I'm being self indugent here

Don't let people saying your writing is too 'self indulgent' stop you.

Don't let people saying your writing is 'not original enough' stop you.

Don't let people saying 'you shouldn't write this' stop you.

This is a guy who wants to do paperwork and crunch numbers and dole out supplies. He got the same basic training as everyone else, but he’s been avoiding his mandatory “one month on the streets” for years.

The Hero boys mock him and call him a coward and that’s true, but he understands that someone needs to write the forms and source silver bullets and elm stakes and salt and what have you so they can do all the flashy save-the-world shit. Someone needs to organise the laundry and the rations and pay the water bill.

He has a friend who desperately wants to get into the big time. They can’t understand why he’s dodging his One Chance at the Big Leagues When They Fucked It Up And Got Assigned Desk-wards.

But one day, one month maybe, he sees the newest recruits being trained up. Sees one cocky wee shit whom he just knows is gonna become one of their rare first night casualties. This kid hasn’t been trained, this kid’s still making basic mistakes.

So he finally volunteers for what should be an easy shift. One of the simplest missions you can have.

Which, of course, is the night the world goes to shit.

Terrible Working Title: The Bottom Silver Line

the best fucking joke ever made.

I was actually screaming when he yelled flame on, it just took me so off guard.

and thank god they let that man swear.

Deadpool and Wolverine really saved the MCU in my mind.

Finally some good fucking content.

We do not meet many Bajoran women as deeply as Kira, but some we meet sometimes fit her "no fucks found" attitude. Even Leeta, while more cheerful and naive looking, has a strong character and doesn't put up with bullshit. She may look more "girly" to humans (boyish to Bajoran?), but she still runs low on fucks.

Now, Kira's boyfriends that we meet tend to be calm, compassionate and caring in a way some human men are, but may not be perceived as very masculine.

So, culturally, we could say that "feminine Bajoran women" are more masculine to humans and "masculine Bajoran men" are more feminine to humans.

And then Ferengi, who are like an exaggerated old school version of how humans are.

In all this, we have Rom. Ferengi think he is a lesser man (=less masculine) because he doesn't know how to make profit (a trait that has been insisted to be "male"). He is insecure and shy. He doesn't even walk with the same allure as the other ferengi men, including his son. And he starts a revolution by forming a union as maybe the only masculine trait of showing character and trying to be in control of a group of people. Something clearly against Ferengi's rules and customs.

And Leeta, who is maybe a bit queer to Bajoran eyes is attracted to this maybe a bit queer Ferengi. This maybe a bit masculine Bajoran girl is attracted to this maybe a bit feminine Ferengi boy. And then he does the very masculine Bajoran/feminine Ferengi thing of caring for others with the strike.

Danny, after his parents turned from Ghost hunting to being the first official Ghost Anthropologists, decided to repurpose some of their weapons.

And, well, there was a contest being run by Wayne Enterprises; whoever can design a robot that will help the environment got prize money and a grant.

Danny, in all his mechanical engineering prowess, was bored. So he designed a thing. Repurposed the Fenton Guns into a cute robotic tortoise that would clean the beach.

It spiraled from there, and now Fenton Works is the leading name in green technology that's cleaning up the Earth bit by bit. Sea Dragon robots that clean oil and trash from the ocean; beach tortoises that clean the sand and beach and deposit their hoard of trash into designated receptacles that Danny uses as material to make more robots; Cryptid "stalker" robots with long legs that delicately patrol forests to perform "fuel management" and clear out the underbrush to help manage wildfires; moving gargoyle robots that sit on top of skyscrapers to help clean the air with huge sail-like wings, etc.

Basically, Danny pulls a Doctor Elisabet Sobeck, but with less world ending and more actually helping. (Not that the world ending was Elisabet's fault, of course, but different franchise)

And due to the number of times aliens try to attack and rogues send their own robots to attack people, naturally Danny installed self-defense protocols, along with one single golden rule written into the very OS of every single robot; Save Humans Whatever the Cost.

Problem is, Batman has never seen robots like this not be used for evil purposes, and he knows that their power source (a closely guarded Fenton Works secret) is some sort of liquid that glows green.

He really only knows of one liquid that glows green.

So he's determined to find everything he can about Fenton Works, because there's no way that Daniel Fenton isn't actually a villain in the making.

Fenton had to come in front of a TEAM of Atlantis finest, who of course, agreed to sign NDAs, to explain WHO they worked IN DETAIL to their satisfaction. The boy was glad too. Those Dragons have fuckin Atlantian GAURDS now to prevent external tampering.

