Leafy's Place

at some point, Jason is invited to a dinner maybe undercover maybe as a way for some new villain to trap him, whatever. Everything is going well, the main course cones out, when Jason smells something. He knows no normal person would smell it, his senses had always been much stronger than that of a humans ever since he came back, but he knows he can smell something, under all the spices and seasonings added to the food, there was a familiar smell, but he couldn't place it at the second with all that was going on. When all the plates are handed out and he takes a bite, Jason knows. With it closer he can recognize the smell now, and he would know that taste anywhere, even if it was bathed in spices like this, how could he not. This meat was human. Even without the taste he could tell by the way he could feel his teeth grow sharper, his nails longer and harder like claws, his pupils retracting as they become more slit like as his senses become sharper at the taste of the flesh of his prey. He couldn't inform the bats of this, not unless he could find proof other than him knowing, and muster up a suitably horrified act at the realization, it wouldn't be very good for rebuilding family relationships for them to learn he eats people, after all.

If you want more info on that au I'll give it

Jason closes the eyes of the still warm body, a prayer to a god he isn't sure he still believes in layed upon the departing soul.

Clothing is carefully removed and folded into a waiting box. The corpse is scrubbed and hosed clean inside and out. After drying, a torch burns off the remaining body hair.

Incisions are swift and sure, organs freed and divided into different treatments. Some go in brines. Some are set aside for further cleaning.

Skin is removed in portions and layed out in salt.

Joints are dislocated and the body dismembered and deboned. The bones will be boiled for the collagen, dried, and powdered into fertilizer.

Jason finishes the initial processing pretty easily, humming as he locks up and makes his way to his main safe house, the prized bit of his prey in hand.

The brain has firmed up in the cold brine, the perfect texture for slicing. He heats up the frying pan and grabs his meal prep vegetable confetti and rice. The saved pint of blood finishes the meal.

Jason eats dinner alone, in the top apartment of an otherwise "condemned" building, savoring the flavor of fear in the flesh of his fallen prey.

..

There's something wrong in this house.

Tim's boyfriend is a quiet guy, Midwest nice, reminds him of Clark Kent.

But there's something off about him.

He's invited "Tim's Family" to dinner. It smells delicious. Too delicious.

Then he tastes it.

Fear. Prey.

At some point, the Batfam figures out just what they were eating and confront Danny.

Batman: *Growling deeply* Why? Why would you make us eat human flesh?

Danny: *tilts head, mildly confused* I was only trying to help you.

Nightwing: *Barely able to stop himself from puking a third time* Help us?! How could that possibly be helping us?!

Danny: *brows furrowed* I knew that you were slowly starving yourselves, better to help you than you end up attacking one of your friends.

Red Robin: *Barely holding himself together from the betrayal* Starving ourselves? We eat regularly! We wouldn’t have the strength to protect Gotham if we didn’t eat!

Danny: Hmm… I thought you knew but if you don’t… did you really think that flirting with Death as you do wouldn’t have any consequences? Some of you may not have truly died, but coming so close just once begins to change you, let alone how many times in your vigilante career. You are no longer quite human anymore. Of course your dietary requirements would change with the changes in your bodies.

Robin: *Points his sword at Danny* You say we are no longer human, but can you prove that? I don’t think you can, you-

Danny: *waves a hand to cut him off* Of course I can prove it. Your Red Hood already knows.

Batfam: *stiffens*

Batman: Hood? What is he talking about?

Hood: …

Nightwing: Hood? Please…

Danny is trying to lay low in the DCU. Then he gets kidnapped for his own summoning, along with a bunch of other people, and volunteers himself as a sacrifice to avoid anyone actually dying. His bad luck means the summoning was legit. He doesn’t really transform, but his eyes glow bright green, his hair has white glowing spots, and there is a spark around him. That's when people he has by now identified as this universe’s heroes/vigilantes finally arrive.

Now, Danny really doesn’t want to deal with questions in either form, but he is also basically homeless. So he figures out a way to maybe fall under these heroes’/vigilantes’ jurisdiction for a while without having to answer any questions:

He pretends to have complete amnesia.

"Then why can he still remember his name?"

"Because he didn't give his name. That's a while different level of fae consent. It's probably the only thing that saved him."

"Would that extend to the rest of our world? It could explain why there's no documentation proving he exists."

"It's definitely likely. They would have tried to erase all traces of his identity, to tie him further into the fae realm."

Continuation of this post.

Danny led them further into the dark, musty manor, into an area without windows where they had to pull out flashlights and a spell to fight the gloom. Danny reached into the wall and pulled something, thankfully the mechanism was fully manual and the lack of electricity didn't stop the hidden door from creaking slowly open.

Danny zips around the massive dark aquarium with a net carefully snatching up all sorts of colourful marine life before going up and gently depositing them in smaller tanks that Sam prepared.

"You do realise this is extremely illegal, right?"

"Taking these poor endangered fish from their homes is extremely illegal. We're righting a wrong here Danny, and you still owe me one"

Danny sighs and goes back down but keeps talking.

"I just don't want to be accused of stealing again"

"Tucker got us covered, we'll be fine. You just keep fishing Danny, I think we're almost done. "

Danny carefully goes through the dark depths of the aquarium again and it's then that he sees a much bigger shape dart away from him.

Sam said this entire thing was filled with poached endangered marine wildlife so everything in it needs to be retrieved. Aka, Danny goes in pursuit.

It takes some doing but eventually Danny gets a hold of it and it's worryingly little girl shaped.

He holds the little girl in front of him and just kinda looks for a second at this squirmy child that can apparently breathe underwater.

"Sam! Sam, holy Fffffffuudge"

"What!? What??"

