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castrian-amore · 1 month

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Stellata Notte(C’è finalmente libertà)

Death Defying(Danny Fenton x Dick Greyson), DC X DP, Space AU, Unfinished, Chronic Illness, Please see ao3 for full list of tags

Gift fic for @nikki-pondtheauthor

2/? Chapters | Chapter Length: 10,162 words

Chapter 2: When the Welcomes of Star Systems Sing

Dick Grayson was born at approximately 20 Darths and 4 Tiths on the 3rd rotation of the calendar year on the planet of Isman. The planet where his family’s business had taken them for the moment with the intergalactic Haley’s circus. It had been a normal day for them. Land the ship and begin to set up outside of the city capital. Of course his mother had gone into labor and even though she hadn’t been performing that night any hope of the Flying Grayson’s performing at all for the next little bit would have been ruined in general.

The circus was originated by the Humans of the planet of Earth centuries ago but there was little care in the world now where it originated. Now it had shown the detailed and impressive physiological feats of many races from across the galaxy and the various star systems throughout. They were a wonderful mix of new and old and ancient. Forgotten performances of praise to gods no one knew the names of. Dangerous acts of high intensity swinging, and of course that had been how Dick Grayson had grown up.

He was used to the strangeness of the universe and known life having lived and grown up alongside them, many questioning whether or not it was fit to have such a fragile little thing to travel with them. Many watched as the Grasyons taught Dick the very basics of the trapeze. They taught him how to fall. How to catch himself and how to react at a moment's notice. His parents had taught him the ins and outs of the performances and so when it was time for him to perform he would do so flawlessly, and thus two became 3. Of course Dick had loved it growing up around such wonderful and kind people.

He learned various languages and methods of communication from across the galaxy. He learned of the stone people and their precious stones they used to convey emotions because they could only make one face and one tone with their voice. Stone used to clearly display their mood.

He met the kryptonians who looked so similar to himself and yet vastly different in a way that he enjoyed. He met a few Amazons, one of the only species to be able to facilitate one species with all of their residing members having both male and female sex organs they could choose whether they wanted to carry or to impregnate someone themselves. It was interesting and as Dick grew and learned he found himself staring at the miracles that beheld him in space traveling with the circus. He got to watch miracles of life and the misfortunes of death from several of their residing species. What he hadn’t expected was for him own parents to leave him too soon as their show went on and the accident happened upon the planet of Krypton.

No one had expected them to die or for their technology to malfunction around them. No one had expected any of it, and yet here they were. Dick had watched his parents die and thus he was left with no family around him. Humans spread too far and thin across the galaxies with no true planet to call their home, they were known as a wandering race anyways.

Dick thought he might have to find new partners to continue to afford to live and eat aboard the ship not knowing where he would turn too scared and confused about what he had witnessed convinced someone had targeted his parents for something, that had to be it right? It couldn’t have been in an accident? They had done this same routine a hundred times and it seemed no different to them that they couldn’t do anything about the accident.

But it had been just that, an accident.

So Dick sat on a bench inside of the ship staring out the window at the landscape of krypton underneath the red run. What could he do after all? What was he going to do? He had only been brought from his reality now once more at the door opening to his room. Haley stood there rubbing the back of his neck.

“There’s someone who wants to meet you Dick..”He spoke softly and gave the man a small smile. Dick had glanced back to see another human in a business suit. He gave a gentle sad smile and walked over.

“May I sit here?”He motioned at the free spot in the window sill. The two sat in silence for another moment and Dick wasn’t about to be the one to break it before the man spoke again.

“My name is Bruce Wayne and my home resides here on Krypton… I am sorry to hear about your parents' young Grayson,”He spoke genuinely and as Dick stared up at him he saw a matching expression. The man held sorrow in his eyes and a soft smile filled with regret.

“Thanks…”Dick whispers out, pushing down his feelings and staring back out the window.

“How are you holding up?” Dick gave a shrug at that one. How was he holding up? How was he holding up against the crushing weight of the worlds resting upon him now. Everyone asked if he was okay. Everyone apologizing to him for his loss. Everyone repeating the same lines over and over again and some slightly different than others but at the end of the day he saw it all for what it was, a facade of caring.

No one offered to take him on as a foster. No one offered him a job to hold onto in the meantime so he had a way to feed himself. No one offered him anything but their sympathies and false promise of hope and dreams that they would never fulfill. Of course they did. Why would they help the now poor orphaned Flying Grayson who was the only one lucky enough to not fall to their deaths.

Then there was this guy, and Dick was so sure he was going to offer him nothing but sympathies and apologies and wishes of things he didn’t even want. Dick didn’t know who this man was or why he had been there talking with him in the first place but that didn’t mean anything to dick did it? This man meant nothing and would mean nothing to him because why should he? He had to be like everyone else right?

“Holding on,”Dick curtly replied, pulling his knees to his chest and gazing fixed out the window in a quiet daze as the thoughts ran rampant through his mind.

“Your parents gave an amazing performance, You did too,”he offered and in a way it was more blunt and stating fact than him trying to actually calm down Dick. It was a quiet comment that he had done his performance well as if that was all there had been to it. Another performance. Another compliment and job well done. What did this man want?

“And? The systems still failed, they died.”Dick ripped the tears wanting to form in his eyes for a moment trying to hold it together and then he felt a gentle hand rest on his shoulder as he looked up at him.

“But you’re still alive and kicking aren’t you,”he offered that same longing smile. A smile and eyes that hid the fear behind them and the quiet intonations that he knew what Dick was going through.

“I guess..”He curtly replied.

“Do you have anything you want to do when you get older?” Bruce gave him a gentle smile. “I wanted to be a pod racer. You know the ones they do on that desert planet just a few darths away from the Kraison system? Have you heard of it? There’s an entire league and they even stream it. It’s still pretty cool if I do say so myself.”

“I haven’t heard of it?” Dick replied softly as the other pulled away. ‘I don’t think I do.. I just wanted to perform with my parents.” Dick looks out the window then down to his hands. “I can’t do that anymore.”

“I think you can use that though, can’t you? Do you like the stars? You like traveling?”Bruce smiles.

“Yeah?”

“Then let’s live one day at a time until you figure out what you want to do. How you want to move on. Moving on from anything is a big task after all isn’t it? Mourning is an even bigger one that is going to take time. Maybe spending some time out in the stars and planet will help, but maybe with a new group of friends.”

“What are you saying?” Dick slowly looked over at the man. His hair black and slicked back in his formal suit and eyes glistening with a plan as he glanced over at Dick gently giving him a smile.

“If you’ll have me. I think I'd like to see if you’ll allow me to take you in as your foster parent. No need to call me dad. No need to feel pressured into my lifestyle. You just will have the freedom to do what you want alongside me for a while and go to school, and study, and maybe figure out a new life one step at a time.” Bruce gave him a smile and stood up offering his hand out to Dick.

A young Dick Gray son new to the world and scared at the news of his parents death and finally looking at the single person he felt as if wouldn’t betray him in the eyes. The man with an old soul and plenty of money as well as the unshaking urge to continue pushing forwards no matter how hopeless things seemed to get.

Dick had learned many things from him. Now where to begin…

9 YEARS AGO

“We are gathered here today to celebrate our graduates of the Federation Academy. All of these students are hard working, responsible members of the federation. We would like to take this time to announce our top graduates in their fields of study and their new ship assignments,”The President beamed. The Federation Academy. The high school was only for the best of the best and the only school allowed to take students from any walk of life and allow them to immediately enroll within the Federation ships.

The classes allow for those who aim for certain fields to focus on them and join within the ranks of the ships where they can build their careers and press on.

“May I present for the top of the Medical Field Classes Jazz Fenton.” The fiery red head walked on the stage giving a bright smile as she waved and took the certificate allowing the media to take a good look and their cannon shots of her. She was charismatic and good at what she did. Able to not only fix you up in a heartbeat physically but mentally. It also made her a dangerous opponent to fight though. Dick couldn’t count the times she used knowledge she learned from who knows where to take down opponents twice her size with secret techniques and things about their physiology No one would normally know. He knew she had a brother she barely got to see and other than that they briefly had interacted. She stepped off the stage exiting to the right of it to sit down in the designated spots.

“M’gann M’orzz head of our Interspecies Relations!”

She gave a polite nod to the class and gave a big wave to everyone. She was always so friendly so the fact she landed top of her class there was no surprise to him. Dick got along well with her and helped her adjust. He had briefly met her uncle J’onn on one occasion alongside Bruce. He was very straight forward but caring in comparison to M’gann who liked to do her own thing and was very animated. He hasn’t been to Mars in a long while. M’gann always said she would show him around if he ever decided to visit.

“Koriand’r of Tamaran top of her class in Civil and Interplanetary Defense!”

Dick had always had a thing quietly for Kori. He had tried to make moves but turns out she wasn’t interested in him back and in turn they still remained close friends as Dick had been the one to first befriend her and help her learn the way of life on Krypton. It had been a tricky situation for all of them.

“Dar’ith Kal’halium,” the man took a breath with a smile as the Greviaan walked on stage with his 4 tentacle like legs.” Head of the class in Engineering and ship design!” An award that would later find itself in Tim’s hands and it would be Dick in the crowd happily clapping at the man with a smile. Dar’ith was a kind soul and he found himself often in trouble a lot more than one would think. He would get to involved with work he forgot to not only take care of himself but he commonly got so distracted he would almost always accidentally drop something or almost hurt someone because of it. Dick would laugh and help him before they moved on.

“And lastly, the top of this years class not only as a whole but also top of the class in Interplanetary piloting in small grade, multi-warp, and long haul capable vessels, Dick Grayson,”the Kryptonian introduced him as he saw his family in the crowd cheering for him loudly. Still a few years before the accident that would end up Driving Jason away from the federation. Dick walked the stage taking the certificate, giving his charming smile across his face and giving a small nod of thanks to the headmaster as they stepped off to the side.

“Everyone give a round of applause for the tops of the classes!” The crowd cheered loudly and Dick looked over at all his friends standing beside him. He couldn’t ask for better people. “We welcome these young souls into the Interplanetary Defense Federation with open arms if they so choose. We have already reviewed words from 4 of them who would like to enlist so now I will read out their ship assignments.”

The crowd began to quiet down and now this was what Dick was nervous about. Ship assignments. His focus was to be a captain of a ship but there was no way he would be given a ship at just 18. Which meant he would be assigned to a ships defense pilot squadron. He knew which one he wanted. The I.D.F.S Unrelenting. The newest ship in the fleet fitted with a long haul multi-warp engine and it’s own 10 small grade defense patrol if needed. It was built for the soul purpose of exploring deep space. Though he didn’t think he’d mind the I.D.F.S Trinity either. Both were newer and the most technologically advanced ships but the catch 22 but even being 18 most humans weren’t allowed for long haul flights and there were rumors of the I.D.F.S Unrelenting to be released on a long deep space mission. It was the largest ship in the fleet after all and it seemed best to go and explore with all of it’s abilities.

“Jazz Fenton will be stationed on the I.D.F.S Trinity! Koriand’r of Tamaran will be on the I.D.F.S Starfire! Dar’ith Kal’halium on the I.D.F.S Krisme the space station orbiting here around Krypton. Dick Grayson will be stationed on the I.D.F.S Bludhaven.”

Dick’s heart fell… the Bludhaven? He was top of his class! He excelled in everything and yet Jazz Fenton beat him out for the Trinity! The BludHaven was an older single-warp long haul ship with a small 4 ship defense grouping. Still, the crowd cheered and Dick fought the disappointment in his eyes and his heart about where he was stationed. The BludHaven was a patrol ship around the outer galaxies centered on the dying planets and maintaining a close bond with the edge of the universe with the rest of the galaxy. It was far away from most people and commonly required a smaller multi-warp capable ship to get to it despite the fact that it, itself was not a multi-warp ship.

Of course he didn’t get it. Of course he never truly would.

5 YEARS AGO

“Dick.” A broke voice called out to him through heavy breaths of smoke.``Dick get up!” There were flames everywhere and Dick was fighting the smoke inhalation as he choked on his own words trying to form any semblance of a sentence to get his thoughts together. He could feel the blood trickling down his face and almost getting into his eyes as he sat up looking around him painfully aware of his throbbing skull and knowing there must be a concussion there. Dirk was already pulling him to his feet with a panicked look across his smooth features Tentacle tightly wrapped around his wrist.

