ecto-phool

[ecto-phool]

Short DPXDC Prompts #473

Little Baby Man gets found by the Young Justice team while raiding a Cadmus base.

[ecto-phool]

Danny wakes up in a cage in the Batcave as a human and thinks to himself “well that’s not a good sign.”

Big bad bat encountered him in the caves near the Batcave by finding him half dunked in the Lazarus pits under Gotham during a routine check. He put the boy in a cage as a precaution, but was otherwise planning on investigating then returning him to his rightful place.

Danny does not know that.

He proceeds to search his pockets (phase his hand into his body disguised as reaching into his pockets) and pulls out a tool kit, systematically disassembles, exits, then reassembles the cage.

And walks out.

Now the bats are hunting the streets for this engineering escape artist while Danny is just hanging out at a newsstand reading up on the universe Clockwork had sent him to check out.

"Woah! What happened here?" Duke gasps from the staircase. He is wearing his school uniform, but upon checking his backpack, he realizes his chemistry textbook is missing, likely somewhere in the Batcave after his latest monitor duty.

He had been multitasking by shooting out questions to the rest of the bats as they patrolled. Due to an injured wrist, Duke had been benched from his regular day shift (Jason offered to cover for him), and watching screens had been the only way Bruce had been willing to let him participate.

That quickly became boring, however, since Oracle was much faster than he was, and Duke had a tough time focusing on screens. He's never been one to enjoy too much screen time - he didn't have the attention span for it.

This meant that Duke had not been in the cave for the past three nights, after he struck a deal with Bruce to let him catch up on some much-needed rest instead, provided he could continue his civilian work during the day.

Imagine his surprise to find the Batcave in disarray, with almost everything taken apart, piece by piece, including the Batcomputer and the dinosaur. Bruce, Damian, Dick, Jason, Tim, and Cass were currently attempting to gather the pieces and reassemble everything, which seemed hard given all the little pieces that had shattered about.

"Some kid with a screwdriver," Jason grunted, holding up various nails towards the light. In front of the anti-hero were five distinct piles of nails and bolts, each separated by type and size, which he carefully sorted from a large bucket.

"What?"

Tim looked up from a mountain of wires, some of which were dropped over his shoulders, around his head, and a few were entangled with his leg, as he tried to untangle everything. He looked as crazed as he did the year he decided he was going to put up all the Christmas lights by himself, only to realize how large Wayne Manor really was. "Two nights ago, we found a civilian unconscious in cave sector T-Y13. He was practically radioactive with Lazarus pits water, so Bruce had the bright idea to put him in a cage as a precaution. The civillain woke up while Bruce was away so he couldn't explain that he was not kidnapped, realized he was in a cage, and deassimbled it with a tool set he pulled from his ass-"

"Tim. Laugauge" Dick scolds, leanign over metal tubes to cover Damian's ears. The twelve-year-old huffs, but doesn't shake off Dick's hands as he stares at a different buckets of lightbults, sorting them like Jason was doing to the nails.

It was a little darker than what Duke was used to.

"-And then, he decided to reassemble the cage once he was out." Tim continued as if he weren't interrupted, nodding his head to the only part of the cave that looked normal. The contamination unit seemed to shine in the untouched spotlights. "Then the civilian had the bright idea to take apart everything in the cave. He systematically disassembled everything and mixed up the pieces. The only things he left alone were the railings!"

"It's pretty impressive," Bruce praises. He was checking over technology boards with a critical eye. A headlight strapped to his forehead shines brightly on the pieces as he smiles. "I wonder where he is now."

"If he has any brains, he's probably applying for a position with a pit crew in NASCAR," Cass laughs, picking up different boards of metal. "He took the whole place apart in less than twenty minutes."

"He even got the Batpens" Dick sighs. "Why was he so passive-aggressive about pulling out the pen's springs?"

"If I woke up in a cage, after unfair imprisonment, I would also cause my captors as much grief as possible," Damain comments casually. "We are lucky he decided to leave nothing harmful behind."

