#....we have potential Baby halfas everyone

[emdeerm]

I'm a Grandpa? Again?!

My brain got away from me. srry

This might be a horrible, horrible idea that will have so many butterfly and directs effects on the DC canon that I know nothing about but...

Consider this: Bruce is Danny's clone/test-tube baby.

Danny has lived for many, many years and somewhere along the lines, he got his DNA stolen again (in his human form mind you) by someone and they made a clone/baby (most likely cause the child would destabilise without more DNA. Human Danny is just 1/3 of the DNA he has). Maybe the League and Ra's is responsible. Maybe some other party I have no knowledge about. Maybe it was GIW. But it happens.

Anyway, whoever succeeded, had some intentions with the clone if it had powers. He did not. Was a failure and was dumped as a 3yo in Gotham. Tom and Martha Wayne found him and adopted the child.

Now, Danny doesn't know it. He just goes around, living his best life with his partner/(s), works somewhere new every 5-6 years or so, trying out new professions when he wants. When his DNA got yonked, he was a practicing cook. By the time Batman is old enough with all his kids he is a doctor or something.

Let's throw in the Ghost King for fun. Love the trope. Could be just him being a super strong and respected Ghost in the Realms who helps himself to Pariah's treasury. Not like the guy needed it anyway.

So, YEARS pass. All parties are unaware. Meta human protection happens. Ecto Acts get ruled out automatically by the Government somewhere in a list of all stuff that change. The Ghosts haven't been sighted for over 30 years. The Government disbanded GIW wven esrlier just cause they were a moneh draining leach. The JL didn't even pay that much attention honestly (let's say Batman wasn't there for some reason to check the final copy), just one more thing that changed for the better in their eyes.

So, Danny and his kind are now legally in the clear. Does he so something with it? Well, not much. Just uses his powers more freely. His rogues don't find the Living Realm all that interesting now and just come to Phantom to play. Except Sculker. That ass is still unbearable.

...

I got sidetracked from my original idea. Anyway-

...

Damian in school has to do the ancestory assignment. And finds out that he has a weird relation to this Random DudeTM. (Maybe Tom's and Martha's DNA was indeed used in the process of creation. Who knows, maybe it was their doing all along in the name of Doctor Science. Idk. All options are fun) Came out of nowhere. The relation is unclear too.

That gets brought up to Father. Father is surprised. Investigation happens.

The Bats are flabbergasted by the results.

Danny gets the news that he is a surprise Granpa again (Dani was the first one to come with a grandchild out of nowhere. Adopted. You know what? Let it be Cass. Let her have a traveling super mom).

[thegaysinmyhead]

DC X DP IDEA(?)

Guys why is literally no one jumping on a VERY OBVIOUS trope for ghosts??

FUSION?? LIKE STEVEN UNIVERSE STYLE??

Just–hear me out hear me out!

Ghost forms are just extensions of their core, so it makes sense they can be changed right?? Gems physical bodies are just extensions and projections of their gem!!

SO, if going by a lot of phanon core logic, it would make sense if ghosts can have conversations to like fuse or something. Probably to use in battle mostly (ghosts are obviously territorial) but can also be used for love or to protect a weaker/damaged core! JUST IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES!!

Danny being able to fuse literally Steven universe style w his friends because he's a halfa, Danny being able to fuse with Jason because he has a connection because of the pits (Halfa or Revenant Jason Todd), Danny fusing with LITERAL BATMAN as he's the ghost king!!

CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW TERRIFYING THAT WOULD BE???

Jason in the middle of getting sacrificed: :|

Danny, the one being summoned and seeing a poor baby ghost/potential boyfriend material and snatching him to protect him: :)

Bruce:

Tim:

Dick:

Barbara:

Steph:

Cass:

Jason: ¯\(°_o)/¯

Danny: Mine now :)

*he says as their body erupts into flames and they become the most bad ass looking ghost that kicks the cultists asses; Before they started lounging around and reading Jane Austen* (floating laying down is apparently more comfortable than just laying down on something solid, so its nice to float and read)

ORRRR

Justice League facing off an impossibly strong enemy that they have no choice but to look into outside sources to help defeat him (Trigon, Darkseid, something else that probably show up like 4 times a week lmao). Eventually, JLD get wind of a new ghost king who's supposedly kind and benevolent, which is races better than his old counterpart.

With the entire League's permission, begrudgingly Batman's, they summon the Ghost King as a last option and are ready to sacrifice anything for his help (within reason). Imagine their surprise when Danny Fenton, aged somewhere between 16 to 21, pops up in the portal looking frazzled and like he was woken up from a nap. Not even in his ghost form, just blinking owlishly at the League members while gaping like a fish.

"Holy shit—the Justice League?! I'm being summoned by the Justice League?! Ohmygod Tucker is gonna freak"

Constantine butts in looking nervous as hell and sweating buckets, "Your Majesty—"

"Just Danny's fine, I can't believe I'm being summoned by THE Justice League!"

"...Danny. We could really use some of your help, mate. See, we got ourselves an issue we can't really fix ourselves–"

"I'll do it. I'm not even joking, you guys don't even have to ask me twice,"

Everyone in the League (besides Batman) was watching with bated breath at the exchange. The confusion as a random teenager showed up was quickly washed away with how formally he was addressed, but it spiked back up when 'Danny' seemed to...hero worship them?

"—But!"

Ah, there it was. Can never do trades in the occult for free.

"I would really do it for free if I could man, honest! Just...I need to make a teensy weensy deal to be let out of the circle? You guys don't even have to let me do it on my own if you're worried I'll go rogue! You can tie me into a deal about one of you 'using my power' in exchange for like, a cup of coffee or something,"

Now everyone (except Batman, though he seemed to have a clenched jaw) was opening gaping as the omnipotent described being. Being offered something to great...in exchange for a mug of bean water? There had to be a catch, some sort of trickery, but Diana and many others could sense no ill intent on the young king. Constantine had even let up on the nerves as the being continued to speak, relief seeming to crash through his entire body when he realized none of them would have to give up their soul or something. Batman was the first to speak up.

"And if you were...to offer your power to one of us, what would that entail for the mortal or semi-mortal user?"

The king hummed and tapped his chin in thought, "Well, they'd probably be fine. Most of my power would be filtered through myself, so whoever is wielding it wouldn't go mad or suddenly overwhelmed with it. It'd be like turning on the tap while the well is underground, or something close,"

Batman nodded before Danny continued to speak.

"—But, obviously, I reserve the right to take away my power at any point if I see it needed. I would not be mind controlled, nor would I be drained, I would be an observer in the back of whoever decides to be at the other end of the contract until it's fulfilled,"

Constantine stepped forward once again, cigarette all but ash between his lips now, "Contract, right, mate. So uh, one of our sorry blokes gets access to your unfathomable power for the time it takes to beat whatever the hell it is out there. And in exchange, you get a cuppa? Maybe some biscuits and other treats with it to sweeten the deal?"

Danny smiled brightly at the ruffled looking blond and nodded, "Sounds good to me!"

All at once, the room dropped in temperature as the summoning circle around Danny became encased in ice. The ice shimmered an otherworldly dark blue, almost black, and stretched until it reached the feet of the young king. A spark lighted ontop of Danny's head before exploding into a flame, a crown taking shape through the smoke of the fire to sit upon the teenagers head. There was a flash of blue as a ring materialized on the teen's finger, as well as a cape seeming to sew itself from nothing to sit upon his shoulders. Danny looked sheepish as much as he looked serious, his eyes now emanating a neon green with hints of red in his pupil.

"This is kind of the awkward part, whoever what's to use my power will have to form the contract. I don't really feel comfortable with a super or meta using it, with how powerful I am it might cause more damage than repair it, so preferably a human or mostly human host?"

Danny looked so incredibly shy all of a sudden as he rubbed the back of his neck in an incredibly human gesture. The word's were out of Batman's mouth before he even realized he was speaking then.