“What’s happened?”

“Someone’s attacking the ship! We’ve got to go! All the other defense pilots were taken out and the captains called for a full evacuation!” Dirk pulled him along the stubling man being dragged behind in his uniform. Both of them trying to blend in with the crowd his mind was trying to work and he pulled himself from Dirk’s grip.

“No-- I have to get to my ship,”he shook his head. “Someone’s gotta help defend the escaping pods none of them are equipped with weapons.”

“This ship is a patrol ship! It’s stationed amongst mining colonies, it’s not meant for things like this!” Dirk tried again to pull him.

“So what?!” Dick flinched as the ship rocked and both of them were roughly thrown into the wall another call for the evatuation filling his ears as he coughs some more his lungs still burning. “So what? Dirk what happened to the other ships? Their pilots? My squadron?”

When Dick had been stationed out here he struggled with finding a place because they had brought him out to replace the old squadron leader. They apparently didn’t seem worth it to promote from within and it had taken him a year and a half before his squad finally started to respect him. He had been the youngest squadron’s leader in the history of the Federation. It had been why they had sent him out there, to try and keep the place from falling apart even as he learned of his groups and the ships nefarious duties. He kept quiet about. Desperately trying to underhandedly sabotage the illegal shipments they let through. Take proof of the bribes and mysteriously send it to command. The ship knew there was someone causeing issues aboard and ruining their entire legal operations but Dick maintained a facade he knew Bruce helf onto far too well.

Bruce always did far more than he let on, having shown Dick his personal space station he had nick named the “BatCave”. Based on old art he had found in the old Earth Archives of an animal that had existed too long ago. Bruce apparently had been apart of a secret society trying to weed out the bad guys within the Federation and across several planets landed himself the name of “Batman”, Specifically on the planet of Gotham. Dick had done it with him for a short while but balancing that and the Academy had not been easy.

Now though, here on the BludHaven? Dick had ended up doing as his father had. They had given him the nickname of “Night” Because he appeared during the sleeping hours of the ship. Dick didn’t quite understand it but he took the name and ran with it. Keeping his little side hobby of ruining the ships underhanded and nefarious purposes were difficult, and he despised most of the people on the ship.

“Dick,”Dirk was pulling him from his thoughts. He shoved a set of bracelets in his hands looking away before walking off. The identification tags. He stared at them. These were his squadrons tags. He was the only one left. That meant there was only one more person able to protect the people. The bridge, he had to get to the bridge. He pushed past the people running towards teh escape pods. He went agains the currents fighting way to get to the bridge. Melinda. She had helped him and if she was ordering a ship wide evacuation he had to know.

“Mel!”He screamed as he pushed his way through the crowd as the doors to the bridge opened. Mel was in rough shape. She had several gashes from expected explosions throughout the ship and she was barely holding on to the captain’s chair as she looked back at him.

“Dick,”she smiled weakly. “I thought I sent Dirk to get you out of here?” Her slightly blue tinted skin gleamed in the light. She had come from a water based planet and had gills normally covers in a thin film to protect them as well as webbed fingers and mere holes for ears with electronic adapters connected through her skull to process sound without overwhelming her.

“You know I don’t listen,”He laughs before he watches her stand and then immediately collapse as he rushes over to catch her. “What’s going on Mel, talk to me?” He urges her.

“It’s a pirate fleet. They caught on that the ship was causing problems and interfering in their trade practices of Sprint. No longer aiding in it.”She coughs weakly and Dick’s eyes widened seeing her cough up the green blood of her species. He looked her over eyes widening finding the

“So they’re taking care of the issue,”He finishes quietly looking out the main bridge window, seeing the several ships. He pauses as he is yanked down to her level.

“Dick,”she starts obviously struggling to breathe. She grabbed his wrist tag and pressed the small button on the side not letting him react. “I name you Captain of the I.D.F.S BludHaven under emergency order code 67901.” She let go of his wrist as the tag flashed red then green.

“Mel, what are you--”

“Shut up and listen to me,”She breathed out collapsing more into his arms. “You are one of the kindest and more caring people I’ve ever met. You care for everyone no matter what and you have a heart a gold and you are one of the best leader’s I’ve seen in the field even when you know that your underlings hate you.”

“Mel, stop. You’re talking like you’re going die!” Dick pulled her close trying to stop her bleeding trying to fight the tears welling in his eyes.

“I am. Stop this.”She uses the last of her energy to push him away. “Go get your fighter ship. Protect your people. They’re your responsibility now. I’m going to drive this ship into these bastards and let this ship go down with glory, in flames.”

Dick paused, wiping his eyes before she weakly slammed her hands on the captain’s chair forcing herself back up as she gave him a final smile. Dick gives a firm nod and a final salute. He hadn’t planned on being captain at only 22 years old. It would not be overlooked as he tried to ignore the pain still edging behind his eyes.

He took a deep breath and turned on his heels and ran towards the ship's bay.

“Kai!”He called out as the AI of the Kryptonian inventor appeared.

“Yes Dick?”It greeted.

“Prepare bay doors for emergency fighter ejection, Is the NightWing ready?”

“She is always ready in case of an attack. Though, the captain put the entire ship on emergency evacuation so I must insist you return to the evacuations Shuttle pods.” Dick held up his wrist.

“No, I’m piloting the NightWing. This ship is set to blow. I’m protecting those transports from the attacks. Give ‘er all the firepower you can.”

The small blue light and scan passed over his wrist as the AI nodded. “Very well then Captain Grayson. I will move her over as you change.”

Dick was already stripping from the standard uniform and into the pilot's gear as quickly as possible. “What percentage of the ship has gotten to the escape pods?”

“Approximately 89%. It will take another 5 minutes to finalize the rest of the ship minus those who have already been recorded as dead.” Kai appeared in front of him, handed over the head piece for the suit and he slipped it on behind his ears.

“Can you connect me to the bridge?”

“Of course Captain,”Kai nodded as he watched it patch him through.

“Mel, I know you can hear me. You have to wait 5 more minutes for the final ships to get out of here. Give them everything we got. I'm about to head out myself okay? Hold on for just a little longer.”

“Oh trust me Dick, I’m holding on with whatever life I have left.” Dick laughed softly trying to ignore how weak she sounded but she was a stubborn one wasn’t she?

Dick climbed into the NightWing as the tops shut and he gave a heavy sigh flipping the controls before he sighs. “Broadcast to the shuttles and this ship.”

“Of course,”A pause from Kai. “Connected, now broadcasting.”

“This is Captain Dick Grasyson of I.D.S.F BludHaven enacted to my position from emergency protocol 67901. Get on those transports as fast as possible and get out of here and jump. Until all ships have warped out of here I will be acting as cover as the last of my Squadron’s Protection Unit. I know this is scary. We will make it through this, and listen to me. I will not let anything happen to the remaining shuttles as best as I can. We will get through this. This is the Nightwing. Comms out.” The communication shut off as he felt the purr of her engine start and watched her come to life in front of him.

He shot out of the bay and it had been a long time since he’d had to do active fighter maneuvers but it proved just how good he was at it, not even the slightest bit rusty.

Still, as the last shuttle still standing left the local space and all enemy fire was on him he stared at the BludHaven, watching her dive headfirst into the main Pirate ship. He watched her explode. Eyes closing as he took a final deep breath.

“Kai, how’s the warp corp?”

“Holding and steady.” His ship rocked as the blast of the Bludhaven finally reached out. “Wait! Losing power! If you need to jump, do it now.”

“On it,” Dick flipped the switch trying to ignore the damage reports now filling his vision as he took another ship and his head moved and hit the glass. Another shock sent down his spine. Fuck, no not yet. “Enable warp.”

Dick barely pushes the button before he blacks out, praying he wouldn’t crash.

ONE DAY AGO

“Dick, this isn’t looking good!”Tim’s voice was frantic from down inside the engine bay. The man had to have been running back and forth with his tools like a madman. “How are they getting so many hits? Why aren’t our shields operating at full capacity.”

“You’re telling me!”Dick hissed out gripping the sides of the pilots chair firmly as he wove them in and out of the way to the best of his abilities trying to avoid what he could from the debris field coming their way. The rings of a planet long since lost to a comet or asteroid having run it through and yet somehow the rings still maintained their shape, probably would end up drifting eventually and cause even more problems but this wasn’t his system and it wasn’t his problem. His problem right now, was the fucking pirates hot on their trail.

They could keep up which was a concern in itself on so many levels. He didn’t know how to take it so that someone could keep up.

“We need to jump,”Jason commented sliding over to push more buttons so Dick could focus on steering the ship in front of him, he just wished they could have left her on autopilot mode and went on with the even with little to no worry but yet here they were being attacked by something, or well someone. A group of people more than likely with their own impressively fast ship.

“You’re telling me! We need to lose them before we can jump!”

“We’re only going to have one jump!”Tim’s voice exclaimed. “I only think we can make it one more jump before we lose warp capabilities!”

“We need to lose them then,”Dick mumbles under his breath. “I need to try out our stealth mode, that's the only way. They only found us because we took them off. We need to turn them back on.”

“You want to jump while in stealth mode! We haven’t even tested that!”Tim’s voice cut off at the end of the radio as Dick heard a squeal and probably the sound of Dick falling.

“Do we have another choice!”Jason pressed. “I’d like to live long enough to go on a date. I promise my girlfriend once she got back from her mission by the way!”

“You’re saying that as if I didn’t cancel a dinner with Bernard for this!”

“Will both of you shut up!”Dick hissed out at his siblings who went quiet at Dick’s stress. He always held his cool. He took a deep breath and gave a sigh. “I’m sorry. Tim, buckle up. You too Jason. We’re initiating stealth mode.”

“On it!” Tims voice echoed and cut off and soon enough the doors to the cockpit opened with a small hiss and in ran Tim who almost practically fell into one of the chairs as he buckled up.

“Initiating spy initiative,”Dick calls out as Jason flips a few switches. “Now.''He and Jason press the designated buttons as they move and feel the ship shutter for a moment and immediately Dick moves to initiate the Warp drive procedure. “Opening coolant vents.”

“Initiating warp corp,”Jason replies.

“Coordinates?”

“The Earth System. We should be able to make it to mars and get a full run down on the ship there,”Tim quotes. “No other system is close enough for us to be able to safely make.”

“Delightful,”Jason grumbles as Dick gives them a smile.

“Come on Jay! You said you wanted an adventure!”

“That was you Dick,”Jason rolls his eyes and Dick smirks.

“Huh, that it was, wasn’t it?” A smile crosses Jason’s face.

“Shut up Dick. Press the goddamn button before we get shot down.”

“Alright alright!”Dick laughs and looks at the joystick in his hand as he presses the button and the three of them are welcomed with the familiar feeling of the FTL drive activating and they soared through the galaxy on their way to their intended location. Mars.

However, they fell out of hyperspace too soon. The entire ship jostled and sparks flew through the cockpit as Tim hopped up without a word and bolted down to the engine bay.

“We have a problem. I don’t care what planet it is but you need to land this ship now!”

“What do you mean Tim?”

“We’re about to lose most of her power capabilities.”

“Nearest planet is that desert planet. I’m still on stealth so asking Barbara isn’t a question,”Dick hisses out as he switches their flying back to 100% manual. Out of all of them DIck was the pilot of the family. Jason the Brawn and Tim was the brains of their little trio, and when they had Damian, well he was a little bit like all of them in his own unique way. Not that Dick let him fly the ship after all.

The two of them buckled and Dick praying Tim would at least be holding on down there he prepped her for landing the ship as they entered the atmosphere picking up the readings of the city below. A small port with seemingly one of two bigger buildings and a shipyard and boy was she shaking and it was taking everything with in Dick to not want to fight her so much as she landed with a small his and no sooner did he put the breaks on her for full final landing initiative did she shut off completely the emergency backup lights overhead picking up and the stars blinking above them.

This was not how this mission was supposed to go. Jason and Dick bolted for the engine bay where Tim was coughing having seemingly just put out a fire.