"There is a baby in the aquarium!" He holds up the squealing little red head who has apparently decided what's happening now is funny actually.

"A baby!?"

"In the aquarium!" He points down at the water.

"Why is there a baby in the aquarium!!?"

"How am I supposed to know?! Maybe these weirdos accidentally fished up one of Aquaman's people?"

"Oh my god, we need to bring her back!"

"How the ff-frick-" the little girl giggles and goes, "Fik!" Making Danny wince,  "-are we supposed to do that, I don't know where Atlantis is at Sam"

"Call the justice league?"

"Didn't they disband again not too long ago?"

"... shit, you're right"

Danny rushes to cover the little girls ears while hissing, "language" and Sam slaps a hand over her mouth.

"Sorry..."

Danny floats in a circle above the water bouncing the child who seems fascinated with his glowing white hair, "Okay, okay, here's an idea. Jazz has her drivers license. We'll do an impromptu road trip to the east coast"

"... yeah, sounds good, let's go"

Sam holds the little girl as Danny stacks up all the tanks filled with fish and they quickly leave the premises.

"Can I just say I love you hair little miss, Naturally dark red? if only I was that lucky."

The now empty tank is surrounded by a gaggle of awkwardly shifting henchmen.

The gang has learned what a one year old eats, and how to change diapers.

They've also learned that there are a bunch of crazies out there that want  to steal a baby atlantean.

By now Jazz has fought a guy who called himself Black Manta in the new and improved Fenton exoskeleton. That battle involved a lot of lazers going in various directions.

"I thought Aquaman was an idiot to entrust her protection to a group of teenagers. But I'm starting to see his logic. You lot prepare yourselves, next time it won't be so easy"

And he'd been gone before they could correct his assumptions.

Then there was the swamp witch that Sam Out magicked with her own plant abilities.

"Curse you children, that royal blood will be mine!"

"Is she talking about me?"

"I really doubt it Tuck..."

Now they've finally reached the east coast and some big crustacean looking guy got sand guardianed by Tucker. Aka he's stuck up to his neck in the sand of the beach.

"You're only delaying the inevitable! Ocean master will have the child!"

The group just looks at him rather annoyed. 

Great, that means some other asshole is going to show up any moment now.

…

“Anyone any ideas about how we’re gonna find a legendary underwater city to bring the little girl back to her parents?” Sam asks while checking over the fish tanks in the back of their vehicle.

“This would have been so much easier if we could contact Aquaman directly somehow… do they have wifi underwater?” Tucker frowns at his PDA, “do they need social media down there?”

“Careful Tuck, I’ve read that Aquaman gets agitated at those kinds of questions,” Danny carefully lets the little girl play with the sand, making sure not to take his eyes off her after Jazz harshly told him to make sure to not let her eat any of it.

“Babies will put anything in their mouths Danny, be careful!”

Jazz reappears after locking the vehicle down, that thing isn’t going anywhere, not with the anti-ghost defenses active. they are also quite good against car robbers.

“So no brilliant ideas on how to get her back to her parents just yet?”

“It’s really annoying how we keep coming across or getting tracked down by weirdo’s and we still have no idea how to reach her parents…”

Jazz holds her hands out to Danny who hands the girl over to his sister.

“Okay, in that case-”Starts Sam, “we’ll just load all these fish onto the Manson family yacht that’s docked a little over there, and we focus on getting the fish home first.”

“Maybe a helpful atlantean will come to see what we’re doing and we can ask for directions.”

The group agrees to this plan of action and gets to work.

Danny made another ice ball. It was the only thing that was currently stopping the child from crying. She was ill, with something, likely a human thing too, but they didn't know what it was, and Frostbite hadn't been able to get them quick results, they had tried letting ehr slash around, keeping her diet well roudned.

but she was sick, and there was no getting around that.

so hey started shift, Jazz's singing lasted abotu an hour before she got fussy again, Sam and Tucker had, combined, lasted all fo twenty minutes.

Danny was still gong strong at three hours.

"Can't we just call the Justice League?" he muttered, watching their charge suck on the mini globe of ice.

________________________________________________ "My king, my queen!" "Aqualad, why did you call us?" "I believe we may have information on the whereabouts of the princess." that caught their attention.

"Where?" Mera hissed.

"Well, there is satalite footage of Black Manta fighting some-sort of exo-suit in this area of the east coast." he stood in fornt of a screen manned by Red-Robin, who was reveiwing footage while looking utterly exhausted,Authur didn't undersatnd how Bruce could work his childrne this hard, or place expectation on them that made them work this hard, but he wasn't one to judge. Aqualad continued" we managed to find a part of the footage where the vehicle is in veiw. Red's been tracking it-" "Somewhere on North Carolina's coast."

"...they are somewhere in North Carolina."

"thank you Red Robin." "no prob."

"Are we there yet?" Danny said already regretting speaking. He was still healing from the recent fight against the Ocean man guy combined with his extended use of his powers and he was drained.

"We should go south!" Sam protested cradling the now sleeping atlantian in her arms. "Are you serious Gotham is just a few states away!" Tucker said on his new mobile phone after his PDA died on him again.

This was going on for three hours now after the Mason yacht was blown up. Jazz wasn't much help and the child's sickness was getting worse. Heck they didn't have the money to bring her to the hospital and what would they say? 'Hey we found Aquamans child and the child is sick and we don't know what to do?' Yeah not the best option.

"Ok!" Danny said breaking the tension and most likely a rib. "Ok we are all currently in... very deep horse dung right now but we can't fight like this. Yes there are people after us. Yes we aren't at Atlantis. Yes we aren't that good at taking care of kids but we can't just allow all of that to cloud our reasoning."