"He just took everything else!" Steph's voice calls out from a dark patch of the cave. Duke knows it's in the direction of the showers and the changing room. "Does anyone see any shower heads over there? The kid took them off every shower!

"I have one!" Cass calls back, holding up an item in her hand. "Are any pipes missing? There are five long metal cylinders that I can't figure out what they are for."

"No, he left the pipes along, but I think he took the mirrors and the door."

"Which door?" Bruce yells back. There is a moment of silence before Steph replies.

"All of them! "

"Of course. That's what these ones are for." Jason says in an Ah-ha voice, holding up a few black bolts. "They're the ones from the shower heads!"

Duke stares, then sighs. He lets his backpack slide off his shoulders, landing on the stairs with a thump. Looks like he's calling in sick to school again.

Rolling up his sleeves, he moves over to Cass and helps her lift the long cylinders she had mentioned. "Do we know anything about this civilian?"

"Before he took the Batcomputer apart, we were able to get that he wasn't in any of the local government records. He isn't from Gotham or this state." Bruce says while carefully placing pieces back on a large computer board with a pair of tweezers. "My guess, he's not going to be in any system, either."

"Why?"

Bruce looks up, his eyes shining. "His DNA matched eighty-five percent with Themyscira's genetic make-up. No proof of cloning either. We may just have a genius male Themysciran on our hands."

Duke didn't like how excited Bruce sounded when he made that statement. He opens his mouth to snap, "You can't adopt him, Bruce!"

It's validating that his voice wasn't the only one that said it, but that it echoed by literally everyone else in the cave. Bruce purses his lips but doesn't agree or disagree with the accusation as he turns back to his computer board.

Duke hears him mutter under his breath, but he's too far away to figure out what he said.

"How long do you think this will take us to put back together?" He asks Cass as they compare metal pieces- he's holding a triangle-looking thing that he can't figure out where it came from.

She kicks aside a circular metal slate, raising a brow at him, then nodding her head toward the left side of the cave. Duke turns to look in the direction of the third Robin, who was wiggling around.

"What are you!?" Tim screams at a blue wire, shaking it like he was strangling someone's neck. Somehow, in the time Duke looked away from him, Tim had his right arm tied to his left knee, with a red wire thread running through his shirt, and his right leg was no longer visible because the rest of the wire pile had consumed it.

"Oh, so it's going to be a few hours," Duke sighs as Cass nods sadly.

"Does anyone have any eyes on the light switches?" Dick yells out. "Damian and I almost have all the pieces to turn the lights back on."

"Oh gods -He took the lockers!" Steph screams in angst. "I had a snack stash in there!"

[ecto-phool]

I have the dumbest idea. Fully grown up adult Danny ends up having a fling with Constantine when he comes through Amity to study ghosts. It's kinda hot and heavy, but also casual. John leaves and goes on.

A year later something happens where something he's hunting has severely pissed off the Ghost King. At first, John's like "oh shit, Pariah Dark is awake?" And only finds out when this tall, buff stud shows up that King Pariah Dark is out, King Phantom is in, and also, the new King finds John as hot as John finds him.

A year after that, John gets called to a JL HQ to greet a new hero who's joining the Justice League because he also does paranormal stuff and Supes wants all the magic heroes to meet or something. So he shows up and there's Danny Fenton, being all tall broad shoulders and goofy smiles. John doesn't even question why he's there. He does sneak off with Danny to make out in a coat closet until Batman finds them.

Danny's super sheepish and John kinda feels bad enough to not make smartass comments as they walk back to the group. He stands out with the others while Supes makes the introduction. John's suddenly wondering *why* Danny is there and *where* the new guy is.

Then this happens.

Superman: I'm honored to introduce the Justice League's newest member, Phantom.

Danny transforms into Phantom, who doesn't have the glowing crown, and who doesn't glow so much, but he doesn have those sexy sharp teeth, and is clearly King Phantom.

