#Justice League is worried about his knowledge

[nelkcats]

Dead Language Expert

Danny never thought that he could "major" in languages, and get a job as a translator. But apparently knowing all the dead languages ​​by default and being able to time travel with the help of your ghost tutor was pretty useful outside of Amity.

It happened purely by chance, he was walking through a museum and started laughing because of a mistake in one of the sentences that completely changed the meaning of the text. The museum manager, of course, did not believe him, since many people had said that the piece was "impossible to translate". But he study it anyway.

Days later they were looking for him to translate all the things from that time. And he just carried on with it, in many more civilizations. In some cases he even asked for a few trips to the past to Clockwork to verify.

It got to a point where the wizards, heroes and villains over the world knew him as "the translator of dead languages" and some of them even tried to kidnap him to perform a summoning ritual. Danny rolled his eyes and easily freed himself, but the League assigned him an "escort" anyway.

Exasperated, the halfa escaped from his escorts and continued his work as normal. Superman almost fell out of his chair at the Watchtower meeting when he was informed that the boy had translated the language of Krypton and other missing planets. Besides having managed to lose both the Flash and Green Latern, what the fuck?

[zylev-blog]

Tucker dug himself in quite a deep hole.

At first, it started because he was bored. He also wanted to test his skills in tech, since he was trained by Technus to use technology in a way nobody living could even do. He first did some simple probing, learning about the system that Batman used and learned how to keep his tracks hidden. He honestly thought breaking into the White House or NASA would be harder than breaking into Batman’s files, but it wasn’t. Everything was absurdly easy to get to. He could see the workarounds in the code just as easily as he could breathe.

Once he learned how to erase his tracks completely, he started with basic knowledge from Batman’s system. Over the course of a month, he read all the police reports, hero and villain reports, and the contingency plans that Batman had. Boy was Batman a paranoid man.

Then he delved deeper. He learned everything there was to know from over a decade of vigilante work. Then he used the Batcomputer (he had found out that it was actually called that from Nightwing himself. He had camera access, of course he was going to spy on the bats.) to hack into the Justice League system. He had to stop the manic chuckle that threatened to spill past his lips. He was just like the ghosts in a way that he loved to indulge his obsessions. And stalking vigilantes had become one of his.

Danny and Sam knew about what he was doing and never tried to stop him. The reason was simple: Tucker had warded against Amity Park so thickly, that not even magic users knew of the town’s existence. It wouldn’t show up on a map, or in books, or in history. Tucker might have used Clockwork for the last part, but the time ghost allowed him to hide Amity Park from the world. So there must have been a reason the ghost had allowed it.

After Tucker gained access to the Justice League files, he had become worried. There was a lot that they didn’t tell the public. The more he read, the more resentful he got. Failed alien invasions, kidnapping, mind control, cloning… the list went on and on.

If he didn’t know that the Justice League were the good guys… he might think they were the villains.

But they were the good guys, right?

He wasn’t so sure anymore.

It had been almost four months since he had first hacked Batman’s computer. From what he could tell after hacking Bruce Wayne’s cell phone, nobody knew that he was inside their systems. Nobody was that good of an actor. He would watch the Justice League briefings, watch their day to day, learn all the gossip, and then he would check Batman’s computer. It was a ritual he had started. A way to keep Amity Park safe should the Justice League turn against them or the world. He made his own contingency plans based off of Batman’s plans. The exception being that as a last resort, his plans would be fatal to anyone who struck against him. He just hoped that the day would never come.

Everything changed when Pariah Dark stole Amity Park. It had taken the Justice League almost two days to realize that there was a gigantic crater in Illinois. Nobody knew what had happened. When the city reappeared, the borders that had once protected it were also stripped away. The systems had been damaged in the fight, and in the teleportation process. There were so many that had died in the battle, so many more that were now homeless, or orphans. The city mourned for the dead—and the dead mourned their sacrifice. The evil King had been dethroned, but would Amity Park be the same? The world now knew it existed, and there was no ghost portal for him to run to Clockwork from. They were on their own.

As Tucker watched the Justice League try to help the citizens, he felt anger in the pit of his stomach. These people, these ‘heroes’, what would they learn about his people? Were they going to hurt them like they’ve hurt their own?

No. He was not going to let them hurt anyone from Amity Park.

He solicited all of the teenagers of Amity Park to help him rebuild the borders. Kick out the Justice League. His plan was met with some resistance, but they trusted Tucker. Within 24 hours, they had gotten the borders back online. The Justice League were then forced out of the town, and the town disappeared from existence once more.

Now if only he could get rid of the Justice League that tried to linger. Batman himself was proving difficult to get rid of. Especially since all of his bats kept trying to come out to play. Well Tucker had an ace up his sleeve too, and two could play that game.

[radiance1]

An off-shoot to an off-shoot!

Danny left the human world for the Ghost Zone, as the Crown Prince he has quite a lot of responsibilities, much more than he would like in all honesty.

He barely even knew there was a high society of the Ghost Zone, some of which he has met and others he's just questioning the existence of.

He was already tired of the amount of marriage proposals he was sent and had to sort through, and there was still 3 more mountains to go!

He was honestly looking forward to the calls from his two best friends when he was finally able to get a break from his duties as prince. Never has the sound of his friends' voices felt oh so sweet.

Sometimes he visits Sam when he managed to convince Pariah, or when there just wasn't any work to be done. He tried to visit Tucker too but, when he tried to leave Amity Park he just... couldn't???

There was something just, stopping him. He couldn't leave, like some kind of barrier that prevented from moving even smidge past the line.

He just left it be.

He heard about Tucker being a villain and decided he wanted in. But since he couldn't leave the boundary of Amity Park for whatever reason, he needed Tucker to plant a series of tidbits of knowledge that'll allow people to summon him.

Tucker very obviously agreed.

But they decided to have a bit of fun here. Tucker- who now goes by Daedalus as his villain name- has history with the Ghost Prince, who is the 'hero' to Daedalus' villain.

Daedalus does not like Phantom and constantly tries to neutralize him, which is a far cry from his usual non-lethal tactics. While Phantom, on the other hand, considers Daedalus to be his best friend and closest consort and often ignores said attempts of neutralization or plays it off.

So Tucker left behind bits and pieces of the knowledge to summon the Ghost Prince in random parts of the city, which are discreetly yet highly guarded. Then overtime certain people began to find those bits and pieces and Daedalus, in regard to such an event has notably gotten more panicky and worried.

With each and every sighting he's in he seemed to be searching for something and used the chaos he brought to search for it. To which the heroes have been taking notice of.

They think that he was searching for something to use for his next plan or something.

Then the Justice League got word of a group of cultists looking to summon the Ghost Prince to take over the mortal world, which they obviously couldn't let happen. So then they locate and find the group of cultists (and as usual in these ideas) they fail to stop the summoning in time.

But as the summoning circle was shinning and the room got colder, someone unexpected showed up.

Daedalus. (Imagen he's in the floaty chair thing that Eggman uses constantly)

Who, surprisingly. Is just a 16 year old. (This takes place in the second year of Sam's little isolation thing.)

Who then proceeded to get irritated and screamed at the cultists about how they managed to find the necessary components to summon that he specifically split into pieces to avoid this situation happening!

Then the Ghost Prince pops into existence, who then calmly looked around the room and then into the sky, his indifferent, cold expression faded away into a bright beaming expression and then went:

"Daedalus! My best buddy!"

And then had to dodge a blast from said villain. Then they proceeded to have a battle, quite- no, very lethal on Daedalus' part and not so much on the Ghost Prince's part.

It was... reminiscent of a dog and cat, really.

Until in the midst of said fight Phantom exclaimed his woes about the Ghost responsibilities and then Daedalus just kinda, stopped trying to kill him and then made Danny explain what problem he has and then gave him the solution to said problem and goes back to fighting.

The Justice League feels like they should intervene here, but they also don't know if they should.

Said problem was solved by Daedalus getting hungry and proposing to stop the fight to go and eat at a food place he knows that's very good. Phantom agrees, claiming that he hasn't had human food in ages and then they go and eat and forget about the Justice League.

Who then questioned why the Prince of Ghosts and the villain that a few of them has been fighting are literal children.

[itshype]

Summoning? Kidnapping (DC x DP)

As some sort of malicious vengeance, one of Danny's rogues makes his summoning ritual public knowledge and his life gets wildly out of control as he's zapped from place to place day or night.

What the rogue wasn't anticipating was the creativity of humanity. Within the week, Lex Luthor's thinktank (and/or others) has figured out which part of the ritual specifies which ghost and 'cracked' it to summon whomever they please.

The ghosts are largely not pleased, this isn't an opportunity to expand chaos outside of Amity like some of them might have thought - it's the complete loss of any time to rest or do anything but deal with the living.

The Justice League has been aware of the summonings for a while but with no injuries they have far more important things to be worried about. Until the ghosts lodge some complaints. Loudly. And in person.

[hypewinter]

The expectations from everyone around him had been too much. His sister and teachers wanted him to be a good student. His friends wanted him to be the perfect hero. The town wanted him to be everywhere, all at once. And his parents wanted him strapped down to a table.

Danny couldn't take it anymore. It was all just too much. So he left. He disappeared, covering his tracks and only leaving a note to let everyone know he was okay.

He traveled a while before he eventually encountered some heroes investigating an occult crime. All he did was give them a little hint and suddenly they were all over him. He had panicked for a second. Memories of his suffocating past came to him. But to Danny's surprise, these heroes were more worried about him than anything. Something about the knowledge he possessed being dangerous.

It actually felt a little nice being worried over like that and before he knew it, Danny found himself tagging along with these heroes. Apparently they were called the Justice League Dark and their whole schtick was investigating the occult.

Danny had thought he was over the whole hero thing, but he didn't mind helping the JLD. There where finally capable adults in his life who protected him. Who cared for him. They never expected him to balance two contradicting responsibilities. Nor did they expect him to be their main heavy hitter when facing a threat.

For the first time since he had turned on that stupid machine, Danny was allowed to be a kid again. He was allowed to be annoying, to ask a million questions (no matter how dumb) and most importantly, he was allowed to have fun.

Being a hero with the Justice League Dark never felt like the world ending pressure he was under back home. They had even told him he was welcome to quit anytime! Not that he wanted to.

Sure, Danny felt guilty about never contacting his friends and family and letting them know how he was doing. But he was scared. Scared that they might try some way to force him back home.

He could never go back to that place, he just couldn't. To do that would truly crush his soul.

[redrobinhoodrat]

Danny looked around at the beings in front of him. He’d brought his closest allies as well as some trusted friends together for his supposed “council”. He had handpicked these few along with his friends to make sure he had the best guidance in ruling the zone. He needed help now more than ever. Making sure not to look too terrified he met each set of eyes as he glanced around what was practically his round table– no! His justice league. He kept the smirk off his face as he thought of frostbite with Superman’s red underwear getup on.

“Thanks for coming, you guys. Now I’m not going to beat around the bush. What I’m about to talk to you about is going to make you really upset, but!” Danny said nervously. He held up his hands as he gestured for Pandora to wait when her mouth opened to ask a question. ”I just need you to listen first.”

He avoided Clockwork’s gaze as he stood up from his seat. The ancient being was directly across from him so he could see the hint of worry in his expression. The ghost hadn’t been too happy when Danny had requested( i.e. ordered) him to quit monitoring his life so closely. Could you really blame him though?! Who wanted what was basically their grandfather/mentor/local time god watching every aspect of their life? Not him, no sirree. That’s what Jazz was for. It was kind of nice to be worried about though...not that he’d admit it.

He winced at the thought of Clockwork’s overprotective streak. It also made what he was about to say something of a bombshell about to be dropped. He just knew that everyone was going to overreact.

“So,” He fiddled with his hands as he tried to figure out what to say. “Y’all know how I was talking about the GIW makin’ some deals with Mom and Dad and getting better at the whole “Ghost Hunting” schtick?”

He waited to get some type of nod or confirmation from everyone in the room.

“Well, I got caught.” He blurted it out in a rush. He kept his head down as he watched everyone process what he had said, he scratched at the back of his head awkwardly as he thought about what happened. “And-uhh, what they did wasn’t so good.”

He looked up to gauge their reactions. Nocturn didn’t seem phased at all, ever calm as he always was in the zone. Beside him, Frostbite was sitting with his arms crossed, probably the most out of the loop due to how busy he’s been lately, he didn’t seem too worried but he also didn’t seem happy about the development if his tapping claws was any tell. Pandora was on Danny’s right side and most likely in the same boat. He could tell she was bothered by the prospect that he’d been captured and nobody had known though. She was probably the most overprotective outside of Clockwork. Wulf was to his left, looking at him with sad puppy-dog eyes, all too familiar with the feeling of being captured. To Wulf’s left, Dorathea was scanning him over, looking for injuries most likely. Too bad he’d hid everything with the express purpose of making the whole incident look less bad than what it actually was. No sense in exaggerating when it sounded bad no matter how you put it. Beside Dorathea, Ghostwriter’s eyes were wide as he transcribed everything about the meeting, his fingers slowing as he registered what Danny had said. He probably knew just how evil humans could be from his books. Danny made sure not to meet his eyes as Ghostwriter looked up. He didn’t want to see the worry that was easily read on the ghost’s expressive face. He figured everyone’s reactions were pretty predictable based on their knowledge of humans.

Finally, he looked over to meet Clockwork’s knowing gaze. He winced as he saw the red eyes flare briefly as Clockwork clenched his hands into fists. He watched the hands on the clock-staff start spinning rapidly and could only hope they didn’t actually do anything– ancients forbid just letting him know he was caught causes time to collapse or something.

He sighed as he prepared to explain what happened, hopefully in some way that didn’t lead to an all out war.

~

“-you know, I’m a human, or at least I was before I died and stuff. I never thought I’d be the one to have to declare war on Earth.”

“Then why even do it?” Batman growled.

He was standing towards the front of the group, though Superman had managed to edge in front of him just a little. From the way the Entity in front of them was floating regally he couldn’t get a good enough read on him to call the bluff and take the main front from Superman. Never let it be said that he hadn’t learnt to rely on his allies.

He was grateful his cowl hid his eyes as he subtly watched the rest of the league around him. Everyone was at attention, either looking at him or the stranger in the room.

The being in front of them had just appeared. Not even bothering with some type of warning before a glowing green portal had opened up in the Watchtower’s meeting room. As the main league members had gotten into battle formation a figure had stepped out, almost melting out of it as the– slime? matter?–clung to them when they exited, ducking through the circle as it closed behind them. The JL were all surprised to see the figure looked like a boy when they stood up fully. Their attire and coloring made it clear they weren’t from earth though. The snow white hair contrasted sharply against the mint-green tinted skin the figure had. Their hair seemed to be hazy, almost flaming but not quite. They had on a partial set of armor, made more for movement than all out protection. The matte black metal was inlaid with specks of silver,emulating stars in the night sky. It was layered over what looked like a futuristic hazmat suit.

Now that he’d had the thought Batman would say the whole thing was futuristic. Silver and black with white accents here and there. The shoulder pauldrons had a cloak hung from them, a pitch black thing that seemed to suck in the light around it and make the being stand out even more in sharp contrast to it. A cylindrical container hung at his side and in his hands was a bo-staff that looked just as futuristic as his suit. Neon green accents twisted around the silver staff from top to bottom. With eyes that glowed the same green as the portal the figure was impressive at first glance, then you looked a little longer–took a second look and realized they looked younger than most of the proteges. Younger than Damian and Jon even.

So forgive Batman for not taking him as seriously as he probably should have. He wasn’t outright dismissing him as a threat, he had several kids that got the best of him almost every day so he knew a thing or two about overpowered kids, but he didn’t believe the being was malicious. More on the nervous side in all honesty, maybe looking for help?

Then the kid had looked Superman in the eyes and said that unless certain demands were met his subjects would march on Earth and eradicate everything they deem to be a threat. He had then rambled on about useless information until Batman had cut him off. His attention snapped back from analyzing the encounter so far as the kid finally seemed ready to answer. Now that he looked closer he could tell the regal act was just that– an act put on to intimidate them.

“My realm is made up of beings from all over the universe, the dead and the neverborn, deities that have passed and lingered, beings that crave rest or resolution. I will not hold any one race, society, or planet in a higher regard simply because of my bias.” Danny said, keeping his voice as level as he could. He needed these heroes to listen to him, damnit! He couldn’t let his nerves get the best of him here. “I may be emperor of the Realms but I have a council that I hold in high regard. We have met and the judgment has been made. Should the governments of Earth not meet our demands, we will take action.”

Batman watched as the league seemed to swell before him, members reacting to the hidden threat but not willing to speak up. They knew better than to antagonize unknowns. He leaned around Superman who had continued to slowly creep more in front of him. The young boy seemed to be trying not to fidget as he held himself up in an obviously practiced position. Slightly elevated with his hands on his hips and head tilted up, forcing himself to meet the eyes of the adults across from him. Batman watched the kid swallow nervously and felt his resolve to hold his judgment give a little. Just as he was about to speak he saw Constantine move forward a bit. Just enough to get attention but not enough to get near the boy. He lowered his calculation of this getting resolved peacefully from the high seventies down to the low fifties. He tried not to sigh, of all the days for Constantine to have been in the meeting, why today?

“Realms? When you mean realms are we talking like, a different dimension or like, a different world?” He asked, his tone not leaving any doubt as to which was worse. Constantine was practically chewing his unlit cigarette as he gazed ahead, arms crossed and shoulders tense. “Cause that affects whether I need to be here or not. Also, when you said you were human, what did you mean? Did you sell your soul or something? You’re looking a little demonic there mate, and I can’t think of anything that would cause a transformation that big unless you messed with a big bad that shouldn’t have been messed with.”

Batman watched as the kid’s face scrunched up, a fairly normal response from a kid that’d been insulted but on this one’s face it certainly did look a little…demonish. Then again, people probably think his kids are demons too, especially the current Robin who has affectionately been called stabby. He tried not to shake his head as he turned his thoughts back to the boy, he needed to stop relating him back to his kids if he wanted to be objective. He could see why the JLD member was worried though, if the kid resembled something as horrifying as a baby demon.

“Well at least my soul doesn’t look like a paper mache project, dipshit.” Danny huffed. Crossing his arms as he settled himself down on the floor. The trenchcoat guy jerked like he’d slapped him, probably not expecting him to see that tattered old soul he had. Honestly he’d feel sorry for the guy in a different situation but he was tired of adults not fucking listening. People were going to get hurt if they didn’t listen. He blew out a breath to calm down, feeling the familiar burn of anxiety in his chest.

“Listen, I’ll be straight with you guys.” He said, giving up any pretense of formality. “Some type of government funded organization is capturing and experimenting on citizens of both our realms. In fact, I can pick out a couple of you guys that they’d probably love to get their hands on!” He started pacing as he looked at the group of superheroes. He felt his emotions getting the best of him as he took in the wary gazes that were settled on him. Not to mention the condescending gaze of the only normal looking human in the room. He didn’t even know that one! Isn’t the justice league all famous heroes?

“I’m sick of adults not listening to me! I’ve been trying to do this all by myself and I can’t! I just can’t!” He shouted, and grabbed his hair out of frustration as he finally stopped and faced them again. “I was one of them. They caught me and I barely got out. They’re too dangerous for me to face alone anymore and their weapons are designed to fight my kind, my people specifically. If I give them permission to fight back then the world won’t make it. Having my people fight is like lighting a fire, they’re dangerous and uncontrolled, when they start they’re not going to be stopped.” He paused to think of what releasing the denizens of the Ghost Zone on earth could accomplish.

An infinite number of ghosts of an infinite number of species with an infinite number of powers.

More numbers added to the ranks as more lives were lost.

An army that never ended.

He gulped.

“We’d win but life on Earth would be FUBARed, literally, and I don’t want that. My family still lives here, my friends. No one will have a chance.” He looked straight into the first pair of eyes he could –Batman– and hoped that the truth was plain on his face. “You guys are my only hope. Please.”

~

Notes: So I lost a lot of interest in this draft and probably won’t continue it. If anybody wants to feel free! If you want the tiny ideas that were thought up with it just shoot me a message.

[strong-with-the-sarcasm]

Part 6- from the top of my lungs

Dp x DC AU: Regent!Jazz & Vigilante!Jazz

"I step out outside and I take a deep breath and I get real high and I scream from the top of my lungs, 'What's going on?!'" - What's Up? by 4 Non Blondes

Masterlist Part 5

It was probably hypocritical of Danny to lecture Jazz about taking up a vigilante role around their new haunt when he himself couldn’t resist the instinctual urge to give the local breed of stupidity a beatdown. 

If anything, it was a good way to get back into shape.

(Danny’s not fooling anyone, he’s a twink.) (A ghouly goopy ghostly one, but still a twink.)

Danny argued that he had more experience with vigilantism than Jazz, when she’d taken up a support role even after training. Sure, her aim has gotten so much better with practice, but Jazz was only a liminal. 

(A highly ecto-contaminted liminal with a scary sword that can cut through reality to create portals that currently does his kingly paperwork for him.)

At least he could comfort himself with the knowledge that Jazz was trained by the frightening and awe-inspring Pandora of the Infinite Realms Acropolis, bearing her own gifted Bracelets of Submission as a symbol of respect from one woman to another. 

(Jazz and Pandora sparring made the Boy King eternally grateful to be on the good side of both women.) 

(Scary was an understatement.) 

(No wonder Jazz and Sam got along so well.)

(Batman and Wonder Woman were supposedly friends, being founders of the Justice League and all.)

Gotham was all kinds of batshit crazy when the sun went down.

(pun recognized and intended.)

A dumb statement for any Gothamite, but newcomers to the city never really got it until the were robbed at gunpoint within five minutes of sunset. 

That wasn’t really a concern for Danny, he’s gotten into the habit of phasing his important items into his body for safe keeping, but his increased need to do something made his late night walks morph into something that vaguely resembled his Witching Hours patrols back in Amity. Midnight to three am, strictly rooftops without too much barrier crossing into Hood’s territory were now fully integrated into the Halfa’s life- the purring of his core when he protected someone was healing something inside him he hadn’t realized was sick. 

(Lies.)

