#and he happens to be the same guy that made clones of himself and went on a crusade to eat chunks of the protagonist's hair.

[rocketbirdie]

deranged picnic

[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.

[lunamugetsu]

Bring your sidekick to work day!

Inspired by the "What if Question was the one who saves Danny from GIW?" post that I made awhile ago.

Bring your sidekick to work day!

It was a tradition that started around the time multiple superheroes were taken on sidekicks. Everyone in the league knew why they'd bring their sidekicks to work. Their sidekicks get to socialize with peers their own age and they could properly introduce themselves to other heroes.

So it was a surprise when The Question, the league's faceless conspiracy theorist, offhandedly mentioned that he'll be bringing his sidekick to work while telling them about what new information he's found about Cadmus and another new government agency he thought they should start looking into.

The heroes found it hard to believe.

Question has a sidekick.

Surely they must have misheard.

No way that guy would want a sidekick, let alone get a sidekick.

When "Bring your sidekick to work day" arrived everybody was prepared to see the heroes and sidekicks.

Superman with Superboy

Batman and his 10+ kids

Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl

Flash and Kid Flash

The list went on

The heroes all mingle before realizing that they haven't seen Question. Maybe they did mishear the man? Or Question got his words mixed up?

That was until the computer announced the arrival of Question and a guest that was unidentified.

They all turn around to see the faceless trench coat wearing investigator followed by a tinier faceless trench coat wearing kid. The kid was practically a clone of Question, except...tinier.

"This is my sidekick. Who." Question points to the faceless kid

Flash: Who?

"That's me!" the kid says pointing to himself.

"Why don't you acquaint yourself with the others." Question tells his sidekick who just nods and goes off to introduce himself with the others kids.

Batman: I didn't take you one for having a sidekick.

Question: I could say the same for you. And the sidekick thing just kind of happened. The kid wouldn't leave me alone and I couldn't let the kid get himself into any trouble.

Batman: Understandable

Meanwhile with the sidekicks.

Everybody's asking Who various questions about Question and how he met the man. They barely know anything about the guy.

Question 1: What's the deal with your name?

Who: It's a work in progress. Since my mentor's name is Question. I figured my name should be like a question.

Question 2: How do you eat?

Who: I shove food into my face

Question 3: Where's your face?

Who: Wouldn't you like to know

Question 4: Do you know about his conspiracies?

Who: Of course I know about his conspiracies! I'm one of them

Other sidekicks: What?

After some talking, the sidekicks get along with each other very well. When they reunite with their mentors the computer rings stating that John Constantine was coming along with a guest.

The heroes then all watched as a girl with white hair and green eyes wearing a trench coat and was dragging John Constantine by his sleeve. She grins and introduces herself as Dani with an "i" and that she's John's apprentice.

Dani then spots Who and they immediately do the Spider-man point at the other meme

Who (Danny): you got a trench coat mentor too?!

Dani: Where's your face?!

[flamingpudding]

Part 3 of Ghost Kid in Gotham

<<1 Previous Next

Feral brother of mine

When Damien first saw the video from Todd's helmet he only thought of his older brother as an imbecile that apparently couldn't handle children that was until Drake paused the video on the child's face before the video cut off.

Then Richard pointed out the similarities to Damien and of course his first thought was that his mother had made another clone again that they would need to dispose of. That was until he took a closer look at the image when Drake zoomed in. It was still blurry but Damien would recognise that face anywhere and in any state.

Despite his memory being faded it was the face of someone he never wanted to forget and would let freely hunt his dreams. Even if it was to recall the good times or even the bad times through nightmares. Freckles that mirrored constellations and scar by the ear from a training session when the others' dodging ability had not yet been up to par when they were five. Hair longer than his own and less tameable.

Danyal Al Ghul.

His twin that he killed at the age of eight when their grandfather forced them into a fight to death. This was not a simple clone of Damien himself and the teen was pretty sure that his mother must have lost it. Because what else then a clone of his own brother could this be, she probably must have preserved some of Danyal's DNA if not his entire body for this. He must also applaud her cruelty, for the clone was at the exact age his brother had died at.

He does not know why nor how his mother had managed to cause glowing Lazarus green eyes. None of his clones had ever shown these before but a part of him didn't want to know. It already made him sick enough to know that his mother would go so far as to clone Danyal.

All he wanted was to get rid of this cruel clone that wore his long dead brother's face. The knowledge of his brother was something Damien held dear. It was something that belonged to him only and the burden of his death was not something he ever wanted to share either. Besides what use would it be to his family to mourn a member they never would have gotten to meet.

Even as he glared at Todd, who had let loose the feral clone. He could not bring himself to tell them that this was most likely not just a simple clone of himself.

"Come on guys, there is a child running around the Bat Cave. You can fight later about how to safely keep the boy in check."

Clicking his tongue he turned away from his older siblings and drew out his katana. "<tt> I will get rid of that thing myself."

A thing, that was what it was. Damien didn't need his personal feelings or his memories of a twin that could smile brighter than the desert sun despite their pain, get in the way of his rationality. He could not allow this mockery of his twin brother to live on.

He went for the darker areas of the Cave knowing the league trained mind and he was in luck as he was the first to find the feral child hidden away in the area that lead to the medbay. By now the thing was even armed. Damien recognised the dagger as one of his training once, he probably had accidentally left it out of its casing after training right before patrol.

The ex-league prodigy did not give the clone time to react as he attacked without warning. Chasing it through the Bat Cave as it avoided his attacks yet made no move to attack him the way it had Todd. At times the way it dodged made Damien stutter slightly something that never happened before. He slashed at it, ignoring his siblings that shouted for him to stop from the side lines. Ignoring the flashes in his mind of a fight years ago that was similar yet so different.

"I will not let this mockery run free." He muttered pointing his blade as it hissed at him in return. What a feral thing it was, he waited for it to make the first move this time. Clones were not perfect, their forms were lacking, They might retain skills of their original but they rarely were the same let alone cable of thinking outside of what their creator, his mother wanted. He pointedly ignored anything he new about certain clones. They weren't created by his mother, therefore did not count in regards to his conclusion. Yet it was painful seeing this mockery of his dead brother appearing like a perfect copy.

The stance it held with the dagger, despite the feral hissing and movements, it was the exact same his brother had. Sword stances, like martial arts stances had a basic form, every wielder learned and then developed further into their own unique one with time. Danyal had one where he tended to hold the dagger or even swords backwards in his left hand while his right arm covered his empty side with a slight tilt to the back, always ready to reach for any weapon he would carry in hidden pockets on his back.

It was painful to see this clone, this thing mimicking his brother's stand this perfectly. Damien could only narrow his eyes in determination, or was it desperation by now? This was just one more reason to get rid of it. It just hurt even more when with a quick gaze towards the hand that held the dagger Damien also noticed a bad habit his brother had always retained and the league had also never been able to train out of him. It was a small habit, unnoticeable if you wouldn't look for it, yet dangerous to the sword / dagger wielder if they were inexperienced.

Danyal tended to let his thumb rest against the guard if the blade had one or against the blade itself even if it didn't have one. He knows that his twin used to have scaring on his thumb from this habit, especially from their early training years.

This thing was even imitating his brother's habit.

He wanted it gone. Rip it apart and present it to his mother with all the anger and grief it brought to him.

"Guys stop Damien now! That is not a clone!" He heard Drake yell from where the Batcomputer was but he didn't care. This was a clone, so he lunged at the it again. Ignoring how the clone had studied him like he had it. Ignoring how its stance had changed the longer they had watched each other and how that thing let its guard down all of a sudden.

"Damien! Stop!"

It dropped all defenses and Damien could only see that as his chance to deal the final blow to get rid of it. But what he didn't expect despite the dropped defenses was for the clone to also just drop the dagger, close its eyes and smile. The same smile that still hunted his nightmares. His mind flashed back to eight years ago.

"Demon brat! Calm the fuck down!"

The blade stopped inches from the same fatal placement that had killed his brother before. Drake and Richard were right behind him while Todd was by the clone's side gripping at the blade with his bare hands, most likely bleeding already.

"Why?" Damien uttered quietly, his eyes trained on the thing. Richard must have thought that his question had been directed towards them stopping him but that wasn't the case.

"Look Dami, how about listening to what Tim found out first before we decide what to do with that child?"

"Not you." He couldn't help but snap back at them as he withdrew his katana, hearing Todd mutter something about sharp blades and bandaids as well as several curses under his breath. His eyes stayed on the thing. "Why would you let me kill you? Why drop your defence ces? Why not dodge?"

The thing titled its head its glowing green eyes were trained on Damien and he noticed how they flickered into a blue that was so familiar yet so different with the way they glowed. It made chirping noises before it whispered something.

"ahbak, Dami"

Damien froze for a moment there at the quiet words the thing had whispered. How was he supposed to react now? Was this even a clone, no he knew this was a clone. There was no way Danyal was alive let alone still eight years old. He had killed his own brother, he had held him in his own arms as Danyal took his final breath, smiling at him and uttering the same words he had just heard again after so many years.

Even if Danyal had survived somehow then he should be the same age as him. Not the age he had died at. Besides, their grandfather would have never allowed them to use the pits to revive his twin.

"FUCK!"

Intentionally or not Todd's outcry had ripped him out of his thoughts by a rather pathetic yowl of pain. It was like a switch had been flipped in the clone's mind as his brother had reached out to probably detain it again. The moment Todd had touched him, the thing had bitten into his hand before letting go, hissing and running away from them once more.

But instead of running after that thing Damien stood frozen in place, his mind still racing. He could feel Richard's hands on his shoulders, grounding the teenager with the warmth they provided. "You okay there Baby Bird? You seem rather out of it suddenly."

"<tt> I am fine." His only offered answer, ignoring the worried looks he was getting as he moved to wipe Todd's blood off his blade. He needed a distraction before his mind became any more chaotic and unreasonable. "What did Drake find out?"

"Right… you sure you want to hear that right now?" Giving Richard an unimpressed stare, the oldest sighed looking over towards Drake.

"Well I got good news and probably bad news." Side eyeing his brother Damien kept silent waiting for him to continue.

"I can safely say that the child is not a clone. His DNA does not 100% match yours. It differs too much but - and this is where it's probably bad news - it matches with you to 45%, with a matching to Bruce to about 50%, same with Talia. If I run a paternity test I am sure it would be a hit for Bruce and Talia."

Damien swallowed taking in that information, knowing what it meant. Was he horrified? Yes. Did it also awaken a strange sort of hope? Also, Yes.

"But there was a third compartment of the child's DNA structure which was impossible to test. It could even corrupt DNA samples if not taken apart from the rest. It probably has something to do with the green specs I found in his blood too. So I ran a substance analysis and - you probably won't like this - but it got a hit from a substance we have recorded in our database."

"What substance?" Damien knew, he just knew he wouldn't like the next words Drake would say. He could feel Richard squeezing his shoulder as if to help him keep stable.

