tumblr broke my main

I've been a part of the MariBat fandom for years now, and more recently become a part of the BatPham fandom since it grew into a full fandom of it's own.

In all that time I have been sitting on an idea for another crossover with DC that I think has just as much potential to become something entirely its own.

So, allow me to present the idea of Tales of Arcadia x Batman, which I've been affectionate calling the BATHUNTER crossover in my head.

More ramblings and fic recs under the cut.

‘Proffesor Fenton you are a genius!’

Danny saying: I shall await for him Malfoy~

Danny opens the demonstration with, “Just a warning, half of the steps I will be showing you in this demonstration will not actually be featured in the lab. I didn’t have [chemical], [chemical], or [chemical] but I did purchase some household cleaning and beauty products from dollar tree that I finished isolating them out of 30 minutes before class.“

“And for [chemical], you can make it out of these two, so that’s taken care of.” 

“I made sure to order more but it won’t come in until next Wednesday. So don’t worry, when you do this lab yourself, you will not need to do these steps, but I figured it would be a good learning experience.”

“I only had the time to dilute the chemicals before this period, so I apologize.”

“Dr. Fenton? 

“You want me to buy water? No. I’ll dilute the chemicals myself. I don’t really have proper PPE besides gloves and safety goggles, so I’ll just have to make do.” 

But it’s just something he’s done so much before the verbal instructions are like, “Put enough in until it looks like there’s enough” 

For the lab instructions for the students, he has a worksheet with the the actual recipe in standard measurements but when he’s showing the class how it’s done? Rough measurements BABEY

The way he’s doing it, there should be a massive fucking margin of error and he should absolutely not be getting the product he wants because that’s not how chemistry should Work. The lab required a micropipette and he’s doing it by eye. 

Like, maybe people who have 30+ years working in their field with something they have done a bajillion times. But absolutely not a 25 year old who has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and got his PhD last year! And even then, doing it by eye is just asking for you to fuck up and waste your materials. 

Why does Danny work as a chemistry teacher when he has a degree in Mechanical Engineering? Well, Danny got an emergency teaching certificate because he took a lot of chem classes in college and Gotham Academy was desperate. The chem teachers in Gotham have had a trend of getting themselves in deep shit from criminal organizations threatening them to order chemicals needed to manufacture [x] toxin or drug. And they’d agree because it was for a ridiculous price, but if the chem teachers weren’t able to supply them enough or the criminals couldn’t get what they got the chemicals for to work, they’d blame it on the chem teacher and not their shitty chemistry practices or storing, and they’d get killed. So, Gotham is running short on demand for chemistry teachers. It’s also how Danny found out what was in the fear toxins. Small criminal organizations didn’t have big reach to other means to get chemicals in bulk so they’d go to where they know chemicals can be ordered: schools for chem. And the small criminal organizations try to replicate the toxins based off what they’ve heard is in them. Based off the previous Chemistry teacher’s ordering history, Danny was able to get a fairly good guess to what’s in it.  And if Danny was Really good at chem (like fictional mad scientist level good), then through tinkering around, he was able to find out what was missing. Tim is now baffled.  

How the fuck this guy who teaches the shop classes also know enough about chemistry that he can make a fear toxin antivenom without ridiculously high-tech equipment with stupid levels of precision measuring????

Danny just shrugs if he’s asked. He’s used to helping his parents in the lab. I mean, do you think the Drs Fenton actually praticed good sterile technique? Or proper lab safety? Or actually measured or recorded their experiments by moles or standard measurements or anything? Or isolate chemicals from cheap household cleaners? Or ordered at anything less than the highest concentration they could and diluted it themselves because they weren’t going to pay for water.  Fuck no. They learned how to adapt based on what they had and learned how to do it based on sight, smell, heat, color, taste, etc. (​Yes, taste. There’s a reason ectoplasm is stored in the fridge and it’s because they think it’s safe for human consumption. It’s one of the reasons the Drs. Fenton were dismissed by the scientific community. Their experiments didn’t have precise measurements and had a very low chance of the results being replicated because of how they did it. The biggest challenge Danny had in chem classes in college was writing lab reports.

He almost always got his results right but couldn’t explain it, because it was just “I did it until it felt right” and the profs did Not accept that so he had to get used to actually using standard measurements. And now here we are in the aftermath of Danny’s lab for fear antitoxin in Gotham Academy. He was trying to be relatable with these Gotham kids and give them a lab that would be practical and something that they’d actually use to get on the kid’s good graces.