Without the Red Hood to manage his Haunt, the Boy King and Regent had brute forced their way passed the boundary line to help the once-Revenant’s people until the one in question could do it himself. The habitants of Crime Alley were hesistant at first to accept more vigilantes into their midst, especially one that was obviously a meta with a concerning range of physical abilites, but with the Regent’s quiet strength and Phantom’s quirky attitude they were begrudgingly allowed to continue. 

(If Phantom also used his ice manipulation to help stablilize dilapidated buildings being used as shelter for the upcoming winter, then all the better.) 

The Regent had been caught in the Bat’s territory more recently, much to Danny’s worry. Jazz could no doubt break the furry over her knee, Danny had seen her do it to Skulker of all people, but drawing the ire of the big bat was the opposite of ideal. Batman’s Stabby Robin might even try to challenge Jazz for her Ecto-sword, which was both hilarious to imagine and panic-inducing, because stabby Robin was stabby. 

After the early morning chat with the Signal, Danny had come to a decision regarding the leather clad crime lord furry and his flock of birdies- step up as the Boy King and request Batman’s help in riding the Realms of the Anti-Ecto Acts. Jazz already did so much as his Regent, he could at least get the ball rolling on this. 

In order to begin, he had a sad trenchcoat man to call. 

“Bloody Hell, Phantom!” 

The Phantom, in his original jumpsuit rather than the admittedly awesome Star King regalia, grinned with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Closer to a snarl, but whatever. 

“Sad trenchcoat man! Just the guy I wanted to see.” 

Danny knew the guy’s name, hard not to when he’d seen the three floor-to-ceiling filing cabinets in Jazz’s office dedicated to the Laughing Magician alone, but the halfa was nothing if not dedicated to the bit. 

When he’d sensed Constantine’s magic at work, he’d hijacked the summoning circle for his own use- suck it, a king trumps whatever entity Constantine was trying to get and Danny was less likely to want his soul in return for a favor. 

(Did it really count when he’d already gifted the glued together pieces of the guy’s soul to Jazz as a paperweight?) 

“Phantom, lad, why’re you here?”

The Ghost boy huffed a laugh, the building annoyance in the air just from his presence was fueling his life force. 

“What, can’t say hi to a friend now? After all the work I did to stop that demon from coming instead too.” 

(Lies.) (The summoning had been for an observant, but those bastard eyebags can eat a dick for all he cared.)

“Demon?” Constantine’s voice cracked with surprise, gaze flickering over the runes he’d lazily copied from a book. 

“Yep.” 

“Constantine.” A growl interrupted whatever comeback the Magician could have conjured, with the shadows of the darkened room parting to allow the Dark Knight himself to step through. “There is no time.” 

“Aye, Batsy.” The brit turned back to Phantom, an edge of desperation now coloring the annoyance the ghost had brought. “Phantom, I need a favor.” 

Phantom blinked. 

“Uh, sure dude?” 

“Constantine.” Batman interrupted again, but the sad trenchcoat man waved him off.

“Your people been wreckin’ government buildings and the bloody USA is throwing a fit.” 

Government buildings? Phantom’s people? The GIW? 

Could his luck really be in his favor this time? After all, here was Batman, and the sad trenchcoat man who could verify that Phantom was a spirit of protection and not one of vengeance. 

(He left that to the Regent.)

“If that’s the case, then there is nothing I can do.” 

(He would be right there with his people. What’s a few more buildings destroyed to free the innocent ghosts trapped within?) 

“Whot?” 

Phantom crossed his arms, allowing gravity to bring him to the floor where he stood at his full height. Unintimidating was one word for it, but he couldn’t really care less at the moment. 

“The GIW have committed acts of War against the Infinite Realms, Constantine. It’s only thanks to the Regent and Future King that this Living Realm hasn’t been claimed by the Unquiet Dead.” 

It was true. Jazz was the best Regent Danny could’ve ever gotten. She was liminal enough to understand that the Denziens of the Realms were not inherently malicious, but human enough to realize that she too would be afraid of the ghosts if she hadn’t been raised around the dead and (un)dying.

It was only thanks to that fine line she walked that Phantom wasn’t to join the Unquiet Dead and Neverborn as they descended onto the Living with the fury of thousand suns. 

Danny, while a half-ghost, had died unlike his big sister. Sure he was brought back by Ectoplasm, but he had only returned halfway and that part of him was chomping at the bit to avenge those who were ended that he couldn’t protect. 

“Here.” Phantom shallowly intoned as he pulled a flash drive from his chest, thrown to the big bat. “That contains all collected information the Regent was comfortable sharing with the Living. Share it with your league and get the Acts demolished, Batman.” 

Phantom sighed heavily, shoulders drooping as he finished in a tired voice, “Please. I don’t want to fight. Please don’t make me go to war.” 

Was he trying to tug on the Bat’s heartstrings? Yes. Was he being honest in not wanting to got to war? Also yes. 

“War?” 

“Yeah, all denziens of the Realms would have to fight. We’re all effected by the Acts, even if we don’t want to hurt anyone we’d have to…for our right to exist.” Phantom replied lowly. “I’m a spirit of protection, I don’t want to hurt the innocent.” 

(It was a truth he had come to terms with, after his sister killed their parents.)

(He died wanting to be loved and protected by the adults who claimed to be his parents, but it had been Jazz that raised him.) 

(She avenged him twice over.)

(She gave him a grave.)

A/N: No Hardcover/Anger Management ship content this time, just lore for this world I'm building.

And look, Sad trenchcoat man!

Song quotes are from the same songs on my Jazz/Jason playlist. Typically the song that started playing when I get ready to post this.

[britcision]

Okay so… today is a little bit of a long one, so we’ll see if we’re back at Tumblr breaking length or juuuust on the right side

But! Finally, much anticipated, we have the man himself: John Constantine! Here to share secrets and save the day! (Not)

And! This chapter got us right up to the edge, next chapter is gonna push me over to one MILLION words on AO3 y’all!! I’ve been flirting with it the past couple years but finally we’re here!

So. Might push the next one out faster. Might slow the next one down, since we’re in heavy waters again. And, since we are in the heavy waters, Imma tag on some warnings:

1) we gonna be speculating a little more on Jason’s death in this one, from a couple of viewpoints. We’re also discussing Cass’s in particular, and its repercussions.

No gore or details, just some death themes, mostly from Jason’s perspective after he and Danny leave the manor (Jason’s second POV segment)

2) Bruce is gonna make some very bad decisions about stimulants and concussions, mostly off screen but it is mentioned at the end of our first Bruce POV segment

And now the links!

First and link to AO3:

Previous:

———————

Never Make A Promise You Can’t Keep

Constantine hadn’t been looking forward to discussing Amity Park with the Justice League. Not the first time he’d been sent, and not for a single second after.

But hours turned into days, days to weeks, weeks to years. He’d almost thought he’d gotten away with it and that they wouldn’t ask.

Which was probably what had gotten the big Bat’s fuckin’ attention, wasn’t it. Couldn’t possibly let the universe have something nice for Johnny Constantine.

Luckily it was damn hard to lose something in the House of Mystery unless the House wanted it lost. Today she was feeling merciful and gave him the book on the second try.

It’d have been nice if he needed to refresh his memory of the case. If the knowledge of Amity Park hadn’t been sitting like a weight on his awareness since before he’d been.

Honestly he could probably point to it from anywhere on Earth. Most magic users could, if they had the faintest alignment with death.

Amity Park was goddamn wrong, even if it looked like things had turned out alright for now. Still, there were types of wrong you didn’t poke at.

Going prodding around would only make things worse.

And now he had to go explain that to Captain Prod himself, and try and persuade the fuckin’ Batman that no news was good news.

At least the Superboys had listened when he told them to clear off until he could visit in person. They’d pinky sworn they were back in Metropolis, and he’d heard enough traffic to believe them.

They could just as easily fly straight back to Alaska, but they weren’t stupid. They knew how to listen.

(Possibly from trauma related to the times Young Justice hadn’t listened to him, but he’d take what he could get.)

Now he just had to persuade the Bat that he knew what he was talking about.

Constantine hated debriefings with Batman. The guy had no grasp of magic, which was perfectly fair for most folks.

He preferred that. It kept them out of his kind of trouble, meant he didn’t have to worry about them until it got bad enough they’d accept whatever snapped sentence he managed.

Batman though. Batman treated magicians like it was their fault that the world didn’t work the way he personally preferred. Like they had any say in the how and why of magic.

Asshole.

And now he wanted to scold John like a naughty child about something he had no way to understand. Well, fuck that.

For better or worse, the Justice League made Amity Park his problem. Years late or not, this was his show, and he wasn’t going to take shit from anyone.

Thumbing quickly through the book, he kinda hated how easily it fell open to the relevant page. Like he’d already spent way too long looking.

Even he didn’t fuck with the Infinite Realms. Not if he could help it.

Stuffing in his notes from the city itself he closed the book, left the House, and hurried to one of the closer zeta tubes. Didn’t matter which city he was spat out in, he could find one.

His number didn’t coax even a flicker of the usual dry amusement as he stepped out into the bat cave, scowling up at the massive screen.

League records. Great. He strode across the floor, hoping they could sort this crap out fast.

“What the fuck’s got you lookin’ into Amity Park?” He asked as the Bat turned to face him, book tucked under his arm.

None of his usual prevaricating or fucking around. No chance for the fucker to try his usual “control the conversation” shit.

If it had any effect whatsoever, it didn’t show. Damn white outs. Batman just stared at him for a moment, then turned back to the computer, pulling up another page.

Constantine didn’t look. He didn’t want to know.

“Why did you mark Amity Park as a prank?” The big Bat asked in his stupid, gravelly tones.

Constantine rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t mark it as a fuckin’ prank, I marked it as a no fly zone for your little lot, so again: what the fuck came out of Amity Park?”

Batman stilled for a moment, doing that annoying “human computer” bit again. John preferred each and every one of the actual cyborgs, even the ones that tried to kill him.

Then he turned back, swivelling the chair around to fully face John like a movie super villain. Asshole.

“Over two thousand legitimate cries for help came out of Amity Park, and were ignored. If they were marked for the Justice League Dark, you should have responded, not deleted them.”

And that sounded way too much like an accusation. And completely fuckin’ irrelevant.

Something deeply unpleasant was tugging at the edge of Constantine’s awareness, just below the irritation he scraped over the sense of impending doom he’d been ignoring for the last hour.

He pushed it down, scowling at Bruce as he crossed the last of the distance and slammed the book down on the table next to the keyboard, gesturing up at the screens.

Still not bothering to look. He didn’t want to fuckin’ know.

“Years ago, Batty. This could be time fuckin’ sensitive, so quit pissing me about an’ tell me what. Exactly. Got you looking into Amity Park.”

There was a moment of hesitance, and he just fucking hated that. Nothing that made Batman hesitate could possibly be… good.

The feeling at the back of his mind suddenly clicked. His eyes widened and he groaned, wishing he had something stronger than a cigarette. Maybe a bullet.

“Great. Just fuckin’ great. They’re here.”

Groping around behind him, he grabbed another swivel chair and folded down into it, elbows bracing on the desk and burying his face in his hands.

Well, this was the nightmare situation.

From the fucking death taint seeping into his fuckin’ skin, something extremely fuckin’ big had oozed its way out of the Realms, and settled itself in Gotham.

Batman’s attention had snapped to, the man suddenly alert and watchful as Constantine slumped.

One hand dove into a pocket for the carton of cigarettes, Bat Cave rules be damned. Not much fuckin’ point, but he wasn’t doing this sober, and his flask was too small.

For once the Bat didn’t comment as he flicked the lighter open, lit up, and took a long drag. Just focused that laser stare on Constantine’s face.

At least he’d grasped the gravity of the matter.

“What is here?” The Bat finally asked when it became clear Constantine wasn’t elaborating, sounding annoyed.

Constantine took another drag of his smoke. Some days nicotine just wasn’t enough.

“Start from the beginning, Bats. Tell me everything that led up to you lookin’ into Amity Park, and everything you found since,” he demanded, hoping there was still a point to asking.

“If this is time sensitive, Constantine, you need to tell me what is happening,” Batman growled, tensed like he wanted to leap out of his chair and loom like one of his fuckin’ gargoyles.

The bat sounded cranky. Fuck him.

Constantine fixed him with a level stare.

“Then you’d better get fuckin’ talking, hadn’t you? I need to know how fuckin’ bad it is before I know first steps.”

Batman hesitated a moment longer, then turned back to his computer.

“I can summon the League-”

“No time,” Constantine cut him off acerbically, shaking his head, “and might make shit worse. Just fuckin’… report. Gimme yer damn report.”

For all that the Bat loved paperwork, loved to bury them all in bureaucracy, he dithered another moment before nodding, pulling up…

Well lookie there, he already had a literal report typed up. Great.

Taking another long drag of his cigarette Constantine leaned back in the chair and scanned the document.

Hopefully this wouldn’t take long. Or the extra details he could already tell he’d need, that had prompted the dull and clinical report.

**

Jason had tensed as Danny did. First because of the sudden alertness he could feel in Danny’s aura, even reduced back down to conversational levels.

(And that had been fun. The more times he felt Danny’s aura wrapped around him, the longer he spent with his chest tight and Danny’s presence right down to his lungs…

He felt cold when it went away. Almost lonely, surrounded by people. Fucking ancients help him, he was getting used to it.)

Was that what it’d feel like if he felt that Danny was in danger? A rush of adrenaline?

It was a little weird being so in tune with someone, but not in a bad way. Danny didn’t seem upset, just suddenly on guard in a way that the whole table noticed.

On guard, and… amused. And then he spoke and Jason tensed again.

“So that’s John Constantine… huh.”

Danny could sense John Constantine. That was… Really not the strangest thing, but it didn’t mean Jason had to like it.

If Danny could sense Constantine, could Constantine sense Danny? Jason wasn’t sure if he should ask in public.

Tim had way less reservations.

“Wait, what do you mean? What just happened?” He asked, breaking away from Tucker for a moment. But at least Tucker also looked confused.

Danny shook his head, chuckling softly and finishing up his food.

“Oh, sorry. It’s Sad Trenchcoat Guy,” he added for Sam and Tucker’s benefit, both of whom relaxed like that actually meant something.

Sam was back in her original clothes now, although Jason hadn’t given her the thermos back yet. Once her parents arrived, maybe.

Jason stifled a snicker, along with most of the Gothamites. It was a pretty accurate description of Constantine.

“Still in the dark over here,” Duke put in, a slight frown on his face.

Danny shrugged again and grinned at him.

“It’s kinda a ghost thing. I can sense other ghosts, or certain kinds of magic users. Constantine came to Amity Park not that long after I died,” he explained casually.

Tim and Dick shared meaningful looks behind Tucker’s head, and Jason stifled another chuckle. They thought they were so discrete.

Dick leaned in again, arms folded on the table as he gave Danny his best innocent interest.

“Oh? That’s kinda weird, do you know why?” He asked casually. Not questioning where Danny thought John was now.

He wanted to try and lead them away from the topic, probably. Too bad for him, if he’d asked he might have gotten some idea of how far Danny’s power stretched.

He’d explained to Jason about his aura covering most of the city, although he hadn’t claimed it as his haunt. But if Dickie didn’t want to know, Jason wouldn’t tell.

Sam fielded the question, rolling her eyes and folding her arms.

“We thought he might have come to help, since that was around when the ghost attacks started. He didn’t though,” she added bitterly, and Danny kicked her under the table.

“We don’t actually know why he came,” he explained, giving Dick a half smile, “he never talked to us. He did talk to some of the other ghosts though.”

“Wait, you can just do that?” Steph asked, her brows furrowed. Whether she was playing civilian or actually wasn’t sure, Jason wouldn’t put a bet on.

The amount most of the bat clan knew about magic and ghosts used to be that Jason was a zombie.

Which, as it turned out, was wrong.

Danny gave her a blank look, then shrugged again.

“I mean, yeah? You literally can just go ask half the time, but he was doing some fancy stuff. Binding circles and demanding truth, that kinda shit,” he added, making a face.

“He wasn’t popular among the living either,” Tucker agreed with a snicker. “Lotta weird questions for people, and no answers. We figured he was one of those occult nuts.”

“That’d explain the binding circles and truth thing,” Duke agreed with a solemn nod, folding his own arms. Honestly, watching them all play civilian was kinda adorable.

Tucker hesitated a moment, then shrugged and nodded, conceding the point.

“I mean, you’ve got me there. But he never tried to get anywhere near the fights, and then one day he just vanished. We got a ton more weird tourists for a while, but he was the weirdest,” he finished with relish.

Sam snorted again, clearly still annoyed about the whole mess. Maybe she’d been the one who actually wanted help.

Danny hadn’t mentioned how he felt about it yet, and Jason hadn’t asked, but they’d all been abandoned. Fucking Jason wasn’t happy about it.

“He was the only one who actually knew what he was doing,” she huffed, scowling at the table. Then she sighed, shaking her head. “So if he’s in Gotham, I’m gonna call it a bad sign.”

Privately, Jason was tempted to agree with her. John Constantine was a danger magnet, and Jason was half tempted to go and have a word himself.

Word in the Bat Chat was that Constantine was why Danny had never gotten any backup before. Danny himself might not be looking to start a fight over it, but Jason had Opinions on teen heroes.

And the adults who should have been protecting them.

Not with Bruce around though. He’d have to wait and see if Constantine stayed in town.

It’d give him time to ask Danny about the suddenly constant undercurrent of suppressed laughter he could feel.

**

In the bat cave, Constantine squinted at the picture Batman had pulled up from the gala. Not exactly the best picture on earth, but it was clear enough to tell. Shaking his head, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Alright, could be worse,” he decided, tossing aside his second cigarette butt. The report had been complete, he’d give old Bats that, and he’d even been allowed to smoke through it.

But a black gloved hand covered his when he reached for the pack again.

Fucker.

Constantine let it slide for now, raising both hands in surrender and then pointing at the screen.

“Looks like you’ve got the halfa. Not bad news, as it goes. He’s at least still half human, which is probably why your precious city’s still intact.”

He didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if another ghost tried to set up a haunt in Gotham. The old girl’s Curse would have something to say about it.

Batman didn’t look noticeably reassured though.

“Enough stalling, Constantine. What is this all about? What happened in Amity Park?” He demanded roughly, and Constantine was grudgingly impressed.

Seemed like that ol’ bat hyper focus was going to win out over even a threat to his own city. Or he hadn’t been fully listening.

No bet.

Constantine sighed again, gesturing to the screen.

“You got a ley line map somewhere on this thing?” He asked, mostly just to annoy the bat a little further. Not like he wasn’t gonna give him the answers.

Batman hesitated for a moment, then set to typing. Probably… yup, going into the JL Dark files. Zatanna kept a helpful reference folder for the mundanes.

Constantine didn’t think they needed any more help than they asked for, but she’d been right this time and he owed her a beer for it. A second later the map was on screen.

Constantine nodded again, pointing to the general area of Illinois.

“Pull up Amity Park on that map,” he instructed, wheeling his chair back out of reach to pull out a third cigarette.

Both got him an annoyed frown from old Batsy.

“What is this supposed to mean?” He asked in the old gravelly growl, the map already obediently zooming in.

Constantine lit his smoke and waved at the screen again.

“Y’know what ley lines are?” He asked back, watching the map scroll around.

Not one with a search function then. Batsy’d have to find it by hand. Sucks to be him.

It kept him from focusing much attention on John anyway, so that was a win.

“I know the places they meet are magical nexus points,” Batman admitted reluctantly, like he didn’t hoard information about everything on earth.

Constantine nodded, not willing to entertain his issues.

“Amity Park’s on a dozen of them,” he said bluntly, and watched the guy stiffen.

Zoom out a bit, find the flowering spot where damn near every ley line through that part of the world crossed. Zoomed back in to find Amity Park.

The bat scowled at the screen for a while, then at John, who’d put his feet up on the desk. Tough titties, they weren’t coming down.

“But what does that mean, Constantine,” he growled, and John sighed.

Cupped his hands in front of him, paused, and shook his head.

“Alright, I’m crap at metaphors so bear with me. You know about multiple dimensions?” He asked and the bat nodded impatiently.

Like he shouldn’t have asked. Like this fucker hadn’t just asked for the fuckin’ kindergartener explanation.

Whatever.

“Yes. There’s a different dimension on the other side of the ley lines?” He asked, and Constantine did his very best not to roll his eyes.

Well. Maybe not his very best.

But he didn’t do it as hard as he could have.

“No. There’s way too many other dimensions. But what the ley lines do is weaken a place in this dimension, especially where they cross. Amity Park is a fuckin’ sieve,” he said with finality, waiting for the Bat to catch up.

And sure enough, those frown lines etched themselves deep again. This guy was gonna make John Fuckin’ Constantine look like a fresh faced baby.

“So other dimensions can cross through?” He asked again, and John sighed.

Reductive fucker.

“No. Yes. Sort of. Because some stupid motherfucker in Amity Park didn’t just use the natural portals or holes; they punched a fuckin’ permanent portal to the Infinite Realms.”

Honestly using the natural portals would have been bad enough in his opinion. Reality was basically swiss cheese in Amity, and getting anything’s attention would be beyond dangerous.

He hadn’t even liked visiting.

Batman looked more stoic, which John assumed meant he wasn’t keeping up. Scrubbing his free hand through his hair, he blew out a stream of smoke and frowned.

“So you get natural portals between our dimension other dimensions. It’s how all that “evil other self” crap keeps happening. With me?” He asked dryly.

The bat nodded without speaking, which was as close to an admission of confusion as Constantine figured he’d get.

Whatever.

“You get more portals on ley lines, and more again where two cross. About a dozen cross in Amity Park, so they get lots of natural portals. Yes?”

The bat nodded again, face pinching up like he resented John’s tone. Double tough, he’d had every chance to read Zatanna’s primers.

If John was doing Ley Lines For Dummies the dummies could keep their attitudes to themselves.

“Natural portals, they open and close on their own. Rest of the world, they don’t usually stay open for long. They need power to stop the world from… mending the hole.”

Which was the worst fucking explanation of all time and not remotely what happened, but who fucking cared. Batty wanted to weigh in again.

“So natural portals also stay open longer around Amity Park,” he growled, trying to get to the next step of the explanation.

