"these researchers published a paper on something that literally any of us could have told you 🙄" ok well my supervisors wont let me write something in my thesis unless I can back it up with a citation so maybe it's a good thing that they're amplifying your voice to the scientific community in a way that prevents people from writing off your experiences as annecdotal evidence
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Do you know how hard it is to live with a cat that has the intelligence level of literally like a 3 year old but the pure chaos of a high ranking demon?
He’s learned to open the lazy Susan and won’t stop clawing open the flour and rolling in it like a little chinchilla
This was a longer typeset and the author is on here too @clockwayswrites . Not my longest but definately a longer amount of time. This was one of the covers and additional pages I made back in the middle of last year before I screen recorded and timed what I was making. Looking at canva version history (not reliable or great if bouncing about on the computer with the tab open) and knowing myself I would guesstimate at about 1 hour being spent on the covers and around 1 hour & half on the additional pages (probably more if I am being honest). The typeset for this was also quite a long and hot - heatwave :(. The typeset took me about 5 hours to complete. In total, all together the diigital side of this bind took me about 7 hours & 30 minutes to complete.
it's actually so amazing she helped save the lives of the honorable men who did not wish to fight, while killing the most vile men, that is so fucking based
Beautiful. The composition. Colors. The lamp. The fact that the photographer managed to make the moon look GOOD (not all cameras and photographers can achieve that).
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Batman, over coms: Alright, let's bring it in for the night.
Nightwings: Hold on, there's a civilian running around. Early twenties, black hair, super pale and kind of sickly lookin. He looks panicked, like hes looking for something or someone, I'm going to check in, in case its a child.
Nightwing: Excuse me sir, are you alright?
Danny, pressing a hand to his chest in pain: So-Someone broke into my-my appartment when I was at work and-and they left the door open, and now I can't find Mittens!
Red Robin, over comms: Seriously? All this drama over a cat?
Red Hood, over comms: Who actually names their cat "Mittens"?
Oracle, over comms: You two are so stupid.
Robin, over comms: I agree, shut up. This is serious, that poor animal could be injured.
Nightwing, helps Danny sit on a nearby bench: Hey its alright man. I'll have the others keep an eye out for her okay? What does your kitten look like.
Danny, releived: Mittens isn't a kitten, shes a puppy, really tiny girl. She's a Bully Kutta, and she's mostly white but has black unclipped ears and some black splotches- here I have a-a picture. *pulls out his phone with shakey hands and shows Nightwing a picture of Danny and Mittens in their new appartment, Mittens goes up past his hips*
Nightwing, stunned into silence: . . .
Red Robin, over comms: That is "tiny" to him?!
Robin, over comms: Stunning.
Oracle: Found him. Daniel Fenton moved to Gotham with his Service Dog in Training, Mittens, two months ago. He works at Gotham's Space Museum, and writes Parnormal Fiction stories on the side, and he apprentantly visits Middle schools to do presentations. Mittens is 15months old and is set to graduate very soon. She has high praise from all her trainers, but it seems Danny's employers at the Museum are pushing against him bringing her to work once she graduates, Danny seems to be fighting with them about it a lot. Jerks.
Batman, over comms: What does he need her for?
Oracle, over comms: Heart problems, and mobility issues caused by an accident when he was a teenager, as well as Anxiety, and PTSD. A lot of his file is sealed because he was a minor when it happened, I can snoop more?
Batman, over comms: No, that amount is fine.
Nightwing: Well, the others know, and will keep an eye out for her. You're still shaking pretty bad, how about I see you home.
Danny: I appreciate it. I'm sorry for keeping you back, being a hero is- seems like an exhausting job.
Nightwing, joking: You speak from experience?
Danny, eyes distant: No, I was never a hero.
Robin, over comms: Mittens spotted near the Museum!
Nightwing: Hey, Robin said he spotted Mittens near the Museum.
Danny: She went looking for me, of course she did. If she won't go to Robin by name, have him call her "Vöttr", I'm the only one that ever calls her that, so it will catch her attention.
Nightwing, nodding: Robin call her Votter.
Red Robin, over comms: Old Norse?
Nightwing, eyebrow raised: Old Norse?
Danny, shrugging: Its a hobby.
Robin, over comms and sounding very excited: Target secure. . . . May I pet her?
Nightwing, snorts: Robin wants to know if he can pet her.
Danny, amused: As much as they want, as long as I get her back.
Robin, over comms: Understood, we will reconvene at Fenton's appartment.
Nightwing: Hah that kid. He said he'll meet us at your place if thats okay.
Danny: Sounds good, I'm just happy that I didn't loose her.
Blackbat, over comms: Sad, remorse, upset.
Red Robin, over comms: He does seem interesting.
Batman, over comms: Hmm.
Red Hood, over comms: I still can't get over the fact that he named that monster dog "Mittens".
Shen Yuan: It's good to see you are getting along with my brother finally. I had always thought your rivalry was more two-sided, but if all it took was an apology, I suppose not.
Liu Qingge: It wasn't just an apology, he also has tried to be civil with me. That's why I am trying to be civil with him.
Shen Yuan: You really do just copy how people act towards you, don't you? I thought the phrase was 'Treat people the way you want to be treated' not the other way around.
Liu Qingge: I want to be treated with brute honesty, but turns out people don't like that. But everyone else understands it, so if they treat me the way they want to be treated, I know how to treat them, and I won't mess up as much. People have made talking to others unnecessarily complicated, but I have found a way to win at social interaction.
Shen Yuan: You would have loved an autism diagnosis.
Liu Qingge: Is this your way of saying you want one? I'll kill it for you once I find out what kind of beast it is.
AU where Shen Yuan is LQG and LMY's hot older brother. Liu Mingyuan??
At a Peak lord meeting there is a big argument over some rare beast and then LQG grunts and is like "I know who can help" and just leaves and doesn't explain anything. Then a few days later he's dragging in this guy so hot he makes LQG look like he got hit with the ugly stick. He is polite and excitedly explains all this stuff they needed to know like it's no sweat.