"I'll do it," The Bat walked forward to stand beside Cobstantine. Constantine pinched his eyebrows together before letting out a nervous chuckle. Danny just seemed to light up.

"Ohmygosh I'm going to be core merging with Batman," the young king seemed to be doing another small fan-boy freakout before coughing and collecting himself.

"Right, right. Contract to do now, tell my Fraid about this later," Danny lifted up a flaming hand towards the edge of the summoning circle, motioning gently to the Bat.

"Heads up, this is going to feel really weird. Just keep holding onto me after the contract sets, and then make sure to get everyone away as fast as possible. You will grow, it's not gonna be very nice if other people are around because you'll squish them,"

The other League members around nodded mutely, eyes staring at Batman as they prayed and wished for his safety. Batman just gruffed and slowly placed his own hand into the awaiting palm. It didn't burn as he thought it would. In fact, it felt quite cold. Like the feeling of putting your bare hand into a pike of snow just to know how it felt. Batman forced himself not to shiver as he felt the contract form through the handshake. The young king sent him a reassuring smile before he seemingly vanished.

No, not vanished. There was a bright light in Bruce's gloves hand that shook with power. The light—sphere, orb?—sunk into his palm, and this time Bruce did shiver. It felt like the biting winds of a blizzard as it crept up his arm to settle in between his ribs. There was a ringing in his ears blocking out the noise around him, but he could faintly make out images of the League rushing away from him and giving a very large berth.

There was a building in his chest, and he felt it pulse like a second heartbeat. Bruce pulled his hands to his sternum and clawed uselessly as the hevlar, the freezing cold threatening to consume him whole inside and out. His chest pulsed, and he fell to the ground in a heap. Bruce heard some of the members try to rush to him, but the JLD held them baback. There was a cracking like ice pulling away from itself, like glaciers splitting, and all of a sudden Bruce felt power rush through his veins.

It should have been overwhelming, it should have terrified him into immeditely creating contingencies, it should have drove him mad with power, but it didn't. Bruce didn't realize his form had grew until he opened his eyes (when did he close them) and blinked down at the members of the League. They were so...small compared to him now. Bruce felt more than he saw the flames dance from his collarbone, and they flickered up high around his thankfully still cowled face. Though, it seemed his face was the cowl right now.

Bruce turned to the being they were fighting (and losing to) moments ago, and smirked. He felt the spike of fear, and he suddenly knew that this thing didn't stand a chance.

.

.

.

GUYS I KNOW BRUCE WOULD NEVER AGREE TO POWERS LMAO LET ME DREAM THO I THINK HE WOULD LOOK COOL ASF AS A GHOST!!

[nabtime]

Our Empty Graves IX

Fandom: Danny Phantom / Batman: Under the Red Hood

Pairings: Danny Fenton/Jason Todd (Dead on Main)

Rating: Mature

Tags: batfamily, hazmat AU, Nobody Knows AU, Mute!Phantom, potential ghost king danny, slow burn?, DC means Disregard Canon, AU means AU nothing is exactly the same, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, more than canon typical violence, danny is a Halfa and also a Fetch, no beta we die like basically everyone

Summary: They say that Red Hood has a loyal mutt. The man rules his territory in Crime Alley with an iron fist and a guard dog at his side. They say that Hood calls him Fetch, sometimes Fetcher. No one's ever heard him speak. Anyone who's ever seen him says he looks like an experiment gone wrong, that Hood picked him up somewhere unspeakable. They say he'll do anything Red Hood asks of him and he'll do it well. That he's strong and fast and probably inhuman. The girls say he's sweet; quiet but charming in his own way. Rival gangs say he's vicious; that he'd sooner rip your throat out than let you go.

Jason just wants to help him.

Chapter 9: and I cant fix what was done to you (but ill shield you from the rain)

Chapter Summary: A few moments of calm before the storm. A little help goes a long way.

Chapter Notes: title from Small Hands by Radical Face Links: AO3 // Chapter 1 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 10 // Spotify

Nadi had never seen hair like Fetcher had. It wasn’t- hair- not properly. It was soft like fog, wispy like a cloud. And it moved like it was underwater, flowing and floating and altogether, frankly, a bitch to cut. But it needed to be trimmed, because it looked like someone had taken a torch to some parts of the poor kid’s skull. Chunks were burned off. She also wasn’t about to give up after all the trouble she’d been through to get little cujo to agree to this.

She’d walked ten blocks round trip to her apartment and back, Charlie huffing and puffing from just a simple folding chair and bag the entire time. Packed a sheet and all her usual hair-cutting tools. She knew her way around some scissors- a lot of the girls came to her for trims instead of paying for a full stylist. She used to be a barber, way back in what she liked to think of as her past life.

That time felt so long ago. Before she was Nadi, before she walked the streets of Park Row. She used to live in the nicer parts of Gotham, sitting pretty with a stable job, stable apartment, stable family. Then she transitioned and everything went to shit. Fired, evicted, disowned. The whole nine yards or whatever. No big deal, though. She liked where she was at in life now, despite it all. And most of the time she was genuinely happier here, working the corner as the woman she was always meant to be instead of suffering as the man society wanted her to be.

She’d found her people here, in Park Row. Crime Alley. The other cast-offs and has-beens. The others that didn’t belong. And this poor baby boy was yet another reject. A poor soul left for dead in the slums. He was such a sweetheart, and she wasn’t about to let him fend for himself so completely. Not if she could help it. And she could, if only a little bit. She would cut his hair, she would feed him, she would offer a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen. She wouldn’t let anyone else feel like she once had. Alone and abandoned. All it ever took was a small kindness, a tiny gesture of good-faith. She could do that. She’d move heaven and hell if it meant the sweet boy that had saved her, had saved many others in the Alley, wouldn’t be so skittish. So alone. Sure he was vicious, but only when he needed to be. Only to protect others. Boy didn’t have a mean bone in his body. She wasn’t completely sure he had bones in his body but that wasn’t important.

What mattered was getting his hair fixed.

She couldn’t do much for him. Couldn’t even begin to fix all that was wrong with him, all the wrong that was done to him. She could kill Hood for scaring her baby off. She didn’t know what he did but she was going to kick his ass for it. Crime Lord or no, he deserved it. She’d already kicked him where it hurt when she’d gone after him about Fetcher being missing in the first place, but he could do with a few more.

The boy was purring under her hands as she carded her fingers through his hair. Purring. That was goddamn adorable. How dare Red Hood do anything to upset him when the boy could purr.

She snipped away, gently brushing as she went. Thankfully, even with the singed edges, his hair still had a bit of length so even after she was done it would still hover around his shoulders. Literally hover. He looked good, fluffy like that, and she didn’t want to cut it any shorter than she had to. He’d already flinched once at the scissors coming close to his little pointed ears, she wouldn’t have that again.

“Almost done, mi vida,” she murmured, trimming the last strand and dropping it to let it float. “You doing okay?”

The purr rumbled like he was humming in agreement. Fuck that was cute.

She ran her hands through his hair a few more times, shaking out loose strands and fixing any tangles. Just enjoying the cool feeling- like mist and fog with only the slightest solidity- whirl around under her touch. Enjoying the purr it kicked up when she did it.

“All done, baby,” she said, reluctantly pulling her hands away and tugging off the sheet she’d wrapped him in, shaking it out to let the cuttings fall to the ground. They were, strangely, black. The moment she cut it away, his hair would turn black and solid like normal hair. She didn’t ask. It was none of her business.

She circled him and smiled. He looked a little goofy, still touch-drunk with his eye-lids drooping, all slumped into the chair like he was melting. His hair didn’t look half bad now, wavy and curling around his face, kissing his neck and cheeks as it swayed in an invisible wind. She’d done a pretty damn good job, all things considered. She wanted to coo at the sight of him, but she held it in. She didn’t want to spook him. They’d been doing so well so far.