Sam and Tucker calming down just looked defeated. Out of all of them Danny somehow suffered the most damage from the most recent fight. And Danny as of most days like these was right. The air once filled anger seemed almost depressing.

Sighing Danny turns to Tucker. "What's the lastest news story?" Tucker closes the map and opens up the news app. "Let's see uh lot's of stories... Uh oh. oh crap-" "Language." Danny hissed. "Sorry, but the news about the Justice League disbandment pretty old news appearently also apparently temporary... And looks like our digital foot print wasn't very discreet." "What do you mean 'temporary'? "

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

Arthur was at his wits end how was four teens and a baby that hard to locate? He knew that surface searching wasn't like under water searching, his people had no real jurisdiction on land. But the Justice League had all hands on deck for this thing. And they were still spread thin as it is.

"I went to the last place the 5 were seen." Aqualad said coming in exhausted. "The local residents testimonies should help with finding her. " "Put... put it on screen."

The data did not lie the 5 were heading towards Atlantis just they were constantly getting stopped by villains who were trying to get his daughter.

"The data suggests they're heading south." Red Robin says sipping on his latest cappuccino. "No, they are going north." Aquaman says flatly. "He's right the latest finding suggests-" Aqualad says pulling a photo on screen. "They tried just GOING to Atlantis. But there's a destroyed boat in their way." "Not the right time for jokes dude."

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

"Dude what flight goes to Atlantis?" Danny asks "Malaysia flight 370 if I remember correctly. " Tucker said before Danny smacked him upside the head. "I saw the meme Tuc not funny people died."

Jazz in her ecto suit is surrounded by the ones she's taken out, currently holding up the one in charge, "you better start taking or I'll keep swinging."

She's giving him her best 'I'm disappointed in you' face.

The guy himself however is looking like he's about to throw up any moment now. Probably from all the swinging around she's already done to him.

"I'm simply following orders..."

"That's not good enough." She holds him up a little higher and the guy starts scrabbling at her armor clad arm.

"They say- they said, the one who controls the princess controls the king and the one who controls the king... Its- listen, listen just- please put me down."

Parts of the lake are frozen and even though that makes for a strange sight overall the lake itself now seems deceptively peaceful. That's until about five other men get thrown out of the water and land painfully onto land after which a rather angry looking Danny wades through the water and gradually walks onto the shore. With of course a happily giggling little girl in on his arm.

Tucker turns to him and asks, "What took you so long?"

"She's great at hide and seek, and there was a lot of kicked up muck down there helping her out."

Sam grins, she remembers what a hassle it was to get her out of the aquarium in the first place, "She looks better." Sam notes.

"It might be that Aqualady over here just needs to be in water more..." Danny sheepishly runs a hand through his hair.

"That would explain why we initially found her in the aquarium." Their relaxed musing is interrupted by a shout.

"What are you doing! you traitor! Are you betraying your own kind and actually giving in to this land dweller's demands!?"

"I would like my insides to remain inside!"

The other rogue Atlantean gets up enough to throw some kind of crystal at Jazz. The others react instantly and jump to push her out of the way while she's still holding the other guy. In a flash of light all of them vanish.

"You stupid idiot, now the princess is gone too!"

"Well at least I-"

A sudden rustling is followed by a green bloodhound running out of the bushes, he sniffs the air before saying, "Oh c'mon, You have got to be kidding me..."

Next thing the rogue Atlanteans know several other titans emerge out of the bush, some more elegantly than others. Raven closes her eyes in concentration, "I sense traces of teleportation magic."

"Yeah they were here literally a second ago, the scent I was following just vanished." Gar keeps snuffling around over the ground until he's at the exact spot team Phantom just stood.

"Where are they," growls Tempest while Nightwing has a hand on his chest. Meanwhile Donna and Starfire lift the busted car out of the lake.

"I bet our lord is absolutely losing it by now isn't he," is the only sneering reply he gets though. Dick has to use a lot more force to keep Garth back and he looks over at Donna who is already running their way.

Roy mutters to Gar, "does he want to have his teeth kicked in orrr...?"

Gar shifts into a bear, shrugs, and makes a 'idunno' noise. He'll gladly help Garth with the kicking though.

"I can trace the magic, Tempest." Raven's hands start glowing. And Garth finally let's himself get pushed back by his teammates muttering a soft apology to them that's tinged with frustration.

Dick takes him aside, "Garth I don't want to do this, but if you can't keep your head cool-"

"No, I'm fine, just," he pinches the bridge of his nose, "they were so close, that's all, I'm..." a long exhale.

"Raven is tracing them, we'll know soon. Take a moment, we'll handle these idiots."

Sam glares at the rogue Atlantean (who is sweating bullets while sitting on the ground.) And bounces little Andrina in her arms.

Jazz is a little off to the side calling her parents "Hey mom, dad, uhm.. just wondering, how much pressure can the Fenton ecto-exo-skeleton handle? ... yeah- like water pressure... uhuh, oh okay, hm? Oh, no, just curious you know, no reason. Hmhm... Danny is with his friends right now so he can't come to the phone, sorry. I'll tell him to call you guys back later, yeah. Okay. Love you too bye."

She hangs up and walks to Danny who is busy freezing a layer of impenetrable ice outside of his ecto shield bubble. Right now the bubble is the only thing keeping them from drowning and getting crushed under an ungodly amount of water.

"Mom told me that their trip got extended, so I guess that's something we won't have to worry about for a while longer. You doing okay Danny?"

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm just thinking about how I'm gonna get you guys out of here safely..."

"Well, I'll be fine in the suit apparently, it's made so I can bust ghosts even down in the marina trench." She says mimicking their dad's enthusiasm.

"What."

"Let's not think about it too hard."