YQY asks if he'll stay in the sect for a little while so they can work together. SY agrees and from that point onwards is absolutely wifebeaming basically everyone who crosses his path. Rumor has it that WQW almost threw down with MQF over this guy. Xuan Su and An Ding have been active combat zones for days. Even that prissy bitch SQQ got mildly pink and covered his face with his fan!! Do you understand what this means?!
Also just the idea of LQG abd LMY, two certified baddies, being like "I know I'm not ugly but I'm not THAT attractive" because they have grown up next to impossible standards their whole lives is very funny.
Liu QingGe and Liu MingYan both realising their older brother is unintentionally and unknowingly seducing everyone around just by being the absolute beauty queen.
I foresee much violence from them towards their gege's potential suitors because how dare anyone think they're worthy of the Liu family's firstborn son?
Danny is being hunted. Both his parents and the Giw. They all think he is a villain so he might as well be one.
He’d just choose who he’d be a villain for.
By then he had one choice. The flash. That man seems to care about his villain . He doesn’t think the man would let one of his villains be tortured or experimented on.
After his recent escape from the parties hunting him he sets out for central city. He’d just be a villain to an actual decent person instead.
I’m personally imagining him still a teen and doing the most mundane crimes. Just using his powers enough the cops can’t do anything to stop him.
Flash looks at the kid. "Okay," he said slowly, "why?"
Danny just shrugged as the two of them looked over at the police officer with his feet frozen to the ground in oddly warm ice that was in no danger of giving him frostbite. "I didn't think they deserved a ticket, and when I asked him nicely not to give them one, he asked me what I was going to do about it." Danny shrugged.
Flash was mildly impressed. And vaguely alarmed. There was a unknown meta kid walking his city that could freeze people with less effort than it took for Flash to eat. "So, uh, can you melt the ice?" he asked.
Another shrug. "Sure." The ice suddenly vanished and the officer toppled over.
"Thanks, kid." Flash looked over the skinny, raggedly dressed, clearly underweight teen. "How do you feel about getting some food?"
The kid's face lit up. "Really?" he asked, clearly excited.
Oh yeah. Flash was not allowing this kid anywhere near Batman if he could help it.
Barry is certain that there is something going on with Danny. Not only did the kid give his first name, not only was the kid pathetically grateful for food and to be invited to movie nights, but the "acts of villainy" that Danny got up to? Not actually that.
Take the time Danny froze a cash register shut. Sure, the clerk hadn't been able to get it open. But the store had also been actively being robbed at the time, and the criminal hadn't been able to get it open either. And this wasn't some big name store chain; this was a little Mom&Pop place that was always on the edge of making/losing money. He'd saved them from being robbed and just waited. For Barry to get there as Flash before he unfroze the register.
Or the time that Danny froze a bus in place. The bus had been frozen, unable to move. It had also experienced brake failure and was about to hit a cat in the road. And the ice was placed so that the people on board could exit safely, some of the ice even making a handicap ramp.
But Danny himself referred them as "acts of villainy." And once, in a conversation that Barry overheard, mentioned that he'd chosen to go to Central City because Flash was the best hero a rogue could have. He was polite about stopping Danny and hadn't threatened to rip him apart molecule by molecule even once!
Barry was so close to asking Batman how to adopt a kid without putting him through the system. Batman would know, right? After all, he'd gone through all those Robins, and no way were they adopted by his civilian self. (If Bats even had a civilian self.)
Barry was going about his business when his communicator beeped. It had no video call (paranoid Batman), so he answered it. Digger, also known as Captain Boomerang, was on the other end. "Flash, we need help."
Barry dropped what he was doing to change. "What ahppened and where are you?"
"We're in the basement of the Tuesday Trivia night building, and the kid and I are surrounded by--Flash, you're not going to believe this, but we're surrounded by people in white suits who are demanding we die."
The sea of white suited people, all sporting bulky earbuds and wires, appeared in front of Flash. "Got it." He did a couple of laps. They had technology that Barry had never seen before. "You got another way out?"
"I--uh, I don't know. The kid's kind of catatonic."
A chill ran through Barry. "The kid's there?" he asked.
"They were chasing him."
Barry wasn't one to randomly lose his temper, but these--people were getting him there. He found what looked to be the leader and stopped in front of them with a wave. "So, what brings you to Central City?" he asked.
The person's lip curled in a sneer. "Nothing to concern yourself with," they said.
"Yeah, that's not gonna fly," Barry told him firmly. "See, this is my city, and I protect it. You are in my city, so I kinda need to know what you're doing here."
Another white suited person came over. "There's an ectoplasmic entity hiding in that building. We need to retrieve it for study and disposal."
The kid. They were talking about the kid. "No one needs to 'study and dispose' of anyone," he said. He pressed a button on his communicator to connect him to the League. It was time to bring in the big guns.
"We have authorization to remove any obstacles in our path to containing and neutralizing the entity," the first one said.
"Authorization from whom?" demanded Superman, looming behind the two.
"Good question," said Batman, materializing from--somewhere.
Barry had stopped asking questions about Batman a long time ago. He was simply something that could not be quantified. But he was also the biggest gun. "They said they want study and dispose of a kid," he tattled.
Batman's eyes narrowed. "Did they now?" he asked.
Barry grinned. "Oh, you're in for it now," he gloated.
Yes Barry! Weaponize the Bat and while he’s distracted ask how to adopt the child as clearly he came to you for a reason. So you obviously have dibs! Plus Bats can’t complain once Danny mentions he has Billionaire related truama. Tho I would love to have someone write that out. In this one fic where Danny visits the DC universe and follows heroes around as COSPLAY MAN! Barry literally asked Wally to help him plan to murder Danny’s godfather…and Wally was on board
Batman's eyes narrowed at the agents in front of him. Sloppy posture, terrible weapons management--no way were they real government agents. "Care to explain?" he demanded.
The person in white rolled their eyes. "It's not a child," they said. "It's an ectoplasmic entity. Just an imprint of emotions."
"You know," Superman said slowly, "one of my oldest companions is an emotional imprint on a digital database." The agent turned around and Batman was not surprised at the pure look of fury on the hero's face. "And he has full rights under the Meta Protection Act."
"Whoo! You tell 'em, Supes!" cheered Flash. Suddenly an arm was around Batman. "Bye the way, how do you adopt without going through the system?"
