Fandom Schtuff Repository

vlad is mainly driven by emotion. he's petty and jealous and lashes out at people and its so interesting because you're presented with this character who appears to be very formal and uptight but he's just so childish at times.

you typically see the young hero being driven by their anger or passion or whatever but danny doesnt even seem to want to be a hero. he's not doing this out of a strong desire to help people or anything. he has no dramatic backstory motivating him to act the way he does. he's a hero because its the right thing to do no matter what he feels about it.

So Tim gets kidnapped. 

Makes sense. He is the CEO of Wayne industries. Of of the most notable Wayne children. His kidnapping is really no surprise. He gets kidnapped every other month.

But usually the kidnappers tie him up.

And take his phone.

And his laptop.

And lock the door.

And make it so he can’t just…y’know…leave.

And they especially don’t give him a very nice desk set up where he can continue his work unimpeded.

Bruce is confused.

Tim is confused and intrigued.

The kidnappers are by no means special. They aren’t any sort of costumed crook. They have no magic or powers. They are absolutely normal people.

Normal but smart people.

“Mr. Wayne, we have your son.”

“Which one?“

“The one who runs your business.“

“I see.”

“We want $10 million for his release.”

“I think you’ll find that Tim has already been subjected to multitude of kidnapping in the past. We are well used to these tactics.”

“Oh, this one’s different.” The head kidnapper responded.

“It is different so far. I’m not tied to a chair and there’s no lock on the door. What’s to stop me from leaving?” Tim asks, bemused and gesturing to the aforementioned unlocked door with his again unbound hands.

“Because we have coffee.“ The kidnapper replies, gesturing to a rather fancy coffee setup with a freshly brewing French roast.

Tim immediately perks up.

“And for every hour that our demands are not met, we will give him a fresh pot of coffee with an increasing grade of caffeine.”

Ten seconds pass.

There is a “ding” from the kidnapper’s cellphone as the notification of the payment goes through.

The kidnappers blink.

“I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect that to work.”

Tim, who had taken advantage of this time to make himself a cup of coffee and already finished it, sets the empty cup down.

“I’ll double it to keep me.”

"No, you don't understand! I need my powers. I'll die without them!" Danny pleaded with the officer in front of him.

"Sure, kid, and I need a burger. You'll be just fine without your flight or superstrength or whatever. Look, I see kids like you all the time nowadays. You think just because you have a few powers, you can become some kind of hero. You run away from home, cause trouble in the name of 'justice' or whatever. Then reality hits. You start stealing. What's a few stolen bucks or candy bars in the name of the greater good, right? It's a downward spiral from there. Seems you were pretty far down the spiral. Beating up government agents? Kid, there is no way in hell I'm letting you out of here without the meta power suppressant collar. You're lucky Mr. Wayne was so generous and decided to foster you until we find your parents. I would've sent your troublesome ass back to juvie."

I was thinking this was a bad timeline where the Fenton parents died and Danny ran away. The power suppressing collar does work on him somehow, and cuts him off from his ghost half, which stops the ectoplasm that was keeping him alive since the accident.

These tags from @therandomartmaker have passed peer review.

Also @atiyasnake because their au was mentioned in those tags.

Now then, Danny probably doesn't mentally clock out immediately. It, like the rest of his deterioration, is a steady decay over time. And for like a week while he's still present enough, while he still has the energy for more than a noncommittal hum; he tries, over and over and over again, he tries to tell them what's wrong. They just don't believe him. Even when he tells them the truth about the government agent he was fighting, the truth about the GIW and the Anti-Ecto acts and they look it up and verify all that for themselves, they still won't trust him about the collar.

A week in and he's too exhausted to keep arguing. They won't take his word for it. It's too much a contradiction to their understanding of how the world works. Just like the rest of him. His whole existence is a contradiction to the immutable laws of life and death. Fine. It's fine. If they won't listen, there's no point in spending his precious energy trying to make them.

2 weeks and he can feel the early stages of rot setting in to his internal organs. It hurts, but less than he thought it would. Mostly it's these growing spots of numbness that kinda burn at the edges where his body is trying valiantly to beat the necrosis back. The Justice League hosts a press conference that week. All of the founding members, including the one and only Batman; delivers a very passionate speech informing the public of, and denouncing, the Anti-Ecto acts and all those associated with it's passing and enforcement. It stirs a thought in Danny's sluggish mind. Maybe Bruce Wayne really does have some kind of ties to Batman.

3 weeks and he can tell the Waynes can tell he's genuinely sick by now. His coordination is failing, his muscles are atrophying (decaying, their decaying, rotting away inside his skin and leaving this disgusting slimy feeling behind), and his temperature is jumping between a "low grade" (for a normal human) fever and borderline hypothermia. He spends most of his time sleeping now, and most of the rest of it in a delirious dissociative haze. In one of his rare moments of lucidity, he wonders if they'll finally accept that he's right about the suppressor. But no, of course not. He can hear them talk around him, wondering and worrying at the mysterious illness. What could be causing it, how do they treat it? That one dashed hope, which was hardly a hope at all and more an errant thought, shouldn't hurt worse than his body literally dying and decomposing from the inside out. It shouldn't hurt worse than that. Somehow, it does anyway.

4 weeks in and Danny has accepted his fate. Resigned himself to this slow second death. He can't decide whether it's better or worse than his first. Idly, he wonders if he'll become a full ghost next. Or if the suppressor will prevent that too. If it does, will his soul be able to move on? Or will it be trapped in his body until the flesh rots away entirely and all that's left is bones? And some day in the far distant future even those bones crumble to dust and what then? Will he be able to move on then? Or will he still be here, bound to the dust that used to be him, torn apart and scattered across the world until the world ceases to be. Such big questions.

Danny doesn't have the energy to ponder too much. He guesses he'll figure it out when it happens and that will have to be enough. At least it's safe to think he'll be given a grave this time. Surely the Waynes care enough to give him that much. They must. They care enough at least that there's always someone sitting with him whenever he wakes up. Even when he's only semi-lucid, they're there, murmuring to him all the news from current events in the world (the Anti-Ecto acts have been repealed and the GIW disbanded, that's nice) to what new animals Damian is trying to sneak into the manor to what Alfred has cooked most recently. The rotating cast of gentle voices is nice. Not quite a consolation for them refusing to believe him, but nice nonetheless. And maybe having a grave this time will make up for the rest. A place to rest sounds heavenly right now.

Danny doesn't know how long it's been anymore. All he knows is that something is wrong. For the first time since that cop locked a collar around his neck; Danny's core is awake, active, and screeching at him to do something. Something has his protection instinct riled up and it is so very very bad that his core is generating enough ectoplasm to just barely override the collar's suppression capacity.

Danny's eyes snap open, burning vibrant, toxic green. He jolts upwards, startling the half dozen weirdly dressed people sitting around him in some kind of medical room with a strange, rough stone ceiling. There's a lot of sudden commotion, several sets of hands reaching, out trying to stop him as Danny slings his legs off the hospital cot and stands on weak and trembling legs. He's grateful for the reaching hands that catch him before he collapses onto a rough stone floor. The tiny amounts of ectoplasm his core is able to generate around the suppressor's effects isn't nearly enough to heal him. But it's enough to give him energy. Energy he hasn't had since that first week. Energy to talk. Energy to argue.

It was Bruce's turn to watch over Danny for the night, so he was forced to stay in when the news of an Arkham breakout arrived. Dick suited up as Batman for the night, and it was all hands on deck rounding up all the escapees. Two hours in, and everyone was caught and put back in a cell... everyone except the Joker. Then, Joker appeared on every local radio and entertainment channel. He had a game for the Bats! Find the bombs he placed all around the city, or watch as the most important people of Gotham all blow up!

The first few were easy: The mayor's house, Jim Gordon's house, some other important figures. They found and disarmed 6 bombs, then found and arrested the Joker himself. They thought they were done, that they had won. But when cuffing Joker, one of the stopwatches lining his arms starts beeping, and he's laughing maniacally and singing "lucky number 7!"

Meanwhile, Bruce is with Danny. His coms and computers were confiscated by Alfred so he would focus on taking care of the sick boy. All of a sudden, Bruce hears a timer go off and the recorded sound of Jokers laugh echoing through the halls. He barely has time to cover Danny’s prone body when the room explodes all around them.

Alfred in batcave when it happened. He was helping Oracle coordinate the search over comms. When it was apparent the Joker was still loose, he was also tasked with keeping Jason in the cave. Jason was not happy with this decision, and was arguing loudly against it when the explosion happened. The entire cave shook with the force of it.

After a moment of silence, Jason quickly runs upstairs into the manor (in civilian clothes because his Red Hood gear was hidden by Alfred). The whole house is ablaze, wooden support pillers falling over and the roof looking like it will collapse in on itself any minute now.

Jason runs to Danny’s room, finding Bruce unconscious over the seemingly unharmed Danny (it's hard to tell if there are any new injuries under all the sores and skin decay). Jason can't carry them both, so he makes a split second decision. He moves Bruce's prone and bleeding body onto the floor, then picks up Danny (who's equally unconcious and bleeding, but again, he was like that before the explosion) and jumps out the window. Secondary blasts from inside the manor can be heard as Jason runs Danny to the front of the house. The Wayne manor is completely on fire, walls and roof can be seen caving in at some places.

Alfred joins Jason in the front yard, a safe distance back to watch the family home burn to the ground.

One minute later, Dick (as Batman), Damian (as Robin), and Tim (as Red Robin) arrive at the manor in the Batmobile. Three minutes later, the paramedics, firefighters, and police arrive, along with the rest of the bats and birds.

Jason places Danny gently on a stretcher as Dick storms up to him.

"Where's Bruce?" Dick asks in his best Batman impression, the worry in his voice hidden from anyone who wasn't trained by Batman.

Jason (in shock but not about to admit to that), just points back to the burning manor.

The fire can still be seen going strong, but the firefighters seem to be doing their job as several stream of water are fighting against the blaze.

"You left him in there? Why didn't you save him?!"

"What, you wanted me to run back into that burning building for a man who failed to do the same for me? I got Danny out! Was that not good enough for you?"

Red Robin steps between the two before the yelling can escalate into a full on fight. "Well, we're here now and we better get a game plan if we want any chance of not having to bury Bruce or anyone else tonight!"

At that, suddenly Danny stirs on the stretcher. He jolts up as though he was electrocuted, shakily standing up and opening his eyes. Dick and Tim hurriedly help him stand while also trying to convince him to lay back down. Jason notes those eyes are not the same blue color as before, but instead are green. Lazarous water green.

"Please, you have to... take it off! Please! I. I need. To protect. Someone. Needs help. Take it off!" Danny somehow managed to gasp out, in the closest thing to a moment of consciousness he's had in over a week.

"OK, fine. I'll take that stupid collar off you." Jason says, pulling out his lockpicks.

"What?" "No, stop!" Tim and Dick say at the same time.

"Screw you both, I've never liked that fucking thing anyway! Look at the kid, this might be his last request." Jason yells back, shoving their hands out of the way to get to the suppressant collar around the kids neck. He never said anything, but seeing Danny in that collar always felt wrong. In the few times he wasn't avoiding the manor, it was like he could feel the despair and inevitability of death radiating off the kid.

"He's a flight risk and dangerous criminal, Todd! Leave him be so we can go and save father!" Damian angrily stomps over, joining the conversation.

"Go and save B yourself if you're so worried! He was in Danny’s room last I saw. To your points about Danny; First off, I'm a dangerous criminal. Second, he's a dying kid! Maybe this will help him get some peace, at least. I'm doing this no matter what you say, so go fuck off for all i care." Jason worked on the lock even while arguing with his siblings. Seconds after saying that, the lock clicks open, and the collar falls to the ground. Dick and Tim had managed to get Danny sitting back on the stretcher. They back off as Danny slumps into Jason.

Danny feels like his whole body is on fire. Every nerve in his body floods with power. He feels amazing and horrible all at once as the ectoplasm rushes out to heal him. Like someone who was starving suddenly gorged themselves on a feast, the first thing he does is throw up. The second thing he does is change into his Phantom form. It's like a lizard shedding its old skin.

Bruce was set onto the ground gently, and Danny returned back to his normal colors, sitting off to the side, in a sorta dissociative state, constantly fingering his neck.

But even then, he seemed more… alive than he had been for the past month.

He no longer looked like he would drop dead at any moment.

And that didn’t resonate well for the Batfam.

Tim was the one to approach him, after Alfred declared Bruce stable enough to move.

“Hey,” Tim said, unsure what else to say.

