable, retreat, analyze the new information, and come up with a new plan of attack.

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^Leadership Skills

On several occasions, Danny has demonstrated remarkable skills as a natural leader and speaker, mostly by understanding how his target audience thinks and manipulating them to align with what he wants. He can easily garner respect and inspire others, such as when he rallies his classmates to save their parents from Ember and Youngblood (despite their general dislike of him), or to stage a protest to save the Nasty Burger from Vlad. He is also able to convince his ghostly rogues to follow his lead against Pariah, despite ghosts’ natural hyper-individuality.

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In conclusion, Danny can pick up just about any skill/ability with minimal effort, he’s turned tenacity into a superpower, and he can inspire others to follow his (potentially hairbrained) plans.

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~@~

Weaknesses

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Anti-Ghost Weaponry

Danny is susceptible to all of the usual anti-ghost measures, from natural remedies like magic and blood blossoms, to tech gadgets like the Specter Deflector and the Plasmius Maximus.

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^Anti-Magic Weaponry

Since ectoplasm is a subset of magic energy, most anti-magic measures would also work on Danny, though how much it would work varies based on its function.

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Ghost Specific or Magic-Based Drugs/Substances

Drugs or other substances that are made specifically for ghosts or made to affect ectoplasm, or even target magic in general, will affect Danny. They will affect him less in human form due to the suppression of his ghostliness, but there will still be an affect, especially if he activates human+ (which usually activates automatically when a foreign substance is detected). Some (mostly made up) substances affect Danny in unexpected ways; like Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin is supposed to enhance fear and cause nightmare-ish hallucinations, but for Danny it works more like a mix of truth serum and cocaine, while keeping the hallucinogenic properties but not limited to nightmares, almost turning him into a berserker. His human side is completely overtaken by his ghostly instincts, which are 1000% emotions that have also been heightened, and has basically no impulse control; if he has a thought, he will act on it. The altered effects (whatever they may be) cross over to anyone Danny is overshadowing as well, though to a lesser degree, until he releases them and the drug starts to take its usual effect on them.

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^Crystal Ball Staff

The Crystal Ball Staff (which really needs a new name) is magic in nature and designed specifically to mind control ghosts. Danny is able to break free on occasion, as well as resist control in general, when forced to do something that conflicts with his core nature, like letting someone fall to their death.

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^Blood Blossoms

Blood blossoms are potentially lethal to ghosts and Danny is no exception, though it would likely not affect him as much (or at all) in human form, as displayed by Vlad. It causes extreme pain and Danny was unable to even crawl away from them once sufficiently exposed. It works by breaking down ectoplasm into its component parts, breaking down the ghosts (that are literally made of ectoplasm) “molecule by molecule”.

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Electricity

Electricity has been shown to cause Danny a great deal of pain and often causes him to collapse, disoriented. While electricity does work reasonably well against normal ghosts, Danny is particularly affected by it because he was killed via electrocution.

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Heat

Almost forgot to add excessive heat as a weakness due to Danny's ice core. If he's only exposed for a short time then he can cool down his immediate area with his powers, but he is more susceptible to heatstroke and similar ailments in temperatures other humans would find uncomfortable but not deadly. For example, most humans would uncomfortable in the 90s but not in any real danger unless there were other factors at play, like humidity or physical activity, while Danny would be in real trouble if exposed to anything above 85 for extended periods.

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[bonewaryreblogs]

well shit, this is beautiful.

there is a voice inside my head that whispers “wing au” every time i join a new fandom. it is currently winning.

[bonewaryreblogs]

Danny Phantom Show Rewrite or something

I’ve finally got a working timeline for episode order! Woo!

I wasn’t too worried about actual in-show evidence about which episode goes where and was more concerned about vibes and working around a few set dates, like Halloween or Jack and Maddie’s anniversary being May 9th. I tried to fit everything as close together as I could, especially once 9th grade starts, and managed to fit them into about a year and a half, though some of the more displaced episodes had to be highly edited to fit with the story progression. I think the biggest offender is “Lucky in Love” because it had to happen when water parks would be open and I’d kind of written Johnny and Kitty out of the story by then. Honestly, I think it fits better the way I’ve rewritten it anyways, considering where Danny is in his story arc, and ties up the loose end of Danny’s crush on Paulina.

Since I probably won’t write most of these stories in full, but will allude to them occasionally, I figured I’d post the summary of explanations for why things happen in the order I’ve put them, as well as highlight specific changes I’ve made to either make the placement work or to fit within the DPxDC lore I’ve settled on. If I reference something and don’t explain what happened, assume it happened more-or-less how it did in the show. Danny Phantom was all about ghosts but with access to DC lore, I’ve changed a few rogues into other supernatural/magical beings that I think fit them better; I tried to make sure I explained each change but I might have missed something.

