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He takes the sword, walks up behind Drake's unsuspecting form, and with one clean cut; he lops off his head.

The reaction of Father is instant; he screams. It's a hollow, broken thing. It's full of grief and rage and pain, and Damian takes one look at his Fathers eyes and knows it is time to run.

This is not a victory.

This is not an achievement.

He will not be praised.

He is going to be hunted to the ends of the earth.

He turns and flees, just in time to hear Grayson scream as well; horrified turning to enraged.

He runs from them for months. At one point even Todd joined in, congratulating Damian on making Father willing to break his code and kill the Joker if it meant help in hunting him down. After that Todd had struck, managing to take Damian's arm in a moment of weakness.

At six months, he finds himself cornered.

Grandfather and Mother had agreed with Father upon hearing how badly Damian had shamed himself, and were watching apathetically from behind the Batman.

Batman, Nightwing, and Red Hood move forward as one.

Batman, Nightwing, and Red Hood strike as one.

Damian blinks...and falls backwards, letting go of the sword he just grabbed.

Drake turns around, startled, head still attached to his neck.

Ears ringing, Damian can't hear whatever Father is saying as he pats him down for injuries. Can't hear whatever Drake says as he moves forward cautiously to do his own injury check.

All he can think of is that he has been given a second chance, and he cannot allow anything to happen to Drake.

He's also not gonna trust himself about what is and is not the right thing to do. Because as far as he was taught, killing Tim to secure his own place was correct. But then it wasn't. And now he doesn't know anymore. And all he can do is try to find the right answers in whatever the others do or say.

It's like overnight, Damian does a complete 180. From an arrogant, entitled brat trying to assert himself as the one and only worthy, the "Blood Son." To suddenly being the meekest, most deferential, most people pleasing kid on the planet. Quietly of course; silently, subtly, so as not to alarm or alert the others to his alternate misdeeds lest they turn on him again.

Damian is going to metaphorically cleave and contort himself into the smallest, least offensive, least obtrusive box he can find; desperately hoping it's good enough to never see that wild vengeance and bloodlust in his Father's eyes again.

Bruce was thrilled that the weird sword had managed to speedrun Damian's personality past the 'I'm superior' stage. Dick was happy that Damian was 'getting along' with everyone.

Tim knew better.

Something was up.

If Dick so much as made a fast movement, Damian would flinch.

If Bruce sighed, really about anything at all, Damian would leave.

He always covered it up, but Tim knew a scared kid when he saw one.

Also, Damian didn't seem to be able to control his fear when he saw Tim.

His hands would start to shake. His eyes would glaze over. He would use any excuse he could to sneakily take Tim's pulse. He'd gone from a semi-regular kid with daddy issues to a meek, subservient...Tim. Gala Tim, to be precise.

When he'd been afraid to walk wrong at the risk of being told he was embarrassing his parents.

If he hadn't been there for the sword thing, he would have seriously thought Bruce and Dick were verbally abusing Damian.

Tim was going to get to the bottom of it.

Bruce and Dick were insistent that Damian was fine, just finally cooled off. He didn't display any signs of a traumatized kid, so it was okay. He'd just decided to step up; he was being responsible by not carrying any weapons. He was taking care of himself by insisting he learn how to clean his room and do his laundry. He was just, finally, growing up.

The ten year old.

But the concerning mentality of Bruce and Dick aside, Tim knew that Damian, just like himself, knew what the expected signs of a traumatized child were. Knew how to hide those signs when they presented themselves.

The door cracked open, after much shuffling from the other side. Damian was blocking the door, then.

"Can I come in? You're allowed to say no." Tim murmured, keeping his hands to his sides, being as nonthreatening as possible.

Damian hesitated.

"...I am?"

"Yes. If you let me in, you're also allowed to tell me to leave. It's your room. I won't be angry, no one will."

Damian slowly opened the door a bit more, and nodded.

Tim stepped into the room.

The bed was unused, he clocked that in an instant. The dresser had been what Damian was placing in front of the doors, he could see the groove marks. The wardrobe, desk, and couch had been moved in front of the windows. The curtains were tied shut with more than just the curtain tiebacks, lengths of rope had been taken from storage and laced together to keep the curtains shut.