John Constantine, realizing what's happened: oh, fuck me!

Danny, with that big shit eating grin of his: I'm pretty sure I've already done that about a dozen times, love. But I wouldn't mind another go.

John might love him a little bit.

[ecto-phool]

Alternatively

“Wait wait wait are you guys talking about Danny?”

“He’s not just a friend Kon…they way Tim talks about him is the same way he used to talk about you…”

“??? You just said he mentioned me this morning?”

“No we THOUGHT he was talking about you but it’s this Danny guy.”

“Danny’s never been to Russia though? I mean the stargazing story was about him but I’m pretty sure I know what my boyfriend is up to!”

“You don’t understand Tim’s cheating on you with Danny!”

“OH” Kon starts laughing uproariously “guys Tim’s only cheating on me as much as Danny is! Which is none at all! Did he not tell you about Danny seriously?”

“Wait wait wait are you and tim dating or Tim and Danny?”

“Or you and Danny? I’m really confused.”

“Yes. I am dating Danny, Danny is dating Tim and Tim is dating me! I can’t believe he forgot to tell you!”

Short DPXDC Prompts #296

Tim talks about a boyfriend and it takes The Bats a tad to realize that this guy isn’t Connor. Mentions of powers that Connor doesn’t have and likes & dislikes that Connor doesn’t have. The Bats are concerned that Tim is cheating on Kon when Tim actually was just an idiot and thought he already told his family that he’s dating Danny.

[ecto-phool]

"Look kid— i need to close the lazarus pit, if it stays open, your grandfather will rot away far more than he already has." Danny, tired of this situation, explained somehwat calmly to the smallest bird of the bats.

"What! No! You can't. Who cares about my grandfather, the lazarus pit has my fishes inside!"

What.

Vaguely concerned, Nightwing crouches down to the kid. "Robin, what do you mean?"

"That's what I said. Whenever one of my fish died, back then, I'd put them into the pit. They live in there now, immortal."

Danny remains speechless for a moment.

"Wait- what the fuck? The ghost fish are YOURS?"

[ecto-phool]

good news i'm the most fuckable person at this vehicular manslaughter

[ecto-phool]

DC x DP

Jason never made it to the Lazarus pit or the league of assassins.

Bruce gave him that excuse for his green eyes and short temper.

Jason knows he didn’t crawl out of his grave with the giant Y that scars his chest.

Jason knows he’s a revenant.

Jason knows he needs to kill to stay sane. To stay whole.

A soul sucker they called him.

Jason agreed not to kill, because he misses his family. No matter how much he starves himself, it’s worth it to get Dick’s hugs, experience Tim’s genius, see Cassandra’s award winning performance, to help Damian experience a childhood.

Jason didn’t realize Bruce doesn’t know what he is. Jason didn’t realize Bruce meant Black Gate when he said he’d take him in the next time he killed. Jason didn’t realize Bruce had no idea about the anti ecto acts.

Jason swore to stay in line, so he’d never end up on that metal table again.

[ecto-phool]

“Oracle, are you getting this?”

“Negative, visuals cut out the second you entered. I’m assuming you’ve found this mysterious Project Phantom?”

Just a little doodle I did in my spare time!!! Can’t stop thinking abt these guys lol. the idea of them just stumbling on him in a lab is too good.

[ecto-phool]

Halfa Bats

DP x DC Prompt inspired by a few fics where Tim became a Halfa

Danny had lost his family and friends to the Nasty Burger explosion. He may have stopped Dan, but that only delayed the explosion for a couple of years. What's worse is that Dani and Vlad were also victims of the Nasty Burger explosion. Dani had been welcomed to the family after Vlad introduced her to them, and Vlad had mostly reformed, that's why he was willing to go to the Nasty Burger restaurant for Danny.