"Later," grunted Batman. "Flash."
"Got it!" The man vanished.
Batman and Superman were left with the now nervous agents. "Where were we?" asked Batman. Superman floated just enough to loom over them.
~~~
Barry raced into the building, grabbed Digger and Danny, and zoomed the two of them out of there. As soon as he set them down Digger put a hand on Danny's shoulder. The kid was shaking like a leaf.
"Hey, Danny," said Barry, keeping his voice low and soft. "How you doin', Kiddo?"
"I don't want them to get me," Danny mumbled.
Barry didn't need to look at Digger's face to see the heartbreak in int. "Hey, listen to me," he said. "You're my rogue, all right?" The kid looked up, silent tears streaming down his face. "And I don't share my rogues. You can ask anyone!"
"That's right," Digger said. "Why, Flash here once went toe toe with the Bat for me."
Not quite how that had gone, but Barry wasn't going to do anything to undermine the support he was getting. "See?" he said. "No one's going to take you anywhere. You're my rogue, and I don't share."
Those haunted blue eyes stared into Barry's soul. "Promise?" Danny asked in a whisper.
"I promise," said Flash firmly. Danny threw himself into Flash's arms and began to sob.
Oh, yeah. Flash was going to figure out how to adopt Danny.
The Rogues of Central and Keystone City are just as much of a family as the Flashes. They have each other’s backs, know the rules, and know how to play the game.
Committing solo crime is known to be a great ticket to instantly experiencing an express package delivery to a jail cell in Iron Heights.
But occasionally, things are different.
This, was different.
It wasn’t uncommon, per say, for a flash rogue to do the occasional good deed and help the civilians of Central City. They might be rogues but they still had morals.
But this wasn’t that.
He already has experience in teaching a protégé. Wally West, his nephew. An amazing kid now joined up with the Teen Titans and continuing to make a name for himself as Kid Flash.
The Flashes ran free so he let Wally run on his own as well. Wally ran his own missions, fought his own battles, made his own heroing schedule, made his own boundaries.
Wally foraged his own path to becoming the self sufficient hero Barry knew he could become with his own experience. Laying down a strong foundation of hero work to make his own identity as apart of the Flash Family.
But whenever Wally needed advice, Barry would always be there in a heartbeat.
And now Barry hopes that Danny will let him be there for him just the same.
But first, he has to take down the rest of the government agency targeting the ghost kid.
Luckily, he knows the Big Three--Superman, Batman, and Diana will have his back. And none of them, not one of them are happy with the so-called "government agents." So taking the government agency down was easy. Between the four of them, the agency was disowned by the government, their reputation shredded, and all of their finances were confiscated.
Flash decided it was time for Danny to meet Wally and Bart. He assured a slightly nervous Danny that he was still Flash's rogue, and he wasn't sharing. He just wanted Danny to be able to spend time with people his own age. Maybe team up against the "old guys" on trivia nights.
Bart had been so excited to meet his new cousin-uncle. Apparently he had specifically chosen to “terrorize” Central City in order to become one of Barry’s rogues. The only reason Danny had gone rogue in the first place was because some xenophobic government agency had decided Danny had no rights and needed to be experimented on. He’d fit right in with the rest of Just Us.
….
Bart couldn’t breathe.
Bart couldn’t move.
Every fiber of his being was telling him to run but he was frozen in place.
Bart knew that face.
That face haunted his nightmares.
He never thought he would see that face again.
There was no mistaking it
The man who even the Reach feared.
The man who decimated half the Justice League at once.
Inevitably Bart will come to the conclusion that Dan Phantom is the result of Danny ending up (or ending up) under the care of the GIW….
Just for some clues, he believes that Danny managed to be captured by the GIW before Flash adopted him (he would know of some uncle Danny who disappeared) and that due to some butterfly effect on this occasion they did manage to save him…
but now he has the firm idea of protecting his uncle-cousin to prevent her from falling into the hands of some Xenophobic scientist…
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Sometimes it’s hard to read fanfic when you’re studying herbalism.. when they have the character preparing a tincture to use that same DAY!!?
Baby those dried herbs need to sit in that jar with high proof alcohol for at LEAST a month!
That’s why before the use of calendars ppl use to prepare their tinctures either on the new moon or full moon. A a full moon cycle is usually 28 days or so. And they would give the moon names so it’s easier to remember when/what month said tincture was bottled.
This is also why herbal medicine is prepare in small batches. You have to take your time preparing your bottles. Making sure everything is clean so you don’t end up with mold. Diluting your grain alcohol. Heckkk knowing when to pick your herbs for max potency! Drying your herbs! That takes a lot of time too!
Tea is like 3-5 minutes tops. Herbal tisanes can be done anywhere from 10 minutes to 12 hours. Hot extracted oil doesn't take too long but cold oils are weeks. And tinctures may take 4-6 weeks but also last for freaking ever.
Other herbal preparations include poultices (fresh or macerated dry herbs), essential oils (requires complex equipment and large amounts of fresh product, lasts forever properly stored) juices (highly perishable), lozenges or pastilles made with juices (complex, finicky cooking, lasts a long time properly stored), syrups (much longer lasting than juices)
Elderberry syrup, for example takes me about 4 hours if I start with dried berries and liquid honey. Roughly.
Calendula oil and hypericum oil both take eh a month? It's been a bit.
But I've left echinacea angustifolia root in everclear for close to a decade. A few drops of that into boiling water to help dilute the alcohol would light my tongue up for half a hour. Good stuff. Didn't take much to do the trick. If you have time to tincture, it's definitely more bang for your buck for many herbs.
But like, elderberry... Different forms can have different levels of impact. Capsules are fine I guess but elderberry syrup is more obviously effective and the most effective things I've personally used involved pure elderberry juice used as an addendum to tart cherry and a whole lotta fluids.
But honeybush tea works fine as a tea, i just brew it a little longer with some peppermint to ease sick headaches and congestion and lung crud. So good.
(I like herbal medicine in conjunction with Western medicine. It takes both to manage my diabetes, for example. And when I get COVID, I'm getting antivirals and I'm taking my elderberry and I do get vaccinated. I've found nothing more staggeringly effective for flu than tamiflu plus elderberry. Flu lasts 3 days for me. Wild.)