“So uh.. We may have a few things to repair,”He gave a sheepish smile and Dick groaned quietly, turning on the balls of his feet to head up to the cockpit. Of course they did. Of course he was going to be off planet for a bit.

At least he met a handsome stranger who kept up with his bad jokes.

At least the man had listened to their concerns and took them seriously and more importantly hadn’t ratted them out.

At least he was breathing.

At least he was alive… for now.

At least they had made it to the next star system in one piece.

At least they were Wayne's.

CURRENT

“LOOK AT ME!”Jason shoved Dick into the wall, hands grasped on his shirt. “Leave the kid to me! I know you’re fawning over him. I know that look in your eye where you want to wage war, but who here has fucking first aid training.”

“You.”

“Who here is the only one of us qualified to drive a multi-warp long haul vessel?”

“Me.”

“Exactly,”Jason shoves him towards the bridge as Dick fights the memories of the fires and Mel bleeding out in front of him and watching the shuttle transports explode around him as he tries his best to defend them. Right… Dick took a deep breath. This would be for naught if Danny dies. He had just gotten to the stars; he couldn't die yet. Dick stares at his hands and the blood of the sick friend dying as he watches Jason pick his lip body up to move him.

Warp. Yes, they had one job. He had one job. Jump them to the next system. Dick wiped the blood off his hands with a handkerchief as he walked to the main bridge moving to sit down as he heard the doors open and close behind him not long after. Of course Tim was coming along to the Bridge with him. He takes a deep breath as he stares at the systems in front of him moving to adjust what he needed to as he entered the coordinates for the next major system over, the only one they’d be able to make a warp too and fast. He turned off the spy systems now that they were closer to mars.

“I saw that look,”Tim begins.

“Not now Tim… we’ll talk about it later.”

“You always want to talk about stuff later when it comes to yourself, Dick. Why not now?”

“Because Danny is dying!” Dick spins around to look at him. “You and I both know we don’t have the medical equipment on board to take care of him Tim!”

“Jason is a talented Field medic! He can make someone live with a fucking single roll of gauze and some bullshit medical supplies! If he’s going to survive anything it’s going to be because of Jason!”

“That’s not the point! He’s not a miracle worker! He’s not a fucking medic, a science officer! He was supposed to go to the Federation focusing on Interplanetary Defense, not the medical field!” Dick rubbed his face. “I’m jumping this conversation is finished.”

“No it’s not,”Tim rolled his eyes and turned in his chair clicking the button to allow for security as Dick did the same opening a coms to the room Dick knew Jason would be in.

“Get strapped in this is about to be a bumpy ride to the Greshin Moons.”

“Why there?!?!”Jason called back.

“Closest place with human capable doctors and engineers that can work on this beast,”Tim replied before Dick had time too. “Besides, isn’t that where your girlfriend is stationed?” A smirk could be heard in his voice.

“Jumpin in 5, 4,3--”

“Damn he is in a Pissy mood,”Jason replied. “But yes she’s on one of them, but I’m also supposed to be on Krypton so how about we don’t--”

“1,”Dick finishes as the pull of the warp corp surrounds them as the ship shakes as he hears Tim hissing over the stats on the engine in front of him before they land and the entire energy of the ship flickers and a small explosion is heard from the engine bay.

“FUCK”He heard Tim exclaim before standing up and rushing to assess the damage as Dick ignores it and hails the tower of the port on the first moon of Greshin. Dick was partly thankful the names of the moons were literally just 1, 2,3,and 4. Greshin was a Gas Giant afterall and yet somehow had an entire city built within the highly toxic gasses of the city. The top of the spire just barely visible through the clouds of smoke. He ignored it, heading straight for the main port.

“Central command on Grenshin Moon 1, this is Dick Grayson of Wayne Enterprises on the “Sleeping Bat” entertaining act 4 section 5 of the Federation support code. We would like to request emergency medical aid to meet us upon arrival for a critical human male.”

“Heard that Grayson. Your request is confirmed. Land in sector 7-93.”

“Copy.” Dick didn’t mind the Greshin moons that much. They were filled with a nice group of more beastial races but he didn’t care too much because they had good engineers and were loyal to the Federation most importantly which meant there would be minimal questions as they didn’t like to avoid themselves within the conflict of the federation and the surrounding planets. The only reason why Jason had an issue with the planets was because during his little separation from the family for a little bit he smuggled a lot through the Greshin moons and so most of the authorities on the planets like to give him problems. He wasn’t quite sure what the man did exactly but he would manage he presumed.He had too because Danny seemingly had no other choice did he?

Dick did as he was told though and landed the ship meeting Jason by the doors of the bed bay. As the doors opened they were greeted with the familiarity of the Greshin people. Their dark fur in a wide array of colors overed the body and they had a gurney by them as Jason rushed Danny over to it, setting him down on top and immediately moving to follow. Dick was about to follow until Tim grabbed his arm and shook his head.

“Wait, we need to move. Let’s get our ship fixed. It’s going to take them a second to stabilize Danny anyways let alone think about when he will awake. Jason can stay with him for now and Jason has his tag on so we’ll be fine.” Tim looks at him calmly. “Come on Dick, I don’t think I’ve seen you this mellow in a while.”

“Oh be quiet,”Dick sighs softly, giving a small slightly forced smile as he followed the others knowing exactly where they were headed. “You just want me because Hai’ta’l likes me better than you.” Dick elbowed Tim in the side and Tim responded with a push.

“She does not!”

“Does too! We always get a discount from her! Also your translator working properly?” Dick teases softly as he moves to switch his on. Hai’ta’l didn’t speak English; her particular specifies of insectoid origins didn’t have the capabilities to make the noises that could produce the language. Instead Hai’ta’l spoke through a series of clicks and hisses with her mandibles and even if the name they had given her didn’t completely fit it was the closest translation of what it meant or even the sounds equal to in the english language.

‘Yeah I upgraded it a little too so it’s not so like-”He stopped for a moment trying to think about how to phrase his next sentence as they walked across the jungle-like planet watching one of the Greshin swing onto the next platform above them. “Laggy? I guess?”

The planets of Greshin were beautiful and lush humid planets with lots of oxygen but low enough levels that Humans could still thrive just fine. The planet was filled with large trees and shrubbery with most of the cities being built off of cliff sides of amongst the trees themselves. The carnivorous plants and Jas’i’as lives below them so living amongst the trees was the safest way to traverse the planets. All of them sharing in the similar jungle like environment. The beastial Greshin people who lived there came in a variety of colors of fur and similar yet different features. Most of them had teeth to fit that of a human as they were omnivores and skilled specifically in medicine. Their planets held some of the rarest plants and 20 incredibly different trees with healing and separate factors to assist in healings.

This had been the best place for Danny.

A lot of the people of Grenshin used their claws to climb up and down the trees as well as swing to various platforms amongst the trees, however as they had delved into space exploration and began to travel amongst the stars they had made their lands far more accessible to travelers as well as several different species moving to live amongst the trees as the Greshin did. He knew on the 3rd Moon they were having a Federation sponsored event on the medicinality of the herbs of the Greshin moons and how they could be used and incorporated into the Federation Medical campaign and treatment over all, and it would also talk about how to maintain and keep the plants alive on various ships and even them having talks of the Federation taking spores and roots back to Krypton for the International Greenhouse. Dick only knew of that because Jason always shared what Jazz was doing, always in a constant state of bragging and being proud of her and rightfully so. They cared a lot about each other.

Dick had been discharged after the BludHaven incident at his request. He wanted a break from the Federation but as far as he knew his friends were still involved and wanted him to come back but Dick hadn’t been with the federation for almost 4 years and he didn’t know how to feel, He liked working with his family, and the federation had given him an upgraded version of the Nightwing and now it sat in the garage of the Bat Cave collecting dust. In this day and age most ships didn’t need a large protection squadron and that left the ships like the Nightwing obsolete used for war and quick in and out bombings and raids and things and that wasn’t something he wanted to involve himself in given the current chaos of the war he foresaw coming.

He didn’t want to kill people because his commanders deemed a life less than. He didn’t want to hurt people. He took a deep breath. They showed up to the large warehouse built on the sturdy platform near the shipyard that Hai’ta’l used as her place of operations. Her beloved warehouse where she worked on her ships.

“Well, I did not think I would see you two for a while,” Her form appeared in the doorway her mandibles clicking as her head cocked to the side on her double jointed legs.

“You know us, we have a tendency to break things!” Dick smirked.

“You do have an uncanny tendency to break things,”Tim agreed.

“You’re not innocent yourself tiny Microwave.”She smirked looking at Tim who admittedly was about 3 inches shorter than Dick and about

“It was one time!”Tim exclaimed and she laughed softly at him, motioning them inside.

“What happened this time?” She asked moving to her desk as they moved to sit down and Tim pulled out his blueprints and set them down and laid them out in front of her.

“I can show you this, but you’re going to need to see this yourself in person to see what the damage is,”Tim replies shyly as she looks over the blueprints in front of her.

“Were you commissioned by the federation for this?”

“Yeah,”Tim rubbed the back of his neck for the moment looking away as she poured over the blueprints.

“I can tell from how technologically advanced it is, shit Tim. I know you’re one of the head designers for Wayne enterprises and all but what the fuck? This is insane? You want me to work on this?” Dick gives a nod.

“Not super concerned, we have an injured person with us . We need to get home soon but he needs to heal as well so us spending some extra time here isn’t too much of a concern.” Dick explains.

“Tim, you’re going to have to work on this with me.”

“Oh yeah, that’s kind of not the worst part?” He looks away. “We jumped and definitely broke like a lot more stuff? Uh, we had it patched in the Earth system but like it was just barely patched?” Hai looked at them and gave what amounted to a sigh.

“Yeah you’re helping me with this. Are you guys doing your usual payment methods?”

“We can double it if you fast track it too,”Dick commented. “Tim, if you want to stay here I can go get the ship while you go over the specifics of what needs to be fixed. “ Tim gave a nod as Dick stood up exiting the building as he started back towards their ship and moving it over as Hai opened the bay doors so they could get the ship in. Dick stayed around to watch Hai’s reaction to the damage trying to stop himself from Cackling as he heard the horrendous screech coming from Hai as she saw what she was working this.

“How did you even warp?!?!”

“He was a very good mechanic?”

“Very good mechanic?!? I need to meet this fucker! He did this out of scraps. Imagine what he could do if he worked on an actual ship and with actual parts instead of just---”

His communicator pinged.

“What’s up?” Dick asked as he walked out of the hangar into the outside.

“It’s about Danny..”Jason began. “I don’t even know how to explain this, but you need to see this.”

“What?”Dick frowns, a small panic filling his chest as he begins towards the large white buildings built around the tallest tree with windows lining the sides of it. The hospital. Plants grew up the sides of the building. Dick was hurrying towards it. “What happened?”

“Dick.. he’s fine mostly but this is just-- we need to get him to Krypton. This changes everything Dick..”

Panic filled his lungs and he began to bolt for the hospital adrenaline filling his system as he pushed for the building and almost burst through the doors as the nurse seemingly was there expecting him as she held her hands up.

“Take a deep breath, come follow me.” He does as she says, catching his breath for just a moment before he moves to follow her into the scan room.

Jason was staring at his full body scans in front of them. The holograph projecting everything in front of him.

“Dick,”Jason greets before the nurse shuts the door and Jason gives a nod and the door is locked and then the doctor walks in through the other one locking it behind him.

“What’s going on…” Dick was on edge hand going for his phaser on his waist Jason shook his head stopping him.

“Dick, don’t this is too important.” Jason warned.

“Hello, I’m doctor Lalir,”she introduced herself. “That is my main nurse Fismin.” Fismin gave a curt nod. “We’re here to talk to your about your friend. The injured one you call Danny.”

“Yeah?” Dick crosses his arms and looks at the holograph.

“The first things first is that this is what his body normally looks like under a standard scan, we were able to replicate what it should look like based off of scans we already have,” the holographs flickers just slightly as it shows his bones, nervous system, organs and all in 3 separate layers.

“This is what his showed up as,”The form flickered and it almost all became static for a moment before he could pick up little bits and pieces.

“Why is it so distorted?” Dick frowns.

