A dumping zone

Danny has gotten very good at getting into and exploring the internet. Not only from having to follow Technus through it, but also because it was fun!

So it shouldn't have been a surprise that when the time came when he had to escape Amity Park for good, he did it through the web. He had never gone outside the city's servers before, so he did get a bit lost, but soon he was exploring all around the world.

He knew he had to get out of the web eventually, but the persecution had left him a little traumatized. It was safe in there, and he was healing well, or at least his pixelated body seemed okay. And okay, maybe online food was a little tasteless and numbed his tongue, but it was keeping him fed, so who cared.

The basics of it is that for whatever reason, one of the speedsters, a random time traveler, a ghost, or because Clockwork needs Danny to learn something there, he sends him into the past and he quickly ends up meeting Wonder Woman and helping her. He decides to stay with her until he’s finished whatever mission Clockwork’s sent him on and she ends up all but adopting him.

She’s teaching him all her sword tricks and how to fight without relying on his powers as much. The end up getting closer and closer and quickly get to the point where Danny starts subconsciously seeing her as a mother figure. To the point where he accidentally calls her mom, to his eternal mortification. Diana takes this all in stride though, secretly happy that her little warrior called her mom.

Things happen and eventually Danny has to go back to his own time period and his actual life. It’s a very tearful goodbye but it ends with Diana giving Danny a golden wreath crown as a moment of her and her mentally promising to find her little warrior again. She’s fairly certain now that he’s going to be born some time in the future. She doesn’t have much to go off of but gods damn it is she going to try!

Cut to some years later and Diana has become one of the founding members of the Justice League. She still has not found her son but she doesn’t say anything to the other members because she honestly can’t be sure if he’s even been born yet. This all is thrown out the window though when one of the JL members bring up reports of this ghost boy in this little town in the middle of nowhere Illinois. She sees a picture of it an yep, that’s her little boy! He’s even wearing the wreath so that mean he’s met her! She can go see him without risk to the timeline!

She practically sprints all the way to Amity only to find that he’s not here? None of the townsfolk know anything but when she starts instead looking for his human persona she isn’t able to find anything. It’s only when she investigates his parents that she hears, holy shit he’s whimpering in the basement!? She bursts in, ready to defend her baby but the scene she come in on is worse than anything she can imagine. There, on an operating table, is her baby boy. Opened like a gods damned high school science class frog! She can see his organs and knows some of them have been removed.

DP x DC Prompt

Superman cautiously hovered down the decrepit stairs further down into the hidden bunker, listening as Batman held the rear, and other members of the justice league were further behind, finishing scouting previous areas.

Once at the bottom of the long, long stairs he’s gazed into a hallway, many doors branching off to the sides, but dusty old signage seemed to point to the importance of two double doors at the very end, prominent in their heavy duty design. These were doors meant to keep others out; or something in Superman thought worriedly.

He received the all clear from Batman, they would continue. The other rooms would have to be checked as well. Who knew what sort of labyrinth might be hiding within he didn’t know, but the end of the hall was calling to him.

The whole place was creepy. He’d seen the worst of the universe before, but creepy places never got more familiar. Maybe that was a good thing. Kept him cautious, ready for action. The sinking feeling of dread was always horrible though, he thought to himself, as he flinched at a stain on the floor in the corner of his eye.

It the hallway looked almost… medical. Aside from a few spills on the floor, it was all clean white walls. Only dust and spiderwebs marring the otherwise well-kept place. Decay and rot hadn’t found its way into this sealed space yet.

He later wished so much for that thought to be true.

Finally, carefully the doors were opened, they had brought power back to the facility earlier, though not everything was in working order.

Lightbulbs only lasted so long, and other locked doors appeared to have been purposely sabotaged on their way there. The door unlocked with Batman’s hacking, but they needed his strengths to be pried open.

Just a second before they were though, his super senses noticed a stench permeating from the room.

It smelled like death

The doors were open before he could react however, and the rest of the team smelled it too. Batman somehow became even more alert, quickly glancing around for the source, though it wasn’t hard to find. The room was large, though mostly empty. There was a main console a few feet directly from the entry doors and a large sealed room covered in thick glass behind it.

Almost none of the lights worked in this room. Just a red emergency light and a flickering LED that had turned on when they entered. At first they couldn’t see anything inside the seemingly empty sealed room, the back left corner was entirely in shadow. It was clear however that this was where the smell was coming from.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, he quickly noticed something creeping outside the thick shadow in the corner, the first thing noticed by the others he was sure.

A hand. A horribly small, skeletal hand.