Which, actually, John hadn’t really thought about. Pursing his lips, he let his gaze drift to the smoke swirling around the ceiling.

There were actual fucking bats up there.

Of course there were.

Dramatic bastard.

Forcing his attention back to the bastard in question, he waved a hand to dispel the last stream of smoke.

“Doesn’t matter what natural portals do. Some asshole went to the spot in reality most likely to break on its own, and decided to punch a hole. A permanent hole, into the Infinite Realms.”

Batman took a deep, even breath in, like he was trying to hold onto his temper. Yeah, well, he’d walked face first into Amity Fuckin’ Park, now he had to join John in Hell.

“What are the Infinite Realms?” He asked, sounding as patient as ever. Brownie points for trying, John wasn’t going to.

“It’s where the unclaimed dead go. Souls not ready to move on, souls that were never born, and, much worse, it occasionally pops out personifications of forces or belief,” he ground out the last words, teeth gritting in spite of himself.

The bat stilled for a long moment, drawing in another slow, steady breath. Probably counting to ten.

“What.” It wasn’t even a question really, a flat statement of dissatisfaction.

It meant not talking about Amity Park for a bit longer though, so Constantine leaned in.

“God shit. Concepts like Time, Hope, Growth. Anything that someone, somewhere, truly believes in. Well, not just anyone,” he corrected, and Did Not enjoy the way Batman’s jaw clenched.

Not even a bit.

“It takes a lot of juice, makin’ a whole entity. But the Infinite Realms are the core of all the dimensions, the intersection they all go through, and that’s where the belief settles. The more people who believe, the more clearly they believe it, and eventually you get enough to form a personality.”

He gave the bat a little time to digest that one. To really let it sink in what a fuckin’ problem the Infinite Realms could be.

And then a thought occurred to him.

“Your city’s got one, y’know?” He mentioned almost as an afterthought, and Batty Did Not like that.

His head snapped up, white outs narrowing to slits as he glared.

“What?!” He demanded sharply and Constantine waved a hand.

“Gotham. Dunno if it’s all the shit you lot go through, or the stubborn arseholes that live ‘ere, but Gotham has a city spirit.”

No need to mention the curse yet. Batsy was already having a day.

That’d be for the next time he ticked Constantine off.

This time, just that revelation seemed to have been enough to stun the bat. Constantine left him to sit in this one until he was ready though.

Processing.

He wasn’t completely heartless.

He was a little grudgingly impressed by how quickly Batman put it aside and refocused on the matter in hand.

“And that’s why the Infinite Realms are dangerous? These powerful personifications?” He asked cautiously, like he expected John to say no again.

Smart man.

Constantine gave him a dry smile.

“If fuckin’ only. There’s spirits in there, Ancients, and every one of ‘em could give Darkseid a run for his money. But even the ghosts of the Realms are a fuckin’ dangerous lot. You know Deadman?”

The bat nodded to indicate that he did, brows furrowing.

“He can’t be seen or heard without magical assistance,” he agreed, that same caution present.

At least he was a quick learner. Constantine nodded in satisfaction.

“He’s a ghost made by magic. Ghosts from the Realms don’t have anything like the same limitations. They can’t be seen or touched unless they want to, and they can damn well affect the world around ‘em.”

John shuddered, remembering some of the attacks he’d seen. Nothing stronger than a baseline demon, but the damage you could do when no one else could touch you, or stop you…

And he shook his head, locking the damage back down.

“And worse, they’re fuckin’ unpredictable. Demons, they’re easy. They all want the same shit. Realms ghosts? If one of ‘em decides fuckin’ cheese is their obsession, that’s it. They’ll drown a city in cheddar.”

The bat was staring at him again, back on that stoic “I have no idea what’s happening so I’ll look big and scary til it all makes sense again” bullshit.

Constantine sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Look. I ain’t even told ya the worst of it yet. How about we jus’ take it as read that the Infinite Realms are bad fuckin’ news, okay?�� He asked as patiently as he could.

There was that little twitch, that little scrunch again. Not a happy Batty.

And he wasn’t gonna get happier while he made John teach him Magic For Dummies either.

But he nodded, folding his arms reluctantly.

“Then why did you leave the people of Amity Park to face them alone?” He asked bluntly, and… well, that was the question, wasn’t it?

Constantine stared blankly at him.

“You want Superman gettin’ body hopped by a ghostie craving all the cheddar in the mid west?” He asked in turn, and there it was.

The little indrawn breath. The fuckin’ scale of the problem.

Fuckin’ FINALLY.

“Look, Amity Park has a hero. Had. The halfa.” He waved vaguely at the screen again, the picture of Bruce’s mystery kid now buried several windows deep.

Didn’t matter.

“He’s got all the powers the ghosts do, an’ can’t be possessed. Last thing the poor little fuck needed was to face an overshadowed super.”

And yeah, the Bat still didn’t look happy (more to the better, that’d be a terrifying sight all on its own), but at least he had a reason for resting bitch face now.

Constantine sighed, waving a hand vaguely and tossing the latest butt down.

“Look, I can’t stop ya from pokin’ around. Not for lack of trying, mind. The Realms are a dangerous place, an’ Amity Park’s practically on the other side already. I dunno why the kid left, I don’t care. You though, Bats? You’re gonna do me a proper fuckin’ oath.”

He levelled his best serious stare, useless as usual against the damn white outs. It’d kill the asswipe to look human.

Batman shifted again, clearly feeling the weight of the last word.

Good.

“An oath?” He asked warily, and Constantine nodded, holding out his hand.

“On yer name, on yer blood, on yer tie to this fuckin’ city. No matter what you do lookin’ at the Infinite fuckin’ Realms. You do not. Fuck. With the Ghost King.”

The bat stared down at his hand like there was something wrong with it. John assumed anyway. The pissy face could be for anything.

And then he asked the question, because of fuckin’ course he did.

“What is the Ghost King?”

John sighed heavily, leaving his hand where it was, waiting for the oath.

“The prettiest fuckin’ princess of them all, what d’you fuckin’ think. The Ghost King rules the Infinite Realms, and by all accounts the last one was a bloody tyrant. Good news is he probably never noticed Amity Park yet, cuz America isn’t a smoking crater.”

Honestly, maybe he’d add a chapter to Zatanna’s document. Stamp it all across any reference anyone tried to make to Amity Fuckin’ Park so he never had to do this again.

He caught the Bat’s gaze again, weighting his words with enough power that every sound in the cave died around them.

“It took all the damn Ancients to seal Pariah Dark once. And someone’s beaten him, and taken his throne. I don’t fuckin’ know who, I don’t ask, but if they’re tough enough to beat Pariah, they are beyond what the League can do. Your only chance is to stay the fuck outta their way. Swear it.”

Batman stared at him for a long moment, and then down at the outstretched hand. Reached out and clasped it in his own.

“I swear. I will not knowingly upset the Ghost King.”

John gripped tighter, realized almost immediately that it was pointless against the reinforced gloves, and did it anyway.

“None of that, Batty. No bullshit. You do not fuck with the Ghost King. You hear the faintest goddamn whisper of their name, you turn tail and fuckin’ run. We will not survive their attention.”

He stared the stupid white outs down, as long as it took, and didn’t let go. Batman stared at him for a while, clearly absorbing the gravity of his words.

Constantine couldn’t remember asking a member of the League to swear to anything before. Usually he was the buyer in deals, not the keeper.

Woulda been nice to remain so, but nothing stopped the fuckin’ bat from sticking his nose in, so here was John Constantine, last condom of the universe.

Last desperate scrap of protection against a fuckin’ dick.

Finally the bat nodded, grip tightening in return.

“I swear. I will not engage with the Ghost King.”

**

Harley had gotten back just before Sam had to leave, with perfect timing to see her to the door actually.

The look on Pamela Manson’s face when Harley kissed Sam on each cheek and waved her off would keep Danny warm on cold nights.

A quick check of flight times back to Massachusetts (like Danny wasn’t going to take shortcuts) confirmed that Tucker could have one more night in Gotham.

Tim immediately offered to put him up in Wayne Manor again, clearly not allowing the chance to slip by him two nights in a row. Tucker was only too happy to accept, although Steph and Cass begged off.

Probably for their hero patrols. Danny wasn’t exactly sure how many vigilantes Gotham had, there seemed to be a new one every few months, but having eight of them at the gala last night probably meant all the rest had been out.

Obviously Red Robin wouldn’t be out tonight either, but there were enough of them to cover for each other.

Danny was kinda jealous of that. It had been just him for so long, and then him and Valerie, which hadn’t been better until she stopped hunting him too. He’d have loved a night off.

Still, their numbers meant that Jason probably wouldn’t need to go back to the night life unless he actually wanted to. He was definitely still built for it, but Danny couldn’t imagine anyone wanted to ask him to.

Most of the bats had clearly had their own run ins with death, but Jason’s had stuck in ways even Danny knew he didn’t quite get.

Jason had been so tense at just the thought of Danny being a teen hero. It wasn’t like that’d get easier when it was his little siblings swinging from rooftops.

Danny’s hero career might have started with his own death, but he personally was of the opinion that that’d be a perfectly fine reason to end one too.

So Dick, Steph, and Cass headed out not too long after Sam, and Danny wasn’t exactly surprised when Jason’s background angst jumped.

He’d stayed on edge since Danny and Bruce got back, even when Harley told them Bruce was off dealing with his own shit and probably wouldn’t be out of his room all night.

Danny’d bet fifty bucks that the arrival of Constantine actually meant Bruce was in the bat cave being suspicious, but he wasn’t gonna say it.

Tim had shown them to a games room, for all that he’d apparently also moved out. He still knew where everything was, and soon had them hooked up for Mariokart on the biggest TV Danny ever saw.

They’d played a couple rounds (Harley was expectedly devastating with red shells) and while Danny and Tucker were having fun, he could feel Jason stressing.

Like, even if he stuck his fingers in his ears and ignored the aura. The guy was tensed so tight his shoulders strained at his shirt, which woulda been visually interesting if Danny didn’t know why.

Cass was one near death experience from slipping back across the boundary for good.

Cass was off punching criminals with rocket launchers in body armour and spandex.

Duke was probably actually in bed, Signal did morning patrols, and Damian was obstinately refusing to play video games with them perched on the back of the couch, but still.

Dick and Steph had both given one life to the cause too, and for all Dick was a cop and in danger on his day job too, cops pretty famously showed up after the vigilantes ended the party.

More than half Jason’s immediate family were back in the line of fire and Danny could practically taste Jason’s Obsession eating away at him.

As much as he tried to pretend he was playing along and gave a shit about winning, the controller creaked in his hands more than a couple casual races should allow.

So, yeah, if he couldn’t get Jason to crack a smile with this one, he was gonna gently bow them both the fuck outta the manor.

He kept half an eye on Tim, who had a glass of water.

“Hey, you guys heard the theory about Batman?” He asked casually, just as another round of Mariokart started.

Jason kicked him in the ankle but otherwise ignored him, which was fair. He’d been exposed to Danny’s bullshit.

Tim stiffened and then forced himself to relax, Tucker rolled his eyes and jostled Danny from his other side, but it was Harley who answered.

Innocent as the day she was born.

“Oh? What? Is it that he’s a lizardman? Cuz I got right up on that cowl and he’s definitely a mammal,” she said casually, not even looking away from the screen.

Danny was pretty sure he heard Damian almost slip off his perch.

He was a little bit in love with Harley Quinn. He should get her number for Jazz, maybe his big sister would learn to have a little fun.

Grinning broad and only half fake, he drifted a turn to pick up a double item from under Tucker’s nose.

“Shit, yeah, you might actually know! It’s his secret identity!” He exclaimed cheerfully, and felt the tension in the room ratchet up.

From Tim and Damian. Jason… still wasn’t paying attention.

Not like he was deeply immersed in the game, for all he kept up he was nowhere near the speed demon that handed Danny his ass the night before.

Hmm. Better get his attention.

Tim and Damian had already settled again, probably remembering he was already In The Know even if Tucker wasn’t, and Harley had given him a very knowing look right before she fire flowered him.

Almost ready.

He waited until Tim had taken a hasty sip of water on a calm stretch, nudged Jason in the shins, and made sure he was louder than the music.

“So d’you think it’s possible that Markiplier’s Batman?”

Tim sprayed water across the couch, Harley fucking cackled, and Jason snapped his head around to stare at Danny so hard he cricked his neck.

Danny red shelled him for good measure, just so he wasn’t missing anything on screen.

Tucker rolled his eyes, also deeply used to Danny’s bullshit and much more interested in gaming revenge.

“Fuck off Danny, Markiplier isn’t even a Gothamite,” he said disdainfully and Danny shook his head, grinning.

“That’s why it’s the perfect cover. I mean, Batman wants to keep his secret identity a secret, right? So having an identity that very publicly “isn’t in Gotham” makes perfect sense!” He argued cheerfully.

Jason half snorted a laugh beside him, picking back up and speeding his way back into the race. Across the couch Tim wiped his face, still catching his breath.

“I fucking hate that that made sense,” he moaned, and Harley cackled again.

“Nah, he’s got a point! How does anyone know where a youtuber lives? We only see one room!” She agreed cheerfully, clearly leaning in.

It was so nice to have a true showwoman in the crowd.

Damian looked angry in the confused way now, and Danny would hazard a guess he didn’t watch youtube at all, let alone a lets player. That might have made it funnier, had there been no other concerns.

Beside him Jason huffed out another dry chuckle, shaking his head with the barest hint of a smile.

“I can’t believe Batman has an OnlyFans,” he said in a solemn, almost sorrowful voice… and dropped a blue shell.

Tim groaned like his soul had gone with it, clinging desperately to his first place lead. Harley cackled and added her own green shells to the mix, dropping all three as they came to the home stretch.

“Don’t forget the calendar of tasteful nudes! All for charity, just what Batsy would like,” she crowed with evident glee, and Tucker snorted a laugh.

“It’d explain all the surgeries,” he agreed reluctantly, and Danny had a sudden, utterly wicked idea.

“Hey… now that Batman’s on OnlyFans, d’you think he’ll convince the whole Justice League to do a pinup calendar, or just the other bats?” He asked innocently, watching said bats from the corner of his eye.

Well, Robins technically, but since only Tim was of age birds didn’t seem appropriate.

Tim himself threw his controller to the ground, abandoning the game and throwing himself over the back of the couch and almost hitting Damian on the way.

Damian definitely hissed at him like a startled cat.

No way Danny imagined that this close to the finish.

Tucker hesitated for a long moment, clearly considering his odds of winning, but when Harley blasted past Tim’s spun out corpse and across the finish line he abandoned his controller too to check on Tim.

Harley was surprisingly good at the game when flopped sideways on her chosen couch, laughing too hard to breathe. Danny breezed into an easy third behind her and Jason, giving the other man an assessing look.

A little wary of reaching out with his aura, especially when Jason was on edge. He didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.

Didn’t want to be too invasive, if he was honest. Danny had… kinda always been the one who was new to aura stuff before. And he’d gotten used to it, in the Ghost Zone.

He’d never spent this much time with another halfa before. Especially not without a single trace of punching or stabbing.

Except in Mariokart, where the Geneva Convention held no sway.

Jason had clearly noticed him looking though, and read the concern even without Danny pushing. He gave Danny’s shoulder a gentle bump, a nudge of fine-stop worrying alongside.

Danny nudged back, his own disbelief tinged with understanding-empathy-worried too.

But, that was kinda the other thing… the thing he didn’t really want to bring up around the other bats just yet.

And while Jason had smiled, Danny didn’t think he’d mind them dipping out.

Faking a yawn, he stretched, cracked his back, and looked over to where Tim had rejoined the couch.

“Honestly, I’m beat. I gotta try and get back into a better sleep schedule before classes start,” he said, pulling a face at the self-reminder.

Their break was coming to its end, and then he’d be back into university. His class schedule was flexible, more afternoons than early mornings, but he’d… miss this.

Free time to just spend the whole day hanging out with friends and catching up. Meeting Jason’s family, Jason meeting his.

Danny didn’t actually know what Jason did, whether he was working or going back to school, but it was gonna come up soon.

They had a trip to Frostbite to plan, some ecto shots from Danny’s fridge, and at some point he still had to introduce Jason to Frighty… and probably ask the guy if he wanted to be called that still.

It’d be a little weird to start calling him Halloween or whatever, but frankly him obeying Danny’s orders and calling him “my liege” was way fucking weirder so it’d be fine.

And about four more days before half of Danny’s time would be eaten by lectures, study halls, and projects. Fuck, maybe Jason would give him a hand with those too.

So long as he wasn’t sick of Danny by then.

Another quick glance showed that Jason’s face had reset into that tense almost-scowl again, staring past the TV.

At the other end of the couch, Tim gave a disgruntled huff.

“I’m gonna make you pay for that next time,” he grumbled, shifting to Tucker with an adorable moment of sudden concern. “Do you need me to show you to a room too, or…”

Tucker shook his head with a snicker, giving Danny a side eye.

“Nah, unlike that weakling I got used to the vigilante sleep schedule back in high school. I’m good for a couple more hours at least,” he bragged.

Danny flipped him off, hauling himself to his feet and giving Jason a nudge.

“Yeah, well, this weakling fought a croc last night and needs his sleep. Mind giving me a ride back?” He asked when Jason looked up at him.

Gently offered a touch of easy out-reassurance-trust me.

The deep furrows in Jason’s brows twitched until he caught on and his expression cleared. He nodded quickly and pulled himself to his feet.

“Yeah, we can take my bike.” Then he hesitated and looked a little uncertain. “You never told me where you live.”

It took Danny a moment to realise that… no, he really hadn’t, because that just plain didn’t feel right. But no, he’d met Jason again in that coffee shop, then come to the gala with Sam.

Hadn’t gone home last night, just stopped at one of Jason’s apparently multiple places; at least he was doing better than Danny had thought from the first apartment.

He found himself chuckling at the thought, shaking his head.

“Oh yeah, we’ve only been to your place… I’m at the south dorm at Gotham U, I can give you directions as we get closer,” he offered and Jason nodded.

He felt… weird? Like he was surprised Danny had told him where he lived, and ashamed of being surprised.

Danny decided not to dig into it, offering Jason his arm and bowing like all those Shakespeare plays he knew Jason loved.

“Shall we?”

Jason’s moment of surprise was quickly swallowed by delight and he bowed back, then tucked his hand into Danny’s elbow. Almost definitely knew etiquette better than Danny did, so Danny wasn’t gonna doubt him.

“We shall. I’ll drop you off and head home,” he agreed, then paused and glanced back at Harley.

Whose giggling had completely ended and was now watching them like her favourite sitcom. Chin in hands and all.

“Did you wanna meet up here tomorrow, or…” Jason trailed off, obviously also a little put off by her intensity.

She perked up when addressed, giving him a cheery grin and a double thumbs up.

“Here or th’ station, I don’t mind! Hey, did ya wanna come too, Danny boy?” She asked sweetly, head cocked to the side and just waaaay too innocent.

Not that Danny could work out what she was up to.

“Uh… to do what?” He asked carefully, head cocking to match hers before he noticed and straightened up.

Her grin widened, so she noticed.

“Oh, Jason an’ I are gonna go check on my buddy Waylon, see if we can’t work out what he was doin’ at the gala. If youse threw down he might like ta see ya there?”

Which honestly left Danny at a loss, until Tim explained.

“Killer Croc. His actual name’s Waylon Jones, and he was Harley’s tenant in Coney Island before coming back to Gotham,” he said casually, and Danny stilled.

There was an intensity in the room that hadn’t been there before, a sudden wave that sent a chill down his spine. Something from Harley, suddenly predator sharp in a way he hadn’t felt since Skulker had been a serious threat.

For the life of him though, he couldn’t put his finger on what though, since she didn’t move. Just grinned like she had been all along.

“People called him Killer Croc cuz of his skin condition. He gave up tryin’ ta change their minds,” she said with a light shrug, completely belied by the intensity of her stare.

Danny couldn’t look away until she released him, something satisfied in the quirk of her lip. Like she could see the sudden well of memory in his chest.

He’d never actually given in to all the things his parents had called Phantom. They’d been ashamed of all of them when the truth came out, and he’d only had to put up with them for a few years.

He tried to imagine decades of it, being called a monster for things he couldn’t control. For nothing more than a weird scaly skin condition.

He couldn’t imagine going full bomb vest over it, but Danny was man enough to admit he might just be a little touchy because of Jason’s death.

Which Waylon might not even know about.

Suddenly he actually did want to know why they’d attacked the gala.

Until now it had just been inevitable, someone was going to so why not them, but… well. He’d felt it under the whole plan, every stupid step.

Jason had trusted Waylon, not Danny, to keep things from getting out of hand. To know that a tussle was part of the fun.

Danny hadn’t planned on asking, but. Yeah.

“I’d like that,” he agreed quickly, nodding, at about the same time as Tucker found his own voice.

“Wait, that’s a skin condition? He’s just like that?” The techie asked sharply, staring around at Tim and Damian to confirm.

And got a disdainful look from Damian back.

“Tt, what else would it be? Do you know many scaled people?” He asked archly.

Danny’s mind snapped directly to Dora and her asshole brother. Knew Tucker’s had gone to the same place a second later.

“More than you’d think,” he and Tucker said in unison, and they shared a grin. If there was one benefit to their fucked up ghost hunting years, it was shutting down smart ass remarks.

Damian only looked more annoyed at being corrected, and Tucker shrugged.

“I thought he mighta been a scientist and tried to fuse himself with a lizard or something, like in Spider-Man,” he elaborated, and Danny kinda hated how much their lives resembled superhero movies.

Not that he’d say that in a room full of bats.

Damian’s brows drew down even further and he sneered, displeasure evident, but Jason cut him off before he could speak.

“Before you make a comment about mad scientists I’m gonna remind you we live in a city with Viktor Fries,” he said dryly and Damian’s mouth snapped shut.

Big brother privileges.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Ellie had given Danny those?

Tucker gave Danny a confused look, and Danny just shrugged back. He didn’t pay much attention to Gotham’s various rogues; he didn’t want to tempt his Obsession.

Tim chimed in again, without actually looking at Tucker which was kinda impressive. Guess they were just very obviously new to Gotham.