“Well, we weren’t completely sure so we started running some more tests, Taking blood, fixing him up, etc. Then when he tested the blood we saw it was highly radioactive. The radiation dies off quite quickly when exposed to standard oxygen for some reason and it disperses to the air but it still almost permanently leaves the blood with an almost green tint to it. Then we did other tests.”

“And?” Dick was concerned. Radiation permanently fused to his blood? What could do something like that?

“He apparently is so infused with radiation he gives off the same levels within his body that are similar to a warp core. The power inside of him is also like that. He’s undergoing surgery right now, but we have our staff members who we trust enough to work on him wearing radiation suits and being careful while taking care of him. We were able to get a clear picture of his leg to fix it as well but we believe that was likely only due to the fact that we zoomed in incredibly close to the bone and it was far away from his chest where the radioactive energy seems to be centered.”

“What does this mean? Is he still human?” Dick frowns. More scans replaced the ones in front of him.

“It seems he carries the meta gene and as a reaction to high and intense levels of radiation it seems it activated his recessive genes, and when he was in this high stress event of high radiation levels he absorbed it and bonded with it.”

“He’s a walking warp core,”Jason seems to finish. “The guy is a walking, living radioactive warp core inside of a human body. He thrums with energy and electricity and I’m not sure if he knows the extent to which he is but he must know something went wrong? He mentioned an accident right?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t tell us anything just that it fucked up his leg,”Dick bites at his nail hesitantly as he thinks for the second anxiously. “Do you think that accident was this? What could have caused this though, something of this level.”

“Another warp core?”Fismin suggested. “The only thing I can think of with that much exactly and condensed radioactive energy is may there was a crack in the warp core casing? Maybe it shattered when he was near it and consumed him and he only survived because his body bonded with it rather than anything else?”

“Maybe..” Dick hums,” You’re right about getting him to Krypton. This is a medical mystery, but at the same time he doesn’t deserve to become a walking test subject.”

“We agree,”The doctor gave a smile. “That is why we are limiting contact with him and those who want to see his records need my permission to open them, and as soon as he is finished being under our care I will see to it his records destroyed.”

“Is he dying though, how are his cells holding up?”Jason decides to ask next as he looks calm and serious.

“It appears they are withstanding the radiation incredibly well,” Another hologram appeared on the screen of the blood. “These white blood cells you see here? They normally react to intruders and fight of diseases. The white blood cells bonded with the radiation and now it seems the further away from the body they go the less radiation they carry and the faster the cells seem to die.”

“So if he ever loses that radiation with in him?”

“He’ll die, at this point that focal point of radiation centered in his chest around his heart is what’s keeping it moving. If his body loses that radiation then this body will begin to do septic and try and kill him.”

Dick rubs his face anxiously. Of course it would. What the fuck. “But he’s fine for now? He’s going to be okay?”

“Yes, but there is a problem you all need to be aware of. This radiation in his blood? It means unless you can find another cursed soul to have this flowing through them? No one can donate blood and I’m not even sure we can make synthetic blood because of how fast the radiation fades. His lungs are also failing him. It seems on his planet he inhaled so much smoke and dust it seems to have permanently damaged them beyond what I can do here. Because of his radiation I can’t even build any synthetic organs either.”

Dick had felt like he should have expected that from how he coughed and how worn he seemed overall.

“What if you build a small containment device and you put something radioactive in it? We can offer some money in the meantime for you can begin to study it but even if you have to keep the synthetic blood in the chamber it’s important he has a backup because none of us have radiation in our blood.” Dick suggested.

“That could work but it would take time.”

“Something is better than nothing,”Jason agrees. “The reason I think we should get him to Krypton is because what if there’s more to it than just he’s radioactive? What if we’re missing something here? We need the resources to make sure he’s okay. We can have him live a normal life there and he’ll be safe from harm. If we need to get him out, all of us own several conservation planets, we hop from planet to planet.”

“That could work but he just got off Earth. I doubt he’s going to want to remain on another planet for very long,”He laughs softly.

“Okay so how about this..”Jason begins slowly. “We go to Krypton next. We get our scans and we tell Danny what we’ve found. If he wants to stay, he can stay. Otherwise.” Jason pauses with a smirk,”Otherwise you can take a ship and go show him some of the other planets. Dick felt his cheeks get hot.

“Shut up Jay,”He hisses softly.

“What, you can have a crush, all of us have had them,”He smirks and moves to unlock the door before leading.

“Fismin, do you have a waiting area?”He asks quietly.

“Yes of course Sir,”he gives a smile and the Doctor removes the information, locking it up as Dick was shown to the waiting room. It was only another 20 minutes before he was shown to Danny’s private room close to the top of the tall tree, his eyes glancing out the window in awe as he turned to Danny knowing he was asleep.

“See. I told you. You’re out of there aren’t you? You’re free!”He smiles gently. “When you’re awake I’ll help you explore the galaxy.” Dick pulls his chair to the bedside of Danny’s unconscious form. “When you’re awake I’ll show you all of my favorite spots. My favorite planets. The best planets for food. I’ll show you my home on Krypton and at Wayne Manor. I’ll show you my favorite spots to eat and I can introduce you to amazing life forms you’ve never met or encountered before.”

“You’re kind.. Did you know that?” He sighs softly as he moves to take his hand gently tracing over the gentle lightning like scars over it, and now that he was paying attention he realized the other’s scars wound up both his arms. “Shit, you don’t have clothes do you?” Dick rubs his face, Maybe the other could just borrow clothes from Tim until he could get some of his own? Dick could take him clothing shopping, though admittedly shopping on Krypton for clothing was better than anything else. Maybe they could do a full makeover for him once they got back to Dick’s home planet. He gently smiled at the thought. He was sure he could get Kori and M’gann in on it as well and maybe if he was lucky he could get Kon in on it. There were plenty of people he was sure would love a makeover day.

He paused for a second. Did Danny have any experience with ice planets? He smirked and smiled thinking about Danny seeing snow for the first time, or any of the ice planet animals with their layers of fur and fat and that made him smile thinking of Danny in one of those obnoxious Parka’s that always made him laugh. It was silly.

God, Dick was falling hard wasn’t he? He felt like he was on a planet crushed by the gravity that was his heart and keeping him so forcefully continatained all he could think about was how beautiful and resilient Danny was. The man was obviously malnourished and far too skinny right now and yet hadn’t pressured any of them for money offering to help without a care in the world besides the fact they didn’t know if they were bad people.

Danny had the air of nonchalance about him that made him so easy to talk to that even if you had done something so awful he might just say he forgave them and move on with it all. He wore a beautiful smile despite how often he coughed and knew he would eventually fall to his lungs if they couldn’t figure out something. He wondered how Danny’s eyes would look reflected in a pool of water and in a way Danny’s eyes were beautiful hazey green and now with the radiation flowing through him their color made more sense and even how his hair seemed to deny gravity just slightly it also made sense.

There had been such a short amount of time working together, there had been such calm collected conversations between them about topics and where Dick had known quietly about his sister he had kept quiet. He didn’t want the others to know yet and he for sure was not about to tell Jason’s fiery girlfriend he almost got her little brother killed. He knew Jazz would fly over in a heartbeat if she knew Danny was here but he couldn’t risk making a scene. He wanted Danny to be healthy when they met again and in a way where Danny and Jazz could catch up in a way they had never been to before because they could never talk to one another.

Dick wanted to give Danny everything. He thought that he would never meet someone so beautiful and so kind again and his soft mismatched hair was cute and knew he probably needed it cut and how he felt himself with a smile and didn’t let anything stop him was adorable.

Dick wanted to give Danny the universe but he knew he couldn't not really not truly, but he could give him a new life of adventure and smiles and good food. He could give Danny clean air and clean clothes. He could give Danny friends and maybe more family than his own. He could give Danny maybe his love if they evolved that far. Dick didn’t care at this point if Danny would ever develop feelings for him and maybe that was because right now all he wanted was to be with Danny and for Danny to be his Friend. He just desperately wanted to be Danny’s friend and to him? Nothing else mattered.

So he began to talk about Krypton to his sleeping form, unaware he began to stir.

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castrian-amore · 6 months

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Stellata Notte(C’è finalmente la libertà)

Dead Ass(Danny Fenton x Dick Grayson), DC x DP Fanfic, Incomplete, Space AU, ao3 link at the end

Fic for @nikki-pondtheauthor

Chapter 1: A Starry Night knows not the bending of will

Stellata Notte(C’è Finalmente la libertà)

Starry Night(There is finally freedom)

Danny had been staring at the stars for as long as he could remember. It had been in the quiet moments of himself and the stars where his event unfolded before him to get him to where he was today. It was where he also watched the world collapse around him in a fiery ball. He watched from the rooftop of his house as the satellite stations would shoot off rockets off their long since dying planet. He never knew what the greenery of Earth had been like before it. He also knew his parents were far too stubborn to leave and it wasn’t as if they had the money to leave anyway.

Danny had never not had the familiar feeling of a mask over his nose as he breathed in filtered air and coughed up a constant dust in his lungs anyways as there wasn’t enough clean air to go around and even the filters here were failing. It was said Earth would be unlivable soon anyways. The only reason they survived in their small town as long as they did was because it held one of the major space sports on the planet and it was here they welcomed species from all walks of life in their area turned desert. Apparently Amity park had once been surrounded by lush forests and a lake. It was very obviously not that anymore.

Danny and his family were smart. They ran a ship repair business and were smart about it. Jazz had saved up to get off world years ago, and Danny had pushed her to take herself and escape. She hadn’t been here for the accident that made him quit his high paying work at the docks. She hadn’t been here to see how he turned out now. Sitting with black hair and white at his roots as the hair grew in white now and had been for some years. His hair pulled out from his face and yet the fringe of his bangs constantly fell in front of his eyes.

He had a quiver to his hands and yet he could still pick pockets from others like there was no other business and besides he was a cripple wasn't he? Apparently the procedure he needed wasn’t that expensive off planet, but here? Here on Earth where supplies wore thin and the off planet travelers lessened every day?

Here it was impossible and so Danny had felt trapped since he became whatever the fuck he had been. He had watched his parents begin to wither and they would die soon and he knew it. Danny’s lungs were far too fucked up and if he couldn’t escape then he too would die, wouldn’t he? He felt as if there was so escape.

Was there an escape? Here he was sitting on the roof of the building with music playing on his small shitty speaker he made out of mixed matched parts here and there. He hummed along to it as he tapped his foot to the music laying on his back. He wore a dusty black cloak with the clear filters over his nose and mouth and the oxygen filter sitting clipped to his falling apart belt and his black trousers that were bound around his ankles with tight fabric as he had his shoes set off to the side. Feet on the gravel roof of the building as he pointed out the familiar constellations he was far too used to.

Nothing was going to change was it?

The same sky under the same crumbling moon. The main water supplies of the planet were drying up and leaving them with less and less. The planet was just about on its last leg and Danny was trying to decide how he was going to take it all. If he was going to die here, or try to get off the planet.

He wanted to shoot for the stars after all. No one had survived being inside of a warp core while it was turned on after all. Now Danny was met with constellations of far off systems dancing across his cheeks, and his skin permanently pale with even thinner and paler lines of lightning dancing across both his arms. He had been mutated and lord knows what would happen if people found out of not only his condition but how he had gotten like this. The unexplainable powers of who he was. The ability to manipulate gravity at his fingertips and control the energy that ran through him.

Danny was trying to stay positive but everyone had their limits, yeah? Danny felt as if he was reaching his. He sighs and stood up gently at the music and began to dance a smile coming across his face as he moved with precise movements and steps. Of course he did after all, what did he have to do when he wasn’t working on space ships with his parents. There wasn’t exactly access to the intergalactic media on the planet. The far reaches of the Intergalactic Protection Committee long since forgotten about Earth. More focused on their home planet of Krypton. More focused on their supposed Justice League than anything else.

Danny could give it to them for trying across their galaxies of planets and new inventions at every turn but yet here they were on Earth, on their dying planet. He sighs and smiles gently as he knew if anyone saw him he could get in trouble, especially with his hood down. He knew with every step the gravity around him shifted and moved as he took one step and then two as he floated above them and just danced.