Danny is being hunted. Both his parents and the Giw. They all think he is a villain so he might as well be one.
He’d just choose who he’d be a villain for.
By then he had one choice. The flash. That man seems to care about his villain . He doesn’t think the man would let one of his villains be tortured or experimented on.
After his recent escape from the parties hunting him he sets out for central city. He’d just be a villain to an actual decent person instead.
I’m personally imagining him still a teen and doing the most mundane crimes. Just using his powers enough the cops can’t do anything to stop him.
Flash looks at the kid. "Okay," he said slowly, "why?"
Danny just shrugged as the two of them looked over at the police officer with his feet frozen to the ground in oddly warm ice that was in no danger of giving him frostbite. "I didn't think they deserved a ticket, and when I asked him nicely not to give them one, he asked me what I was going to do about it." Danny shrugged.
Flash was mildly impressed. And vaguely alarmed. There was a unknown meta kid walking his city that could freeze people with less effort than it took for Flash to eat. "So, uh, can you melt the ice?" he asked.
Another shrug. "Sure." The ice suddenly vanished and the officer toppled over.
"Thanks, kid." Flash looked over the skinny, raggedly dressed, clearly underweight teen. "How do you feel about getting some food?"
The kid's face lit up. "Really?" he asked, clearly excited.
Oh yeah. Flash was not allowing this kid anywhere near Batman if he could help it.
Barry is certain that there is something going on with Danny. Not only did the kid give his first name, not only was the kid pathetically grateful for food and to be invited to movie nights, but the "acts of villainy" that Danny got up to? Not actually that.
Take the time Danny froze a cash register shut. Sure, the clerk hadn't been able to get it open. But the store had also been actively being robbed at the time, and the criminal hadn't been able to get it open either. And this wasn't some big name store chain; this was a little Mom&Pop place that was always on the edge of making/losing money. He'd saved them from being robbed and just waited. For Barry to get there as Flash before he unfroze the register.
Or the time that Danny froze a bus in place. The bus had been frozen, unable to move. It had also experienced brake failure and was about to hit a cat in the road. And the ice was placed so that the people on board could exit safely, some of the ice even making a handicap ramp.
But Danny himself referred them as "acts of villainy." And once, in a conversation that Barry overheard, mentioned that he'd chosen to go to Central City because Flash was the best hero a rogue could have. He was polite about stopping Danny and hadn't threatened to rip him apart molecule by molecule even once!
Barry was so close to asking Batman how to adopt a kid without putting him through the system. Batman would know, right? After all, he'd gone through all those Robins, and no way were they adopted by his civilian self. (If Bats even had a civilian self.)
Barry was going about his business when his communicator beeped. It had no video call (paranoid Batman), so he answered it. Digger, also known as Captain Boomerang, was on the other end. "Flash, we need help."
Barry dropped what he was doing to change. "What ahppened and where are you?"
"We're in the basement of the Tuesday Trivia night building, and the kid and I are surrounded by--Flash, you're not going to believe this, but we're surrounded by people in white suits who are demanding we die."
The sea of white suited people, all sporting bulky earbuds and wires, appeared in front of Flash. "Got it." He did a couple of laps. They had technology that Barry had never seen before. "You got another way out?"
"I--uh, I don't know. The kid's kind of catatonic."
A chill ran through Barry. "The kid's there?" he asked.
"They were chasing him."
Barry wasn't one to randomly lose his temper, but these--people were getting him there. He found what looked to be the leader and stopped in front of them with a wave. "So, what brings you to Central City?" he asked.
The person's lip curled in a sneer. "Nothing to concern yourself with," they said.
"Yeah, that's not gonna fly," Barry told him firmly. "See, this is my city, and I protect it. You are in my city, so I kinda need to know what you're doing here."
Another white suited person came over. "There's an ectoplasmic entity hiding in that building. We need to retrieve it for study and disposal."
The kid. They were talking about the kid. "No one needs to 'study and dispose' of anyone," he said. He pressed a button on his communicator to connect him to the League. It was time to bring in the big guns.
"We have authorization to remove any obstacles in our path to containing and neutralizing the entity," the first one said.
"Authorization from whom?" demanded Superman, looming behind the two.
"Good question," said Batman, materializing from--somewhere.
Barry had stopped asking questions about Batman a long time ago. He was simply something that could not be quantified. But he was also the biggest gun. "They said they want study and dispose of a kid," he tattled.
Batman's eyes narrowed. "Did they now?" he asked.
Barry grinned. "Oh, you're in for it now," he gloated.
Yes Barry! Weaponize the Bat and while he’s distracted ask how to adopt the child as clearly he came to you for a reason. So you obviously have dibs! Plus Bats can’t complain once Danny mentions he has Billionaire related truama. Tho I would love to have someone write that out. In this one fic where Danny visits the DC universe and follows heroes around as COSPLAY MAN! Barry literally asked Wally to help him plan to murder Danny’s godfather…and Wally was on board
Batman's eyes narrowed at the agents in front of him. Sloppy posture, terrible weapons management--no way were they real government agents. "Care to explain?" he demanded.
The person in white rolled their eyes. "It's not a child," they said. "It's an ectoplasmic entity. Just an imprint of emotions."
"You know," Superman said slowly, "one of my oldest companions is an emotional imprint on a digital database." The agent turned around and Batman was not surprised at the pure look of fury on the hero's face. "And he has full rights under the Meta Protection Act."
"Whoo! You tell 'em, Supes!" cheered Flash. Suddenly an arm was around Batman. "Bye the way, how do you adopt without going through the system?"
"Later," grunted Batman. "Flash."
"Got it!" The man vanished.
Batman and Superman were left with the now nervous agents. "Where were we?" asked Batman. Superman floated just enough to loom over them.
~~~
Barry raced into the building, grabbed Digger and Danny, and zoomed the two of them out of there. As soon as he set them down Digger put a hand on Danny's shoulder. The kid was shaking like a leaf.
"Hey, Danny," said Barry, keeping his voice low and soft. "How you doin', Kiddo?"