"Lazarus Water. It matched with what we have recorded from the Lazarus Pits."

"Drake, are you telling me that after eight years, my mother who apparently had preserved my dead twin brother's body, dropped said body into the Lazarus Pits to revive him and then drop him off with Todd of all people?"

"Yes, wait… dead twin brother's body?"

[lost-in-fiction-like-ur-mom]

Hello lovely I hope this enough for a request but I was wondering if you would write a fic for Hunter x Jedi!Reader around season one. Hunter has the start of a crush on reader but once omega comes into the picture and he sees how good reader is with her he knows he needs to ask her out! Feel free to change whatever, I hope you like the idea!

I Will Protect You

Hunter x Reader

Summary- As a defective Jedi you are reassigned to The Bad Batch. How can you resist Hunter? Especially when he confesses after seeing how good you are with Omega.

A/N- Thank you so much for requesting! I LOVED this idea! I've contemplated doing something similar in the past, so I am so glad you requested this!

Word Count- 1,679

You remember being assigned to Clone Force 99 like it was yesterday. The day you were considered a 'defective' Jedi. While you were skilled in the force and an expert in wielding a lightsaber- you got attached.

In a mission gone wrong, you sacrificed yourself for your Jedi master. She was entirely grateful. Even though you made a full recovery, the Empire was not happy. Claiming you shouldn't have those 'emotional tendencies.'

You understood the purpose of severing all relationships, trying to only be one with the force. Emotions just came naturally to you! Connecting with all kinds of people, acting motherly to the less fortunate, and trying to be there for all of the clones.

The final straw for The Empire was when you were caught holding a small ceremony for a few fallen Clones. A fellow Jedi, you once called brother, turned you in.

You were immediately reassigned to Clone Force 99- labeled 'Defective.'

That was the same day you met Hunter. The first thing you noticed was his face tattoo, how attractive it looked. The skull covering half his face tickled your curiosity. You never had the courage to ask him about it, the whole 'don't get attached or you'll get reassigned' circled your mind.

You quickly grew to love Force 99. They accepted you, treated you like a human being. Not just a force wielder, something you'd never had. Despite your vow and upbringing, you considered them all to be your family.

Just under a year had gone by when Order 66 went out. You noticed how protective Hunter could be. He fought off droids, clones, and anyone who tried to harm you.

Not many knew of your Jedi background, allowing you to go into somewhat of a stealth mode. You acquired new gear, matching your team's. With a helmet on around others- your identity and life were safe. Though, you and Crosshairs friendship wavered...

The weight of your life always being at steak rested on you heavily. You couldn't sleep anymore, having gone days with low or no rest..

"Hunter, can we talk?" You asked him in the cockpit.

"Of course, what happened?" He looked worried.

Tech, however, does not even look up from his position as pilot.

"Uh, Tech, can we have a moment?" You asked, feeling a little guilty for making him leave.

Now he does look up, pressing some kind of 'auto-pilot' button. "Sure."

Great, now you already felt awkward.

"Look, I think I should go.." You got straight to the point. It hurt too much to draw it out.

Hunter's face fell, he was not expecting that. Though, a little part of you appreciated he cared so much.

"W-what?" He stepped closer to you.

"I just, well I just think it's for the best..." You fiddled with your fingers. The force felt moody, like something was off.

"Did something happen? Did Crosshair say anything! I swear I-"

"No, no. Nothing like that I promise!" You took the last step separating you. You were inches apart now.

"Did I do something?" He whispered, knowing he couldn't forgive himself if he did.

"No, I don't think there's anything you could do to make me turn from you." You whispered back, like a secret.

"Then what?" He softly asked.

You looked at the floor, unwilling to face him now. "I can't be the reason you guys are attacked. The Empire is after all Jedi's. You are all at risk if I am here..."

He, with the lightest touch, listed your chin up with a finger. "That doesn't matter... You're safest with us. You can't leave. Damn if the rest of us are in danger, I don't care. We will protect you. I won't let anyone take you." His voice was husky, he meant every word.

You didn't know how to respond, you were awestruck. Your legs felt like jello. All of your training out the window. You hadn't a thought except for him. Everything was suddenly him.

You just nodded, leaning further into his touch. Almost in a trance. You desperately craved his lips on yours. Just an inch forward and they'd be yours. So close-

A beeping made you gasp and pull away. Tech storming back in to the cockpit, taking his respective seat.

"Sorry to interrupt. We are about to land on Kamino."

You panted still, the exchange leaving you flustered. He eyed you, searching for any kind of rejection from you. Neither of you spoke with Tech in the room, you just looked at him with your head in the sky. You were unbelievably happy.

Unfortunately, you and Hunter were yet to bring that moment up again. Things kind of went back to normal, as you all got increasingly busy. Losing Crosshair and gaining Omega was a stressful time, you didn't have a second alone with Hunter. Even if you did want it more than anything.

Luckily, you had a calling to Omega. She was the sweetest girl you'd ever met, her positivity was inspiring.

You spent a lot of time with her, bonding especially when there was down time in-between missions. You also picked up on Hunters defensive and protective nature with her. He was undeniably acting as a father would.

"Yes, bullseye!" You jumped up and gave Omega a high-five. She was getting better everyday with her energy bow.

She laughed and bounced giddily.

"Now, lets see if you can hit a moving object." You encouraged her.

The two of you were far enough from the city to be hidden. You moved a small cart and a few bricks with the force. It slowly moved back and forth. It was hard concealing the powers you learned as a Jedi, but you soon adapted. Using the force less frequently as time went on.

She took a deep breath, inhaling as she pulled the bow string back. Just as she let the arrow go, it went flying past the target.

"Aw." She was visibly upset, not realizing how different moving targets were.

"Hey, it's okay. You should have seen me trying to move an object for the first time. It took me days to even lift a pebble." You proved your point by lifting a nearby stone up. "I still struggle sometimes..." You purposefully dropped the piece.

"You're so cool... I wish I was a Jedi! Then I wouldn't have to learn how to use an Energy Bow. I could just use my mind!" She made silly gestures. Moving a hand out to pretend she was wielding the force.

You smiled at her, deciding to shield her from the horrors of your childhood.

"I think an Energy Bow is just as cool. If not cooler!" You assured her.

"If you think so." She grumbled out, but ready to pull the string back again.

You sighed. "I think that's enough practice for today. It's getting late, honey." The sky was getting dark.

She looked displeased, "Why don't you go find Wrecker and get some dinner?"

She brightened up at this. "I'll save some for you too!"

You watched her as a mother would, making sure she was by Wreckers side before turning away.

"I can feel you staring." You announced, cleaning up the mess you and Omega made while training.

Footsteps were now heard as Hunter revealed himself. "Sorry." He acted as if you caught him doing something bad.

"Oh, I don't mind. I know you're just trying to keep Omega safe. Care to help?" You asked, bending down to place the brick back where they were found.

He walks to you, crouching to help. "Not just Omega." He says, lifting a few bricks.

"Hmm?"

"You as well." This made you blush lightly.

"Thank you, you know you'd make a really good father, right? Omega really looks up to you." You proclaimed, making sure Hunter knew his worth.

He stiffened, the words hitting his heart. "If anything she looks up to you. You're so good with her. It's..." He seemed to have regretted his choice of yours, continuing with- "You just always know what to say and do."

"It's what?" You asked, not letting him change the subject.

With a sigh he starts, "It's one of the reasons I love you so much." Another shift in the force, your heart thumping loud.

You stood, turning to him. A sense of Deja Vu rushed over you. To that day on the ship, the moment that was never resolved.

"You do?" You asked. Love was a feeling you were never supposed to feel as a Jedi.

"Have I not been clear? I live and breathe you..."

A flutter rests in your stomach. A sharp thrill reaching lower.

You walk to him, chest almost touching. "I don't think we finished what we started in the cockpit..." He declared, voice deep.

You shook your head. "No, we didn't. Are you going to make that up to me?" You spoke smug, but knew you'd melt at his touch.

"Only if you'll allow me..." A hand brushed against your forearm, resting there.

"Yes, of course..." He leaned down, his other hand now cupping your face.

He stopped just before his lips touched yours. "There won't be any going back." He whispered.

You didn't speak, only pushing yourself flush to him. It forced your lips to meet.

It was clumsy, you'd never done anything like this before. The Jedi code was very strict. You wondered if he had been with anyone else in that moment.

All of a sudden insecure over something you've yearned for.

Your thoughts were crushed with is next words, "You're perfect. So, so perfect." You turned a new shade of red, deeper and deeper.

"Watching you with Omega... Made me realize." He stopped, opting to kiss you once again.

You complied. He wrapped a hand around your waist, bringing you as close as you could be. Your arms lifted around his neck.

You pulled your head back slightly to breathe, "And what is that?"

"That I should ask this beautiful woman out." He stated, looking for your response.

"You didn't even have to ask..."

A/N- Thank you so much for reading! I loved writing this one, I hope you liked it!! It's like 1 am, so i'll come back and edit this when i'm not tired xD!

Tags- (lmk if you want to be tagged as well!) @thethreeeyed-raven @dangraccoon @knight-of-flowerss

[dxrksong]

Another Dp x DC au!

That's right! I'm back at it again, strangely hyperfixated on Johnny 13, but oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Johnny 13 is a clone au!!

This neat little au appeared sometime after seeing an au where another one of Danny's clones had survived and named himself 31.

So of course I saw Johnny 13 and went :)

So Johnny is a clone. The 13th clone to be exact and the one that lived the longest out of all the rest of the clones. Of course he still died (he is a ghost) but he had lived long enough for his soul to imprint on enough ectoplasm to form.

What about the other clones?

Shadow

That's right! The clone's fear and pain was enough to turn them into shades but there wasn't enough individuality or something to grab onto, so they weren't able to form into their own ghosts!

So what were baby shades, who wouldn't be able to survive once again alone, to do? Take a page out of a school of fish's book and latch onto each other in order to survive!

Shades feed off emotions in order to survive, since I hc that they aren't strong enough to be able to properly intake raw ectoplasm. So they take it in it's base stage instead!

So what are a school of shades to do when they see a small ghost that feels the same way they do?

Adopt him into the school of course! :) they're all siblings here and family sticks together! So what if this one is stronger than them? That just means more chances for survival!

They take everything happily with a grain of salt. Of course Johnny gets ghost adopted. Because he's still a child.

Tbh I believe it's Walker that adopts him. Mostly because I just like tough guys being soft to their own kids. Either that or Spectra 🤔 then again I don't remember either of the characters interacting with each other so it's possible!

Walker would probably try to separate Johnny and the Shades at first. But after asking why Johnny would just say:

"They're my siblings!"

And that would be the end of that! The shades would feed off Johnny's emotions sometimes, and Johnny would help his shades by scaring people and causing chaos sometimes!