They were waiting on Danny because it was his 16th birthday, and he was doing some business in the Infinite Realms related to Ghost King things, and Clockwork wasn't around to advise him, which is why he took too long. Immediately after the explosion, the GIW had captured him and had experimented on him and vivisected him for months. The Crown of Flames and the Ring of Rage wouldn't let him fully die or fade.

By some miracle, he had gotten free from the GIW and escaped to Gotham. There, he slowly heals and, with the help of Lady Gotham, gets the Bats to investigate the GIW after Danny left a flash drive with information on the GIW his parents gathered, which includes the crimes they committed that directly affect Metas inside the Clock tower during the day.

It doesn't take long for Danny to be found by the Bats, as he's trying to stop bleeding Ectoplasm and Blood, which is an obvious trail to follow. The whispers of Lady Gotham tell him to trust her Knights, same for Clockwork's sticky notes. Slowly, Danny lets his guard down around the Bats, and they start treating him like part of their family (even though they were gonna be just helping this teen out until he got better). It then led Danny to be adopted by Bruce a few months later while the GIW are being shut down.

Danny had been making many improvements to the Battech, as none of their technical equipment can handle low levels of Ectoplasm from him. The first things upgraded were the batcomputer and Babs clock tower set-up.

The angst happens during Danny's first night out on patrol.

Joker had managed to capture his family. And the Clown had managed to put them all on the brink of death. Danny, who is not thinking things straight because he's about to lose another family, kills the Joker and does the only thing on the top of his head to save his new family, infusing them with a lot of Ectoplasm to turn them all into Halfas.

[ecto-phool]

Dp x dc prompt cause I'm bored

So we all know the classic angst trope in Tim Drake fics where Dick wants/wanted to put Tim in Arkham bc he thinks Tims crazy and a danger to himself/the family for thinking Bruce was still alive. Dick actually does that here, bro puts Tim in Arkham

While wrongfully stuck in Arkham Tim finds himself befriending 3 fellow inmates who seem a lot less intense than most Arkham inmates. Classic "what're you in for" conversation (doesn't really matter how or why the everlasting trio got in Arkham, maybe they're antiheros, maybe they're just treating it like an elaborate escape room, who knows) and when Tim tells a semi-less detailed version of his scenario and his fellow inmates are just like "aw what, that's bogus >:0" and "bro thats not even that crazy of a theory 😒"

Next thing Tim knows his new friends are like "we'll help u find ur dad bro :)" (Tims lowkey glad his new meta friends offered to help cause his first choice was the LoA and that probably wouldn't have ended well) and they plan their breakout, which lucky for them Joker and a bunch of rogues break out a week later and they sneak away in the frey

[ecto-phool]

Jason: This better be important. I was having dinner with my family, and I don't like being pulled away from it for something unimportant. RedHood gang member 1: Sorry, Boss, we just didn't know what to do. RedHood gang member 2: Yeah, it's not in any of the employee manuals you passed around last month. We're flying blind. Jason: Just tell me what happened. RedHood gang member 1: Okay, so as you know, we were getting a shipment in tonight from our friends the Blue Flame. Everything was going fine; we got the goods, they got their money, and then, BAM, the crate burst open. There was a kid inside the merchandise shipment. Jason: What!? Those idiots thought we were in the market for people!? How dare they! RedHood gang member 2: That's what we thought too! Execpt Blue Flame was just as confused as we were. They started waving thier guns at the kid, demanding to know who he was, and then the kid starts crying- Jason: How old was the kid? RedHood gang member 2: Can't be older than fourteen, and that being generous since he's so short. Jason nodding: Old enough to not be easily manipulated but young enough to be frightened. Okay, I'd like you to go on. RedHood gang member 1: Right, so the kid is crying and we're grabbing our guns too, just in case we have to stop them from shooting the poor thing, when a loud sonic scream rips out of the kid, and destroys the docking deck, taking everything with it. The Blue Flames, the pier, and the bit of nearby ocean weren't just blown away; they turned to ash. Jason: A meta then. A dangerous one at that. RedHood gang member 1: Yeah, and one we think wasn't aware he was a meta until that moment. Jason: What makes you say that? RedHood gang member 2: Look at him. Danny inside the Red hood gang interogation room with a one way mirror:

Jason: He seems spooked RedHood gang member 1 nodding: He hasn't moved or spoken for three hours. All he asked was that we not tell Jazz. We are still trying to find out who Jazz is. RedHood gang member 2: Whoever Jazz is, they must be scarier than my mother-in-law's if they make someone with a power like that cower. RedHood gang member 1: My mother is a saint!