"I don't want them to get me," Danny mumbled.
Barry didn't need to look at Digger's face to see the heartbreak in int. "Hey, listen to me," he said. "You're my rogue, all right?" The kid looked up, silent tears streaming down his face. "And I don't share my rogues. You can ask anyone!"
"That's right," Digger said. "Why, Flash here once went toe toe with the Bat for me."
Not quite how that had gone, but Barry wasn't going to do anything to undermine the support he was getting. "See?" he said. "No one's going to take you anywhere. You're my rogue, and I don't share."
Those haunted blue eyes stared into Barry's soul. "Promise?" Danny asked in a whisper.
"I promise," said Flash firmly. Danny threw himself into Flash's arms and began to sob.
Oh, yeah. Flash was going to figure out how to adopt Danny.
The Rogues of Central and Keystone City are just as much of a family as the Flashes. They have each other’s backs, know the rules, and know how to play the game.
Committing solo crime is known to be a great ticket to instantly experiencing an express package delivery to a jail cell in Iron Heights.
But occasionally, things are different.
This, was different.
It wasn’t uncommon, per say, for a flash rogue to do the occasional good deed and help the civilians of Central City. They might be rogues but they still had morals.
But this wasn’t that.
He already has experience in teaching a protégé. Wally West, his nephew. An amazing kid now joined up with the Teen Titans and continuing to make a name for himself as Kid Flash.
The Flashes ran free so he let Wally run on his own as well. Wally ran his own missions, fought his own battles, made his own heroing schedule, made his own boundaries.
Wally foraged his own path to becoming the self sufficient hero Barry knew he could become with his own experience. Laying down a strong foundation of hero work to make his own identity as apart of the Flash Family.
But whenever Wally needed advice, Barry would always be there in a heartbeat.
And now Barry hopes that Danny will let him be there for him just the same.
The other rogues caught wind of the newest kid rogue being hunted by the government, and they didn't take it well.
They all knew that any acts of villainy Danny, the rogue kid, committed were actually more like small acts of heroism. He wasn't any Batman, or Superman, or even Flash; he didn't save a city, but it was enough to get civilians and heroes alike to appreciate his efforts.
Solo villains don't last in Central City, but Danny was determined to go it alone. After the initial incident with the boneheads in white, some of his vague excuses about "Not wanting anyone to get caught in the crossfire" and "Not wanting to have any personal attachments that could be taken advantage of" made much more sense.
And the rogues know. They know Danny wasn't born or even raised in Central or Keystone, that he showed up one day and simply never left, that he seemed to be running from something. Hiding from something.
Someone. Actually, someones, plural, if the amount of white wearing idiots that showed up that day and infested the city after it was anything to go off.
Nowadays, Danny wasn't alone. There was always one other rogue with him, usually Captain Cold.
#out of all the mentors of the jl. barry gave wally the most freedom.#barry would give danny the same courtesy. he wouldn’t push#he’d let danny come to him for his concerns#danny phantom#danny fenton#barry allen#wally west#the flash
Maddie: Your father and I knew that you were disappointed to miss out on the family reunion because of your husband's surgery, so we decided to skip it this year and come give you some support in caring for him!
Jack: As well as giving you a break. You must be under so much stress taking care of him and the kids!
Danny, having been lying about his marriage for the past two years to get out of family obligations: Wow... that's so sweet of you.
Maddie: I'm so excited to meet everyone! When you said you were moving to a new Earth, I knew communication through the Ghost Zone was going to be rough, but only being able to connect audio calls once every four months was much harder to endure than I thought it would be.
Jack: Not to mention traveling here. We had to do so many pit stops to fix up the Spectator Speeder and let me tell you, some of those floating rocks were hard to land on. Sometimes makes me wish we had your ghosts powers.
Danny: Yeah....you both went through so much effort. To vist me. In a different dimension.
Maddie: We three! Jazz is here too.
Danny: *gulps* The whole family is here.
Jack: Oh, don't make that face. The Fenton Reunion happens every four years. We'll see your aunts, uncles, and cousins next time. You're much more important to us, so no need for guilt.
Danny: I- right. Of course. Um, have you guys eaten? I can treat us to some dinner before we go back to my place. My, um, husband is at a doctor's appointment with my eldest while I did some work. I'm going on emergency family leave but I had to fill out the paperwork at the office today. Yup yup, thats why I'm here. At my workplace.
Maddie: You alright sweetie? You're sweating a lot.
Danny: I'm fine!
Jack: You work here? This office building is so nice. What does Wayne Enterprise do? I know you have a management position but I never really understood what department exactly.
Danny, who works in the mail room: Um, Wayne Enterprise does a little of everything. I'm in... communications.
Jack: But what exactly does communications do-
Danny: Excuse me for a bit. I have to let my husband know I'm going to be a little late.
Maddie: Oh! Don't tell the kids we're here. We want it to be a suprise. We brought gifts for all of them! Jazz is actually wrapping them up in the Speeder now!
Danny: Ha ha ha ha of course! Excuse me! *walking away pretending to be tapping a contact on his phone* shit shit shit. What do I do???
Damian appearing from the shadows: You told falsehoods.
Danny: Agh!
Damian: ....
Danny: Mr. Wayne Al Ghul! I-ugh- hello! I mean, good afternoon, sir. I ugh-
Damian: Silence
Danny: Yes sir.
Damian: I heard everything, and while I normally find lies distasteful, I find your parents endearing. It could benefit my family. I shall give you aid in your facade.
Danny: What?
Damain: My father recently had surgery on his right hip- a accident on our extreme skiing trip- and refuses to listen to our family doctor. He will not get the proper bed rest he's been ordered, but he would if you acted like his very upset husband with visting in-laws.
Danny: I- Mr. Wayne would never agree to that.
Damian: You seem to believe Father has a choice.
Danny: I-
Damian: I messaged Richard about the plan. He's gathering my siblings' support as we speak. When you arrive after dinner with your family, Father will have no time to deny anything. We shall trap him in social expectations. By the way, you are Timothy's safe queer adult who was there for him in the early years of his self-discovery journey and now he wants to help you. Its how we guilt trip father.
Danny: I can't lie to Bruce Wayne like that!