“Dr Freeze. He uses a lot of liquid nitrogen and freeze rays, he’s usually after money or diamonds to try and cure his wife,” he explained with a slight shrug.

Tucker made a confused noise.

“So… couldn’t Bruce just pay him off and keep him from bothering the city?” He asked carefully, glancing around the room.

Jason actually snorted a laugh at that, shaking his head.

“If he could, he would have. What Fries wants isn’t possible yet.”

Not possible for humans. Part of Danny perked up, wondering if Frostbite might have the answers… but no. It wasn’t his job to solve every problem in the world.

Bringing healthy humans to the Zone was iffy. An already sick woman… well, she might get hastened along her journey to the afterlife.

And this was a conversation he really wanted to keep away from, honestly. Gotham’s rogues weren’t his problem. Couldn’t be his problem.

Danny fought ghosts, unkillable entities who enjoyed missile attacks as sport. He wasn’t interested in learning how squishy human rogues were; it had been bad enough with his friends in the line of fire.

Mega pass on being the firing squad.

He almost reconsidered the trip tomorrow, but… he trusted Jason. Trusted Jason knew where he was coming from, and that neither of them wanted to trip Danny’s Obsession.

So he gave the big guy a smile and an elbow nudge, nodding for the door.

“Not that rogue chat isn’t fascinating, but you were taking me to bed?” He asked hopefully, and only realised what he’d said when Harley stuffed half her fist in her mouth to laugh.

And now, now Danny had a choice. He could feel the heat threatening to build, and blushing? Blushing would make things much worse.

Jason’s cheeks had pinked and that was adorable and Danny would ectoblast anyone who gave him shit for it, but if DANNY blushed, Tucker would never let it go.

No, the better answer had to be to play it off, and what did you do to counter red in makeup? You added green.

Not that Danny had used ectoplasm as a fucking colour corrector before, but he might as well try. So he let his grin go saucy, eyebrows waggling, and tried a teeny bit of spectral ice to cool his cheeks.

It made Jason chuckle again, so he’d take it as a win, and Jason gave him another bow, hand still tucked in Danny’s arm.

“Your chariot awaits.”

Tim and Tucker mimed puking almost simultaneously. They were perfect for each other. And had no taste, so that worked out well for them.

Danny ignored them all and gave the room a last wave, heading for the door and tugging Jason along with.

“Night all, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow Harley, and Tucker just text me when you’re up and we’ll see about getting you home,” he called brightly, definitely not about to stop no matter what anyone said.

Not even when Harley hauled herself vertical and call after them,

“Oh, Danny! If the bat calendars do come out, shall I grab you a Red Hood one?” She asked saucily and Danny felt Jason’s grip spasm in his elbow.

Which. He was gonna try putting together later, but tonight he really did wanna get out of there before long.

Who even was Red Hood?

Danny’d never seen him and he hadn’t turned up at the gala, so he didn’t have a guess ready, just like Batwoman.

A couple of people in one of Danny’s classes simped constantly over his thighs, but Danny now figured it was because they hadn’t met Jason.

It was probably easiest to agree, so he gave her a thumbs up over his shoulder.

“Autographed please!”

**

The headache that had lessened as he talked to Harley was back in full swing, along with a throbbing pulse in his temples and roiling nausea in his gut.

Constantine’s damn cigarettes weren’t helping, but Bruce just didn’t feel up to wrestling them away from him.

He’d expected… well. He hadn’t expected Constantine to come through full of fire and indignation, accusing Bruce of making the fucking mess.

His bad feeling had intensified too, not in the slightest relaxed that Constantine could feel that scrungly fucking kid all the way up in the manor.

No matter what Constantine said about the “halfa”, that could not bode well. Not with the look he’d seen on the man’s fucking face.

Steph called him an occult OSHA violation in a trench coat. Anything that scared him worried Bruce.

He could put up with some smoke and some pain to get the information he needed with a minimum of fuss.

He was beginning to wish he’d gotten some sleep though. Or could have someone get him a drink of water.

He’d shown Constantine the missed call logs from Amity Park, and the magician swore in ways that made Bruce see flashes of colour.

(That might have been the concussion talking, but Bruce could remember the almost buzzing swearwords he’d heard from Sam Manson and wasn’t sure. Nothing could be trusted.)

Not at the volume of the logs, that hadn’t surprised him. No, Constantine had gotten serious when Bruce shared the logs Tim had first shown him.

‘Earth is gone. The sky is green and Earth is gone.’

“Alright, that? That’s very fuckin’ bad,” the magician grumbled, reaching into his pocket for a flask for the first time since he’d arrived.

At least it wasn’t another goddamn cigarette. Little fucking meow meow magician.

(Bruce wasn’t quite sure what that one meant, but Steph usually said it with enough derision it had to apply.)

“So I assumed,” he gritted out, jaw clenching against another pang of pain.

Constantine levelled him with a blank stare. Bruce made a conscious effort to relax his face. The tensing wasn’t helping anyway.

“No, Batman. I mean really, really not fuckin’ good. They never called again?” He asked, and the sudden gravity in his voice sunk through layers of ache and irritation.

He sounded as serious as he’d been about the oath. That definitely wasn’t good.

Bruce shook his head, scrolling demonstratively to the end of the file.

“Not after this cluster of messages, all within the same day.”

Tim had all sorts of explanations for that. Bruce fervently hoped he was right and it was just pique on the part of Amity Park; he’d take them being angry with the League over anything else.

Especially anything that made John Constantine look that serious.

“An’ the town’s still there?” He asked, like that was a reasonable question.

Except… Bruce suddenly wasn’t sure. There were alumni from Amity Park, people who’d moved away, but the sheer lack of online information about the town itself…

They hadn’t even been able to get a clear satellite image.

He should have noticed that. He should have checked that. If he hadn’t been so twisted up in his worries about Jason…

But no, that wasn’t fair.

Bruce closed his eyes a moment, calming himself down. Breathing through the sluggish throb at his temples.

None of their Amity Parkers talked about the town like it was missing, or anything out of the ordinary. His children would have flagged it.

This wasn’t an oversight, but Constantine may know something that none of his family could have assumed.

He just had to get this finished. This briefing with Constantine, his report to the League, Jason… no. Sleep first, some pain killers, a more thorough scan.

Maybe a day of recovery, as soon as he could afford one. Wait until his head cleared.

Harley was right, Jason deserved the best Bruce could give him, and trying to talk to his son now would not go well. Bruce was only barely tolerating Constantine’s presence.

For all the man was alarmingly combative about this subject, he was a pussycat compared to Jason in a mood. Jason knew far more about what would hurt Bruce most.

Jason had always been what hurt Bruce most, ever since he’d held his lifeless body. Jason, and even the thought of one of his other children following him where Bruce couldn’t go.

No. He just had to get through this.

Refocusing on John-Bloody… no, that wasn’t helping either. On Constantine.

“From what we’ve gathered from people who have left Amity Park since, they still have access to the outside world.” He wasn’t quite sure what else he could commit to now.

It didn’t seem to satisfy. It didn’t satisfy Bruce either.

“Okay, but ya remember what I said about the fabric of reality bein’ swiss fuckin’ cheese around this city?” Constantine asked, his usual drawl starkly absent.

Bruce found himself tensing again. Wishing this was something he could fight.

“Yes. We haven’t been able to receive any satellite imagery of the town, nor any footage or communication online from within.”

He could pull up all the data, all the social media, but he knew Constantine wouldn’t care. It wasn’t what he’d asked for.

And sure enough, Constantine hauled himself back to his feet, striding towards the zeta tubes.

“Right. Well, guess we’re takin’ a field trip to th’ Watchtower, B-man, because you’re really not gonna like what I’d have to do to this lovely cave to get the intel I need. We’ll need every sensor you lot have, because that?”

Constantine half turned on his walk, finger jabbing at that last message. Barely even glancing in Bruce’s direction.

It felt like an accusation.

“That’s not fuckin’ good. That sounds like the Infinite Fucking Realms,” he declared darkly, trench coat billowing around him as he stalked across the cave.

Bruce almost flinched. Like he had no control over his expressions.

He needed sleep.

He needed answers. Needed to know what had happened, and what had to happen to fix it.

Needed to know they hadn’t let a half dead child take on an entire alternate dimension alone, because no matter how little he trusted the man Danny was, the thought of the child still ached.

Needed to know if that suspicion was actually justified by anything but his own inability to accept Jason’s clear. To have an unknown factor in Jason’s life.

Constantine’s reaction was one point in Bruce’s favour.

Whatever they found about the current state of Amity Park… would tell the rest.

He forced himself out of his seat to follow Constantine, hand straying to the pocket on his belt that held his emergency stimulants.

Alfred wouldn’t be pleased, the tiny pills carried an adrenaline boost that was wearing even at full health, but he needed to be sharp. Just for a few more hours.

He could pass what they learned off to Clark and Diana, and to his children when he returned. Just for a little while. A few hours.

Amity Park had gone unnoticed for years, as little as Bruce liked that fact. He could only hope that whatever threat it presented would lie dormant just a little longer.

**

Fuck the no killing rule, Jason was gonna murder Harley Quinn. And by that, yeah, he probably actually meant “seek vengeance in some small but annoying way”, but still.

He didn’t actually have a crush on Danny. It was a bit they were putting on to fuck with his nosey brothers, and it was probably a good sign that they’d apparently fooled Harley too.

But Harley was a hopeless romantic and prone to see romance where none existed, so maybe it wasn’t that good.

More importantly, Danny didn’t fucking know he was Red Hood yet. He’d have to text Harley tonight and drill that in, since she’d definitely picked up that Danny was in on the secret.

And since apparently they were all gonna be hanging out tomorrow.

He kinda wished he hadn’t brought it up. That Harley hadn’t asked.

He’d monopolised so much of Danny’s time already over the break, three full days and they still had to make that run back to Frostbite.

Danny must have had some other plans. Something he actually wanted to do with his time instead of just following Jason around.

The gala had been fun though. And so had today, it just… Jason couldn’t help feeling he was being too needy. Too clingy, with a guy he’d known for all of a week, if you were generous.

Being around Danny made him feel like himself for the first time in fucking years, and he knew what he’d have given up for that.

He didn’t want to be too much. Too pushy. Didn’t want Danny to get sick of hanging out with him so soon, and leave him right back where he’d been; bitter, angry, and alone.

At least Danny didn’t seem to be thinking too much about Harley’s parting shot. There was definitely something on his mind, but they hadn’t actually unlinked arms.

Jason could feel his aura.

Concern-worry-worry.

Shit, they hadn’t fucking unlinked arms. Should they? Should Jason have? For fucks sake he was literally clinging to the guy, this was fucking ridiculous, he should just.

But Danny hadn’t pulled away.

It’d be weird to pull away now.

Jason managed to keep himself distracted in that little spiral all the way to the garage he’d parked his bike in. Danny waited until they left the manor’s grounds to speak again though, arms tightening around Jason’s chest.

“Pull over a sec?” He called above the wind, and Jason very firmly did not let that pitch him further. He pulled over, still firmly in the heights and far from any living souls.

Unless theirs counted. Probably not.

He dropped the kickstand and pulled off his helmet, hoping Danny just wanted to talk. Maybe ask him to make his excuses to Harley.

Ask Jason to drop him at the university and not follow him home. That’d make sense. He didn’t need a wayward puppy.

He didn’t actually get off the bike. Didn’t want to give up Danny’s arms wrapped around him, even if it was just for expedience.

And maybe realised that wasn’t a great idea when Danny rested his cheek on Jason’s back and a warm wave of relax-safe-reassurance threatened to swallow him.

“I know what you’re thinking about,” Danny admitted softly, and Jason damn near bolted. Barely heard the next words, which…

Well.

He knew Danny tended to overlook things. But it turned out he could be pretty damn perceptive too.

“She’s gonna be okay, you know. Cass. I can feel her anywhere in the city if I try, and I’ll know if something happens to her.”

And just like that, the pit dropped out of Jason’s stomach.

He’d been trying not to think about it. Pretended he didn’t know what she’d be doing when she left, out in the city, one fucking accident from being like him.

Even worrying about Danny getting sick of him was better than that.

She might not even need the pit to bring her back this time. Gotham had a fuck ton of native ectoplasm even for a city; it couldn’t not.

Ectoplasm was made of and attracted to raw emotional energy. For all that people died every day in the city, more were born or moved in to join their ranks.

Gotham would be a metaphorical ghost town if they hadn’t, instead of the literal version slowly creeping across the city’s vigilantes.

From the rogues’ overdramatic schemes to the peoples’ undercurrent of rage and defiant joy, Gotham seethed with emotion. Most of the dead didn’t stay to use the ecto up, and every rogue attack brought a fresh wave.

Not clean ectoplasm like the realms, but tainted with their individual torments, the fierce glee, the desire to burn, it all churned into an ambient ectoplasm Danny swore he’d never seen in another city.

And that defiant spirit, the Gotham je ne sais quoi that made people put up with all the rogue attacks and dangers, was powerful too. Jason had known that even as a kid.

Now, it was literally the reason he was alive.

He might have a second core filling his system with pit water, but they’d both have dried up without the boundless “fuck off” energy Gotham was built on.

He’d felt it the second he returned. He was alive in Gotham in a way he hadn’t been in Nanda Parbat, anywhere but the fucking pit. It let him think clearly.

Well.

Apparently Danny let him think clearly. That still stung. But it shouldn’t have surprised him.

He’d never been much of anything that other people didn’t make him.

It was why he didn’t really mind Clockwork trying to make him Danny’s knight within a couple hours of learning he was half dead. It was kinda what he did.

People had been using him as a weapon since he swung a tire iron at Batman himself. Protecting the guy who gave him his fucking soul back?

He’d have done that anyway, for free. And he got a kickass gun and a supernatural sense of when said asshole needed him. Honestly, easiest job of his life.

The catch would come eventually, but this whole “feeling the intent of people you talk to” thing left him way less suspicious than he still kinda felt he should be.

He’d rather that than be left nebulously owing his whole self to Danny with no way to repay him and no idea where the catch would come from.

It had just… never occurred to him that the same way Danny could reach out and find Vlad, he’d be able to find Cass. Or Jason himself, probably.

Jason hadn’t realised how tightly he’d wound himself until the pressure eased.

He sucked in a breath that seemed to fill his chest for the first time in hours, folded his arms forward onto the handlebars, and let his head rest against them.

Danny followed him down, never losing contact but his face slipping lower and lower down Jason’s back. It almost made him chuckle, imagining how they must have looked.

Actually, he did. Just a moment, a soft and almost giddy sound that he choked back immediately. He sounded… well. Not like himself.

He’d been itching since the girls left to patrol, wishing he could join them. Be Cass’s backup in the field and be sure she wasn’t going in on anything big alone.

Cass was a step beyond competent, she was exceptional and she’d been doing this for years without a shadow. On a regular day, she wouldn’t need help.

But hearing how close she was to losing her humanity and not coming back right no matter what had him on edge. He wanted to shield her, protect her from what he’d gone through.

It wasn’t that he wanted her out of the fight. The idea of asking her not to go out hadn’t even occurred to him. She could make her own choices and he’d back her with all he had.

He just absolutely fucking hated the idea that she was out there alone, while he had fucking nothing on him that’d let him go after her if she did need backup.

If she needed help, he’d have to waste time gearing up before he could go out after her. The other bats would have her back, they all would, so long as they weren’t busy too.

It wasn’t like he was anyone’s first choice for backup even now, he just.

Yeah. He might kinda get what Danny meant about his Obsession being protection. Protecting the bats was a recent addition, but Jason had burned himself out on enough missing kids since he got back to suspect.

He’d have to ask what an actual capital-letter Obsession felt like, but that would wait for another time.

Just knowing that Cass would be safe, had another pair of eyes and more powers than a Kryptonian watching her back made him feel like he could breathe again.

Even knowing that though, he was glad to have left the manor. He could take Danny home, suit up, and… wait.

Danny had no choice but to move back as he straightened, half turning to frown down at the smaller man.

“Is that why you wanted to leave?” He asked quietly, gauging Danny’s face.

Had Danny worked it out on his own? Felt him stressing out about his baby sister back in the field?

Did Danny know that Jason wanted to join her, if not necessarily which costume he wore, and cut his night short?

Would Danny do that for him?

The answer was obvious in the other man’s face as Danny shrugged, even before he spoke.

“I didn’t wanna put you on the spot, and I figured you’d rather get out of there,” he explained casually, leaning just a little into Jason. Enough to feel what warmth Danny had.

Jason hesitated for a long moment, not sure what to say. If he should thank Danny. If Danny would ask, and if Jason should tell him he was the Red Hood now.

It’d be weirder the longer he didn’t mention it. Like he was keeping a secret.

The same secret Danny had kept as a teenager, so at least he’d probably understand, but Jason didn’t like how it felt. He wasn’t fucking ashamed of being the Red Hood.

He’d done shit no one else ever could have, and every inch of his territory was safer than it had ever been without him. He was proud of what he’d done, even if he wouldn’t brag about his methods.

It worked. It got him where he was today, where he didn’t need to kill anymore because people turned tail at the hint of his damn name.

He still didn’t know how Danny felt about killing. It wasn’t something that came up in conversation much. Maybe he’d find a way to ask first.

Tonight, he managed a stiff nod and leaned a little of his own weight back into Danny. Even if the guy thought he was just gonna go home and mope there instead, it was a win.

“Thanks,” he said softly, half wishing for his helmet’s voice modulator. He didn’t like hearing his own voice sound so… vulnerable.

Danny, fucking angel of mercy that he was, chuckled softly and gave him a gentle tap upside the head.

“Yeah, well. Also wasn’t sure how the others would react to “99% of you are permanently on my radar” anyway, and I wanted to make sure you knew for Cass,” he explained cheerfully.

And yeah, Jason still hadn’t really processed that yet, and wasn’t even sure how he’d react. Smart fucking call on Danny’s part.

Chuckling under his breath, Jason shook his head and flipped the kickstand back up.

“Anything else before I take you to bed?” He asked, half teasing Danny’s own unfortunate choice of words earlier.

They were absolutely still fucking with his family to think this was some kind of romantic relationship. Maybe a bit to punish Bruce, who clearly couldn’t handle the idea of Jason happy.

Danny laughed, a hint of something Jason almost identified behind it, then settled himself more firmly against Jason’s back, hanging on properly again.

“Not a damn thing. Oh, are you gonna come pick me up tomorrow or do I make my own way to the manor to join you and Harley?” He asked, snugged up tight.

Jason had almost forgotten that was happening. Apparently. And suddenly he was glad for at least the motorcycle helmet as his cheeks flushed pink.

Fuck he’d say he was trailing after Danny like a puppy, except Danny was the one going where Jason needed to be.

Another excuse to get Danny on his bike, arms around him.

Fuck off Jason Todd, Romance Heroine. It was a goddamn jailbreak, if a legal one. Not a fucking meet cute.

“If you actually want to come,” he agreed a little hesitantly, because the voice that insisted he was just a burden and Danny was only humouring him wasn’t all displacement activity after all.

Or pit related, apparently. Delightful.

He coulda tried to pretend it was, but that had been more convincing back when it was always a background grumble of anger, not the little calm pool of happiness now sitting in his gut.

Unforeseen side effect of getting his toxic sludge cleaned up: he was gonna have to own some of his own bullshit now. Work out what was his and what wasn’t.

Danny leaned back a little, grip loosening, and Jason could feel concern like a whisper soft touch.

“Yeah… I would, if you don’t mind? It seems like he’s important to you.”

Jason wasted a moment trying to work out what the hell Danny meant by that.

Did he want to meet Croc cuz he was important to Jason? Or did he think Jason wouldn’t want him to if he was important?

Cuz while yeah, Jason considered Waylon a friend (and thanks, Harley, for the new name crisis, love that. The guy introduced himself as Killer Croc but Jason knew all about controlling a narrative) it wasn’t like he was family. Not like Dick, Cass, or the others.

Except. Roy was family. Long before any of the bats made it back into Jason’s good books, Roy was one of the first people to be happy Jason was alive.

And Waylon had helped Roy get help when Ollie fucking kicked him out.

Waylon had been a restraining hand on Jason’s shoulder too, in the bad old days. Keeping him from pushing too hard, going too big, doing something he really couldn’t come back from.

Family didn’t have to mean annoying texts at four AM. Didn’t have to come around for dinner every Sunday; how often did any of them really see Harley?

Fuck, how often would they have seen each other if Alfred didn’t have them all firmly under his culinary thumb.

Waylon had to count as a reliable old uncle at least.

And that kinda made it a different question. Did Jason want Danny to meet his family?

It had been an easy “yes” with the bats, not least because the nosy bastards would muscle their way in regardless. Croc…

Waylon never judged Jason. From his highest highs to lowest lows, he never looked down on him. Not even when he was telling Jason to stop and think.

It kinda made Jason ache for what his life should have been. His, and Waylon’s if he’d never been called Killer Croc.

And maybe it’d give Jason a read on how Danny would react to the Red Hood thing. Or whether or not Danny already knew.

Jason was gonna blame Bruce for this chronic overthinking. Definitely not something he’d had on his own.

He’d thought about it long enough that he could feel Danny tensing, and he forced himself to snap out of it. In all honesty, it wasn’t his business what Danny thought he’d get out of it.

In the end, there was no point second guessing what someone else wanted to do with their time. It was Danny’s call. Not his.

And that kinda helped.

He half shrugged, leaning back into Danny for a moment and tugging him forwards again.

“I mean, we’re not “Thanksgiving at each others’ houses” close, but… he’s helped me out since I came back. More than I expected anyone to. I don’t mind if you wanna meet him,” Jason explained.

Danny obediently moved back into position to go, his aura a gentle hum of curiosity-concern-interest at Jason’s back.

“So do I make my own way, or…”

“I’ll come get you, probably around eleven?” Jason offered, definitely NOT thinking about Danny being back in this same position very soon.

He was gonna have to get another helmet for the bike. Immortal Ghost King or not, it just felt rude at this point.

**

After Danny and Jason left, Tim, Harley, and Tucker played a few more rounds of Mariokart together. Switched to a couple other games. Damian abandoned them almost immediately, disappearing half way through a round.