[ecto-phool]

Dash, now a Junior, has had a Realization. Fenton does not weigh nearly enough.

He was doing his usual thing, picking on the dweeb but toned down because he's Maturing With Age, when he decided to pick Fenton up. Just to make fun of him for being short, that was all.

But Fenton weighs practically nothing.

Fenton wriggled out of his grip and scurried away with his friends, but Dash couldn't stop thinking about how...concerning. That was.

Dash starts looking up nutrition.

Starts paying attention in Health Class.

Starts watching cooking channels to learn how to cook.

Starts making more food than he can eat, balanced nutritionally for Fenton, and sitting menacingly in front of the dweeb until said dweeb ate the whole thing.

Starts stalking up behind Fenton and shoving snacks into his backpack, with whispered threats against his wellbeing if he didn't eat them.

Dash, over the course of his Junior year, becomes the school's most terrifying fitness coach the student body have ever seen.

And he charges everyone for his services; except Fenton.

He's decided forcing Fenton to be healthy is his new, socially acceptable way of bullying him.

[ecto-phool]

Terrible Ways to Find Out your son has become a ghost: being attacked by his gruesomely crispy, zombified corpse because it was dropped through the Fenton Portal into the Ghost Zone and become extremely Ecto-Contaminated (much like the food you make.)

[ecto-phool]

“Vlad, don’t you dare talk to me or my partner like that.”

Danny stood taller, leaning back on his feet. His growth spurt had come in last month, giving him half a foot over Vlad. He glared at him, rolling his eyes at the older man’s gall.

Danny had come to this gala only because his boyfriend, Tim, had asked him to. He made a mistake, not looking through the guest list. Perhaps that’s why Vlad was there, knowing that Tim would be attending and hoping he would bring Danny. It didn’t matter now, anyway. Vlad was here, and he was causing a scene in the center of the venue. If this were any other situation, he would have kicked Vlad’s ass. But they were in polite company.

Well, when in Rome, you do as the Romans.

“Now Daniel, you forget yourself. I do believe that you have no invitation to be here. It would be a shame if this led to a fight.” Vlad smirked, clearly thinking that Danny hadn’t learned anything about these kinds of petty battles. It didn’t matter how many times Danny reminded Vlad of who he was, the bastard always came back with a bigger ego.

Danny stalked forwards. He shook his hands, imitating a scared posture. “‘Daniel, you forget yourself’— Vlad, you forget where you stand next to me. You are in my shadow, act like it. Maybe it’s not a coincidence that every single idea you’ve ever had has failed under your guidance.” Danny leaned even closer, looking Vlad dead in the eye.

“You are a walking second place medal.”

[ecto-phool]

Dp x Dc Prompt - Hypnosis

Danny was having a good life. Vlad finally left his family alone (he got a cat and WELL needed therapy), his parents accepted him, Dan returned but he was also getting better and the GIW isn't after him. He is now in college getting a medical degree since he isn't biologically able to go to space. That was until he met Bruce Wayne. He was an enigma. While Danny and Harvey complain about their respective exams, Bruce was always spacing out. Danny asked Harley even and she didn't know what he was doing. Then Bruce dropped out, dropped off the face of the earth while at it. Danny checked, he was still alive but just not there anymore.

Danny couldn't help but worry about his friend but he needed to keep going so that was what he did. Years later, everything was peaceful. That was until he got an aggressive hello from the city's new vigilante, Batman had crashed through his clinic window. Batman was aggressive and intimidating but Danny had a weird suspicion that the Bat wasn't actually there for an interrogation. Batman seemed more relieved and just left the way he came. Danny was salty about his window for sure.