Danny pauses anyway and then says, "...Seas' haunted"

Jazz does a fake gasp, "The Flying Dutchman."

"I'll get you Davy Jones!"

Tucker is busy fiddling with his phone in the meantime, "Okay so I'm done trying to triangulate exactly where we are on my phone and... we are very, very deep."

"Yeah no kidding, I could have told you that... but where deep." Sam sets the little girl down who finds the nearest sandy puddle to splash in.

"That's harder to say..." Tucker's phone simply can't get a good signal from any satellite for that kind of stuff what with them being this deep, and he wouldn't be surprised if more magical stuff is messing things up as well. The little girl holds a handful of watery sea sand near Tucker and the water just quickly glides out of it leaving desert dry sand in her hands instead, she giggles.

"Maybe our new friend can shed some light?"

Their 'new friend' would much rather just stay ignored.

His eyes glide over the four teens, fully aware what they are capable of now.

Sea plants are already curling around Sam's ankles unprompted, a good chunk of Jazz's suit is still keeping her protected and he's seen how smoothly and quickly the rest of it can latch back on to her again. Water seems to recoil from Tucker as more and more bone dry sand surrounds him and the impromptu ice dome is handling incredible amounts of water pressure without so much as a groan or a creak.

Yeah he knows he's out of his league here, the princess is incredibly well protected, as expected from their king really. He should have known better, they all should've.

"We're somewhere between the city Tritonis and Xebel."

Suddenly Andy gets fussy and for a moment the guy thinks he's fucked up until Jazz picks the little girl up and takes a little pot of mashed fruit for babies out of her bag.

"So that's not really as helpful as you might think it is, appreciate the clear answers though, Go on," Sam urges. In the background Tucker goes, "so there are like a bunch of cities down here then?" to which Danny responds with a, "Not now Tuck."

"Uh, this was meant as a pick up point, get the princess and-" "No you misunderstand, what I meant-" "Sam I think he's been living his entire life underwater, he might not know the names we use for parts of the oceans." "…hrm, maybe a map would help, Tucker can you pull up a map on your phone?"

Before they can put that plan into action however the icy walls around them rumbles as something latches onto the it, a something that looks like a big mechanical manta ray. It starts drilling into the ice wall with what appears to be some kind of laser powered apparatus.

Now Danny probably could just reinforce his ice and just not let them through… However~

I know it's a massive cliche. But how likely is it that Black Manta's sub would have Aquaman's number saved. For gloating and threatening reasons.

Tuck is fucking about with the buttons after they kicked the bastard out of his own ship. Clicks this one button and suddenly he has an angry Aquaman on the screen. Who stops and stares in confusion. Danny and Sam shove Tucker to one side so they can show off the baby.

Mera and Arthur just slumpmfor a moment. Their baby is ok. They now know exactly what to track to find her and these heroic teens. They can take their baby home soon. Hopefully without any other ambushes happening between the meet up.

Dan is very grumpy. He’s not pouting, despite what the others would claim, he’s brooding. How many times were they going to get de-aged?! And this time they were all clones! He did not sign up for reincarnation, nor for getting turned into a literal baby. 

He doesn’t care if this world has heroes or villains or whatever, he’s going to bite the next person to pick him up. Happily if it’s one of the scientists currently scrambling around as alarms go off. 

J'onn: Hello little reincarnations. Would you prefer I tell the rest? Or are you hoping to keep that a secret?

Dan:*string of profanities that would make Constantine proud*

Jazz: We have full telepathy! Yes! Fantastic!!!

And of course Uncle takes primary custody! Powers can be hard to control for babies! They need Uncle to help them! Which means she gets all the babies cuddles and none for Robin! Kon is allowed, clone solidarity and such.

The fortress sleeps.

Or at least, it pretends to.

Hidden among jagged mountains, the stronghold is all stone, shadow, and silence—the kind that feels watched.

Damian moves through it like a ghost.

No hesitation. No wasted motion.

This is familiar ground.

Too familiar.

Guards fall quietly. Cameras go dark. Traps—noticed, avoided, dismantled.

He is efficient.

He is inevitable.

And he is absolutely prepared to retrieve a kidnapped civilian who, by all logic, should be injured, restrained, and terrified.

(…Or at least mildly concerned.)

Damian reaches the inner chamber.

Voices.

He freezes.

One is calm. Ancient. Controlled.

The other—

“…I’m just saying, if you’re going to do the whole immortal warlord thing, maybe workshop the branding a little? ‘Demon’s Head’ is intense. Like, maybe ease people into it?”

Damian’s eye twitches.

He knows that voice.

He pushes the door open—

Inside the Chamber

It looks less like a prison…

…and more like a study.

Low lighting. Shelves of ancient texts. A small table set with tea.

And seated across from each other like they’ve scheduled this?

Ra's al Ghul and Danny Fenton.

Danny is lounging.

Not tied up.

Not injured.

Not even slightly stressed.

He’s holding a teacup.

Wrong.

He’s holding it like it’s a soda can.

“…and another thing,” Danny continues, “you guys really lean into the whole dramatic stabbing thing. Like, is that in the employee handbook or—”

Ra’s raises a hand.

Danny stops mid-rant.

Not scared.

Just… polite.

Damian stands frozen in the doorway.

Processing.

Failing to process.

“…Fenton.”

Danny turns.

Brightens instantly.

“Oh hey! Damian!”

He waves.

Waves.

Like this is a cafeteria.

Not a League stronghold.

Not a hostage situation.

Not—this.

Damian’s gaze snaps to Ra’s.

“Grandfather,” he says, voice sharp, “explain why the hostage is… having tea.”

Ra’s regards him calmly.

“He is… an unusual guest.”

Danny leans in. “He means I didn’t stay kidnapped correctly.”