Probably to start a patrol of his own, or go try to spy on Danny and Jason.

Eventually Harley wished both the boys well and headed out with a cheery wave.

“Right, maybe I’ll see ya tomorrow or maybe not, have fun and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she called cheerfully, then paused and pointed at Tucker. “An’ keep an eye on Tim. Make sure he sleeps.”

Tim rolled his eyes, not looking up from their new round of SpiderHeck to wave her off. Tucker did, and Tim took advantage to swing across the map and cut him down with a lightsaber.

Amateur.

“Huh? Oh, sure! Fucking hell Tim,” Tuck complained as his attention switched back to the defeat screen.

Tim snickered, leaning back in his seat and crossing his legs.

“Hey, not my fault you can’t keep your head in the game,” he teased smugly. Tucker poked him in the face.

“Not my fault I have enough manners to look at people when they talk to me. So is Harley gonna be staying in the manor too?” He added curiously, glancing around.

They easily had the rooms for it, though Tim didn’t really wanna think about it. What might Harley get up to on a 2am snack run?

Although it wasn’t that far from 2am now.

“I don’t think so, she has a place in the city at the moment,” he mused, his mind beginning to shift.

It wasn’t that he’d been waiting for witnesses to clear out, exactly. Everyone was in on the secret, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to head down to the Bat Cave even when they had the larger group.

It was just… they’d been having fun. It’d be rude to leave their guests, and Bruce was already being cranky down in the cave.

Of course, Tim’d gotten another ping on his zeta tube monitoring program an hour or so ago. Constantine and Bruce both checking out, probably to the Watchtower.

So it’d be safe now, and they’d reached an okay stopping point. Tim had no doubt that Tucker would prefer checking out the cave over any games.

Tim couldn’t let him on the bat computer yet, but he could show Tucker a couple of Tim’s better scanning programs. Maybe even ping Babs and see how the others were doing.

See if she had time to talk to Tucker in person. Maybe he could show them both how he’d encrypted that server, which Tim suspected would involve ectoplasm.

Not like he couldn’t link the PDA to an un-networked monitor so that they could all see what he was doing though. Hell, they could record it for Bruce.

He’d love having answers to the Amity Park problem. If Tucker would let Tim run the PDA for a few minutes…

Still, it was just good manners to check in.

Alfred would be thrilled that they were learning to communicate.

Pulling out his phone, he shot Bruce a quick text.

‘Hey, we’re gonna head down to the Cave. You mind if I give a tour?’

It didn’t take long to get a reply, which was usually a good sign. It meant Bruce wasn’t hyperfocused enough to ignore his phone.

Maybe things with Constantine were going well.

The length of the reply wasn’t as reassuring, but not a surprise either. Bruce wasn’t exactly wordy in person, and only less so over text.

‘Go ahead.’

No indication of when he’d be back, but that was fine. They could compare notes whenever that turned out to be.

Tim turned to Tucker, grinning in anticipation of the other man’s reaction.

“So, wanna see something cool?” He asked, and felt gratified when Tucker’s eyes widened and a matching grin spread across his face.

But who wouldn’t be excited to see the Bat Cave?

“Hell yeah!”

**

Tucker followed Tim eagerly out of the games room, mind already buzzing with all the things the young genius might want to show him.

Did they have a tech lab in Wayne Manor? They definitely had the space for it, and it had to be safer than keeping one at Tim’s downtown apartment.

Bruce might not have been much of a techie but Tim was personally responsible for enough big developments that he was considered a prodigy even in Tucker’s circles.

Of course the guy had the advantage of near limitless money and resources, especially after Drake Industries merged with Wayne Enterprises.

With that kinda money, Tucker himself could have revolutionised the world. But, Tuck had the advantage of the Ghost Zone and ecto tech, so he wasn’t too upset.

Especially not if Tim was really going to let him see where the magic happened.

He did nearly let out an audible groan as Tim led him into an office and activated a secret elevator in a clock. Maybe Danny had a point… maybe all billionaires were dramatic assholes.

Maybe Sam had a point, and they were all evil. Maybe Tim was bringing him down to an evil lab.

Caution reluctantly seeped into Tucker’s excitement, but he fought it off sharply. Tim was a good guy, they were becoming real friends, and Tuck couldn’t believe a fellow techie would betray him.

Besides, no one in Gotham knew shit about ghost tech, or liminals. It wasn’t like Tucker would actually be in any danger from a scrawny nerd like Tim.

Even if he did have very nice shoulders. Shapely arms. An almost snatched waist that almost tipped to androgyny, but he carried it so well.

Anyway.

Tim definitely wouldn’t hurt him.

It was probably just a super secure underground tech lab, to keep anyone from stealing secrets. Tucker let himself hype up again, imagining the kind of security measures Tim could install underground.

It’d remove the chances of someone sneaking through a back window for sure. And sure, rock wouldn’t stop a ghost, but it stopped pretty much anyone else if you added seismic sensors.

It made sense, really, putting all Tim’s very coolest and most secret cutting edge tech experiments somewhere that no one would expect, and almost no one could get to.

Tucker found himself rocking forward on his toes as the elevator descended, and flushed a little when he noticed Tim smiling.

He was excited, sue him. It beat worrying that he was about to get his first go at the Danny Fenton Lab Experience.

Thankfully no one ever cared enough to capture the nerds.

Tim was quiet on the way down, clearly savouring the anticipation, and that suited Tucker fine. It wasn’t a long ride, and he all but bounced out of the doors as soon as they opened.

Stopped.

Stared around at blank stone walls, stalactites on the ceiling, and… a waterfall? A robotic dinosaur? A row of display cases?

This was not a super cool high tech research lab.

This kinda might be a supervillain cave.

Tucker’s heart sank for a moment, especially as he noticed more and more Batman themed pieces on walls and cases.

Bruce Wayne (please don’t let it be Tim’s secret project any more, Tucker couldn’t bear it) was obsessed with Batman. Collecting trophies.

Probably wanted to catch the hero himself and stuff him in a case. Rich people were all like that apparently.

Except… the locker room? Off to one side? Where a freshly laundered Red Robin uniform hung, neat and pristine?

Collector freaks never let anyone clean their stuff, especially if it might have had gross hero sweat to obsess over.

And that was the Batmobile, parked next to a large garage door. An array of motorcycles, and Tucker was no expert on Gotham’s heroes but there were at least three colour schemes.

Someone had been changing the oil on one of them.

A massive computer screen, surrounded by smaller screens at various angles, and as he approached in awe he spotted a bat sticker on almost every monitor.

No way anyone ever stole THE Batcomputer. People would notice. Someone would talk, there were legends about Batman’s set up!

Half Tucker’s class would have killed for a look at the tech, no way they wouldn’t know if it ever got loose.

Which meant.

Tucker knew his jaw had dropped. Couldn’t find it in himself to close it as he turned back to Tim, eyes wide, and watched all colour drain from the other man’s face.

“Is this the fucking Bat Cave?! Is Bruce Fucking Wayne actually Batman?!” He exclaimed eagerly, not even wondering why Tim suddenly looked so shocked.

This really was the best day ever.

Wait.

“You DO know the fucking Oracle!”

**

Well.

The curse of Robin had come for Tim at last. Bruce was absolutely going to fucking kill him.

But, okay, in his defence, it totally wasn’t Tim’s fault! He’d assumed Tucker already knew because Danny one thousand percent definitely did, he called Dick out in costume!

And Tucker was still trustworthy! Still an asset! And he’d help Tim get past the firewalls, get into Amity Park, all they had to do was get enough work done before Bruce came back.

And killed Tim.

For bringing an unknowing civilian into the fucking bat cave.

Best day ever.

Tim sucked in a great rasping breath, suddenly aware that he’d completely stopped breathing somewhere in there, and shook his head.

Okay. Snap out of it Tim.

Those nights with Alfred-supervision had made him weak, no way only thirty-six hours without sleep should have done this to him.

Too bad, sleep deprivation would have been a great excuse.

He wasted a moment lamenting his lack of immediate coffee and turned his focus to the actual problem: the Amity Park firewall.

Tucker was still staring at him in awe and triumph, though worry was creeping in. Tim pulled on a charming smile, walking to the batcomputer and gesturing for Tucker to join him.

“Uh… yeah, sorry, I thought Danny already told you or I’d have said. I didn’t mean to spring it on you,” he lied, like he’d have ever let the secret slip.

Tucker pouted then, folding his arms.

“Oh, of course Danny knows. Bet that’s how he and Jason met. So does that mean you’re…” he trailed off curiously, clearly hoping Tim would fill in the blank.

Tim considered being mildly offended that Tucker didn’t think he could be Oracle, but he valued his digital security. Zero chance Babs wouldn’t be pulling this video up later for a laugh.

He nodded to his suit instead, the new one hanging waiting. Probably for tomorrow night at this point, since there was no reason to change just to hang out in the cave.

“Red Robin. I ah… saw you last night at the gala,” he added sheepishly, wondering just how much of Tim’s minor breakdown Tucker had noticed while waiting to give Tim the tablet.

And Tucker’s eyes lit up, clearly remembering, and he grinned, clapping his hands together.

“Oh! That explains why you left, huh? I guess someone had to deal with the rogues and stuff,” he mused thoughtfully.

Tim had to hope he wasn’t thinking about the exact same thing. At least the discovery was going well so far; Tim couldn’t think of many people he’d had to share this particular secret with, and most of the ones who did had been villains at one time or another, but still.

Tucker was keeping up, wasn’t freaking out, and had gotten over his surprise in record time. Tim definitely wasn’t disappointed.

Tuck had been a vigilante himself after all, it’s not like he was a civilian. And had already admitted he didn’t pay much attention to vigilantes, so he might not even know which one Red Robin was.

It’d just. Have been nice if he was more impressed.

Not that Tim cared. He wasn’t Red Robin to impress people, and usually didn’t even think about it.

And Tucker didn’t seem surprised or upset when Tim steered him to one of the tables beside the batcomputer instead of the big baby itself, and got one of the un-networked monitors out.

“Pretty much. I get a little… antsy if a takedown goes too easily, because with Riddler it usually means we’re missing something,” he explained dryly, pointing Tucker to a second wheely chair to pull over, “but yesterday it was apparently just a shitty rush job on his part.”

Tucker snickered at that, wheeling the directed chair over and sitting eagerly beside Tim, still darting looks at the bigger screens.

“Should I be mad I didn’t get their best work?” He mock-pondered, and Tim snickered.

“Probably. But Riddler and Croc aren’t really A-listers or big on the mass destruction side anyway.”

“Waylon,” Tucker corrected almost absent mindedly, pulling out his PDA.

Tim missed exactly what he did next as he remembered Harley’s little tidbit, and he pulled a face.

“Yeah… I’ve not exactly had the one-on-one time with him Jason’s had, I don’t think we’re on a first name basis,” he explained, shaking his head as the monitor sprung to life.

Tucker snorted a laugh, flicking through screens on the PDA.

“What, Mr Jones then? Want me to just start downloading the Amity Park records first, then we’ll go hunting?” He added, and Tim nodded quickly, snickering himself at the vision.

Nothing threw a shining ball of confusion into a fight like calling someone “Mr Jones”. He’d have to try it if Croc… Mr Jones was gonna be back on the scene.

It was the name that went on all of his prison paperwork, so it wasn’t like it was a secret identity the same way the bats had.

“Honestly? Better than Waylon. And yeah, we can start with the government files and news reports, just so we have a backup. Then we’ll look around and find out what else B thinks we’ll need.”

Tucker snickered beside him, flicking quickly through screens on the PDA. Despite it being purely for his benefit, Tim pretty much ignored the monitor, keeping most of his attention on the device itself.

It was chunky and very retro, but given the processing power and space for storage? There was a definite charm to it.

Maybe Tucker would let him play around on it later.

But, in the spirit of not being killed when Bruce returned… there was one thing they definitely needed to talk about.

“I…” Tim sucked in a deep breath. He’d put good money on Tuck, Danny, and Sam being what actually solved Amity Park’s last calls to the League.

It might be a traumatic memory. Probably was. But he had to ask. And better him than Bruce.

Tucker looked up when he trailed off, making a curious noise. Not exactly asking what Tim wasn’t saying, but showing he’d noticed the pause.

Sighing to himself, Tim wheeled across to the batcomputer. Bruce probably still had the files up.

“I also think we need to talk about these,” he explained, pulling up the records for the Justice League’s missed calls. Hundreds of them.

Tucker just looked nonplussed for a moment, then sobered. Probably when the dates sank in and told him what they were talking about.

“Oh… yeah. Probably,” he agreed, sounding more serious than Tim had ever heard him. Which kinda proved Tim’s point about traumatic memories.

Leaving the records on screen, Tim wheeled back over, pulling out one of his larger recorders. This conversation might take a while.

“Do you mind if I just record what you tell me? B’s gonna want a full write up. He’s off ripping a strip off of Constantine as we speak, probably, cuz whatever he did… this lot went past voice mail and straight to the trash.”

It wasn’t exactly an apology, wasn’t exactly an excuse, and Tim cut himself off before it turned into whining. The past was past, and it was too late to change that now.

Something complicated crossed Tucker’s face as he spoke, and Tim tried not to look too closely. Didn’t want his overly analytical side latching on.

The only thing they could do was work out what happened, and if there was still anything the league could do to make up for majorly dropping the ball.

Tucker sucked in a deep breath of his own, letting it out in a low whistle.

“Y’know, I thought we were coming down here for fun and tech talk,” he said almost wistfully, and Tim chuckled wryly.

“We can definitely still do that. It’ll just unknot Bruce’s panties some if we’ve got this part out of the way before he gets back. That way you’re just telling me, no “swooping menace in the shadows”,” he added half sarcastically, and Tucker laughed.

He looked… well. Haunted. But that wasn’t exactly a sensible descriptor for a guy who spent years hunting ghosts.

Not too bad though. No tremors, no tightness in the eyes or jaw that said he was hiding something. His skin was still a rich, warm brown, no paler than before.

If he was having a deeper reaction than the tiredness, he was hiding it in a way Tim couldn’t hope to spot. That… was probably the best sign Tim had seen about this particular shit show.

Chuckling to himself, Tucker checked the PDA one more time, then set it on the table and turned to face Tim directly.

“Yeah, might as well do it during the file download. Your setup is gorgeous, but that’s still gonna take a while. If you ask me, you’re not gonna need to ask Danny about it later, right?” He asked, and Tim bit his lip.

Less good sign. Seemed Danny carried more of the weight of this one too.

“B’ll probably want his side, and to check the stories match, but Jason won’t let him push Danny into anything,” he offered instead of a blanket statement.

Tucker cocked his head a little, examining Tim for a long moment in a way that made him feel almost… dissected. Like a piece of tech Tucker had taken apart, and was looking for secrets in.

Finally the older boy nodded and shrugged, leaning back.

“Yeah, fair. It’s damn hard to pin Danny down if he wants to leave anyway. There’s some Fenton tech that’d do it, but it’s not like you can get that here. So… where do you want me to start?”

Filing away that comment about the Fenton tech for later, Tim jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the big screen.

“Do we have time to start at the beginning? The first calls?” He asked, half expecting the answer to be “no”.

Tucker glanced down at his PDA, and snickered.

“Well, I can give you the Cliff’s Notes version. And then if you have questions you can ask?”

Which… yeah, Tim glanced at their little offline monitor. It was a pretty big download; Tucker had meant it when he said he was grabbing everything for them.

That had to be a sign of good faith, right?

And then after that they’d have to shift everything over to an un-networked hard drive. After whatever Tuck had to do to de-ecto it.

Shoulders settling, Tim put the recorder on the table before him.

“Sounds good. So… Tucker Foley, current top student at MIT and soon to be receiver of a Wayne Enterprises internship,” he teased, enjoying the way Tucker snickered again, also visibly relaxing.

Might as well make this as comfortable as possible. They could break after Tucker finished for some drinks or something.

“What happened in Amity Park?”

**

On the Watchtower, Bruce slid his phone back into its pouch on his utility belt and returned his attention to the pacing magician.

He’d pulled up every type of reading they could gather from Amity Park for the week of the last distress call, and from their current logs.

Thermal imaging, infrared and ultraviolets, seismography, electromagnetic waves, spectrography, and several that Bruce wasn’t sure what they were, just that the Justice League Dark were the only ones who used them.

The fact that even Bruce could see extremely obvious spikes on more than half of them was not a good sign. It made checking the dates almost superfluous.

Nor was the way that even though those spikes had lowered within that same day… they’d never gone all the way back down.

In every magical sense they could detect (and half a dozen scientific ways he was actually comfortable with), Amity Park glowed like a cartoon nuke.

The only good news was that their radiation sensors had gone straight back down to normal after the initial spikes. Which made no scientific sense given the normal decay of radioactive materials, but Bruce was not going to argue.

He appreciated Tim checking in though. The gesture towards clearer communication. He wasn’t sure exactly what Tim would want to show Harley in a tour of the bat cave, but honestly?

He wasn’t going to ask. It was nice to have something that wasn’t his problem, and he trusted Tim and Harley, together or separately.

It wasn’t like Tim would bring anyone else down to the cave.

——————

😇

I regret nothing.

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Next Chapter:

[eyesthecolorofarson]

It’s a meme, Batman

Bruce never thought he would say this, but he regrets pushing Damian to make friends.

If he’d known all those years ago it would result in a media scandal that was practically a cosmic watergate, he would have kept Damian confined to the cave for the rest of his life. The worst part was that it was all harmless, just teenagers having fun on an improve show.

He’d gotten the link to the livestream through Oracle, who’d been laughing so hard he was worried she’d been injected with Joker venom. He got more worried when her laughter increased at the knowledge the whole family was in the cave. She insisted he play the livestream on the main computer, and like a fool, he’d trusted her and did just that.

It looked to be….the improve show Whose line is it, anyway? But the usual comedians, Ryan Stiles, Colin Morchie and Wayne Brady were sitting next to host Drew Carey and—Damian in his Robin uniform, Phantom, Superboy, Royal, Fireworks, and Wendigo. He heard the others laugh and ask the appropriate question ‘what the fuck is he doing??’ A question he himself was asking.

He took a step back to asses the situation; Royal, Dove Elopeman, was a metahuman born in Lapa, Rio Di Janiero who was apart of the new batch of superheroes. Royal had bronze skin a similar shade to Damian’s, with black wavy hair just below her shoulders and purple eyes. Royal was brought in fairly quickly after Martian Manhunter realized just how powerful her mind-control ability was, after he’d spent three months under her control, during which she found and took control of Khloé Kardashian and not only robbed her but blew up her house. She had a surprisingly pronounced figure for her age, 14, and used her body to get close to people and then take them down, usually incredibly violently. Royal showed no remorse for her incredible viciousness, due to her usual targets being sex traffickers and pedophiles.

Fireworks, Lydia Lippet, was a metahuman born in Perth, Scotland who has the odd ability to bring anything she draws to life. Fireworks was African with curly hair dyed baby blue styled in a side-parted bob, with metallic gold eyes. This ability was realized at a young age, but thankfully her parents didn’t use it for their own gain. Her parents raised her as if it was perfectly normal, and Fireworks did nothing too extreme with her powers until she was 13, when she brought a Pokémon into existence, the first time she brought something to life with her powers. This immediately made the Justice League aware of her existence, and once the JLD looked into her and went ballistic at the implications of what she was capable of, essentially forced them to bring her in as a new hero. Thankfully she was open to the idea, but unfortunately also expressed no remorse or sympathy for her actions.

Wendigo is the newest, and most unfortunate case. She had silver skin and was tall, about 6’9, and usually her hair was white but now for some reason it was hot pink. It was still incredibly long, almost touching her ankles, and her eyes were ultramarine blue. Research shows that before she was born the Native American tribe she was apart of went through a famine, in which many of her tribe resorted to cannibalism in order to survive. The reason her parents abandoned her deep in the Canadian forests is largely unknown, as is her parents location and names, but it is abundantly obvious they had committed cannibalism, which apparently caused a spirit of winter to latch onto her as a fetus and merge with her body and soul. That’s what the LJD concluded after a three-day long ‘study’ of her. This ‘study’ was concluded after Wendigo was rescued from Lexcorp, having mutilated and eaten over thirty of his men and injured Luthor himself. She didn’t speak, and only communicated with sounds and birdcalls, and, like the others, was violent without remorse.

Phantom was somehow the easiest to understand. He had light blue grey skin and pure white hair, as well as Lazarus green eyes, tongue, and blood. An Ohio resident, Danny Fenton was recruited after the Justice League investigated the Ghost Investigation Ward and the Anti-Ecto Acts, after it was found he was not only partially undead but also the only person capable of fighting against these world-ending threats without rascist-like judgement. Phantom was nervous about joining, mostly because of Deadman’s constant harassment about being ‘twinzies’ but agreed on the notion that his sister would get a full ride into any college she wanted. Phantom isn’t violent on purpose, but ends up being so due to him not knowing how to hold back.

Phantom was one stage with Damian, while the girls and Superboy were sitting with the host and other comedians. Everyone was laughing, and even Damian had a slight smirk on his face. Royal reached into the hat and pulled out a slip of paper, snorting and covering her mouth as she read the slip. “Batman….interrogating the Joker.” “Roll for an image!” Fireworks called, her accent thick as she pressed a button that caused the projector to roll through a variety of images before stopping on a very odd one that caused Tim to choke and Stephanie to begin roaring with laughter.

It was two over-sexualized wolf woman wearing skimpy clothes with different game logos with the words ‘Face it, you’d play with both of them’. Phantom leaned back and hovered in the air, laughing as Damian turned to fireworks with a raised eyebrow. “I didn’t choose it, it’s just from the internet.” Fireworks drawled, taking a hit from her vape and blowing pink smoke out through her nose. Damian and Phantom stared at each other for a second before they both smirked, Phantom cracking his knuckles before leaning forward. At Drew Carey’s mark, the bit began.

Phantom and Damian stared at each other in silence for a second before Damian, in a perfect impression of Bruces voice, said “What is this.” Phantom, in the Jokers voice, replied “It’s a meme, Batman.” Immediately the crowd, and his children, were roaring with laughter. He could already feel the building dread. “I don’t understand.” Damian said in his voice. “What do you not understand?” Phantom replied in Jokers, somehow sounding tired of him at the same time.