Danny didn’t react, so Tim gently kicked the side of his leg. Danny flinched, and glanced up.

“O-oh! Hey…” Danny mumbled, and he looked away, pulling his knees into his chest.

“Guess you weren’t kidding about needing your powers to survive,” Tim said. “I’m sorry we didn’t take you seriously.”

Danny just huffed, and mumbled something under his breath.

“A lot of kids say that, and you’d been… well…” Tim waved his hands.

“Blowing them up was the only way to get attention,” Danny muttered. “No one would listen to me. It wasn’t my plan to get my identity leaked.”

“Why does… not having your powers kill you?” Tim asked hesitantly. “I mean, the meta gene isn’t a… vital gene that’ll kill you if you don’t have access. Like, I’ve been without a spleen for a few years and been fine.”

Danny turned to face him and frowned, before apparently shrugging it off. His knees pulled tighter together.

“…I died at 14,” Danny mumbled.

“Come again?” Tim said, not believing he’d heard that correctly.

“I died at 14,” Danny said. “But fate decided nope so I’m left halfway there, one foot in the grave. My powers tether me to life. If I hadn’t gotten them, I would’ve died at 14. As it is, without them, my body has nothing to hold itself together with.”

Tim didn’t know how to respond.

He's too out of it to have processed much of the conversation with Red Robin.

He's too out of it to realize RR said 'we'.

He is NOT too out of it to notice Bruce start to stir and try to sit up.

In an instant, Danny jumps to his feet and stumbles back a few feet before falling down again, his legs too weak to hold him. RR and Batman take an instinctive step forward, only for everyone to stop the moment Danny starts crawling back while scratching at his neck and screaming. "Get him away from me! He tried to kill me! Not again, please, not again!"

Everyone freezes, and the first one to speak is Jason. "Oh, fuck"

Danny looks at him and goes absolutely pale. Jason, Bruce and Alfred are the only unmasked Waynes he can see.

And Jason is still holding the collar.

Danny screams, and throws an instinctive ecto-blast at the collar, at the same time as he flickers and seems to half float, half jump to his feet before turning around and booking it. He's still weak and slow, but even tho the bats go after him, they cant catch him. He seems to be flickering from tangibility as much as he's flickering from visibility, so they lose sight of him for whole seconds, and when he flickers back they cant touch him. At some point, he's just gone.

Three days later, when Oracle manages to spot him in a camera, shivering on an alley but looking miles better than even after the collar came off, she sends the closest bat to talk to him. They approach and he immediately says he's not going back to the Waynes, and that they should be investigated for meta prejudice, "not that you'll care. I've heard you bats hate metas just as much, if not more"

"Kid... Wayne didnt mean to hurt you. He made a mistake-"

"Oh! Well then, in that case it's okay"

"...what?"

"Yeah! Thanks for letting me know, guess i can go back to the guy that let me start rotting from the inside out now that i know that he's sorry"

"Kid-"

"No really! It's fine," Danny says, with a huge smile that's a complete contrast to how his eyes have gone cold and furious, "it's not like he'd rather take the word of an organization that was being exposed as genocidal maniacs AT THE SAME TIME as i was pleading for my life to him, rather than risk a kid with powers living under his roof."

The bat flinches, and tries to find something to say. The other bats, watching through the camera feed, are just as speechless.

"I spent a whole month in that house," says Danny, "and the whole time i was surrounded by people who refused to believe me or listen to me, even as i was slowly tortured by my own body as it shut down on me, and even in my deathbed no one thought to remove the collar until i managed to get the strength to beg for it again. So tell me, why THE FUCK would i ever go back there?"

The bat looks down, unable to reply.

I want a Batfamily that realized the error of their ways far, far too late and have no way of making it up to the brother they nearly killed. The brother they grew to love so very much as he lay decaying, trapped in his own body. And they have to try and gain his trust because they do love him- even if they don't actually know him. Even if they let him be tortured because they didn't believe him.

Even if he hates them.

And he does hate them. He has nowhere to go, but he's definitely not staying with them. But his ghost side is weakened by having to basically grow him a whole new body, so Danny can only rely on his human half when he runs.

We've got

Human demon hybrids- Raven

Tameranians

Kryptonians

Amazonians

Warlocks

Atlanteans

Martians

Sorcerers

I'm not a comic girl but those are just a few that could be considered Metahumans!

And considering different people react differently to basic FDA approved medicine why wouldn't different Metahumams react differently to something that suppresses part of their biology?

Also! Percentages! A half Demon would probably react differently then a full Demon to something. A half Tameran would probably have different DNA then someone whose completely Tameran. A half Martian wouldn't be the same as someone who's completely Martian and same goes for Atlanteans. So that's another reason why acting as if there's no way the suppressants could possibly harm a metahuman is fucking DUMB but also fucking realistic.

Also the Bats not even TRYING to take off the collar until Danny, extremely close to death BEGS them to take it off? Considering some of the asshole things I've heard the Bats have done it feels in character but feels so stupid considering Danny had begged for them to take it off at the start AND considering they have to be aware Ghosts exist as part of the Justice League they don't get to believe Ghosts don't exist or that Ghosts are evil. I'm 70% sure there's a ghost hero in the DC universe and I refuse to believe Batman can't get in touch with a Magical Justice League member who knows about Ghosts.

Though it wouldn't be Gaslighting.

"No, you don't understand! I need my powers. I'll die without them!" Danny pleaded with the officer in front of him.

"Sure, kid, and I need a burger. You'll be just fine without your flight or superstrength or whatever. Look, I see kids like you all the time nowadays. You think just because you have a few powers, you can become some kind of hero. You run away from home, cause trouble in the name of 'justice' or whatever. Then reality hits. You start stealing. What's a few stolen bucks or candy bars in the name of the greater good, right? It's a downward spiral from there. Seems you were pretty far down the spiral. Beating up government agents? Kid, there is no way in hell I'm letting you out of here without the meta power suppressant collar. You're lucky Mr. Wayne was so generous and decided to foster you until we find your parents. I would've sent your troublesome ass back to juvie."

I was thinking this was a bad timeline where the Fenton parents died and Danny ran away. The power suppressing collar does work on him somehow, and cuts him off from his ghost half, which stops the ectoplasm that was keeping him alive since the accident.

He knows most people from Amity do badly outside of it since the GIW. He knew his powers were a lot like a magical girl’s, only without the pretty weapons and dress, and more sci-fi.

It used to make him happy.

He knew since he was seven he emitted ectoplasm—something his parents checked over regularly. Nothing dangerous—just him more prone to out bursts and poor impulse control.

Jazz pointed to childhood trauma, and a host of other developmental factors, possible disabilities and disorders from physical to emotional to psychological.

Danny figured he was lucky to survive the accident and get his powers under control. That leaving Amity didn’t make him sick. And that despite possibly possessing his own corpse, he was somehow growing so he must be doing something right.

Jazz commented on a DNA analysis done on their parents and them.

Danny wasn’t the only one with an active meta gene, his dad is right there, but he did get a very different version of it. Mom said it was her fault for forgetting her hazmat suit so often in the first trimester.

Either way, finding out his ‘ectoplasm is not dangerous to me’ gene was also keeping him alive and not a corpse sucked.

He got attention on the GIW. They captured and torturing his classmates. He made sure Ellie was in another country and safesafesafe from it all.

Then he got hit with the collar and it wasnt his powers missing—his core was silent. His core that kept him alive—worked in tandem with his brain and heart to maintain basic body functions.

He knew shit hit the fan.

He tried to explain—fuck, it was in his medical files and his parents files on his ‘unique interactions with ectoplasm’ but the only thing the jackoffs in charge saw was ‘meta gene active’ to slap a collar on him like he was less than Cujo, just some disobedient dog incapable of obeying and needing ‘correction’ the “hard way”.

He almost wished the portal was still open.

Almost.

Some new billionaire fruitloop got custody of him—yelling that Vlad made him a parent and killed his babies did wonders on stopping Dan Part Two.

He knows he’s dying. Again.

He half wonders how the liminals of Amity will handle things now.

He doesnt have much ability to ‘think’ since the collar was put on.

Apparently Bruce isn’t allowed to touch it.

He’d had it on for maybe a week when his legs stopped working right. His body stopped putting out proper heat and was constantly bordering hyperthermia.

His mortal doctor didn’t look at the files from his parents—or maybe they couldn’t find them?

Everything was fuzzy and hazy and Not There.

Then a poor liminal came in and he had to get them out. Had to

His core screamed to save them from this.

He couldn’t get out of bed. The liminal ran over to him.

“Hey, easy ki—”

“R, run. Before they get you,” Danny managed to slur out.

“Dead not safe here. Run.”

His core was shaking.

He knew he’d be dead-dead a lot sooner.

(Can he even have a ghost again? Or was that just the meta gene?)

“Collar kills. Run.”

The liminal was shaking, confused and angry.

“Save yourself. Run.”

It was getting dark again.

—

Jason knew two things when he got into the manor—something was there that shouldn’t be, and there was a dying foster kid.

Meta.

The wring feeling was urgent, and the kid was having a seizure. His eyes were glowing green. The Pitts got the kid.

He tried to help. “Hey, hey ki—”

“R, run. ‘Fore they g’t ‘ou.”

The kid had to be delirious, right? Right?? Why wasn’t he in a frenzy.

“D’d nah s’fe ‘ere. R’n.”

How did the kid know. That gut feeling got a lot deeper and may as well have been a chasm swallowing him whole.

Why was the kid telling him to—

The kid’s spasms slowed.

Alfred and Lesley skittered in.

“What happened?”

“Kid shorted when I—”

“Colla’ kills. Run.” The kid rasped.

The room froze as the kid’s heart rate dropped.

“S’vve y’rself. R’nnn.”

Jason didn’t think. He did.

He scrambled to get that stupid collar off. Kid should get some dignity in death.

Alfred and Lesley were talking, he knew everyone else somehow was in the room, there was yelling but the kid was more important.

The dying kid shouldn’t be chained up like a rabid dog.

Fuck what the stupid foster system said. They threw him to Ma Gunn the first time. They threw Dick into every juvenile detention facility and he knew they knew shitall about keeping kids actually safe.

Everyone stilled when the threw that stupid collar somewhere.

The kid wasn’t breathing.

Jason began chest compressions. Someone was managing the bag part—he didn’t care to look.

Something was buzzing in the kids chest.

That gut feeling told him to push harder.

He did.

Everyone was shouting but the kid made a sound.

Everything lit up.

Kid was platinum blond, tanner and his clothes changed.

He flung himself forward, into fetal position. Grabbing at the back of his neck.

The kid was mumbling, his words staticky.

“Have to save them.” The kid kept repeating. “Stop GIW save Amity. Save Fright. Keep safe. Ellie in danger. Guard daughter. My corechild. Mine. Not Vlad’s.”

Jason put a hand near the kid slowly.

“Kid?”

He stopped moving, head swiveling to his.

Glowing green eyes.

“Must Protect. Keep haunt safe. Fright in danger. Amity in danger. Ellie in danger. Must make safe safesafesafe.”

Jason nodded, pretending he knew what any of that meant. (He knew the kid’s life was blown up to run away. Knew the kid’s everyone was in danger. Knew the kid wasn’t just meta. Undead meta. LiKemE.)

“Breathe.”

“Don’t need. Save fright. Protect. Run—collar bad. Collar Ends.”

Jason swallowed hard. “Bad collar is off. Human?”

“Half,” the kid answered, eyeing the room. “Human huuuurt. Bodyyy nooo gooood. Fix. Fix fix fix but need. Need fright. Human words hAAArD.”

Jason looked at the others. The kid being mixed species explained a Lot. And may have a split personality…. Shit.

“Other half?”

“Ectooo-entitititity,” the kid answered, almost glitching.

“The collar made your human side sick,” Jason probed, eyeing the kid carefully.

He was floating off the bed, mostly in fetal position.

“No. Human side always sick-k-k. I fix. Died much. Human hurts, i fix. Couldn’t fix,” the kid pointed to the discarded collar. “Killllling link. Link keep human partssss ssssafe. Human restststssss.”

Jason’s stomach dropped. Kid died. A lot. The kid’s metagene kept it from sticking.

The gene that stupid collar was blocking.

And his family almost killed the poor kid by keeping it on.

“Must goooo. Daughter unsafe. I fix.”

Jason froze. Kid is definitely still in high school. And no way he’s more than a sophomore.

“Can you bring her here? Leslie can check her human side,” Jason placated.

The kid paused. “No take.”