There are, unfortunately, a few episodes I’ve skipped completely because I couldn’t find a place for them or the plot itself relied too much on something that I’ve changed to reconcile. In this post, I’m also going to skip two stories I do plan on actually writing out: Danny’s first Death Day and the Battle Against Ghost King Pariah. Death Day is gonna be a prequal one-shot but the story itself is gonna start like the day before Pariah makes his move, to establish a baseline of “normal” before it all gets upended. Technically, the plot would still work without the DC Superheroes interference but I have to get Danny on Batman’s radar somehow, right? After the battle, I’m still debating if I wanna do another time skip or not, maybe set it as a “Book 2” or something, I haven’t decided.

I’ll put the skipped episodes at the end, with explanations.

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Danny is upset that his parents are basically ignoring him on his birthday (February 12) to work on the ghost portal and complains to Sam and Tucker. Jack and Maddie take a break, accidentally leaving the door to the basement lab unlocked, so Sam and Tucker drag Danny down to the lab, where he releases pent up frustrations that eventually leads to his accident. Danny recovers at home for about a week and a half before being forced to go back to school and the trio realize Danny wasn’t hallucinating, he really does have ghost powers! About a month after his accident, Jack and Maddie figure out how to open the ghost portal without causing a city-wide blackout and Danny fights his first ghost the next day (probably the Box Ghost, but it doesn’t really matter).

Sam decides to leave her mark on Kibosh Middle School before they graduate 8th grade and move on to High School and gets the school to change its menu to ultra-recyclo vegetarian food, drawing the Lunch Lady out of the Ghost Zone to be his first major opponent. The school ultimately decides to keep some of the vegetarian items as options but otherwise leave the menu mostly the same.

Danny is still trying to grapple with the reality that he literally died in that accident but can’t bring himself to say as much to Sam and Tucker, so he struggles alone for now and just tries to not think about it, focusing on the “half alive” part. He also discovers that he feels good protecting his friends from the handful of ghosts/not-quite-ghosts that find their way through the ghost portal, compelled to defend them by fighting the ghosts, but doesn’t understand why. (Danny doesn't know about Obsessions yet, and his is somewhat nuanced anyways, but a large part of it is protecting others. He also doesn't know that fighting is not only acceptable in ghost culture, it’s practically a requirement for regulating out-of-control emotions.)

Danny decides to use his powers to get back at a bully, which invokes the ire of Sidney, a bully victim that has been absorbing all the negative memories of other victims for decades, leaving them as more of a “we are legion” kind of ghost than a single soul. Since the ghost portal was opened somewhat nearby, Sidney was able to gain enough power to confront Danny, who was the only one they could really interact with because of Danny’s own powers. After a struggle, Danny realizes that bullying the bullies doesn’t help anything and instinctively wants to help Sidney. After some research and trying to communicate with Sidney, Danny decides the best way to help them was to allow Sidney to rest and pass on to the afterlife, and the best way to do that was to let Sidney be the hero that they never got to have in life and couldn’t provide others in death. They staged a scene where Danny was “bullying” one of his friends and Sidney got to stand up to him and “convince” Danny of what he’d already learned; that bullying bullies just makes more bullies, but standing up to them to defend yourself isn’t the same thing. Satisfied, Sidney is finally able to pass on to the afterlife.

Ghosts start coming through the ghost portal more often now, as word of its existence has spread, and Danny needs a break by the time Jack and Maddie’s old college friend invites everyone to his castle for their class reunion. The Fentons are convinced to stay the night before the party and Danny meets Plasmius in the dead of night; they fight but Danny is no match for Plasmius and gets knocked out, reverting to human form in front of Plasmius only to wake up in his bed that morning, thinking it must have been a dream. During the party, Skulker traps Danny in Vlad’s lab before Vlad reveals himself as Plasmius, ranting for a while before overshadowing Jack to cause a scene. This is Skulker’s first interaction with Danny; he’d initially agreed to work with Vlad so he could later betray him and add Plasmius to his collection, but decides Danny might be the better target, being younger and weaker, and therefore easier to deal with. Skulker decides to leave, since he no longer cares about hunting Plasmius, and the Dairy King (former owner of Vlad’s castle) sets Danny free, allowing him to save the day.

May 9th is Jack and Maddie’s wedding anniversary and they have a fight. Jack had a present he was going to use as an apology to Maddie but it gets knocked into the Ghost Zone, forcing Danny to go get it or risk his parents divorcing; this is the first time he’s actually been in the Ghost Zone, as the sight of the portal triggered memories of his death. He had to overcome his fear to retrieve the present but gets caught by Walker instead and thrown into Walker’s Ghost Jail, where he stages a riot as a distraction to get the present and book it back home. This puts him on Walker’s hit list.