“I did not say that.”

“You implied it.”

“I did not imply—”

“You stabbed me three times.”

Damian’s head whips back to Danny.

“…What.”

Danny gestures vaguely. “It was a whole thing. Honestly, kind of repetitive.”

Ra’s studies Damian now.

“You came alone.”

“Of course.”

A flicker of approval.

Then—

“And yet you expected to retrieve him.”

Damian steps forward, chin lifting.

“I still will.”

Danny raises a hand.

“Quick question—before we escalate—are we, like, fighting fighting? Or is this one of those dramatic standoffs where everyone monologues first?”

Damian stares at him.

“…You are currently a captive.”

Danny looks down at himself.

Looks back up.

“…Am I, though?”

A beat.

No one answers that.

Ra’s sets his teacup down.

Deliberate.

Measured.

“You intrigue me, boy,” he says to Danny. “Your resilience. Your irreverence. Your… nature.”

Danny winces. “Yeah, about that, can we not do the cryptic ‘I know what you are’ thing? It never leads anywhere fun.”

Damian narrows his eyes.

“What. Are. You?”

Danny smiles.

Too easy.

Too casual.

“Alive, technically.”

“…That is not an answer.”

“Okay, dead, technically.”

Damian grips his sword.

Ra’s leans forward slightly.

Interested.

Danny sighs. “Look, it’s complicated, alright? Labels are hard.”

There’s a faint sound behind them.

A soft, unmistakable crunch.

Danny glances to the corner.

Grins.

“Oh, hey Vlad.”

Damian spins.

Nothing there.

Ra’s eyes flick—just slightly.

So he senses it too.

Invisible, smug beyond reason—

Vlad Masters

—is leaned against the wall, eating popcorn like this is premium entertainment.

Damian slowly turns back.

“…There is another presence.”

Danny nods. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. He’s annoying but mostly harmless.”

The popcorn crunches louder.

Ra’s speaks, quieter now.

“You are not human.”

Danny tilts his head.

“…I mean, I try.”

Damian exhales sharply.

This mission is unraveling.

Rapidly.

“Fenton,” he snaps, “we are leaving.”

Danny perks up. “Oh cool, yeah, I’ve been meaning to head out—this place has, like, zero Wi-Fi.”

Ra’s does not move.

“Do you believe I would allow that so easily?”

Danny considers.

“…I mean. You could?”

Silence.

Damian closes his eyes briefly.

Regains control.

“Grandfather,” he says, steel in his voice, “this is no longer a negotiation.”

Ra’s smiles faintly.

“On the contrary.”

His gaze shifts to Danny.

“It has only just begun.”

Danny looks between them.

Then raises his hand again.

“Counterpoint: what if it didn’t?”

Both assassins freeze.

Because for half a second—

Danny’s eyes flicker green.

Cold.

Ancient.

Not human at all.

The air drops.

Just a little.

Just enough.

Ra’s notices.

Of course he does.

And for the first time—

he smiles like he’s found something truly worth keeping.

Damian steps forward.

Instinct screaming.

“Fenton—”

Danny blinks.

The moment’s gone.

“Yeah?”

Back to normal.

Back to weirdly okay with everything.

Damian decides, instantly:

They are leaving.

Now.

Whether Fenton cooperates…

(i have zero idea whether I'm asking the right account but if you find the time and inspo then supervillain danny?)

Danny found joy in disturbing the peace. His crimes were never violent, and the only reason police even attempted to arrest him was that Danny hurt the pride of some high-ranked politician or rich guy. Especially since Danny's greatest crimes were mostly just exaggerated pranks.

Batman didn't even bother with him. He knew that Danny would never harm anyone. Once he lost Batman's attention, Danny's reputation as a villain was forever smeared. If criminals had a community event where they gathered in one place, Danny would be the laughing stock. He would be invited just so they can make fun of him.

He knew that.

They knew that.

Batman knew that.

Hell, even Metropolis knew that, and those people made eye contact with strangers in the subways. You know, like the insane aldrinline junkies they were.

The thing was, Danny's original threat level faded into obscurity after so many of his silly antics. No one remembered that back when Batman first showed up, and everyone whispered about his existence like a boogie man come to life, it had been Danny who gave him the hardest chase.

It had been Danny who invaded any captured. It had been Danny who had never once seen the inside of a cell, despite everyone knowing he was the cause of the disturbances.

"Cheryl, I just locked Joker in the deep freezer, what do I do?" The words came out in a rush as he leaned against the hallway, nervously looking at the door as if the clown demon would somehow punch through six inches of metal and survive subzero temperatures.

"Are you fucking with me, Fenton? You know I'm in the middle of a shitshow right now."

He breathed out a little hysterically. "No, I'm not fucking with you. There's a bunch of Joker goons in the base on 7th street. I lured them into the deep freezer—"

"The one without exits?"

"Yeah, uh-huh, the one with no exits. And then I barricaded the door."

There was an audible muffle of words and a few shouts and what sounded like gunshots. Danny was worried his closest coworker got shot until she came back on the line, out of breath.

"Let me get this straight— your first thought when the Joker invaded our headquarters was to lock him in a freezer?"

"No, I had time to think about it." Danny answered absently as he wandered down to the utility room after he turned on the fans to full blast. He wasn't the designated handyman, but a Fenton with a screwdriver could do anything, really.

Just because he was the janitor didn't mean he somehow lost the ability to fix a washer, oil a door, or wire a ghost electric chair. (Yes, that was a real thing, and yes, he did destroy it when he moved out of Amity Park.)

Speaking of moving, he supposes it's important on A. why he was in a Red Hood base (and more broadly, Gotham), B. Why he was a janitor in a Red Hood base, C. why he knew a lieutenant of Red Hood and D. why he had just committed what most would call felony murder.