I headcannon that if a shade tries hard enough or becomes the apprentice of an ancient (I.E Nocturn and his dream walkers) Shades could become strong enough to feed on ectoplasm with the occasional emotion and live fairly normal ghostly lives.

Of course Johnny's siblings aren't about to do that anytime soon since that'd involve leaving one of their own behind :)

So instead they stick together, happy to just be a family, as weird as they are.

Of course this wouldn't be a crossover au if Johnny and his siblings DIDN'T somehow find their way onto the JL radar.

Could be entirely on accident

Johnny looks like the splitting imagine of whoever he was cloned from.

Johnny and his shadow could've gone causing chaos!

But I like the possibility of BatMan or the YJL stumbling across the area in which Johnny and the others were made.

I remember seeing a post with a theory that ghosts could feel when you mess with their grave/corpse. So when the YJL stumble upon him and his siblings grave site.

Johnny would be PISSED! That's his siblings GRAVE! Who dares to step foot near them?! And proceeds to speed through a portal that just so happens to open right in front of the f*ckers that dared mess with something so important to him.

(Imagine finding a room with the corpses and still being used test tubes of failed clones and all of a sudden you hear a Roar that shakes the earth before an entire LAZARUS PIT opens in the middle of the room and a pissed off looking cyclist with the souls of the damned, charges out at you with a war cry. And you can't hit him)

That would lead to the valid question though of WHO exactly they're cloned after! It was cannon that Roy and of course Superman were cloned. (And maybe one of the batfam if I remember correctly) so could it be one of them? Or someone else?

Either way, Jason is pissed and the team now has an angry ghost and Shadow to deal with.

(I still find it weird that Johnny is the ONLY ONE sans those that have white or black hair, to have A NORMAL HAIR COLOR! Those locks are 110% dyed and bleached! Change my mind! And no, Spectra's human disguise doesn't count, it's fake.)

[willowshimmer]

Hc's for ✨Aladarius and the kids✨

- Alador is definitely the little spoon and Darius is the big spoon

- When Hunter and Amity found out they're Dad's are dating, Amity supported Alador and Darius being together but she vows to kill Darius if he hurts Alador and Hunter was very happy but also vowed to kill Alador if he broke Darius's heart again

- Emira and Edric like to play pranks on Hunter but are sad that they're not the oldest anymore (it's a joke I made cause you know Hunter is a clone of a guy from the 1600)

- Amity asks Darius for dating advice whenever she wants to go on a date with Luz

- Darius and Alador's relationship in the past was okay but Alador's parents didn't approve of their relationship so they forced Alador away from Darius and forced him to marry Odalia and that's why Hunter vows to kill Alador if he breaks Darius's heart

- Whenever Alador has nightmares Darius makes sure to calm him down and to make sure he's okay

- NEVER try to hurt Hunter if you do Darius will make sure you'll be in healing coven for 10 years

- Edric and Emira love their new dad mostly cause Edric has a cool beast uncle and also cause Emira has someone to help her with fashion

- Darius teases Hunter about his crush on Willow

- Darius helps Amity get ready for her dates with Luz like give her makeup tips and helps her with choice of clothing

- Eberwolf and Edric are besties

- In the first week of Alador and Darius being together whenever they would go to sleep Alador would go to the sofa and Darius asked "Why are you going to the sofa?" And Alador was like "oh yeah well Odalia made me sleep on the sofa if I didn't finish work which made me sleep on the sofa for half my marriage" and Darius said "Oh...Mind telling me where she lives again...?"

- Hunter and Luz make little schemes sometimes to get back at Emira and Edric for pranking them

- When Amity told Darius about what Luz said when they had their first kiss he was like "Reminds me of you're dad when we younger" cause when they were younger and had their first kiss Alador said and I quote "Oh Titan" while with the face of a tomato ( I TRIED TO MAKE IT SOUND FUNNY)

- Alador and the kids have gotten closer and has gotten to know them better like he now he knows that Amity is dating a human and respects that, he knows that Edric likes beastkeeping and sometimes goes outside with him to find some animals and he helps Emira to learn more healing spells

- Alador is AMAZED by Darius's abomination form. At times he asks if it only happens when he's angry

- The ONLY person that can cook in this household is Darius

- Hunter invites Gus over to play games and practice flyer derby with him

- Hunter now attends Hexside in all the tracks like Luz

- Alador still makes Abomatrons BUT to only help rebuild the Boiling Isles and he doesn't overwork himself like how Odalia did to him

- Alador doesn't like to talk to his parents due to them splitting Darius and him apart when they were younger

- Edric, Emira, Amity and Hunter like to go on adventures with Eda even though Darius tells them not too

- Alador is DEFINITELY touch starved due to him not receiving alot of affection when he was with Odalia but with Darius he feels like he's in heaven

- Alador LOVES it whenever Darius peppers his face with kisses and when he gives him little pecks on his neck

- Darius tries to convince Hunter to ask Willow out but he's very shy whenever he thinks about it

- Darius is very concerned about the amount of coffee that Alador drinks per day

- Alador now takes better care of himself

- Emira and Viney have crushes on each other but they're scared that the other one will reject them

- After the day of Unity incident the CATTS went to their base with some other people including Alador. Darius felt repulsed cause of what Alador did to their relationship in the past but at the same time was happy to see him

- Darius made a little bird plushy for Hunter when he was little

- Darius was FURIOUS when he learned what Belos did to Hunter in the human realm

- Alador and Hunter are autistic

And That's All Folks❤️

Hope you're having an amazing day I love you all bye❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[joycew-blog]

I have so many thoughts about the finale!!! First off, I am so happy that Rick regressed!!! It's of course terrible for Morty and the rest of the family, but it feels way more realistic and interesting. The path to recovery is hard and will have roadblocks. You can't fix decades of bad habits in just a couple of episodes.

That doesn't mean that Rick hasn't been trying tho! Him helping Jerry with the Fortune Cookies, the whole Roy thing, Analyze Piss, that was still the real Rick! He still went to therapy, he did genuinely try.

But Morty being mad at him just triggers things in him that makes him go back in his old ways. It was a less bad reaction than in the past, cause last time Morty called him out on his crap Rick decided to replace him with two crows and before that we got the Vat of Acid episode (there might be more, but esp the Vat is so vivid in my mind of the bad crap he did to that poor kid). He wouldn't have made a robot that's actually kind to Morty and have him have a good time. In that sense I guess Rick knows his limitations, that he can't make Morty happy right now as he is.

But instead of discussing that with him and being emotionally open about it, he goes behind their back and replaces himself with a robot so he betrays their trust....again! (Cause he probably thinks it's better if he's not around while he's like this, but at the same time he's proving the point that it's better he's not around by putting out a robot that's 'better' than him. It's a self-fulling prophecy and he does this all the time.)

As for Morty, someone, anyone, please give this poor kid a hug! He just wanted a nice Christmas for himself and his family. He never gets a break and when he does it's just too good to be true!

I think when he broke down in front of the President it was more than just Christmas being ruined. His trust was betrayed, again, and the things he enjoyed the past episode probably now leave a bitter taste in his mouth since it was not his real grandpa. He probably thought at that moment that Rick would rather build a robot to be nice to him, instead of putting in the effort himself...

And then of course Curtis drives the knife even deeper by betraying Morty afterwards...

And Robot Rick! He was so kind and he tried so hard. I felt for him so much with how he felt so guilty about betraying the family's trust. And him trying to be honest about it made my stomach twist cause I knew it would just go badly...

And when it did go bad the family immediately went out to destroy him. They must be really traumatized from the robots and clones and the crap Rick has pulled them through with it…

Seriously Robot Rick was the final hero in this episode and I wished he didn't die...

And god the final couple of minutes...

They are going on adventures again, but dang the reason for it will be so different! For Morty the most, cause what will happen if they find Prime? And what does Rick mean he is on all the location that were pointed on his map?! Like, he's on all of them at the same time, or are those places he has been/has mini-homebases?

And the classic Rick ramble at the end. Normally they are done for comedy purposes, but in this scene it just felt....dark and sad. This is what Rick really is, an obsessed, traumatized person wanting to find the guy that killed his family. It broke him down to his core, the search for him even more so than the killing of his family. Even years later he still can't let it rest!

And now he's dragging his grandson along him with it...

--

This episode is the exact reason I love this show. Just when I think I lose a bit of interest they do something that's made me hyped up all over again!

I really am hyped and curious to find out what they are going to do for season 7!

[lowkeiloki]

duck guy theory time because he's a fave

Ok, i've seen a lot of theories suggest that duck might be based off the bird that got lesley's son killed, or the guy who gave him the bird or something like that.

And while those theories are pretty cool to think abt i could never answer to myself why would lesley create him in the first place? just to torture him? she'd be just hurting yellow guy in the process.

But duck being based off of the family dog actually makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Lets recap the plot of death, but replace duck with a family dog (possibly named david?), yellow guy with lesley's son (gonna call him doi for the convenience) and red guy as lesley, or any adult figure in doi's life he could rely on.

Duck says he died because he didn't drink water, possibly something foreshadowed later in grolton & hovris when grolton forbids hovris from drinking any of his water.

Doi was pretty young at the time and didn't fully grasp the weight of death, we see him slowly realizing his friend is never coming back and breaking down crying because of it. No one in his family knows how to deal with grief properly, their solution is to get a new puppy, smaller, friendlier, more suitable for a young child like Doi. But Doi doesn't even want to look at it, he wants his old cranky dog back.

The whole "big day" song could be a metaphor for how parents tend to sugarcoat the death of their child's pets. "Oh your dog just went to live in a nice magical place where all dogs are happy" kind of way. But i'm reaching a bit here.

idk if this is rly related, but it popped in my head as i was writing this. Red guy couldn't deal with duck's death so he turned stain into an identical clone of him. Kinda like how lesley couldn't deal with her son's death so she created this whole dollhouse-like reality where a copy of her son was still alive.

"come on, we never really liked him, remember how he used to bite you?" this one speaks for itself.

Its possible that Doi tried to dig his dead dog out of the grave out of denial and desparation. Unfortunately the dog wasn't just fine the same way duck was. They had to bury him again and Doi had to face the fact that the dog was gone for good.

but if you want the whole thing to be even sadder, what if the dog never died of dehydration and actually had to be put down because he had rabies? Lesley told doi the dog forgot to drink water because that way doi couldn't blame anyone but the dog himself.

Fast forward to some time in the future, doi has overcome his grief of the dog, he's looking for a new pet and he's really fond of birds. Lucky for him, one neighbour was kind enough to gift him just the pet he wanted. But oh no, the bird flew away, better catch it, oh it's flying towards the road and... well we all know what happens.

So to conclude, lesley made duck based off doi's pet dog that he loved so dearly, but made him a duck because doi loved birds so much (and ducks might've been his favourite). She still doesn't really like him because he represents so many things that hurt her son, the grumpy dog that would sometimes bite him and possibly infect him with rabies and the bird that got him hit by a car. But it doesn't matter because yellow guy loves him, he represents everything doi loved so much when he was alive and thats whats most important.