His eyes were better than most however. And he could see within the thick black shadows what the hand was attached to. A child. It was facing with its back to them, huddled in on itself. It looked like instead of legs however, it had some sort of short, snakelike tail. Likely a meta of some sort. Or maybe even another alien.

He gasped quietly, breathing in more of the smell. All the more terrible now for knowing what was making it. Batman looked over to him immediately, and then quickly stalked closer towards the cell (what else could the room have been but a containment cell?) until he could make out what Superman had seen.

He quickly glanced back to Superman— whose feet were now on the floor — and gave him a questioning look with a subtle tilt of his head. Superman slowly shook his head and lowered it in silence. In grief. No. There was no heartbeat. No breathing. Someone had sealed a child in here and left them to rot. Not even taking the body.

Well, he could do something about that at least. He stomped towards the glass noisily, intending to break it in his anger. Normally he’d find a door and just go about it the normal way but he was distraught and need to take it out on SOMETHING. As Batman stepped to the side he knew he had his permission for it too. But the he noticed something in the darkness as he came forward.

DP X DC

The Justice League was mid-meeting when it started. Barry was rambling, as usual.

“…like that time we stopped Starro in Metropolis. You remember? He got so big he was stomping cars like Legos—”

Hal snorted. “That wasn’t in Metropolis, that was in Coast City. I was there.”

Barry blinked. “Uh, no? Superman threw him into the harbor, I was the one pulling civilians out of the wreckage.”

Clark frowned. “Barry… that happened in Metropolis. I remember it clearly.”

Voices rose around the table, half the team swearing one version of events, the other half swearing the opposite. Someone even pulled up mission logs—conflicting reports, both equally convincing.

In the corner, Danny sat slouched in his chair, chin propped on his hand, glowing eyes half-lidded. He hadn’t spoken once during the meeting, radiating the kind of exhaustion that only came from cleaning up after cosmic disasters at three in the morning.

Finally, Diana turned toward him. “Phantom,” she said evenly, “you were there as well. What do you recall?”

Danny blinked, sat up a little. “Huh? Oh. Yeah, that happened.”

Everyone relaxed—until Hal pressed, “Which one?”

Danny squinted at him. “Uh. Both.”

The table went quiet.

“Both?” Batman’s voice cut sharp across the silence.

“Yeah,” Danny said slowly, looking around at their baffled expressions. “You’re talking about Starro, right? He trashed Metropolis… and also Coast City.”

“No,” Clark said carefully. “It can’t be both. We would have known.”

Danny tilted his head, still confused by their confusion. “But it was both. I remember both.”

The silence stretched. Dozens of the most powerful beings on the planet, staring at the youngest-looking (but supposedly ancient) member of their ranks.

Then, realization flickered in Danny’s eyes. His shoulders slumped. “…Oh.”

⸻

The Infinite Realms are a strange thing. They stretch beyond dimensions, binding every universe together in a way no mortal mind was meant to comprehend. If the multiverse is a bowl of jello, the universes are its fruit—each separate, yet held in place by the same trembling, otherworldly foundation.

Danny Phantom, Ghost King, sits at the center of it all. Ruler, caretaker, janitor. His job is simple in concept, impossible in practice: keep the jello from collapsing.

But universes do collapse. They rot from within, fall apart at the seams, and bleed into others. If left unchecked, the infection spreads. Sometimes, the only cure is destruction—wiping the entire universe away before it drags its neighbors with it.

Danny is kind. He is softhearted in ways his predecessor was not. He cannot bring himself to condemn the lives still fighting to survive inside those dying worlds, even if most time they do not know their universe is about to end. So instead, he does the impossible. He relocates them.

He finds a reality compatible enough to accept them, moves them over, and patches the cracks before anyone can notice. With Clockwork freezing time to help, the process is seamless. One second, people live in a doomed reality. The next, they breathe in a new one—never realizing they are somewhere else.

But “compatible” does not mean “identical.” The details never line up perfectly. A city might stand where it once fell. A victory might occur in Coast City instead of Metropolis. A name, a date, an outcome—it all shifts in tiny, maddening ways.

And those tiny ways ripple. People argue. Records clash. Whole crowds remember things that never happened in this reality, but did happen in another. It has happened so many time people have even given it a name.

The Mandela Effect.

⸻

Danny gestured vaguely with one hand. “Clockwork stops time, I shuffle everyone over, and if I do it right, nobody notices. Life goes on. Same people, same world—almost.”

“Almost?” Diana prompted.

Danny gave her a tired half-smile. “Some small details may not line up. Different events, different memories. Small things. But enough to make people stop and say, ‘Hey, wasn’t it like this before?’”

He shrugged. “That’s what you call the Mandela Effect, right? Two different realities, same people. Just… stitched together.”