Danny finally graduates 8th grade, leaving Kibosh Middle School for summer vacation. Now that school is out, Danny is able to focus on figuring out his powers and admits to Tucker and Sam that he wants to become a superhero, like Superman and Wonder Woman. He’d kind of been dabbling in heroing a bit but now he was fully committed. They agree to help him train but before they can really start, Maddie takes Danny on an impromptu camping trip to reconnect with him. Unfortunately, this was a trap set by Vlad to get Maddie and Danny away from Amity Park to try to win them over (and take out Jack), which doesn’t go well. Maddie didn’t notice Vlad bullying Danny and thinks he’s only really after her.

Not much happens the rest of the summer, just Danny training and fighting random ghosts and tentatively exploring the Ghost Zone (where it’s safer to test some of his more destructive powers), until school starts again in August, sending the trio to Casper High School. They are almost immediately given a standardized test to help figure out where students are in their education and where they might need help, but all of the students are distracted by hot new singer Ember McLain. Most adults seem to be unaffected but the students are going absolutely feral for Ember, leaving Danny and Sam the only “free” students, so when Danny realizes Ember is a ghost it’s up to them to save everyone. This is Danny’s first real threat since he decided to become a superhero.

September brings Homecoming, which brings Danny’s first High School dance (interrupted by a cursed necklace (which becomes important later) that turns the wearer into a dragon when sufficiently angry), a party with the “cool kids” where Danny fails to fit in (interrupted by Technus), and the Homecoming game where Danny tries out being the mascot and discovers Desiree and her wishes (I think I’ll make her more of a false genie than an actual ghost). After she grants Tucker’s wish to have ghost powers too, Danny solidifies his choice to be a hero and not abuse his powers like Tucker does while he has them. With this gauntlet of rogues, Danny feels better about trying to be a hero but decides to keep working in the shadows for now; he’s not quite ready to debut publicly just yet.

Unfortunately, Danny’s double life has taken a toll on his grades; school never really agreed with him anyways but he’d always managed to keep his head above the water, until all of his time was sucked up by fighting ghosts. With first quarter coming to a close, he takes on an extra credit assignment; to study the nearly extinct purple-back gorillas, one of which happens to be at Amity Park’s zoo. However, Skulker decides this is the time to catch Danny for his collection but Danny manages to outsmart the hunter and in the process discovers the gorilla is actually a girl instead of a boy. This is just enough to get his grade up to passing and Danny takes out his frustration on the next ghost he sees, unconsciously realizing that the constant fights are helping him feel better by regulating his emotions.

By October, first quarter tests are just around the corner as Technus returns and ruins Danny’s attempt to be a normal kid playing video games for a bit, which had been dropped to accommodate his school and hero work. He barely manages to get an A on his make-up test (having fallen asleep during the original test) and arrive just in time to help his friends trap Technus in the video game he had gotten into. Danny feels he can’t pull back on either his school or hero stuff and his mental health suffers for it, being unable to just be a kid, and Jazz starts to notice. Spirit Week is leading up to Halloween, in a vain attempt to channel the inevitable insanity that particular holiday always brings to Amity Park, and Jazz convinces Danny to see the new school counselor, Penelope Spectra, unaware that she’s a psychovore/psychic vampire that feeds on misery. This is Danny’s first real fight with a non-ghost (but still supernatural) rogue and marks Jazz discovering Danny’s secret double life. She decides to not tell him that she knows and let him come to her when he's ready, determined to help him from the background until then.

On Halloween, Danny feels supercharged and jittery, like he had four energy drinks for breakfast; Sam thinks it might be because it’s Halloween and it’s said that the veil between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead is at its weakest. Tucker disagrees, saying it’s an unproven and unscientific theory, but considering what they know now about the Ghost Zone and ghosts being real, Danny thinks there might be something to it. Most people in the town felt some kind of way leading up to Halloween and winding down from it, but it’s somewhat more confirmed when most of the ghosts Danny had interacted with in the past few days (even before school Halloween day) mentioned being stronger because of Halloween. Danny’s speculation is interrupted when a ghost attack gets him and football star Dash Baxter in trouble, and the only way out is a competition: who can make the scariest room for the teacher’s haunted house party!

While researching for his room, Danny comes across some old legends and one illustration of a castle sticks out to him as familiar; he’s seen this place in the Ghost Zone! After reading about Fright Knight, the spirit of Halloween, and his sword, the Soul Shredder, Danny thinks that maybe he could borrow it to spice up his room with personalized nightmares. Ignoring his friends’ warnings, Danny takes the book and finds the castle, but once he removes the sword from its place, Fright Knight himself appears! Danny initially plans to run but Fright Knight mentions his plan to take over the mortal realm and turn it into his own nightmare-ish domain and Danny can’t have that. They fight and Danny is overwhelmed, deciding that sealing Fright Knight back up is his best course of action, and is very glad he brought the book with him. He discovers that he can reseal Fright Knight by returning the sword to the pedestal, as his soul is bound to it, and Danny barely succeeds. Deciding to just take some inspiration from the castle, and the Ghost Zone in general, Danny laments the wasted time and proceeds to lose the contest, apologizing to his friends for not listening. Little did Danny know, this brought Fright Knight’s existence to Pariah’s attention...