And now he’s being investigated by Batman. 

Pls tell me more so I cam write a fic in, hopefully, 6 days…

I would put good money on Jazz having multiple research papers and joint(with Sam’s help, who is likely a rising star in the environmentalist circles)protest/projects for reforming how voluntary and involuntary hospitalizations are handled. Her thesis paper on Mind Control can cause PTSD on the same level as a kidnapping or any situation a person experiences any range in loss of control over themselves or their lives.

Batman has a choice to make here. This is clearly a tight-knit group of Young Adults, several of whom are clearly Metas of some kind. That all have backgrounds and skills to be dangerous individuals, but past documented history shows they are Good People.

He could just, close the file and let it go until they show actual activity of crime. Or keep digging.

All interactions with Danny and Jazz are pleasant and friendly. Jazz is the most subtly hostile of the two in these instances, but only when a question is over-friendly or invasive. She’s very obviously protective of her Brother who they can see, outside a school setting he wears t-shirts, has several concerning scars visible on his arms and peeking over the neckline of his shirt. (Bonus for attractive facial scars he covers for classes, but not in his free time.)

They are viciously protective of their privacy. Which, while annoying for Batman’s need to KNOW about potential threats, is not actually out of the ordinary or people or for a Gothamite. Investigations that include interviewing people from Amity Park or Red Huntress show this isn’t a unique trait of the Fenton siblings. Nightwing got whiplash when the professional, polite AP Hero snapped out “What are you a cop?” when he asked about Danny.

NW: uh… no? Valerie, who’s had it up to Mars with people harassing them: Sure pretty boy, but here’s what I’ll tell you about Fenton and his sister. NW perking up at potential information: ??? Valerie: You and your team will leave them alone if you know what’s good for you. NW: is… are they dangerous? Valerie: The Fentons can take care of themselves, but they aren’t who you gotta worry about if something happens to them, or they feel unsafe because of some loser furry who can’t mind his god-damn business. NW, trying his best not to laugh at loser furry: You, you know that doesn’t help, right? Look, Gotham has a high turn over rate of Chemists and Psychologists becoming villains. We just- Valerie: First of all, pretty boy, the fastest way for someone to turn to being a bad guy is to treat them like a bad guy. You’re lucky Fenton is a bleeding heart with iron clad morals, or we’d have been fucked a decade ago. Secondly, it’s ME and his Friends who will come for your asses if you hurt them. You do anything that puts him in danger because you won’t drop it when they’ve done nothing but their jobs, and we’ll hit you so hard and fast the Flash won’t even be able to save you. NW: okay, okay, got it. Loud and clear! Valerie: Good. Y'all leave that embodiment of chaos and sunshine alone. Unless you need help, I guess you can ask him for assistance, but he’s retired from the Hero Game and none of us will forgive you if you try to drag him back into it.

They get similar threats when questioning Sam and Tucker. Sam: The hell I unleash will make Dr Pam’s worst rampage look like a child throwing grass if you don’t leave them alone. Tucker: Look, I have a good job right now, and I don’t want to fuck that up because every other tech company has some villainous Billionaire attached. But if I find out you ran off my baby boy when he’s finally in a good place and happy, I WILL find out what happens when an ancient virus is unleashed on the modern internet.

Bruce Wayne gets an untraceable Email from The Modern Cassandra, that is a detailed list of every Gotham Vigilante and their potential as a villain.

Ectoplasm has been a huge part of Danny’s life. His parents kept ectoplasm in the same fridge they kept food in. They had a lab for a basement. Ecto contraptions and weapons were lying around in the home and nobody thought anything was wrong with that. It was just the norm. Hell,,,,,Danny himself is an ecto entity. Amity Park itself was brimming with ambient ectoplasm.

You can’t expect all that to just go away when he moves to Gotham.

Give me Danny who makes absentminded remarks while looking at a random students experiment like “Wow this could be thicker than ectoplasm”, “How did you manage to fuck this up so bad it looks like ectoplasm how”

Give me weird chem teach Danny who brings exactly two thermoses wherever he goes. He’s only even seen drinking out of one of them. And whatevers in there, it definitely isn’t soup or hot water. And what is in the second thermos, you ask? D o n t. D o n t a s k

Danny, overworked and underpaid like every teacher: god I wish the portal had killed me

Tim, who spent the last week trying in vain to dig up something about him : crying screaming throwing up WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

So none of the students in 1st period AP Chemistry at Gotham Academy were surprised when they walked into class to see a new teacher. They were surprised to see it was the Metalshop teacher, Dr. “Plesse call me Danny or Mr. Fenton, my parents were the Dr. Fentons” Fenton. None of the students called him Mr. Fenton of course. Gotham Academy is a very prestigious school with many very rich parents and with that came a certain respect for titles. So Dr. Fenton it was, no matter how much he complained about it.

