I am loudly pushing the batdad agenda i am loudly pushing the— DPxDC Prompt
“Woah. You look like shit."
Granted, that’s probably not the first thing Danny should be saying to the guy that just bit the curb, but in his defense; he’s not running on 100% right now either.
The man -- tall, towering, and broader than Danny is tall -- whips around on his heel, black frayed cape flaring out impressively. Danny would've whistled in appreciation, but he takes the time instead to wipe the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing the blood running from his nose across his cheek.
"Sorry." He blinks widely, not even flinching as the man with the horns zeroes in on him. "That was rude of me. I have a really bad brain-to-mouth filter; Sam says its what always gets me into trouble."
And she's not wrong either, per say. His smart mouth is what landed him in this situation -- with blood blossom extract running through his veins and cannibalizing the ectoplasm in his bloodstream. Thanks Vlad.
The man grunts at him; a short, curt "hm" that shouldn't make Danny smile, but he does because he's somewhat delirious and probably concussed. The man keeps some kind of distance, sinking towards the shadows of Gotham's alleyway like he dares to melt right into it.
If it's supposed to scare Danny, it doesn't work. Danny's never been afraid of the dark; he's always been able to hide himself in it. He blinks slowly at the mass of shadows.
"You look hurt." The shadows says, blurring together around the edges. Danny squints, and licks his lips to get the blood dripping down his chin off. Ugh, he hates the taste of blood.
"I am." He says, "My godfather poisoned me. M'dying." The agony of the blood blossom eating him from the inside out looped back around to numbing a while ago, so all he feels is half-awake and dazed.
"Hey," Danny stumbles forward towards the man, a bloodied hand reaching out to him. "You-- you're a hero, right? You're not attacking me; which is more than I can say for most costumed people I've met." Maybe it's a poor bar to judge someone at, but he's already established that Danny's not in his right mind.
The man makes no change in expression, but Danny realizes blearily that it's hard to tell with the shadows on his face. He stays still long enough for Danny to latch onto the cape -- stretchy, but almost soft under his fingers.
He looks up blearily into the whites of the man's eyes. "Can you help me? I don't-- I don't wanna die." Again. He doesn't wanna die again. He blinks slow and lizard-like. "I mean- I'll probably get to see mom and dad again, but I told them I'd at least try and make it to adulthood."
There's a clatter down the street, and Danny's ghost sense chills up his spine and leaves a bitter, ashy taste in his mouth. He immediately knows who it belongs to even before the deceptively gentle; "Daniel?" echoes down the way.
"Daniel? Quit your games, badger, Gotham is dangerous for children."
Danny's mouth pulls back, and blood spills against his tongue. "Please." He rasps, and grabs onto the shadow's cape with both hands. "Please. He's going to kill me. Please--"
"Daniel? Is that you?"
His lips part, dragging in air to plead with the darkness again. He doesn't need to, the whites of his eyes narrow, and the cape whirls around him before Danny can blink. Soon swaddled in shadows, the Night lifts him up, and steals him away.
4K notes
·
View notes
"Grandfather."
Ra's knew who the boy was the moment he'd snuck into the room. He'd allowed the child--more man than child now, but everyone was a child compared to him--moments to steel himself while Ra's refrained from acknowledging his presence. The boy's breath was barely audible but unsteady, and a drop of something fell to the floor.
His grandson was injured. "Danyal," he greeted and finally gazed upon him for the first time in seven years.
Danyal had grown into his father's height, yet stayed lean in regards to his musculature. His black hair had grown out of the League-regulation haircut, held back in a messy braid. He held himself as strong as he could, but kept an arm wrapped around his stomach. His shirt--standard American teenage garb, he dismissed--was spotted with blood and he could see bandages poking out from under the cloth.
With great care, Danyal knelt before the Demon Head and recited the Oath of Loyalty.
Ra's watched.