Danny finds the ghost dog Cujo, which is sort of the combined souls of all the abandoned guard dogs into one ghost, and they accidentally wreck Axion Labs, getting the former head of RnD fired and launching one of his classmates out of the “cool crowd”. With her new grudge against ghosts, especially Phantom, Vlad gives Valerie the tools to hunt ghosts so he can study Phantom through their interactions. He knew to do this because he’d set up remote surveillance around Amity Park, possibly even before the Class Reunion, initially to track/watch Maddie but now geared more towards studying Danny.

There’s no time to dwell on this, though, as the school is suddenly hosting a beauty pageant, the "Miss Teenage Happy Princess Beauty Pageant", which Sam signs up for out of spite and Danny is chosen to judge as an “every man”. They eventually unravel the plot that Dorathea was using the Amulet Danny had found a while ago to possess a human in order to find a bride for her brother, Prince Aragon, to break the curse and free her people from the pocket dimension they’d been trapped in. It had recently been absorbed by the Ghost Zone and Dorathea was forced to escape first, since they didn’t know if she’d survive and Aragon didn’t want to risk his own life. Incensed at the mistreatment, Sam offers to help her overthrow her brother so Danny is forced to pick Sam as the winner to get her transported to Aragon’s castle, which Danny and Tucker track her to.

Successfully overthrown, the curse is broken as a worthy Queen is crowned: Queen Dorathea! Turns out, she was the older sibling but had died young and her soul was bound to her half of the twin Amulets of Aragon before Prince Aragon’s arrogance got them cursed years later; her kingdom would have accepted her rule if she hadn’t died first and the progressiveness of the medieval kingdom pleases Sam greatly. As the kingdom begins to return to the Earthly plane, Dorathea assures them she’ll take care of the human she’s been overshadowing for over a month and the trio make their escape, promising to find them and visit sometime. Now they have to face their classmates, who Danny and Tucker have been abusing this whole time, making pretty much everyone hate the pair, and Sam by association (plus the fact that she “stole” their win just because she’s Judge Danny’s friend).

There’s a carnival in town leading up to Thanksgiving and magic user (necromancer?) Johnny 13 is trying to find a host for his dead girlfriend, Kitty, to inhabit, picking Jazz and manipulating her into wearing Kitty’s clothes, which her soul is bound to. Johnny’s Shadow is a magic entity he created a while ago to be his familiar. Danny manages to save Jazz and run Johnny out of town to find someone else to host Kitty. We never see them again.

The whirlwind month continues as Valerie and Danny are paired in a group assignment to take care of a sack of flour. Danny already knew about Valerie’s ghost hunting “job” but later realizes she works at the Nasty Burger as well, all while Skulker tries to pit them against each other before cuffing them together to hunt them both.

As December begins, a “ghost flu” is going around school, which turns out to be a plot by Spectra to get revenge on Danny, though she is thwarted in the end. Danny gets more agitated the closer it gets to Christmas, retreating to the Ghost Zone to blow off steam. He accidentally destroys the book Ghost Writer had just finished and Ghost Writer traps Danny in a pocket dimension for a few hours; nothing in the “Christmas story” Danny experiences was real but he ends up learning his lesson about tolerance anyways. This also showcases the neglect both Danny and Jazz have to endure regularly, as Jack and Maddie are too busy arguing about whether Santa is a ghost or not pretty much the entire month. This has been going on for Danny’s entire life.

January of 2005 starts with a bang as Walker invades Amity Park and paints Phantom as the cause, making him Public Enemy Number One. Danny had been putting off his public debut and was now paying for it by letting someone else control the narrative. The adults have all bought into it but most of the kids, many of whom have interacted with Phantom personally, lean into their rebellious teenage spirit and decide Phantom is a hero anyways. Which is good, because the adults go missing and Danny Fenton has to rally the troops to save them. One semi-important change is that Danny, when accused of abandoning them, reminds them that he was basically thrown off the ship and that the only reason he wasn’t dead was because Phantom caught him just before he hit the water; he was dropped off at the pier and Phantom flew away before Danny could ask him for a ride so he had no way to get back up. This helps solidify that Danny and Phantom aren’t the same person, as there were rumors starting to spread now that Phantom’s existence had been confirmed, even though no one actually saw the save.

As his Birthday (and Death Day) approaches, Danny becomes more irritable, culminating in Desiree granting Sam’s wish that they’d never met. Rather than altering reality, Deseree alters everyone’s memories until she is defeated and the wishes she granted are all reversed. Danny did still have his powers but didn’t realize it until Sam reminded him and his obsession to protect kicked in. He is fully restored once his memories return.