[spectacled-renegade-writes]

An Early Start - Chapter 16 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Ao3 Description: The accident that turns Danny half-ghost happens when he is four years old and leaves him trapped in the Ghost Zone. Clockwork finds him and takes him in to raise. But what happens when Clockwork sends Danny back to the human-world ten years later when a permanent portal appears?

Chapter 16:

Nighttime in Masters Manor left the entire castle with the same unsettling feeling as the man himself. But Danny was exhausted, especially after not sleeping the night before in that stupid RV, so he resolved to try and get at least some sleep. He managed a restless two hours before his ghost sense woke him up. Whatever. It’s not like he was sleeping very well anyway. Danny turned in to his ghost half, always a welcome return, and went to go find the source. It honestly didn’t surprise him that this castle was haunted, but he wanted to make sure none of them would hurt his family.

The source of his ghost sense did not take long to find. While invisible, he saw those same three vulture ghosts from back in Amity Park, and they finally found his father as they trailed behind him while he groggily made his way to the bathroom. Danny swooped underneath the floor and brought his dad with him, dropping him off at the bathroom before returning. “Hi, guys,” Danny said. “I thought I sent you to Florida.” The vultures turned around at the sound of his voice, scowls adorning their faces and a biting remark surely at the ready. But, the moment they did turn, they proceeded to scream, and flew off.

Well, okay then. “That was weird.” Danny mumbled.

“Ah, bright boy.”

Danny spun around and found himself greeted face to face with a different ghost altogether. Black hair, blue face and a white suit. The ghost floated with arms crossed and a smirk across his face. Danny lifted a hand and waved. “Hello.”

“Clockwork’s ward,” the ghost said. “I’ve heard tales of you. I also heard you recently left the Ghost Zone.”

“A lot of ghosts have heard of me,” Danny replied. “But my name is Phantom. What’s your name?”

The ghost only smiled and phased through the wall behind him, into the castle's study. Danny followed. “You can call me Plasmius.” The ghost said. “Tell me, my boy, why would a ghost like you decide to leave the Ghost Zone, now of all times, to protect the humans? What changed?”

Danny had a feeling he was going to have to fight this ghost, but he could tell he was powerful, so Danny didn’t know if it was a fight to win. He remained calm as he answered. “Clockwork gave me a mission.”

“So you decide to just follow his orders blindly? Oh, you are such a child.”

“He raised me,” Danny scowled despite himself. He took a breath and centered himself again, now was not the time to lose his temper. “Why are you here? Do you know those vultures?”

“I hired those idiot vultures!” Plasmius announced. “They were supposed to kill Jack, not believe the weak lie of some teenage ghost. I guess I’ll just have to finish him off myself,” and his face darkened. “But you first.” Plasmius shot a blast of pink ectoplasmic energy at Danny and Danny quickly put up a force field to dodge it.

“Can’t we talk this out?” Danny tried. “I don’t want to fight you!”

Plasmius only smirked. “No you most certainly do not.” He shot another blast at Danny and Danny let go of flight to dodge it. The moment he reached the ground, he touched the floor, and a shot of ice fractured out, climbing up Plasmius once it reached him, completely encasing him.

Danny shot back in to the air and flew toward him. “Look, it doesn’t have to –“ But seconds later Danny was thrown back. From inside his encasing of ice, fire began to burn from Plasmius’ entire body, and once the ice was melted enough, he broke free.

“Clever,” Plasmius said. “But still not stronger than me!” He flew toward Danny and split into four versions of himself, surrounding Danny. Trapped on all sides, Danny knew he was at a disadvantage, cloning himself was something he's not yet managed to master. Danny knew he only had one choice left, but it was destructive, and he was not at that point yet, so he fought.

Danny gave it everything he could, fought with everything he had, but it still wasn’t enough. Plasmius countered every attack and immediately got back up every time he was hit.

“Why do you want to kill Jack Fenton so bad?!” Danny demanded.

“Because,” Plasmius growled. “He deserves to die.”

“Then you leave me no other choice.” Danny steeled himself, took a deep breath, and released a ghostly wail that shook the entire room. Books fell off their shelves, chairs went flying, and Plasmius screamed as he was thrown against the opposite wall and slid to the floor. The battle was over. When he was sure Plasmius would not get up, Danny too fell to the floor, exhaustion from the fight mixed with the energy drained from his most powerful attack, he blacked out, letting go of his transformation against his will.

-

Danny woke up one more time that night. Adrenaline hit the moment he regained consciousness and he desperately tried to fight away the binds that held him. Only after he escaped did he realize that they were not binds at all, but in fact his blanket.

“You gave me quite a scare.” Danny whipped his head over to see Vlad Masters standing in his doorway. “Are you okay, my boy?”

Danny looked around. How… What?

“I found you passed out in my study,” Vlad explained. “So, I picked you up and brought you back to bed.”

Danny narrowed his eyes. Shouldn't Vlad have noticed the destruction? Yet again something about this man didn't sit right with Danny, but they were alone and Vlad had every opportunity to drop the potential façade if he wanted to. Since he didn't, and remained innocently in place, Danny tentatively decided to drop it for now. So, Danny placed his hands on his chest and bowed his head in apology.

“Not to worry,” Vlad assured. “What’s a scare between friends?” He turned on his heal to make his way back to the door but stopped long enough to say, “Sleep tight, little badger.” Danny watched as Vlad left the room and closed the door behind him, leaving an unsettled air behind. Danny felt more stressed than ever now but at the same time, exhaustion embraced him like a wool coat and shortly after pulled him under.

-

The next day Danny kept his eyes peeled for any sign of those vultures, or of Plasmius, but when he went back to the study to investigate, everything was in its rightful place. It was disconcerting and Danny resolved himself to stay at least in the next room over from his father at all times, just to be safe.

Danny went back to his room once early evening rolled around to put on the suit his parents bought him, but faltered at the tie. He’s never tied a tie in his life and in fact didn’t understand their function at all. Shouldn’t the suit be enough to show one was all dressed up? Danny exited his room to seek out Jazz to see if she knew how to tie a tie, but the moment he turned the corner, he nearly ran into none other than Vlad. “Ah, Daniel,” Vlad said, stopping him by his shoulders. “You seem to be in a rush. Might there be something I can help you with?”

‘No’. Danny thought. If he could help it he’d stay away from this man as much as possible.

“Do you perhaps need help with your tie?”

Danny gulped. He really should say no and just go find Jazz, but when that’s what he decided to do, Vlad was already reaching out to help him.

“You’ve been gone so long, it’s no wonder your father never taught you how to do this. There you go, good as new.” Danny looked down and smoothed out the tie. He missed his hoodie. At least in that he didn’t feel as exposed as he did in this constricting suit. He kept his head down as he nodded in thanks. “It’s no trouble at all, little badger. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have guests to greet.” Vlad continued his way down the hall and Danny sprinted off to continue his search for his sister.

Danny found Jazz ten minutes later in a theater room, watching some black and white film about the Packers. He tapped her shoulder to get her attention. “Oh, hi Danny.” Jazz smiled. "I was wondering where you were." Danny tilted his head and pointed to the door. Jazz wrinkled her nose. “And watch a bunch of old fossils pogo to new wave music? Pass.” Danny didn’t know what half those words even meant. But, he got the message. He shrugged and left her to her own devices. Honestly, Danny wanted to join her, but he had to make sure no vulture ghosts, or any other ghosts, would try to hurt his father.

The moment he entered the party room with his parents, he regretted his decision. Danny didn’t know if it was due to the amount of people present, but the room felt smaller than many of the other rooms in the castle. The music felt too loud and there were too many smells from too many body sprays. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and braced himself for the evening to come.

“Hey, Harry!” Jack called. From across the room Danny could see a woman in a green suit grimace in discontent. Okay, impatience with his father was officially removed from the list of things that make Vlad Masters unsettling.

The woman walked over to them and said with faux pleasantries, “Jack, Maddie, how nice…”

Danny’s father remained oblivious as usual as he wrapped a large hand around Danny’s shoulder and introduced the woman. “...But back in my college days she was just Harry. Harry Chin!” Danny cringed at the same moment his father laughed. Goodness, Danny really wanted to leave.

Danny watched his mother apologize for his father’s behavior, and his father take his mother to dance. Danny sagged his shoulders but when Harriet walked up next to him, he gave her a tight smile. “I’ve heard of you,” Harriet said. “I couldn’t not look into it when I saw the name Fenton cross my desk. Sorry you had to come home to that.” Danny followed her gaze to his father, who was knocking people down left and right, and couldn’t even be mad.

Danny contented himself with sitting at a table and tried to pass the time by counting how many people there were, but kept needing to restart, because people kept coming and going and no one would stay in one place. He was grateful when he was given an excuse to leave. Vlad appeared next to him and said, “Daniel, there you are, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor.” Danny perked up and nodded. He didn't particularly like this man but if he was giving him an excuse to leave, then Danny would take it. Vlad smiled. “Wonderful. Could you go to my lab, second door on the right upstairs, there’s a present in there for your father that I’d like you to bring down.” Danny practically jumped out of his seat at the opportunity.

The halls were empty when Danny reached the next floor and he took a moment to just breathe. He seriously could not wait for this weekend to be over. It was especially times like these where he missed the Ghost Zone the most. Danny hoped this mission wouldn’t last forever. He hoped he could one day return.

Danny made his way down the hall to the room Vlad described, and went inside. Well, this was definitely a lab. However, there was no present in sight. He looked around... This was a huge castle, was there maybe a different lab? But just as Danny was about to turn to leave, he caught sight of a framed photo, one with a piece torn off, and Danny was certain he had the other half. He pulled that torn photo of his father from his pocket and held it up to the frame. It was a perfect match. Not good.

Danny’s ghost sense went off and he transformed but the moment he did, tentacles from two ecto-pusses wrapped around his arms and lifted him into the air. It wasn’t difficult to push them off. But, the moment he did, he was captured in a net. Danny went sliding across the room and after he hit the wall, he was finally able to look up to see who attacked him, and was greeted by Skulker. Danny quickly broke free of the net and flew to the ceiling. “What are you doing here?” He demanded. “Aren’t you getting tired of this game?”

“All excellent questions that I will not answer,” Skulker replied. He fired a shot at Danny and hit him square in the chest. Danny fell to the floor and in one fluid motion, Skulker slid a cube over to him and before Danny could react, it encased itself around him. The moment it did it began to disrupt his powers and Danny watched as Skulker hit a button, and the cube began to electrocute him. The pain that followed was overwhelming and he tried to use his ghostly wail to escape, but it was all for naught. He couldn’t even so much as faze. The electrocution cancelled out his transformation and he returned human. Skulker grabbed him by his hair and put a blade to his throat. “Now,” Skulker said. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

“Enough!” Both Danny and Skulker looked up at the source of the voice. “I didn’t free you to kill the boy, Skulker.” Vlad said. “Your work here is done.”