The boy's tongue, fat with English, spoke the League's variant of Arabic with the grace of a mace to the head, yet his words were clear. He took his time speaking the oath, carefully sounding out words, working hard to avoid mispronunciation. The Oath in question was the older version, from before Deathstroke's insurrection, but Danyal spoke it with a calm certainty that it would be accepted.
And without a doubt, it would be accepted.
Talia's eldest son had been born from her body instead of through science, a mistake that nearly cost her the child and damaged him upon birth. While the best doctors in the world saved his life, Danyal Al Ghul would always be weak in a fight, always prone to illness, always struggling to excel. When it became clear that the boy couldn't become the next Demon Head, Ra's sent Talia to create a replacement while arrangements were made for her first child to be taught business and science, for the betterment of the League. Danyal, very much his father's child, thrived in his intellectual pursuits while Damian grew and developed into a budding assassin.
But Danyal was more like his father than he'd ever knew. Ra's couldn't miss the signs of one of his family turning away from the League. Not the mission--Danyal had written several university level papers defending the environment by the time the boy was 10--but Ra's methods...
Ra's had a conundrum. Danyal was a dedicated conservationist; once the boy was an adult, Ra's was certain he'd take the world by storm and bring the League to new heights. But if he forced his methods onto Danyal, he could create an enemy of him, just as his father was.
Ra's gave Danyal an offer; Danyal would be allowed to leave the League and live a normal life if and only if he faked his own death in such a way that reinforced Damian's loyalty to the League of Assassins.
Danyal had been hesitant at first, but past his test with flying colors. Instigating one of the more unstable assassins into organizing a coup, cutting the insurgents off near immediately, but "dying" protecting both his younger brother and mother. It was a masterful performance. Even Talia hadn't known about the deceit.
And yet, here he was, on his knees, pledging loyalty. Danyal knew what that meant, knew what he was returning to, which morals he would be allowed to keep.
"And what do you bring with you, child of no one?" Why should the League accept the return of this child, who left once before?
Danyal met his eyes. "I bring with me, my team, who are loyal to me and me alone. I bring with me, research surrounding the Lazarus Pits, in origins and further uses for the waters." Ra's raised an eyebrow, and Danyal smirked. "I bring with me, my knowledge, nurtured within this very home and sharpened in the world outside. I bring with me, my weapons, built with my own hands. I bring with me... my body, finally healthy and whole." He brought his head down to the floor, trembling with pain. "I bring my whole self to the Demon's Head, for Him to accept or reject."
Ra's smiled. "By the shadows that guard our order and the blood that binds us, I accept this oath. From this day forward, you are an instrument of the League, a harbinger of justice, and a weapon in the hand of Ra's Al Ghul."
Danyal returned to his feet, swaying percariously. He needed immediate medical attention. Despite this, he continued, "Long live the League of Assassins. Long live Ra's Al Ghul."
And he collapsed onto the floor.
894 notes
·
View notes
Danny doesn't get into an accident, and he doesn't become a ghost. The portal? It does get turned on, although neither Danny, Jack, nor Maddie knew how it came to be, and nobody thought to ask Jazz because, well, she is utterly disinterested in Ghosts as a whole and everyone knew it, so why would she even be in their lab, and even more so near their portal??
Danny, along with having an affinity for space, also has one for stealing here, though he knows that it's wrong he just... loves do it. He loves the thrill that comes with taking what isn't his, and the chance at being caught in the act as well.
He got better at it than when he was younger, and it isn't like he keeps most of the stuff he steals. Well, most of it at least.
Anyways.
Danny is good at stealing, Danny likes stealing, but his family is already used to his antics, though his parents do have some kind of ghost thing going what with the portal to hell and what not, but he digresses. One day, an old family friend pops up and Danny is curious about him, interest doubling when he finds out the guy is rich.
So he steals something off the guy when they met, and he successfully stole some weird gem thing off the guy- Vlad or whatever- or at the very least, he thought he did. Because when Danny was in his room, Vlad knocked, entered (after getting his position obviously), and then said he would like his possession back.