Then Danny experienced his first Death Day, and it is a doozy. I’m skipping the summary, though, because I plan to actually write it.

Danny manages to bounce back from this just in time for Vlad to put a bounty on his head by the end of February, attracting a mess of ghost hunters to Amity park, though only the GIW stick around after the bounty is revoked (or maybe proven to be a scam). This will have nothing to do with the Skeleton Key or the ecto-filtraitor; Vlad mostly just wants to mess with Danny, since he hasn’t done that in a while, and wants to make sure Danny stays on his toes. Vlad’s obsession with Maddie is starting to shift to Danny now, though Vlad may not realize it; he still loves her, obviously, but making Danny his protégé is starting to take precedence in his mind.

In March, a new student named Gregor starts flirting with Sam and Danny is suspicious (but totally not jealous!) of his exchange student story. The GIW make a nuisance of themselves and Danny thinks Gregor might be working with them, paranoid about his secret getting out while everyone still kind of hates him. Gregor is revealed as a fraud when the GIW go after him, breaking character as they accuse him of being related to Phantom, and confirming to Danny that Gregor really isn’t working with the GIW. Shortly after, Circus Gothica visits Amity park, as Freakshow had only been made aware of Phantom’s existence two months ago and couldn’t book anything sooner; he desperately wanted to add Phantom to his show, as well as his crime spree. Once the Crystal Ball Staff (which really needs a new name) was shattered, the ghosts under his control were freed and Freakshow is arrested for his crimes.

Ever since Danny had officially decided to be a hero the previous summer, Sam and Tucker had been working out to make sure they could keep up with Phantom, but Danny had been slacking off because he had powers. At risk of failing PE, Sam and Tucker decide to help Danny train his human half but Danny resists, stating he could just use his powers in human form to pass the exam; he could still access them, even if they were weaker and quickly sapped his energy. Sam and Tucker try to convince him that he should still try to stay fit in case he ever lost his powers or couldn’t use them, siting the Plasmius Maximus he told them about or when they fought Ember and Youngblood just a few months ago. They’re interrupted by Skulker until all four were shrunk by Jack’s newest invention. While Skulker’s tech is largely unaffected, both Skulker and Danny were quickly losing their ghost abilities and by the time they manage to return themselves to normal size, Danny is forced to admit that training his human side might be a good idea. (no Dash in this story)

Tucker tries running for Student Body President but gets frustrated when Sam and Danny try to change his platform to appeal to a broader audience rather than let Tucker be true to himself. The mummy Hotep RA breaks out of his sarcophagus at the new museum exhibit and feeds on Tucker’s resentment, fueling his need for respect and control via the Scarab Scepter Hotep is bound to. It doesn’t give Tucker any actual powers, but it does allow Hotep to drain him of his life force the longer he has it; there is no reality warping but Hotep does terrorize the students on Tucker’s behalf and Tucker is saved just in time, his life force returned to him. Hotep RA was a revenant that wants desperately to become a lich, though focusing more of the zombie aspect than Danny’s ghostly side; but they don’t know any of that yet.

(NOTE: I might want to give Sam and Tucker powers, and if I do, this is where Tucker gets his. When Tucker’s life force was returned to him, he basically sucked Hotep’s life force in too, draining Hotep of his magic, which could eventually lead to Tucker gaining some kind of powers of his own, once he realizes it and starts trying to develop those powers.)

Danny finally starts to feel like he has a handle on things, wanting just one weekend to be a normal kid, until he accidentally releases Technus from the game they trapped him in, having completely forgotten he was in there. They think they recaptured him but Technus hides in Tucker’s PDA until he can take over the Fenton RV instead. Danny decides that, since he hasn’t mastered duplication yet, the only way to keep his weekend of fun and catch Technus again is to use the Fenton Ghost Catcher to separate his heroic ghost half from his fun-loving human half. While this technically works, things go downhill fast as the two halves are surprisingly different from the original Danny, let alone each other; it does allow Danny and Phantom to be in the same room together, though, further debunking the ever-present rumor that they are the same person (courtesy of Wes Weston). Heroic Phantom recognizes that they are better as one and tries to recombine by overshadowing Fun Danny, but Danny manages to throw Phantom out after he makes them clean their room. The two attempt to recombine again but only succeed in splitting Danny Phantom’s ghost powers between the two while leaving their modified personalities intact. There’s no time to dwell on it, though, and the pair of Danny’s are forced to work together to bring Technus down and come to an understanding that both heroic and fun sides are necessary for Danny Phantom to be his best self and are able to recombine. Danny admits he had doubts that he could, or even should be a hero, but feels better about his decision after this, even if he does have to sacrifice some of his childhood for it.

(NOTE: He could recombine just fine when the Ghost Catcher was first introduced, and this makes for a better story anyways. They couldn’t recombine at first because Danny and Phantom were very much not on the same page yet, but were by the end.)