Anyway this would be a weird slow burn between emotionally constipated Bruce and Empath Doctor Danny. Bruce was just checking if his last friend from college was a villain too. Danny was just a Kooky doctor, not exactly evil but not sane either.

[Masterpost]

[ecto-phool]

Superman and Lois had a son before Jon. One that was ripped away from them far too soon in a scheme devised by Braniac. They tried desperately to get him back but by the time they had tracked Braniac down, their baby had already been sent away to somewhere unknown. This loss was devastating. So much in fact that they couldn't even bear to look at a picture of him or utter his name, convinced their son was lost forever.

Danny must flee his dimension as it's no longer safe for him. That's when Clockwork tells him it is time to return to his home world. Wait, what?

[ecto-phool]

John Constantine doesn't usually like to get involve with beings from the Infinite Realms. They are too chaotic to predict most of the time, makes it harder to trick them. But there is one contact Constantine has and that is Ember. Constantine knew Ember as a human, when he was in his punk rock band Mucous Membrane. They had some good memories together before both their lives went to shit. The only thing Ember asks in return for her help is that Constantine has to play a set with her. No one in the JL or JLD know about this until Constantine has to pull out his Ember card.

"I know someone who can help." John's voice rises over the chatter of multiple conversations, effectively silencing everyone. As one, the group of volunteer defenders- not heroes, John refuses to label this lot as heroic when most of them agree with the crazy shit the governments around the world get away with- turn to stare at him.

He smiles lazily, uncaring of the hundred pairs of eyes that run over his body. A few of the costume-wearing vigilantes grimace when they catch sight of who's spoken, but John recognizes that some of the lingering looks are appreciative, so he peens just a little.

He's a handsome one, he knows, but it's nice to be reminded.

"You know someone who can help?" Zatanna repeat though her words are edged with doubt. It would have been hurtful, but they were in the middle of an "off" of their on-and-off relationship, so it's no surprise. "Someone who could help stop a black hole from sucking in the earth?"

"It's not really a black hole, is it?" He counters, waving his hand at the screen, which is still flashing red and displays the word 'Emergency' across it. The three speesters —Barry, Wally, and Bart —were running around it, attempting to slow down the formation with their own vacuum, but they wouldn't be able to keep it up forever. "More of a portal made of dark matter that some loony scientist ripped open because his wife left him, isn't it?"

"No." Hal breathes heavily, looking utterly horrified from behind his mask. "That's not how dark matter works-"

"Yeah, so we need someone dead enough they can go in and stabilize it, but alive enough that they can use Batman's machine, yeah?" John cuts off the pilot. He's not in the mood to listen to a sky bus driver re-explain everything that Batman just said (though to be honest, John did tone him out). "I know a ghost who can help."

"A ghost," Bruce repeats, his voice steady. That's what he always liked about the detective. No matter what came out of John's mouth, the man always took it in stride and somehow managed to look in control and steady.

That made him so fit that John often fantasizes about breaking Bruce's careful control. He sends the man a flirty little grin, but Bruce doesn't so much as blink. "I thought ghosts weren't able to interact with the physical world."

"They're not usually able to." Zatanna scowls, looking upset. She crosses her arms, sending John a narrow eye and an accusatory glare. He thinks it's unwarranted since she was the one who asked for their relationship to end. He's allowed to flirt with Bruce, come on, it's Batman. "Not unless that ghost has a contact with a living or found some place so drenched in ectoplasm it may as well be on the other side."

"What kind of contract?" Clark questions. John wiggles his eyebrows back at the Kypotian suggestively and has to bite back a grin at the blush that rises on the man's cheeks.

What an innocent little farm boy.