Dr. Fenton was busily setting out what the students presumed to be the required lab equipment for their newest lab. Honestly, Dr. Heidel had chosen a great time to go missing (or dead). They’d just finished their most recent lab and unit, so Dr. Fenton wouldn’t be coming in the middle of some lab he probably only knew the basics of. His doctorate was in Mechanical Engineering after all, not Chemistry.

The students were a little confused and concerned though on why the Academy had not been able to find a substitute that didn’t already work there as a full time teacher. Usually there were plenty of substitutes to choose from, at least there were for the amount of money that the Academy could throw around from their parents’ generous donations.

So, with just a few whispered theories on what happened to the last teacher (some as mundane as a brief sickness, and others as ostentatious as them becoming a new Rogue), they settled down at their assigned seats to wait for the bell to start class.

As the last students trickled in with seconds to spare, Dr. Fenton turned towards the class, wide grin and excited eyes fixed on them. The students who were not in Metalshop were unnerved by this, the smile seeming just a bit too big, with just a few too many teeth, and the eyes shining a bit too brightly to just be the fluorescent lights reflecting off of them.

The students who took Metalshop were also unnerved, but for different reasons. They knew that that expression could only mean that they were going to be learning something that would make them feel like their brain had been turned to putty and their perspective was going to be flipped inside out and sideways. It was always an interesting, if slightly horrifying, feeling.

As the bell rang, Dr. Fenton clapped his hands. “Hello class! As you can see Dr. Heidel isn’t here today. They will not be returning unfortunately, they got a sudden offer they couldn’t refuse and left immediately for Metropolis. I will be filling in today while Principal Ramirez looks for a new Chemistry teacher and so I figured we could all do a more fun and practical lab today!”

Most of the class relaxed a bit at this. Dr. Heidel wasn’t dead at least, even if they were likely on the run from one of the Rogues. And they had a substitute who was just gonna give them a fun do nothing lab.

The Metalshop students only became more tense. They had a much better idea of what Dr. Fenton considered fun, and it was usually a lot more difficult (though very rewarding) than the standard lessons. Being practical as well just made it more concerning honestly.

“As you all know, the Rogues in the city use a lot of chemical based weaponry. Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin, the Joker’s Laughing Gas, Poison Ivy’s…well everything, to name a few. So I thought it would be best if I taught you how make at least 1 cure. Today we will be making the cure for Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin AND making it into an easy to carry injectable form, similar in design and function to an EpiPen! I-”

The class erupted into noise.

“What do you mean -”

“Cure for Fear Toxin?! How-”

“No way you can -”

“No way WE can-”

“This won’t work-”

“How would you even know-”

“But you’re not a REAL Chemistry-”

Dr. Fenton clapped his hands once, the sound seeming louder than it should be, silencing everyone.

“Now as I was saying, first I will show you how to make it and insert it into the No-Fear Pen, then I will hand you the instructions and help you to do it. Is that clear?”

Seeing a fewrl reluctant nods, Dr. Fenton smiled a little wider and almost seemed to vibrate a bit as he moved towards the beakers and chemicals on the desk in front of him.

“First we will take just a drop of ethylene, a dash of sodium pentothal-,” Dr. Fenton stopped, about to pour the sodium pentothal into the mixing beaker, as he saw a hand shoot into the air and many surprised faces.

“Yes, uh, Tim, right?” He asked.

“Right. Aren’t you going to measure the sodium pentothal, Dr. Fenton? And how did you get that?” Tim Drake asked, voice seeming very strained. Most of the class nodded, a few whispering about it to their lab partner.

“I am measuring it, Tim. No need to worry. I’m using what feels right. And of course I made all the more complicated chemicals you’ll be using for this lab. It would have taken much too long to walk through the whole process to every chemical we are using today, but I appreciate the commitment to Chemistry!” Dr. Fenton’s hands steadily poured “a dash” of sodium pentothal into the beaker, barely looking at it while he answered the question.