Danny is then plagued by Youngblood after inadvertently freeing him from the bottom of the nearby river he’d been trapped in since his debut. Everyone starts to think he’s crazy because only kids can see Youngblood and he’s very careful to only annoy Danny while adults (and his sister who thinks she’s an adult) are around. They take a road trip and Jazz acts immature just long enough to see Youngblood for herself and let Danny save their parents.

By the end of April, Technus returns and Valerie is caught off-guard, getting injured before she can activate her ghost hunting equipment, which she had recently started calling “Red Huntress” as a superhero name (in my timeline, her dad doesn’t know about her extracurriculars yet). Technus pretends to be caught but actually hides in Valerie’s phone, eventually finding his way into a supercomputer at Axion Labs that’s linked to a satellite that could reach any computer on earth. Technus realized breaking the encryption was going to take a while and needed to distract everyone, so he remotely took over Valerie’s suit, tossing her into a room and locking her in so she can’t interfere, then attacking Danny, who has to transform and try to get Red Huntress out of the labs so they don’t cause too much damage. Technus still needs more time and decides to distract his two biggest threats with each other, having noticed earlier they seemed to like like each other; he sends a quick instant message to both (r u ok?), coded to look like the other had sent it, and that spark is all it took to get the fire going. After talking all night, they meet after school and Technus keeps tabs on the two as they hang out pretty much all day, using a few “lucky coincidences” to keep them occupied while most of his attention is still on decrypting the link to the satellite. Sam and Tucker are suspicious as they (but mostly Sam) spy on the pair while Tucker realizes Technus might be playing matchmaker; but why?

Danny laughs at the theory when they tell him the next day and says he actually really wants to ask Valerie to officially be his girlfriend, which Valerie overhears and they notice her just in time to not say anything too incriminating in front of her. Danny mentions he wanted to ask her in a more romantic setting, but since the cat’s kinda out of the bag, he would be thrilled to be her boyfriend, if she’ll have him. Valerie is stunned he’s so forward all of a sudden but glances at Tucker and Sam (who is fighting to contain a conniption) and asks if his friends would accept her; she knows how close they are and doesn’t want to come between them or make him choose. That snaps Sam out of it, swallowing her anger and admitting that she’s not exactly happy about it, but for Danny’s sake she’ll try, which is honestly more than Danny was expecting. He knew that she was kind of possessive, especially over him, but didn’t quite understand why (or couldn’t bring himself to accept it). Danny and Valerie walk off together, but as soon as they’re out of sight, Red Huntress attacks them and Valerie tells Danny to run while she distracts Red Huntress; Danny hesitates but runs, saying he’ll get help, quickly transforming and trying to get Red Huntress away from the school.

Val knew that Phantom knew her civilian identity, and knew that Phantom had seen her not piloting the Red Huntress suit, but she was still concerned when Phantom brutally destroyed it, realizing just how easily he could beat her if he wanted to and how easy he was going on her whenever she hunted him. Danny, Sam, and Tucker finally realize Technus was controlling the suit and what his plan is, heading to Axion Labs to stop him. Valerie was trying to sneak her busted suit into the lab to try to fix it when her dad finds her and realizes that his daughter is Red Huntress, only to be interrupted by Phantom showing up and trying to explain what going on, which causes Technus to panic and upgrade the Huntress suit in hopes that they’d fight each other. Red Huntress does go after Phantom, more out of habit than anything, but realizes that Phantom is right and they have a common enemy, so together they stop Technus just in time to keep him from the satellite (they don’t go to space). Red Huntress lets Phantom go today but vows she’ll catch him next time, though she’s secretly much more conflicted about it, rethinking her interactions with him without her bias. Her dad also now knows that she’s Red Huntress, which both complicates and simplifies Valerie’s life. The next day at school, Valerie approaches Danny and says she’s had some time to think about it and isn’t sure she’s ready to have a boyfriend yet; not that she doesn’t want to date Danny, he’s still really cool and fun and nice, but her life is really complicated right now and she doesn’t think she’ll be able to be the kind of girlfriend Danny deserves, at least not yet. Maybe they can come back to this in a year or two if they still feel the same? Danny is sad but accepts it and hopes that maybe they can still hang out sometimes.

As the last month of school begins, everyone will need to take the Career Aptitude Test and Danny accidentally finds himself in possession of the test answers. Clockwork manipulates events to show Danny the bad future that awaits him should he ever lose his humanity, culminating in Phantom fighting Dan and revealing his secret to his parents and Mr. Lancer. Phantom wins with the Ghostly Wail, learning it ten years early, and souping Dan but is completely wiped and unable to save his friends and family from the explosion that was destined to kill them. Clockwork then freezes time and talks to Danny about what just happened; how the Observants “view time as a parade, watching each event in sequence, whereas I see the parade from above, along with all the twists and turns that might or might not happen, the paths that could have been and still may be taken by the procession.” He goes on to say that he is also able to manipulate events so certain paths are blocked to make sure the parade goes where he wants it to go, when he wants it to go there, and that this is what he was doing with Dan; giving Danny an extreme demonstration to make sure Danny knows to look out for paths that might lead him to become Dan again, as that future is still possible. Clockwork then resets Danny back to before the test and he comes clean to Mr. Lancer.