He even made Atlantian "Air" purifiers in the shape of jellyfish to clean up the waters near Atlantis. Insure the young, elderly, and infirmed had clean water to breathe. After all the shit humans have pulled towards Atlantis? Absolutely NOT. Danny Fenton both CLEARLY a few fish short of a school AND a the most precious baby boy in all of Atlantis. Let him make his helper animals.

They're pretty sure he has some sort of compulsive NEED to help.

And also? Save Humans Whatever The Cost? Imagine that. No REALLY imagine it. Being out at sea or camping way out in the middle of NO WHERE when some invasion hits. The sky splitting open.

Death starting to rain from above.

You have no where to hide.

Can only look up in horror. Scream and hold your kids, who you just wanted to make memories with, as you watch DEATH get closer and closer. You're crying. Alone. Will anyone even find your family's bodies?

Then SUDDENLY?

The sea or tea line SPLITS. Like a titan rising from the deep. You've seen them, meandering on the horizon. On the news. Those Fenton Work Green Works projects. Pretty and harmless, just poking along as they slowly save the world. Made to look non-threatening.

It doesn't look non-threatening now. It glows a poisonous green. Some giant SEA DRAGON or SPIDER like THING. Firing a concentrated beam of SOMETHING that cuts straight though the aliens about to tear your family apart. Flinging them back and away. And suddenly?

You are in the shadow of that colossal beast. As it fires, again and again. As the world BOOMS and shakes, full of fury and smoke. You feel so small. But... but the Green Works beast is... protecting you? Every attack that should have hit your family, it takes.

It's once pristine body, slowly gathering cracks, then holes, then missing chunks.

Somewhere in the world, superheroes force the enemy leaders back. The sky starts to clear. The Green Works beast backs away, teetering, barely holding. An automated message plays, "We are sorry for the scare. We here at Fenton Works prioritize lives over property. If anyone is injured, please, seek medical aid immediately. There is an emergency beacon and kit in this robot. Deploying."

A box pops out to either land with a thump or splash, sitting or float just in from of you, as the Green Works beast just... falls.

And it's like watching some giant and brave animal DIE in front of you. Maybe it's because of how it's shaped. Maybe the fact that it save you. But you can barely see past the tears as you struggle to open the emergency kit. Turn on that beacon, so help can find you.

And the only reason you're ALIVE is because of some cleaning robot you never gave thought too. And now it feels like it's dead because of you.

I imagine such stories make the news. The grieving faces of kids who's school bus was protected by a gargoyle. Of fishermen protected by Sea Dragons. Hikers who are only alive because of those walkers.

Invasions are a nightmare to clean up from. You send out rescues teams, have to find your robots, most of which are TRASHED because, well... people were in danger. Even the mouse-bots are down. They are literally just build for infrastructure inspection and minor maintenance. But a Universal Command is a Universal Command.

Imagine that CHAOS. People crying and holding bits and boxes of "their hero!" Outside of Fenton works offices. Crowds simmering on the edge of RIOTS because everyone is upset and desperate to see the robot that saved their LIFE fixed up.

Some of them drove hundreds of miles. There are urban robots, forestry robots, beach turtles, literally every gargoyle that was IN the city. Because Every. Single. Robot. Turned on the Invading forces.

They just... stopped. Turned around. And opened fire. A city wide "Not Today, fucker." But it COST them. Being the first response? Made them the first TARGETS too. Before the Heros, before law enforcement, first responders, anyone. The invaders clearly assumed they were a planetary defense system. Acted accordingly.

So now about over 9 out of every 10 Fenton works Robots are down.

Their technicians are scrambling at full speed to repair and release. It... would be a PERFECT time, for Brucie Wayne to offer his help. Arthur is glaring DEATH into the side of his skull. His eye promising terrible, terrible retribution if Bruce messes with Fenton works while they are down, but...

He has to know.

Has to be CERTAIN.

Besides, if they ARE benevolent? Wayne Tech HAS the work force and history of charity outreach. They can help. Would you prefer LUTHOR?

Keyword, high concentrations.

Ambient unsignatured ectoplasm, the kind safest and most ethical for batteries, isn't even tangible if the concentration is low enough. You have to condense it to force it to occupy tangible and intangible space.

It is very possible to design the batteries so that any ectoplasm that leaks out will disperse enough to stop interacting with real world matter. A sea turtle robot leaking from its battery is a minimal risk to the fish that come across it. (Through they do let those robots stay in the field for long)

That doesn't mean the ectoplasm leaking out isn't a concern. Frankly, Danny would like to limit the amount of otherworldly matter on Earth. It would be nice be able to clean the environment of wayward ectoplasm too.