She didn’t want to go. Didn’t want to leave him here. But she knew he wasn’t going to come, no matter how many times she asked.

“Do you wanna have a look?” she asked, moving to pull the hand-held mirror from the bag she’d made Charlie lug with them.

Fetcher’s gaze sharpened and he tensed in the chair, looking ready to flee. His purring had ceased. He shook his head fervently and she wanted to despair. What in the world had happened to him? What horrors had descended on her sweet, sweet boy?

“Okay,” she placated. “That’s okay.” She waited until he’d relaxed again, though not as much as he had been before. “You’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that you’re a very handsome young man.”

He rolled his eyes and she grinned.

“It’s true! You’re a pretty boy, and my handiwork only made you prettier.”

He stuck his tongue out and folded his arms.

She laughed. She wanted to stay. She wanted him to come with her. But it wouldn’t happen. Not yet, at least. Not until she could kick Hood’s ass and get him to fix whatever he’d broken here. She rummaged in the bag and brought out the thick blanket she’d packed and the bimbunuelos and gansito snacks she’d grabbed from the gas station for him.

She sighed and made sure she had Fetcher’s attention. “Alright, baby. I know I can’t convince you to come with me,” she said slowly. “I’m still sure I could smuggle you in and Hood wouldn’t say a word if he knew what was good for him,” she murmured vindictively, “but I can’t force you.”

He simply watched her as she handed the blanket and the treats over. “But, please,” she begged,” take care of yourself out here, mi vida.”

He gathered everything up in his arms and gave her a serious nod. She smiled at his solemn look, wishing with all her heart he’d learn to smile more instead.

“I’m going to head back to work now,” she said, backing up to give Fetcher some space. “But I’m going to visit again.”

She gave him a stern look this time. “So you better take care of yourself, baby. I’ll be disappointed if you don’t.”

He pouted, petulant, and huffed before giving her another quick nod and floating himself back up into the bough of the hickory he’d claimed for himself.

It was a small kindness, giving him that haircut, but she knew it meant more than that for the both of them. It was about acceptance. Accepting him as he was. About permission. Permission to seek comfort from her. Permission to see and be seen. She hoped he understood that.

Now, she had a Crime Lord’s ass to kick.

═════ ◈ ═════

Alfred Pennyworth had served the Wayne family for many years now. Seen and done more things serving Bruce than he ever had in service to the Crown. One would think being a butler would be less exciting than a top ranking M15 agent, but one was not often employed and trusted by The Batman as a butler.

Seeing Bruce grow and raising him were some of the most rewarding moments of his life. Seeing him grieve and break after every death that piled upon his shoulders were the most heartbreaking moments of his life. Seeing him obsess over the possibility that one of his wards, one of his ‘fallen soldiers’, had made their way back to the grave, was nothing less than harrowing.

Once again, Alfred was witness to Bruce passively trying to kill himself- ignoring anything and everything but the case he was working on. The facts in front of him. Solving it all like a puzzle that had pieces one could fit together in the first place. Getting frustrated when it didn’t all fall into place. Bruce rarely acknowledged that sometimes cases didn’t have all the pieces, couldn’t be solved by fact alone, because to do so would admit defeat in his eyes. He needed logic and sense and many times life was far too messy for that. People were unpredictable and murders and villainy more so. But his boy had never been comfortable with things he couldn’t predict.

Like Jason Todd rising from the grave.

Alfred knew in his bones that Jason had returned, changed and broken, but returned all the same. He wasn’t about to say so to Bruce, the man would never understand the certainty he felt without the facts to confirm. But he knew . And it broke him just as well. He was over the moon to have one of his wards back in the living realm with them, for him to be alive again. But to see him torn and angry like he was… To see him so full of pain and hatred… Alfred couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t stand to know that he’d had a hand in the boy’s death. Had a hand in the neglect he’d suffered upon his initial return. It might not have been directly, but guilt never cared degrees of cause, especially when one cared . And Alfred Pennyworth cared more than anything.

He was nothing more than a sentimental old fool.

But he would help where he could. He would stand vigil with Bruce, care for the man wherever he would allow. He would keep in contact with Richard and Timothy, check in on them as often as possible ( he would not lose another ). He would place another cup of coffee by the Batcomputer and lie in wait. Nothing would move Bruce from the screens, not even much needed sleep, so he would do what he could and bring him finger-foods- easy to eat while typing away and staring, staring staring.

He would receive cheeky letters from anonymous ( Jason ) persons and deal with his badly behaved Bat as best he could. Scolding the man for being unnecessarily cruel and letting his anger cloud his judgment. (And he would hope it would be enough for Jason, that his scolding would get through Bruce’s thick skull so that he might not make an ass of himself even more. That the crimes Bruce had committed against Jason would lessen rather than stack. That there might one day be a chance at reconcile. That Jason might one day come home .)

But for now he would do what he could. He would wait and he would serve, doing all the little and big things to help. He would keep the manor running even if no one but himself had set foot in it for some time. He would clean and sweep and cook and weed and dust and wash and do everything he possibly could to make the manor clean and welcoming and warm. All in the hopes that someday, someday , the family that had been so painstakingly built and torn apart here, might return. Rebuild.

That all his wayward children might call the manor home once more.

═════ ◈ ═════

Tim had come back to a mess. Alfred had warned him, greatly under-sold the mess- sure, but had still warned him. Bruce hadn’t said anything at all about what had recently been happening in Gotham, only that he needed help with multiple cases.

Bruce needing help with multiple cases was always a bad sign. But Tim had never imagined something like this.

His predecessor potentially coming back from the grave. And murdering people. And Bruce absolutely losing his mind about it.

It wasn’t all that hard, in Tim’s experience, to make Bruce lose his mind. He wasn’t a particularly mentally stable man in the first place. It’d been the whole reason he’d insisted so much about becoming Robin in the first place. Batman needed a Robin. A balance. Otherwise Bruce could so easily lose himself to his grief and get swallowed up in the darkness. He’d seen it first hand after Jason’s death. How he hit harder, cut deeper, and had less mercy for his rogues all around. An inexcusable use of excessive force- all in grief and anger and guilt.

Bruce liked to pretend that he had no emotions. The he had the control to shut them on and off at will. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. The man was made of nothing but emotions. Anger and grief and fear and, astoundingly, compassion . Yes, he was logical and could be cold, and he didn’t talk about his emotions very well. But Tim knew they were there, brewing under the surface.

Bruce could talk about detachment all he wanted. Talk about shutting everything off in order to make a deduction. But that wasn’t what made Batman a brilliant detective. It was his stubborn nature, his drive. His empathy. It’s what made him a hero .

And Tim admired that.

But it also meant cleaning up his messes sometimes, and Tim admired that much less.

He’d barely been given a ‘how are you, chum,’ before Bruce was racing off to find Ra’s and question him about Jason. Leaving Tim to investigate a possible new meta hiding out in Crime Alley. Working with Red Hood. Working with Jason. To puzzle out motive and power set. To find a way to neutralize him should he be a threat ( and Tim didn’t think about how callous that was, how cruel that would seem ).

And thus, Tim did what he did best. Chug a lethal amount of espresso and hack into every governmental database conceivable. He’d find something. He always did.

Except, hours later. He’d found nothing . Not a damn thing. No one outside of Gotham had any record of a glowing hazmat-clad meta that had green blood . He’d scoured any and all social media accounts across the world and no one had ever posted about it. No weird deep-web forum dedicated to sightings of the guy. No newspaper articles complaining about his presence. No tourist commenting about seeing him. Nothing. Usually with a meta like him, someone so conspicuous , there was something. A short video. A dedicated cult. A local news segment.