Skulker quickly stood up straight and sheepishly said, “Yes, well, I’ll just be taking my leave then.” With one final glare at Danny, he went intangible and flew off before he could face any consequences from Vlad.

With Skulker gone, Danny turned back to Vlad and scowled at him. He was starting to figure out what was going on but he still wouldn’t say anything until he was sure.

“I’m sure you’re very confused right now, Daniel,” Vlad said smoothly, walking toward him. “Which isn’t a surprise considering you’re what? Fourteen?” He circled Danny as he talked. “I sent those ghosts, and others, to test your father’s skills. Imagine my surprise when I find you! The second ghost hybrid his foolishness created.”

Well, there it was. The confirmation to Danny's suspicion. He watched as Vlad transformed into the very ghost he fought last night. “Clockwork told me there was one other person like me.” Danny growled.

“Careful, Daniel,” Vlad smirked. “You wouldn’t want your parents hearing you speak such a forbidden language, would you?”

“Let me go.” Danny insisted.

“Why?” Vlad argued. “So you can go back to living in a world where you know, in your heart, you don’t belong to? You don’t need them. I have experience, my child. Clockwork has sheltered you. I could train you, teach you everything I know, and all you’d have to do is one simple thing. Renounce your idiot father. Which, of course, shouldn't be difficult, considering what he did to you. To us.”

This guy couldn’t be serious. Danny actually couldn’t believe what he was hearing. All these years… all these years knowing there was someone out there just like him. Someone who should know exactly what he was going through, Danny often fantasized of finally meeting this person. But now that he has, all he felt was sad, disappointed... Betrayed. “No.”

Vlad tilted his head. “No?”

“No,” Danny repeated, frustrated tears stinging the corners of his eyes. “I’ve known for years there was someone out there just like me and all I’ve ever wanted was to meet them. But now, finally meeting you, and learning the type of person you are, there is no way I’ll join you. I don’t particularly like my father, but I like your motives even less.”

For a moment, Danny could see hurt cross Vlad’s face, but as fast as it appeared it vanished. “Okay, Daniel. If you say so.” Danny watched as Vlad disappeared from sight in one fluid motion.

Once Vlad vanished, Danny tried his best to escape the containment he was trapped in. Not only was it seriously messing with his claustrophobia but not being able to use his powers for the first time in his life was really making him begin to panic. The minutes he was stuck there dragged even if one minute only turned to two. His ghost sense went off again and Danny steeled himself for whatever attack came next.

“Well gosh and golly it looks like you could use a speck of help there, dontcha know?”

But that he was not expecting. Floating before him was the Dairy King, the same one from the portrait at the entrance of the castle. “Uh, yeah…” Danny said. So, the Dairy King did just that, reaching forward and pressing the release button on the box. Danny smiled and kicked it away. “Thank you.”

“Take it from a king, everyone needs help sometime, dontcha know.”

Yes, this Danny knew, and he wanted to ask for help against Vlad, but he could tell this ghost wasn’t a fighter. So, he said, “I really appreciate it but I need to get going now. Nice to meet you!”

As Danny transformed and raced out of the room the Dairy King called after him, “You too, kiddo! Try the gouda, it’s dairy fresh!”

Danny raced to the party room and upon seeing his father hovering two feet off the ground, went intangible and pushed Vlad out of him. They tumbled through the wall to the library on the other side. “Daniel, stop,” Vlad said. “Think about the things I could show you, the doors I could open for you. You, Danny Phantom, and I, Vlad Plasmius.” He clenched a fist. “Together we could rule.”

Danny frowned. “But why?” He asked. “Why do you crave power so bad? Why can’t we just be friends? Why do we have to hurt people?”

Vlad faltered at that. His expression dropped and for a moment, a sadness of his own crossed his eyes. But before he could even respond, the honking of a horn caught both of their attentions and they watched as the Fenton RV crashed through the wall. Danny looked back at Vlad and saw him scowling again. Hatred. Danny realized. It was Vlad’s hatred for Jack Fenton that drove his obsession. Vlad flew to the roof of the RV and pulled Maddie from her seat. “Mind if I cut in?” He said.

“Let go of me!” Maddie insisted.

But Vlad merely replied, “Never again, woman.”

As Danny pulled himself from the rubble, he watched as his father exited the vehicle to chase after Vlad. Danny took the chance to turn invisible and try to work the weapons in the RV himself. He knew he couldn't defeat Vlad on his own and this was his best bet. He figured out how to drive it and aligned the vehicle with Vlad, nearly running over his frantic father in the process.

Danny wished he didn’t have to do this. He didn’t want to. From above, holding Maddie by the ankle, Vlad smirked at him. Well, he'd tried, but Vlad didn't want to listen. So, Danny took hold of the controls and fired the weapon. The first two did not hit but the third one did the trick. As Vlad got pushed away, he let go of Maddie. Quick as a whip, Danny raced to overshadow his father and catch his mother before she hit the ground.

“Jack! You did it!” Maddie exclaimed.

Danny set her down and pointed her to Harriet before running over to Vlad, and lifting him up. “Must it really be like this?” Danny asked.

“As long as Jack draws breath, it must,” Vlad growled.

Danny sighed. “Okay, then. Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to call a truce.”

“And why would I agree to that?” Vlad scoffed.

“Because,” Danny replied. “If you don’t, I’ll walk out of my father right now and expose both of us as ghosts. I’ve lived without my family for ten years, so I can do it again.” He didn’t think about how much he’d miss his sister. “I don’t need to stay with them to protect the humans. But, I know how much you care about my mom, and what would she think if she learned you’re a ghost?”

For a moment, Vlad recoiled, but he quickly recollected himself and smiled. “Using your opponent’s weakness against him? I am teaching you something after all. Very well, truce. Eventually you will join me by choice, once you see that humans aren’t everything you hold them up to be. But for now,” he cleared his throat and prepared to make a show. “Curse you, Jack Fenton! Your world-renowned expertise of all things ghosts has defeated me! Until next time...” Then Vlad disappeared in theatrical fashion.

Danny left his father and flew off to his room.

The moment Danny hit the floor, he dropped to his hands and knees, the purple hood of his ghostly attire blocking his peripherals. Ice blossomed from his hands and spread rapidly across the room. His mind ran a mile a minute and all he wanted to do was run, or rather fly, away. Far away from everything to where it was safe, where it was comfortable. Danny lifted his head and looked around. He needed to pack. He needed to leave this castle. He did just that, and waited until the last possible second before returning to his human form. Danny slung his bag over his shoulder and exited his room. He ran into Jazz as he did, and quickly reached behind him and shut the door before she could see the thin but visible layer of ice covering everything inside.

“Danny?” Jazz said, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“It’s time to leave.”

“Time to…”

“L-E-A-V-E.”

Jazz grimaced. “I already went to pack when I saw them drive the RV inside. I guess you saw that, too.” Danny finally noticed that she too had her bags slung over her shoulder. She slung her free arm around him. “Let’s go home.”

Danny didn’t have time to change out of that awful suit before they left but he did remove the coat and replaced his blue hoodie, pulling the hood up. As they drove, he sat with his legs pulled to his chest, staring down at his tie, the one Vlad had helped him with.

Danny now knew why Clockwork never told him who the other halfa was. Still, he wished Clockwork would’ve at least warned him. But on the other hand, maybe it was better he hadn’t. Danny buried his head in his knees.

So much for finding someone he could relate to.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes:

Part 2: An Unknown Known World. End.

Look how far we've come! I can't believe we're already at the end of part 2! I hope you have a marvelous day/night!

[tending-the-hearth]

if you can, could you write a short about echo talking to the batch about the rest of domino? could be pre-show or post-show, maybe when crosshair's joined back up with the batch

they are very important to me, thank you anon 😌

*insert the obligatory "echo finds hevy's medal on the marauder" fic*

Kashyyyk had been a welcome respite after the recovery of Cody and Crosshair from the Empire.

Gungi had been more than excited to welcome his friends back, greeting Omega with a joyful hug that had the blonde giggling brightly as she returned the embrace. The rest of the Batch watched the interaction warmly, glad to see their youngest member being so happy upon reuniting with the young Jedi.

Rex had joined the Batch after Cody and Crosshair’s rescue, unable to part himself from his brother’s side.

After a day of quiet recovery on the forest planet, Echo set himself to organizing the crates that had been languishing in the Marauder’s storage hold, completely untouched over the past months of racing around the galaxy.

Distantly, he could hear Omega begging Crosshair to help her with her bow. He chuckled to himself, knowing that his little sister had been waiting for the day when she could get tutelage from their marksman brother. Digging through one of the messy crates, Echo flinched as his hand was poked by something cool, and he frowned. Grasping the object, he pulled it out into the light, and immediately froze as he recognized it.

“Oh…”

The gold sunburst glinted in the afternoon light that streamed through the Marauder’s open hatch, the green and blue ribbon faded, but still holding together.

Echo knew 99 still had the medal, but he hadn’t known what happened to it after his older brother’s death. Thinking it back over, it made sense for 99 to have given it to his own batch.

“Echo! Find anything interesting?”

The ARC was startled out of his musings by the sound of Wrecker’s shout, and he stood, holding the medal tightly in his hands as he exited the Havoc Marauder.

Rex looked up from where he was speaking with Cody, immediately noting a difference in Echo’s mannerisms.

“Vod’ika?”

Echo simply held up the medal, a small, sad smile on his face. “I haven’t seen one of these in a long time.”

Hunter’s face was bittersweet. “It was 99’s.” He approached Echo, reaching out to brush his fingers across the medal. “He gave it to us when we went off on our first mission.”

“That looks like your medal, Ey’ika.” Rex prodded gently, making Echo huff out a laugh. Of course his older brother knew something else was going on. “From when you passed the test.”

“You’ve got a medal?” Omega asked excitedly, moving around Hunter to get a peek at the object.

Echo nodded, walking to where Crosshair and Tech were seated, quietly enjoying each other’s company. He sat himself beside his grey-haired brother, taking comfort from how Crosshair didn’t tense up like he did when Hunter or Wrecker sat beside him. Rex sat on Echo’s other side, a quiet pillar of comfort.

“99 and I got our medals at the same time.” Echo began to explain, voice quiet. “His was given to him by a clone named Hevy.”

Tech cocked his head. “99 did mention it was a gift from a friend.”

“You knew the guy who gave this to 99?” Wrecker asked.

It was only Rex’s presence and Cody’s silent support from where he was sitting opposite them that kept Echo from falling apart then and there, the pain of thinking about his Domino squad often too much to bear.