"The sexy kind," John declares smugly, just to make Clark flush darker. It's hilarious when he succeeds. " I'm joking! Ha, no, it's more like a favor between two friends. Ember and I go way back. I knew her in life-"

"That's dangerous!" Zatanna snaps seemingly at her wits' end. "You shouldn't be messing with spirits you knew in life. They tend to get corrupted!"

"Meh, Ember has always been corrupted," John shrugs, not caring that his ex's eyes go wide with horror. "We grew up together. We were even the original members of our own band before her Pa got a new job in America, and he moved the whole family across the pond. She got bullied bad by the stupid rich kids over here until a fire took her life. Her soul came back home to jolly old England, not even an hour after her death. I found her drumming on her guitar in our old hideaway, glowing and flouting. It's actually how I found out I had magic. Anyway, Ember made a pact to always be my friend before she flew into the sunset- and I mean that literally, a natural portal opened up into the Realms. She sent postcards."

"She can help?" Bruce cuts in, obviously trying to get John back on track. At the magic user's nod, the man seems to settle, uncoiling his muscles. It's gratifying that someone on Batman's level trusts John's expertise so much. Say what you will, but Bruce never doubts his comrades' abilities. "Good. Call her."

John grins, pressing his hand against his mouth and blowing out a kiss. "Ladies, Gents and Gits, are you ready to rock!?"

A woman's voice screams back, "Yeah!" causing a few people to jump

"I can't hear you!"

"Yeah!"

"I'm Johnny Con-Job on mic and this fine piece of arse is Ember! Listen to those strings~!" John screams, mimicking a mic while a fast past air guitar riff rips through the air. The noise is coming from everywhere and nowhere, leaving the many volunteer defenders to twist and turn, trying to pinpoint its origin.

Ember burst into the scene, her flaming hair whipping around her whole body as her means of travel before shrinking back onto her head. She's playing fast, angry, and grinning like a devil.

Someone in the crowd lets out a loud scream of joy, "Oh my god, it's Ember McLain!"

John's lips twitch with amusement but he's too busy singing the familiar words that they once wrote together while hiding out from his shitty father and her shitty mother. Both were just a couple of troubled teens no one thought would amount to anything, so they had to believe in themselves and each other back then.

He remembers thinking he would one day marry this girl. Life wasn't fair to those troubled like them.

Once their song ends, Ember lets out a whoop, flouncing down to John's level and punching him in the arm. He grins at her, trying not to notice how she looks exactly the same as she did sixteen years ago when the fire took her and he aged on without her.

"You git! How's it going?!" She laughs, punching him again. Ember's hair is a healthy flame, reaching to the middle of her back, which suggests she has likely enchanted a few humans lately. He's glad. She needs all the stabilization she can get. Her eyes roam his face before snorting "You're old as shit now."

"I'm thirty-two," He scoffs mockingly offended

"Wow, twice my age...." His words trail off as a familiar loneness sinks into her expression, and he wants to kick himself. Right, they were the same age once upon a time. Her face clears up long enough for her to smirk, "I bet your knees hurt from watching other people jump."

John gasps for real this time, but he doesn't have a chance to rebut because Bruce steps up, explaining what was happening to the superstar.

Ember gives him her full attention, nodding along to the plan. She's going to help because she knows the request is coming from John when he summoned her.

"You know Ember McLain!?" Someone hisses into his ear. He turns to the person fully prepared to gloat that, yeah, he knows the rock/pop star that was sweeping the nation, only to gape at the sight of Diana-Wonder Woman for Pete's sake- a starstruck gaze.

For a moment, his tongue doesn't work as Diana grips his upper arm. "My sisters and I used to listen to her music on repeat back home. Do you suppose you can get me an autograph for them?"

John doesn't know how to say no to Wonder Woman, so he finds himself asking his childhood friend, who is preparing to go into a portal made of science, if she can sign five hundred or so cards for free. She squints at him but shrugs. "Only if you can beat up Phantom for me."

"I told you, I'm not going to fight a child, Em."

"Even though he deserves it?!"