Sending more ecto-powered robots to collect the ectoplasm would be inefficient and even counter-productive, but there is a solution.

While the ectoplasm doesn't interact with real world matter, it's still subject to the space time curvature of Earth's gravity. Ectoplasmic particles will fall towards the center, pass it, slow down, and fall towards the center again. As they do, they may collide with other ectoplasmic particles and lose momentum until eventually they start accumulating in Earth's core.

All this ectoplasm in Earth's core is intangible, and the core is too dense for any of it to become tangible, so the ectoplasm ball just grows.

It's not a huge problem yet, but Danny is working on finding a way to build a portal in the Ghost Zone to the Earth core's so they can remove all the ectoplasm that's accumulated WITHOUT the core itself or anything tangible getting into the Ghost Zone. He'd rather recycle the ectoplasm without getting a face full of magma, thank you very much.

The plans for this portal were one of the few things that Oracle was able to access and save during an attempt to hack into Fenton Works.

Batman understands now that this is magitech. He calls in Constantine to ask his opinion.

"Oh yeah, these new machines are definitely neck deep in supernatural energy, but every last damn one of em that I've managed to examine are filled with the essence of a powerful protector. Don't know how Fenton managed it, but its a brilliant way to safeguard them from going rogue. And the poor things'll destroy themselves before ever allowing anyone to reprogram them. Believe me, I've tried every way I can imagine to try to exploit them, magical *and* mundane. Whoever the essence is from, they're damn fucking powerful."

Batman... isnt *satisfied* with that answer, but he does find it harder to be paranoid about the situation.

"I know that look. Dont you dare ask me to do what I think you are," Constantine accuses after a beat, "Look, I already woke up once this week being stared down by a dozen creepy stalker deer after running my experiments on one of them rats. I don't wanna offend some spirit goin' out of their way ta help people any more than I already have."

"They threatened you?"

"...No," Constantine hesitantly answered, "I think they were waiting to see if I succeeded. Frankly, I let the little bugger go after that. I heard what happened to the Joker after he tried to tamper with them. I wasn't askin' for a repeat."

"Hn. You dont need to summon them. I know who it is," Batman answers before lurking off.

It was Danny Fenton's blood after all. Batman had a lot more questions for him.

Batman probably wouldn't feel awful right away, no, it takes until he and his team are partway through the compound, and they find Danny. The "scientists" there were partway through some horrible experiment, and it finally clicks for him. This kid is the same age as Tim. He looks and acts like he'd be one of his kids.

Batman was convinced from the beginning that Fenton was some dastardly villain playing the long-con, but despite his best efforts, the only monsters he'd found so far were all wearing white suits.

Then, in the middle of taking down the anti-ecto acts, Batman realized that Fenton *was* working out a long term plan.

And nothing about it was malevolent.

In his investigation into the GIW, he found that they had been keeping Fenton's home town in a media black out for several years. Danny lived his entire high school career under threat of an agency that had declared him legally non-sentient.

(Danny was probably the vigilante Phantom that risked life and limb to protect his hometown, fending off League-level threats, the GIW, a terrible reputation, and for the first couple of years, even his own parents.)

Getting out into the wider world and exploiting the Wayne Industries competition to fast-track ecto-fuel robots that genuinely help both people and the environment? Putting those robots where everyone could see them? Making some of them absolutely adorable and others kind of creepy cute?

It was all to see how people reacted. It was to find out if people would recognize that some of them became sentient. And the people passed that test with flying colors.

And if a robot being fueled by ectoplasm could be so clearly sentient, what justification did the GIW have to declare ecto-entities - and Danny Fenton - completely non sentient?

It was laughable.

It was *genius.*

And on top of that, there was too much attention on Fenton for him to disappear without raising questions. If Batman hadn't been going back specifically to talk to Fenton at that moment, it likely would have taken less than a day for his absence to be noticed and commented on.

Danny Fenton was trapped in an impossible situation, and instead of breaking under the pressure like so many others would have, he put his brains and his hands to work to prove to the world that the GIW was wrong.

He even proved Batman wrong.

They all just went:

"Logan."

I walked away.

He stops, and turns back to face Wade.

Something that looked suspiciously like hesitation passed across Wade's face. Not because of what he felt, or how Logan might react, but on how he would put it into words.

Wade opened his mouth, then closed it. He gulped.

They called after me and I walked away. I always do.

Logan watched how his free hand flexed, and how he slightly shifted on his feet. He didn't look away once.