“Sir! I don’t think that’s safe! You’re not even looking at it and you’re not measuring it. What even is ‘a dash’ supposed to mean? This is Chemistry, not cooking!” Tim nearly shouted.

“Nonsense! All cooking is Chemistry! And just like with cooking, you measure with your heart. But, since you’re still learning, I’ve written up comprehensive directions and measurements for you. And I’ll be walking around the class so I can spot anyone who looks like they need help. Wouldn’t want to add to much salt to your recipe right? Speaking of salt, that’s the next ingredient! Specifically Sodium Borate, otherwise known as Borax! We’ll be adding a pinch of that.” Dr. Fenton said, a nearly manic grin on his face.

The class collectively decided that Dr. Fenton was definitely not completely (or at all) sane, and was probably the most likely teacher to become a Rogue that they’ve yet seen. In the interest of not being what tips him over the edge, they all quietly (slightly fearfully) focus on the lab and the instructions given to them.

“…And then you just slide this tube into the No-Fear Pen and you’re done! One Fear Toxin cure…antivenom? Eh whatever, one cure ready to go! And what practical lab would be complete without a practical demonstration!”

Everyone’s eyes widened at that, several of them nearly falling out of their chairs to get away as they saw Dr. Fenton pull out a small capsule, easy grin seeming again, just a little too wide, teeth a little too sharp to be human.

“To show that this cure works I’ll just breathe in a little of my home made Fear Toxin then inject myself, don’t worry, you’ll have the opportunity to test it as well, but only after I demonstrate it’s safety,” Dr. Fenton said, completely miss reading the emotions of his students. Nearly all of students started scrambling back, except Tim Drake who sprang forward, chair toppling as he vaulted over the table, desperately trying to grab the capsule. But with a slight squeeze of Dr. Fenton’s fingers, the small capsule broke and a comparatively large puff of gas escaped, immediately breathed in by Dr. Fenton.

“Please everyone remain in your seats, even you Mr. Drake. The Fear Toxin should start to take effect in 3…2…1!” Dr. Fenton said calmly. Far too calmly for such an insane act as to deliberately breathe in Fear Toxin. As he finished sp3aking they all saw him visibly go pale, eyes dilating and almost seeming to reflect more of the overhead lights, before his arm suddenly sprung up, No-Fear Pen in hand, and slammed down into his own thigh. Exactly like administering an epipen.

The class collectively held their breath as the fearful, nearly crazed look, went out of Dr. Fentons eyes and his skin went back to his normal healthy tan, though sweat still beaded his brow. Tim Drake, previously frozen from the sheer absurdity of the situation, slowly untensed his body and walked back to his table, barely remembering to pick his chair up before he sat in it.

“And there you have it! One functioning No-Fear…Anti-Fear? I like Anti-Fear, let’s go with that! One Anti-Fear, ready to be administered just like an epipen! Just jam it into you thigh with all your strength and you should be fine! Now who’s ready for the lab?” Dr. Fenton exclaimed, throwing his hands up in excitement, grin fixed on his face.

Slowly, like their teacher was a tiger rather than a man, they nodded, none of them daring to blink or break eye contact from their Definitely-Going-to-be-a-Rogue teacher. Several of them readied their phones under the table, unsure if they should call 911 now, or wait until things actually devolved in the classroom.

“Excellent! Let me just get these instructions handed out to you. Oh! And of you like this lab, then you’ll love it next week when I’m subbing for Mr. Takahashi, the Home Ec teacher! I’m going to teach you how to make a cure for the Joker’s Laughing Gas as little hard candies. They’re Blue Raspberry flavor!”

Bruce: hey champ, how was school?

“So long as the government doesn’t illegalize my existence again, I not going to become a criminal promise!”

“Of course I’m not going to become a Rogue! Do you have any idea how much effort that would take? There are plenty of other easier ways to become famous or infamous than that!”

“I might be retired from the limelight but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go in the opposite direction!”

Other Ideas for advanced demonstrations (these don’t work if they’re not biocoded to the student.):

My-Portal-Home (MHP): A one time use get out of emergency device! It’ll teleport you to wherever you mentally associate with safety. (For his mechanics class, doesn’t work if they’re in jail or teleport then to a place that they’re not welcome.) (Looks like a joke toy, but it works.)

Random teacher: and how do you think of teaching all this?

Danny: I’m using my school’s syllabus as a base, of course adapted to Ghotam

2nd Random Teacher: your school?