(Danny would call it self defense, but potato pahtato when you're working for a gang.)

It all came down to one thing. He was good at cleaning. How, Danny "The Slob" Fenton, do such a thing when his room was sometimes more of a bio risk than the literal lab?

It's that Jazz was constantly stressed with school and taking care of him, so a lot of chores often fell to him.

Which meant cleaning up the lab.

Sure, he was no where near happy about this arrangement, but it wasn't like he could tell his sister "Hey! Stop giving me non-contaminated food and clean, woman!"

He was a lazy, deeply sarcastic, a borderline delinquent and a vigilante, but he drew the line at misogyny And, you know, his hotdogs trying to murk him in his stomach.

Ergo, Danny the bitter cleaner of all things radioactive and probably illegal.

The thing with the Fenton lab? There was always something staining the floor. Whether it be blood, ectoplasm, oil, lubrication for bolts, coffee, or an ungodly mix of all of it.

He had to get creative and fast.

Ectoplasm is a bit corrosive and stains like you wouldn't believe, even on metal floor. So he learned to put a bit of his own ectoplasm and mini ice particles so it would actually be able to be scrubbed out of the floor.

Coffee? Oil? Yeah. Cleaning supplies were mixed together like a potion master, toeing the line between dangerous and genius. He was always careful enough not to make chlorine gas or chloroform.

It became an uncanny skill, along with other things. He knew how to get spots out of clothing, how to make homemade detergent and how to get any stain or blemish out of almost any material.

So, when he moved to Gotham to complete his bachelors in chemical engineering at G.C.U., he knew he had to get a job somewhere.

And there was a lot of benefits for custodial staff in his position. Good hours, mostly at night or afternoons when he'd be free. And he knew a lot about cleaning, so why not?

...He hadn't really planned to be scouted as a crime cleaner, though.

Especially for a gang.

But hey! They even gave dental. Red Hood didn't even seem all that bad, drug peddling and murder aside. (Unsurprisingly, he could put a lot of things aside. His parents and well, Phantom, etc.)

If he kept his mouth shut, head down and hands working, he could get a good wage and even better benefits.

Danny, much to his dismay and minor shock, became known as 'the guy who can get stains out of literally everything.' Goons would literally stop and watch him like he was preforming black magic on a crime scenes walls. Even more surprisingly, he got clients and friends from this arrangement.

(Ignoring that one time of the jackets he was randomly given looks like Red Hood's.

No pressure. Just a crime lord who (allegedly) put heads into a duffel bag and mailed it to another crime boss.

He does it anyway, because he has a reputation (and monetary gain) to keep.)

So! Back to the present.

"What the fuck. What the fuck!" Cheryl hissed, whether at him or what he assumed was a gunfight in the background, "Jesus effin' Christ Danny, get out of there."

The halfa swung open the maintenance/janitorial supply room, trying to be nonchalant as his brain spirals and calculates. "I don't think Jesus can fuck Christ. They seem almost identical, y'know?"

Hydrogen sulfide would be the quickest killer, but chloroform could also do it if they didn't have enough acids and sulfur cleaning products.

Decisions, decisions.

Eh. Fuck it.

Danny grabbed some plywood, a box full of tools, his handy dandy cleaning supplies and a big plastic bucket. He would call his shaky hands adrenaline instead of being absolutely terrified that the most notorious mass-murderer in America was a few rooms down.

"Danny, I'm not fuckin' joking. You need to get the hell out of there. That's an order, you brilliant, stupid piece of shit."

He began trotting back to the deep freezer, inhaling through his teeth and scrubbing his face. "Kinky," he said, with levity he sure as hell didn't feel, "Hey, so, I'm gonna have to call you back. Tell me once you get out of your Nerf gun battle."

"Dann—!"

Danny snapped on a respirator, tucked his phone away, and quickly dumped a mixture of chemicals he knew would kill, well, a lot of things.

He'd heard the screaming and gunshots even through the thickest 1950s subzero room known to man. Kind of hard to muffle even that.

But alas. He went partially intangible, hauling his bucket of unicorn love and sparkles, floating up towards the air ducts. With no pizzaz, he dumped the entire thing in the vent system for the room.

The screams immediately rose in volume, and so did the ping of gunshots. Not wasting the time to poke his intangible head in and see how they were doing, he reappeared back in the hallway.

To be a safeguard even for an empty base, he quickly hammered in some plywood to any vents, duct taping the edges.

And for the coup de grâce, he sealed the door with his ectoplasm ice, cranked up the fan and turned the temperature to the lowest it could reasonably go.

"Have fun in there kiddos," he rapped the door, and then got the fuck out of the base. So really, he was following Cheryl's order. So it wasn't insubordination, no siree. Just insurance.

— — —

Danny found himself grabbing a cup of coffee. It wouldn't help his nerves, absolutely not, but at least it gave him something to do with his hands as he called up Cheryl.

"Danny!" She immediately snapped, and he winced.

"Hi, Cheryl," He demurred, hoping to project the most charming air that she could definitely see through. "How're you doing?"

"Don't change the subject, pretty boy."

He held his tongue at a sarcastic comment to that. "Mmmm yeah, so. About that. Would you mind like, not telling the Big Guy about what I did? Keep it like, anonymous act of charity?"

"Why." The word was sharp, almost unquestioning. Danny kept from squeezing his plastic ice coffee cup so hard that it would explode.

Okay. Okay. He had to do this. "I'm a Meta." He explained. "I really— Like, I left something definitely a Meta could do to keep the Joker in the deep freezer room." He really didn't want to become some super soldier or enforcer. He would quite literally rather kill someone before he did that.