“I don’t get the joke.” God, how was Damian making him sound exactly like him but also so pathetic at the same time? “Well, you see, people only usually play on one console.” Phantom held up a finger as he levitated in the air in a casual position, making the room(and his children)laugh again. He motioned to the picture. “But both these woman are so attractive, you’d wanna to play with both.” Phantom playfully stuck his tongue out at the end, to the humor of everyone.

“But they aren’t consouls.” Damian said in his voice. Phantom pulled out his phone and began pretending to text. The crowd and his kids laughed again. “The shirts their wearing have the consul logos on the—“ “What are you, some kind of furry?” Oh god how did he learn that? Another part of his brain knew that realistically it wasn’t that outlandish, but it felt like just yesterday he was eight and had brought home a cat he’d named after Alfred.

“You’re the one here wearing an animal costume.” Phantom still sounded judgmental, and for a second it was silent before Damian grabbed him and slammed his head into the wall. The crowd and his kids laughed again, and Drew Carey called scene. He looked back at his kids. Dick, Tim, Duke and Stephanie were sitting and roaring with laughter. Cass was kneeling down and trying to help Jason, who was curled into a ball on the ground and crying with laughter.

“I think the best part about this….” Drew started, but stopped to laugh again before continuing, “I think the best part about this is the implication that Batman knows enough about internet lingo to know what a furry is, but not enough to understand memes.” Damian nodded at him. “That is a true statement.” The crowd, and his kids, laughed again. He felt the dread grow at Phantoms motion for silence.

“I’ve had this one saved in my note app the day the interview was shared.” He grinned, before clearing his throat and speaking in Jokers voice. “You know, my father….”

Jason gasped and sat up, whispering in joyful disbelief, “oh my god.”

“…..was a gamer.”

Everyone began laughing so hard he almost couldn’t hear his brain imploding. Jason was choking on his tears, Colin Mochrie had his head on the table, Wendigo was looking around from her seat like a confused puppy. “….And a weeb.” Jason fell back and Cass was hovering, unsure if he was actually in pain or not. Dick dropped down to help, but he was also laughing so hard he was falling over.

“And one night….he got gassed up on his G-fuel CRAZIER than usual….” Fireworks began slamming her fist on the table, wheezing with excitement and leaning again Superboy, who was coughing on his laughter. “Mommy grabs the Wi-Fi to defend herself. He doesn’t like that….” He leans forward, grinning like a Cheshire Cat. “Not…..one……bit.”

“So….” Phantom almost broke character at Wayne Brady saying ‘I’m crying’ in a choked voice. “He takes out his phone and turns on his 4G.” Phantom was leaning forward so much Damian had to lean back. “He turns off the Wi-Fi on his PC and connects to his phone….” He leaned forward again, making Damian lean back even more. “….laughing while he does it.”

“My mother can’t stand the sight of him!” Jason and Dick were now laying next to each other, Cass making very worried hand motions. Stephanie was making calls and spreading the word of this live-stream. Duke looked dead. Tim was calling Conner to inform him of his little brothers whereabouts, also crying.

“She just wants to have dinner….TOGETHER….and not have him have KFC in his room anymore!” The crowd is roaring with laughter. Wendigo was chirping worryingly at Superboy, who was crying like Royal and Fireworks. Phantom watches the crowd laugh. “They eventually get a divorce.” This causes everyone to begin laughing again. Bruce felt like dying as his phone begins to ring, the caller ID telling him it was Barry Allen.

[poke-me-with-a-stick]

Chapter 29 of 'Artificial wingman'!

For the full story on ao3, click Here!

Enjoy!

---

Damian let the door shut quietly behind him, flipping the lock before he took a seat on the edge of the bathtub. Outside the bathroom, he could hear Jasmine and Danny playfully arguing about something mundane, their voices somewhat pleasant in terms of background noise. Jason had left not long ago, having said something about having some business that needed to be taken care of while he waited for their order to be filled.

He had sat in the living room, Danny's bag resting beside him, when something had caught his eye. Only now, alone in the bathroom, did he dare to take the pilfered object out of his pocket. a soft golden light engulfed his hands the minute he pulled it out, casting his face in a yellow glow when he brought it closer to examine.

The cure, a potion that cancels other potion effects on a person. In any other situation, he would find such a thing remarkable. Even now, he couldn't help but wonder if it would work on other magic-based effects, slightly in awe of how versatile it could potentially be. But that awe was tempered by the knowledge of what this jar was for in the first place.

He stared hard at the golden liquid, observing the way it swished and swirled in the jar, trails of what looked like a cross between glitter and stardust tracing hypnotic patterns in the thick solution. 'I could drink this right now,' the thought came unbidden, his fingers digging into the ridges on the lid slightly. Part of him wanted to. Wanted to twist the cap off and drain the contents. Wanted to prove, once and for all, that his feelings weren't just because of the potion.

Another part of him wanted to drop the jar like it had burned him. To throw the jar and watch the potion splatter uselessly onto the wall. Or swirl down the drain of the sink, any possible traces of it washed away by water, like it never existed. It couldn't have the chance to prove him wrong if it was gone, after all.

Damian did neither of those, instead sitting the jar down gently on the counter. Sighing, he allowed himself to drop his facade of calm and collectiveness. His shoudler's drooped with tiredness, his head dropping into his hands as he tried to sort out his feelings. Coming from an emotionally dysfunctional family didn't help him much when it came to feelings, but he tried his best not to fall back on his training.

He knew fear, it was a garantee to feel it at least once in a human life. But for a child assassin? Fear is something one becomes intimately familiar with. Maybe not his fear, but the fear of others. So he had little trouble identifying the fear that pushed forth the more... destructive ideas.

The determination and confidence that directly contradicted that fear were as much of a hindrance as they were helpful. Wilfulness is something that Damian had always displayed, even when he was loyal to his mother and Grandfather in the League.

Mother had always said that it was a trait from his father, a will of steel that kept his resolve for justice strong. Having lived with his father for a few years now, that wasn't hard to believe at all.

And now, in the midst of his conflicted feelings, he couldn't help but to fall back on that belief once again. It was different from suppressing his emotions, to instead focus all his being into the way he wished for things to turn out. If his will was half as strong as his father's, then Damian would have nothing to worry about. A little bit of fear wouldn't change thst.

Taking a deep breath, he raised his head from his hands and stood. The teen had no idea how long he had been sitting there on the edge of the tub, his legs tingling with the pins and needles feeling that always accompanied a loss of blood circulation. The apartment outside the bathroom had fallen quiet, only the chatter of the TV and the occasional shuffling of movement telling Damian that the siblings were still out there.

Picking the jar back up, Damian let his gaze trace the swirling golden patterns once more. He could drink it now, and be done with it. He could throw it and damn the consequences his actions would surely bring. But now was not the time for rash decisions. The most logical thing to do was to wait, and not force results. So for now, he would find a way to slip the jar back into it's poor hiding spot in Danny's bag, burried under the prizes from their arcade date, and enjoy the time he was given to spend with Danny. Because no matter if the potion worked or not, Danny would have to return home.

A knock on the bathroom door startled Damian from his thoughts, the teen fumbling with the jar as it slid from his hands. Heart pounding, his quick reflexes helped him re-capture the jar before it could smash on the tiled floor.

Breathing heavily, Damian stuffed the jar back into pocket and twisted the lock, throwing the door open. On the other side was Todd, his fist raised to knock again. The man blinked at him, lowering his fist to rest on his hip in a way that Brown would refer to as 'sassy'.

"There you are. You doin' okay, Demon brat? Danny said you'd been in there a while." Jason gave him a quick lookover, not moving from the doorway as he searched for possible hidden injuries.

Damian scoffed. "I am perfectly fine, Todd " He sniffed hauntingly as he shoved past the man, heading towards the living room.

"Alright, alright!" Todd tossed his hands up in the air in an exasperated manner following him down the hall. "Just making sure. It would suck if you died on me and left your boyfriend here all alone." Despite the teasing tone, Damian could detect the slight bit of serious concern radiating from him.

Before he could come up with a response that would calm his most volatile brother, Damian found himself in the living room. Danny turned around at the sound of their approach, a smile stretching his face and showing off a flash of those enticing fangs. "Robin!" He chirped excitedly. "Come sit down! Jason brought food back. I already put a vegetarian plate together for you."

Sure enough, as soon as Damian had settled onto the couch, Danny was shoving a plate of mouth watering food into his hands. The teen gave the plate an expiramental sniff before taking a bite, pleasantly surprised by the flavorful mouthful.

The teen couldn't help the small smile that quirked up his lips as he watched Danny dig into his own plate, his a mixture of both vegetarian and meat-ladened sides, though mostly vegetarian, with gusto. 'Yes,' he thought, taking another bite of his food, 'it was a good decision to hold off.'

The jar doesn't make to it's bag that night. Damian told himself that it was because Danny was too observant, that he would notice right away that something was out of place, no matter how meticulous Damian was with putting everything back. In reality, he ignored the fact that it was his own reluctance that kept the jar stashed in his pocket.

----

Back at the manor, Cass and Stephanie had begun phase one of 'Distract Dick, no matter the Cost'. Personally, Steph really liked the plan's name, but Cass insisted that it was a placeholder for the true name, still pending.

Steph crouched in the shadows, sight of her blocked by the wall she leaned against. The batcave itself was empty for the moment, Cass and Alfred having managed to spike Tim's decaf with melatonin and lead the boy up to one of the family rooms for a nap. But she knew her target would be here any minute

Sure enough, after ten minutes, Dick came Striding out of the locker room, nightwing suit snug across his chest as he made his way towards the corner she was hiding behind.

Taking a deep breath, Steph pulled her bowl away from her chest as she stood. Faking a jog, she waited until Dick began to round the corner before she struck. Purposely running into him, she let the bowl tip towards the man and slid from her fingers, dousing the blue and black of his suit in the most eye catching shade of pink she could whip up.

She let out a convincing shriek of surprise, forcing her feet to slide instead of catching herself. Landing on her butt, the girl was treated to the most amazing sight, a dumbfounded look on a bright pink Nightwing.

"Oh, god! Dick!" She stuttered in her hasty movements to get back up, selling the whole 'horrified Surprise' act even further. "I'm so, so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, and I was just gonna dye my hair in the sinks down here, 'cause Alfred threatened to make me scrub the upstairs sinks if I stained any of them bright pink, and- and- oh, I'm sorry!"

Her rambling apology seemed to snap him out of his stunned state, the man looking himself over for the fist time. "Hey, Steph, it's okay!" He grimaced when he saw the color, but tried to put on a calming smile as he reassured her. "It was an accident. We can just wash it out, m'kay?"

Steph almost couldn't believe how easy this was going. "Yes!" She exclaimed, tugging the man back towards the locker room. "Go and change out of it, and I'll get it clean in no time!" She didn't give the man much of a chance to protest, shoving him into the locker room and shutting the door behind him.

A few minutes later, and he had returned. Donning a t-shirt and jeans, he held out the costume for her to take. "I'll swing by later to pick it up, but for now I have to go and talk to some people." giving himself a once over, he nodded to her one last time before he made his way to the elevator.

She waited a few minutes, making sure that he was actually gone, before she took the elevator as well. Stepping out from behind the broken grandfather clock, she made sure the coast was clear before hurrying up the stairs and to one of the unused guest bathrooms.

Closing the door behind her, Stephanie turned and faced the silent girl that was already waiting for her. "Got it!" She smirks deviously, holding up the pink monstrosity that she had created. "How about you? Did you get the goods?"

Cass grinned back at her as she grabbed something from behind her. Turning back around, she proudly held up two complete nightwing suits for Steph to see.

"Nice!" Steph couldn't help but to laugh, already imagining the look on his face when he found all of his spares missing. "And you locked the storage room too?" Cass nodded her affirmation, miming a key locking before giving a thumbs up. "Perfect! Now that step one is done, I think we can safely move on to step two!"

Carefully, both girls peeked into the hallway, looking back and fourth for any wandering souls before declaring the coast clear. Moving with quiet efficiency that only a bat could accomplish, the pair made their way to a laundry room on the second floor. Honestly, Steph had no idea it was even here before, and would have just used the one down stairs, if not for Cass. Apparently, this laundry room was so seldom used that it was one of the places she went to when the hustle and bustle of the manor became too much.

Once the girls had reached their destination, Steph waisted no time in throwing the nightwing costume in the washer, purposely going against the washing instructions for their suits. Cold water instead of warm, a healthy dose of bleach, and about half a cup of the detergent that Alfred had told her was for their lounge wear only, instead of the one m0ade specifically for the kevlar- laddened fabric. Confident that the suit was probably done for now, she left her handiwork to finish on it's own. They still hand one last thing to do.

Turning to her partner in crime, Steph let her mischievous grin turn slightly more sinister. "Okay, now. Where can we hide Nightwing suits where they won't be found?" She asked, tucking the two spare costumes under her arm as she let Cass take the lead.

Walking confidently, the two wandered the mayor's maze of corridors, taking so many turns that Steph was sure her head would spin trying to remember them all. It's times like this that the girl is reminded how easy it would be to get lost in this place. How anyone could live gere without maps on the walls telling them where they are, Steph will never know.

After a few minutes of walking, they finally came to a stop in front of a closet. It looked like every other hallway closet they had passed, oak door with a shiny copper handle waiting to be opened and used as storage. There was nothing special about it, besides the fact that islt resided in a part of thr manor that usually went unvisited by anyone besides Alfred. And Cass, Steph supposes, because why else would she lead Steph halfway across the house when there were several perfectly usable closets on the way here?

She opened her mouth to ask the question on her mind, but Cass beat her to the punch. Pulling open the door, the raven haired girl crouched down and began to feel along the floor of the closet for something. Steph stepped closer, watching curiously as her fingers found purchas in a groove between the floorboards. With one swift move, she pulled upwards, the floor lifting with a low creak to reveal a small cavity hidden beneath.

Stephanie gasped in surprised delight, dropping to her knees beside Cass to examine the little hole. It was about three feet long, and two feet wide, forming a cute little cubby that ran only half a foot deep. The small space was empty, save for a few dust bunnies and a lone mothball rolled into the corner. It was perfect.

"Awesome find!" She praised her friend as she dropped the spare costumes in, letting Cass gently lower the panel back into place. Step two complete.

Standing back up, the girls dusted off their hands and knees before turning to head back to the laundry room. Their timing was amazing, as the washer cut off just as they passed the threshold.

Opening the washer, Steph was greeted by a bleach-splotched nightwing costume. None of the pink from the hair dye mixture surviced the wash, sadly, but it did an amazing job, turning the blue bird on the chest purple. Paired with the gray and tan-ish splotches decorating the shoulders and back, Steph was confident that it would be tossed into the storage room to gather dust with Discowing once this was all over.

Tossing the ruined costume into the dryer, Steph hopped up onto the slowly warming surface, kicking her legs happily. "How mad do you think Dick is gonna be when he finds out that this wasn't an accident?" She asked concersationally.

Cass brought her hand up to her chin, rubbing it contemplatively as she mulled over the question. Shrugging, she signed 'Probably not too mad. Not when he finds out it was for Damian's love life.'

Steph snickered, nodding. "Yeah, Dick is a huge softy. He'll probably forget all about this as soon as Damian tells him why. He always qets excited about these little milestones little Dami hits." She giggles again, the image of Dick fake swooning in front of Damian too funny for her.

Cass giggled quietly too, silently thinking about how Dick might get them back for this. While he would get distracted by Damian's love quest, he was not one to forgive and forget such actions. Sooner or later, the man would get his revenge on them, probably in an extremely embarrassing manner.

Cass couldn't wait.

---

(There might be some spelling/grammar mistakes, but it's okay because I tried my best!)

To all the lovely people who follow along, and the awesome person who made the prompt for this story:

@halfblackwolfdemon @manapeer @xxwintrynightzxx @im-totally-not-an-alien-2 @blu-lilac @academicpurposes @secretdestinywerewolf @passivedecept @naluforever3 @postit-nope @spiteismymiddlename @2t-productions @plague-daisy @feet-achy @bubblecookies16 @thesapphiredragon13 @justwannabecat @magicalcollecter @adeniumdream @amuseofminds @lupagrim @readerkayden @dr-syko-pharm-4 @ladythugs @angelheartgamer @markthespot68 @kyrianclawraith @michikoy-yuki @servasvictoria02 @your-emo-nightmare @vala-dreams @scarlett-green-rose @t1dwarrior-of-earth @charlie-the-frogie @akikoyuii @mysticalcomputerdetective @roseuniverse999 @im-totally-not-an-alien @thefearfullone @weird-droplet-309 @jaytriesstuff @raventao @jacquelynwinchester @dragongoblet @tlise21 @longlivethefallen @the-archer-goddess @temple-of-jalebi @adepresseddwightsblogofjunk @plainly-colorful @the-legalHe-shipper @49saltpeppershakers @igotafewbadideas @tumbling-darkling @sparklygardenbouquet @sarcastic-yami @blueneko9314 @starscreamlover @liedboutmurder @do3y @roze-realm @some-mildly-happy-human @yinari-uchiha @azuera @chaoticmistake @altairsarts @kawaiikenna @heartsong18 @thetoyboxs @tricksovertreats @mnemovoid @lim4b3ans @horribly-lost-and-gay @keimiwolf @dryeraseslime @joey394

[inverted-typo]

After drawing my last pic I can't stop thinking about them having to sneak out to see each other:

Maybe Raven isn't with the Titans and instead was taken in by Constantine. She spend her time living between the House of Mystery and an apartment Zatanna owns in Gotham. She's the most junior member of Justice League Dark.

Batman is already a little weary of her as she basically just showed up one day, but add on her demonic heritage and let's just say he isn't the biggest fan. However, in an unlikely team-up with Constantine and Batman, Raven and Robin meet. "She's harmless!" Constantine insists, completely aware of her world-ending abilities.

Damian is injured on this mission in a way that only magic can truly relieve him. Despite Bruce's hesitancy Raven saves him; thus creating that empathetic bond. Batman is grateful for saving him, but that doesn't shake his distrust of her in the slightest. Damian is told to keep clear of her and that they won't be collaborating again.

Clearly that doesn't happen. The two can't stop thinking about each other after that. When they dream, they see glimpses into the memories of one another. They can feel what the other is feeling when those emotions are too intense. It becomes impossible to ignore. After doing some digging in the Bat Computer, Damian learns as much as he can about her. He learns her human alias, he learns about her history, what limited knowledge they know of her powers. He learns about Trigon. He learns about how the Justice League refused to help her. Further investigation proves it was Batman who was the first to opt for not helping her.

Something ignites in Damian and suddenly he just realizes he needs to see her again. It's been like two months since that first and only encounter.

If she would have lived across the country in Jump City or somewhere further, he would've happily stolen the jet. But, thankfully, he noticed the local address and hoped she was home. (Damian would be fucked if she lived only in the House of Mystery)

Thankfully, she was home. Then things just snowball from there. Usually Damian sneaks out of his house to meet with her, because well, it's fun. But mostly, it somehow seemed more dangerous for Raven to suddenly teleport into Wayne Manor.

She's been told by Constantine and Zatanna that this newest Robin was not friendly and was extremely loyal to the Bat, so for her own sake it was probably best to keep her distance. She had briefly brought up that she thinks she made an empathic connection when she healed him. It was more the circumstances that kept them worried rather than the principle. Plus, Constantine thinks he's a prick so she'd be wasting her time anyways.

Despite both being superheroes, they rarely ever saw each other in costume. Raven never patrolled in Gotham, only lived there sometimes. Her business was usually in much more mysterious places. Damian on the other hand was hard to spot. The bats really did take to the shadows. Although from her room balcony, Raven could swear she'd occasionally see a familiar flash of yellow and red darting across rooftops a few buildings away.

This goes on for months. Raven was nervous she'd raise suspicion when she started spending a majority of her time in Gotham instead of the House. Sometimes, Damian had to actively act more brood-ish than he was actually feeling to keep his father's intuitive gaze distracted.

Damian has definitely used the "I'm patrolling with Jon" excuse when he didn't have a good opportunity to sneak out.

When they were feeling risky, sometimes Damian would deadass show up on her balcony in his costume (or not). Usually this was after a particularly bad day. Raven never teleported to the Wayne manor except for once, when she too had experienced something so bad she just needed to see him.

The nice thing about having a girlfriend who can teleport you literally anywhere in the world and beyond, is they got to have movie nights in New York, dinner dates in Italy, or simply a walk on the beach in Jump City. Despite the lavishness of their dating, they sometimes wished they didn't have to sneak around so they could just lounge together at home, order pizza and fall asleep to trash TV.

They're both sure their parents probably knew about it, but their lack of beratement from said authorities seemed to contradict that theory.

In a turn of events they are set up to work on a mission again and they’re reintroduced.

“You remember Raven yes?”

“…Yep.”

[gingkos-eldritch-secret]

Fanfiction commentary and recommendations: Lex Luthor´s ascend from supervillainy to fatherhood Part II (chapters 6 to 10)

For the (probably nonexistent) person who wants to know where to find the other parts:

Part I

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

What follows is the commentary for the next few chapters. For the simple reason that i have not yet named it as part of why this fanfiction is so good: It has a pretty decent (read: for a normal person a quite long) chapter lenghth - perfect for just cuddling up somewhere with a mug of tea or any other hot beverage of choice and keep on reading. As the full lenghth of this fic has as of this day reached around 500k words and there are still 59 to go you, there is still quite a bit to discuss!

I do hope I don´t just regurgitate the story itself, but we´ll see how it goes.

I want to try to include some things that may count as spoilers. I´ll put the spoilers in using this:

So if you see this - there may or may not be a spoiler here but at least you can ignore the text if it important to you?

○○○••○○•••○○••○○○

Okay so there´s been a time jump between the fifth and sixth chapters. And what do we see? Danny as well as Lex struggling with a few important revelations.

The first one being Danny even realizing that: yes, he actually IS smart. Who would ever question that with the number of languagges Danny even speaks? And with all the knowledge he has about astrophysics? Or even how he is able to tinker with his parent´s weapons and actually understanding them? But no.