Danny: yep, Casper High, you’d walk in as a wimpy tween, and walk out as a young adult ready for college and riot squad support, or surviving an apocalyptic situation, whichever would come first…

1st and 2nd Random Teachers:…

Danny: I still remember the first rescue raid when I was around 15 years old, they had kidnapped all the adults, I had to direct all my classmates, both in the assault and in the use of the emergency airship… ah What a good times.

“Hey, do you ever do DodgeShot in gym here?” (One thing that you have to keep in mind is that if you go to a word school, you don’t really know what goes on at regular schools.)

“Dodge… Shot?” The gym teacher replies.

“Yeah, like Dodgeball but it trains your marksmanship as welll rather than just your evasive skills. Casper High had it as a mandatory activity for Juniors and Seniors. (So that if a Ghost attacks them they can defend themselves or avoid getting hit by Ectobeams by the GIW.)”

Then Mr. Baxter introduces the kids to DodgeShot… oh god there’s two of them.

Mr. Baxter: This is why we went over what are the bare basics and how to pack them, so you have them with you. Cutting a strip from a shirt is much quicker and more efficient than tearing.

Mr. Baxter: Since Home Ec hasn’t agreed to adding hidden pockets to their sewing section, we’ll cover that next week!

During the Summer, they have open classes at multiple Recreation Centers to teach what they know to kids from other schools like in Burnley, Crime Alley, Bowery, ect.

Some kid asks about if they have some special tricks for disarming a Bomb and Danny and Dash just look at each other before nodding as if they had a wise and serious silent conversation before saying in unison.

“Book it.”

The kid who asked about bomb stuff isn’t from school they work for (most of their students avoid them outside of school hours re the whole ‘unhinged, probably rogues in the making’ thing

So anyway, Danny & Dash go ‘that’s a great lesson idea’ and coordinate to have a ‘bomb day’

They bring in bombs (they just puff glitter everywhere, but they look legit)

Danny is in his usual Metalshop class and just “today’s practical lesson is to learn how to disarm a bomb” *whips out a bomb with a timer set for the end of the class period visibly ticking down and starts lecturing about the ‘more common setup, which is what we’re using for practice today.’

Dash’s class is part evaluation, part situational awareness, & part reflexes.

he has two types of bombs - ones that are stable enough to chuck into the distance and ones that can’t be moved. They’re sprinkled around an obstacle course he puts them through (before explaining beyond ‘do not turn around or leave the course until you reach the end, super ominously’)

He waits at the end while the rest of the class lines up to go through one at a time every few minutes

The first person out is like “Dr. Baxter holy shit there are bombs in there!”

Holds up clipboard, “how many did you spot and where?”

“How- that doesn’t matter we have to warn the others and get out of here!”

“Not to worry [student], those are good instincts to have but this is all part of the exercise. I’ll give the full debrief when everyone is through, for now just tell me how many you spotted and how many different kinds.”

“…s…seven…? But Dr. Baxter-”

next student interrupts by barreling out screaming “Dr. Baxter holy shit there are bombs in there!”

At the end he’s like “Most of you failed to note all of the bomb’s locations and only 4 of you noticed there was more than one kind. Those of you with run times above three minutes will be doing runs tomorrow. I notice only three of you exited the course entirely - likely because the sides were lined with bombs and wire. Good job on finding an exit, Tim. While flexibility wasn’t the point of this lesson it’s an advantageous skill to have in many situations! Mara, Davis,” he addresses the glitter-covered students, whose shrieks of terror everyone could still recall. “I would advise you to consider how affecting your environment might trigger the dangers around you the next time you find yourselves surrounded by bombs.”

“But now,” he claps his hands, “Let’s talk about id'ing which bombs are throw-able to determine how everyone could have exited the maze early on.”

When Danny’s morning students get to the maze, they’re resigned.

Miraculously, no one called the cops. In part bc Danny had never gotten in trouble for having stuff like Joker Gas or Fear Toxin so why would a bomb be different? In part bc people don’t carry their phones in gym (they have to leave them in a tray at the door) or Tim would’ve had the bats in there.

—–

Imagine Tim coming home with a small bruise and Bruce is like ‘What happened? At school?? That wasn’t there this morning????’

’…I lost.’

‘Lost what???’

‘Dodgeshot’

’?????????’

—–

…consider. Wes has not let the Phantom thing go. Maybe he doesn’t try to tell people anymore (bc he’s realized that ‘the light of truth is not enough to break through your foul sway on the innocent masses minds’) but he just. Follows Danny around.