The silence afterward was absolute. Even Batman didn’t speak.

John Constantine, staring in horror at a rather colourful coffee shop in Gotham: What the absolute fuck?

Red Robin: Oh, that's Dan Phantom's place. He makes great coffee. Don't piss him off though, he's strong as fuck

Constantine, looks faint:.. Phantom?

RR, side-eye: Yeah? What's wrong?

Constantine, steps closer to the shop and can now clearly see a scowling Dan making drinks through the tinted window: Why the bloody fuckity fuck is The Ghost King working as a bloody Barista in fucking Gotham??

RR: the what now?

Constantine, looking like he's about to lose his shit: What kind of cursed place is this? You fucks have one of the most powerful, if not The Most powerful being in the universe making you bloody coffee!

RR: huh.. Hood is going to be living his monster fucker/royal romance dreams if he can get Dan to agree to a date..

Constantine:.... I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that...

RR, shrugs and heads into the shop: Hey, Dan! How are the kids?

Dan, resting bitch face softening to a more neutral face: They're good. Growing up faster than I'd like. Danny's developing his ice powers and accidentally freezing things, plan to take them to my doctor for some child-friendly advice on that. You want your usual?

RR: of course

Dan, blinks as Constantine finally follows RR into the cafe: Red? Why did you bring a soul whore with you?

RR: Needed someone with magic expertise for a case

Dan, grimaces: Guess that makes sense. Keep him the fuck away from my kids though. I don't need them sensing his fucked up soul

RR: I'll do my best

Constantine: Charming

Dan: Don't like it, leave. Now, are you ordering coffee or not?

Constantine: A large coffee with cream. Does the owner know the Ghost King is working for them?

Dan, the scowl is back: $5:50. And considering I am the owner, I would fucking hope so.

RR, pays for both their drinks and tips: Hood been in yet?

Dan, gestures to a fresh bouquet of flowers: yes

RR, nods: Okay, never mind then.

AKA "The Batfam rescue several Gotham-U students from Scarecrow's latest hostage situation. However, Dr. Jonathan Crane becomes obsessed when one student has a strange reaction to the Fear Toxin - extreme exhilaration and giddiness." Based on this prompt!!

Danny knows Ghosts feed on intense emotion to survive; he's never had to, never wanted to because it feels... parasitic. He never thought he'd be drugged with it. Sitting among his fellow students, tied up as the Straw Man or whatever monologues about his evil plans, Danny thought the worst thing that could happen would be hallucinating a dissection table. Maybe the GIW or his parents with gleaming googles and scalpels at the ready.

He doesn't even realize they're already being gassed until Danny takes a breath and tastes... skittles? Like, taffy, frosted cream, and melty-sweet syrup. The more he breathes it in, the more he feels strangely floaty. His head feels both heavy and light, stuffed with cotton, and he can barely even hear. (If he could hear, he'd probably would be horrified by his classmates screaming, writhing in terror all around him like a swarm of buzzing locusts.)

And then somebody - The Straw Man - is looming in front of him, grabbing Danny by the face, and curiously tilting his head. After a moment of contemplation, Straw Man rummages around in his satchel before Danny gets freaking hosed in the face with a concentrated dose of Fear Toxin. And then everything gets better worse. Danny feels euphoric. He's giggling, smiling, head so clouded from the high that he doesn't even notice even Dr. Crane drags him through the crowded lecture hall. Doesn't notice when two goons grab him by the arms and start to haul him toward the exit.

What he does notice is the Straw Man's body slamming into the wall. Several figures blur in shades of black, blue, green, and red as Danny squints to try and focus on at least one of them. Then, somebody - blue and black - is at his side. Danny kind of... slides down the hero's side, legs too wobbly to hold himself up, until the hero has to prop Danny into a half-laying-half-sitting position. Danny's still giggling, slurring something and his hand somehow finds the hero's face, patting it in thanks for the rescue.

It's only when the Big Bat comes over, fits an odd-shaped mask over Danny's face, that he stops smelling candy. Instead, he smells something putrid, almost like formaldehyde, sweat, and... unmentionable body fluids. Danny's head is throbbing like brain freeze and a pressure headache, nausea so intense he can taste it in the back of his throat and cramps in his stomach. One moment he's mumbling 'm gon' throw up and the next he's ripping the mask off his face. Turns to the side and... barfs on Batman. (If he were more coherent, he'd probably be mortified. Maybe even die again of embarrassment. Worse when Nightwing cackles uncontrollably from beside him. Ancients, he'd petted Nightwing!! On the freakin' face!!)