“Hevy was my brother.” He said after letting out a breath. “He was the oldest of our batch, and a kriffing asshole half the time, and an overprotective mother tooka the other half of the time. He was selfless, and stupid, and everything 99 wanted him to be.” Rex shifted, wrapping an arm around Echo’s shoulders as he spoke. “Then there was Cutup. He was almost as bad as Hevy when it came to smothering us after training. He was always worried we weren’t eating enough, and when he wasn’t smothering us, he was trying to prank anyone who looked at our squad wrong.”

“Sounds like we’d get along with them.” Hunter said with a small grin.

Cody’s eyes suddenly widened with horror. “Can you imagine.”

Echo let out a loud laugh. “Oh, Hev and Cut would have loved you guys.” His face grew a touch sadder, and he leaned more into Rex, who tightened the arm he had around his shoulders. “Then there was Fives and I. Fives was older by literal seconds, but he still held it over me every chance he got.” He couldn’t bring himself to talk more about his twin, and instead pushed on, fighting to keep himself from crying. “Finally… there was Droidbait. He was the baby of the squad, and never did anything wrong in his life.”

“Didn’t you and Fives tell the story of how Droidbait started a food fight during your last day on Kamino?” Rex asked, suspicion in his voice.

Echo raised an eyebrow at his former captain. “Again, ‘Bait never did anything wrong in his life. Ever.”

Beside him, as he had been speaking, Crosshair’s posture had grown more and more relaxed until he was leaning into Echo, arms pressed together as he listened.

“I remember that.” The marksman said, voice quiet and hesitant. Echo immediately glanced at Hunter, who was obviously holding back a small grin at the sound of their brother’s voice.

“I believe Wrecker was enthusiastically involved in widening the range of that chaos.” Tech supplied helpfully.

Echo snorted. “I wouldn’t be surprised. ‘Bait was especially excited at how extreme it went so quickly.” The rest of the clones laughed, and Wrecker’s face was gleeful as he remembered that specific day, tucked at a corner table with his own batch, watching as a group of newly graduated clones cackled and teased one another.

Echo was surprised to find how easily the stories of his brothers fell from his mouth. Instead of the pang of heartbreak over his lost, there was nothing but warmth that filled him, as though Domino was sitting around him, laughing along with the stories.

Omega scooted closer, eyes bright as she asked for more stories, and Echo was only happy to oblige, grinning as Crosshair’s snarky comments interrupted him ever now and again.

It wasn’t the same, but Echo was content in knowing that he could pass on his brothers’ stories and memories.

[notthestarwar]

Bringing this back from what I wrote on a reblog on one of my webs cause its so relevant:

[on Jango] sometimes i see takes that are like ‘he didn’t know’ he knew!!! he knew! he knew he was being used and he knew just how bad what he was doing was and he knew that he was betraying himself and he went to massive amounts of effort to rationalise that to himself (and maybe at times it even worked) but he did it anyway. and once he did 1 bad thing he kept doing worse things because he was beyond the point of return. to accept that he was wrong and acting on that would have meant confronting all of the other things he was lying to himself about and he was never gonna do that! because it would have been painful to do so. so instead he carries on down a path that ultimately could only ever end in his death, because he doesnt see any alternative.

so he keeps on being the bad guy cause he’s kind of like. thinking of himself as already dead. he survived everyone and he’s had a foot in the grave since. he isn’t a person anymore, he’s a tool of vengence. and he can not allow himself to consider that the people he lost wouldnt want that for him because to accept that is to accept that there is nothing he CAN do for them, they are dead and gone.

i think in his head he has this dichtomy where he’s like ‘i’m not the bad guy. anyone would do what i have done in my situation, i’m what the galaxy made me’ and he rationalises it all ‘the clones arent human’ ‘being soft will hurt Boba, i should make him afraid of people for his own good’ ‘the jedi have it coming’ While at the same time, there is a part of him deep down that’s like. ‘i have to be the bad guy cause i wasn’t once and look where that got me’ and that being there, is why he never ever would have tried to be better. he was smart enough to see through his rationalisations, but he was scared enough to make himself believe and in the end that’s what mattered

like the worst happened to him, multiple times, and he came out of it and was like ‘i will be feared’. the names he goes by in those years: ‘best bounty hunter in the galaxy’ ‘jedi killer’  and like. the clones, that’s personal. that’s his face. letting yourself be copied a few million times over is a great way to make yourself immortal right? except it didnt work. because the clones wear his body but they clearly arent him, so that becomes another thing he’s got to lie to himself about. like if they arent an extension of me, then they are nothing. they arent even people. He made himself in to something that the galaxy could never forget. which i think is really sad considering like. only 20 years later, people don’t really remember the clones or him, the clones are forgotten (which is obviously at heart an insult to the clones but it’s also like. the man you came from sacrificed himself and every single one of your brothers, and he didnt even win. it was for nothing.)

i think that jango tried really hard to make himself in to someone that everyone was afraid of, so that nobody would ever make him the victim again. and it was all for nothing, cause from the moment he gets back in to the galaxy from that ship? jango’s greatest enemy is himself. he doesnt need anyone else to victimise him. he has that covered. like i’m a firm believer that jango was never surviving, if not mace it would have been someone else soon after. he wasnt prepared to survive. he thought that he was already dead, that he’d survived his end. he thought that boba was better off without him. he didnt think he deserved to live and so he lived dangerously. i think that after he got out of slavery, he made a conscious effort to make himself in to a person that nobody would ever consider might be afraid, and i think a person doesn’t do that unless they are truly terrified

[midnightcreator12]

And We'll Keep Marching On Chapter 7 - Fractures and Cracks

AO3 Link

Gonna...just establish some stuff here real quick.

Apparently, ‘setting up a signal’ wasn’t as simple as making a phone call to a mother ship.

Because apparently, Raven had tried to do that when she first landed in the woods and she hadn’t heard anything.

Which found Mikey sitting on the roof with her, watching as she hooked Scrap up to the old satellite dish in an effort to make the signal stronger.

“Why don’t you guys just use cell phones?”

Raven paused, frowning over her shoulder, “Use what?”

“Uhhhhh,” what had she called it when Mikey showed her his T-Phone? “Communicators?”

“Oh, we do,” Raven turned back to the satellite. “But all of my weapons, equipment and armor were confiscated when I was captured…and all of it is likely destroyed by now.”

“Bummer,” Mikey said. “Soooo, how does giving Scrap over a hundred channels help?”

“The idea is to boost a signal for him,” Raven explained as she finally managed to get the stem on the dish open, revealing a bunch of wires and circuits. “Every droid has a short distance distress beacon built into it, how short that distance is depends on the model. Scrap, since he’s a BD-unit, has a longer reach than the average droid but, since it’s been two weeks with no sign of anyone, it wasn’t enough to reach the Paragon. So if I can use this satellite to bonce the ping off any other satellites in the system, it should reach the Paragon no matter where they are.”

“Cooool,” Mikey nodded along, not fully getting what Raven was trying to do but, hey, she didn’t use as many big complicated words as Donnie did to try and sound smart. “What’s a Paragon?”

“It is the Venator of my battalion.”

Mikey blinked, tilting his head.

Raven glanced over when he didn’t reply, hands still fiddling inside the satellite, “A Venator is a class of starship, specifically a battleship. They are built to be, in essence, a mobile home base for the battalions to operate out off.”

“So it’s a flying Lair?”

“Sure, yeah,” Raven carefully pulled some wires out, twisting them together with some of the ones she’d brought up before patting the spot next to her. Scrap trilled, sitting himself down like a little bird.

Mikey’s beak wrinkled when Raven opened a panel on Scrap’s back, “Does that hurt him?”

“No, not at all. Giving a droid pain receptors would be pretty counter-productive.”

Scrap beeped, ears wiggling happily.

“Ok,” Mikey was silent for a moment, watching as more wires were hooked up to Scrap. “What’re they like?”

“Who?” Raven asked.

“Your friends. Er, brothers? Are all of you on the same ship?”

“No, not all. The GAR has over one million troopers on active duty, the two-forty-fourth only has roughly five-fifty. And it not uncommon for batch-mates to be split up over several positions.”

“Batch-mates?”

“Clones were usually made in units of five hundred, give or take a few if…something happened. The first-gens formed a lot of the vocabulary for how we all refer to each other and ‘batch-mate’ was among the first thing.”

“So…the brothers you’ve mentioned aren’t on your ship.”

“None are my batch-mates, no. But they are my brothers,” she nodded at the collection of wires before holding out a hand. “Could I borrow your…uh, cell phone?”

“Oh, sure,” Mikey handed it over. “So what are your brothers like?”

“There’s Jay, he’s the battalion Commander,” Raven turned the phone a few times, frowning at it. “He tries to act all serious and no-nonsense, but Magpie’s favorite pass time is dragging us ARCs into trouble and Jay doesn't exactly put up much of a fight.”

She seemed to figure the phone out. Mikey frowned when the screen went black and lines of numbers started to scroll down the screen.

…well, if something broke, he was pretty sure Donnie could fix it.

Raven kept talking as she worked, “And Crow is technically an honorary ARC. He’s a Medic so he can’t get ranks like that but he usually gets put with us since he’s the lead medic.”

“So, he’d fix Leo?” Mikey asked.

Raven nodded and tapped at the phone, “Yeah. Even if he wasn’t the lead medic, he’s the only one who’s done extra training with surgery and post-op care. And General Ader would probably insist that you all stay on the Paragon until Leonardo was back to full health.”

“They’d let us do that?” Mikey asked. “Aren’t you guys fighting a war?”

Raven hesitated, “We’re…technically operating independently at the moment.”

Mikey tipped his head again, curiosity now fully peaked.

Raven paused again, glancing at Scrap before going back to the phone, “About…five years ago, we were assigned to track down a group of mercenaries that had stolen these things called kyber crystals. We…still aren’t fully sure what happened but one minute we’re dropping out of hyperspace to assist Commander Verd, the next we were drifting in unknown space and running on emergency power.”

“Whoa,” Mikey whistled. 

“Yeah, whoa. We managed to fix the Paragon, did some exploring, figured out we couldn’t make contact with the Republic so we’ve just been helping with smaller scale conflicts while we try and figure out how to get back.”

“Why don’t you do the thing you’re doing with Scrap?”

“We did,” Raven nodded to Scrap. “But nothing we tried has made contact so far. So, yeah, you could all stay on the Paragon until Leo is patched up and ready for redeployment.”

“Cool,” Mikey peered over her shoulder to watch the numbers scrolling down his phone screen. “What’s your boss like?”

“General Ader?”

Mikey hummed, “Is she that thing you called April? Force-senative?”

“Yup. She’s a Jedi, all the GAR generals are Jedi. They have this connection to the Force that gives them abilities like telekinesis, telepathy, and heightened awareness just to name a few.”

Mikey gasped, stars in his eyes, “So your leader is a space wizard?”

Raven paused, “...yeah. She’s a space wizard.”

“Cooool.”

Raven chuckled, tapping out a long string of numbers before turning to Scrap, “Alright, send the ping.”