Anything about the guy was all from Gotham. All recent and none of it helpful. It didn’t explain where he’d come from . What he was capable of . Didn’t explain why he went by the name Fetcher of all things. Was he an alien instead of a meta? Had he been looking in all the wrong places this entire time, because they’d just assumed he was a meta when he wasn’t? Meta, alien, science experiment gone wrong. All questions and no answers.

Tim wanted to rip his hair out.

Bruce had said that it was definitely a hazmat suit, even if it was glowing and slightly customized. Customized to what conditions, though, was the question. Any lens footage had been corrupted so Tim could only rely on B’s overly detailed report for a description. A level B suit. So working with something that was a severe inhalation risk but less of a risk for skin contact. But the SCBA was described as something Tim had never encountered before. A lightweight tank connected to a full face mask and tinted eye-shield. Working with a substance that glowed ? Something that caused the glow that Fetcher let off? But the only things he could think of were either occult or radioactive, and if it was radioactive then he’d be wearing a level A suit. And the green blood. Bruce had described it as similar to Lazarus Water.

Tim shuddered.

What the fuck kind of lab accident might make you bleed death juice?

And then, miraculously, he found a lead. A pair of scientists that worked in hazmat suits that matched the description. He’d need confirmation from Bruce that they looked the same, but the tint to the eye-shield or goggles, despite not working with radioactive material was a big enough clue. The substance they did claim to work with didn’t make much more sense, though. Ectoplasm. From ghosts.

There was no way.

He refused to go down that rabbit hole without confirmation from Bruce. It didn’t matter how morbidly curious he was. He’d fall down that trail later if he wanted. For now he’d need sleep. He couldn’t go any further in his research and the lead he’d found was already slim at best. He felt like a failure, like he needed to keep going. But Alfred was already breathing down his neck about resting and there wasn’t much more he could do anyway.

He saved what he’d found on the Doctors Fenton and trudged up the stairs to his room in the manor.

He couldn’t do much, but he’d help where he was capable. Not with the main case. Bruce wouldn’t let him touch it. But he could look into the secondary one as much as possible on his own, he’d ask about the similarity in the suits and then keep digging himself. He didn’t want B to fall into the same spiral that he had before, to get lost in grief with no one to help. He would be the Robin to his Batman. His support. His balance.

What little help he could give, he would.

═════ ◈ ═════

Bruce would go to the ends of the earth if it meant righting his past wrongs. If it meant undoing the one mistake that weighed on him the most. If it meant bringing back his second ward, his second Robin. If it meant never having to go through the pain of having that little soul slip right through his fingers.

Nothing would ever change that though. Even if Jason was really back from the dead, it would not change the fact that he had died. That Bruce had lost him. Failed him. It wouldn’t change the pain that both of them had felt. The pain of dying. The pain of coming back. The pain of losing someone he never should have lost.

He’d made a promise . And he’d broken it. He was much more careful with those now. Much more careful with everything .

Except Ra’s’ skull.

He had the man pinned to the floor, unmerciful as he questioned the master assassin about Jason. About the sudden appearance of Red Hood. About Ra’s’ possible involvement in his resurrection and why he hadn’t done it sooner or told Bruce about it happening.

“You don’t have all the facts, detective,” Ra’s said, voice strained from the force of Bruce’s weight pushing him into the tile of his fortress.

“Then enlighten me,” he spat, knowing full well he was starting to let his temper get the best of him. He was better than this, but when it came to Jason- everything felt like it was too much. Like his anger and grief could boil over in an instant.

“The Waters cannot bring a person back from the dead!”

“That’s not a fact,” Bruce argued, trying valiantly to tamp down the fury that threatened to overcome him. “That’s a theory.”

“A well founded one,” Ra’s grumbled, indignant. Then quieter, “We tried to bring him back. Initially. Nothing was said about it because it didn’t work.”

Bruce lifted from Ra’s back and stepped away to give the man room to stand, watching intently for any sudden movements the entire time.

“Elaborate.”

“The boy died,” Ra’s began, brushing dust off his robes as he stood, “partially at my fault. I should never have worked with that mad clown in the first place, and the little Robin paid the price for it.”

Bruce stood in wait. He knew all this. Ra’s working with the Joker is what allowed the villain to capture Jason. It was a solid rule in the underworld of Gotham to never work with the Joker. He could not be accounted for, could not be controlled. Ra’s found that out the hard way.

“So, in order to rectify the mistake, Talia stole the body and replaced it with a convincing replica.”

Bruce closed his eyes and held everything in. He would not break here. Not in front of Ra’s. He’d been so overcome with grief when he’d dug Jason’s small little body out of the wreckage, that once he’d finally let it go- he hadn’t had the strength to look at it again afterwards.

“We dipped his body in the Pit,” he continued flippantly, “and nothing happened. We kept the body monitored for a time and then switched it out again after a continued absence of life.”

“So you wouldn’t know about a possible connection between the deceased Jason Todd and The Red Hood,” he stated.

Everything was slipping from his fingers. All his leads were turning to dead ends that didn’t make sense . He knew that The Red Hood was Jason. That was his Robin , returned from the grave. He could feel it, and there were so many clues that led to that conclusion. But they didn’t add up. Nothing was adding up. He felt like he was going insane, trying to shove together pieces that didn’t fit to complete a puzzle he already knew the answers to. He wanted to believe, more than anything, that Jason was alive, but he couldn’t trust that he was (because the disappointment would hurt him more than anything else if he wasn’t) because he didn’t have confirmation .

“Now, I didn’t say that,” Ra’s said, back turned to face the window and the red of the sun rising over the horizon.

“Explain,” Bruce gritted out for what felt like the thousandth time. Always asking for an explanation and never quite getting what he needed.

Ra’s sighed. “Jason Todd was found wandering the streets of Gotham,” he turned to give Bruce an inscrutable look, dark eyes heavy. “He was more akin to a walking corpse than a person. Running on instinct alone. We did not alert you to his resurrection because he was still not himself.”

“You don’t know how he came back,” he said more than asked. This was the more important question. How Jason could walk among the living so long after his death when Bruce would have done damn near anything to bring him back if he could.

“No,” Ra’s answered simply. “But a second dip in the Pit waters after he shambled in with Talia brought his mind back. Which was rather more of a miracle than his initial awakening.”

“Could the first dip have brought him back, but delayed?” None of this made any damn sense. This is why he hated working with magic and mystical things. They never made any sense.

The other man stared, hard and unforgiving. Irritated. “I have worked with the Lazarus Pits for a very long time. And yet I am still no closer to answers for questions such as yours. Your guess is as good as mine.”

“You can’t confirm, definitively, the reason Jason Todd came back to life.”

“No,” Ra’s said with a sneer, body tensing to strike. Bruce had overstayed his welcome then. “That’s for you to puzzle out, Detective.”

Bruce turned and left. There was nothing else he could gain from interrogating Ra’s and inciting the man’s temper. Bruce’s own was on a hair-trigger as it was. He would begin his long journey back to Gotham, only partial answers acquired and more questions whirling in his head.

There was little he could do now. He needed to get back to his city, regardless of what was happening with Jason. Regardless of if he’d come back as the Red Hood or not.

There was little he could do to make up for all the ways he’d failed his second Robin, all the things he hadn’t done in time, hadn’t done when it was needed. But he’d do every small thing he could, now . As Batman, all he’d ever been able to do was small things. One criminal apprehended here, one rogue put back in Arkham or Blackgate there. But the city was still torn apart, citizens still ended up dead. Like putting a band-aid on a gaping chest wound.

He’d never fix everything, but he’d do damage control.

═════ ◈ ═════

Jason wasn’t much of a fan of waiting. Not when he was so much closer to executing the best part of his plan. He knew where the Joker would be soon. He had everything he needed ready. He would capture the crazy clown, beat him near to death with a crowbar to see how he liked it, and then set him like the spring in a trap. Bruce would be back from whatever jaunt he’d fled the city on and he’d be able to goad the big bastard into a chase.