Damian quietly shut the door behind him, and as Tim turned to face him, he caught a glimpse of clothes in the bathtub.

Damian was sleeping in the bathtub, then.

No wonder he'd been refusing to allow Alfred into his room.

Damian hadn't said anything.

Tim knew it was because he was afraid to say anything.

Whatever Damian had seen, whatever that sword had done, staying in the Manor wasn't doing him any good.

If anything, it was making him worse.

"You don't feel safe here," Tim started, his eyes boring into Damian's own. "I don't know what happened, but I know it had to do with that sword. You cut yourself on it, and now you're afraid of Bruce and Dick. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Damian broke eye contact and looked at the floor.

"Okay. You don't have to. Do you want me to leave?"

A small shake of the head.

"Then, do you want to leave? Live somewhere else while you come to terms with...whatever that was?"

Damian said nothing, but tensed like he was preparing for a hit.

"Damian, you can say yes or no. There is no wrong answer, and I'll take the heat if B gets pissy."

There. That got a response.

Damian's head jerked up, and his eyes were full of fear. His body seemed to move on it's own, without it's owner realizing it, and he clung to Tim's shirt with both hands.

"No! He'll-" Damian cut himself off, looking down.

"...Then, should I touch the sword? To learn what it does?"

The hands tightened, and Tim knew that his shirt was going to be permanently deformed from the stretching.

Damian said nothing, though.

Tim winced. He'd pushed the kid too far, damn.

"Do you want to come with me? I have a lot of safehouses that are specifically designed against Bruce."

Damian hunched his shoulders, head bowing until it was resting on Tim's chest.

"I have contingencies for everyone, including him. You'll be safe, I promise."

Her way, of course.

When she knows he's due to come home, because she knows his work schedule, she fills her hand with whipped cream and goes invisible, waiting just inside the door.

The door opens, she sees a flash of blue eyes, and slap! She slaps the whipped cream in Danny's face, going into the visible spectrum and laughing.

Then she stops laughing.

That's not Danny.

That's some other guy, who looks very, very confused and shocked.

"...Okay I swear I didn't mean to break into your apartment."

Danny: Ellie! Oh my Ancients! I am SO sorry Clark! Are you ok?

Ellie: Oh shit. I thought this was Danny's place! I meant to get him! Are you ok? Did I hurt you?

Clark who is confused and covered in cream, but not hurt. Is just stood there thinking. Until he finally laughs. And laughs some more. Highly confusing Danny and Ellie. Danny carefully leads Clark into his apartment, and helps him clean up. Ellie gets sent to make a snack tray and drinks.

Clark: Oh! Oh boy, I've not been pranked in years. And she got the wrong house! Thanks for helping me clean up Danny

Danny: Given it was my sister who got you? Kinda my responsibility. She's getting good and drinks. To apologise for breaking into the wrong flat. We should ask if she set up others. She likes to booby trap my place when she visits.

Clark: Real chaos maker huh? So, ah, given how hard she slapped me? I should probably mention I'm not a baseline human either?

Danny: Yeah. It's a good thing really. She could have seriously hurt you if you were. Hopefully she learns from this. At least to check it's the right damn flat!

Ellie: I SAID I was sorry! You have the same schedule! Are the same height and build! You even work near each other! The only difference from afar is the glasses!!

Danny: Hey! That's not the point and you know it mischief! And shoes off in the flat! I don't care if you barely touch the ground!

Ellie: Spoilsport. And I AM sorry. I really didn't mean to.

Clark: It's ok. Just be more careful in future. How ah, how did you get into my flat? And how come I couldn't hear you at all? I mean, you aren't even breathing!

Danny just groaned and dropped his head on the table. Ellie had entirely outed them. Fuck it.

Danny: Close your eyes a second. It's gonna be bright.

Clark did as suggested. And even behind his eye lids the flash was incredibly bright. Opening his eyes he saw Danny and Ellie floating. Both looking the same. Neither were breathing, or had any kind of identifiable heartbeat. He must have pulled a face as Danny grinned crookedly at him.