Who would believe anyone in this day and age filled with the piracy and fear around every corner and the threats to peace by those all over the system. No one could be ree, really? Danny knew he would be wanted if anyone could find out what he could do. But would he? Would he really be free? Was this freedom? Was this dancing amongst the quiet stars and under the guise of the moon what they could call freedom on what remained of their planet?

Quiet hums and songs filling the silence of the city and the ever moving rockets of ships propelling upwards into the night sky providing a beautiful backdrop for anyone watching but maybe that was all in Danny’s head right?

Who could be watching him? Why would they be watching him? He was a nobody. He was a human all alone on a dying planet lightyears away from anything sustainable, maybe Mars would be close enough he could escape but he didn’t have a way to connect with the Martians and their intimate language of the mind, thankfully too many martians tended not to leave their planet. They apparently had tried to save the remains of Earth thousands of years ago but upon figuring they were not quite welcoming towards their people yet they were forced to ait and by the time everything came around it seemed impossible for them to do anything about it. To fix it.

The inclement weather and storms. The cities completely sank. The deep freezes, then the heat began to hit as the ozone of the Earth began to crumble and the sun's rays only got worse, because of course they did. Danny had seen the brightly lit photos of Earth eons ago. Pictures hung up on his wall in excitement that there were places like that. Places he didn’t have to wear a mask either. Places where he could run barefoot across actual grass and not just the eerie synthetic things they had in the gymnasium. There was such little color here what was there to do? The most color they saw was the night sky and setting and rising of the sun and that was Danny’s favorite part of the die despite his sleeping habits saying otherwise.

Arms raising above his head as he finally opened his eyes, finding himself almost 10 feet into the air and glowing as he breathed heavily. A deep blush found his cheeks as he calmed his breathing so he could lower himself down onto the ground. An accident as he landed and was quickly reminded why he used his powers so often, almost falling as he felt his knees wobble beneath him. Another response of him being inside the core. The radiation should have killed him. The power of a collapsing star in one second filling his body.

It mutated him and left him with too many injuries to count and yet he pushed through. Danny gave a sigh and grabbed for his cane, more like a crutch as he used it to stand on shaking legs, taking a long last look at the stars for the night.

No one expects the cripple to have powers.

No one expects him to be good at anything.

Everybody doubted him, looked down upon him, but he was just like everyone else. He was human and a living person. Not that that was what they saw when they looked at him. They saw a boy. A young man too injured to work. They didn’t see who he could be with the right treatment. They didn’t see the way he was able to move when he was alone. When he pulled on his powers of gravity manipulation to aid him in walking, but it would draw too many eyes if he did that too often wouldn’t it?

Too many days he spent wondering if maybe he’d be worth more to his parents if he did that. He gave a sigh and went for his room. Turning the speaker off as the hatch shut behind him and he slowly reached to turn off the filter on his hip and removed the mask over his nose. A harsh coughing came from his lips and he tried to ignore the blood on his lips as he wiped it away.

Was this all that Danny was left with?

Blood on his lips and breaking bones.

There had to be more to this life. There would be more to this life than just hiding behind a mask and a filter. He would see the stars. Even if it meant on his deathbed. He gave a sigh as he headed to bed knowing full well the pain he would have to endure tomorrow in the beating sun. Apparently there would be a new shipment of filters coming in and well, his parents would be working so that led him to go out to try and secure some, and they would almost definitely be over priced as all hell and he just prayed they would be able to afford them. But apparently they had stopped making the filters a while ago which cut their normal intake in half after a few years.

It left the lines long and the desperation longer. The air filled with an intensity as the people crowded around the merchant who sold them for their small almost forgotten town. He pulled his hood father over his head ignoring the stares he got from everyone as he leaned heavily on his crutch. He knew in actuality he needed to give up on his back ever coming back and taking up on the white all over but it didn’t seem like a feasible option and right now it looked kind of cool.

Danny joined the line with a frown taught on his face. He tried to be kind to everyone but there was something he noticed out of the corner of his eye. A new ship. A small group of 3 men gathered off to the side with respirators that were far too fancy for this world or the remnants of it. Danny almost pulled his cloak made out of tattered fabric tighter around his shoulders.

He adjusted his satchel set around his chest to make sure he wouldn’t drop it or any of the credit he had. It only took a few hours before he made it to the front of the line. Still more people behind him as he stood and looked up at the man. If he could he’d need 6, that would get him and his family through to the next two weeks until the next shipment arrived and maybe now they would let him run tests on better filters and better respirators than what they were using.

“How many?” The clerk chimed hand on her hip and free hand adjusting her shiny new reusable filter respirator. A respirator the people were desperate for. Desperate to climb the ranks enough to get off the fucking planet of big one of those, and one one lucky enough and with cash could do both.

Danny tried not to think about the fact that he was stuck here, more than likely.

“6,”he whispers out, couching off to the side.

“Alrighty, that’ll be 80creds.” Danny almost choked on his words then and there.

“Last time they were only 50!” Danny exclaims. Danny was putting every spare penny into a jar to get out of there and he was desperate.

“Now they’re 80. Do you want them or not?”She offered bluntly as Danny forked over the money, shoving his new filters in his bag and closing the top. He had enough to get a drink at the bar. Never been more glad to have a couple creds left over in a heartbeat.

He huffed pulling off his hood as he walked into the bar, the air hissing behind him as the next door opened. Danny reached up to pop the small respirator off his lips as he flicked the button on his processor to turn it off, hooking the mask to the side of it. He looked for his usual spot in the back corner of the bar,finding it occupied.

The 3 fuckers from earlier sitting there. One of them unsuccessfully tried to flirt. The one in blue with beautiful eyes and spikey hair looked up at him. A charismatic smile but Danny ignored them, picking a free spot at the bar until he felt the painfully familiar weight of his ex. The man reeked of alcohol.

“Fuck off,”He breathed brushing off the others arm in a heartbeat.

“Awww come on Danny babe,”the man’s words were slurring together.

“We could be like we were. Die together at least!”

“I’m not dying anywhere near you Dash,”Danny rolls his eyes.

“Come on! I’m the only one who’ll take you after your little whoopsie!” The man leans on the counter extremely intoxicated; he moves to brush a strand of hair out of Danny’s face and the man smacks his hand away.

“Oh? Is that so? Well I haven’t stooped so low that will sleep with a piece of shit like you ever again,”Danny hisses out. “Go away.” The man presses further trying to get closer to Danny and he shoves him away a second time but the drunken idiot keeps coming back.

“Woah, hey there you seem to very much so not be getting the hints bud,”the man who had taken his normal spot had stood up and placed himself in between Dash and him. The man crossed his arms and eyes narrowed at him.

“You don’t need to worry about yourself, we’re old friends. Right Danno,”Dash smirks and Danny wanted to puke in his mouth.

“As if Dash, fuck off.,”Danny rolls his eyes. “I just want a fucking drink.”

“And I just want off this planet but that ain’t happening sweets,”Dash smirks.

Danny shoves him away again. “Sheriff or not you’re still a piece of shit.”

Dash stumbles to regain himself and his composure, eyeing the group of them up for the moment. Danny turned to the figure.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know,”he sighs softly, looking up at the man. Danny’s soft green eyes finding the stranger’s gentle blue.

“Didn’t I? You seem to be the only one interested in us,”the man sits next to him, his smile unwavering. “New in town.”

“Exactly why I’m the only one interested,”he laughs softly. “Dalv Corp controls who goes in and out of the planet's atmosphere and we’re one of the few temporary ports still open.”

“Why is that anyways? Do you guys even ship anything off world anymore?”The man laughs as the bartender puts a drink down in front of him.

“Not really, it brings the question then of why are you here then?” Danny smirks as he orders his drink watching the man. The stranger.

“We had someone shoot out something on our ship and my dear old little brother can’t seem to fix it so we can’t leave.”

“Stuck here like the rest of us,”he chuckles softly.

“For now, we’re trying to take it to the Fentons? Apparently they're desperate enough to take any ship that comes to them, and their pretty good mechanics over all, ever heard of them?” The stranger gives a smile seemingly trying to gauge the opinion of the Fentons off of him.

“They’re also backlogged as hell. They’re the only ship mechanics until you reach the New England ports. Are you willing to wait that long?”he hummed.

“Fuck…”the man breathed out and Danny laughs softly. “Luckily for you, I’m their son. Where’s your ship? I can take a look at it to see if it’s anything I can do.”

“They have a son?” The man smirks a little bit. “Well either way it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Dick.” The man holds out his hand for them to shake.

“Danny,”He smiles and takes it, giving him a firm handshake. “How’d you get shot?” He smirks as Dick leads his friends to move over close to them.

“Pirates,”Dick clarified. “Guess they were trying to board us and thought we’d be an easy target.”

“Mhm,”Danny didn’t believe that for a second. “Next question is why the fuck were all the way out here? Closest habitat planet is Mars and that’s a tad away but people go there for their ports and most of the Martians have moved off planet. They have mining colonies so why’d you crash here and not there?”

“Didn’t think our systems could handle it,”One of his friends Spoke up as he ran a hand through his hair a white streak placed in the front as he looked the Man up and down. Damn that man was built as fuck. What the fuck did he do?

“How about I just see what the damage is and if I can fix it. The issue is that you guys picked the most deserted fucking planet. Earth is nearly abandoned and transportation off the planet and getting around the planet are almost Impossible. Let alone getting supplies. The planets have been drained of anything of use and all supplies are rationed and limited. Getting parts is tricky as fuck,”Danny ran a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh.

“So can you even do anything if you figure out the problem,”the last of the 3 of them commented, his slightly longer hair pulled out of his face and Dick shot him a glare. He put his hands up in defense.”I’m asking the truth!”

“Ignore him, we appreciate anything you can do.” Dick gives a smile.

“Anyways before I walk off with two more stranger’s how about names?”Danny moves to stand up grabbing his crutch as he pulls his mask off of his belt undoing the temporarily wrapped cording.

“Big guy is Jason. The Smallest is Tim. They’re my siblings.”

“Nice to meet you,”Jason replied, giving a huff.

“Same to you two. I’m Danny Fenton, one of the only mechanics at this port. You guys got lucky, I know my shit.”

“Of the Fentons we heard about?”Tim clarified.

“One and only,”he vouched. “They’re backlogged for a bit but I tend to be free. They don’t like me working on ships anymore.”

“Can I ask what happened?”Dick asks as they enter the chamber hearing the hiss of the air lock before the next door to the outside opens. Of course they’re met with sand whipping up into their eyes and Danny reaches into his bag and pulls out a pair of goggles.

“Accident happened. Fucked up my legs,”he laughs softly. He motions towards the crutch he was heavily leaning on as they started forwards. The 3 of them pushed buttons by their ears on apparent ear pieces and he watched goggles form for them. Rich ass fuckers. If they were used to that they were not going to like how Danny was more than likely going to have to fix their ship.

One learned how to figure shit out with what you have and sometimes all you have is a couple old filters, and broken phasers you steal the batteries and plasma containers out of in order to cause the spark that starts your parents' hover car. What works right? It definitely shouldn’t be working. Not by any means, but fixing shit with reusable materials was a must on their planet.

“I just get in the way of most jobs even with my parents. I'm unable to work super fast,”he chuckles softly.

“Accident?”Jason asks with a frown.

“Mhm, accident,”he repeats, wanting to keep it as vague as he could. Strangers did not need to know the detailed aspects of his accident or the electricity running down his spine or the feelings of immense pain and heartbreak and death coming through him all at once as his molecules were rewritten at any point in time during the process. His cells changed at their very foundation during the event.

They did not need to know how much radiation he was unable to bear through those moments, almost expecting himself to unravel like a string of fine thread off a spool you let a cat play with. The less they know the better it would be and the safer they had to be over all because what was Danny supposed to do with a whole bunch of rich people just trying to get off planet.

“My next question is don’t most rich folk have ways they can get someone out to repair the ship if needed? Something like that at least?”

“Normally yeah but well.” Dick chuckled nervously

“We took it out for a joyride and are trying to not get caught,”Jason finished.