Damian: It's too late. Timothy already made a shirt of your face with the words "My Gay Yoda" on it. Your path has been chosen.
Danny: What-
Jack: Danny? Who's this?
Damian holding out his arms for a hug: Grandfather, I am Damian, Father's and Dad's youngest.
Jack: Damian! Its so nice to met you. Call me Gran-papa! *crushes him in a bear hug*
Damian in the most monotone voice ever: Gran-papa, I can not feel my arms.
Maddie: Aren't you just the cutest! Danny used to say the same thing at your age whenever his dad hugged him. I'm your Gran-mama, by the way! JAZZ COME MEET THE BABY!
Danny in a horrified whisper: Did my boss trap me in my own web of lies?
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Bruce Wayne is no stranger to medical recovery. Despite the rumors in the Justice League, he was nothing more than a mortal man. He could push his body to its very limits and sometimes pass them, but never without consequences.
This means that, after his latest fight, Bruce was unfortunately unable to go out and protect Gotham's civilians. When he did get too hurt to be out of the field, he could at least crawl into the cave and work on some cases or even support his family through the monitors.
That wasn't possible this time, seeing as Alfred all but threatened to cut Bruce's limbs- all four of them- if he attempted to move from his adjustable bed. Normally, Alfred only made displeased noises in the back of his throat, which was something Bruce could ignore, but when he made threats, then that's when he knew Alfred was not messing around.
Bruce was to not do any Batman work until he was fully healed. All because he got caught by surprise during a fight with Ivy, and his back paid the price. It was a bone bruise, which, in Bruce's opinion, was a minor injury, but Alfred had heard Dr. Leslie warn him that if he didn't rest, she wouldn't be surprised if it led to a broken bone.
She meant that he could get hurt worse in the field. But Alfred heard this leads to that and ran with it. Now Bruce was bored out of his mind, waiting for his family to let him move. Technically, he wasn't on strict bed rest, but since Dr. Leslie also found out the rest of his body was practically screaming from all the stress he put it through, she advised that he stay in bed for a while.
His kids gave him a TV remote, a couple of books, and his phone (with some programmed blocks to prevent him from accessing the systems he wanted to work on). They explained that in about three days, he would be allowed access to his laptop, not before then. He could get into his wheelchair and roll to different parts of the house, but not "on his own". He was pretty sure they put motion sensors around his room just in case he tried
He watched shows, read his books, and scrolled on social media. It's only been five hours, and he was already losing his mind. Maybe it was because he knew he couldn't work, but the hours dragged on so much that he didn't pay attention to the episodes, and the paragraphs in the books didn't register in his mind.
Social media had never really captured his attention, except for searching for signs that someone was getting close to his identity. He was so bored he started scrolling blindly, eyes glazed and unfocused on the screen. Even if he was focused, the screen moved too fast for him to see what the posts were about until his thumb accidentally tapped on a pop-up ad.
The ad was a link that sent him to a different website. The website looked plain overall, except for the kiss marks floating on the sides and the random posts encouraging people to call them for a good time with like-minded people. Bruce has never seen a website like that before.
Usually, such websites were subtle- and sometimes not subtle at all- images that showed it was more of a working girl or boy service. These posts had odd phrases like "Call me to talk about dinosaurs!" or "Call me if you love the following book series," and even "Call me if you want to vent about stupid siblings- only middle children!"
The website was called "Kitty's Connections," which sounded like a run-of-the-mill, adult service website, but the content was....different.
Bruce quickly ran a scan on the page with his phone. Barbara and Tim made sure everyone's phones had virus, malware, and phishing scanners installed so they could quickly verify that any app or webpage they visited was safe. Nothing was marked dangerous, so in a moment of utter boredom, Bruce scrolled through the different posts. Apparently, each user had a phone number linked to the webpage's app, and when someone found a topic they liked, they were supposed to tap the number to make a direct call.
No messaging because that wasn't "authentic" anymore. Bruce was pretty sure this was someone closer to his age who created the webpage. He scrolled for a good hour or so, with nothing catching his attention. Bruce was about to close the webpage and return to his social media when one post from the user DeadKingFenton caught his attention.
Call me if you want a platonic fun time : 1-800-XOXO
Underneath the odd message was an image of a burning crown that bore an alarming resemblance to a fictional legend that Bruce had personally been obsessed with as a child. In his favorite show, The Grey Ghost, the protagonist, despite being human, had been helped by his mysterious mentor and informant of the Underworld- The Ghost King.
He only appeared as a flaming crown floating over a figure that hid in the shadows and never showed thier face. Their voice was provided by multiple people speaking at once, and despite their importance, the Ghost King appears on screen only twice, with all other references to them delivered by the Grey Ghost reminiscing about his days in training.
The Ghost King haunted the narrative, but there were never many details about the character, and fans quickly realized the King was more of a plot hole than anything else, barely making sense in the context of the show. The king was more of a fantasy element in an otherwise modern (of its time) fiction show.
Only really devoted fans knew the King's symbol, which was something Bruce was. His eyes lingered on the message, the image, and after a moment, he said, "Well, what's the worst that could happen?" and pressed the call number.
At once, it encouraged him to install the app, and create a profile. Bruce quickly went through the necessary steps to create an account under the username ProudGreyGFan. Once that was done, the call started, and instead of the usual call tone, the Grey Ghost theme song was heard.
Bruce's lips lifted as he listened to the familiar and beloved music. It went on for a few seconds, just about to loop again, when someone answered.
Someone shockingly young. He was expecting someone his age, or even older, since Bruce knew the show was from his father's generation. He had been an awfully young fan back when Bruce was a child, and that was mostly because Thomas' favorite show was what he wanted to share with his son.
"Hello?" A male teenager, by the sound of his voice. Bruce blinks once, then twice, utterly frozen from surprise until the voice returns. "Anyone there?"
"Y-yes. Sorry, how old are you?" Bruce finds him asking.
"I'm fourteen."
"Well then, goodbye," Bruce hangs up the call, rubbing his eyes. In seconds, his phone starts ringing again. He answers without checking the caller- so used to only his family having his number- and much to his displeasure, the same teenage voice comes from the speakers.