Scrap beeped, antennae flipping straight up in the air and little body trembling lightly.

Mikey watched, expecting to see some kind of indicator that the signal was sending.

But both human and robot sat in silence for a minute.

Raven frowned and put another string of numbers into the phone, “What the kriff?”

“What?” Mikey asked.

Raven hummed, tapping furiously at the screen, then seeming to catch herself and breathe in deeply, “Do you happen to know the range this can get?”

“Uhhhhhhhhh,” Mikey blinked. “That’s a Donnie question.”

“Ah, right,” Raven turned back to the phone.

“....do you want me to get him…?”

“He didn’t seem happy with the decision to let me contact the Paragon. I doubt he’ll want to help me do that.”

“Phs, he’s just grumpy ‘cause he hasn’t slept in a while,” Mikey stood on the roof, stretching both arms over his head until his spine gave a satisfying pop. “I’ll go get him for you!”

“Wait, Mikey-”

Nope! His mind was made up. He didn’t know exactly why Donnie hadn’t voted to call in some help but he’d been outvoted so he had to help Raven set up her cell signal thingy.

So he launched himself off the roof without waiting to see what Raven wanted to say. He landed into a roll down the porch cover, slowing his momentum enough to do a clean flip and land perfectly on the muddy ground. He spun around, beaming up at Raven and waving, “Just hang for a bit dude! I’ll be back in no time!”

Raven didn’t verbally reply…and he couldn’t see her face from the ground. So he gave one last wave before trotting towards the barn.

Donnie had pretty much moved into it, in Mikey’s option, only coming back inside to check on Leo. Which sucked because Mikey wanted all his bros close by…just in case.

He didn’t know in case of what but he knew he felt better when all his bro’s were under the same roof.

Plus, it was a lot colder on the surface then it was in the sewers. He was pretty sure mutant turtles weren’t supposed to stay in the cold for long spans of time.

Maybe he could convince Donnie to come inside after he helped Raven? He hadn’t been kidding when he told Raven that his brainy bro hadn’t slept in a while. Donnie would come in for naps and go right back outside to do…whatever his project was now. Always gone before anyone was up and back after everyone went to bed.

So, get Donnie to help Raven, then maybe Raven could help him convince Donnie to take a nap. Or they could get Scrap to knock him out.

But when he got close to the barn, he frowned.

There was talking coming from the cracked door. And not the usual back and forth that Casey and Donnie had been doing lately.

Nooo, that was definitely April’s voice coming from the barn. Which was odd, since April never went into the barn.

Mikey slowed his pace, almost tip-toeing up to the door to listen in.

“-what is with you? Why did you vote no?” April’s voice sounded mad. “You’re the smartest one here, if anyone should’ve suggested having Raven call help it should have been you!”

“Clearly my option doesn’t hold much weight. I technically didn’t get to vote.” Huh, Mikey wasn’t used to Donnie sounding so…short with April. He usually tripped and tumbled over every other word and wormed in as much terrible flirting and flattery as he could.

Than again…Mikey couldn’t really remember the last time Donnie had gone full ‘heart-eyed babbling dumb-dumb’ when he talked about April.

“Why are you being stubborn about this?” April huffed. “We have a way to actually get Leo help and you wanted to pass it up?”

Mikey peeked into the barn in time to see Donnie spin around to glare, actually glare, at April!

“As much as I hate to admit it, Casey had a point. We are banking solely on you reading her mind to know if everything she said was the truth and we already know she has a way to completely lock you out of her head.”

“I saw her memories, I felt the things she was feeling, I could sense that she was telling the truth! What more proof do you want?”

“Yes, let us rely completely on your powers that you just got a few months ago, which, by the way, have a worse track record than Mikey’s cooking experiments.”

Oh, okay, ouch…but also, what?

“My- you- my powers are not unreliable!”

“Whether or not you can sense danger changes almost everyday, you’ve had random outbursts that break things more often than not, oh, and you conveniently didn’t notice the Kraang in your school until you brought him to our home!”

Oookay, Donnie was doing that thing, the thing where his tone got angrier and angrier the longer he rambled. And…okay, the inconsistencies with April’s powers weren’t fair but Mikey kinda agreed that April never sensing something off about her friend was weird. And she knew the rule about bringing other people to the Lair-

“You’re seriously holding that over me?! I’d known Irma for-”

“I. Don’t. Care.” Donnie gritted out each word, slowly standing up from his chair. “You want me to use my brain? Here’s what I know. We have no concrete evidence that anything good will come from calling down more aliens. Raven is clearly not the Kraang but what if her people are willing to trade us to the Kraang for resources? Or to keep the Kraang off their planet? Or maybe they’ll be just like every other human here and just lock us away like lab rats. Or maybe she just figured out how to trick you so she can escape and leave us high and dry and still in the exact same spot!”

Mikey jaw dropped in shock. Partly because of how harsh Donnie was being but also because he never thought he’d ever see Donnie yelling at April.

Clearly, she didn’t either because she was slowly backing away as Donnie ranted on, “I have been helping Leo! I patched him up and got him stable! I have been handling everything related to his care since we got here! I don’t need help from some random alien person who just showed up out of nowhere that we all suddenly trust for some reason!”

Donnie was breathing hard, glaring down at April and growling, too low for a human to pick up but Mikey could hear it plain as day.

Man, Donnie must be pretty upset if he was growling like that.

April stood, frozen as the silence rang between them.

Mikey almost missed when she muttered, “She figured out Leo’s leg was broken before you did.”

And…no, Mikey cringed when she said that because he knew how torn up Donnie had been about that. Why did she say that?

The effect on Donnie was instant. The anger on his face fell, leaving a slack, shocked expression. It was only there for a second but if Mikey saw it, April definitely did too. Then it was gone and Donnie's face was a mask of indifference as he spun around and sat back at the bench.

April seemed to realize her misstep, because she started to follow, lifting a hand, “Wait, Donnie, I-”

“No, that was fair,” Donnie murmured, dragging a stand full of vials closer to himself. “I was out of line. Now we’re even.”

“No, Donnie-”

“I have stuff I want to do. Alone.”

“I’m-”

Donnie growled again, this time at a tone humans could hear.

It worked because April suddenly jerked back.

Mikey could feel how tense the silence was.

And then she spun around with a sound of frustration and headed for the door.

Mikey squeaked, scrabbling out of the way and diving around the corner of the barn. He listened to April stomping by, peering out to watch her retreating back as she returned to the house, slamming the door when she went inside.

And now, he faced a very serious dilemma.

Raven needed to know the range of her improvised super cell phone, and Donnie probably knew what that meant and what she needed to know.

But Donnie had just had a fight with April. April! If something bothered him enough to snap at her, Mikey didn’t stand a chance.

…unless he pulled out the baby brother privilege!

Mind made up, Mikey stepped out of his hiding place and matched into the barn.

Donnie was bent over the old workbench that was now doubling as a lab table. He’d dug up lab equipment from somewhere, where Mikey had no clue because he was pretty sure Donnie hadn’t brought any of it from the Lair. A few had multi-colored liquids in them and, when Mikey got close enough, he saw a very large canister was also taking up surface space.

“Whhhhy do you have mutagen?”

Donnie startled, head whipping around, “Jeeez, Mikey.”

“Dude, I wasn’t even sneaking.”

Donnie huffed and turned back to his test tubes. “What do you want Mike?”

“Well I was gonna ask you something but now I wanna know about this,” Mikey started to reach out to poke the mutagen canister.

Donnie’s hand snaked out and effectively blocked his hand, “Do not touch.”

“Are you making more anti-mutagen stuff?”

“Nope,” Donnie pulled up a vial, tapping the side. “I’m making something to help Leo!”

“Uhhhh,” Mikey looked from the vial to the mutagen, the back to the tube. “I thought doubling up on mutagen was bad? Like when I got shellacne.”

“You messed around with an experimental compound without any testing,” Donnie muttered. “I am using my expansive knowledge about mutagen and our mutation to create the perfect solution to all our problems! If I can isolate the right chemical compounds in mutagen that regenerate cells and adjust the ratios before combining it with the right cocktail of vitamins, anti-inflammatories and anabolics, I can have Leo back to full health in less than a month!”

“Uhhh,” Mikey reached out to poke at the mutagen again. “With the ooze?”

Donnie smacked his hand away again, “We don’t need anyone else, I can fix this! I’ve already given a list of the medications I need to Casey and he assured me that he would go to the closest town soon. Once I have all the right materials I can create a compound to accelerate Leo’s healing! No unknown alien races needed!” He looked up at the last sentence, grinning widely up at Mikey. “See! I can fix this! I can fix everything so we don’t need to take any risks!”

Aaaand his eye was doing that twitchy thing. The one that happened when Donnie started going full mad scientist because he hadn’t been sleeping enough.

“Dude, I think you need a nap…in a bed.”

Donnie scoffed, turning back to his chemicals, “No I don’t, I need to finish this. Preferably before your ‘friend’ calls down her friends.”

“....why do you not want Raven to call help? She was just telling me about the doctor on her team, he’s her brother! Actually…I think all the clones are technically siblings?”

“Clearly not,” Donnie waved a hand. “She’s a girl, and brother indicates that some of these clones received their genetic material from a man. Ergo, these Kamanoians used a large number of donors to create their army, likey sourcing a number of different people with varying skill sets to cut down on the time needed to tamper with the DNA. Plus, how confusing would it be if they all had the same base doner? You could never keep them all straight if they all looked the same…but then again, she does have tattoos, perhaps that was how they would tell each other apart? Or maybe it’s a ranking system! The stripes could be-”

“Dude!” Mikey interrupted. “Okay, seriously, when was the last time you slept? You’re going off on tangents.” Mikey tugged at Donnie’s mask, making him squawk indignantly. “And you’re trying to make medicine outta ooze? And you snapped at April! Since when do you snap at April?”

The mention of April made Donnie freeze, which meant Mikey had the perfect opportunity to pull his mask down.

He couldn’t help but hiss at the dark circles under Donnie’s eyes, “Dude, just an fyi? I don’t think a few hours every nigh counts as ‘sleeping’.”

“I’ve been sleeping!” Donnie snapped back. “But I’ve also been working! The house needs work before winter sets in, the heating still isn’t working as well as it could be and it’s going to get cold up here. I would also like to add a heating system to the barn so I can keep working in here, then there’s insulating the water pipes or they’ll burst on us, making sure we have wood in case the central heat fails, I need to do a lot more experimentation with the mutagen medicine, especially when Casey gets the things I need, and I have to make sure all the electricals are sealed against any potential water damage-”

“Bro, you already did most of that.”

“I did a quick checks that were, in no way, meant to be long-term fixes. Of course, I can’t do most of those until someone goes into town for more supplies and I still have a few places to scavenge from. So in the meantime, I can work on this!” He gestured to the work table.

Mikey frowned, crossing his arms, “You know, I asked you why’d you snap at April.”