Then he’d snare him and finally get the answers he’d so desperately been wanting.

Why hadn’t Bruce killed the Joker already? And what would it take for him to do it?

What would finally make the Big Man snap?

But first he had to catch the clown. He didn’t know what Harley was up to or what the party she’d mentioned was all about- and maybe he was being hasty in planning to just barge in guns blazing without gathering more information. But he was already antsy. He wanted this done already. He wanted to make Bruce choose . Either Bruce would finally kill the Joker or Jason would die by the man’s hand. Again. He would make Bruce suffer the choice, make him realize the severity of his decision to keep the mass murderer alive. Jason hadn’t been the only one killed by the clown, not by a long shot, and people would only keep dying if he was still free.

The Joker would find his end, one way or another. Jason would make sure of that- even if it had to be from beyond the grave again.

If Bruce chose to kill him instead of the deranged clown- Jason didn’t really know what he would do, but at least he’d have his answer. That Bruce had cared for whatever asinine definition of justice he had more than he ever had Jason. That Bruce cared more for his own personal morals than actually doing something to save the people of the city he’d sworn to protect.

He didn’t have confidence in which answer Bruce would choose.

Waiting also had the downside of giving him time to think . Something he currently didn’t want to do. Not when it made him reflect on his own mistakes. Made him reflect on the ways he’d hurt Fetcher so badly.

He regretted his actions in the dojo that day. But he knew he couldn’t take them back, couldn’t take back the tears he’d caused the other to shed. He was supposed to be better than that. To not let his paranoia get the best of him and allow him to hurt the ones he cared for, they way Bruce often did. It hadn’t taken very long for Jason to go back through everything that had happened with Fetcher and realize that he had severely jumped the gun.

He’d come to trust the kid way too fast, sure, but that wasn’t the other’s fault. He’d been desperate for an ally and he’d seen just a bit too much of himself in the poor soul he’d saved. He’d wanted to protect Fetcher from a fate like his, but all he’d ended up doing was hurt him.

But his eyes- the green- the sharpness there-

Jason paused where he stood in his kitchen, hands gripping the cast iron skillet just a bit too tight. He could hear the metal creak under his grip, likely to snap if he didn’t relent. The kid’s eyes had reminded him too much of the Pit- of when he’d died and come back. Of the torture of resurfacing to a new world he didn’t understand.

If Fetcher had been working for Ra’s he’d been doing a poor job of it. It took Jason far too long to realize that. No movement from Talia or Nanda Parbat. No whisper of activity from Ra’s. Nothing at all to indicate that Fetcher was one of their agents. Whatever mess the kid had gotten himself mixed up in, it wasn’t necessarily connected to the League. And Jason had yelled at him. Called him a monster. And all he’d done- was cry.

Jason was the monster here, not Fetch.

He was likely better off sulking in the graveyard Jason had found him in anyway. It would have only been a matter of time before Jason turned on him. Or did something else to get him hurt, get him killed. Like father, like son.

When Nadi had come to yell at him about Fetcher’s disappearance, it had been something of a relief. Even if she had kicked him in the balls, it was still good to see that someone cared about the kid. Someone good . Someone that could help him where Jason couldn’t. And when she’d come back a second time to demand that Fetcher be allowed back into Crime Alley, he’d reluctantly agreed. He couldn’t face the other after everything he’d said and done, but he wouldn’t banish him for Jason’s mistakes.

He hasn’t seen the other since then. But he knows that he’s in the area. Seen the faint glow of the other brighten a dark alleyway, trailing after Nadi like he used to trail after Red Hood.

Jason shakes off his thoughts and goes back to cooking. Only to realize that he’d made two servings.

Silently, guiltily, he packs it away. He’ll hand it out to the first person he sees once he leaves for patrol (no use in good food going to waste- even if his first instinct is to trash it). The sight of it made him sick.

He’d have to live with what he’d done and that was that. There was little he could do to fix things. Little he could do to help. But he’d keep his distance and let Nadi take care of Fetch where he’d failed so spectacularly. He didn’t want to face the other again, and it made him a coward- but he didn’t want to risk hurting the other more than he deserved. He’d already done enough damage.

( You’re too angry, Jason. You take it out on the wrong people. It makes you reckless. You’re going to get an innocent person killed one day because you couldn’t control your temper. This is not why I let you become my second Robin. You’re benched . Indefinitely. )

Jason was far from perfect and he knew that. But he’d take his imperfection and still try where he could. He’d fix the city, little by little. Build it up where Bruce couldn’t and clean it out where Batman wouldn’t.

Even if he died again proving his point to Bruce, even that little bit, would help in its own way. Make Bruce see where he’d gone wrong or else prove where Batman was failing. If the bastard was too stubborn to see that Jason was right about this, then Gotham had long been doomed anyway. His second death wouldn’t change that.

All he had to do now, was wait.

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

I'm glad you agree with Dani having wind powers. I have been thinking about the other halfa's and their powers and why they have them. Vlad is fire, which is volatile and hurts others but it can also keep people warm (perhaps there is hope for him in another universe) and is something often used in human invention and Vlad is very smart. Danny is his opposite, Ice. Unlike fire, ice could be used to subdue his enemies without hurting them (1/2)

(2/2) However Ice is also be sharp and dangerous (he can be mean sometimes) and it is cold, which could maybe represent how alone he feels. It could also be tied into his love for space as space is cold. If Jazz was a ghost, I think she would have water powers, since it's like a melted version of her brothers ice (lol). She is cool and collected and prefers to talk things out and understand rather than fight. She can also be rather overbearing sometimes, like an ocean. Sorry if this is long.

~ ~ ~

it’s interesting to think what the various halfa’s elements would be. makes me think of the into the spiderverse au. i like the idea that jazz would be water. it suits her. cool and collected, even sometimes associated with healing. but equally capable of devastation if used for violence. since psychology is her thing, i’d also draw a comparison to that. it’s used to help and heal, but when used by people like spectra it can be the most damaging attack possible. it can destroy people on a level deeper than physical. i’d likewise suggest that jazz would be the one to figure out bloodbending as a concept for this world, but would proceed to avoid using it. if she ever has a dark dan version of herself, i could see Black Jasmine being far more terrifying than him. when jazz goes bad, she’d go really bad

though in terms of what would push her to that point, it think it’d probably be more difficult and less difficult than what happened to danny. she is all about control and discipline. she’d use denial and psychology to manage for as long as possible. that is if it’s something that no one could have predicted or stopped. an accident. but if say it was a failure on the school or societies part... if say a case of bullying landed danny trapped in a locker during a ghost attack, unable to escape, and he died because of an attack that she was involved in. if he died with her not even aware that he was feet from her and in danger...

well i could see her losing herself in her guilt and anger at the world. he could have been saved. if he wasn’t being bullied, if the teachers had done something, if the ghost hadn’t attacked, if she had known he was there. like i said dark jazz is scary.

that aside, i also want all potential halfas to have elements associated with them now. we’re all pretty much agreed that tucker is electric type, due to his love of technology, but also his impulsiveness. electricity can do a lot of damage when not controlled properly and we’ve seen tucker on more than one occasion struggle with control. he’s overconfident and surprisingly reckless at times. when he’s in his element he’s fantastic but he’s been known to abuse power when he has it. i think that would be his main conflict as tucker ghouly, controlling his powers and using them responsibly.