Our boy has been told he was the dumb one in the family for long enough, that is was an actual surprise for him to realize how well he has placed in his placement tests. And it does break my heart a little to know what must have gone down to behave like that …

But that´s only just really scratching the surface, isn´t it? Because what follows is Lex being a worried parent and realizing that his son has been left reeling with a realization.

Because Danny, now that school is about to start again, knows that he can´t just leave soon anymore. He has built somewhat of a life in this dimension. He as people he cares about. He´s about to continue his schooling here. And our boy? Has not wanted to think about the repercussions.

So here he sits. In his room. Devastated after months in this dimension because … he´s happy here. He´s happy and he doesn´t want to be happy. Doesn´t want to be safe because this? This isn´t home. And how my heart hurts when I read this.

A child should feel save at home. They shouldn´t be forced to literally fight for this sense of safety. But he was. And now all of this tension is just gone and it feels good and in a way he feels as if he´s betraying his family and friends. Which I completely understand. But - he should get to feel save too.

What I do find a funny kind of satisfaction in is just how Lex continues to bash Danny´s parents. Because as bad as it sounds: it´s all the truth. And that it is probably just makes it a much harder pill to swallow. Poor boy, but he´ll understand. Someday. Probably?

All in all: this chapter is just such a wholehearted conversation that I´m a bit sad to see it go. But it just gets better from there because it continues with a mind controlled superman and Danny deciding he´s got to do something about it. Which he does. By absolutely beating the living daylights out of him. Lex gets a very satisfying video out of it and by god, is the fight scene nicely written. Another wonderful little thing to point out is how lex explains to Danny how 'Superman´s been mind controlled again' and then just does not stop bashing him xD Wonderful scene tbh, i need more of snarky Lex!

After the fight? The Justice League gets CURIOUS. And a curious justice league? I don´t know if that would do Danny all too much good, not that they care at this point. He could be a danger after all.

And to be honest? I fear for the day they may try and interrogate Danny as Phantom. Though I have not yet decided if I fear more for Danny or the League. He´s slightly (very) unhinged after all.

Also: Danny lands on the news! And on Twitter! And oh my god, does Twitter have THINGS to say about the whole thing.

And boy oh boy - Twitter loves Danny! From his looks to his smarts and his relationship with Lex or his sassiness: everything gets discussed and it´s just so funny to see this happening from an outside point of view xD

What also follows is the funniest Twitter discourse i have seen in a while. It does include Danny non-stop snarking at Lex so it is an absolute win for me xD

Also: people find out about his and Cass´relationship and they are very enthusiastic about it. Or at least, that´s one way to put it xD

Even though it´s only friendship. For now. I swear to god they´re not gonna stay friends for long before they´re in a committed relationship with each other.

Which Bruce apparently also knows. He´s already plotting the shovel talk. Is it bad that i want to see that discussion go down?

Alfred just being the absolute sweetheart that he is being like 'Cassandra can can take care of herself silly son'. It´s just so wholesome?

And with that Arc I ENDS. And it was such a sweet arc :3 Full of heart for sure and the fun also did not get the short end of stick - superman got it instead xD

It´s not the end however as we get to the first interlude, which shows us how Jazz is dealing with the whole situation. 'Not good' may be an understatement to be honest.

She has to accomodate so many things: what her parents did to Danny, what they did (and also did not) do while they were 'raising' them, how to deal with the negelct and sometimes borderline abuse, how to deal with college and how to search for her brother without losing either herself or her connection to her friends and family…

What probably does not help is that his disappearance has created a rift between Tucker and Sam that seems to get worse as time goes on.

And Jazz? She seems lost. A classic case of older sibling syndrome, not furthered by her study into psychology. She´s spreading herself thin trying to help. Has been doing so for years at this point and to be honest? It feels as if she´s about to snap.

What she does feel for sure is lost. And i can relate. I really, really do. I mean i may not have been in such a dire situation yet (knock on wood), but … i can kind of feel her despair and sadness over these circumstances: She wanted to do more. To help more, but also to finally be free of this burden. She feels as if it´s her fault Danny died. That it´s her fault she couldn´t bring him back. And doesn´t that just mirror Danny´s whole 'I must save the town because i turned on the portal' sacrificial mindset?

The surely are much more similar to each other than they probably think. And if they are gonna see each other again? There are many tears and conversations to be had…

[dcfanficsgallore]

Didn't Plan for This: Chapter 3

Wonder Woman x Demigod!Fem!Reader

Warnings: Guns, punches, mention of blood

4.9k words

Chapter 2

Masterlist

Summary: This is your chance to impress the Justice League, you hope everything goes well…

A/N: Merry Chritsmas! I did not think this would be out before the end of the year. I discovered I have a VERY hard time imagining things that aren't conversations. So a fight of this scale was SUPER hard. I'll probably avoid fights like this in the future. But still I hope you enjoyed it. Drawings of the machines and monsters are coming in the future <3

I opened my eyes when the machine stopped glowing and sure enough, we were back in New York. As soon as we got out I realized we were standing in a different part of the city ‘multiple teles so you can always have a way out, nice!’ I thought. 

Diana looked at me with a serious expression on her face.

- What do you know of the Intergang? - she asked 

- I know that they are bad, at least that’s what the TV news says - I racked my brain for information about this gang but my knowledge about the criminal world was not the best.

- That’s all you need to know about them, but also, that they have access to weapons that are not from our world so we need to approach carefully - she said picking me up for another flight, I noticed that she said we needed to approach with care but I knew she meant that I needed to be careful - You might want to think strategies to fight big guys with big guns - she looked down at me and smiled.

- Do we have backup? - I asked, needing all the information I could get my hands on. This was a pretty big step up from my building falling and I didn’t have any plans that accounted for that. 

She told me we were going to meet up with Batman and Cyborg a little bit outside of the fight, happening in a secluded part of Central Park, so that we could strategize but that Superman and Flash were already fighting a few of them, as the Integang apparently had some kind of earth minions that were heading towards the city and meant harm to civilians.

She also told me that Intergang had a couple of people that were the “Brains” of the operation - she used air quotes while we were flying and that was a scare that we laughed off - so without them the gang would likely scatter but that would mean they would guard the hell out of them.

As we approached the rooftop that Batman and Cyborg were on, my nerves were going through the roof. Diana must’ve felt my heartbeat on her chest when I held onto her a little more tightly, she whispered in my ear.

- Don’t worry, you’ll do fine, just talk to them like you talk to me and they’ll treat you like a peer. - she said as a way to calm me down, which worked. Her accent and the low tone of her voice made for a great tranquilizer.

- You're probably right - I said, taking in a deep breath and silently praying to Athena for strength and the ability to not get tongue-tied in front of earth’s protectors.

We landed 8.3 feet away from them and immediately I could feel Batman glaring at me and Cyborg studying every aspect about me. He was about to say something when Diana spoke first.

- This is Y/N, she is my friend. I have seen her first-hand act like a hero out of her own accord, intentionally putting herself in danger so that she could save others. I trust her. - This seemed to be enough to silence them both Batman sending me one last distrusting glare before returning his attention to the Robot-Man pulling up a detailed hologram of the area that the fight was taking place in, complete with little Earth-Warriors and little frozen miniatures of Superman and Flash. 

Looking from the building to the part of the park they were fighting - a couple of miles down the building - the two heroes seemed to be holding their own, but a big detail that was both in the hologram and painfully obvious from where I was standing was the huge machine pumping out the Earthlings. It looked like a 20 foot tall virus with a cannon spitting out Earthlings as they were created, when it did, the ground shook. - less than the earthquake from a few days back - It was clear it was taking materials from the earth to make these things. I turned back to the group just in time to see Diana receiving some kind of order from Batman, she looked displeased but nodded. When I got close to group she said

- I’m gonna go try and slow those things down, they are not as big as last time. - she said quietly - Apparently the giant machine is made from something truly unbreakable so our only chance is you three coming up with a way to stop the machine from digging to the center of the earth making those dirt-people. I trust you all will be able to do so without taking too much time. - She looked at me and that look told me that she trusted the other two not to shun me out, so I nodded, trusting her heart.

Diana’s look hardened until I realized that was her Wonder Woman look, she was on a mission, and no one was going to stop her. She flew towards the fight and Batman turned to me.

- Wonder Woman might trust you with her heart, but I judge a person based on their brain. Who are you? - His look compelled me to say everything about me and I wondered if he truly had no powers as everyone said.

- I’m Y/N L/N, a daughter of Athena, the goddess of Wisdom, War and Battle Strategy. I am the Chief of Security at my company though my boss doesn’t know of my heritage. Only my best friend knows my secret. - I said looking into his eyes so he knew I was telling the truth.

I left out the part of me sending the Hall of Justice a mountain of plans and contingencies as I didn’t know if they had ever seen them. Apparently Cyborg had other ideas, because when I stopped he said.

- She’s the one who’s been sending plans to make the world safe for so long - He spoke looking into space, either looking into the League’s records or not wanting to see the glare I sent him.

Batman ‘hmm’d and just nodded turning back to the holograph, I had done well… Yes! I thought to myself.

- First things first - he said not looking away from the hologram - Cyborg won’t be able to get too close, they have tech that overrides his systems, making him unable to use his robot parts - Cyborg looked at me and nodded sadly. - So our plan will have to work without him to back us up.

- So… Can you see who is controlling the machine? Do they have a base? Or a control panel? - I asked hopeful to get a weak point that we could target

- Yes. - Batman said - The machine must be controlled by Ugly Mannheim, the leader, he’s holed up somewhere around there but my and Cyborg’s scanners aren’t picking him up. But he must be close enough so he can still order his men around and get a lookout on the operation - He said Mannheim’s name without an ounce of irony so that must be what he goes by all the time. Poor guy…

I thought through all the options and looked at the hologram, noticing a distinct lack of goons in one flank. It was small enough that they wouldn’t notice but worrying enough so that it would take just a single soldier to- 

- There! - I said pointing at the space. We needed to find the remote but until we could pinpoint the leader, our focus had to be on the goons and Earthlings. - Can you ask Flash to go through there? He should be able to get behind them and split their attention long enough so we can make more holes in their line, that should make them easier to dispose of.

Batman and Cyborg stared at the map, looking for mistakes on my plan, I know it. When they seemed to not find anything to complain about, Batman put a finger to his mask and said through his comm.

- Flash, I need you to go through the hole they have in their defenses a few yards out from your position. - He stayed silent and I assumed Flash was saying an acknowledgement.

I looked out from the edge of the building and saw that the goons were starting to look around more, meaning that their attention was split between the supers in front and behind them. The Earthlings didn't seem to care, only seeming concerned with getting to the city, but Superman was taking care of them.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw Cyborg holding a little earpiece

- It’s one of our communication devices, that way you don’t have to wait for the Bat to say your plan and maybe butcher it. - He said with a smile, I smiled back and put the device on my ear.

Immediately I was able to hear the battle. We weren’t losing, but not making progress. The goons being taken care of was all well and good, but the machine was still pumping Earthlings out and making the city shake more and more. Nothing like the shake that almost destroyed my building, which was starting to worry me.

I was going back to the map when I realized Batman was not here anymore and Cyborg gave me a sympathetic look

- He does that, but he’s right there - He pointed to the mini-batman on the map.

- Oh, okay. Did he tell you his plan - I asked, but the shake of his head told me this was gonna be difficult. Looking at the trajectory told me that his target was the machine, he might want to study it before trying something big. But the monsters coming out of it might prove to be a challenge for the Dark Knight.

- He’s gonna run into the earth-guys - Cyborg stated. Itching to go down and help.

- Batman, seven Earthlings right ahead. You’re gonna run into them in seconds. - I said into the comm device

- Earthlings? - I heard what I thought was Flash saying and chuckle - I like it. Who is the new girl?

- Y/N - I heard Diana say - She’s a good planner, I suggest you all listen to her. And I also like Earthlings - She chuckled before being cut-off by what I can only assume was a dirt punch.

- Better than the Bat? - A voice that could only belong to Superman said, it was pretty obvious that he wanted Diana to say it. - You know he has files on all of us and the best way to take out each of us - He chuckled, I didn’t that sounded like major trust issues. But they all laughed along so I assumed this was old news and none of them believed they needed those plans.

- I don’t know if she is as paranoid! - Diana tossed it back, chuckling, everyone’s spirits seemed to be uplifted until…

big earthquake. No, not again

- Look out! - I heard flash say and looking at the map it seemed that the Bat was on top of the machine.

I could see it for a second as the building we were on started to crumble and I only had a moment to notice the map before Cyborg picked me up and flew us down. But the quake must’ve knocked something into place for us because I saw someone that was not with the League somewhat close to me and Cyborg, he had to have felt it too because I looked at him when we landed and he immediately knew what I was going to do.

- I can’t go with you. - He said maybe expecting me to wait for the others but that plan was thrown out the window when…

A roar, an actual roar

A creature literally burst through the machine, that was one problem dealt with, but now the beast was bigger than the machine and also angry, whatever Batman did solved one problem but created another. The creature started to make its way towards the city before being pushed back by superman.

- I’m going - I said, he nodded. I touched my ear - Diana, Cyborg and I think we saw the one controlling all this and I’m going after them. - she started to say no but I cut her off - You guys are busy with the monster, whoever has the remote is busy making the creature fight you guys, this is our best chance. - I got her to agree with me and I started to run to where I saw this person.

I knew I got them when I started to hear the cursing and rustling of leaves. I immediately went to a crouch and began creeping towards the sound.

- Stupid heroes - a female voice said - The boss won’t be happy when he hears that his machine was destroyed. - she said.

- Shouldn’t we call him so he can get us out of here? - Another voice said. It was a male voice and he seemed nervous. I couldn’t blame him

- Not before we make the Big Boy crush the heroes - she said, and that was all I needed to hear before pulling out my enchanted dagger and doing something I shouldn’t have done without practice.

We Athena kids have weird abilities, having a good knowledge of distance without a ruler is just one of them, it’s also the one I’m best at. Another one that I have been practicing is being able to “see” through an owl’s eyes, it’s not seeing per se but more, using the owl’s perception of the place to be aware of my surroundings. But saying I can see, while easier, would be a lie.

I also say I have been practicing but that doesn’t mean I’m good at it, it usually ends with me having a nose bleed and being very aware of some rats on the alley behind my house.

But this time it had to be different, I saw an owl on top of the tree I was hiding behind, she must have a nest there and didn’t seem to be afraid of the strange people on her turf.

I took a deep breath and concentrated, imagining myself on top of the tree and seeing the intruders on my turf, I stopped listening through my ears and concentrated on the voices of these strangers that should leave.

I became aware of three people around me, one behind my tree that gave me a sense of familiarity and two others in front of my home, they shouldn’t be here, I remembered seeing them get here after leaving a strange smoking bush. The woman, tall with red hair, seemed angry with the muscly, tall man but their fighting stopped as soon as the big Earth-Man burst through the strangest and biggest bug I’ve ever seen. The man got a box with a huge antenna out of the bush and started fiddling with it, the woman telling him to crush the heroes before my nose started bleeding. Wait, that’s not the owl’s thoughts!

My nose started bleeding and I lost my concentration but I already had everything I needed, so I got ready to jump out of my hiding place. They were alone, which was weird but I wasn’t gonna question my good luck.

As soon as I jumped out I immediately threw my magical dagger at the controller so they couldn’t make the monster hurt the heroes anymore. I jumped on top of the brute and using my weight brought him down, crossing my legs on his neck hopefully cutting his airway, he seemed surprised to be brought down by a woman smaller than in such little time but he quickly got his thoughts together and reached for my legs but using my hands I reached for his wrist and twisted it around, making him scream.

After the initial shock wore off, the red headed woman started to pull out her gun, I noticed that and started to reach for my dagger still stuck to the controller, it was about 3 meters away from me and I had no time to dislodge it from the machine. So I just threw the whole thing at her, using all my strength it hit her on her head bringing her down, but she was still not out.

The man was still trying to get off of him but his efforts had been slowing down since I broke his wrist, to speed up this process I gave him a well placed punch on the temple knocking him out. 

Quickly jumping onto my feet I grabbed his… Gun? It looked like a gun but not any caliber I’ve seen. It didn’t have a magazine so I couldn’t see if it was loaded, it was decorated with the same red details on black metal that the giant machine had. I didn’t have much time to study it when the woman started to get up, a cut on her forehead from where my improvised club got her, I pointed the gun at her and said.

- Stand down Manheim - It was a guess but she seemed to be in charge and maybe Batman got her gender wrong.

She looked at me and laughed

- Ugly ain’t here, he’s back at the base - she gave a glance towards the controller with the dagger inside it.

- How do I make the giant stand down? - I asked as the battle continued behind me, I refused to take my eyes off of this woman?

- Why should I tell you? - she said with a smirk that made my blood boil.

Just as I was about to respond she reached around her back and shot at me, I ducked and the shot hit the tree behind me, taking a chunk off of it and leaving a smoking hole behind.

She took the opportunity to start running away, with me taking off right at her heels, I thought about shooting her but after seeing what this thing had done to the tree I didn’t feel comfortable shooting her without it being fatal. But then inspiration struck just as we turned a corner and I saw a very big branch on a tree, right as she ran under it I shot it, pinning her down as the branch fell on top of her, knocking her gun away from her hand.

- Now, will you tell me how to make the giant Earthling stop? - I asked her, crouching down to be at eye level 

She glared me but I kept my gaze sturdy, eventually she looked down to the ground and said

- You could never control it without the device that you broke - she said in a low voice.

- Stay here, I’ll be right back - I said making my way back to the device 

- Please, take your time - she yelled while I ran back

When I got to the spot where I had my fight I saw that the controller wasn’t really broken, even with the knife I threw at it, it looked like it was regenerating from the scuffle. I pulled my dagger out and it quite clearly repaired itself from the damage. The brute was still passed out but I still tied him up with some vines generously donated by my owl friend.

When I got back the red head was very surprised to see the controller in pristine shape.

- How did you… - she started but I cut her off.

- How do I make it stop? - I used my most dangerous look.

- I don’t know… - she said gulping - we were only told what buttons makes the machine and the Mineral Soldiers ‘Go’ not how to stop it - I groaned 

- That’s just great! - I said a little too angrily, making her cower a little, before getting an idea - What buttons makes it go?

- Oh you press that and hold the lever in the direction you want it to go - She showed me and it was super close to how you usually drive a car in a game, better for me I guess  - What are you going to do?

- It’s a little dirty, I’m thinking it could a swim in the lake - I said smirking

- NO! You can’t! - She said, panicking a little. She started to shake under the log that pinned her down.  - My boss will kill me! 

- Maybe I could have a talk with him if you tell me where he is. I’m sure he’ll listen to reason - I responded, more focused in making the giant Earthling take a dive.

- You would die before ever getting to see him. - She continued to try and get out from under her branch. - I’m gonna kill you myself as soon as I get out of here

I stopped listening to her, concentrating entirely in turning the giant to sludge. The lake became closer to the giant, the League having stopped their assault on the thing when it became clear its primary target wasn’t the city anymore.

Once it stepped into the water it very quickly started to become smaller until the lake started to overflow with all the mud and minerals that made up the Earthling.

- Y/N the Earthling just took a dive, literally - I heard Flash say - Do you know what happened?

- It’s best if you all get over here, it’ll be easier to explain - I said letting out a huge sigh while looking over at the strange woman that was still screaming about my death while making no progress on the large piece of wood on top of her.

After I finished my explanation of the events, Batman and the Flash rounded the two crooks up while Diana and I went over to check out the technological bush that hid them from both Batman and Cyborg, Superman flew around the park and city to make sure nobody was injured too much from the earthquake that destroying the machine caused.

As Diana and I approached the mechanical bush she started look at me more, before saying:

- You took down two intergang members by yourself, knocked one down, trapped the other and led the giant to its doom? 

I blushed hard and shrugged

- I mean, it all happened so fast I feel like I wasn’t even in control. Just reacting to everything. I also had a little help from the owl that lives here. - I smiled shyly

- Still, you had the guts to go up against two hardened criminals and their dirt monster with only a knife and your wits? You are a true warrior. - she smiled proudly and I could see a little admiration in her eyes. 

- She told her goon to kill you, all of you, I couldn’t let that happen. - I told her a little exasperated - Not when we still have a date to finish. - I finished throwing a smile.

She giggled.

- I have to say, I didn’t think this was how our date was going to go, but I’m glad you didn’t shy away from a battle, especially one so close to home.

- New York won’t be my home for long. But still, I owe it to the city - She looked like she was going to ask what I meant by that but we got to the place the two members were using to duck the League’s scanners.

It looked like a… I don’t actually know what on earth it was, never seen anything like it. The best way to describe it would be a large cube hastily hidden with branches and leaves. I had a big crack on the side and it seemed that the perp was a particularly large durian, I didn’t even know those came from trees. 

I looked at Diana to see if she recognized the thing but her expression told me nothing, so I just shrugged and went in.

Going inside didn’t help with my confusion, there was a console with many buttons and levers that I was not brave enough to press. The walls were made of the same weird black metal the controller was made of and the red details were abundant, there was a cracked screen in front of the console that flickered with images of the outside. In english on a little screen on the console it said: “hull damaged turning off camouflage”. And what I assume was the same thing but in an alien language right next to it.

- We should leave - Diana said abruptly 

- What! Why? 

- This is apocoliptikan tech highly dangerous, you should not be here. WE should not be here. - she started to usher me out.

- What does that mean? Why are you so scared? 

- It means those two are working for someone far more powerful than you can imagine, this is probably not even the full power of the machine we destroyed. It was most likely a prototype.

- A prototype capable of causing massive earthquakes? Who can do such a thing? - I asked, as we met up with Flash, Batman and Cyborg who could get near us now with the machine destroyed.

- We don’t know. - Batman said simply.

- What we know is that my tech comes from the same place, that’s why I had to stay or else we’d risk me going berserk on all of us - Cyborg explained.

- What we can do is take all of this tech to Star Labs, so they can study it - Flash said picking up the remote from the ground

- Your job here is done Y/N. You have impressed us with your wit and battle prowess. - Batman said, making me blush very hard. By the looks of the others, compliments aren’t usually given out by the Bat.

