I really like this concept, and it's very interesting. I'm just gonna add on one of my many headcanons, except it's one I rarely use.
Anygays, what if, every time Danny fully dies, he can't? What if the incarnations of Life and Death fight over him like divorced parents trying to get custody of their kid? So every time Danny "dies" all the way, Life basically says nope and reverts him back to being fourteen again. Hear me out...
None of the Bats knew what to do. Joker had lost it on a whole new level. He was... somewhere hidden and he was live streaming the unthinkable. He had Old Man Danny, of all people, tied up in what looked to be a warehouse. Everyone knew that nobody messed with Old Man Danny.
Old Man Danny was known to be the kindest soul in Gotham. He ran a cafe/corner store/bookshop/coffee shop in the heart of Gotham. The store was properly named 'Enigma Eats, Reads, And All Things In Betweens' but everyone just called it Danny's.
Old Man Danny looked about 65 - 70 years old and was just the sweetest old man you would ever meet. There were a good number of kids in Gotham that went to Danny's when their home life went to shit. They trusted him, and a couple of kids seemed to live with him full time. When anyone asked whether or not Jazz, Sam, Ellie, Tucker, or Valerie were related to Danny as grandkids or maybe great nieces and nephews, Danny would just smile and say, "Never had kids, these ones just refuse to leave my side."
Old Man Danny had somehow gotten the legal rights to make his store a place where criminals could not be arrested, as long as they did not commit a crime on the property. It was because of this that no one had ever once messed with Old Man Danny.
Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy enjoyed countless dates in the cafe, and no one bothered them. Bane sometimes quietly sat in the corner reading. Killer Croc also emerged from the sewers to temporarily enjoy a cup of coffee. Riddler would chill out on the premises and would tell a couple of riddles to the kids there. Even Scarecrow didn't fuck with Old Man Danny. He would instead get surprisingly good therapy sessions from the eldest kid there, Jazz.
So, yeah, the Joker holding Old Man Danny hostage was unthinkable. Everyone liked Old Man Danny and now most of Gotham was threatening to find Joker and murder him themselves if he didn't let the man go without a scratch. Oddly enough, the old man seemed perfectly calm. He even made a joke when the camera turned on.
The Bats were worried, for whom, they did not know. Yes, the Joker was dangerous and crazy, but Old Man Danny had recently blipped on their radar as an unknown. Diana had confirmed that Danny was the very same man that Roman Helmet Guy talked about in that one video last month. He was Danny Fenton, more commonly known as 'Danny the Phantom'.
The Batfamily had confronted the old man and he smiled, confirming who he was. They asked if the main clan of kids were his great grand children and he just shook his head with a laugh. He claimed they were "the ghosts of my past". The Bats dropped it and just talked for a bit, listening to war stories.
The feats of the man were astounding, but he was still a very old man now. There was no way he could survive this encounter as he had survived both WWI and WWII. The Bats rushed to find out the location of the warehouse using the live stream.
The Joker monologued for a long time about ripping away Gotham's greatest source of joy and how that was somehow funny. Old Man Danny was calm throughout and only interrupted once.
"You know, I thought you'd be scary. Not 'scarier', scary. Everyone always seems so terrified of you. I mean, I once knew a guy that threatened to skin me and hang my 'pelt' over his fireplace. You haven't once said something half as psychotic as him the entire time I've been here. You might want to work on that."
The Joker didn't like that. He raised a gun at Danny and threatened to shoot. Danny just shrugged.
"If you pull that trigger, you'll learn why the fuck people used to call me the Phantom. By the time World War Two began, most people stopped trying to kill me and instead tried to run."
The Joker laughed cruelly, untied the man, and shot him at point blank range. Danny, who had just stood from the chair, crumpled to the floor, dead. Throughout the city, you could hear screams and shouts of outrage.
The only people that didn't seem worried about Danny were the kids he cared for. They all got up and started collectively walking through the city. Their steps were confident. They looked to have a set destination in mind. The Bats saw them from a rooftop and followed. Maybe they could get Joker before he killed more innocent people.
Moments before they arrived at the warehouse, Oracle called out to the others over the coms, "Hey, guys, you might want to check the live stream again. I mean, keep following the kids, but also check it."
The Bats saw the warehouse and ignored Oracle. They landed on the roof and were about to enter through a window when they saw it. Around Old Man Danny, a black mist covered his form, hiding him from view. The mist glowed green for a moment and then dissipated. On the ground, Old Man Danny seemed to be... different. The Bats couldn't tell how, but he was different.
Suddenly, the corpse began to twitch. Joker hadn't yet noticed the change in the body on the ground, but the Bats did. They opened one of the skylights in the warehouse and jumped down. Joker turned at the sound of their arrival and finally noticed the corpse's movement. The Joker, a man that inspired fear in many, looked almost horror-stricken.