“No take, she’s still yours,” Jason agreed, ignoring the rest of his family plotting behind him. “If you want, the two of you can stay with me. The Alley’s Gotham’s Projects though, okay?”

“No collar,” the kid demanded.

“No collar.”

“Protect baby. Destroy GIW. Save fright.”

“Kid, no issues with that in my end. Okay?”

“Yes. Baby needs me. Return with my corechild.”

Jason watched the kid fade from view.

“Jason,” Lesley approached.

“What were you two discussing?”

The chasm was back.

“Robin,” Bruce growled out, “Report.”

“The kid is Kori’s type of meta. Only half human, half ecto entity. His meta gene is what keeps him from staying dead—something about dying a lot but not what caused it. That collar was literally killing him, since the ecto-entity side—the transformation—is the side that ‘fixes’ him. Likely his most of his regulatory system and large parts of his immune system. This side is undead, and running on instincts.”

“Clarify the entity’s objectives if possible.”

“Get his kid,” everyone tensed at that. Kid was 15 after all, and no record of paternity. “to safety is his priority—called them a corechild so on the ecto-aspect. Was very insistent the kid was not someone going by Vlad. I offered to have Leslie check the kid’s human side for health, and to stay in the Alley with me.”

“Any other priorities?”

“Not that i can translate exactly. His ‘fright’ and ‘haunt’ are unsafe and need to be saved. He named an ‘Amity’ and ‘Ellie’ are in danger. No clue what the exact danger is, but he clarified the collar ‘ends’ rather than kills, so possible connection. Can we track the supplier for them? And a GIW? Kid mentioned ‘stop GIW save amity’ so it could be a list or connected.”

Bruce nodded his head, grabbing the collar and working off his batphone.

“and you understood him why?” Bruce continued in BatModeTM.

“Pitts. Since then i could understand Undead in this,” Jason gestured vaguely, “language we have.”

Bruce paused his search.

“We?”

Jason crossed his arms, that stupid Robin report trick running thin. “I died. I can understand it and they can understand me. I just cant tell when i do.”

Leslie gestured for Bruce to leave to his own devices.

“I’ll handle the cover story. A zombie broke in, took off the collar before i got to the door and Danny Fenton’s metagene reactivation simultaneously undid his deteriorating health by returning him to an undead entity that ran off looking for his family.”

Jason agreed, the chasm growing, swallowing him whole.

“I’m gonna go home and baby proof my place. When the kid gets there with his kid, we’ll grab the rest.”

Leslie hummed, sharing a look with Alfred in the doorway.

“Perhaps I can be of assistance. I will go ‘casual’ if need be.”

Jason nodded numbly. “We don’t know what physical age the kid will resemble. No clue if Ecto entities age like cats or elephants.”

Alfred hummed along, changing his outfit before driving behind Jason to his home.

“Danny favored stars, perhaps add that to his room?”

Jason nodded, glad for an easy thing to set up. Accurate constellations would be time consuming and a good way to keep the anticipation low.

—

Jason jumped when he felt a home? Allowed? Haunt? Echoed by two voices instead of one.

The semi-feral ecto entity was by his bedroom window, clutching a smaller, pre-teen girl by her waist to himself as said preteen wiggled about.

Jason opened the window. “Door next time, and when humany, okay?”

Danny(?) hummed something while the girl frowned. “Boooring. And you sure about us staying in your haunt?” She looked about. “it’s smaller than Danny’s, but most ghosts dont claim a city after forming and win.”

Jason filed that away to message Bruce. Amity likely a city name.

“So, Ellie?”

“Got bored of using Vlad’s name for me. Playing with it still—most dont settle on a name until theyre a few hundred years and i’m not even a year old—cloning and all that jazz.”

“I see.” He did not.

“So, you’re the ecto sensitive? Not liminal, but definitely dead once—not a bad thing, but never dead can’t understand ghostspeak. So, how are you helping my Original destroy the guys in white and save our fright?”

Jason bared his teeth in a facsimile of a smile. “Easy, I’m the strategist that took over the alley in one fowl swoop and kept it for years even when i was away. Tell me what you have, then we destroy them; mentally, physically, financially and the all important legal destruction and social ruin.”

“Oo, i like you. Can you teach me how to hotwire a car too?”

“Kid, i think this is the start of a beautiful mentorship.”

“As long as you dont try to imprison or marry Original. That’s what fruitloop does.”

Evivivivivil.

“I have a feeling fruitloop will be added to how my idiot family makes amends after this.”

“Do they destroy billionaire stalkers?”

“We bully many billionaires. Lex is the family favorite chew toy.”

“I need the wifi to decide how i feel about that.”

“Under the coffee table it’s tapped there.”

—-

"No, you don't understand! I need my powers. I'll die without them!" Danny pleaded with the officer in front of him.

"Sure, kid, and I need a burger. You'll be just fine without your flight or superstrength or whatever. Look, I see kids like you all the time nowadays. You think just because you have a few powers, you can become some kind of hero. You run away from home, cause trouble in the name of 'justice' or whatever. Then reality hits. You start stealing. What's a few stolen bucks or candy bars in the name of the greater good, right? It's a downward spiral from there. Seems you were pretty far down the spiral. Beating up government agents? Kid, there is no way in hell I'm letting you out of here without the meta power suppressant collar. You're lucky Mr. Wayne was so generous and decided to foster you until we find your parents. I would've sent your troublesome ass back to juvie."

I was thinking this was a bad timeline where the Fenton parents died and Danny ran away. The power suppressing collar does work on him somehow, and cuts him off from his ghost half, which stops the ectoplasm that was keeping him alive since the accident.

These tags from @therandomartmaker have passed peer review.

Also @atiyasnake because their au was mentioned in those tags.

Now then, Danny probably doesn't mentally clock out immediately. It, like the rest of his deterioration, is a steady decay over time. And for like a week while he's still present enough, while he still has the energy for more than a noncommittal hum; he tries, over and over and over again, he tries to tell them what's wrong. They just don't believe him. Even when he tells them the truth about the government agent he was fighting, the truth about the GIW and the Anti-Ecto acts and they look it up and verify all that for themselves, they still won't trust him about the collar.

A week in and he's too exhausted to keep arguing. They won't take his word for it. It's too much a contradiction to their understanding of how the world works. Just like the rest of him. His whole existence is a contradiction to the immutable laws of life and death. Fine. It's fine. If they won't listen, there's no point in spending his precious energy trying to make them.

2 weeks and he can feel the early stages of rot setting in to his internal organs. It hurts, but less than he thought it would. Mostly it's these growing spots of numbness that kinda burn at the edges where his body is trying valiantly to beat the necrosis back. The Justice League hosts a press conference that week. All of the founding members, including the one and only Batman; delivers a very passionate speech informing the public of, and denouncing, the Anti-Ecto acts and all those associated with it's passing and enforcement. It stirs a thought in Danny's sluggish mind. Maybe Bruce Wayne really does have some kind of ties to Batman.

3 weeks and he can tell the Waynes can tell he's genuinely sick by now. His coordination is failing, his muscles are atrophying (decaying, their decaying, rotting away inside his skin and leaving this disgusting slimy feeling behind), and his temperature is jumping between a "low grade" (for a normal human) fever and borderline hypothermia. He spends most of his time sleeping now, and most of the rest of it in a delirious dissociative haze. In one of his rare moments of lucidity, he wonders if they'll finally accept that he's right about the suppressor. But no, of course not. He can hear them talk around him, wondering and worrying at the mysterious illness. What could be causing it, how do they treat it? That one dashed hope, which was hardly a hope at all and more an errant thought, shouldn't hurt worse than his body literally dying and decomposing from the inside out. It shouldn't hurt worse than that. Somehow, it does anyway.

4 weeks in and Danny has accepted his fate. Resigned himself to this slow second death. He can't decide whether it's better or worse than his first. Idly, he wonders if he'll become a full ghost next. Or if the suppressor will prevent that too. If it does, will his soul be able to move on? Or will it be trapped in his body until the flesh rots away entirely and all that's left is bones? And some day in the far distant future even those bones crumble to dust and what then? Will he be able to move on then? Or will he still be here, bound to the dust that used to be him, torn apart and scattered across the world until the world ceases to be. Such big questions.

Danny doesn't have the energy to ponder too much. He guesses he'll figure it out when it happens and that will have to be enough. At least it's safe to think he'll be given a grave this time. Surely the Waynes care enough to give him that much. They must. They care enough at least that there's always someone sitting with him whenever he wakes up. Even when he's only semi-lucid, they're there, murmuring to him all the news from current events in the world (the Anti-Ecto acts have been repealed and the GIW disbanded, that's nice) to what new animals Damian is trying to sneak into the manor to what Alfred has cooked most recently. The rotating cast of gentle voices is nice. Not quite a consolation for them refusing to believe him, but nice nonetheless. And maybe having a grave this time will make up for the rest. A place to rest sounds heavenly right now.

Danny doesn't know how long it's been anymore. All he knows is that something is wrong. For the first time since that cop locked a collar around his neck; Danny's core is awake, active, and screeching at him to do something. Something has his protection instinct riled up and it is so very very bad that his core is generating enough ectoplasm to just barely override the collar's suppression capacity.

Danny's eyes snap open, burning vibrant, toxic green. He jolts upwards, startling the half dozen weirdly dressed people sitting around him in some kind of medical room with a strange, rough stone ceiling. There's a lot of sudden commotion, several sets of hands reaching, out trying to stop him as Danny slings his legs off the hospital cot and stands on weak and trembling legs. He's grateful for the reaching hands that catch him before he collapses onto a rough stone floor. The tiny amounts of ectoplasm his core is able to generate around the suppressor's effects isn't nearly enough to heal him. But it's enough to give him energy. Energy he hasn't had since that first week. Energy to talk. Energy to argue.

It was Bruce's turn to watch over Danny for the night, so he was forced to stay in when the news of an Arkham breakout arrived. Dick suited up as Batman for the night, and it was all hands on deck rounding up all the escapees. Two hours in, and everyone was caught and put back in a cell... everyone except the Joker. Then, Joker appeared on every local radio and entertainment channel. He had a game for the Bats! Find the bombs he placed all around the city, or watch as the most important people of Gotham all blow up!

The first few were easy: The mayor's house, Jim Gordon's house, some other important figures. They found and disarmed 6 bombs, then found and arrested the Joker himself. They thought they were done, that they had won. But when cuffing Joker, one of the stopwatches lining his arms starts beeping, and he's laughing maniacally and singing "lucky number 7!"

Meanwhile, Bruce is with Danny. His coms and computers were confiscated by Alfred so he would focus on taking care of the sick boy. All of a sudden, Bruce hears a timer go off and the recorded sound of Jokers laugh echoing through the halls. He barely has time to cover Danny’s prone body when the room explodes all around them.

Alfred in batcave when it happened. He was helping Oracle coordinate the search over comms. When it was apparent the Joker was still loose, he was also tasked with keeping Jason in the cave. Jason was not happy with this decision, and was arguing loudly against it when the explosion happened. The entire cave shook with the force of it.

After a moment of silence, Jason quickly runs upstairs into the manor (in civilian clothes because his Red Hood gear was hidden by Alfred). The whole house is ablaze, wooden support pillers falling over and the roof looking like it will collapse in on itself any minute now.

Jason runs to Danny’s room, finding Bruce unconscious over the seemingly unharmed Danny (it's hard to tell if there are any new injuries under all the sores and skin decay). Jason can't carry them both, so he makes a split second decision. He moves Bruce's prone and bleeding body onto the floor, then picks up Danny (who's equally unconcious and bleeding, but again, he was like that before the explosion) and jumps out the window. Secondary blasts from inside the manor can be heard as Jason runs Danny to the front of the house. The Wayne manor is completely on fire, walls and roof can be seen caving in at some places.

Alfred joins Jason in the front yard, a safe distance back to watch the family home burn to the ground.

One minute later, Dick (as Batman), Damian (as Robin), and Tim (as Red Robin) arrive at the manor in the Batmobile. Three minutes later, the paramedics, firefighters, and police arrive, along with the rest of the bats and birds.

Jason places Danny gently on a stretcher as Dick storms up to him.

"Where's Bruce?" Dick asks in his best Batman impression, the worry in his voice hidden from anyone who wasn't trained by Batman.

Jason (in shock but not about to admit to that), just points back to the burning manor.

The fire can still be seen going strong, but the firefighters seem to be doing their job as several stream of water are fighting against the blaze.

"You left him in there? Why didn't you save him?!"

"What, you wanted me to run back into that burning building for a man who failed to do the same for me? I got Danny out! Was that not good enough for you?"