"Hey, you called me. Do you not want to chat?"
"Not with a teenager."
The fourteen-year-old laughs. "It's not that kind of chat, old man."
"It's still not appropriate. I thought you were older because of the Crown of Fire picture in your post. Sorry."
There is a pause, heavy with something that snaps the attention vigilante part of my mind. Bruce finds himself pausing over the end call button, waiting as the boy finally replies, "How do you know the Crown of Fire?"
"I'm a fan of the show it's from." Are you not? is left unsaid, but heard all the same. There are a few moments of silence, though Bruce could hear the boy moving. It sounded like he was outside, somewhere crowded, based on the footsteps, and maybe even close to a road if those were cars driving by. It could be just wind, but it was too consistent and heavy for that.
A few minutes went by, and then the boy's voice returned, "What show are you talking about? I can't find it online."
"The Grey Ghost, from the early 50s," Bruce replies, even more confused. If this wasn't a reference to his favorite show, then how did the boy know the Crown of Fire? He could have just chosen it because he liked how the image looked- Dick has done that plenty of times- but to know it by name was an entirely different thing.
It implied that the Crown of Fire was more than just a fictional element in an old show.
Another pause goes by, and Bruce is now sure the boy is searching, before his surprise voice comes back. "Wait, the Ghost King is a character in this? No way!"
"Did you not watch the show?"
"No, this is the first time I'm hearing about it."
"Then how did you know about the Crown of Fire?" Bruce asks, pressing the phone to his ear and trying to get as many details of the boy from the background noise he could make out. Something in him told him to do so.
Bruce was never one to doubt his instincts- they saved his life more than once.
"Um, I-er, I saw it online and thought it was cool." The boy stumbles, which is the worst attempt at lying in his life. Too honest. He then asked how the boy knew about the Ghost King if he had never seen the show. "Er, what I saw was a picture of the Ghost King wearing the crown. I, ugh, thought he was someone's OC."
"Someone's OC?" Bruce questions, confusion coloring his words. What was with kids and making everything into an acronym?
"You're really old, aren't you?" The boy laughs a little more relaxed. "It means original character."
That explained nothing, but Bruce still hummed as if it explained everything. It sounded like the boy was moving underground. He was proven correct when he heard an announcement. This is Gotham Line L to Gotham Line W.
The kid was in Gotham? And on his way to Crime Alley? At this hour? It was the last train, and frankly, quite dangerous.
"I suppose I sound old to someone so young. I'm forty-seven." Bruce replies, typing a text to Jason- the one to be for sure near Crime Alley- a request to stop by the station and ensure the fourteen-year-old gets home safe.
A few seconds go by before his son's confirmation comes through, along with a suspicious " Why do you know there is a child walking so late on his own? But Bruce chose not to answer that part of the message.
"Ancient." The boy mocks in the same good nature, teasing his children, and Bruce's lips twitch into a smile against his will. " You're ancient. Why aren't you sleeping? Old people are asleep by this time, right?"
"I could ask you the same. Kids have bedtimes for a reason, you know."
The boy barks out a laugh, delighted. The sound is almost surprised, like he wasn't expecting to be brought to laughter, or that he was out of practice. Bruce adds one more mark to the list of worries this call was starting to make.
"I usually stay up late!" The boy said through giggles.
"Are your guardians aware of that? Better yet, are they aware you're taking calls from strangers?" Bruce probs as casually as he can. It doesn't seem to be done as delicately as he should have done it because the good humor vanishes, and the heavy silence from before returns.
After a moment, the boy speaks again. "They don't care."
Not a lie, but said with far too flatness that Bruce knows the boy means his guardians don't care about him, and not that they didn't mind what he was doing. If it were anyone else, they would have missed the difference in the way he spoke, but he's Batman. He could hear that bitterness loud and clear in the flatness of his tone.
"They should. My kids tell me beauty sleep is really important- especially since I don't believe in skin care routines," Bruce said instead of peaking at the obvious tension. He wants to know more, which is why he hadn't hung up again.
"You don't believe in skin care routines?!" The teenager yelps, sounding equally as horrified by that knowledge as Tim and Steph did when he walked in on them applying random products during a sleepover.
They had moved to the viewing room for a night of romantic comedies a few minutes before Bruce got the urge to go turn on the projector to watch a documentary. His son and (almost) daughter forced him to sit down while they smeared similar products on his skin, which he thought was pointless, but he did enjoy the face mask.
Bruce laughs. "I do wear lotion and sunscreen. I also drink plenty of water- that usually clears up any skin issues I have."
The teenager makes a noise that sounds like he's deeply offended, but doesn't comment on it further. Instead, he asks how much water is considered 'plenty'. In the same breath, the boy starts talking about the water bottles he makes and sells in his free time.
Bruce allows himself to get pulled into the conversation, asking questions when appropriate but mostly letting the kid lead. Eventually, the conversation moves to the Grey Ghost and other old shows the pair enjoys, with Bruce mentioning things from before his time, and the teenager mentioning old cartoons he enjoyed that Bruce only has faint knowledge of.
Out of all his kids, Dick and Jason were the ones most prone to cartoons, but the teenager considered shows from ten years ago old, so he recognized some names. The most recent was a loss to him, as Damian preferred anime to Western animation. Tim liked live action, Steph mostly watched dramas, and Duke went from horror to sitcoms.
It sounded like the teenager was one of the few who mostly watched animated things instead of anything else.
Eventually, the train arrived at its destination, twenty minutes later, and the boy paused in his summary of the most recent show that had a giant plot twist he had not been expecting.
"Oh, I have to go."
"Alright." Bruce accepted easily. "Have a good night."
"Um, you too. I'm Danny, by the way."
Bruce bites back a lecture on telling strangers his name, especially online, but only just. He tries to sound as casual and warm as he had been throughout this entire conversation. "Nice to meet you Danny. My name is Bruce."
"It was fun talking to you, Bruce," Danny says brightly, then in a much more obvious attempt to sound casual, he asks, "Can I call you again?"
Bruce's heart squeezes at the longing in the boy's tone as he laughs. "Of course."