“Yeah okay that makes sense for how you look,”Danny chuckles as he lets them take the lead and lead him to the familiar landscapes of the shipyard where their ship was sitting docked. Fuck it was so beautiful with the wings on the edges and her shine in the dim lit sun as the dust storm continued to move over them. Danny pulled his hood further over his head. No matter what he was about to be stuck inside that ship for these people for a little while so maybe he could do something about that.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”Tim frowned a bit as Danny chuckled.

“You guys are rich. It’s not that hard to tell. You have retractable glasses, fancy oxygen masks and filters? You don’t have the same tubes that connect down to our filters like you do. We don’t have access to that kind of technology here and no one of anyone worth anything would come back to the cesspool of this planet. We’re here to hide smugglers and criminals and that’s it. This planet isn’t even deemed habitable enough to be a prison planet for the Federation.”

Dick looks around them. “I guess you’re right,”he chuckles and hits something as the hanger doors to the shit open and the stairs unfurl out and they walk aboard.

It was beautiful and sleek really and Danny felt as if he was too dirty to be here in the chaos of this ship. First off, this was a lot more spacious than he thought. It was for sure a running ship in how she was built and how her body type was. That was what he had noticed from the outside. He had noticed it was big enough to house multiple small separate cabins and this ship being as big as it was meant that they would have to get her fixed soon or they would take up and find pieces of her hull missing and tubes taken off and probably to be fond selling at the market by morning.

“I’ll tell you one thing for certain during this,”he sighs as they step inside. ‘Ya’ll need to fucking get off this planet and soon.”

“Why?” Tim frowned softly as he crossed his arms.

“Your ship is too much eye candy. It’ll attract the fucking scavengers who won’t hesitate to steal shit off your ship and I don’t mean break in or anything. I mean you will wake up with pieces of your hull missing and it could put the structural integrity of the ship at a major disadvantage for leaving the Earth’s atmosphere.”

“People do that?” Dick frowns and eyebrows furrowed.

'That's literally how I met our dad,’Jason smirks as he leaned against the wall. “I was trying to remove and take his left engine turbine.”

“The fucking turbine?!?” Danny exclaimed

“I was ambitious, what could I say,”Jason smirked as Danny let his head fall into his hands for the moment.

“Show me the damaged area here but I’ll probably have to work from the outside once the storm settles a bit too,”Danny pushes them as Dick motions for him to follow him. It was in the storage bay that they were able to enter the engine room and Danny was welcomed with the familiar tug and pull of his heart. The thing that always called to him from inside of any ship. Anything that held that much power and radiation called him like a beautiful song that he needed to listen to not matter what. As if he had no choice but to listen to her quiet thrumming and peaceful sounds as they entered the room. Danny fought the beautiful lights dancing around each other like it was trying to enthrall him.

The warp corp. She was beautiful and hollow and yet so filling as he stared momentarily into her depths like she was the most beautiful girl in the world. A quiet calling filled his soul, before he forced his eyes to look away and follow Dick once more.

Dick led him into the ship further past all of the chaos of the pipes and Danny’s eyes followed along, connecting the dots of what each one of them did and where they went. Danny was impressed a ship of this size was capable of just how much power seemed to be involved in it all. He took a deep breath and redirected his focus to what was in front of him. He then saw the issue. They entered another air locked door and Danny could see the very obvious issue. He could fix it but it would not be easy and it would more than likely take all night to manage as they worked without sleep because he would definitely need help gathering things and repairing this.

“I… can fix this, but i will need to make a list and we will need to collect a few things and one of those things I am not so sure we can find,”He rubs the back of his neck staring at the mass of disconnected wires and tubing and the anxiety filling his soul that there was always the chance he couldn’t fix it. One small thing and this ship could lose it’s warp capabilities entirely. The materials required to fix these kinds of ships that had multi-warp capabilities were insane. He had never actually had to work on one himself after all. They only ever got single-warp engines.

“You can?”Tim piped up from behind them curiously. “How?!”

“Carefully,”Danny sighs, looking at it as he walks closer to inspect it dodging the loose wiring as he pushes himself in between a few things to look at the further issues in detail. “You said you got it here but it was rough right? She handled into the port but then immediately seemed to lose all main power function and immediately resorted to battery backups?”

“Yeah, but, how did you know,”Dick frowns a little watching him.

“I know ships, what can I say,”Danny hums as he wriggles his way out of it and back in front of them his hood long since having fallen off and Danny rana hair through his messy hair. The white at his roots almost glowing in the dim blue lights of their section of the engine bay. “The main power cord is destroyed. And the impact of her landing severed the sliver of a connection you guys seemed to have. It’s a good design and I’m more familiar with single warp engines because well, I never got to go to school for this shit but--”

“You never went to school for this?” Tim verified looking at Dick seemingly giving him a wide eyed stare and the two having a quiet conversion between them as Danny continued.

“But I grew up around ships of all kinds. Never left the planet but I’ve seen and pulled some risky shit on many a ship to get them out of town. You guys are going to have to stop somewhere after you get out of here,’he laughs nervously.

“Yeah I’m sure we’ll be fine,”Jason laughs softly.

“I can get you guys off the planet and your ship will maybe be able to withstand one major warp jump to the nearest quadrant with a decent mechanic but I just don't think we have the materials available on the planet to withstand a multi-warp engine like this.” Danny motions around them. “I can redirect power and fix cords and connect dots here and there, but at the end of the day. This planet doesn’t have shit. So any and all things that I’ll be using will be bullshitted.”

“How did you know this engine was a multi-warp one?”Dick asks with a small smile finding his lips.

“I-uh,”Danny blushes. “Look, I can’t get off this planet but my sister sends me pictures and videos of all the ships she’s worked on with the Federation and all. I get blueprints, and she takes pictures of manuels because even if I can’t leave I love to learn and our intergalactic connectivity is super sketchy at best with our systems at my house. I only ever get to talk to her maybe once every 6 months you know?”

“But wait, okay, how did you recognize this engine as Multi-warp? You didn’t see her name or seemingly recognize the type of ship this is… so how did you know after only seeing about ¼ of her engine bay?” The man was pushing him to answer and so Danny took a deep breath.

“The material alone gave me my biggest clue,”he begins slowly placing a hand on a couple groupings of tubes carrying cooling gel within them. “Most modern and even old single-warp engines have the same material but this? This is military grade advantium. The same material the warp corp container has to be made out of to withstand the pressures and radiation within it. However, it’s not every tube.” He points to a small section of more cords.``Those are your standard krisvan lined cordings. Which means one of those things, this is just a military grade vessel that needs to be able to withstand a lot or it’s meant for something more.”

Danny walks over to the main door they entered this section too. “These doors though? Reinforced. You only need to do that as much as they are if there’s a lot at stake and multi-warp engines? Those are high risk, high stake engines where if you have one section explode and it’s not sectioned off properly it could destroy the entire engine in one go. It’s one of the highest death factors in multi-warp engines. Improper reinforcements.”

“And every cording and tube that goes in and out of the warp bay was also advatium. Your coolant housing was also showing signs of stress though, so I’m guessing this ship is used often enough you keep having to check the housing systems to make sure she never overheats. How many jumps can she normally do within 24 hours?”

Danny hums a little looking back at the boys. They all looked at him with wide eyes and Tim looked at Dick with almost Puppy Dog eyes.

‘No” Dick exclaimed looking at Tim who’s puppy dog eyes worsened. “No, Tim.”

“But--”

“No,”he hisses out and then turns to look at Danny giving a gentle smile. “Sorry, if we get you the things you need, how long will this take?”

“If I don’t stop? I could probably get it done in 12 hours,”Danny shrugs. “Take it you actually get everything I need.” Danny hisses as he realized. “If you can’t get everything I need then you’re fucked and better call that fucking speed dialed mechanic you probably have.”

“I’m normally the speed dialed mechanic,”Tim raised his hand. “I also designed this ship.”

Danny stopped and paused looking over at them all. “Look, I know i’m just some rando you just met on dying planet but ya’ll are fucking Waynes?!?!?1”

“I see you’ve heard of our father?” Dick mumbles almost nervously.

“Yeah, and no shit you fuckers need to get out of here. If the people of this place found out y'all are wayne you’ll actually be dead and this ship will be dissected.”

“It’s a prototype too,”Tim chuckles nervously.

“What’s she supposed to be capable of?”Danny asks, his eyebrows furrowing for the moment staring at them.

“Multi- warp capabilities and extreme stealth missions?”

“Stealth? What’s that entailed?” Danny moves to take off his satchel. He pulls off his cloak and begins to roll up his sleeves.

“Mirror capabilities of the surrounding surfaces so it blends in with surroundings signifying invisibility almost, then it also has under the radar capabilities. Being able to fly without being detected by radar.” Tim chuckles nervously as Danny looks over at the wires and then back at him.

“You can’t call for help can you?’He asks almost somberly.

Dick shook his head with a heavy sigh. “No we can’t. We were running a test mission on the under-the-radar mechanism when we reappeared; we were in fact attacked by pirates. Or something we aren’t sure but we managed to get the systems back online long enough for us to land, but now they won’t turn off.”

“And with the systems unable to turn off we’re unable to send out communications that far into space for someone to find us. Part of the reason the system works so well is because it blocks any and all radio signals normally used by the radars. That unfortunately includes transmission signals.”

“True silence in stealth,”Danny breathes out.

“Exactly, but here we are and I know vaguely how to fix this since I designed it but--”

“You know we don't have the time or resources to be able to do that,”Danny finishes Tim’s statement off as he begins to write a list handing it off to Jason. “Get these things. We’re really running against the clock then. What was the last known location you had pinged?”

“Just outside the JuLi solar system. We jumped here in a panic.”

“So on the outer rims of the galaxy at least but that’ll take days even if they make it to this solar system,”Danny hums a bit. “Tim, can I see your tools, or what you have at least?”

“Yeah let me go grab them,”Tim smiles as he walks off leaving the room with just Dick and Danny.

“Thanks,”Dick begins slowly. “We’re gonna pay you, you know. We’ll even double it if you need to be quiet about this whole situation.”

“Bold of you to assume I’m gonna try and rat you guys out,’he laughs. “This is the most exciting thing to happen to me since my accident.”

“Damn,”Dick smirks and laughs at himself. He moves down to lean against a pillar of metal. “Must be boring here.”

“I make do,”Danny shrugs. “I have a bit of music and I have the bar.”

“That doesn’t sound like a lot,”Dick admits. “You’ve really never left the planet?”

“Never,”Danny admits back to him looking down at his hands which he admittedly wrung around nervously. “Always wanted to though.”

“Why haven’t you?”Dick asks genuinely and Danny looks up at him and gives a sigh.

“My parents are engineers right? They spend their entire life barely able to feed us yet working their asses off constantly and never tell us anything. My sister gets a full ride into the federation academy and they send a ship here just to pick her up,”he laughs softly. “They shut my school down a year after that happened, and now there is no school. None public at least. It’s either you have the money to afford to get them off the planet or you’re probably not here in the first place.” Danny motions around him for the moment. “Playing with things like this is how I learned it all, and I had saved up so much ready to buy a ticket to Mars. Ready to work in their ports just so I could try to get amongst the crew somewhere on some ship so I could travel.”

“Then your accident?”Dick asks with a solemn smile and Danny laughs.

“Then my accident, and even after they took all my money for the care and continued to drain my parents dry they couldn’t fix my legs,”Danny gave a shrug for a moment.

“I forget places like this.. exist,”Dick leans his head back against the column.”Places so out of touch with the rest of the known universe.”

“Places dying because of Man’s need to take,”Danny clarified. “This planet has been mostly abandoned for years. Those of us still here are surviving.”

“But that’s not living,”Dick seemed almost frustrated. “How old are you?”

Danny gave a small smile to him. “25.”

“27,”Dick breathes out. “So close in age and yet I was given everything.”

“And what? Are you able to go back in time and make my life better?”Danny uses his crutch to poke him. “We just met my guy. Lighten up. It is what it is.” Danny gives a shrug as Tim comes back with a bag and Danny takes it being careful as he maneuvers it down to the ground and as he lowers himself. He couldn’t ignore the quiet longing looks Dick seemed to give him, like he wanted to help Danny but just couldn’t figure out how.