Danny: Yeah. So, in this form I'm Phantom. This is Phasma. In our other forms it's Danny and Ellie.

Clark: Huh. Wait. From Amity Park? But isn't Phantom?

Danny: Dead? Yeah. Please don't ask how. That's uh, not a fun topic.

Ellie: I was 'born' like this. We are half dead, half alive. Neither and both so...

Clark: I live in a haunted apartment huh? Well, given all the alien attacks? I suppose this isn't that weird.

Ellie: The local hero runs around with his under pants on over tights. Metropolis is weird!

Clark: Superman does not! That's a vital part of his costume!

Ellie: Yeah? For what? It looks just like under pants!

Danny: Ellie, don't bully the journalist who works with the local hero. Please?

Clark:... I can never introduce you to Lois.

Ellie: Wait! You know Lois Lane?!?

Danny: Lois Lane is like, Ellie's personal hero.

Clark: Do tell?

Ellie: Aw man...

Clark: Sorry I beat you to the punch?

Clark is then treated to the sight of Ellie flushing green and diving at Danny. Who laughs and playfully grappled her while they continued to float. Danny was somehow controlling the play fight enough to ensure they didn't break anything. Clark was actually a little envious of the sheer skill that hinted at. He would like to have that much control please and thank you.

He pulled out his phone and texted Lois. She would love to hear about the successful prank done by her fan. The snacks were also mentioned, Danny was clearly a skilled baker. These were good. Not as good as his Ma's, but good. Definitely enhanced by the comedy routine the siblings were putting on.

Clark: So.. I know Phantom is retired. But would you be willing to spar for fun sometimes? I only know a few people who can really push me ya know? And well, everyone knows how good Phantom is.

Ellie: New fight buddy!!! Yes! We should call Red too! She'd love a new fight buddy!!

Simply put, she'd just read Frankenstein and there was a thunderstorm. She flew into the clouds and deliberately set out to get shocked by lightning.

It worked. It actually worked. Her Core went from something delicate and unsure of it's own alignment to having a Lightning Core. She wasn't thrilled that she shared that with Vlad, but hey! Now she only randomly got sick sometimes instead of all melty! Even then, she only gets sick if she runs out of juice, like a battery.

So she makes it a point to charge up her core as often as she can, and tornado season on the plains is a great way to find storms.

The Kents, watching a large storm roll in with clouds so heavy that they seemed to reach towards the ground, notice the figure of a small person darting in and out of them.

It happens again with the next one.

And the next.

Simply put, she'd just read Frankenstein and there was a thunderstorm. She flew into the clouds and deliberately set out to get shocked by lightning.

It worked. It actually worked. Her Core went from something delicate and unsure of it's own alignment to having a Lightning Core. She wasn't thrilled that she shared that with Vlad, but hey! Now she only randomly got sick sometimes instead of all melty! Even then, she only gets sick if she runs out of juice, like a battery.

So she makes it a point to charge up her core as often as she can, and tornado season on the plains is a great way to find storms.

The Kents, watching a large storm roll in with clouds so heavy that they seemed to reach towards the ground, notice the figure of a small person darting in and out of them.

It happens again with the next one.

And the next.

Ellie, being a Fenton by blood, ignores all possible warnings about stranger fanger and just wants food. Lightning is good, but it's flavor leaves much to he desired.

After she is invited in and introduced to the Family, they get right to Dinner. Over Dinner they have small talk, ellie tells them her name, and explains that she likes chasing storms to recharge her Core since she needs it to live and Lightning is one of the hear ways to quickly recharge. Of course Mama Martha asks if she is eating enough, to which Ellie responds that she doesn't technically need to eat, and that just won't stand!

She doesn't care if you don't need to Eat, she is a Midwestern Grandmother, and this child will Eat!

She invites Ellie to come over any time she is feeling hungry no matter how much, there will always been a seat at the Kent Table for her.

He was wrong.

Tim Drake is the son of Vlad Masters.

After Vlad got better from being dosed with Ectoplasm and found out that Maddie had officially gotten together with Jack, he'd...not taken it well. He went on a bender.

The same night that Janet and Jack had gotten into a huge fight.

They hooked up.