Red Robin steps between the two before the yelling can escalate into a full on fight. "Well, we're here now and we better get a game plan if we want any chance of not having to bury Bruce or anyone else tonight!"

At that, suddenly Danny stirs on the stretcher. He jolts up as though he was electrocuted, shakily standing up and opening his eyes. Dick and Tim hurriedly help him stand while also trying to convince him to lay back down. Jason notes those eyes are not the same blue color as before, but instead are green. Lazarous water green.

"Please, you have to... take it off! Please! I. I need. To protect. Someone. Needs help. Take it off!" Danny somehow managed to gasp out, in the closest thing to a moment of consciousness he's had in over a week.

"OK, fine. I'll take that stupid collar off you." Jason says, pulling out his lockpicks.

"What?" "No, stop!" Tim and Dick say at the same time.

"Screw you both, I've never liked that fucking thing anyway! Look at the kid, this might be his last request." Jason yells back, shoving their hands out of the way to get to the suppressant collar around the kids neck. He never said anything, but seeing Danny in that collar always felt wrong. In the few times he wasn't avoiding the manor, it was like he could feel the despair and inevitability of death radiating off the kid.

"He's a flight risk and dangerous criminal, Todd! Leave him be so we can go and save father!" Damian angrily stomps over, joining the conversation.

"Go and save B yourself if you're so worried! He was in Danny’s room last I saw. To your points about Danny; First off, I'm a dangerous criminal. Second, he's a dying kid! Maybe this will help him get some peace, at least. I'm doing this no matter what you say, so go fuck off for all i care." Jason worked on the lock even while arguing with his siblings. Seconds after saying that, the lock clicks open, and the collar falls to the ground. Dick and Tim had managed to get Danny sitting back on the stretcher. They back off as Danny slumps into Jason.

Danny feels like his whole body is on fire. Every nerve in his body floods with power. He feels amazing and horrible all at once as the ectoplasm rushes out to heal him. Like someone who was starving suddenly gorged themselves on a feast, the first thing he does is throw up. The second thing he does is change into his Phantom form. It's like a lizard shedding its old skin.

dead

Dead

DEAD

And they were the ones who killed him

His echo floats aimlessly around the manor. Still exhibiting the semi conscious state of his final days.

His only reactions are when he quails in terror, shying away from their hands with a faint but haunting wail before fading into nothingness

Jason is the only one he'll stay in the same room with, otherwise he vanishes into thin air the moment they cross the threshold.

The final reports about the GIW and Amity Park have come in.

There are clips of Danny Phantom in action.

After Danny's human identity was accidentally revealed when he was exploding the GIW bases, the GIW knew who he was and were hunting him in both forms. Danny had been attacking the bases to force people outside Amity to investigate the GIW, and also making sure to free any captive ghosts. But with the GIW knowing that he's got a human form, they modified standard (criminal) meta suppression collars to suppress Ectoplasm circulation and energy activation (based off stolen Fenton tech). Then the GIW distributed the collars to federal and local authorities that were assisting in the manhunt for the meta terrorist. As a large metropolis with high ambient ectoplasm, Gotham received a collar.

Danny was hiding homeless in Gotham and maybe got onto the Bats' radar as a homeless kid. He ended up getting picked up by child services and doesn't want to reveal his powers while waiting for an opportunity to vanish. But someone at the office had clocked this homeless kid as the terrorist and called the cops to pick him up. When the cops took him into custody, he thought he could ghost them because he didn't want to hurt anyone. But they brought the collar and locked it on him when he was distracted. He didn't realize at first it was more than a typical meta gene suppressor.

But the Bats had already been on the lookout for the meta terrorist and were alerted he'd been captured in Gotham. But when they looked into it, they found out that the terrorist is a kid, and is the homeless kid some of them had met before. The cops planned to put him in Arkham until the GIW arrived to collect him.

But Bruce was able to arrange to foster him temporarily because he's a minor and hasn't actually been convicted of any crimes yet. In the national manhunt he's been a suspect and a person of interest, but he legally has rights still and there's been no trial even scheduled yet. Bruce got emergency custody and paid his bail on condition of keeping the collar on to prevent flight risk and to make sure he comes to interrogations and cooperates with the investigation. If he runs or the collar is removed, or he doesn't show for the investigation efforts, then custody will be revoked and he'll be handed over to the GIW to contain.

Danny did try to run at first, but the Bats brought him back. And once Bruce explained that if Danny keeps trying to run or the collar is removed, then the police will have to hand him to the GIW. Bruce explains he's trying to keep him safe while the investigation looks into the GIW and the explosions, because it's suspicious.

Danny doesn't actually know what long term power suppression will do to him. He knows even just the temporary Plasmius Maximus makes him feel weak and exhausted. But he doesn't know that permanently suppressing ectoplasm energy activation will kill him.

The longer he has the collar on, the more exhaustion drags at him. He tries telling the Waynes he needs it off because his powers are a part of him, and he's not actually a meta. He tries to explain he's half ghost, but the Waynes, and the child counselor and therapist they got him, are convinced it's delusions brought on by his victimization at the hands of his parents upbringing and the GIW persecution of him for having meta powers. Basically, everyone believes he's been conditioned to believe he's half inhuman and a monster.

The investigation is revealing that the GIW are violating the Meta Protection Acts and hunting and persecuting metas and nonhuman sentients (aliens) by labeling them as non-sentient ghosts. The attacks were born of his traumatic conditioning, fear for his life, and self-defense against violations of his rights and body. The fact that the GIW does intend to vivisect him as a specimen and are planning his eventual destruction only proves Danny was fighting and attacking them in self defense. Even the Justice League is getting involved in exposing the Anti-Ecto Control Acts as violations of Meta and Alien rights. They're well on the way to being repealed. The GIW is already being shut down and under scrutiny for human and alien rights violations, Geneva Convention violations, misappropriation of government resources, etc.

This guarantees Danny won't be handed to the GIW. But if Bruce can't keep custody then he'll be put in Arkham because of the delusions brought on by his conditioning. So the collar has to stay on. He's still a flight risk, and the child therapist believes him delusional still. Because while ghosts are real, they're not like the GIW reports claim or how Danny claims he's part ghost.

And this whole time, Danny gets weaker and more exhausted. Not even eating more is helping much. He's been trying to hide it, though. He's afraid of showing weakness.

It's bad enough nobody believes him about being a halfa, but it's understandable. Being Schrodinger's boy is hard to wrap your mind around, let alone being a sorta unliving undead being, like some eldritch thing Lovecraft dreamed up. His parents didn't understand. Not even Jazz and his friends really understood completely how his accident changed him on a fundamental level. Even Danny doesn't think too hard about it most of the time. It's easier to just think of himself as a boy with powers, sometimes.

So he hides how weak he's becoming, how ill he's starting to feel all the time. At first he thinks it's because he's adjusting to being without his powers and away from Amity Park, his haunt. He thinks it's feeling ill like he's going through withdrawals. He doesn't want the Waynes to decide he's too weird, too difficult, too creepy, too inhuman. Because he's getting attached, and he kind of thinks maybe they mean it that he's family now, that he's safe. He's kind of hoping they might actually be able to learn to love each other like a family.

But then he starts collapsing. He can't hide it anymore. Like a sickly fainting Victorian damsel, he keeps collapsing at random, fainting and blacking out. They already knew his vitals were off, lower heart rate and temperature. But now he's got arrhythmia and heart murmurs. He's starting to get fluid buildup in his lungs. He's unable to go ghost form, his human half still needs to breathe and have a pulse. His immune system is failing, he gets a cold that becomes pneumonia. Even after rigorous antibiotics and immuno boosters, even after he recovers from the pneumonia, he's still declining.

They did take him to the hospital, but the doctors couldn't find out what was wrong exactly. They did detect a buildup of strange chemicals all throughout his body cells. The chemicals had similarities to many of the chemicals found in GIW facilities. Also the Bats recognized some of the chemical markers Ra's used with his Lazarus water experiments. The best theory from the doctors is that exposure to the chemicals, from his parents' lab and the GIW facilities he attacked, was causing cellular poisoning. There was nothing they could do for him because it was so widespread and systemic.

Bruce insisted on taking Danny home. Even if all they could do was keep him comfortable, Bruce wanted his boy home. And maybe the Bats could find something from off world or esoteric that could save him. Besides, Danny was afraid every time he woke up in the hospital after blacking out again. If Danny had less than a year left to live, he wanted him to be comfortable, safe, and surrounded with family that had grown to love him.

The Waynes had always hated having to leave the collar on Danny. Especially Tim, because he was familiar with Impulse's dark future of control collars. But to keep him at home, even while he's slowly dying, they had to leave it on and being actively tracked as working by the federal government. Otherwise he'd be moved to Arkham for treatment and containment. They didn't want his last months to be in Arkham. The care there might just kill him faster.

Danny was in the manor at first. He was still mobile for a bit after coming back from the hospital. But then his legs started failing as his muscles atrophied and deteriorated. He was blacking out more, his short term memory failing. They helped him move around with a wheelchair for a bit, taking him to meals and to hang out around the manor with the family.

He was confused and sinking into a mental fog more often. He begged sometimes to take off the collar, or to let him go. Sometimes he begged them not to hurt him, begged them to understand that he's still Danny, still human. Sometimes he didn't know where he was and begged his parents not to tear him apart molecule by molecule.

As his digestive organs started failing, he couldn't eat so had to be hooked up to machines and IVs for fluids and nutrients. He was bed bound in his room, trying to make him comfortable. Someone was with him almost constantly, talking to him, taking care of him, comforting him as best they could.

But his mind wandered away more often, dissociating and catatonic. Soon he was rarely aware or lucid. As he wasted away, his organs began failing more and they moved him to the Batcave onto life support. They tried even more esoteric things to save him but nothing was working.

But waking up briefly lucid in the Batcave infirmary gave Danny a panic attack that nearly killed him before he passed out again. They reluctantly conceded having him in his room in the manor was safer. It took a bit of doing, but they got him set back up in his room with all the fancy cutting edge life support equipment. But it was a real chance Danny might die at any time. Despite all the life support equipment, necrosis was slowly setting in across his body, tissue dying while his body was forced to keep living.

After his skin started rotting in places, Bruce and the others could barely tear themselves away, out of fear he'd be gone by the time they came back. But then there was an Arkham breakout. They decided Bruce would stay with Danny so he wouldn't be alone, just in case he woke, just in case he died.

The Joker couldn't directly plant bombs in Wayne manor. Bruce's security system is too good to miss goons sneaking in to plant explosives. Instead he strapped explosives and Joker toxin canisters to house mice and released them onto Wayne property. And just in case they didn't find ways into the manor, he had a goon with a rocket launcher set up in the empty Drake manor next door.

The scattered explosions across Wayne manor were mice detonating in the walls. Some fires started, but the toxin was the most dangerous. The rocket launcher hit the upstairs and blew up Danny's bathroom and part of his bedroom and the hallway, and the room next to his. The concussive blast knocked Bruce unconscious. But he'd been shielding Danny already since the mice started exploding before the rocket hit.

When Jason rushed upstairs to the manor, he tried to rescue them both. But Bruce is a huge guy and Danny is fragile. He tried to drag Bruce half on his back while carrying Danny downstairs, but the toxin laced colored smoke and fire was too dangerous to expose them directly to. Bruce woke enough to slur at Jason to take Danny and save themselves. Obviously concussed, he told Jason not to die again. Jason went out the window with Danny.

He intended to go back for Bruce. Because he's determined to be better than Batman, so he's not going to leave him to die in an exploding building. And he's not going to give the Joker the satisfaction of killing another of them. And he's not going to lose Bruce just when they were starting to get somewhere better between them. But the outer wall under Danny's room is unstable and on fire after the rocket explosion. The fires and gas are so random throughout the building he can't find a safe route back to Bruce without his heavy vigilante gear.

He returned to Alfred who was watching over Danny. They couldn't take most of the life support equipment with Danny, but Alfred has portable oxygen and a defibrillator in case his heart stopped. The other Bats start arriving ahead of emergency services. Most of them split off as soon as they hear Bruce is trapped inside and concussed. Spreading out, they try to find a safe route to extract him. DickBats and Tim check on Jason, Alfred and especially Danny.

Red Robin asks if there are any routes from the Cave clear of toxin and fire. He mentions he doesn't know if the family can handle burying two family members at the same time. Danny's obviously doing worse away from the medical equipment.

Jason snaps that Danny's not going to die, Bruce told them to survive. And they're not going to give the clown the satisfaction.