It wasn't like there wasn't Metas in Gotham or, hell, some gangs. But he wasn't just Danny the Throw Him At Any Problem Because He Has Powers guy, and he never wanted to be. He just wanted to get his degree, get paid, and get out.

"Too late. I'd already told him that you'd locked Joker in there."

Danny smacked his head against the cafe table, wishing he inhaled more of the chemical weapon in the plastic Home Depot bucket.

"Cheryl," He said, with thinly veiled horror and dread.

Her voice audibly softened. "Danny. It's fine. You know he wouldn't throw you off the Harbor or anything. Hell, he's probably going to be grateful, however uncharacteristic. Everyone 's gonna be. It's the Joker."

Danny gave a truly pathetic groan as the now murderer of the Joker, and wondered if being fed to the fishes was truly a worse fate.

— — —

Jason was smoking on one of the balcony of his many safe houses, holding a picture of the man in front of him.

It'd been a long night and a long morning. Once he had gotten the intel that the Joker was locked in a deep freezer, in one of his goddamn bases, you bet your lucky fucking stars he had gotten there faster than Bruce had gotten to him.

It had taken hours to get into the room from whatever the hell was coated over the door, and dear fuck was it worth the effort.

The Joker was dead. So were many of his closest lieutenants and underlings. Some had died from GSWs, other from chemical burns or inhalation, and the Joker? The best of all.

He'd died slowly and painfully from hypothermia and the chemicals.

It had been a mixture of vindictive, vengeful glee and deep exhaustion as he carefully monitored the cremation process of all of the bodies.

It was over. It was fucking over. His syndicate would be in pieces that Jason would euphorically grind his heel into.

Now all that remained of the infamous, homicidal Joker was a plastic bag of grey ashes.

Jason wasn't sure what he was going to do with it now. Maybe he could flush it down his toilet. It'd clog, but he wouldn't give two shits.

Maybe he could even sent it to Bruce. The thought brought a huff from his lips as he blew out the smoke from his cig, eyes examining the picture from the file.

Cheryl had referred to this Danny as 'pretty boy' on many occasions, and Jason was inclined to agree. A mischievous, almost boyish face of a 22-year-old. The famed Red Hood Janitor, jack-of-trades.

The killer of the most prominent killer of all time.

He couldn't summon as much jealousy of it should have been me, twisting the knife in his gut rather than the feeling of relief. Red Hood had struggled even getting close, whether it was his obscene amount of gang members or it was fucking Batman or one of his little soldiers preventing him from putting a bullet in his head.

No, it wasn't as much anger but interest that he twisted around in is mind, thumb hovering over the face of Danny Fenton.

He'd like to meet this man. Jason was sure that it would be a conversation he wouldn't want to miss.

Possible reasons they’re looking at you weird Jazz:

-They meant dead detectives; it’s a ghost party

-They meant fictional detectives; it’s a costume party

"Oh honey, as far as we're concerned you're our flesh and blood!" His mom was quick to reassure him, "Though legally speaking... yes."

Danny frowned as he read through and reread the papers, trying to reconcile the information found there with the story he'd been told. A story about a younger version of his parents, who'd had his sister and decided they were ready for another child but were struggling.

After multiple failed attempts, they sought out a fertility specialist and learned that their years of exposure to hazardous materials had compromised their ability to have children. The fact that Jazz was born first try and without complications was a miracle. A long series of medical records and doctors notes showed all the tests they went through trying to find another way to conceive, culminating in a positive test result for Maddie's ability to carry to term. With renewed hope, they began to research IVF treatments and donors. Unfortunately, they couldn't afford both an egg and sperm donor as they hadn't yet found someone willing to invest in their patents. Not willing to give up, Maddie took to browsing online forums for advice from people who had been in her position. It was there she learned that, similar to organ donors, people who have their embryos frozen can sign a consent form allowing their stored embryos to be donated in the event of their death. This was the lead they were waiting for.

Another couple who had also been struggling to conceive had six embryos prepared and were successful on the fourth attempt, leaving two behind when they passed away. Having signed the consent form, those two embryos had been kept in stasis waiting to be donated. With a confirmation that they were compatible, the Fentons wasted no time in setting up an appointment. The first didn't take but the second did. They took every precaution during the pregnancy, this leading their decision to start wearing hazmat suits even while outside the lab, and nine months later the Fentons were welcoming their second child to the family. At this point in telling the story, Danny had been handed two matching documents; the donor profiles the clinic had given his parents all those years ago. There were no pictures, and information like surname and address had been redacted out of privacy, but they held the health screenings and physical descriptions of a couple named Thomas and Martha. 

"Nothing has to change Danny," His mother stated, "We love you so much and are so proud of you, biological child or not."

"That's right Dann-o!" His father jumped in, "The only difference is that now you know." 

Danny looked at his parents, then to the documents, then back to his parents before asking, "So why are you telling me this now?"

"It was never something we meant to keep from you. And now that you're sixteen, we felt it was the right time," His dad said.

"And," His mom added, "We felt that, if you wanted to have a relationship with your biological family, you should have the chance to find them." She then placed a box on the table, an AncestryDNA kit. "We never had any means of contact to let them know you were born and services like this didn't exist back then. It's okay if you don't want to, but we felt you should have the option."

Danny studied the kit before nodding to himself with determination. "No matter what some DNA kit has to say, you're my parents. You've been there for me my entire life, I'm not going to replace you with some strangers who share blood with me. But.. I would like to know them."