Tim has (had) no idea about this.

Vlad, however, does.

How?

It's a little hard to look across the room of a gala and not notice when someone with his facial features is already staring at him in abject horror.

The kid looks around, startled. He's got a black eye and he's holding a length of rope, presumably what had been restraining him.

"Uh. Is. Is this the afterlife?" The kid asks, bewildered.

"...No, this is Gotham. We were trying to summon Pariah Dark?" One of the cultists answers, also confused.

"But I was being sacrificed to summon Pariah Dark?" The kid says, brows furrowed.

The cultists pause in their attempted murder of Robin and hurriedly reconvene, taking their eyes off of the kid. They're muttering about how maybe there was another cult doing a sacrifice at the same time, and things got switched up. Should they sacrifice both of the boys?

Damian, though. Damian never takes his eyes off of the new kid.

Unlike the cultists, he's not an idiot. He knows a liar when he sees one. That boy is no sacrifice.

That boy is the being they summoned.

He waits for the being to show it's true colors. And waits. And waits.

'Hurry up!' Damian mouths to it.

'I am trying!' It mouths back, motioning at it's feet where it's been wearing away the containment sigil.

'Well try faster!'

'That's not how it works!'

'How hard is it to mess up chalk?'

'Well then you come here and you do it!'

"Maybe I will," Damian spits outloud, done with this farce.

"Uh, do you two need a moment or...?"

Damian answers the cultists question by kicking her in the face as he cuts himself loose.

So Danny is at the manor lying his way through an interrogation and nodding and playing the part, and literally no one believes that Danny is Damian’s twin except Dick and Bruce, but everyone else

one: enjoys Danny’s company enough to let him stay (Tim, Steph, Alfred (??) and Cass)

two: thinks it’s really funny (Jason Steph)

Three: believes he’s under threat of death (Duke) (I think duke is asleep for the first meeting but once he does meet them he just decides it’s not his problem, and he is in fact mildly scared of Danny)

So they go with it! Yes of course they’re worried on what he’s gonna do with the knowledge of their identity’s but they are immediately ignored because he’s definitely part of the family now so of course he should know their identities!

I think they shove Danny into Damian’s bedroom and they’re like “chat! Reconnect! Catch up with eachother! See you in the morning!” And they just have to deal with that but do indeed actually get to know eachother and their interests and become almost friends once Danny clarifies that this is not a disguise he is part human he just also got outrageous amounts of political power by kicking too much ass while being a ghost. Obviously.

He has no idea what's going on.

He went to the doctor for his civilian persona, went to trusted doctors he used as his Red Robin persona, and there's nothing wrong that they can find.

But he feels like he's dying of thirst all the time. He's waking up every two or three hours to chug water like a man dying, he's tried to resist but he feels like his skin literally starts to crack and peel.

However when he went to the local magic users, even pestering Raven, they swore up and down that he wasn't cursed.

He's resorted to carrying multiple water bottles with him at all times, and it's as he's walking down the street in his civvies that he bumps into a teen girl who has just as many water bottles as him.

She blearily looks him over and groans.

"You too, huh?"

"...Wait, it's not just me?"

"I mean, technically water cores are rare, but that's no reason to get Main Character Syndrome. Hate feeding a developing one, though; it's a bitch."

"What."

"Uh, your Water Core? The-do you not know you're dead?"

"What."

"Yeah, for like, two years it looks like."

"Two ye-? Ra's."

Or a bucket of water to prevent sleep drowning

Tim already had a garbage sleep schedule

Waking up every 3 hours would demolish him

I'm imagining someone just walking into the bathroom and experiencing the presence of bucket tim

The family would be so confused

Alfred comes in to keep Tim's bathroom clean only to fine him

Just in a bucket

He's actually surprised

Things shouldn't surprise him, his boss is batman

Like cleaning up the local ponds so he can dunk himself while on patrol and not have to carry around 2 litre bottles everywhere

I'm imagining him just podging around Gotham sopping wet all the time tracking in water everywhere

Also, can he get wet for long or does the water seep through his skin

Tim being anti-slip from the water absorption would be so good for him

The blood is not human, and it is not animal. Really, after the local city government determined that it couldn't be farmed for blood donations, they stopped caring and just added spraying the town down with water to clean it up to the firefighters duties.