Danny confronts Jazz after school about her knowing his secret and she reveals she knows about Dan too, since she had met him and sent the Boo-merang on its 10 year quest before the test started; not even Sam and Tucker know about Dan now, and Danny admits he’s glad she knows and he really does need someone to talk to about what he just saw and went through. He’d already been having doubts about how effective he was at being a hero and if it was worth sacrificing his civilian life for, and now knowing about his potential to become Dan, he’s not sure what to do. She comforts him but the unease lingers.

Now officially part of Team Phantom, Jazz immediately goes overboard with trying to help now that she doesn’t have to hide, discovers Vlad is Plasmius, manipulates her way into Vlad’s good graces, finds his secret lab, and eventually has to fake a fight with Phantom to trick Vlad into lowering his guard. Jazz agrees to follow the trio’s lead from now on instead of trying to take control herself, recognizing that she’s not used to working with them openly, and Danny promises to make sure he, Sam, and Tucker adjust their own dynamic so she still feels included in their plans. It’ll take both parties to make it work and everyone will have to compromise to some degree. After Jazz also rejects Vlad, he decides that if he can’t convince Danny to join him, he’ll just make his own Danny Phantom and begins looking into cloning. This keeps him very busy for a few months.

After the Dan incident, Danny never told Sam and Tucker about it and forbade Jazz from telling either, but had started to avoid fighting ghosts, paranoid it might trigger Dan’s recurrence. Sam and Tucker had no idea what was wrong so they tried to reestablish a sense of normalcy by taking Danny to the nearby waterpark that just opened up for the summer. Danny inevitably has to fight a ghost, which actually helps regulate his emotions even if he still doesn’t understand why yet, and Paulina witnesses Phantom transform back into Danny. He’d had a superficial crush on her until recently, when he tried to date Valerie and realized he didn’t actually like Paulina that way, but Paulina has had a not-so-secret crush on Phantom for a while now and blackmails Danny into officially dating her as Phantom, even though she’s barely lukewarm about Danny’s human half. She threatens to reveal his secret if he doesn’t comply and he ends up having to save her constantly, both from ghosts and ghost hunters since Phantom is still considered a threat by the general public. Danny gets more and more frustrated until he and Team Phantom devise a way to discredit Paulina when she inevitably makes good on her threat; Danny is forced to perfect duplication to make sure Danny and Phantom can be seen in the same place at the same time. He just barely manages to pull it off but his secret identity is now secure.

Phantom confronts Paulina later that night, now that he doesn’t have to tiptoe around her, and officially dumps her, saying Phantom and Fenton are a package deal; she can’t have one without the other. Paulina tries to argue that she can date Fenton if it means she can have Phantom, but he counters that Fenton may have had a crush on her before but that was really only because she’s pretty, and unfortunately that’s about all she is; this whole experience has really hammered that home for him. It never would have actually worked out between them, not when all they had was infatuation. Paulina is devastated and Phantom leaves, but over the next few days she vows revenge for breaking her heart and makes Team Phantom’s lives miserable in any way she can. She may or may not try to team up with Wes to expose him, as he’s the only other person who still believes Fenton is Phantom.

And then Danny battles Pariah, which is where the story really begins.

-

In case it’s not clear, here’s the episode order by month:

February - accident on the 12th

March - 1 Mystery Meat, 25 Splitting Images

April - 7 Bitter Reunions

May - 8 Prisoners of Love, end of 8th grade

June - 17 Maternal Instinct

July - training montage

August - start of 9th grade, 11 Fanning the Flames

September - 2 Parental Bonding, 4, Attack of the Killer Garage Sale, 6 What You Want

October - 3 One of a Kind, 12 Teacher of the Year, 9 My brother’s Keeper, 13 Fright Knight

November - 10 Shades of Gray, 34 Beauty Marked, 14 13, 18 Life Lessons

December - 22 Doctor’s Disorders, 30 The Fright Before Christmas

2005

January - 15 Public Enemies, 23 Pirate Radio

February - 21 Memory Blank, Death Day, 19 The Million Dollar Ghost

March - 38 Double Cross My Heart, 20 Control Freaks, 33 Micro Management, 35 King Tuck

April - 26 Identity Crisis, 27 The Fenton Menace, 32 Flirting with Disaster

May - 28 The Ultimate Enemy, 31 Secret Weapons, 16 Lucky in Love, end of 9th grade

June - 24 Reign Storm

July - 37 Kindred Spirits

August - start of 10th grade

-

Episodes I’m specifically skipping:

36 Masters of All Time - I had a way to make the general plot work, but I couldn’t find a satisfying way to rework the solution to the problem. I didn’t really like the show’s solution with the diet soda, and with my story being somewhat darker, the silly solution wouldn’t have fit. If I did decide to use it, would have been between Reign Storm and Kindred Spirits.