Dick pulls Tim aside as Danny watches them talk for the moment and Danny sighs softly scooching over to where the damaged areas were.

“Tim, can you clear the coolant lines and anything that could I don’t know, kill me,”Danny chuckled as he mumbled under his breath a quiet “again”.

“Yeah of course,”Tim moves to the wall, opening a small panel and seemingly disconnecting a few wires with a slow hum before walking back over. Danny sighs but looks at the damage and takes a deep breath as he dives into it. Working on removing the damaged wires and cording so he could cleanly replace anything. Jason brings him bits and pieces and Dick keeps reminding him about drinking water and Tim seemed quite entranced as he repaired the ship with nothing but determination and scraps.

Danny was convinced the three of them were something he had never seen before in how they held themselves. He knew Humanity was spread far and wide and there were several humanoid races like the kryptonians but with all they talked about and maintained in how they held themselves he had to wonder if they were human or just trying to remain looking humanoid as to not freak out Danny and his very human-body, mhm totally human body. Not fucked up at all. Maybe they were kryptonians or something? He didn’t know but did try to distract himself with the work in front of him as he stared at the blueprints he’d been given just to make sure it was all correct.

“So Tim, you designed this thing but you can’t fix it?”Danny asks as he stops for a moment as he turns around to look at him.

“I can create the concepts and I am an engineer and I can make small ships but I’m used to being handed everything I need if that makes sense? Normally I’m provided with the tools to make things successful so here when I’m put into a position to think outside the box…”

“You’re struggling to keep up?” Danny gives a small smile.

“Yeah, I am admittedly. Even the normal thing I could sub out for in case of a shortage or I’m working with limited resources I can’t find here so that leaves me to struggle to get what I actually need done. I needed help or I needed someone to help me secure safe alternatives and since we’re trying not to draw attention to ourselves bringing Barb along didn’t seem like the best option..”

“Barb?”Danny asks, snickering under his breath.

“Barbara is our AI that works and lives aboard this ship and well most of our ships. It’s an AI worked on by our friend Gordon and we’ve kinda gotten so used to her we bring her along with us everywhere. Now we can’t use her. It’s one of the biggest issues of this ship because we use a lot of AI’s in several different forms while aboard a smaller long haul vessel.”

“Wait wait wait, are you telling me this ship is not only secret spy ship with a multi-warp core AND has long haul capabilities? I’m sorry Tim? Do you need a husband? I have a hand! It could use a ring!”Danny exclaimed laughing as Tim goes bright red in the face.

“No no no no no!”Tim begins quickly. “I mean yes! She is a beast of a ship, hence my concern of getting her fixed here and not getting reported because not just any mechanic can work on a ship of her caliber!” Tim begins quietly.” But I -ah- I have a boyfriend.”

Jason walks into a room with a smirk and a cup in his hand. “Dick’s free,”He grins like a mad man and Dick turns bright red as well.

“Jason,”Dick threatened. “Don’t make me rat you out to your girlfriend!”

“I mean I’m open to open relationships too if that’s your speed Jason! I’m sure your girlfriend wouldn't mind me dating you and Dick right!”Danny teases as it was Jason’s turn to go red and Dick bounced off of Danny’s chaotic beginnings.

“I mean I’m okay if you’re fine with sharing Little Wing,”He smirks.

“You two are already insufferable,”Tim groans, getting up and walking past them. “How’s the dust storm?”

“Better I can see and move around just about fine now,”Jason and Tim were changing the topic.

“Can you believe these two? Just dusting us off like that,”Danny sighs softly.

“I know right? They’re just changing the topic so coarsely.”

“Oh god he also does puns,”Jason whispers out.

“See! I’m not that bad! Not like I’m going to drive you to in-sand-ity.” Danny smirks laughing as Tim grabs Jason's hand leading them out of the room.

“We’ll be back with more of the stuff you need,”Tim exclaims back at the two of them as Dick and Danny share quiet moments staring at each other before laughing softly.

“How much are tickets out of this place?”Dick asks as he stares at Danny from his spot, also sitting down. He had been keeping Danny company working on something on his tablet it seemed, filling out paperwork or something at the very least.

“Hmmm, passenger ships are hard to come by here, maybe once every 6 months?”Danny started. “So either you land very hard to get a spot on one of those or you charter a personal vessel. Kind of depends which way you want to take?”Danny shrugs.

“Say, chartering a personal vessel?”

“For a super shitty one it’s probably going to run you about maybe 856 credits. Tickets for the spots on the larger passenger ships run about 543.”

“And how much do you get paid?”

“Well I don’t get paid much at all,”he laughs. “But my parents and I try our best to split everything, but even when you cover the cost of bringing in shipments of things to fix ships, filters, food, that kind of stuff I don’t get much at the end of the day, and well my personal little amount is long gone.”

“Sorry for all my questions, I'm just trying to figure out how much is the average pay around here,”He laughs softly and moves to rub the back of his neck. “Hey have you eaten today? We have some snacks on board or I could make you something?”

“Nah don’t worry about me?”He laughs softly, moving to start again but finds Dick reaching out to stop him.

“Nuh uh, if you’re anything like Tim he forgets to eat especially when he’s working on something,”Dick gave Danny a gentle smile. “Come on?” He stands up and moves to help Danny up, handing him his crutch as he stands and they make their way to the kitchen which was bigger than anything he was used to. He was used to the living area and kitchen all squished into the same place at his parents house. Most of the house had been converted to bays long ago to work on the ships that came in and out of their home. The living space became a second thought for their work. Eyes always focused on the problem at hand. He wondered if he could get a call to Jazz soon.

He missed her.

Danny’s attention was brought back to reality as Dick offered the man a seat at their little table stepping off to go look at the food options.

“What are you craving? I have a bunch of sweet things, all of us tend to have a sweet tooth, but I also have veggies and some fresh produce to snack on from a variety of planets but admittedly mostly Krypton.” Danny took a second to try and realize he was saying coherent English.

“I have no idea what any of that is…”he whispers out sheepishly. Danny felt a small blush to his cheek.

“Right… dying planet,”dick begins slowly. “Have you ever had anything fresh? Any sweet treats or anything?”

Danny shook his head. “Ah, no? I think I may have had a few sweet things growing up but most of what we have here is freeze dried or pre portioned rations and especially now, it’s mostly the rations, and that’s only if you can afford them. Their prices go up every day.” Danny gives a small laugh. He doubted these Rich fuckers would know of the struggles of not having enough to eat.

“You’ve never… had anything sweet? Or fresh?”

“Uhhh, i Don’t think so. To be honest, fresh is kind of a bad omen word around here because we haven’t had anything fresh in so long it usually means things won’t last and doom is to follow. Everything here is regulated, Mr. Wayne.”

It may have been a small jab at the fact that they came from money and wouldn’t know the troubles of the outlying planets of the galaxy and the fact that he has read once that dying planets are often abandoned at some point and the remaining inhabitants are left to die. Danny read up on the fact and had accepted that he was likely within the final one or two generations of the planet left before the transports finally stopped coming and there would be no saviors for them.

Earth would be forgotten and the history along with it. Most of it at least. It would be taught how the Humans destroyed it and once they got into space the world fell beneath them even more and left the remaining inhabitants there to die and wither away with the very little water left and no food capable of growing. The rations are only being provided to them through a relief program by DALV corp to assist dying planets, yet DALV corp never made a move to actually get the remaining members off of the planets did they? Creatures of any nature could make their homes everywhere in space but yet trying to fix what the humans had done, and trying to help those living there?

Danny had been foolish when he was younger to hope that anything like that would happen, there was no saving earth, and there was no getting off the rock for people as injured as he was. Dick seemed to look down sheepishly in embarrassment rubbing his neck anxiously.

“I--I honestly have nothing to say to that you know?”Dick laughed nervously for the moment as he grabbed the two dishes and set one in front of himself and one in front of the other with a small smile as he grabbed two spoons and handed one to danny.

“What’s this?” Danny asks, looking at the weird white scooped substance in front of him. He poked it with a utensil a few times thinking for a moment as he frowned. He poked it with his finger and pulled his hand away in shock and surprise.

“This is called Ice cream,”Dick smirked. “I picked a plain flavor so it shouldn’t throw you off too much.”

“This is cold,”Danny whispers in surprise looking at Dick a mesmerizing look going across his face as he puts his finger into the ice cream eyes even wider when he pulls it out. “It’s cold!”

“Do you guys really not… have that many well regulated temperature spots? Fridges?” Dick was asking honestly. Another thing probably standard on most ships but to him? To him this was everything. Danny had never had this before. Dick handed him a napkin as Danny put some of it on his spoon and hesitated.

‘I mean we have lots and lots of fans and my folks and I are lucky we can go stand in the coolant storage rooms because those have to be kept cool and since we have one of the only working ones around we hold most of the emergency coolant not kept on ships,”Danny explains before taking a bite of the food and eyes going wide as he felt it melt in his mouth staring at Dick. It was creamy and soft and sweet and delicious and Danny had never tasted anything like this before. It was so good and in a way Danny didn’t have any other way to explain it than being on cloud nine.

“How is it?”Dick smirks softly at Danny as the man begins to shovel it into his mouth. “Good right, though you might want to slow down or--.” Dick suggested to the man before a sharp pain filled his mind and his eyes squeezed shut and hands immediately going up to his head and yet all he heard from Dick was a bright laugh and for a moment Danny thought Dick was poisoning him with some neurotoxin or something like that so that’s why his brain was hurting so bad.

“Or that’ll happen,”He chuckles. “Take your thumb and push it up against the roof of your mouth it’ll help it go away.” Danny sends him a glare knowing the man would know this would happen and not warn him! He knew they just met but damn! Though he obliged the man and did as he was told it in fact seemed to ruin whatever was causing that.

“What was that!”Danny exclaimed looking at him.

“That was called a brain freeze my new friend,”Dick smirks. “I don’t know the science of why it happens but it does happen when you eat or drink really cold things too fast, and don’t give me that look! I tried to warn you!”

“Not soon enough!” he teased back at the man.

“When does the sun set here?”Dick asked next, seemingly changing the tone of the conversation.

“Damn I’ve already been here most of the day… It’s technically winter but all of our seasons are pretty much the same now anyways. Apparently the seasons used to change dramatically but now the only thing that changes is when the sun goes down…”

Dick laughs softly. “So most of the day?”

“It means the suns going to set here in about a few hours or so,”Danny replies with a smile.

“Is the view of the stars here any good?”

“I mean I’ve never seen any bad view of our stars here if that’s what you’re asking,”Danny laughs.

“You have some constellations sewn onto your bag,”Dick pointed out softly and Danny blushed, realizing he was right. Danny had done that so long ago he had totally forgotten about that. He had done it bored one night on the roof because he wanted to make sure the bag was his own and he could have fun with it while he could. Not like he had great mobility otherwise, right?

“Ready to head back down?”Danny smiles as he finishes his ice cream and Dick nods deciding to just take it with before he heads back down the stairs to engine bay working on it and keeping up nice quiet conversations with Dick who tried to keep up with all his talks of engines and spaceships and the different apparently older models that came through here a lot.

Tim and Jason stopping by to offer more parts and Tim sliding next to Danny to help him work for a bit as well for another few hours. It was nice and they all made quiet banter and eventually they got on the topic of partners and Danny laughed at their family.

Once again making him miss Jazz. It was nice to see them treat each other as family.

“What about you danny?”Jason smiles gently at the man. “Born and raised here, do you have any siblings?”

“I do actually,”Danny gives a sheepish smile. “I have my parents and my sister.”

“Oooo, A sister,”Jason nudged Dick playfully and the man rolled his eyes.

“She’s off planet though,”he laughs softly. “Got a scholarship through the federation and hasn’t looked back. Can’t blame her for getting out of this shit hole.”

“Do you still speak to her?”Dick asks with a small hum.

“Getting long distance messages like that are hard. Especially face times,”He admitted. “Most of our satellites are shot so it’s uncommon we get to talk or send anything else out. “

“When’s the last time you two spoke?”Tim spoke softer this time as Danny looked down at his hands which he was wringing in mild anxiety of it all.

“About 5 months ago I think?”He admits quietly. “I’m glad she got out of here though, but I do miss her. I didn’t even tell her about my accident so she has no idea why I haven’t left. I’ve been avoiding it for years.”