Tim hears about it through a travel blog, where the writer was Freaking The Fuck Out. Then it was deleted.

The entire blog disappeared.

He decides to go investigate, because that's pretty interesting if he's being honest. Damian tags along because the kid heard "it appears to rain blood" and was immediately in, like the edgy thirteen year old he is.

Tim goes to Amity Park.

It rains blood.

He collects some and has to smuggle it out, because there's government thugs in white suits stomping around afterwards.

He runs tests on the blood in the Batcave.

It's Kryptonian.

it starts to have an interesting effect on the ecosystem... new plants are starting to grow. No one can identify them, teens are daring each other to eat them to see if they are poisonous. Sam is ecstatic about the new plants. but no one is getting sick and new plants are discovered all the time. Just put some more fenton anti-ecto landscaping tarps TM over the yard.

what no one realizes is that the kryptonian blood rain is slowly terraforming Amity Park into a new Krypton.

(also can any of the food grown in Amity Park be considered vegetarian or vegan because the plants are being feed blood?!)

Imagine the JL getting to Amity Park just as the humans and animals start getting kryptonian powers. the GIW are thinking its the ghost sickness that happened to the highschool all over again but on a larger scale. they start attacking the citizens.

when everything starts to calm down (aka GIW beaten) and tests are taken its discovered that the entire city/town has some level of genetic mutation that makes them a mix of human kryptonian and ghost. What is there to do at that point? How do you unfuck-up someone's DNA? the blood rain still happens occasionally so whatever the solution is it can't be a one and done kind of deal. getting an entire populace to follow medical directions for the rest of all time won't work- some people like their new superpowers, forgetfullness, not trusting the government after the GIW, the cost of it all is offputing.

With a spike for when the town is taken into the realms and then assuring Phantom was able to take care of it.

Next, turning fearful as the GIW gets more forceful with their 'containment' of the heavily ecto-contaminated onto pleas for help as clearly phantom can't do it on his own.

With the final call being someone begging for saving as the GIW took down Phantom and are setting up something that 'will take care of this contaminated town forever'

ambient ecto blocked the calls -> things got better and then GIW started getting bad -> Phantom was captured -> GIW declared no one could leave or enter Amnity-> Danny is reported missing by Jazz -> GIW wipes Amnity from almost all maps ->Phantom has an unfortunate time in GIW's "care" -> things take a turn for the worse as Casper High is Quarantined and GIW refuse to allow parents to access their children -> Tucker Sends a video out showing what the GIW is doing to the Kids (it isn't pretty) -> All of Amnety saw the video -> Amnety citizens rebel in an effort to save the children of Casper High -> they fail the first two times they try to rescue the kids -> Tuckers Parents realize with the town drawing all attention to the school the facility Phantom is being held in is vulnerable -> Phantom is rescued by a team of Actually compitant adults -> the third try to rescue Casper High succeds -> one of the Adults discovers the GIW are planning to Nuke the town -> the Fentons help to evacuate Amnity to the zone -> the Fentons' house became a bunker to protect the portal -> GIW Nuke the town just as shields go up -> The fallout from the Bombs (plural because the GIW are fools) made it so no one but Phantom could go back safely to get supplies for the survivors -> JL finnaly gets the distress calls -> Phantom starts showing up in other cities to steal supplies -> JL starts investigating the calls -> GIW follow Phantom from town to town -> JL put together a timeline -> GIW start attacking Phantom on his supply runs -> JL locate the missing town and discover the Fallout -> YJ gets involved with a fight between GIW and Phantom -> JL starts efforts to clean up the radiation that has spilled out to the surrounding area -> Louis Lane and Clark Kent break the story to the world -> YJ drives the GIW away only to find while the were fighting the boy being attacked disappeared -> as clean up efforts intensify the Fenton home is discovered by a reporters drone, still intact -> the world watches as images are broadcasted of the house that survived Ground Zero -> the shadow of a person is seen through one of the windows before drawing the blinds -> the news that there might be a survivor spreads -> the GIW are declared terrorists and a rouge agency (I don't know how that works okay) -> radiation levels in Amnity finally drop to levels safe for humans -> JL makes first contact with Phantom

They had gone through every phone call, every email, that was sent from a town that no longer existed.