sam would be representative of the element wood. which is associated with flexibility, durability, and strong emotions. because she’s our resident plant girl. she is willful and passionate but also stubborn and demanding. she demands the most of herself but also others, she wants everyone to thrive but sometimes forgets what’s best for her isn’t what’s best for other. her conflict might end up being empathy, because while she has it in spades, she doesn’t always know how to use it, if that makes sense. she tends to take things as a personal attack on her and her veiws when people disagree with her, which can be pretty dangerous, especially when people absolutely have reasons for their own opinions. she needs to learn to listen to others, if she’s going to be a proper hero

that would leave the final element, metal to val. metal is the most stubborn and inflexible of the elements. she’s strong and disciplined, unyielding in her attacks and views. but as we know that’s for better or worse. she really difficult to convince she’s wrong. she’d probably end up being one of the strongest out of them, she’d figure out the most ways to use her powers and how to shape metal to her advantage. i’m actually struck by the fun idea of val using her metal powers to make jewelry and running a small business selling it. this val would still manage to create a body armor and probably be better at maintaining anonymity with her ghost activity. though i also see her as overworking herself. she tries to do everything and ends up failing classes, alienating her friends, and too exhausted to think straight..she became a ghost before she was friends with danny, so i like the idea of them ending up friends, probably during the flour baby episode, and danny being the one to finally convince her to chill out and manage her health better. full human danny, is still all about helping people and is probably more stable and viably smart when he has time to do his homework. he’d probably offer to help her study and manage her business when too busy, and just having someone to lean on means everything to val.

until of course, plasimius kills jack fenton, and danny goes down the path of seeking vengeance and fighting ghosts. i actually don’t thing they’d know each others hunter identities at first, so they’d initially be fighting for real. danny is almost as stubborn as val. (ice is also inflexable until given the time to melt. and cold and harsh and deadly when angry). i see the green hunter being the most dangerous thing val has faced so far because danny is unrelenting. once she figures out who she’s fighting (i see her giving fenton a necklace of a star when he’s human and hunter losing the necklace during a fight and val discovering it and initially thinking it was stolen but figuring out the truth throughout the episode) fighting someone innocent, who’s justified, but still wrong, she’d be forced to learn to be more flexible and understanding, just to convince danny to stop. because let’s be real, she agrees with danny. plasmius killed his father, if she were in his shoes, he’d do the same thing, but she needs him to understand that she’s not the bad guy. not all ghosts are bad.

she’d also need to learn to be more flexible just to fight vlad/plasmius. because he is manipulative and her straight foward way of thinking and fighting would get her in trouble with him. i could see him framing her for a lot. he’d also be hanging around danny as vlad and manipulating danny that way. she’d essentially be fighting 2 different people who turn out to be the same person. vlad, the billionaire friend of the fentons who’s inserting himself into the grieving family’s lives and encouraging danny to fight vigilante justice. and plasmiaus the op ghost who literally murders people who get in his way. vlad would absolutely do everything he can to keep up the facade of innocent human. leaving all the damage to his ghost half. and val would struggle to prove that he’s evil.

that was a bit of a tangent, anyway. all of the halfa’s having elements associated with them and eventually having an ultimate team up in a universe that brings them together to fight something or another. a team up of the elements. vlad being there and joining the team up as still a villain who the team is suspicious of, but who they need to win. perhaps pariah dark escapes again but this time the mech isn’t available. and danny isn’t strong enough to face him alone. so parallel dimension team up. actually maybe not main danny’s universe. maybe it’s one of the other universes that can’t manage pariah dark on their own. possibly val’s again? if jack’s dead they don’t have a mech. might even be able to incorporate maddie inventing parallel-dimensional summoning in her attempts to bring jack back. bonus points if it’s vlad who’s funding this, knowing full well anyone summon would be unstable and turn to goo soon after arriving.

can you tell i love the into the dannyverse au? this was fun - Hestia

@nastyburger @guardianrex @five-rivers @ibelieveinahappilyeverafter @enigmaris

[mr-lancers-english-class]

The Rescue

Vengeful Babes, Dissection, & Identity Reveal

AO3

Word Count: 3753

Dani wasn’t sure how she was going to explain this to Valerie. She was flying as fast as she could and it wasn’t fast enough but she also needed to think but she needed to focus to be able to think and couldn’t focus on that right now, no, because she didn’t need to crash into another jet and so she had to fly first and brainstorm second but there wouldn’t be time to brainstorm later so she needed to think now!

A bird squawked angrily off to her right, shocking Dani out of her thoughts and forcing her to slam to a halt. She glared at the bird as it gave her the stink eye before flying off. 

“I’m stopped anyway. I need to catch my breath. I’ll think of something right now,” she muttered to herself. “Alright. What do I know? Danny’s been caught. Danny needs my help. Sam and Tucker are out of town. Jazz is at college. None of the three of them know. Vlad’s minion contacted me to tell me. Because Vlad was caught too. The Fenton’s managed to catch them both. ” Dani took a moment to scream internally. She had thought she’d been free of Vlad, that he couldn’t ever find her. Danny had said he’d changed, that he was becoming more of a crazy uncle figure than a fruitloopy asshole, but Dani was loathe to trust the man. “Vlad knows how to find me. No, if he actually has changed, maybe he doesn’t but his minions do. Skulker definitely does. That’s probably it. Skulker’s always been able to find me, and now maybe this time it’s because Danny and Vlad need help and not because he wants to hunt me for sport.” She barked out a sharp laugh. “Why is my life so weird?”

With a quick inhale, Dani took off flying as hard as she could towards Amity Park. It was only a few more minutes away. She could feel the ectoplasm in the air grow thicker, and her speed increased accordingly.

“Danny and Vlad are caught by the Fenton’s and everyone who knows their secrets are out of town except Valerie. And Valerie doesn’t really like either of them, though maybe not as much.” Dani thought back to the last phone call she’d had with her girlfriend. Valerie had mentioned that she and Phantom had a truce, that they had started to work together more to stop the ghosts, and that, for the first time in the three years she had been the Red Huntress, she was getting enough sleep and finishing most of her homework. Though she hadn’t talked to Danny in a while, Dani was pretty sure the same could be said of him. It had taken too long for both of them to be willing to work with the other.

“But Valerie doesn’t know. She knows about me, but she doesn’t know about Danny or Vlad.” Dani slowed down as she entered the Amity Park airspace. The air was practically glowing with latent ectoplasm. “The less she knows about halfas the better, but also Danny should have told her forever ago and it would have made life so much easier for both of them. Agh! Why is he such an idiot?!” She veered off to the north and turned invisible. After a minute of scanning the identical apartments, she was pretty sure she had found Valerie’s. Lowering herself to the window, Dani knocked four times, paused, and knocked twice more.

The door inside slammed open. Valerie dashed across the floor, dove over her bed, and crashed into the wall with enough force to shake the ceiling lights. Throwing open the window, she whisper-shouted “Dannielle!”

Dani took that as her cue to re-enter the visible spectrum and slide through the open window. “Valerie! It’s so good to see-” She was cut off as Valerie smothered her in a hug. Dani melted in to Valerie’s arms and was very disappointed when the other girl pulled away. Disappointment was immediately replaced with a warm kiss. Valerie held Dani’s face, while Dani brought her hands up into Valerie’s hair and kissed back. It had been months since they’d seen each other in person and Dani never wanted this kiss to end.

And then she remember why she was back in Amity Park.

Dani pulled away from Valerie with a sharp inhale. Valerie tilted her head and gave her an odd look.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Valerie let go of Dani’s face and found her hands instead. “Something tells me you’re not back just to visit.” Dani shook her head miserably. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she forced herself to hold them in, at least until she could explain what was going on. Crying was so messy. It made life difficult when you had to worry about leaking eyes and hitching breaths, Dani decided.

“I need your help,” Dani whispered.

“Of course, Dani. You know I’m always here for you,” Valerie whispered back.

“It’s a, uh, it’s a ghost thing.”

Valerie’s eyes hardened into something dangerous. “Who’s ass do I need to kick?” Dani giggled once through the slow tears that were now streaking down her face.

“The Fentons’?” She tried to smile, but it was difficult.

“The Fentons? What did they do?”

“They got Phantom.” Dani could practically see the gears turning in Valerie’s head as she mouthed ‘The Fentons have Phantom’ a few times. “And, and Plasmius, but he’s not really my priority.”