39 Reality Trip - if I had used it, it would be the last thing that happens before Batman gets Danny for good, after Kindred Spirits and just before 10th grade starts. I might still use a heavily modified version using some DC artifact instead of the Reality Gauntlet.

Season 3 - I’m ignoring pretty much everything in Season 3, though I am sprinkling elements into other stories, like Frostbite and the yetis being introduced in Reign Storm, along with Pandora (thought she’s more in line with her DC counterpart), and I might make Vortex one of Pariah’s Generals but it would take some convincing. 45 Forever Phantom could fit more-or-less unchanged but I’m not sure where I’d put it. Some plots I think I can use in Gotham, though, like 46 Urban Jungle having something to do with The Green or Poison Ivy, and 49 Frightmare could work there, too. I could probably squish 50 Claw of the Wild to fit with Gotham, maybe a fieldtrip gone wrong with the Waynes or even Young Justice if I wanna put it out that far. I’m not sure how I want to handle 51 D-Stabilized, and you cannot make me acknowledge 52 Phantom Planet.

[bonewaryreblogs]

Danny, talking to Batman as Phantom: Trust me, I'm the least of your worries when it comes to my fraid in Gotham.

Bruce, narrowing his eyes while trying to figure out the threat: How so?

Danny: My sister is a huge fan of Har-sorry-Dr. Quinn's works and is inspired to go down a path as her as a psychologist. She's also one bad thing away from happening from also following down her path as a mad doctor.

Danny: My parents believe that you, your sidekicks, and your rogue gallery are all ghosts of some kind and want to capture you for experiments or tear you apart. And trust me, it is not fun.

Bruce, now worried: Wait-

Danny, still going: One of my friends is obsessed with plants and justice for the ecosystem. And when she got possesed by Undergrowth, she gained some powers to back it up. She also looks up to Poison Ivy and would definitely join her at the drop of the hat if she was asked. That, and Gotham is pretty much heaven on Earth for her. It had goth in the name!

Danny: My other friend is obsessed with technology and Oracle. He compliments your passwords and firewalls frequently. Calls them an exercise to make sure he hasn't lost his touch.

Bruce: Hang on-

Danny: But don't get me started on Wayne Industries. If he was here, he would've broken in and stolen all the tech for himself.

Danny: Dani might not stay long, but even if she did, she will cause trouble. Whether it's a few fights or a bit of graffiti, she will do something. Especially if you tell her not to.

Danny: And Dan? Well, I know how that will go, and it won't be a good thing if he's messed with.

Bruce:.....

Danny:.....

Bruce: And....and you?

Danny: Oh, I don't really care for Gotham. The skies are full of smog that you can't see the stars at night, and I hate clowns. The only reason I'm here is because Gotham University has all the classes I wanna take.

Bruce:.....I see.

[bonewaryreblogs]

Sorry for the spam

I considered posting the Young Justice Quick Bios all together but decided against it. Which is probably for the best, as I expanded all of them at least a little bit before the final post lol. I still have more snapshot sized quick bios but I'll save those for later.

[bonewaryreblogs]

Rachel Roth (Raven)

Rachel Roth is the daughter of the demon Trigon and the human woman Angela Roth, renamed Arella when she found herself in the pocket dimension Azarath. Rachel fled Azarath after encountering Trigon for the first time, ending up on Earth and in the JL’s care, joining Young Justice to learn to work with a team. The people from Azarath had already taught her a lot about her powers but she still struggled with control because they were connected to her emotions.

No one knows much about her yet, as she feigns amnesia to avoid revealing anything and scaring her new protectors, and much of her story will be explored in the fic itself. She’ll generally mirror her “Teen Titans” TV show counterpart, since that's what I know her best from.

[bonewaryreblogs]

Victor Stone (Cyborg)

Victor Stone is the athlete son of two scientists, Silas and Elinore Stone, who were working on advanced prosthetics at S.T.A.R. Labs. Vic had a terrible accident, one that killed his mother, and Silas used every resource available to him, legal or otherwise, to save his son, eventually stealing the Motherbox he was supposed to be studying and begging it to save Vic. She did so by cannibalizing the nearby tech of S.T.A.R. Labs and turning Vic into a cyborg.

Silas was punished, as he did technically commit a crime, but was given a lenient sentence, and has since joined the Justice Foundation as a form of "community service". Vic ended up in the care of the Justice League shortly before Mari was found and Young Justice was formed in 2000. He has since graduated into a full member of the Justice League.