He was about to play the last one.

The final message that was sent to the Justice League.

No one was speaking. No one was moving.

Batman reached around Wally and pressed play.

"Look, Justice League, I don't...I know you don't care about us. I know that. They took our babies and they took the only hero who does, and you've never shown any of your faces. The only thing I can think of is if the GIW told you the same lies they told us. That you believe them. But we're going to rescue Phantom. We're getting our hero out. We're getting him out, and then we're getting our babies back. I've included the latitude and longitude of where Phantom is. If you care, at all, please send someone to assist. If no one shows up...well. Alright. I guess everyone was right about you then. Either way, this is the last time we're reaching out to you. Don't even know why I-"

The call disconnected.

Attached was, as promised, the coordinates to where 'Phantom' was being held.

Batman wordlessly pulled up a live satellite feed of that exact area...only to show an almost totally destroyed building.

"...Did they succeed in rescuing their Phantom?" Wonder Woman asked, voice low and pissed.

No one had an answer for her.

"I regret to inform you, but there is...one last email." J'onn said quietly, motioning towards the blinking icon on the screen.

Wally wanted to ask Batman to give him a second. Just, a few seconds to process how badly they'd failed a town, and entire city full of people who had been abused by a group of-

Batman clicked the icon.

The email filled the screen.

'they're gonna fucking nuke us, they have a nuke, we just found out and i know my husband said it would be the last time you heard from any of us but please PLEASE WE NEED HELP IT'S A NUKE THEY'RE GOING TO KILL US'

Attached was a blurry photo of a primed nuclear warhead, taken from a distance, and Wally knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that it wasn't a fake photo.

"Maybe we can get to them before the GIW detonates-" Hal started, sounding heartbroken and hopeless even as he tried to find any silver lining, any chance of saving these people.

"The only reason a blackout like this would be lifted, in such a way that everything came through and nothing was deleted," Nightwing said, voice hoarse and face blank, "Is if the systems keeping it up were obliterated all at once. It detonated."

No one had anything to say to that.

Also, it's the strangest kidnapping Kon's ever heard of.

The cultists have locked them in a room with pizza, the latest video game consoles, the most comfy bed Kon's ever sat on, the fastest wifi he's ever seen outside of something Rob made, and a button for them to request like, anything.

And Kon tested it.

He asked for a puppy.

The cultists literally handed him one less the seven minutes later.

The whole reason Kon hasn't burst out is because he's curious.

He wants to know what the hell is going on.

"So..." he turns to look at the civilian, who was clearly the actual target.

The civilian doesn't move from where he's laying on the ground and glaring at the ceiling.

"Why?" Kon asks, using one hand to motion to the room as the other one gives belly rubs to KingKon, the newly named puppy.

"Because certain assholes don't know how to take no for an answer."

Oh, well if it's a creep creeping on a teenager then Kon isn't sticking around.

"Do you mind watching my new puppy while I go beat them up? What's their name?"

The civilian turns his head to look very dubiously at Kon. Which. Rude.

Kon could beat up a creep.

Kon beats up creeps all the time.

"Pariah Dark, Tyrant of the Dead."

Okay that's a little bit of a tall order.

"Why does Pariah Dark want a teenager?"

"Because I beat him up and now he wants to adopt me, so he keeps trying to win me over."

Oh! Okay. Totally different situation.

So he's gonna sentient-ize people's cars.

It's perfect, because the GIW will be tracing his ecto signature across the country, only to realize that they were chasing a car.

The people that own the car will probably realize it start to sort of become a pet instead of just a mode of transportation, and when it's found to be ecto contaminated, they'll argue against the ruling that ecto-beings are just soulless husks.

He starts in the only place that will hire and angry sixteen year old with a chip on his shoulder and no prior work history or certificates.

Gotham.

As Jason peeks around the create he hears an engine start to rev up. A very distinctly sounding engine. An engine that sounds exactly like his fucking motorcycle!