DickBats determinedly declares Bruce isn't going to die.

This is when Danny's protection obsession is triggered and he jerkily sits up, scrabbling at his collar. He's begging to get it off, he needs to protect.

Jason snarls and goes to get the damned thing off.

Red Robin stops Jason Todd-Wayne. Says if he does it, Danny could be taken away from the Waynes. But if Red Robin does it... The Waynes can't be held liable for vigilante actions. And it might be Danny's last request, the stress might be too much for him, and Tim isn't going to let his little brother die in a suppression collar.

It takes a moment after the collar comes off before power washes over Danny and he's changed. He flies into the manor and saves Bruce, ice putting out most of the fires.

But when he returns with Bruce, he changes back and collapses again. His human half is still suffering organ failure from cumulative damage. His regenerative healing isn't instant. His body had been devouring his energy reserves to survive and he had almost nothing left to devote to healing. He was starting to regenerate but it will take time he may not have.

Emergency services is arriving by then. Danny and Bruce are taken to the hospital for overnight observation. Bruce, Dick, and the Wayne lawyers have to argue down child services and get permission from the police commissioner to justify removing the collar. Red Robin adds in that the collar was restricting the boy's breathing so had to be removed on site. The doctors verify that the boy is dying and all that can be done is make him comfortable while he passes. He's slipped into a coma and the doctors doubt he'll wake. Arkham, and the hospital, aren't the best places for keeping him comfortable. Bruce, still concussed, pleads to let him take his foster son home so he can be with family when he goes. By late morning they're allowed to take Danny home to die in comfort, without the collar.

Danny's human half has been struggling to heal, but a lot of his tissues are dead and decomposed. He can't heal the dead tissue, even though he can replace the cells in time with his regeneration. He's in a healing coma state as his core gathers ambient ectoplasm and absorbs the strong emotions around him to convert to ectoplasm. His ghost side is storing up energy in preparation for massive regeneration.

Once his core has gathered energy, his human body starts sloughing off the dead tissue. His core forces a self-preservation shift to ghost form and drops all the dead and decaying flesh and organs from his human half. He doesn't need the tissue and organs in ghost form, and can focus all his energy on regenerating his human half while maintaining ghost form.

But during this state, his human brain is offline. It takes a lot of energy to have his brain operational. With his brain comatose and his core acting as a secondary brain and emotional center, it's like he's sleepwalking. He reacts to emotional stimuli rather than logic or reasoning in this state.

Meanwhile, the Waynes had set him up in the Batcave with more equipment. There was some desperate hope he might get better without the collar suppressing his meta powers. He'd been a little better and strong enough to save Bruce right after removing it. But he still hadn't woken up after hanging on for a few more days.

Then his vitals crashed as his brain activity flatlined. Then he changed again, like he had when he saved Bruce. Except this time when the strange energy form floated up above the bed, it left behind a rotting slurry of flesh, organs and crumbling bone.

The floating, translucent, color reversed version of him still looked like Danny. But they couldn't touch him. He didn't respond to their calls. Even when he opened his glowing green eyes, he was unresponsive to them. It was as if he wasn't registering seeing or hearing them. It was as if Danny had died, leaving behind a rotted body and an echo, a shade of a ghost that wasn't a ghost like Deadman is a ghost.

Danny was dead.

Danny's shade haunted the Cave, and later the manor once it was repaired. He haunted them, his gaze distant and unresponsive. The only times he seemed to respond to something was when someone was angry, distraught and grieving, or experiencing an intense emotion. Sometimes his shade would flee the area, sometimes vanishing completely for a while. Other times he'd be drawn to the person, hovering around them as if concerned, but without quite seeing them.

It usually made the grieving worse.

Danny's human mind was catatonic and unconscious. His ghost-brain core was dissociating and running on instincts. He fled from dangerous 'fight-anger' emotions to protect his human half while so weak and regenerating. He was drawn to his family-fraid being happy or (more often) sad. He wanted to soak up the happy emotions, though there wasn't much happiness in the manor these days after their newest brother died. And he wanted to comfort his family-fraid when sad and upset. Instinctively he used as little energy as possible so everything else could go towards healing his human half. So he barely glowed, didn't become tangible and was barely visible most of the time.

But Danny was slowly healing and his tissues and organs slowly being reconstructed while in his ghost form. His ghost form is entirely ectoplasm so it's easier to rebuild the organs and muscles out of ectoplasmic cells. When he's ready to transform back to human form and wake up his brain, the ectoplasmic cells will shift to living tissue cells along with the rest of his body.

…and then Danny's ghost stops all of a sudden, maybe near a wall or something, and for a moment anybody nearby is just looking at him like 👁️👁️

and then he transforms back to his human self, his feet hit the floor, he meets somebody's eyes, and he manages a "whuh…? I was not here a second ago" before passing tf out.

Normal passing out this time, as opposed to "clinging to death's doorjamb by his fingernails" passing out lmao.

From what he understood later, there was around a week and a half between when he collapsed back into his human form and when he was finally lucid again. What Danny knew, though, was that he opened his eyes and Bruce was there, a hand resting on Danny's forehead.

"Hey, chum," Bruce said, voice painfully soft. There was a storm of emotion in his eyes - Danny could sense it in the air around them too, though he was too disoriented to try and untangle it. "How are you feeling?"

Danny blinked at him, opened his mouth, and closed it, making a face at the dryness of his mouth. Bruce chuckled.

"Think you can sit up?"

Actually... yeah. For the first time in longer than Danny could easily remember, there was strength in his body. Not much - he ached with exhaustion, shaky and weak - but he didn't feel like his limbs were filled with slick, oozing slime anymore, and his chest and abdomen felt almost... normal. He nodded, and Bruce helped him sit up, taking most of his weight with ease, and then gave him a cup of water. Danny drank a few mouthfuls before he managed to speak.

"What happened?" he rasped. Bruce's half-smile fell.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Bruce asked, voice roughening with guilt that Danny could taste, literally.

Danny shook his head, making a face as the motion made him aware of his headache, the fuzziness of his thoughts. "'S all blurry," he muttered. "The collar came off?" That was almost too unbelievable to be true, and he lifted a hand to his neck to check. But it was bare. He smiled. "There's... some before and some after. An explosion. Heat. And a lot of quiet. Was I ghosting you? Sorry."

He managed a grin at Bruce's flash of exasperation, but Bruce's grip on him stayed steady. Danny drank a little more, then pressed Bruce's arm pointedly, a signal that for months had been a silent request to lay back down. Bruce took the cup back and set him down carefully.

"Yes," Bruce said, quiet. "The Joker managed to blow up the manor while you and I were inside. Jason was only able to get you out, but you... demanded the collar be taken off. Tim was afraid it would be your last request. When he did, you went back in to get me, and then collapsed." He cleared his throat. "We thought that you were too far gone. After a few days, you... sloughed off your human form, and then you were a ghost. Half-aware. It's been a few months since then."

Danny nodded, letting his eyes fall shut as exhaustion threatened to pull him back under already. "Sorry. Never regenerated anything this intense before. Good to know that ghost rules apply to my human form, I guess."

"We didn't believe you."

"I know."

"I'm sorry."

That was enough to get Danny to pry his eyes back open, and he reached up to grab Bruce's hand where it rested on his shoulder. It was good to have that much strength again. He gave Bruce a crooked smile.

"I get it," he admitted. He couldn't say it was okay - it really wasn't - but he'd always kind of understood. (Like he'd understood his parents, and Valerie, and even the officer who had originally snapped the collar onto him.) "Freak of nature and all. Who'd believe in something like that? It's almost as bad as believing in ghosts."

Bruce didn't roll his eyes, but Danny could feel that he wanted to, and it made Danny grin again.

"We'll talk more when you wake up again," Bruce said, softer. "Everyone has been looking forward to it. Even Jason hasn't left the manor since you returned to this form."

"Really?" That was hard for Danny to believe. He didn't think he'd ever seen Jason sleep in the manor, even when he spent the day - though he supposed he hadn't exactly been aware enough to tell when he'd been passing in and out toward the end.

Bruce nodded, though. "We... weren't sure if you'd reach the point of lucidity," he admitted haltingly. "There were concerns that you would remain comatose."

"Not doing that," Danny promised, though his eyes were slipping shut again already, the pull of sleep now too much to resist. "I'm okay."

Bruce nodded. "Sleep. Someone will be here when you wake up."

---

The next time Danny opened his eyes, it was Dick that was sitting with him. He was flipping through a sky atlas, a strained smile on his face. There were two more astronomy books on the nightstand next to him, along with a game that Danny vaguely remembered talking about, plus Danny's phone - his real one, the one that had been phased into a wall in his room since he'd been permanently moved to the infirmary. Dick's eyes flitted up to meet his as Danny shifted, and Dick positively beamed.

"You're awake!" Dick exclaimed, closing the sky atlas and setting it carefully on top of the others. "Need something? Water? Bruce said that you were pretty coherent the last time you woke up, you'll be getting bored soon, I bet, so I got you some stuff to keep you entertained. It took a while to find your phone, but the security on it is impressive, we ended up deciding to leave it alone, but all your friends know you're alright. Are you hungry yet? I need to call Alfred to check-"

Danny shifted again, trying to get Dick to stop his nervous ramble, and Dick shut his mouth to help Danny sit up. Danny considered him for a moment, and then leaned over to hug him tightly, ignoring the pull of the IV in his arm.

"You didn't know," Danny rasped. He sounded worse this time, scratchy and dry, but he focused on Dick for now.

Dick took a deep breath and hugged him back.

"We didn't believe you," Dick whispered, wracked with months of guilt. "All we had to do was believe you."

Well... yeah. That was the long and short of it, wasn't it? Danny tucked his face against Dick's neck, and all of a sudden Dick's arms tightened around him. Danny was too exhausted and weak still to really sob, but tears slipped down his face and into Dick's shirt, and his breath hitched around whimpers, over and over.

God, he'd come so close to dying again. And it had been so much worse this time.

He'd just needed someone to listen to him.

"It's alright, spook," Dick soothed him, shifting gears easily into the more familiar role. His hand landed on Danny's back and rubbed there, slow and calming. "You're gonna be alright. We've got you now. We're not gonna let you go again. Not again."

They stayed like that for a while, until Danny got too shaky and slipped back with a groan. Dick eased him back against his pillows, sitting him up in a way that had become very familiar. Danny accepted the water that Dick shoved into his hands and drank the whole thing this time, and then half of another when Dick went to refill it.

"Master Danny, I can't say what a relief it is to see you awake."

Danny looked up to give Alfred a weary smile. Alfred's eyes were warm, and Danny could see the truth of his affection in his expression even if he hadn't been able to sense it in the air itself. Dick scooted back to give Alfred room, and Alfred came to look over Danny's monitors before taking Danny's hands.

"Squeeze my hands, please," Alfred requested, focused at once on checking Danny over, and Danny did. "Thank goodness. Thank goodness. We weren't sure how much your body would be able to restore itself, even once..."

"I'm okay," Danny promised him, letting Alfred check the strength of his hands, then the nerve function, and his reflexes. "My ghost and human halves are dependent on each other, but they also reinforce each other. The solidity of my human body helps my ghost half hold together, and my ghost half can regenerate any part of my human body. Nerves, bones, damaged organs, anything."

"Thank goodness," Alfred repeated softly, with aching sincerity. "I'm only sorry that it took so much to save you from our foolishness."

"You didn't know," Danny said again, stronger this time. "How is everyone? Bruce said it's been... a while. I'm sure it was really hard on everyone, especially if you didn't know what was happening."

Dick let out a slightly broken laugh, and Alfred smiled painfully without looking up from his work.

"God, you're such a good kid," Dick mumbled, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling.

"The last two weeks have been a breath of air in comparison," Alfred said honestly. He was checking other things now - Danny's atrophied muscles, the IV in his arm, the sound of his lungs and his eyes' tracking. "Everyone has been eating and sleeping, which is as much as we can hope for during times like this. Master Bruce has been waging war against the current standards for metahuman treatment in the criminal justice system, as well as funding further research into medical studies seeking to enfold the broader potential needs of alien and metahuman patients."

Danny hummed with appreciation and some amusement. Yeah, that sounded like Bruce. "And... no follow-up from the GIW?"

"They've found the Justice League to be particularly unsympathetic these days," Alfred said dryly. Dick chuckled.

"Bruce has been upset, which means things have been a little tense up there," he explained to Danny. "And everyone knows it's the GIW's fault. Their appeal hits a desk and goes in the garbage without being read." Danny chuckled, pleased by the image.