Danny does a little cheer before he once again bids him goodbye, and the call drops. A few minutes go by, and he has half the mind to go down to Crime Alley to check if the boy got there safely or even open his chat with Jason to make sure he was around to get Danny home safely. He holds off, just because he knows his family would get angry, but just as the itch to do something starts to get unbearable, his phone rings.
This time, actually checking the screen, he finds Jason's burner phone number, the one he uses as Red Hood, flashing across his screen. He picks up, answering in a confused voice, just in case it's someone other than Jaylad.
He can pretend to never get a call from that number, as Brucie, if that's the case.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"It's your butler, who else?" Jason scoffs, answering the call in the code they agreed upon for the month. At once, Bruce relaxes even as his son carries on like nothing was amiss. The who else also let him know that his son was in a secure place, so he wasn't worried about being overheard.
Jason let that settle before his voice took on a more serious tone, dropping the mocking. "Listen, I'm calling about the teenager you mentioned on the last train of the W line. I followed him from the station, only to find out he was crashing in a broken-down camping store that had closed years ago. When I went inside, I saw his little setup in the far back of the building near the bathrooms. Kid's homeless but seems to be using the building's still functioning water system- and no, I don't know why it's active- to make himself look like he's not."
Bruce closed his eyes. I was afraid of this
"I figured as much," He settles on. "From the way he spoke, it sounded like he was lonely enough that his home situation was not right."
"You bringing him in?" Jason asks, with just the hint of tension in his voice that tells Bruce he means the cape life, and the Manor all at once. His son still doesn't approve of children in capes, along with Dick, and both act as if Bruce goes out of his way to turn children into soldiers, no matter who he talks to.
Sometimes it hurts that they forget how hard he worked to talk children out of it, and how hard he fought to get his sons to stay home in the very beginning.
"No. I just found out about him, but I don't think he will be willing to get help from CPS or me until I build a better relationship," Bruce replies. Jason lets out a huff of annoyance.
"No CPS," He grouches, the memories of what that particular system did to him, hidden in Jason's voice. "They never help. Not in Gotham."
"I know. I'm trying to make it better," Bruce acknowledges, but both know his efforts are not enough. For ever corrupted person Wayne Enterpirse had removed, three more took thier place. The system was broken in the country, but in Gotham, it was utterly shattered. "Until then, I want to keep an eye on Danny, and I'll keep talking to him-"
"Talk to him? How are you talking to him?"
"I got connected to him through a website. It's called Kitty's Connections, and apparently, it's to help people meet like-minded individuals, but through phone calls only." Bruce responds without hesitation.
Jason is silent for a long moment before he lets out a long breath. "If it were anyone else, I would be accusing them of being a perv, but I know you. So, we are investigating this website?"
"Yes. I want to make sure it's nothing harmful to children." Bruce had already sent a link to Barbara, along with an explanation. She replied with a thumbs up and a promise to give him a report on whatever she found. "O is on it. In the meantime, tell me about Danny. Does he look alright?"
"He's skinny, in the same way kids who've haven't eaten well for years are. But he's clean, like I said, seeming to keep up his laundry, and his washing well enough through the store's water supply. He also seems unaware of his surroundings. Either he's new to the streets or so used to them he doesn't look out of place." Jason reports, sounding like he was leaping onto the roofs, based on the change in voice and the slight thumps. Bruce wishes he could be leaping over rooftops right now, too. "features wise, he's small with black hair reaching his shoulders, blue eyes and limp in his left leg. Can't be older than twelve or so."
"He said he was fourteen," Bruce corrects, "Didn't sound like a lie. How bad was the limp?"
"Looks new. The kid steps wrong, for it it be a old issue."
"Did he seem ingured?"
"Not that I could tell, but I was observing at a distance. Didn't want him to run,"
Bruce sighs, "Alright. I'll call him again tomorrow. See if I can get more information out of him. Do you mind finding a way to give him food-"
"Already have that covered. Tomorrow, one of my contacts will offer him free food in exchange for some help taking out the garbage or something."
Bruce smiles, pride blooms in his chest. "Thank you, Jaylad. You always do good work for the street kids."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Not a big deal." Despite the words, Bruce knew his son was blushing, attempting to brush off the praise as he had when he was twelve. His boy has never handled praise well. "That's all?"
"For tonight. Thank you"
"Alright, then I'm heading off. By the way, I'm going to call Alfred about this. You better be resting by the time he come up to check on you."
Bruce groans, "I wasn't even doing anything. Why do you have to call him?"
"You know why."
"Fine. I'll watch some cartoons or something while you call him."
Jason huffs out a surprise laugh. "Cartoons? Why cartoons?"
"Danny told me about some. He sounded so passionate, I felt like I should give them a chance." Bruce shrugs, clicking on the TV and typing in the search bar, the first one. It pulls up the streaming service it was on, and since Bruce had all the subscriptions, he was able to start the first episode right away. It was just as brightly colored and playful as he would expect from a show about imaginary friends living in a foster home.
"Alright, have fun." Jason laughs again, "Night, old man."
"Goodnight, Jaylad. I love you."
Jason sputters for a second before he grouses, "Yeah, love you too."
The line drops, and Bruce settles more comfortably to watch the show. He has about twenty seconds before Alfred is running up to ensure he's actually watching TV, but he makes a mental note to look more into Danny's situation and the Ghost King's Crown of Fire.
Something tells him that it's a very important connection with the boy in the broken-down camping store and the reason he wound up there. Bruce would ponder on it more, but he hears the loud stomping of his bulter, so he has to force himself to look utterly captivated with the cartoon and let his thoughts settle.
Just as he does so, Alfred throws up the door with a shout, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, BOY!?"
"Watching cartoons."
Alfred narrows his eyes at him, rightfully suspicious. If Jason hadn't given him the warning, Bruce would have likely done something crazy, like limp to Tim's room to steal a tablet and look into the Ghost King. "Keep it that way."
"I will."
"I will, what?"
"I will, sir."
In Alfred's hand is his cellphone, which not only has Jason's laughter spilling out of it, but Bruce is half sure he can hear all his children cracking up. Bruce would have been offended, but it's Alfred. Of course, he had to use "sir" when his (almost) father put him on bed rest.