Right as the goons began to open fire again his motorcycle drifted through the warehouse's bay door. Popped a wheelie. And proceeded to introduce the nearest goon to its tire treads.

You're missing the greatest bit.

The company that hired danny is owned by wayne industries.

The batmobile is usually a state of the art vehicle produced and maintained by wayne tech.

Danny, working in the engine bay snags a sharp edge and in his pursuit for a band-aid doesn't notice a drop fall into a part delivery to wayne tech.

Cue the batmobile either getting totalled or coming in for a tune up...

They make the repairs, maybe swap in a new battery that requires a jump start.

Boom, sentient batmobile joining hoods motorbike on patrols in a parody of what it feels is a dynamic duo! (Like a Cars version of batman and robin!)

(All it needs is vlad to catch wind and start copying them for villains, making murderous cars!)

Danny despises the training, but does it because it genuinely seems to make her happy.

He doesn't expect it to kick in when he gets startled by his new coworker tapping his shoulder, spooking him.

Danny...isn't quite sure what happened.

One second he was staring at the water cooler thing, the next something tapped him, and then....

Well.

His coworker, Clark Kent, is cradling a very obviously broken arm and staring at him in shock.

"I'm so sorry-! I just-! My godfather, he's always trying to force me to-! I didn't mean-! I just reacted I'm so sorry! Hospital! I'll take you to the hospital!"

For the other reporters, that smells like a story, because they looked into their new IT guy, and they know his godfather is Vlad Masters.

For Clark, that's horrifying, because this young man just broke a Kryptonian's arm and is saying he did it because there's someone else who gave him that fight or flight response, and he spoke of that person in present tense, so they're alive.

For Vlad, he's not a super huge fan of all his crimes being aired out on the news, but there's literally so many reporters dogpiling him he can't possess them all.

He does, however, snap and tear a car door off of his car when he goes to open it.

On live TV.

How much hellfire would Lois Lane rain down upon Vlad. She can smell a front page story from a mile away. A multi billionaire CEO who might be abusing the child of his ex college friends? That’s guaranteed to be multiple front page editorials as the scandal unfolds.

But she can't share it.

Which probably sucks. Like, she has to sit on half the story because to tell it would be to expose both Clark and Danny as metas. And obviously Lois wouldn't do that to anyone.

“Only Danny’s my dad now!”

There were certainly more damning statements to be made, but not many. If only she hadn’t stabilized at her actual age!

Of course I can, Colt. I'd be happy to!

[She leads him over to Melody and Damien.]

So this is my Mama, Melody. And this is my Papa, Damien!

[She guestures to each of them when she says their name.]

[She gestures to Colt, gently pushing him towards Melody.]

"Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you," he whispers, trying not to disturb the other sleeping figure. "I sort of just... wounded up here a little while ago. I only know Simon (@simondrowinginblood), so I thought I should meet some of the other people here."

[She leads him to the other Simons, and Alec.]

@s1m0n-inthedark

@simon-sm13-sos

@madeofmanyfandoms

@colt-seavers-official

"It's nice to meet you, too," he returns with a polite smile. "So... What do you do around here, exactly?"

Alec, you do realize that she’s your grandmother? And you can call her Grandma? Jeez- how many times have we had this conversation?

Ooc: In case you need a refresher on Alec, and btw he’s supposed to sound Australian. Also adding full body if Rose. You notice anything about them?🤔

@colt-seavers-official

@colt-seavers-official

"Right, yeah, okay. That... mostly makes sense."

[Rose decides to take a much more direct approach.]

Over time, effects from Danny’s ghost form starts to bleed over into his human form.

His skin gains a deathly pallor. His hair turns white before gaining an ectoplasmic green tinge. When he smiles, it looks just a bit too wide to be human.

He, completely coincidentally, looks a lot like the Joker.

Not that he realized that fact for a while. Sure, Joker’s crimes may make the news sometimes, but it’s not like anyone in Amity Park paid that much thought to a criminal in an entirely different state. The connection just… never occurred to anyone.