Danny is quite surprised, but gives it back after asking how Vlad knew he stole it, Vlad just looked at him and smiled (Did his eyes just flash red?). Then said that Danny has a talent for stealing, and, well, Danny always knew he did, it was obvious really.
But hearing someone praising him for it is quite different from disappointment and lectures about why it's wrong when they find out it was him after a while.
Then he offered him a place where he could train said talent, and, well.
Danny didn't have anything better to do, really.
He didn't know what he was expecting, but actual stealth training wasn't it, nor was Vlad creating an actual goddamn museum filled with items of value with an actual security system and guards (He thinks they're robots) for him to actually try against.
This was... wildly out of Danny's depths. But again, he didn't have anything better to do. His grades did fall overtime since then, but he didn't really care much about it, it wasn't like he was some genius like Jazz, so why bother?
His friends bothered, but he just told them he was spending time with his godfather you know? Nothing bad or anything! Sam and Tucker wanted to meet him, and Danny took them along.
Vlad was a cool dude, and seemed to click well enough with Danny's friends, and much to Danny's chagrin was utterly appalled by Danny's falling grades, and told Danny to focus on his grades more, or he'll have to cut back his training to include studies.
Danny picked the latter.
A while later there's been the appearance of some ghostly hero who fought other ghosts and avoided his parents. Which is neat, he thinks. Sam was very interested in her, and Danny couldn't say he wasn't curious either.
Then that whole 'Amity Park hostile plant takeover' happened and uhhh. Sam developed plant powers and then somewhere along the line Tucker gained super intellect and then Danny is the only normal guy out of the three of them.
Well, he is a master thief in training but still.
Regrettably, Sam's parents don't like her newly developed powers, because she doesn't use it how they want her too, and Sam decided to stop using it all together, then Vlad popped in and was like "You can use your powers in this place I have prepared specifically for using powers" and told them not to question why he had such a room, because it looked pretty used and obviously not newly built.
Tucker becomes really good with tech, like, really good with it. Sam gets very powerful with her plant based powers, and Danny is kinda feeling... out of place? In his circle of friends.
He's a bit jealous, he won't lie.
So he asks Vlad if there's a way for him to get powers, and Vlad thinks on it for a bit, and says that there is but Vlad would need to run a few simulations before coming back to him.
A bit later, and Danny is taken down to Vlad's lab, Vlad asks if he's sure, Danny says yes, and then he goes under.
Then wakes up, and he has ghost powers. Although he doesn't have some of them, like intangibility, invisibility, or overshadowing (he never even knew they had that power) like normal ghosts though, but he isn't a ghost, so it made sense.
Vlad said he had to modify his body to be able to contain ectoplasm without any unnecessary risks, which is why Vlad took some time instead of doing it straight away.
Danny is stronger, more durable, more agile, stronger reflexes and stronger stamina, so Danny had to use Vlad's training room to get a proper grasp on his powers, and then his training had to be modified to suit his powers and it really good, suspiciously good.
Did Vlad have another student with superpowers before Danny? Is that why he knows how best to train Danny's powers, and also why he had a training room?
Then he completed his training, and he could finally be called a fledgling master thief! Then Vlad employed him in his service, to get some practical experience outside of Vlad's control.
First mission? To infiltrate, obtain a copy of and then wipe away any and all files in a GIW facility, Vlad asked Sam if she was willing to go with Danny, as her powers would prove useful, she agreed. Tucker is staying behind, as deploying him is much more danger than it's worth, he will be the one to hack into, copy, and wipe away the files when Danny and Sam gets to them though.
Vlad warned them, however. Because the city they're going to in one rife with crime and supervillains, so they'll have to lay low, and even lower because they don't want to catch the eyes of the night's protectors.
Which city are they going to?
Gotham City.
485 notes
·
View notes