Secure in his decision, he proceeded to complete the DNA collection and send out the test with help from his parents. In a little over a month he would receive his results. He was nervous to find out if he had grandparents or siblings but, a little selfishly, relieved that he wouldn't have to worry about meeting his biological parents. He knows he's old enough that a court would let him choose where he ended up but he doesn't what to think about what would have happened if his bio parents were alive and decided they wanted to fight for custody. That just made him feel guilty though. He should feel sorrow for the parents he never got to meet, and he does, but if they had lived, would they ever have gone back for him? Would they eventually have decided they wanted another child or would he never have been born, forever in stasis as the world went on without him? 

He shoved those thoughts away, not wanting to dwell on them. He doesn't need to worry about 'what if's, they didn't happen after all. This is how his life played out and he wouldn't trade it, his family, and his friends for anything. Now he just has the opportunity to add some new people to that group. Until then, it's back to his normal routine while anxiously awaiting his results.

Later, in a cave in New Jersey far below the surface, an alert would flash on a high tech computer. 

NEW DNA MATCH - 2 CONNECTIONS

Bruce Wayne - Brother 

{Aka, Danny on vacation causes some (a lot of) panic.}

{Inspired by Leviathan Danny and Eldritch Danny fics, though it'll probably go off its own way in the future if I decide to keep posting my writing. But for right now, this is just build up. Maybe in the future I'll post more of my wips or oneshots. There wont be any beta reading for this so it might be all over the place.}

{Likely wont be any real dialogue since I don't think I'd give them any justice}

After the incident, the Fenton household became all too much sometimes. Having to constantly pretend that, no, he wasn't a dead preteen, and no, his parents' negligence didn't kill him. He needed a place to go to just escape from the stress. The fear. Even if he insisted that he wasn't scared of his parents, there was that fear in the back of his head of if he was caught or if his parents ended up not taking him being half dead well.

Danny didn't know where he'd go in the beginning, following wherever his core took him. He followed it as if he already knew where he was going cause his core was confident in its own instincts.

Turns out having an eldritch being, otherwise known as the king of ghosts and the infinite realms, as your childhood best friend, comes with a lot of perks, including an all around fierce protection.

Tucker, being one such friend, and used to Amity Parks level of insanity, hadn't normally batted an eye when an all powerful being threw hands for him as soon as a threat made itself known. First, it was the casual ghost such as Skulker and Ember who were going through their usual tirade, then one day, it was an eldritch king that that had woken up suddenly (thanks for that wild ride, Vlad! Not!) and had beef with the once sleepy (but now wide awake) town that was Amity Park.

Second, but definitely not least, Dan and Dani, both who were now reformed and off on their own adventures now-but let's not forget that Phantom had to knock some sense into them before they realized that world domination and destruction (Dan) and seeking the approval of a creepy fruit loop (Dani) probably wasn't the best way to solve their issues.

Thankfully though, they did-and now that Vlad was in therapy, and no longer acting like a complete fruit loop, and Danny had been crowned king on his 20th birthday and had claimed Amity Park as his haunt, the Amity Park level threats like box ghost or lady lunch all but vanished. After all, no ghost wanted to earn the ire of a king by 'throwing down' in the equivalent of the king's living room that was Amity Park. That was rude. And ghosts were anything but rude.

Thus, Tucker felt completely secure in leaving Amity Park in order to pursue a degree and eventually land a job in one of this world's most prominent technically advanced companies that was Wayne enterprises.

Living in Gotham was a walk in the park compared to Amity Park, which had somehow always managed to beckon world ending events like tomorrow should be a question and a threat instead of a mere fact.

Was there a tomorrow? Maybe. (WhAt dO YoU MeAn MAybE??)

Would it somehow manage to top off yesterday's shenanigans? You bet your last dollar it would. (Dang, Tucker had been saving that for some Nasty Burger)

It sucks to suck. You should have stayed in bed.

So walking out of his apartment for some casual mugging time? Not a problem. The eldritch being looming over his shoulder like some forgotten memory staring the would-be mugger turned psychic patient, that? That was a problem. Now Tucker was batting an eye at his best friend's protectiveness.

Seeing a full grown man pee his pants in real time in front of him probably did more damage to his psychic than being mugged ever could. Both of them had left that interaction more scarred than they should have been.

Especially when the man had fallen to his knees in front of Tucker and had proceeded to hug his leg, begging for mercy, and promptly making Tucker's soul wither away in pure anguished disgust. He had never craved a shower more in his life than he did in that moment.

(Yes, Tucker had thrown those pants away the moment he had shunked them off. And burned them.)

He had then complained loudly and rightly to Danny that something like that should never happen again. Danny had been apologetic and had gotten him a new pair of pants but something like that could not be made up with by getting him a new pair of pants.

(It also didn't make up for Sam laughing at him for a complete full hour when he had complained to her and bringing it up every time she could.)

Turns out, being King had only boosted Danny's awareness of when his fraid was in danger, and the ability to immediately peer out from the abyss, from where his true form hid from mortal eyes, and make eye contact with any perceived threat. Turns out, a man peeing his pants was the least volatile thing to happen to a mortal making eye contact with an incomprehensible being.

They could also go insane if Danny stared at them for too long. One lecture from Jazz was all it took for Danny to start taking his new abilities seriously.

Still, it had only become habitual to see people with ill intent falling over themselves to get away from him or plead for mercy. Tucker preferred it when they ran away. He had actually gotten into the habit of carrying a spray bottle around with him at all times for the ones that like to crawl towards him while pleading for forgiveness. He found that spraying people with bone chilling cold water worked as more of a deterrent than anything else.

He made sure to send some fancy gadgets to Jazz for that suggestion. Something about security...

He did wonder how she knew that worked, but then again she did work in Arkham, so she out of everyone he knew-probably-knew best in how to deter less-than-sane people away from you.

If you recognize the prompt, please send it btw.

In one of the Reblogs they mentioned Waller recruiting the Doctors so....