Well, that was until Danny ended up in Gotham for [dealer’s choice of reason—college, vacation, runaway, etc]

His unfortunate appearance had made people flinch on sight, made dogs bark at him, Red Hood nearly ran him over on instinct, (he apologized), and Robin had stabbed him with a battarang (Batman apologized for him). He was pretty sure the other three still thought he was a clone or something.

And now he'd given his sister's situationship a panic attack.

He knew that Jazz was rooming with two supervillains-turned-anti-heroes, and he knew that one of them had a bad time with the Joker.

He didn't know it was that bad.

"I am so sorry Jazz, really."

"It's ok," she insisted, "Harley just needs a minute to calm down. Pam's with her."

"Right, your not-girlfriends."

"We're... figuring that out."

Danny just rolled his eyes.

"Is she gonna want this back by the way? I'm collecting things people stab me with."

"Stab you? What-? Holy Christ on a firecracker!"

He still had a stiletto knife deep in his chest, where his heart would be if he hadn't moved it after the last time he got stabbed.

"Jazz, I'm begging you, just say fuck."

"You need to see a doctor!"

"I'm sorry, is this our stab wound?"

"Dannyyyy!"

"I'm fine. You know I heal fast."

He pulled out the knife and pocketed it.

"I need to do something about this face," he groaned, "Frostbite's looking into it, but man this is getting on my nerves."

"We can probably ask the Bat to help you out," pointed out Pamela as she walked in, "if nothing else, he can help you hole up somewhere."

"Yeah, I've seen the way the others look at me. I'm not putting them through that."

"Suit yourself," she shrugged, "I'd offer you the couch, but Harley's already reaching for the strawberry milk vodka, sooo..."

"The what?"

"It's strawberry Nesquick with vodka," repeated Jazz, "it's her favorite drink."

"...How did you three meet again?" he asked, "I mean, don't get me wrong, you guys rock, but you don't seem like her type."

"She broke the Joker's jaw with a crowbar."

"She did what now?" Danny eyed his skinny, five-foot eight sister skeptically, "You sure he didn't trip into her?"

"Oh, she got him good!" cackled Harley from the room over, "Sorry I'm not in there! Your face makes the bad thoughts come back!"

"Er, sorry? It's not on purpose."

"I know. Sorry about the knife. Your sister's awesome by the way! I thought she killed him for a second there."

"I didn't mean to! It's just-! He had Harley on the floor, Pam was in a vat of herbicide, and he was saying horrible things to them. Then there was a bee, a crowbar, a flying wig, and next thing I know we're tipsy at a hotel and-."

He'd been visiting his Uncle in Metropolis, when Superman just, like, lost his mind?

He'd been asked to visit cuz his Cousins were, like, following him down the bullying path. Dash, fully knowledgeable in the ways of how douchey that is, and a redeemed bully and also member of the Big Brother program, was called in to set them straight.

Then Superman had gotten like, brain blasted or whatever and started attacking everyone.

Dash had defaulted to his ghost training from the school and dragged his Uncle and Aunt and little Cousins to shelter, and kept them there whether they wanted to stay or not.

In the middle of a lull, Dash looks around the corner of the busted concrete wall he was hiding his family behind and froze.

There is a lady approaching Superman.

Dash knows, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she is going to die.

He wants to do something.

But he can't.

His buddies in Amity make fun of him for it, but he's literally the only guy in their class that doesn't have Liminal abilities. He has no powers.

But he needs them, or she's going to die.

He has to do something.

Phantom isn't here.

Dash is.

Somewhere inside his soul, Dash feels something fracture. His blood and muscles feel like they're on fire, his bones feel brittle and like they're breaking over and over and over again. He can't breathe. He can't see.

And then he can.

He's standing directly in front of Superman, and has already caught the man's fist. It feels like grabbing one of Kwan's punches. Nothing more, nothing less.

Dash knows two things; he's pretty sure he just got his long awaited Liminal abilities, and now he's gotta kick Superman's ass.

But hey, he's never turned down from a challenge.

He wasn't expecting the alternate Timothy Drake to phase through his bindings, make a rude gesture, and disappear.

Literally.

Danny: I've been cloned and no.

Tim: I see.

Tim: Wanna help me blow shit up?