“Why haven’t you told her?”Tim pressed a little.

“Because she’d offer to pay my way off world to get treatment but where would that leave her? The fare is expensive and let alone getting me all the way to a medical treatment center? I don’t know the galaxies that well. I don’t know the stars except when I’m here staring at them.”

“She cares about you then if you know she’d be willing to do that,”Dick smiles. “I know because It’s something I’d do in a heartbeat for my siblings too.”

“And you parents?”Jason spoke up again.

“Engineers, that's for sure. The amount of times I’ll open our rations cabinet and find a can of oil or something in a radioactive container is not for the faint of heart. Don’t even get me started on the whole ‘our house is the garage’ thing they’ve got going on.”Danny laughs with a bright smile. “They let me work for them sometimes, and I try to help out when I can.”

“What’s your dream then?”Jason moves to lean against the wall.

“Right now? To leave here one day and see the stars and planets even if only for a few hours. If I get to be up there for a bit and explore for a day I think I can die happy,”Danny lets a wistful smile rest upon his face as he turns back to his work, missing a shared look from across the brother’s faces. Each of them fell into their own conversations and sibling rivalries for another bit before Dick tapped his shoulder another few hours later for them to take a break. The man handed him water, letting him finish it before Dick brought him to the top of the ship outside. Dick helped him for a moment as they sat atop the ship, the sun having set. Both of them having turned on their filters glad the sandstorm had left and while everything was covered in dust the stars were incredibly visible tonight and Danny could appreciate that as Dick smiles.

“So… stars? What are some of your local earth tales about them?”He grinned.

“Are you sure this is a conversation you wanna bring up?”Danny teases threateningly with a smile. “I could literally talk about this for hours and I’m pretty sure you want your ship fixed at some point. “

“Hmmm, okay fair then tell me about your favorite one?”He smiles gently.

“This one is really old, okay? You can’t blame me for any of the historical mistranslations that may have happened during the centuries or whatever.”Danny mildly threatened and the other put his hands up in defense.

“I cross my heart. I promise. I won’t judge,”he smiles.

“So a long time ago there were two brothers, only half siblings but brother’s nonetheless. One was named Civilization the other was named Pollution.”Danny began as he leaned back. “It’s that grouping of stars there.”

“Okay,”Dick smiles and looks over towards Danny.

“Civilization and Pollution were both created by man. Alas there were other Siblings created by the Earth, Drought and Famine. It said that when Man made Civilization and Pollution the two would always coincide with one another. A promise to each other to stay by each other's sides. They embarked on many journeys of exploration across space together and especially amongst men on earth they explored and went deep into the Earth itself to draw out all she had within her. Earth did not like that and told them to stop. She kept telling them to cease on their journey or she would seek retribution, and they did not listen so she sent her children after them. So Drought killed Civilization and in anger Pollution killed the remaining two siblings. Pollution begged and begged for Earth to bring back his sibling, even turning to man who was falling apart at the seams without Civilization there to keep them together. Earth shook her head and gave a sigh and sent off the rest of man into the stars claiming that was how Civilization would be reborn and if he wanted to follow she could allow him to follow him into the stars. So he did, and thus the constellations were born into the sky, the brothers there once again dancing while the broken rotting bodies of Drought and Famine brought bloodshed back to the land.”

“Wow that’s..”

“A lot right,”Danny laughs. “And that’s just one of many tales we have here.” Danny looked over at Dick who slowly sat up and Danny hadn’t realized how close Dick had gotten to him. Dick looked down on him with a gentle smile.

“Yeah no it’s a lot, that’s for sure. I think you deserve to see the stars Danny.”Dick comments almost as if it was an afterthought.

“Well, maybe one day right?”He smirks.

“I think it might be sooner than you think,”Dick smirks mischievously. Danny chuckling and rolling his eyes at the other.

“I wish, man, I wish.” Then something seemed to dawn on the other and Dick’s eyes widened for a moment before he stopped.

”Do they keep you informed enough out here about what’s going on outside of the planet?” Dick began slowly. “I know what Tim said earlier and I’m not going to contradict anything he said because what we told you earlier was the truth. This is a spy ship. This was a test mission, but it wasn’t pirates who attacked us.”

“Who attacked you then?”Danny’s eyebrows furrowed. He moved to sit up to look Dick seriously in the eyes.

“There’s a race that's pushed a war with the galactic federation for years. They’ve been getting under our skin and trying to break down the Federation from the inside and mostly the Kryptonians have been dealing with it fine but when the Federation hired Wayne enterprises to assist in weapons and ship designs? They seemingly took offense to that. It’s contract work. Nothing against either side, we think the entire situation is dumb.” Dick sounded frustrated almost.

“Okay, so what’s your point? There’s a new war brewing? You guys get caught in the crossfire?”Danny was almost hesitant to ask. Dick shifts his sitting position almost nervously as he looks over at Danny.

“Yes… and no.”Dick stopped for a moment thinking of how he wanted to phrase his next comment. Something he was afraid of saying out loud in fear it would be true and Danny had been forced to read a lot of interesting texts over the years about the stories of old and how they used to run their missions. Dots connecting in Danny’s mind.

“You think you were targeted…”Danny whispers out. “It’s-it’s just like I was reading about in this archived novel I read when I was younger! Somebody tries to take out the main family’s heirs, cause devastation and get the big family to pull out on the contract work!”

‘Yeah , that's pretty much the entire situation we’ve theorized right now," he laughs. “What we think at least. We’re sure things will calm down once the finality of the paperwork is complete but we just have to be more careful.”

“So wait… if your so-called ship isn’t pinging things right? That’s going to show up as a red flag within this port too, you know that right? I know Pings are an old school concept but they still use them here. The second they send out that report back to the nearest station of federation ships it can be hacked. I used to hack them all the time. Listening to those radios is like a piece of cake.”

Then it seemed to dawn on both of them.

Eyes finding each other for a moment as they stare in panic. There was a high chance that the ship was just waiting on the signal to the nearest station. That cut their real time in half, no wait... Danny thought he might be able to do it in 12 hours but that would mean the end of the day and the signal would have already been sent out a few hours before he had finished it. He looked at the clock on the wall. He had been working for 9 hours… That meant final pings for the evening on all the ships would be going out soon if not now and reported to the nearest federation station, and their ship wouldn’t ping.

“You guys still use the Ping system?!?!”Dick started.

“Shut up you guys have a bigger issue to deal with! And again DYING PLANET DICK.”Danny exclaimed before he paused and looked around them. “Fuck Tim and I have to get this ship moving now.” He whispers before they hurry back into the ship. Dick grabbing Danny by the waist and lifting him down with ease, not that Danny noticed it that much, not at all. Danny uses his powers just slightly to help him get into the engine bay faster as Dick was trying to explain the current situation.

“You use the PING SYSTEM?!?!?!”

“Shut up and help me finish this!”Danny yelled at Tim sternly and that seemed to shut him up as the nervousness rose. Jason going back up to keep an eye on the surrounding area and Dick going who knew where. It was on the ship for sure, probably prepping system vitals and checking everything else for take off.

“Tim, you guys need to get to a mechanic as soon as you get out of here okay?”Danny whispers to him as they finish the shoddy patch job. “I’m serious.”

“You don’t have to explain it to me..”Tim bites at the dried skin of his lips for the moment.

“I’m going to get off so you can leave. Get out of here, Jump. Get to safety all of you,”Danny whispers as they head up to the main deck and Danny moves to open the airlock to the outside.

“I think Dick might want to say goodbye, he gets attached,”Tim teases him softly.Danny rolls his eyes slipping on his mask hearing the very quiet hiss of it connecting and breathing in the only slightly ruined filter. Danny had his bag slung over his shoulder standing by the airlock.

Dick came down the hallway Tim had just gone into.

“You guys will only be able to make one jump, so make it count,”Danny started firmly.

“We will, we will! We’ll also be back, you know that right? We don’t have any coins on us and I know you said technology is iffy here and we have services to pay for,”he smiles gently.

“I would appreciate it,”he laughs. “Honestly, just get out of here. I’m not worried about it. I’ll get out of here eventually.” Danny gave a shrug and Dick gently grabbed his hand giving him a small squeeze.

“I promise I’ll be back.”

“Uh huh, that’s what they all say,”Danny gives a sad smile and starts his walk out the door giving a wave to them as he leaves leaning on his crutch starting to feel the pain coursing through his body now at the long working hours he pulled today and part of him didn’t even care he wasn’t getting paid immediately, or that he quietly wanted to make a jab at his sister for not coming back to see him. Part of him was just trying desperately to not be heartbroken or sad at the coming events he knew was going to happen. He stared at the ground intently as he walked away.

Maybe he had wanted to be their friend. Wanted to see them more and hang out with them. Maybe he wanted to actually stare at the stars and tell Dick more stories of Earth and what it was like living in its hellish expanse.

Maybe he wanted someone to explore space with. Someone to watch his back and maybe a group of friends he could finally come clean with about what he was made up of and what he could do in actuality. Maybe he could tell them the idea of why their ship was only going to last one more jump. He didn’t need to tell them he infused extra radiation energy into the pipes that would be picked up along the way. The excess radioactive energy that he could control and assign and tell how to function and when to function.

The radiation he put there so that their warp core wouldn’t explode from being overexerted.The radiation he put there in fear of their ship being unable to jump without the extra fuel to the engine. But who was he anyway? Who was he at the end of the day? He felt like a no one. He would be abandoned yet again, he always was.

He stopped in his tracks as he felt hot bright lights on him and heard yelling.

“HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!” He looked up to see the local authority. The sheriff standing front and center. Dash. A dark smirk across his face and Danny knew in that moment he was fucked. If he wasn’t arrested Dash would make his life a living hell. Then he heard yelling from behind him. The Wayne ship had started up, but yelling with his hand out, was Dick.

“RUN!” He yelled. Danny stared at Dash and then back at Dick.

“Don’t do it Fenton!” He yelled. Danny could feel his leg already screaming at him but he didn’t care. He turned around and booked it. What he hadn’t expected was for them to actually shoot. A phaser blast coming to his right and causing him to scream as he hurried as quickly as he could with his crutch. Then he dropped his bag moving to go back but finding it was too dangerous as they were still shooting at him. Eyes wide with fear looking back at Dash, quietly pleading as he ran. Dick motioned him to go faster and he did.

He ran.

Faster. Faster. Forgetting his crutch and running with all he had. Deep labored breaths became worse as he felt a stinging at his side ignoring the pain and the tears welling in his eyes.

Why were they doing this? What did he do? Why was he being targeted? He--

Why? It was then he realized the ship was moving and going higher off the ground and Dick’s hand reached for him desperately and he heard a bang as his fingers grazed Dick’s hand, the man latching on. He saw another pair of hand grab Dick dragging them both into the ship, the airlock closing behind him desperately before they all fell back breathing heavily. Danny felt a searing pain at his side and he could feel the dust in his lungs as they all tried to breath and just calm down and slowly.

Danny stopped. He stared. Eyes focusing on Dick for a moment, then Jason’s. Then his hand.

He saw blood pouring from his side from nasty burns, his clothing torn and singed and he stared in a daze at his hand. Ears ringing. People were mouthing things to him that he couldn’t even register. Words. What words? He needed to concentrate right? Was that how this worked? Why did this all feel familiar? Why did this feel like dying all over again?

Wasn’t dying just once enough?

“Danny!”He hadn’t even realized he had collapsed Dick panicked, staring at him. “Hey, look at me. It’s going to be okay! It’s going to be fine!”

“What happened,”He breathed out tears streaking down his cheeks.

“Don’t worry about it, We’ll get you fixed up. Danny, hey look at me talk to me,”Dick wipes his tears away with his thumbs his hands a grounding pressure since he had pulled off danny’s mask throwing it somewhere out of the way. He gives Danny a wide reassuring smile.

“Danny, look at me? You have to stay with me, you want to know why? We’re in space,”He whispers and when he points to one of the windows the last thing Danny saw before he passed out was the stars.

The stars were welcoming him home.

And at least Danny got his finally wish right?

Fanfic located here on Archive of our Own

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