That's the last thing that Danny remembers. He wakes up in the hospital several hours later, several texts from Jazz, Sam, and Tucker saying they're taking the next flight to Gotham. Danny flops back into the hospital bed and groans. Groans louder when he remembers what happened in the lecture hall. At least there's probably a very small amount of people who can say they barfed on the Dark Knight of Gotham and got away with it, right?

On the dissection table- because thats all it could be- lays a small child. Small but noticable gills on the neck, the occasional fleck of scales and webbed fingers mark them as merfolk.

Viewers watch on in horror as the table is bloodied. A steady incision made in the left leg. The Justice League had been contacted but there was no indication they would make it in time to help.

A large Bang! went off in the background of the video, clearly catching the duo off guard. The man turned to his (wife?) with a weird moniter in his hands going off the charts and with an excited yelp they both took off running up the steps that were just barely in frame behind them.

A few long moments later, two teens sneak into the lab. The boy rushed over to unchain their parents 'test subject' while the girl kept watch.

Freshly released limbs had bloody wounds rubbed into the pinned down areas and quiet whispers of empathy were only just picked up by the audio. One of the viewers pointed out that the boy himself had scars in similar places.

The boy picked up the kid and the trio quickly slipped away out of camera view. Soft thuds mark their escape from the house, seemingly unaware of the Livestream their parents were apparently trying to make.

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

The story makes international news and leaves everyone on high alert. Government agencies scramble to prove they had no connection to the couple, the GIW undergos mass arrest when their names Maddie and Jack Fenton come up on their payroll. A channel is made to document any sightings of the kids.

The first one is posted after a day. It's security footage from a fast food restaruant. Four teens- the two from before plus a goth and someone named ''Tucker''- along with the comparitively tiny Mer sit in a booth. ''Tucker'' and "Sam'' argue about possible dietary restriction before seemingly ordering one of everything. There is soup, and a burger, the largest cup filled with water they could find in the back, chicken tenders and salad.

When the server goes to deliver everything, the four watch them like hawks, understandable given the previous day.

(Did any of them even know Half the world knew what went down? )

(Did any of them know how Aquaman was taking the news of one of his subjects being injured like that? )

( Did any of them realize that their choice to protect the kid was one of the main reasons war hadn't been declared yet on the human race?)

Jasmine is heard softly encouraging the tiny Mer to eat something, anything and eventually the soup is downed and apparently liked enough that she gets up to order more.

Right before they leave, while under the relative safety of a roof, they swap the bandages wrapped around most of the kids leg and arms and slowly tell them about future plans despite the fact that they probably can't understand the language.

(Jasmine points at a laptop screen filled with a view of the ocean. "We" she circles the group with her pinky "are going there to get you home." The atlantian can't speak english but the way their eyes light up and they relax further into Sams side shows they understand the basic message)

Ghost king Danny is on the run, the GIW has suddenly become competent, very competent. His parents now aware of who and what he is are doing their best to mislead and sabotage the GIW from the inside; but they're worried, Jazz is worried, and even Vlad was starting to get nervous.

Things just get too dangerous that the Fentons decide they can't stay in Amity anymore. But the fact was nowhere was safe. So why not seek refuge in another dimension? So in the true Fenton fashion their parents pack up the GAV, both of their kids and just leave.

The Fenton research and tech are all destroyed and Ghost King Danny quarantines his home dimension. Too dangerous to travel to for *anyone*. He mourns because of Sam and Tucker, he'd offered them to come during their hasty packing. But neither wanted to leave their parents...well in Sam's case grandmother. Both a left with a single use button, said button an sos of sorts to call Wulf to them. The only travel ban exception but only for this.

Some day Sam and Tucker might join him, but for now he has his family.

The Fenton family is in a new dimension, a place called Gotham. They plan to blend in but instead the family...mostly Jack.... becomes day time heros. It's accidental mind you. Yes Jack bodied the Joker on purpose he gave Dann-o a panic attack! The assault charges magically dissapearing.

The citizens of Gotham are all bewildered by this chaotic little Midwestern family. They like them, the father had crippled the Joker and stop many crimes just by being a himbo who stumbled into glory. Aside the Joker of course which got him more kudos.

The mother was wickedly smart, the tech she had was unseen in this Era since it looked like it was cobbled together with early 2000s tech, which it was. The whole stunning beam guns and nets weren't exactly ground breaking though.

The kids are little menaces both smart, and chaotic good forces of trolling. The boy was definitely a meta and possibly rabid, every rogue he saw was on sight. The Joker incident had been a fluke that first panic attack, not that it mattered.

The daughter was the scary one, instead of just throwing hands and teeth like her brother she tore them apart mentally. Deconstructing their very being, somehow getting to the core of issues. But to civilians? Sweetie who worried for everyone.