"But everything's okay, right?" Danny checked, unable to curb his worry. "I don't want anyone to get hurt because I'm..." He trailed off.

"Clark and Diana have stepped up in the meantime," Dick promised. "It's not unusual. Sometimes one of them needs to take a step back for a while, they're used to it. All three of them have lives of their own, after all. They'll be happy to hear you're alright."

Danny managed a smile, although he could feel himself wearing out already, his eyelids getting heavy and his body slumping into the pillows keeping him upright. "That's good..." he murmured.

Alfred finished checking him over and reached out to help him lie down again. "Rest, Master Danny. I'll let everyone know you're doing well."

Danny mumbled something, then fell asleep.

----

The third time Danny woke, he heard the tapping of a keyboard before he even opened his eyes. The tapping stopped, and by the time Danny looked over, Tim was already looking at him, frozen in place.

A moment later, he unfroze.

"Danny's awake!" Tim shouted over his shoulder, and then, to Danny, "They got tired of missing you."

Danny laughed, hearing a rush of motion from both the training rooms nearby and, only a moment later, upstairs. Within minutes, people were pouring inside, filling the room with an intoxicating flurry of love and worry and relief. That was one thing Danny had never been able to bring himself to doubt, how much the Waynes loved him. Even when they gently told him that he was alive, that he was just a meta, that he'd be alright and they'd find out what was making him sick- he'd known that they cared about him.

"It seems like your vital signs are stabilizing, but there's a disgusting lack of reliable information about ghosts," Tim scowled, returning his attention to his laptop to scroll through something. "Your parents' old college friend, Vlad Masters, he has some promising data in his private files, but that's all I could find-"

"Hey, now that these idiots are finally listening, there something else you need that we don't know about?" Jason demanded, elbowing his way to a place right next to Danny with a chair that wasn't there a second ago. "We gave you what we could find, but there wasn't much."

Cass sat on the edge of Danny's bed and slipped her hand into his, and when he looked up at her, she smiled at him, her eyes peering intently into his. Whatever she found there must have satisfied her, because after a moment she scooted away, seemingly content to sit with him and listen.

"We debated giving you Lazarus Water," Damian said quietly, and Danny found him at the foot of his bed, sitting very still. He looked at Danny like he'd disappear. "But we weren't sure if it would... interact poorly."

"No one's giving anyone Lazarus Water!" Jason snapped.

And for the first time, Danny realized a couple of things. First, that there was ectoplasm in his IV, tinting the fluids inside a glowing neon green. Second, that there was more on the shelves, sealed bottles of unmistakable ectoplasm. Third, that the room was as cold as a meat locker, soothing to his cold core. Everyone else was wearing light jackets to compensate for the chill, but Danny felt comfortable.

Danny struggled to push himself upright, and Dick, Jason, and Cass all rushed to help, which made him laugh a little. Jason was the one to shove water into his hands again, and Danny drank while he was trying to figure out what to say.

"The information about ghosts is inconsistent," Bruce scowled, further back than the others to give them room despite his crossed arms and focused look. "Their composition, what sustains them, what environments they thrive in. We need to know-"

"Bruce, chill," Jason ordered him. "Give him some room to breathe, would ya?"

"He just woke up, he doesn't need to be interrogated right now," Dick agreed. "He's doing okay for now. Everything else can wait."

Danny smiled into his glass, then set it on his lap. Dick took it from him and put it on the table, and Danny exhaled.

"Thanks," he said softly, voice tight, because nothing else came to mind. He reached up and wiped his eyes while everyone fell silent. "You guys... are really trying, huh?"

It was a lot to deal with, the contradiction between how much harm they had done and how sincerely, how completely they loved him. But it wasn't anything new - it wasn't any different from getting shot down by his parents and then coming home to his mom surprising him with an astronomy book that he'd been pining after. It wasn't that much different from his parents being so desperate to save him from himself, aching with grief over his 'death' while they chased his ghost half down for his apparent murder.

"...Of course we are," Dick said, when no one else did. His voice was soft and full of pain. "Your room is still made up and ready for you, you know. Alfred's coming down soon, by the way, he's just making you something to eat."

"You'll never wear that stupid fucking collar again," Jason added roughly.

"If you still want us, everything is in place for Bruce to take full custody," Tim added, without taking his eyes off his laptop. "There'll be no more talk about juvie, Arkham, any of it. You'd just have to sign the papers."

If he still wanted them? Danny looked around and wondered how they could possibly think he wouldn't - that he had ever stopped wanting them. That they thought he could give this up, the fact that he always woke up with someone beside him, their eyes on him while he was still blinking awake - not a thousand miles away, thinking about an experiment, but right here with him, asking what he needed. The fact that they cared so damn much all the time.

Sure, it had really sucked not to be believed. It had hurt, and it would take time to move past. But it took more than one (really long, really bad) mistake to ruin something like that.

"If you can dig up a portal to the Ghost Zone," he rasped, his voice only a little dry this time, "I can go to the Far Frozen and get a check-up from someone that actually knows my biology."

"Consider it done," Bruce said instantly, dead serious. Danny smiled softly.

Dearly beloved, Phandom darlings...

Can DANNY EAT VIDEO GAME/TV FOOD?

I... I NEED to know. You don't UNDERSTAND!? Think about it. No, seriously. THINK about all those HIGHLY unrealistic, too good to be true, PERFECT looking meals. Animated shows n games etc where there are chefs who will "cook for Anybody!"

Now think about being 14 going 20. A teenager. A broke college student. Your fridge is empty and everything you touch? Comes back to LIFE. You're... you're just so hungry. Tired. Your bruises have bruises and you have a paper due tomorrow.

I kinda want to CRY.

Can only eat cup ramen so many times before you DO.

And this show? That commercial? Yonder cooking game?? Well... they did a REAL good job animating it. It looks so WARM. So FILLING and COMFORTING. You can practically SMELL it.

You look down at your sad, soggy, cheap but you can afford it, EZ Noodles and? Feel something BREAK inside. You... you KNOW you can travel inside technology. KNOW this. Have done it before. Why... why AREN'T you? You can't keep living like this.

You gotta TRY, right?

I? Wanna believe it TOTALLY works?? Because Ectoplasm is weird like that? And just shrugs? Says "actual food, the concept of food backed by electricity, what's the difference? Sure, we can fuck with this"? And so Danny? IMMEDIATELY fucking switches his diet.

Like? Dead stop screech, slam on the breaks, u-turn to take that last off-ramp. Type IMMEDIATE.

Grocery bill? No, no, you mistake him! No. NOW it's his "carefully researched for their cooking, games and shows" bill. Touch his collection and he'll FUCKING BITE.

They got sticky notes on the cases. Menus n lil fold out "grocery store" locations. He punched a dragon for this fruit. Mmmmm, home cooked meeeeeals~

Just? Weird Foodie Danny. Yes he DOES know what those steaks taste like. While YOU fuckers were staring at the cat girls bizangas, HE was eating granny cat lady's home made meatball stew! Ha! YOU FOOLS!

More then that? I want him to write reviews. Like "yeah, fight system was OKAY but- *5 hour glowing rant about the food, sounding like a food critic who'd actually fucking gone and loved it* " and people are like?? Who? Is this funky lil madman? This is hilarious?

I want it to be DPxDC JUST? So everyone slowly starts to play the game "Meta or Shtick?" Because no one REALLY knows who he is. This dude gets POPULAR though. For some reason can't be hacked (shame on you guys! Way to try and ruin the FUN!). And like? Eventually? Someone just fucking ASKS?

And Danny is like... " wouldn't YOU like to know, weatherboy?"

So everyone is like:

"Meta."

But hey... since they're already ASSUMING~? >:3c WHOOOOO wants to help him PAY RENT~? Let's VLOG this fucker! Wooooo! Say "hi" Catchef! *feline noises* like? It's like a let's play combined with a mukbang.

Teen Heros everywhere are FACINATED. Game developers are suddenly like? "If there's food. You BETTER make it look amazing. We want that weird YouTube twink to... whatever his powers are, our game! Free viral marketing!" Food channels? Rending their clothes, on their KNEES, please! PLEASE! Just ANSWER OUR EMAIL! Just ONE SHOW! A one off! Guest appearance!

We have MONEY!!!

All while Danny? Is finally happy with his life. Weird as hell. Harrasing the world. Good food on the regular. Gets to travel, kinda. Best of all? He's raising money from it! Can help people! Now... who wants salad?

Dearly beloved, Phandom darlings...

Can DANNY EAT VIDEO GAME/TV FOOD?

I... I NEED to know. You don't UNDERSTAND!? Think about it. No, seriously. THINK about all those HIGHLY unrealistic, too good to be true, PERFECT looking meals. Animated shows n games etc where there are chefs who will "cook for Anybody!"

Now think about being 14 going 20. A teenager. A broke college student. Your fridge is empty and everything you touch? Comes back to LIFE. You're... you're just so hungry. Tired. Your bruises have bruises and you have a paper due tomorrow.

I kinda want to CRY.

Can only eat cup ramen so many times before you DO.

And this show? That commercial? Yonder cooking game?? Well... they did a REAL good job animating it. It looks so WARM. So FILLING and COMFORTING. You can practically SMELL it.

You look down at your sad, soggy, cheap but you can afford it, EZ Noodles and? Feel something BREAK inside. You... you KNOW you can travel inside technology. KNOW this. Have done it before. Why... why AREN'T you? You can't keep living like this.

You gotta TRY, right?

I? Wanna believe it TOTALLY works?? Because Ectoplasm is weird like that? And just shrugs? Says "actual food, the concept of food backed by electricity, what's the difference? Sure, we can fuck with this"? And so Danny? IMMEDIATELY fucking switches his diet.

Like? Dead stop screech, slam on the breaks, u-turn to take that last off-ramp. Type IMMEDIATE.

Grocery bill? No, no, you mistake him! No. NOW it's his "carefully researched for their cooking, games and shows" bill. Touch his collection and he'll FUCKING BITE.

They got sticky notes on the cases. Menus n lil fold out "grocery store" locations. He punched a dragon for this fruit. Mmmmm, home cooked meeeeeals~

Just? Weird Foodie Danny. Yes he DOES know what those steaks taste like. While YOU fuckers were staring at the cat girls bizangas, HE was eating granny cat lady's home made meatball stew! Ha! YOU FOOLS!

More then that? I want him to write reviews. Like "yeah, fight system was OKAY but- *5 hour glowing rant about the food, sounding like a food critic who'd actually fucking gone and loved it* " and people are like?? Who? Is this funky lil madman? This is hilarious?

I want it to be DPxDC JUST? So everyone slowly starts to play the game "Meta or Shtick?" Because no one REALLY knows who he is. This dude gets POPULAR though. For some reason can't be hacked (shame on you guys! Way to try and ruin the FUN!). And like? Eventually? Someone just fucking ASKS?

And Danny is like... " wouldn't YOU like to know, weatherboy?"

So everyone is like:

"Meta."

But hey... since they're already ASSUMING~? >:3c WHOOOOO wants to help him PAY RENT~? Let's VLOG this fucker! Wooooo! Say "hi" Catchef! *feline noises* like? It's like a let's play combined with a mukbang.

Teen Heros everywhere are FACINATED. Game developers are suddenly like? "If there's food. You BETTER make it look amazing. We want that weird YouTube twink to... whatever his powers are, our game! Free viral marketing!" Food channels? Rending their clothes, on their KNEES, please! PLEASE! Just ANSWER OUR EMAIL! Just ONE SHOW! A one off! Guest appearance!

We have MONEY!!!

All while Danny? Is finally happy with his life. Weird as hell. Harrasing the world. Good food on the regular. Gets to travel, kinda. Best of all? He's raising money from it! Can help people! Now... who wants salad?

Danny gets an email from someone and ectoplasm is WEIRD, but this letter has some kind of imprint of emotion from the person who sent it, longing and hopeful but a little resigned, like whoever sent it is desperate but knows it's a long shot.

He just needs a simulation.

And this dude is asking him? Gasp! Do do SPACE food? He never THOUGHT to do ALIEN food before!! Like... REAL ACTUAL IRL Alien Race's food! He's half ghost! Ectoplasm can DISSOLVE TUNGSTEN AND ROCKS! Inedible? Never met her~☆

Let DO THIS!!!

He can ask Martian's from the Zone! For extra authenticity. There's probably somebody there who can MAKE a simulation. And yeah, the Martian's will be from all different classes, areas, and eras? So probably won't agree on how certain dishes SHOULD be made? But... they'll agree on the planets ecology.