“Did you?” Donnie blinked. Very, very purposely.

Mikey frowned harder, “Aren’t you, like, all goo-goo eyes for her? How little sleep have you gotten that you’re not even thinking about running to make up things?” Not that Mikey thought he should. They both had said things but, honestly, Donnie was always the one reaching out when he and April had spats. It was way past her turn.

Donnie huffed, leaning away from Mikey as he snatched and retired his mask. He crossed his arms, eyes turning down to stare the the floor, “...I haven’t felt like that in a while.”

“Wha- Seriously?” Mikey knew Donnie hadn’t been as star-struck but he’d thought- “But you’re crazy about her!”

“Yeah, I was but-” Donnie sighed, entire body suddenly slumping. “I don’t know. I guess for a while I was just…seeing what I liked about her. But…when she stopped talking to us?”

Oh, Mikey remembered that. Donnie had been super depressed for days when April said she never wanted to see them again.

Donnie sighed again, rubbing his face, “Yeah, well, I don’t know but when she did finally start coming back things were… different? I don’t really know but I didn’t feel the same. I still liked her but the feeling wasn’t as strong. And then when the powers started…”

He trailed off but Mikey nodded. He couldn’t really deny that April had gotten kinda…pushy after they found she had powers, especially with Donnie.

“Soooo,” Mikey tilted his head curiously. “You don’t have a crush on her anymore?”

“No Mikey, I don’t have a crush on April anymore.”

“And you’ve slept in an actual bed in the last seven days, right?”

Donnie gave Mikey a flat look, “I thought we were having a heart-to-heart.”

“We can do that later,” Mikey reached up, poking between Donnie’s eyes. “But your eyebags have eyebags dude.”

Donnie growled, a deep turtle-y growl.

“See? You need some sleep bro.”

He seized Donnie’s arm, pulling his brother out of the chair. Donnie growled again and tried to pull his limb back.

Mikey just tightened his hold. His brothers always forgot how strong he actually was, which worked out great for him in training. And in dragging Donnie to bed when Leo couldn’t do it.

But they both paused when Mikey shoved open the barn door.

Because in the time Mikey had been in the barn, it had started to snow. Fat flakes of white drifted down and, while many melted as soon as they touched anything solid, small piles had started to form on the ground.

And Mikey couldn’t help feeling sad. Because this was their first winter on the surface. He’d always dreamed about it, experiencing a snowfall topside, playing in the snow that wasn’t melted enough to slide down a grate or in tiny drifts.

He didn’t think they’d be able to experience snow in broad daylight…and he wasn’t sure if he liked all the reasons why they could at the moment.

But he had other things to worry over right now. Plus, Leo was awake so maybe he’d be well enough to enjoy the snow with them when it actually started collecting on the ground.

So he kept tugging Donnie along towards the house, intent on making sure he made it to bed and stayed there.

And completely forgetting the clone watching the scene from the roof.

--------------------

Sorry to any Apriltello shipers who thought I was gonna fix this! But the show just kinda....spoiled that ship for me. Plus, I don't think April and Donnie really...click.

[philhoffman]

This week’s Monday Philm is one of the most fun movies ever, Mission: Impossible III (2006). Action movies aren’t my favorite, JJ Abrams isn’t the most beloved director ever, the shaking/blurry camera and lens flares make it hard to see what is happening at all times—and yet, so fucking fun.

The hardest cold open in history. It’s gotta be, right? Part of what makes this movie so great is that Phil is clearly having the time of his life. It’s objectively hilarious that he went from winning the Oscar for Capote to immediately being in this big Hollywood action star blockbuster. And he didn’t do anything else like it again. It’s so fun seeing him play Tom Cruise playing himself and doing (most of) his own stunts—especially the helicopter, knowing it made him violently ill after every take 😭

Something I think about a lot in relation to PSH’s characters is that he gives them such life, his films often feel like they’re dropping in on a very real person for a short time. Like they’ve existed before the timeline of the movie and they will continue living their life after it ends (well, except for a few unlucky guys)—we’re just getting a glimpse of that life. Not sure any character embodies that better than Owen Davian. He’s just so bored. All of this Rabbit’s Foot business and spy stuff is very exciting and urgent and intense for Ethan Hunt and the IMF (not the International Monetary Fund) and everyone else. But Davian, who is kidnapped by a clone of himself in a Vatican bathroom then held out the cargo bay doors of a jet tens of thousands of feet above the ground, can’t be bothered. He blinks awake at his captors, he teases them, he gets all the information he needs from a single name. He shakes his hand out after throwing a punch because it hurts, he stumbles a bit over his own feet while threatening Julia, he drags Hunt lazily across the floor. Davian’s got other things on his mind, more important matters. These are Tom Cruise’s movies, of course, so Davian could never win, but until then this is absolutely just another Tuesday in his mind.

I’d love to see all the different ways they shot the airplane scene. We know from one of the trailers that there’s another take in which he plays it softer than the final cut—still threatening, but invested, almost giddy. It would be awesome to see any other alternate approaches.

I also love the little moments—the brute force with which he grabs a drink from the waiter’s tray, the trademark way he gently, just barely touches Maggie Q’s face when her character Zhen Lei spills the wine on his shirt (the same gesture he makes to Charlie in Scent of a Woman!), his imitation of Tom Cruise right after the mask swap when talking to Luther. 

The first time I watched MI3 was last summer with my family, and it was such an unexpectedly great treat that we all enjoyed it. I remember thinking, this is exactly the kind of movie people are talking about when they say Philip Seymour Hoffman takes a good movie and makes it phenomenal. There will always be action movies, Hollywood will always churn them out, no matter who’s in them. MI3 is a fine movie. But then he shows up and BAM, it’s a standout, it’s something people remember. This is the movie that makes it a joy to see PSH on screen, for the casual movie buff and for his diehard fans. He made things better for anyone.

[undying-lilies]

this one is for all you Kanera fans 👀

sneak peek under the cut!!

Kanan leaned back in the co-pilot’s seat, hands folded across his stomach as he stared at the ceiling. He could only vaguely make out the conversation that was happening outside . . . something something weapons, something something payment . . . but he was trying not to listen. He’d volunteered to keep an eye on the ship while the others settled the negotiations, but that was more because he still didn’t fully trust anyone else yet.

So what if the Twi’leks they were meeting with wanted to fight against the Empire? He still didn’t know if they were entirely trustworthy. Besides, the Marauder was his home now - it was all their home, all they had - and he wasn’t about to let anything bad happen to it.

“Hunter!” he heard Omega call. “Can she come aboard the ship?”

Kanan froze. She was letting someone come on the ship?

Groaning, he pulled himself out of the chair and headed out of the cockpit. Omega was so much more trusting than he was. Cal was a little too, admittedly. He’d been nervous about joining a bunch of clones on the run, but searching for Omega when she’d been kidnapped (not saved) had made him feel more comfortable around them. They weren’t as concerned about strangers as Kanan was. 

Unlike them, Kanan felt like that might be a significant problem in the future. He could just see Omega trying to befriend the creepy Dark Side girl from Bracca.

He emerged into the next room the same time as Omega and Cal and a teenage Twi’lek girl with green skin did. “Who are you inviting onto the ship?” he said, trying to keep the exasperation out of his tone. “You guys know what I’ve told you about -”

He’d been preparing himself for giving a lecture about safety and stranger danger and this is why we don’t let people on the ship.

But then the girl opened her mouth, and Kanan’s mind went blank.

“Oh,” she said, brow furrowing in concern. “I hope I’m not intruding or anything.”

[rubykgrant]

rvb pokemon ??? do you have any more posts from for this au👀👀

I had a couple! Some of them were a little bit different from each other... the AU with the Rotom AI Basically went like this; Project Freelancer was essentially Team Plasma, with the Director having the same backstory as the scientist who wanted to experiment with cloning to bring back a loved one, but also had to focus on Pokemon experiments (to get funding and what-not). They seemed legit and helpful on the surface, but those in charge actually have insidious intentions. During the Mewtwo experiments, the Director would try to use information from his own mind to control the Psychic Type Pokemon, which gave life to new Pokemon, which made what they call the Alpha Rotom! This Rotom then made MORE Rotom Fragments, that were unfortunately taken away for other experiments and uses. The physical body of the Mewtwo is still stuck in the lab (and later, freeing it is also how they activate the Epsilon Rotom). Charon Industries is the Aether Foundation, which also has a "nice public face", while actually causing all sorts of problems.

As I mentioned, the AI Rotom could Evolve in different and unique ways with specific qualifications... at some point, the Alpha Rotom got "stuck" in something similar to a Golurk; an old relic from ancient days, when people made statues for Pokemon to bring to life. So, "Church" just thinks he's a guy. He certainly LOOKS like a regular dude, and nothing seems too odd until he "dies" a few times and discovers he can possess various inanimate objects or relics. He winds up getting pulled into a group of Team Aqua rejects who are stuck fighting some Team Magma losers. Thus, Red VS Blue begins! The rest of the guys are (mostly) normal humans, except for Sheila who is an Aggron (the Aquas stole a baby Aaron egg from some Magmas, and now that's their big bad tank Pokemon), and Lopez who is a Golurk that LOOKS like a Golurk. Sarge is initially adamant that everybody on his team can ONLY have Magma-approved Pokemon, but as time goes on, he finally admits that having a diverse set of different types comes in handy. Doc has a few healer-Pokemon that are given to anybody that want to be a medic of sorts, but he somehow keeps on collecting Poison Types (just because it is ironic and funny).

Elements of the siege on Silph Co would be used for the downfall of Freelancer/Team Plasma, with Carolina then hunting down the Director much like the Rival of Gold/Silver/Crystal does in Johto regarding Giovanni. Tucker is a Legendary Pokemon magnet, but he doesn't always keep them for himself (I'd like to imagine everybody gets one Legendary each, and Sarge DEFINITELY lives the dream by getting a Groudon. He ABSOLUTELY has a Red Gyarados, too!). Carolina is also a former Champion in several regions, but had to step away from League Tournaments/Gym Battles to keep a low profile. When the plot of Chorus happens, two groups are tricked into fighting each other by the ACTUAL villains, Team Rocket! For these purposes, Felix and Locus are Jessie and James, while Sharkface is Meowth- that's right!

Temple's group ticks-off the Time and Space Legendary Pokemon all Team Galactic style, while the eventual time-travel stuff is more like Wormholes in Sun/Moon, with the AI Gods being Ultra Beasts (though, Chrovos takes on a "false form" to appear as a Celebi in an effort to seem more legit. Donut finds a REAL one for himself, and it is Shiny and PINK). The Aqua and Magma group would wind up moving all through different Regions, basically either living out certain plots of the games, or going through plots points from RVB but now Pokemon themed. The Meta would have some similarities with Genesect, and the strange audio message that the Rockets used at Lake of Rage

Thanks for asking~