Everyone watched, both in the room and over screens, as Danny moved his arms and pushed himself up onto hands and knees. The man, no... Danny wasn't old anymore, he was a kid! The teenager before them lifted his head and flared at the Joker with gleaming green eyes.
"That hurt," he muttered as he stood up, "You know, you really should do more research before you try and kill a perfectly nice guy. Like, I fought in both World Wars and the Vietnam War. Even the youngest soldiers from World War Two were on the older side when Nam happened.
"Speaking of Nam, the last time someone actually managed to kill me was 1967, so props to you. Though, I still think kidnapping a perfectly nice guy and off-ing him is kind of rude."
The Joker stumbled back in shock and asked, "What're you?"
Not-So-Old-Man Danny chuckled, "I'm dead, but not quite and I'm alive, but not really. That's the thing about being favored by Life or Death, once they have you, they tend not to let you go. When you're favored by both, Death bides her time while Life fights to keep you.
"Life lost one of his favored before, and he doesn't want me to be a repeat. So, to answer your question, the best I've got is calling me amortal, but not even that is a truly accurate description. I can die, temporarily, but Life always brings me back to the age I was when he first made his claim on my soul."
Joker backed away and Danny stepped forwards. The teenager, no, that couldn't be right. He was still around a hundred years old chronologically, but he was physically a teenager. So, was he still Old Man Danny or was he Danny the teenager? Screw it, just calling him Danny worked at the moment. Danny smiled at Joker sickeningly sweet.
"You know," he spoke, "Death only decided to claim me once I had defeated the King of the Dead in single combat. She saw my strength and decided I just had to rule over those she took in. Death can slowly ease you into her domain, or she can suddenly take you from Life without warning.
"As the Champion of Death, I technically must follow whatever she says, but right now she is indifferent to you. She doesn't care how, when, or where you die. On the other hand, I've been the Ghost King since 1912. I pride myself in being a benevolent ruler who listens to his subjects. Right now, every soul in Gotham is begging me to tear you limb from limb."
Danny sighed and took another step towards Joker. The man in front of Danny backed himself into the corner of the warehouse.
Danny glanced to the right, towards the Bats, except he wasn't looking at them, he was looking at the children and a man who often helped around Danny's. The man with the children glanced at the Joker, sighed, and said, "I won't stop you."
Danny nodded and turned back to Joker, "You heard him. Even Life himself isn't willing to save your sorry ass. Now, while my subjects may be screaming for me to paint the walls with you, I doubt the vigilantes are big fans of that. I would also hate for the clean up crew to spend a ton of time getting your gunk off the walls, ceiling, and floor. So, I think I'll just break a couple of your bones and rip your still beating heart out of your chest."
Danny descended upon the Joker. Off to the side, the Bats watched everything happen silently. Batman frowned and turned away from the gruesome scene about to take place in the warehouse. Instead he turned his sights to the children standing with Life incarnate. Maybe they really were ghosts.
He quietly asked them who the were and Jazz smiled, "I was once Danny's older sister. Ellie was a clone of Danny. We considered her our younger sister. She was also one of Life's favored, but Death got her permanently in the end. Sam, Tucker, and Valerie were Danny's friends. We all died before the first World War. We begged Death to let us keep him company."
Batman nodded and began to lead the children, dead far too young, out of the warehouse and continued to speak outside. Meanwhile, inside the warehouse, Red Hood yelled for Danny to stop. Danny hadn't yet even touched the Joker, only approached faster. The king turned to the other vigilantes in the room and tilted his head.
"What is it you want, Jason?" he asked.
Everyone in the room, except Danny, tensed. The old war hero smiled, "Yes, I know your name. In fact, I know all of your names. Most of you have been touched by Death. Five of you were my subjects for at least a little bit. I kind of figured out the rest of you from those first five. Either way, my question still stands, is there something you would like to say, Jason?"
Red Hood pulled off his helmet and mask, "One, the camera is still on. Two, please, let me hurt him. Let me make him suffer."
Danny smiled softly, "Of course, Jason. I would never deprive my subjects, past or present, from getting the retribution they deserve. Also, the camera and microphone have been super staticy since I first stood up. Your secrets are safe."
Jason nodded in understanding and glared at the Joker. Danny stood to the side and let Jason do most of the pre-death torture. The other Batfamily members either turned away, watched, or even got a hit in. In the end, Jason stood up, huffing. Danny summoned a blade of ice to his hand and carved into the Joker's chest. The ghosts of Gotham cheered.
Danny pulled out the Jokers heart and set it on the ground before crushing it in front of the clown. The Joker, whose brain was still processing the world in the seconds it took for his heart to be destroyed, finally succumbed to death.
But yeah. Life and Death fight for custody. They really want him to exist with them full time, but he travels between. Life and Death also help out in the shop with mortal disguises. Life goes by Ben (short for Benison, a blessing) and Death goes by Amity (short for Calamity, chaos and disaster).
Hope you liked the add-on/expand upon bit.