What a kitchen vaguely looks like.

Market places.

They can go shopping! Use "real" ingredients and cook books of all the variations everyone remembered until they find one they like! Oh this'll be so co-! Aaaaaand that's Martian Manhunter.

Oh!

Oh no D:>

Dude, do you want a hug? Danny will ABSOLUTELY take you into this thing. In fact? Here! Have it! You can use it like a walking Sim. The plants would be dangerous to you, if we brought them OUT, and won't actually give YOU any sustenance while in there? But... yeah, dude. Yeah, you'll be able to taste um.

Shows up as some food judge in Shokugeki no Soma for the absolutely amazing experience that it is to eat the food there?

*shakes you by the shoulders* does he visit the Naruto world and help out Teuchi-san with his groceries in exchange for a bowl of some of the best ramen in all of anime?

Checks in on tiny Naruto as a favor for the old man in exchange for exclusive access to the secret recipe of how to make ramen that even gods and Shinigami will weep at?

Does video game food give him buffs? Does eating elixirs of life or dragon's heart give him spiritual energy or super powers ? Can he gain chakra?

Dearly beloved, Phandom darlings...

Can DANNY EAT VIDEO GAME/TV FOOD?

I... I NEED to know. You don't UNDERSTAND!? Think about it. No, seriously. THINK about all those HIGHLY unrealistic, too good to be true, PERFECT looking meals. Animated shows n games etc where there are chefs who will "cook for Anybody!"

Now think about being 14 going 20. A teenager. A broke college student. Your fridge is empty and everything you touch? Comes back to LIFE. You're... you're just so hungry. Tired. Your bruises have bruises and you have a paper due tomorrow.

I kinda want to CRY.

Can only eat cup ramen so many times before you DO.

And this show? That commercial? Yonder cooking game?? Well... they did a REAL good job animating it. It looks so WARM. So FILLING and COMFORTING. You can practically SMELL it.

You look down at your sad, soggy, cheap but you can afford it, EZ Noodles and? Feel something BREAK inside. You... you KNOW you can travel inside technology. KNOW this. Have done it before. Why... why AREN'T you? You can't keep living like this.

You gotta TRY, right?

I? Wanna believe it TOTALLY works?? Because Ectoplasm is weird like that? And just shrugs? Says "actual food, the concept of food backed by electricity, what's the difference? Sure, we can fuck with this"? And so Danny? IMMEDIATELY fucking switches his diet.

Like? Dead stop screech, slam on the breaks, u-turn to take that last off-ramp. Type IMMEDIATE.

Grocery bill? No, no, you mistake him! No. NOW it's his "carefully researched for their cooking, games and shows" bill. Touch his collection and he'll FUCKING BITE.

They got sticky notes on the cases. Menus n lil fold out "grocery store" locations. He punched a dragon for this fruit. Mmmmm, home cooked meeeeeals~

Just? Weird Foodie Danny. Yes he DOES know what those steaks taste like. While YOU fuckers were staring at the cat girls bizangas, HE was eating granny cat lady's home made meatball stew! Ha! YOU FOOLS!

More then that? I want him to write reviews. Like "yeah, fight system was OKAY but- *5 hour glowing rant about the food, sounding like a food critic who'd actually fucking gone and loved it* " and people are like?? Who? Is this funky lil madman? This is hilarious?

I want it to be DPxDC JUST? So everyone slowly starts to play the game "Meta or Shtick?" Because no one REALLY knows who he is. This dude gets POPULAR though. For some reason can't be hacked (shame on you guys! Way to try and ruin the FUN!). And like? Eventually? Someone just fucking ASKS?

And Danny is like... " wouldn't YOU like to know, weatherboy?"

So everyone is like:

"Meta."

But hey... since they're already ASSUMING~? >:3c WHOOOOO wants to help him PAY RENT~? Let's VLOG this fucker! Wooooo! Say "hi" Catchef! *feline noises* like? It's like a let's play combined with a mukbang.

Teen Heros everywhere are FACINATED. Game developers are suddenly like? "If there's food. You BETTER make it look amazing. We want that weird YouTube twink to... whatever his powers are, our game! Free viral marketing!" Food channels? Rending their clothes, on their KNEES, please! PLEASE! Just ANSWER OUR EMAIL! Just ONE SHOW! A one off! Guest appearance!

We have MONEY!!!

All while Danny? Is finally happy with his life. Weird as hell. Harrasing the world. Good food on the regular. Gets to travel, kinda. Best of all? He's raising money from it! Can help people! Now... who wants salad?

Danny gets an email from someone and ectoplasm is WEIRD, but this letter has some kind of imprint of emotion from the person who sent it, longing and hopeful but a little resigned, like whoever sent it is desperate but knows it's a long shot.

He just needs a simulation.

And this dude is asking him? Gasp! Do do SPACE food? He never THOUGHT to do ALIEN food before!! Like... REAL ACTUAL IRL Alien Race's food! He's half ghost! Ectoplasm can DISSOLVE TUNGSTEN AND ROCKS! Inedible? Never met her~☆

Let DO THIS!!!

He can ask Martian's from the Zone! For extra authenticity. There's probably somebody there who can MAKE a simulation. And yeah, the Martian's will be from all different classes, areas, and eras? So probably won't agree on how certain dishes SHOULD be made? But... they'll agree on the planets ecology.

What a kitchen vaguely looks like.

Market places.

They can go shopping! Use "real" ingredients and cook books of all the variations everyone remembered until they find one they like! Oh this'll be so co-! Aaaaaand that's Martian Manhunter.

Oh!

Oh no D:>

Dude, do you want a hug? Danny will ABSOLUTELY take you into this thing. In fact? Here! Have it! You can use it like a walking Sim. The plants would be dangerous to you, if we brought them OUT, and won't actually give YOU any sustenance while in there? But... yeah, dude. Yeah, you'll be able to taste um.

Shows up as some food judge in Shokugeki no Soma for the absolutely amazing experience that it is to eat the food there?

*shakes you by the shoulders* does he visit the Naruto world and help out Teuchi-san with his groceries in exchange for a bowl of some of the best ramen in all of anime?

Checks in on tiny Naruto as a favor for the old man in exchange for exclusive access to the secret recipe of how to make ramen that even gods and Shinigami will weep at?

Think about this. Data Dining with the Dead: Danny Edition. It's solely for TV show and movie food reviews. Animated food reviews get way longer videos that the live action ones solely because the live action ones have characters that attempt to make him stop eating and help them.

He works with Dan and Dani on a separate channel that's dedicated solely to game reviews. Data Dining with the Dead: Dev Deep Dive. It consists of Dan testing the combat AI for the NPCs by actively messing with them and fighting them in ways beyond what the games should allow and Dani doing world and lore reviews for around half of the video followed by an in depth review on the food and beverages by Danny for the rest with a report in such detail that he could probably be a professional food critic IRL.

Dan is the combat stress tester . He always breaks the games combat mechanics. Not on purpose, but it always ends up like that. He starts noticing a trend that many of the souls-like fighting mechanics last the longest. His ratings are the strictest on the channel and based solely on how long it took him to break the ai on the strongest enemy with the highest difficulty setting active. His longest fight was 4 in-game day cycles long and that was the only one he gave a passing grade.

Dani always calls out lazy devs on dungeons and towns having the exact same designs with no fun in the worldbuilding of the game because they spent all their budget on the food design. Games should be fun and have lore. Not just feed her and her brothers. She rates based on how many times she can find reused assets that aren't creative choices or absolutely necessary to be reused. She has many that were given passing grades that are fails in the other two's eyes.

Dearly beloved, Phandom darlings...

Can DANNY EAT VIDEO GAME/TV FOOD?

I... I NEED to know. You don't UNDERSTAND!? Think about it. No, seriously. THINK about all those HIGHLY unrealistic, too good to be true, PERFECT looking meals. Animated shows n games etc where there are chefs who will "cook for Anybody!"

Now think about being 14 going 20. A teenager. A broke college student. Your fridge is empty and everything you touch? Comes back to LIFE. You're... you're just so hungry. Tired. Your bruises have bruises and you have a paper due tomorrow.

I kinda want to CRY.

Can only eat cup ramen so many times before you DO.

And this show? That commercial? Yonder cooking game?? Well... they did a REAL good job animating it. It looks so WARM. So FILLING and COMFORTING. You can practically SMELL it.

You look down at your sad, soggy, cheap but you can afford it, EZ Noodles and? Feel something BREAK inside. You... you KNOW you can travel inside technology. KNOW this. Have done it before. Why... why AREN'T you? You can't keep living like this.

You gotta TRY, right?

I? Wanna believe it TOTALLY works?? Because Ectoplasm is weird like that? And just shrugs? Says "actual food, the concept of food backed by electricity, what's the difference? Sure, we can fuck with this"? And so Danny? IMMEDIATELY fucking switches his diet.

Like? Dead stop screech, slam on the breaks, u-turn to take that last off-ramp. Type IMMEDIATE.

Grocery bill? No, no, you mistake him! No. NOW it's his "carefully researched for their cooking, games and shows" bill. Touch his collection and he'll FUCKING BITE.

They got sticky notes on the cases. Menus n lil fold out "grocery store" locations. He punched a dragon for this fruit. Mmmmm, home cooked meeeeeals~

Just? Weird Foodie Danny. Yes he DOES know what those steaks taste like. While YOU fuckers were staring at the cat girls bizangas, HE was eating granny cat lady's home made meatball stew! Ha! YOU FOOLS!

More then that? I want him to write reviews. Like "yeah, fight system was OKAY but- *5 hour glowing rant about the food, sounding like a food critic who'd actually fucking gone and loved it* " and people are like?? Who? Is this funky lil madman? This is hilarious?

I want it to be DPxDC JUST? So everyone slowly starts to play the game "Meta or Shtick?" Because no one REALLY knows who he is. This dude gets POPULAR though. For some reason can't be hacked (shame on you guys! Way to try and ruin the FUN!). And like? Eventually? Someone just fucking ASKS?

And Danny is like... " wouldn't YOU like to know, weatherboy?"

So everyone is like:

"Meta."

But hey... since they're already ASSUMING~? >:3c WHOOOOO wants to help him PAY RENT~? Let's VLOG this fucker! Wooooo! Say "hi" Catchef! *feline noises* like? It's like a let's play combined with a mukbang.

Teen Heros everywhere are FACINATED. Game developers are suddenly like? "If there's food. You BETTER make it look amazing. We want that weird YouTube twink to... whatever his powers are, our game! Free viral marketing!" Food channels? Rending their clothes, on their KNEES, please! PLEASE! Just ANSWER OUR EMAIL! Just ONE SHOW! A one off! Guest appearance!

We have MONEY!!!

All while Danny? Is finally happy with his life. Weird as hell. Harrasing the world. Good food on the regular. Gets to travel, kinda. Best of all? He's raising money from it! Can help people! Now... who wants salad?

Danny gets an email from someone and ectoplasm is WEIRD, but this letter has some kind of imprint of emotion from the person who sent it, longing and hopeful but a little resigned, like whoever sent it is desperate but knows it's a long shot.

He just needs a simulation.

And this dude is asking him? Gasp! Do do SPACE food? He never THOUGHT to do ALIEN food before!! Like... REAL ACTUAL IRL Alien Race's food! He's half ghost! Ectoplasm can DISSOLVE TUNGSTEN AND ROCKS! Inedible? Never met her~☆

Let DO THIS!!!

He can ask Martian's from the Zone! For extra authenticity. There's probably somebody there who can MAKE a simulation. And yeah, the Martian's will be from all different classes, areas, and eras? So probably won't agree on how certain dishes SHOULD be made? But... they'll agree on the planets ecology.

What a kitchen vaguely looks like.

Market places.

They can go shopping! Use "real" ingredients and cook books of all the variations everyone remembered until they find one they like! Oh this'll be so co-! Aaaaaand that's Martian Manhunter.

Oh!

Oh no D:>

Dude, do you want a hug? Danny will ABSOLUTELY take you into this thing. In fact? Here! Have it! You can use it like a walking Sim. The plants would be dangerous to you, if we brought them OUT, and won't actually give YOU any sustenance while in there? But... yeah, dude. Yeah, you'll be able to taste um.

Shows up as some food judge in Shokugeki no Soma for the absolutely amazing experience that it is to eat the food there?

*shakes you by the shoulders* does he visit the Naruto world and help out Teuchi-san with his groceries in exchange for a bowl of some of the best ramen in all of anime?

Checks in on tiny Naruto as a favor for the old man in exchange for exclusive access to the secret recipe of how to make ramen that even gods and Shinigami will weep at?