- Y-yeah rookie, you did very well in taking down both of them by yourself - Cyborg said in a stupor probably caused by Batman’s surge of compliments

- All right guys, give her space. She must be tired from having just beaten up two hardened criminals by herself - Diana said, starting to pull me away from the group.

- One more thing - Batman said walking up to us - If you ever want to get into this life, I’m sure Wonder Woman would be willing to show you the ropes. And when you’re ready, you call this number - He gave me a card that was all blank except for a phone number in the middle.

At this point, being so close to Diana and having Batman try and initiate me into the superhero life. I couldn’t trust my mouth to not say something stupid so I just nodded.

- Y/N, would you like to go to your place? - Diana whispered in my ear and I nodded again, feeling us take off and seeing the guys start to get smaller all I could think was how insane all this was.

While we were flying, I held onto Diana and stayed quiet. It was comfortable silence, just me, her, and the sounds of the city below us. I lived quite far away from Central Park so the consequences of the quakes started to disappear as we got closer to my apartment. 

When we got there she put me down in front of the door and said

- You’re delivered… - She chuckled awkwardly 

- Yeah, would you like to come in? - I asked without thinking - I mean… If you want to use the bathroom or something, I know you didn’t when we were in Greece nor when we were in the battle, I guess. - Nailed it!

She laughed and said

- No thank you, I’m sure I’m needed back at the site of the fight. But know that I had a very good time on our date. - She said smiling

- I-I also had a good time, I never felt like I did when I was fighting those two. The rush is…

- Nothing like you ever felt before. - She completed - I know how you feel.

- I guess this is goodbye then. 

- I’ll call you tomorrow when all of this is taken care of then we can- - I cut her off by getting on my tippy toes and kissing her.

The kiss was everything I imagined and more, after getting over her initial shock she quickly reciprocated it, we felt so in sync and right with each other. 

After air became too much of a necessity for both of us we parted, I stopped tip toeing and just smiled at her. She also had the biggest smile on her face. Right now, we were just hugging.

- I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait for the next date at this moment. - I said into her shoulder.

- I couldn’t either, but I didn’t know if you wanted it to be this fast. - She said, resting her chin on top of my head.

We separated and after one last peck on her lips I said

- Call me as soon as you get home.

- Yes ma’am - she replied chuckling

And with that, I went into my building and started to make my way into my apartment.

As soon as I went inside I was tackle- hugged by Ana

- Thank god you’re okay Y/N. I saw the news and when they showed Wonder Woman I just knew you were also in there. I was so scared you were gonna get hurt or worse… - She said as tears started to trickle down from her eyes. 

- Hey Ana. I’m okay, there’s nothing to worry about. I’m just really tired and in dire need of a shower. How about we have dinner and tomorrow I’ll tell you everything? Okay?

She sniffled.

- Okay, I’ll put on our favorite show and we’ll rewatch that. I’m gonna make us some popcorn. You go take your shower. - She said after giving me one last hug and letting me go.

As I was getting ready to shower I noticed in my pocket the card Baman gave me, after staring at it for a while, all I could think was

what comes next?

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

Chapter 4

[akariamai]

Agony

You don’t particularly remember how your symbiote, Agony, managed to find itself lodged and bonded to your body. The details of that night were nothing but a blurry memory and Agony changes the subject whenever you decide to voice out your questions and concerns. You’ve only received bits and pieces from the alien’s past. Brief mentions of previous hosts and having spawned from a father figure of sorts. The details of the past are somewhat convoluted that Agony feels like it is unimportant to discuss. They mention the past is filled with plenty of misjudgements and miscalculations  that they are forced to endure. It only brings up more questions you’d rather ask as they relish in the delightful taste of chocolate.

Agony warned you of the white Martian that paraded herself within the team. Her caring and sweet appearance masked the potential danger she was to others. Especially with her shown carelessness of manipulating the minds of others, often shattering their minds, without an ounce of guilt for her actions. It worried Agony of the possible knowledge she held of the symbiote and the challenge she potentially would be in the near future. You took this warning with stride. Ensuring to keep a reasonable distance from the Martian. Granted distance did not matter however, it made Agony a bit less restless. 

The members of the team were still wary about you. You and your intentions were nevertheless a mystery. All they knew was that a member of the Justice League thought you would benefit from socializing with other young heroes and would prove to be a valuable ally for the team. That member also provided the necessary amounts of phenethylamine in a variety of foods to help salivate Agony’s hunger and prevent them from potentially going on a murder spree.

Conversations with Agony had to be inconspicuous as they did not want to startle her news teammates with the news of her well-hidden companion. But there are times where you would speak out loud and someone manages to hear. Luckily they brush it off, believing you are merely speaking to yourself, most likely due to your other teammate Jaime Reyes. Jaime was the holder of the Scarab. to which Agony had a lot to say about its capabilities, and is thought to be a bit odd as he talks and argues with the scarab audibly. He’s one of the only members that actively attempts to spark conversation. One that genuinely wants to learn more about you and not searching for more background on your person. 

“How were you mustered onto this team?” You asked one uneventful day, “I find it hard to believe the scarab would trust any hero here.” 

Jaime rubbed the back of his neck and nervously chuckled, “Um… Cassandra and Nightwing kinda sprung the team on me. Insisting I should join due to certain reasons.” They used Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle before him, as a talking point. “And you’re right the scarab was not fond of trusting them as they were mere strangers to us. Luckily everything worked out for us in the end even if Scarab still does feel annoyed about the entire situation and how I handled myself.”

You laughed at the thought of strangers walking up to you and proposing a spot on the team. It’s an unbelievable story that if anyone else tried to sell it as truth would be scoffed at. “That’s fair. I wouldn’t have trusted them in that situation.”

“I would have bit their heads off.” Agony exclaimed and you felt relieved that you were not presented with this predicament. Two dead heroes will not look good for your and Agony’s record. It would also be disgusting to watch as Agony chews on their decapitated heads. You learned from experience how playful Agony can be with their food and chills run down your spin every time your mind wanders to those times.

You thought of telling Jaime that you, too, harbored an alien. His loneliness was considerably prevalent when he spent most of his days, when not on missions and participating in his civilian life, observing the holograms of the deceased Blue Beetle. Agony rejected this idea as they believed the scarab would find them as a threat and a fight would ensue. “Jaime does not have the self-control necessary to hold back the scarab in the presence of a potential threat. Any sign of elevated hormones will unnerve it.”

“Do you…” You started to rethink your decision but the words have already incited out of your mouth, “Do you want to see my powers and meet someone who is important to me?”

He knew that you have not shown anyone your capabilities as you’ve been barred from participating in any team missions and have yet to spar anyone of the team during training. He was elated that you trusted him enough to open up even if it is minimal. “Um… okay.” As hard as he tried, the enthusiasm could be heard through the elevation of his voice though he did try to appear nonchalant about the entire situation.

“Jaime met Agony.” Smooth oily liquid appeared out of your skin and clothing and a set of dangerously sharp teeth captivated Jaime. Whether it was due to fear or not was only known by the scarab and his host. It’s white uncanny eyes, which reminded him of a killer whale, pierced through what was remaining of his soul. There was no semblance of the person he was just speaking to. They’d disappeared somewhere within this frightening monster.

“Hello.” His voice was deeper than Jaime had imagined when it graced him with its presence. The abnormal teeth filled grin ostentatiously intimidated the poor boy. “We are Agony.”

Masterlist

[nerdpoe]

To Fail and to Succeed chapter 3

Part One, Part Two, AO3

Bruce was having a very hard time focusing on the questions he was being asked.

Dick still wasn’t calming down, Jason was hovering just out of reach and desperately trying to hide his fear. He knew the second Damian was told something had happened to him, knew that Tim had woken up and was drowning his anxiety in work, Duke was fighting back a flashback of his own parents, and Cassandra was boarding an early flight back to Gotham.

The problem was that he knew all of this, but no one had told him any of it. He just knew.

He was distantly aware that Daniel Fenton was getting more and more annoyed, as were Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley; but it wasn’t with the same certainty that it was with his own children.

“Mr. Wayne?”

He forced his attention to return to Wally, and distantly noted that he felt nothing of the knowledge he had for his own kids. It was isolated to his family then, or those he viewed as children needing his protection, given the faint echoes he was getting from Daniel and his friends.

“Yes?” 

Another thing Bruce knew; much like Jason, his current levels of stress were reflecting in the intensity of how bright his eyes glowed. At the moment, he could see a dull cast of green light on Flash’s mask.

“You can’t focus on the nice doctor. Wanna tell us why?”

Easy. Bruce just had to make it a mission report, that was all.

But Duke had just lost the battle and needed someone, and he was in a different state, and Jason was also losing his own fight against his fear, and Dick-

That was it. He needed to take control. The doctors were Justice League approved and sworn to secrecy. Daniel and his friends were in a different room, were distracted, and wouldn’t hear what happened in his own room. 

“Jason,” he started, turning his toxic gaze to his prodigal son, “Call Duke, he needs someone right now. Dick, call Damian and describe the situation to him; calm him down. Tim, I know you’re watching through the cameras; put down the coffee pot and go back to sleep. Barbara, lock him out of the batcomputer, and please tell Cass that the flight is unnecessary.”

The influx of information ceased, just for a moment, as his children reeled in shock. Bruce took advantage of the brief quiet, and quickly answered the questions both the medical personnel and Flash had asked.

“No, I don’t have super hearing. No, I don’t feel nauseous or faint. No, I don’t have vision problems. No, I cannot focus on your questions as I have apparently gained the ability to sense my children's emotional states and vague impressions of what they are doing at any given time. Please get J’onn, as I would like to leave my children with a modicum of privacy.”

And the strange new empathetic bond exploded anew.

~~~~~~

Tim paused, the pot of coffee he had managed to sneak off halfway to his lips, and looked back at the monitor.

At that same moment, Bruce looked up and glared at him with lazarus green eyes through the camera.

Tim slowly set the pot of coffee down.

Bruce turned back to Flash, answering his questions again, and the screen went black.

“Back to bed, Tim,” Barbara’s voice sounded from the hidden speakers, amused for all that it was concerned, “It sounds like Bruce will know if you don’t.”

“This is literally the worst superpower he could have gotten,” Tim whined, standing up as Alfred descended the stairs to drag him back to his room.

“Strategically it’s fantastic, though,” Barbara commented idly, the laugh she was holding back clear as day, as well as the relief, “It looks like we won’t have to worry about Pit Madness outside of enforcing bedtime.”

Tim let out a plaintive groan and followed Alfred to the stairs.

Wait. Wait if Bruce knew things about his kids, then did he-?

Shit.

Shit, he was gonna find out everything.

~~~~~~

Bruce was distracted by a flair of panic from Tim right before said panic was brutally shut down.

He sighed.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” 

He really needed to learn how to mentally block that information as soon as possible; Bats treasured their privacy, and his children were not taking the news of his new…powers well. The lingering bits of distrust he could feel from them were like ash in his mouth, driving him to…to do something. He didn’t know what, but something to earn back their trust.

“My friend, I believe your powers drive you to better protect your children,” J’onn commented, amusement lacing his voice, “I can feel the influence in your mind. After we have achieved creating a block, we should work on differentiating between what your newfound powers are telling you to do and what you yourself want to do.”

Bruce bit back the instinctive snarl, noting the more animalistic response as unusual, before moving on. His nails itched, his teeth itched, he had the beginnings of a migraine, and his eyes were getting tired from constantly generating their lazarus glow.

The sooner he could master his mental defenses, the sooner he could address the other changes.

Precision was not good enough; he had to be perfect.

~~~~~~

Danny was not having fun. Nothing about his day had been fun so far.

The doctors kept going on about how his vitals were showing someone who was dying, he could hear people talking about CPS, and he felt like his skin didn’t fit right. 

The last one was the strangest part, and the part that stood out to him the most.

“Hey I don’t think any of you are listening to me but I gotta-” Danny didn’t even bother to finish that sentence, letting the strange rings of light wash over him. It felt like...like walking through a storefront AC on a hot summer day. It was refreshing, in a way that the screaming medical equipment was not.

Which was, of course, when the CPS worker that specialized in Meta Children Placement walked into the room.

Danny had no inclination to leave his home, annoying parents or not, and he wasn’t afraid to shout that loud enough to force the adults in the room to listen.

~~~~~~

Jason was fine.

Jason was doing great.

Jason totally hadn’t just talked his younger brother down from a flashback only to start having his own locked away in an HQ bathroom.

He definitely wasn’t fixating on the fact that Bruce could apparently just ‘know things’ about him at any point in time, as well as get ‘vague impressions’ of what he was doing. 

His helmet was sitting on the ground at his side, and his domino was itching. Everything was becoming too much. If Bruce knew, then there was literally nothing Jason could hide from the man.

He-holy shit that was a wholeass child that just fell through the ceiling.

Jason instinctively threw out his arms and caught the kid-Daniel?- and promptly slammed his knees into the ground. Hard.

They stared at each other.

“Um…hi?”

“...Hey. Aren’t you supposed to be getting a medical examination?”

Daniel looked around, bewildered.

“I was at the point that I was telling the CPS worker to go help kids that actually need it, yeah.”

Yeah, that was a normal part of the process. Jason would know.

“And then they told you that you didn’t deserve any less help than they did, that you were worth it, blah blah blah?”

“Yes!”

Jason outwardly groaned, but inwardly screamed. He remembered that speech. He remembered Bruce finding him after he had run away from it too, and laying out exactly why Jason had needed the help they were offering. Remembered how if he hadn’t gotten that additional explanation, he never would have stopped running away, never would have given his foster placement with Bruce a chance.

There was no one else in the bathroom but him and the new Meta kid.

It looked like the responsibility was falling on his shoulders to explain; just as it had fallen on Bruce’s back then.

This was not something he had wanted.

Fuck.

Fine.

“Shit news for you kid, but you do need help,” he started, and promptly internally winced. Wow, great going. That was so tactful. Definitely gonna win the kid over with that one.

The flat glare being leveled at him proved that Daniel agreed with his own assessment.

“Look, stop; just lemme explain. Your parents, do they beat you?”

“No.”

“Do they ignore you?”

“They don’t mean to, they just get involved in their work-”

“Which is where the state comes in. They had chances to correct it on their own, now they gotta go take a class or eight to remind them that kids don’t disappear when convenient, and you get to spend that time at a total stranger's house to make sure that the lesson sticks.”

Jason could feel the tips of his ears heating up. He wasn’t the best at describing hard situations to kids, no matter how often he had to do it.

Daniel finally removed himself from Jason’s arms and used that opportunity to pace the length of the bathroom.

“But I don’t want them to know that I’m a…uh…” the kid gestured to all of himself, in all his hazmat suit and glowing glory.

“And they don’t have to know. Meta-humans have a right to privacy; that includes from your own parents. But you understand how that’s not gonna reflect kindly on them, right?”

Daniel whined and leaned against the wall, sliding down until he landed on his butt, and then proceeded to slouch down until he was laying flat on his back.

“This sucks.”

Jason sighed and laid down on the floor next to him, joining the kid in staring at the ceiling.

A home that was shitty was still a home, and at least he knew the rules there. Being ripped from that, placed in a different house with different rules, where who knew what the punishments were, was not fun. And then there was the small fact that even when he went home, the rules would be different.

Would they be worse? Would they be better?

Yeah, Jason understood what Daniel was going through. He understood it intimately.

“Yeah, it always fucking does.”

~~~~~~

Bruce had worked with J’onn for approximately two hours, perfecting his mental defenses until all he could tell about his children was if they were in distress or not. His migraine had grown exponentially, and the absolute second he’d been able to focus on the more medically inclined questions without being distracted, he’d undergone one of the most intense medical exams he could remember.

General consensus was; he did not have the Meta gene, this was powers granted via lab accident. Some of his teeth were loose, he was probably going to grow claws due to how the density of his nails had shifted significantly, and he had the empathic ability to sense people, but only his family. His children, specifically.

Overall, nothing world-ending for him and mild enough that he could easily write it off as not a big deal to the press.

And the last hour had been spent arguing with CPS why he, a Foster Parent from a different state, was not a good fit to watch over Daniel and Jasmine. Especially since he was discovering his own Meta Powers. A CPS worker who was not from the Justice League and therefore did not know any secret identities.

So far, they’d been going in circles.

“So Mr. Wayne, I believe it is in Mr. Fenton’s and his sister, Miss. Fenton’s, best interest if they could do a foster placement with you,” Mr. Matthews finished, setting the extensive file he’d managed to put together in the span of four hours on the table.

“Again, I understand the uniqueness of the situation, but I am not from Illinois, and placing them with me while their parents undergo classes may just cause further distress.” It was the same argument he’d been using, but he didn’t have another one.

“Mr. Wayne, your new status as a Meta means that you are one of the very few Foster’s qualified to Foster a Meta child.”

“An untrained Meta who doesn’t know what he can do-”

“-Mr. Wayne, with all due respect, we don’t have a choice. The other Fosters qualified are full up, there’s no goddamn room. Either you take them, or we place them with the Department of Metahuman Affairs; no child we’ve ever allowed them to watch came out of it…the same.”

“-Then you can both train together-”

“-His power skillsets are entirely different from mine-”

Bruce narrowed his eyes.

“If there is reasonable suspicion that they are abusing the children in their care-”

“There isn’t. They aren’t a babysitting firm, they aren’t meant for Fostering scared kids with extraordinary powers. They do what they can, but it isn’t a healthy environment for kids like Daniel.”

Bruce stayed silent.

He really did not feel comfortable bringing in another child while he was trying to patch things up with his own children. This was not a good time.

“There’s also the minor issue that Daniel does not want his parents to know. We can respect that, we have to, but if he goes to the Department? There’s no hiding it.”

But when was it ever a good time to uproot a kid’s entire life?

“Okay,” he bit out, reaching for the paperwork, “Alright, I’ll watch over him and his sister while his parent’s get sorted out.”

Mr. Matthews smiled in relief, visibly slouching.

“Good. Normally any reports to us about the Fenton kids get buried, so it’s nice to see them getting help.”

Bruce paused, his pen halfway through signing his signature on the last page.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, his parents aren’t bad, per se, just neglectful. They care, but they don’t know how to balance their work life and their family life. Or child-proof their house. The classes will do them good, and we’ve known that; but every time we’ve tried to get them in before, the files got corrupted or disappeared.”

Bruce finished signing his name, but his mind was firmly elsewhere.

Someone had been preventing the Drs. Fenton from attending parenting classes they’d desperately needed, and had been destroying any evidence of neglect that CPS had. Why? Who would do it?

It wasn’t like they were working for the government, or any shady organizations. They weren’t selling their inventions, they weren’t in debt (surprisingly), and their one contact with the money to pull those strings hadn’t even contacted them in years. He’d firmly hidden himself away in the woods and essentially become a hermit.

Perhaps taking in Daniel and Jasmine would be for the best, after all.

@desertbogwitch @emergentpanda-blog @strawberryfire17 @marionkind @blackroserelina @amercurio @that-one-goblin @chaos-n-kindness @bright-shade @redhoneysugarorange @nerdypaintbrush @overtherose

There was no better security system than what he had in place at the manor.

He’d take them in, watch them, train Daniel, and investigate what the hell was going on in Amity Park.

[thelibrarian1895]

The Bats Are Trolls

I toy with the idea but haven’t figured how I want this as a full fic so tossing it into the ether, do with it what you will

Concept: Stupid magic user erases knowledge of Bat family from world as part of very dumb plan, Gotham only knows them as rumors and that’s because they’re Gotham’s heroes and Bruce has TONS of magic neutralizing things scattered around Gotham just in case, Justice League knows something is off but can’t quite figure out what’s going on and Batman’s annoyed with everyone questioning him while he’s trying to clean up the mess and the Robins (Robins will be a term that includes Cass even though she’s possibly the only one that never wore the R which is sad and needs to be fixed) decide now is a good time to troll the league (possible dash of angst because Tim’s friends don’t know who he is and the poor boy needs his friends or Tim takes this time to troll them more than he’s been able to for years and Tim is my favorite Robin)

Featuring Batman on Watchtower and for some reason the majority of his kids decided to follow, because they’re all chaotic trolls, and that includes Batman

When JL asks where Batman got all these heroes to follow him

Dick: I’m his love child with Vengeance (Bc one of the driving things that got Dick to be a vigilante was wanting vengeance for his parents’ murder)

Jason: I was told there’d be candy

Tim: Batman and Gotham had an accident and I’m the result, they’re being much more careful now

Stephanie: I was told there’d be candy

JL: Do kids in Gotham not understand that taking candy from strangers is a bad thing? Red Hood said that too

Steph: Have you ever been to Gotham? If you want candy you can actually eat instead candy that’s absolutely drugged and probably full of razor blades or ground glass, Batman’s basically the only source.

Damian: I am the son and heir of Batman

JL possibly a Flash: So Batman had another kid with Vengeance? Or Gotham? How? Are there other heroes named Vengeance and Gotham?

Tim: No, Nightwing’s parent was the concept of Vengeance, mine was the personification of Gotham. *Gestures to Damian* His is the Night, her parent *gestures towards Cassandra* is Justice

JL probably a Lantern: Didn’t Batman ever learn to wrap it up?

Stephanie: Dude, gross, do you ask your dad that kind of thing?

Tim sweet stalker boy who has weird sense of boundaries: He had a vasectomy ages ago, it’s in his medical files, but that wouldn’t really stop someone like the brat’s mother, or certain others

JL possibly Diana: Others?

Tim: Did you really think we’re Batman’s only children? *ignoring implication JL wanted to know about Batman’s theoretical baby mamas*

JL possibly a very worried Clark: How many others? How many other children does he have I mean?

Dick: Good question

Jason: Depends on the day

Tim: I have the current list with me *pulls out book the size of a dictionary*

JL: Why does it say “Hit List” on the front?

Dick: Robin started it and we haven’t had the time to think of a better name that we can all agree on

 This is true on several levels, Tim started to put together the book after the nth new kid from a different multiverse to try to help keep things straight for everyone since some of the kids were great like Terry or Father Todd while others were Joker Jr. or a Talon, none of the Robins will admit who named the list and all of them have a terrible sense of humor

 Dumb mage’s mistake is eventually undone, JL realizes they’ve met more of Batman’s kids during that point than they have…ever, they really only interact with Nightwing on a regular basis and Red Robin sometimes