“They have Plasmius too? The Fentons caught Vlad and Phantom?” Valerie quickly maneuvered to the other side of the room to close her door. It wouldn’t do well for her dad to get home and see her plotting with Phantom’s identical clone.

“Yeah, a few hours ago. Skulker found me to tell me and- wait, I never said Vlad. I said Plasmius,” she said slowly. Valerie knew Dani wasn’t exactly a full ghost or a full human, and also that Dani was literally a clone of another being who happened to have a hodge-podge mix of memories from said being. Valerie did not know that Danny and Vlad were halfas, or really even about the existence of halfas. Unless-

“No, I know that’s what you said, baby. But, well, Vlad Masters is Plasmius and oh you already knew-” Valerie saw the look in Dani’s eyes and put it together faster than Dani would have expected. “He’s like you, isn’t he? Plasmius?”

“Sort of. He’s more human, and he’s not a clone. We’re called halfas, but Vlad is mostly just a human infected with ghostliness and I’m technically a clone of a halfa and not a full halfa.” Dani paused. This was getting closer to Danny’s secret than she would like. Unfortunately, Valerie was smart, and Dani knew she already had theories.

“I take it Phantom is a halfa?” Dani nodded. “And the Fenton’s have caught him. And they’re probably going to experiment on him.” Dani nodded, smaller this time. “So we need to rescue him. And Vlad,” Valerie added as an afterthought. “Do you have a plan?”

Dani took a deep breath before speaking. “Sort of. Maybe. I sneak into FentonWorks while you cause a big distraction somewhere, something that looks really dangerous. The problem is that, according to Skulker, there’s a ghost shield around the house that basically puts a full stop to anything ghostly inside. No powers.”

“Then I should be the one to sneak in to FentonWorks. It’ll be easier for me to escape, and I don’t want you to get caught too,” Valerie suggested. Dani shook her head.

“You’d be just as powerless as me. Your suit is powered by ectoplasmic energy, and is possibly psychically linked to you, though I’m mostly guessing on that one. You would be weaponless, and also, if they saw you, the Fenton’s would definitely recognize you. I at least have some anonymity. Plus, I can escape into the Ghost Zone easier. You’ve got a big target on your back in there.”

“Makes sense. So I need to make a distraction” Dani nodded. “Okay. I have an idea.”

Exactly six minutes later, Dani was crouched on a roof opposite FentonWorks in her human form. Valerie had split off towards the park with a quick kiss three blocks back to enact her part of the plan. Right now, she would be off launching flash grenades in the middle of the park, making a big light show with some loud noises, but little property damage. Dani was waiting for the Fenton’s to notice and leave. It was taking too long and it was stressing her out and they needed to go because her cousin was in there and she needed to get to Danny and-

“Let’s go Maddie! There’s a powerful ghost in the park! Phantom will be here when we get back, and we can get a third strong ghost.” Jack Fenton had slammed the front door open with enough force to crack the wood. Maddie Fenton was right behind him carrying three thermoses, a vacuum, and at least seven ectoguns ranging in size from finger-gun to military-grade rocket launchers.

“To the RV!” Maddie shouted with easily as much enthusiasm though likely twice as loud. Dani winced at the volume. The neighbors might wake up, which would cause problems. As it was, she appeared to be okay for now. 

Dani watched as the RV screeched down the street and turned the corner towards the park. She fired off a quick text to Valerie, JF and MF are on their way, be safe <3, before jumping down from the roof to land lightly on the empty street. It was almost two in the morning, so every other streetlight was off. She would have to make sure to thank Vlad for that later. It made it significantly easier to see the Fenton’s shield.

“And now I just walk through, make sure I’m not using any powers, no powers, all good…” She scrunched up her shoulders in anticipation of the sting that came with crossing a shield, and was through in half a second. “Alright, the door. Is it unlocked? Nope! Okay, so, um,” She didn’t bother searching for a key, preferring to aim the Fenton Wrist Ray Valerie made her wear at the look. It melted to nothing in a single shot and the door swung open. “Right then, now down to the lab!” She whispered with mock excitement.

Every single light on the first floor was turned on. Dani imagined that the Fenton’s hadn’t left the basement since they captured Danny, and so probably had no idea it had gotten so late. Danny would occasionally tell her about his parents, how obsessive they could be. 

She found the door to the basement laboratory easily. It was right next to the kitchen, which seemed like a potentially very dangerous idea, and was covered in bright yellow warnings about ectoplasm, radiation, and general danger. She quickly snuck down the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible despite knowing she was alone in the house. If she got caught, well, from a purely selfish note, that would be very bad.

The stairs led into a large cluttered room that was surprisingly open. On the far wall, the closed portal sat menacingly. In the middle was a table. Lying on the table, limbs and head strapped down with glowing leather, was Phantom. His black suit with trademark logo was missing from the waist up, where a gaping hole showing his innards was instead. Thankfully, he appeared to be asleep. Dani almost threw up then and there. She settled for light gagging instead.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out to see Valerie’s reply.

The Fenton’s haven’t figured out it’s me yet. They’re still running around the park.

It buzzed again with a follow up.

You be safe too babe.

Dani almost smiled before remembering where she was and who else was in the room. She glanced up to find Danny staring at her over his open stomach and yelped, dropping her phone. It clattered to the floor with a distressing sound.

“Danny?”

“Hey cuz!” He was way too enthusiastic, Dani thought, given that he should be even more dead. “How are you?”

“Are- are you okay?” she whispered.

“Oh yeah, no I’m fine, I think. I mean, there’s this,” He glanced down at the dissection. “And whatever they strapped me down with is biting and I can’t phase through it, but other than that, I think I’m okay.” Dani bent over to pick up her phone. The screen wasn’t cracked, thankfully, but the case had a sizable dent in one corner.

“So, um, how do I get you out?” She looked back at Danny, pointedly ignoring the gaping wound.

“There’s a button on the side of the table. It’ll turn off the phase-proofing part, and I can get out from there.” Dani found the aforementioned button, and was distressed that it required a DNA sample.

“It, well, it needs DNA. I guess so other ghosts don’t come and break their cousins out.”

Danny laughed incredulously. His intestines jiggled. Dani swallowed bile.

“Everything in here is DNA coded to my parents, Jazz, and I. You’re the same DNA as me, so it should work.” Dani tried the button, and with a sharp prick of her finger to draw blood, it depressed. There was a generic powering down sound, and suddenly the leather stopped glowing.

Danny sat up as he phased his head and arms through their straps. After taking a second to rub his wrists and try and get the blood flowing, he reached into his chest and removed a few metal devices. He then took the clamps holding his skin open and released them, folding his chest back into shape. Once everything was starting to heal correctly, he hopped down off the table.

It had been at least six months since Dani had seen her “cousin” in person, and she was a bit shocked to see that he was now at least an inch and a half taller than her. She was tall by human standards, almost six feet, but Danny had shot up. He was going to be close to his dad’s height, she thought numbly, trying to ignore the green stains on Danny’s chest.

“...back soon, so we need to go,” Danny finished saying. Dani blinked as she realized he’d been talking. “Dani? Dannielle?”

“I’m here. I’m good. Um, can you repeat what you were saying?”

“We need to dash. My parents will be back soon. At least something we just did will have triggered an alarm. “

“Oh, yeah, that. Um, we could go out the front, but I don’t have my powers right now so that’s riskier. The best option is the portal.”

“Seeing as I’m a bit stuck as Phantom right now, you need to open the portal. Same DNA lock, that sort of thing. Shouldn’t be any harder than the Fenton Ghost Straps.”

“You’re stuck as Phantom?” Dani asked, maneuvering around the vast piles of who-knew-whats to get to the portal.