The apple was good. Golden apple tasted metallic.

Dearly beloved, Phandom darlings...

Can DANNY EAT VIDEO GAME/TV FOOD?

I... I NEED to know. You don't UNDERSTAND!? Think about it. No, seriously. THINK about all those HIGHLY unrealistic, too good to be true, PERFECT looking meals. Animated shows n games etc where there are chefs who will "cook for Anybody!"

Now think about being 14 going 20. A teenager. A broke college student. Your fridge is empty and everything you touch? Comes back to LIFE. You're... you're just so hungry. Tired. Your bruises have bruises and you have a paper due tomorrow.

I kinda want to CRY.

Can only eat cup ramen so many times before you DO.

And this show? That commercial? Yonder cooking game?? Well... they did a REAL good job animating it. It looks so WARM. So FILLING and COMFORTING. You can practically SMELL it.

You look down at your sad, soggy, cheap but you can afford it, EZ Noodles and? Feel something BREAK inside. You... you KNOW you can travel inside technology. KNOW this. Have done it before. Why... why AREN'T you? You can't keep living like this.

You gotta TRY, right?

I? Wanna believe it TOTALLY works?? Because Ectoplasm is weird like that? And just shrugs? Says "actual food, the concept of food backed by electricity, what's the difference? Sure, we can fuck with this"? And so Danny? IMMEDIATELY fucking switches his diet.

Like? Dead stop screech, slam on the breaks, u-turn to take that last off-ramp. Type IMMEDIATE.

Grocery bill? No, no, you mistake him! No. NOW it's his "carefully researched for their cooking, games and shows" bill. Touch his collection and he'll FUCKING BITE.

They got sticky notes on the cases. Menus n lil fold out "grocery store" locations. He punched a dragon for this fruit. Mmmmm, home cooked meeeeeals~

Just? Weird Foodie Danny. Yes he DOES know what those steaks taste like. While YOU fuckers were staring at the cat girls bizangas, HE was eating granny cat lady's home made meatball stew! Ha! YOU FOOLS!

More then that? I want him to write reviews. Like "yeah, fight system was OKAY but- *5 hour glowing rant about the food, sounding like a food critic who'd actually fucking gone and loved it* " and people are like?? Who? Is this funky lil madman? This is hilarious?

I want it to be DPxDC JUST? So everyone slowly starts to play the game "Meta or Shtick?" Because no one REALLY knows who he is. This dude gets POPULAR though. For some reason can't be hacked (shame on you guys! Way to try and ruin the FUN!). And like? Eventually? Someone just fucking ASKS?

And Danny is like... " wouldn't YOU like to know, weatherboy?"

So everyone is like:

"Meta."

But hey... since they're already ASSUMING~? >:3c WHOOOOO wants to help him PAY RENT~? Let's VLOG this fucker! Wooooo! Say "hi" Catchef! *feline noises* like? It's like a let's play combined with a mukbang.

Teen Heros everywhere are FACINATED. Game developers are suddenly like? "If there's food. You BETTER make it look amazing. We want that weird YouTube twink to... whatever his powers are, our game! Free viral marketing!" Food channels? Rending their clothes, on their KNEES, please! PLEASE! Just ANSWER OUR EMAIL! Just ONE SHOW! A one off! Guest appearance!

We have MONEY!!!

All while Danny? Is finally happy with his life. Weird as hell. Harrasing the world. Good food on the regular. Gets to travel, kinda. Best of all? He's raising money from it! Can help people! Now... who wants salad?

But only he could play it cause of his wack ghost abilities and the internet LOOSES IT.

Like some try to recreate it but it obviously doesn’t work, but it’s so funny it gains traction. To the point where the game devs actually make said story line.

And Danny?

Well he’s just vibing, not really getting the fuss but ABSOLUTELY enjoying the food. (The devs paid special attention to the food as a thank you.)

And idk maybe latter on he makes a friend (you choose) and when that friend asks him about the food. Danny just takes him with him into the game world, and it literally breaks the gaming industry.

…

Que Danny taking said friend into a movie/anime/TV show.

It’s the best thing to ever happen to said friend.

Dearly beloved, Phandom darlings...

Can DANNY EAT VIDEO GAME/TV FOOD?

I... I NEED to know. You don't UNDERSTAND!? Think about it. No, seriously. THINK about all those HIGHLY unrealistic, too good to be true, PERFECT looking meals. Animated shows n games etc where there are chefs who will "cook for Anybody!"

Now think about being 14 going 20. A teenager. A broke college student. Your fridge is empty and everything you touch? Comes back to LIFE. You're... you're just so hungry. Tired. Your bruises have bruises and you have a paper due tomorrow.

I kinda want to CRY.

Can only eat cup ramen so many times before you DO.

And this show? That commercial? Yonder cooking game?? Well... they did a REAL good job animating it. It looks so WARM. So FILLING and COMFORTING. You can practically SMELL it.

You look down at your sad, soggy, cheap but you can afford it, EZ Noodles and? Feel something BREAK inside. You... you KNOW you can travel inside technology. KNOW this. Have done it before. Why... why AREN'T you? You can't keep living like this.

You gotta TRY, right?

I? Wanna believe it TOTALLY works?? Because Ectoplasm is weird like that? And just shrugs? Says "actual food, the concept of food backed by electricity, what's the difference? Sure, we can fuck with this"? And so Danny? IMMEDIATELY fucking switches his diet.

Like? Dead stop screech, slam on the breaks, u-turn to take that last off-ramp. Type IMMEDIATE.

Grocery bill? No, no, you mistake him! No. NOW it's his "carefully researched for their cooking, games and shows" bill. Touch his collection and he'll FUCKING BITE.

They got sticky notes on the cases. Menus n lil fold out "grocery store" locations. He punched a dragon for this fruit. Mmmmm, home cooked meeeeeals~

Just? Weird Foodie Danny. Yes he DOES know what those steaks taste like. While YOU fuckers were staring at the cat girls bizangas, HE was eating granny cat lady's home made meatball stew! Ha! YOU FOOLS!

More then that? I want him to write reviews. Like "yeah, fight system was OKAY but- *5 hour glowing rant about the food, sounding like a food critic who'd actually fucking gone and loved it* " and people are like?? Who? Is this funky lil madman? This is hilarious?

I want it to be DPxDC JUST? So everyone slowly starts to play the game "Meta or Shtick?" Because no one REALLY knows who he is. This dude gets POPULAR though. For some reason can't be hacked (shame on you guys! Way to try and ruin the FUN!). And like? Eventually? Someone just fucking ASKS?

And Danny is like... " wouldn't YOU like to know, weatherboy?"

So everyone is like:

"Meta."

But hey... since they're already ASSUMING~? >:3c WHOOOOO wants to help him PAY RENT~? Let's VLOG this fucker! Wooooo! Say "hi" Catchef! *feline noises* like? It's like a let's play combined with a mukbang.

Teen Heros everywhere are FACINATED. Game developers are suddenly like? "If there's food. You BETTER make it look amazing. We want that weird YouTube twink to... whatever his powers are, our game! Free viral marketing!" Food channels? Rending their clothes, on their KNEES, please! PLEASE! Just ANSWER OUR EMAIL! Just ONE SHOW! A one off! Guest appearance!

We have MONEY!!!

All while Danny? Is finally happy with his life. Weird as hell. Harrasing the world. Good food on the regular. Gets to travel, kinda. Best of all? He's raising money from it! Can help people! Now... who wants salad?

Danny gets an email from someone and ectoplasm is WEIRD, but this letter has some kind of imprint of emotion from the person who sent it, longing and hopeful but a little resigned, like whoever sent it is desperate but knows it's a long shot.

He just needs a simulation.

And this dude is asking him? Gasp! Do do SPACE food? He never THOUGHT to do ALIEN food before!! Like... REAL ACTUAL IRL Alien Race's food! He's half ghost! Ectoplasm can DISSOLVE TUNGSTEN AND ROCKS! Inedible? Never met her~☆

Let DO THIS!!!

He can ask Martian's from the Zone! For extra authenticity. There's probably somebody there who can MAKE a simulation. And yeah, the Martian's will be from all different classes, areas, and eras? So probably won't agree on how certain dishes SHOULD be made? But... they'll agree on the planets ecology.

What a kitchen vaguely looks like.

Market places.

They can go shopping! Use "real" ingredients and cook books of all the variations everyone remembered until they find one they like! Oh this'll be so co-! Aaaaaand that's Martian Manhunter.

Oh!

Oh no D:>

Dude, do you want a hug? Danny will ABSOLUTELY take you into this thing. In fact? Here! Have it! You can use it like a walking Sim. The plants would be dangerous to you, if we brought them OUT, and won't actually give YOU any sustenance while in there? But... yeah, dude. Yeah, you'll be able to taste um.

Dearly beloved, Phandom darlings...

Can DANNY EAT VIDEO GAME/TV FOOD?

I... I NEED to know. You don't UNDERSTAND!? Think about it. No, seriously. THINK about all those HIGHLY unrealistic, too good to be true, PERFECT looking meals. Animated shows n games etc where there are chefs who will "cook for Anybody!"

Now think about being 14 going 20. A teenager. A broke college student. Your fridge is empty and everything you touch? Comes back to LIFE. You're... you're just so hungry. Tired. Your bruises have bruises and you have a paper due tomorrow.

I kinda want to CRY.

Can only eat cup ramen so many times before you DO.

And this show? That commercial? Yonder cooking game?? Well... they did a REAL good job animating it. It looks so WARM. So FILLING and COMFORTING. You can practically SMELL it.

You look down at your sad, soggy, cheap but you can afford it, EZ Noodles and? Feel something BREAK inside. You... you KNOW you can travel inside technology. KNOW this. Have done it before. Why... why AREN'T you? You can't keep living like this.

You gotta TRY, right?

I? Wanna believe it TOTALLY works?? Because Ectoplasm is weird like that? And just shrugs? Says "actual food, the concept of food backed by electricity, what's the difference? Sure, we can fuck with this"? And so Danny? IMMEDIATELY fucking switches his diet.

Like? Dead stop screech, slam on the breaks, u-turn to take that last off-ramp. Type IMMEDIATE.

Grocery bill? No, no, you mistake him! No. NOW it's his "carefully researched for their cooking, games and shows" bill. Touch his collection and he'll FUCKING BITE.

They got sticky notes on the cases. Menus n lil fold out "grocery store" locations. He punched a dragon for this fruit. Mmmmm, home cooked meeeeeals~

Just? Weird Foodie Danny. Yes he DOES know what those steaks taste like. While YOU fuckers were staring at the cat girls bizangas, HE was eating granny cat lady's home made meatball stew! Ha! YOU FOOLS!

More then that? I want him to write reviews. Like "yeah, fight system was OKAY but- *5 hour glowing rant about the food, sounding like a food critic who'd actually fucking gone and loved it* " and people are like?? Who? Is this funky lil madman? This is hilarious?

I want it to be DPxDC JUST? So everyone slowly starts to play the game "Meta or Shtick?" Because no one REALLY knows who he is. This dude gets POPULAR though. For some reason can't be hacked (shame on you guys! Way to try and ruin the FUN!). And like? Eventually? Someone just fucking ASKS?

And Danny is like... " wouldn't YOU like to know, weatherboy?"

So everyone is like:

"Meta."

But hey... since they're already ASSUMING~? >:3c WHOOOOO wants to help him PAY RENT~? Let's VLOG this fucker! Wooooo! Say "hi" Catchef! *feline noises* like? It's like a let's play combined with a mukbang.

Teen Heros everywhere are FACINATED. Game developers are suddenly like? "If there's food. You BETTER make it look amazing. We want that weird YouTube twink to... whatever his powers are, our game! Free viral marketing!" Food channels? Rending their clothes, on their KNEES, please! PLEASE! Just ANSWER OUR EMAIL! Just ONE SHOW! A one off! Guest appearance!

We have MONEY!!!

All while Danny? Is finally happy with his life. Weird as hell. Harrasing the world. Good food on the regular. Gets to travel, kinda. Best of all? He's raising money from it! Can help people! Now... who wants salad?

Yknow what would be near enough to the Great Lakes region that it could share a data center, especially in an older game they're barely running?

Smallville, Kansas, babey

So Conner is visiting Jon down at the Kent farm, and brought his old console so they can both play this older game that Kon liked a few years ago. When they see a very obviously player made character, and wave, as one does in an old game. And he just waves back, multiple food products from the market in his other hand.

Jon: "Huh, I didn't know you could pick those up, neat."