“Well, not really, but I heal a lot faster as Phantom and ectoplasm stains are significantly easier to get out of clothing. Also, if it comes up, I don’t want to have to explain blood stains. My parents ask more questions when it’s blood,” Danny said. He was poking at the Y-shaped incision on his chest that was now at least no longer flapping with each step. Dani looked away.

“How come you have your powers at all right now? The ghost shield is shutting me down pretty heavily.” Dani asked, keeping her back to her cousin, because god that was a disgusting sound and would he please just stop?

“Weird thing I discovered about shields. The more time you spend around them, the less the affect you. And it’s not just me. Dora, Johnny, Kitty, and Amorpho are all significantly less affected by shields now that I���ve been inviting them into town sometimes.”

“Huh. Weird,” Dani said. “So, which button is it?”

Danny came up next to her at a large control panel. “It’s this one here. Same thing as before, it’ll need a small blood sample, but you’re blood is identical to mine, so my parents won’t know.”

Dani pressed the button, and the portal slid open. Green energy shot out with a quiet roar as the basement turned the same shade as Danny’s organs. Dani was saved from this thought by her phone buzzing again, this time insistently.

“Give me a sec. Gotta take this,” she said over her shoulder. Danny nodded. She answered it.

“Dannielle? Are you there? Get out now!” Valerie’s voice was almost drowned out by the sounds of high winds. “The Fenton’s are coming back quickly. They’re like, two blocks out.”

Dani was proud that she didn’t panic. High stress situations were far too common in her young life, which, as disappointed as she was by this, helped in future high stress situations.

“On our way out. Phantom’s fine. We’re going through the portal. See you in a few minutes.”

“Sounds good. Love you.”

“Love you.” Dani smiled as she hung up. She turned back to Danny and was greeted with pleasant surprise. “I’ll tell you once we’re safe in the Ghost Zone.” Danny laughed.

“The Ghost Zone is never safe.” And he dove headfirst into the open portal. Dani heard the door upstairs slam open with no lock to impede the Fenton adults. Oh well. That’s what they get for kidnapping her cousin. She followed Danny through the portal without a glance back.

Immediately, she could feel her powers flow through her. She transformed giddily into her own ghost self and did a few loop-de-loops. Danny was waiting for her with a smile.

“So… you’re dating someone?” Dani groaned.

“Yeah, I am. We’ve been dating for almost a year now.”

“Do I get the honor of knowing how this person is?” The two halfas flew deeper into the Zone. 

“We’re about to meet up with her.” 

“Is she a ghost?” Danny did a barrel roll over top of Dani so he could fly sideways, on his stomach with his legs crossed in the air behind him and his chin resting on his hands. Dani rolled her eyes.

“No, she’s human.”

“So I take it she knows? About you? Does she know about me?” Danny rolled onto his back so he was looking at Dany upside down.

“Yes she knows about me. No she doesn’t know about you, but I think she suspects something.” Dani stopped and watched as her cousin went speeding by.

“And where exactly is she?” Danny asked, making his way back to Dani.

“In the human realm.” Dani reached her hands out into the air infront of her, and with less concentration needed than the last time she tried this, opened a rent in the fabric of reality.

The small portal, no larger than a bean bag, was swirling green and purple and smelled vaguely of cinnamon and apples. Danny whistled.

“You’ve gotten strong. I haven’t been able to do portals at all.”

“Well, I can’t hold them for long, so please do enter.” Danny flew through the hole in the fabric of the Ghost Zone. Dani took a deep breath and followed suit.

They emerged above Valerie’s apartment. Dani alighted on the gravel roof, and detransformed. Danny stayed hovering at her shoulder height. Within a minute, Dani could hear the whine of Valerie’s hover board, and soon spotted her girlfriend flying high above the city.

The Red Huntress circled the apartment once, before slowly lowering and retracting her hoverboard. She landed on both feet, and Dani lept forward to hug her. After far too short, Dani pulled away, because her cousin was spluttering behind her. She turned back to look at him, and was very releived to see that his jumpsuit had reformed. That’s good, she thought, because that was disgusting and I almost lost my lunch, and that would have gone badly for both of us.

“You’re dating Valerie?!” Danny practically shouted. Both Dani and Valerie shushed him equally as loudly. “Why didn’t you tell me? What? You’re dating Valerie?”

“Yes I am,” said Dani, at the same time that Valerie said “And just how do you know who I am?” They looked at each other and had a quick wordless conversation. It ended with Valerie retracting her full suit. Dani leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“You know who I am, Phantom.” It almost sounded like a question, but Danny had spent too much time around Valerie in the last four years of high school to mistake it as such. “You’ve known for a while now. And I suppose, I know who you are too.” Danny remained silent, so she continued. “I’ve known for a while, I just didn’t want to think about it.” Dani reached for Valerie’s hand and gave a light squeeze.

“I should have told you a while ago, Val. Sorry about that,” Danny muttered, landing lightly on the roof. “If I may ask, what gave it away?”

“You mean besides the name?” Danny nodded with a laugh. “How much Dani looks like you. Both sides of you. You guys do mention clone a fair amount, and even I’m not that blind.”

Danny let his transformation rings wash over him, and although she knew, Valerie was still a bit surprised to see Danny Fenton standing on her roof.

“So, then, now that all this is in the open, does anyone want food?” Danny asked, changing the subject. He stretched his arms up over his head. “Being dissected takes a lot of energy, and I am starving!” Dani smiled at her cousin. Valerie barked out a laugh.

“I guess, yeah.”

“Well then, to the Nasty Burger! Dinner is on me!” Danny transformed back and began to fly off. Dani and Valerie followed close behind.

“It’s four in the morning, Danny,” Dani yelled into the wind. “I think this counts as breakfast.”

“Time is irrelevant. Burgers normally means dinner, so dinner it shall be.” All three teenagers laughed.

“Are you guys just going to go in like this?” Valerie shouted.

“Wouldn’t be the first time, Val. Minimum wage workers tend not to ask too many questions about ghosts at ungodly hours.” 

They flew for a minute, trading light banter, before Valerie came to a screeching halt. Dani and Danny circled back around and hovered with her.

“Um, guys, did anyone get Vlad?”

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

You ever wonder if being basically half dead might affect Danny's growth and physiology at all? Like... do you think he grows and physically age at a slower rate then the ppl around him but its not really noticable since hea always been a scrawny dude until years down the line where his best friends are in their twenties and here Danny is still looking like a swol 15 year old thats really tall or something?

we’eve talked about this before and there are several dark headcannons;

-Danny grows normally or stops growing after his core has matured when he’s an adult. explains why Dan would be an adult (though that could also be explained by him combining with Vlad) and acknowledges that ghosts have been shown to change over time too. (same episode establishes ghost babies, box ghost getting swol, ember getting fat and so on)

-Danny stops aging all together at 14 and will look fourteen for the rest of his life, or until his human half dies. his ghost could probably still change but that ability might be effected by his human side. this one kinda ties to him being basically a living corpse, though i’d argue Danny is more like someone who comes back to life after drowning. he died but he’s not dead. still interesting to think about and it’d dramatically effect his life if his human half stopped aging. i’ve seen several fics about it

-one of my favorites is that Danny's human half keeps aging but his ghost half doesn’t. so you have this grown ass adult transforming into a little kid. it does a lot to keep his identity secret but has the side effect of people always treating his ghost half like a child. we have an au where the justice league don’t know he’s a halfa and put him with young justice even though he’s a ghost to them and therefore could be any age. when Danny is with the young justice he is both on their side because he was like that when he was their age but also super protective because oh my god these are infants! when he transforms into a whole adult man everyone collectively loses their shit and billy batson is just like ‘ayyy’ opposite but same vibe. as Danny's human side gets older he’d probably spend more time as phantom so he doesn’t have to deal with old man problems and continue to fight crime. eventually it gets to the point where he can’t turn back at all and he has an ‘oh’ moment.

all of ‘em have a lot of potential and i love seeing fanfiction about them. so write on, my spooks! - Hestia