The Fentons won’t sell him stuff bc he literally said he wanted to use it on Danny (& then bc they realized Danny was Phantom and wow, good thing they said no)

The GIW won’t sell to him bc he made them look like even bigger idiots, publically, by trying to do the Phantom=Fenton thing and then everyone mocks them and shows them the memes. They got a lot of shit for thinking Gregor was a ghost disguised as a human. The mockery for thinking an alive-person with a pulse is Phantom? ridiculous.

(They actually don’t care about being mocked or they wouldn’t be GIW, but it was so vicious & public that they lost funding for ‘poor resource management’ or something)

So since he can’t expose/fight him Wes ‘detailed corkboard on Fenton=Phantom theory’ Weston just decides to follow Danny around to keep an eye on him.

Danny thinks it’s hilarious

They’re kinda moving into frenemy-territory slowly but surely, so it could be worse.

I could totally see him as a history (look at how it all connects) teacher.

Or a cop.

he’d be perfect as a cop omg

First time Danny brings in Joker gas someone 911’s and Wes is one of the responding cops.

The demonstration is over by the time the police show up (the kid texted them and is trying to text to cancel but now the cops are there so no one was expecting them).

The principal gets contacted and is like ‘not to worry the exercise is approved.’ but the cops insist on talking to the person.

“Fenton,” the first cop in the room greets, ignoring his partner behind him saying ‘let me- dangit.’

“Wes,” Danny grins. “I’m surprised to see you in Gotham.”

“I have my eyes on you, Fenton,” he hisses. “Tell me how you got your hands on Joker Gas?”

“Alright, that’s enough,” his partner grabs Wes’ shoulder and drags him back. “I’m sorry for him, he’s new Dr….Fenton? Was it. But we do need to know how you got your hands on the Joker Gas.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble officer. I just vacuumed some up during the last attack.” Danny smiles.

“…Vacuumed.”

“Yep! The Fenton Weasel 2.7, for all your sample collection needs! I’d been thinking of doing this lesson for a while, so when the gas popped up on my doorstep and I needed to either wait for it to dissipate or clean it up I figured two birds, one stone. You know?”

“…Right. Well. Have a nice d-”

“No! There is no way we’re just letting this go! He brought Joker Gas into a school! We can’t just-”

Danny cuts off Wes with a cough.

“My lesson was pre-approved, Wes,” his grin is just as wide and off-putting as the day he dosed himself with Fear Gas. “The only reason you’re here at all is because my explanations were inadequate to soothe my students’ nerves.”

2) Wes is almost always tackled or prevented by the new former Amity Parker intern Tucker, so Bruce never gets any useful information but Wes INSISTS LOUDLY that he needs to “tell Batman” so he’s gotta triple investigate Wes and stay far away

3) all the Amity Parkers therefore hear about Bruce being Batman from Wes and either disregard it or take it as gospel truth, with no way to identify why each thinks the way they do

4) the reason there are so many Amity Parkers in Gotham is because it is the only other city in America the Justice League never fucking go to, either because

a) they assume the residents will get it if they bitch about the Justice League being useless

b) they don’t wanna run into the league personally for fear of what they will say or do

Or c) they assume Batman is a ghost and the rogues have the kind of wacky antics they’re used to. When someone asks Dash why the hell he would willingly move to Gotham, he explains offhandedly

“Oh, I tried Chicago and Detroit, but it was just too quiet for me. I can’t settle down without at least a little excitement y’know.”

None of the Amity Parkers are ever asked that question again for fear of their answers.

5) Scarecrow and Joker are FUCKING LIVID that some goddamn school teacher is giving out cures for their secret weapons, and even fucking sharing the recipe

The fucking GIRL GUIDES have a badge now for making your own batch of anti-Joker sweets and selling them around town

But only one of them attacks the Gotham Academy

Only once

And sadly for Joker, it’s the day after the first gym class bomb run

Some of the kids are almost relieved they won’t have to do it again but also terrified because what the fuck is Professor Baxter going to do???

Professor Baxter is going to loudly and cheerfully declare “alright kids, we’ll pick this up another day but it looks like there’s some trouble so let’s all go to the bomb shelter!”

And all the kids just. Stare at him. Because yeah the American education system is A Trip but what fucking school has a bomb shelter?? (More than half the students realising yeah this is Gotham we fucking need one)

When someone hesitantly reminds Dash there is no bomb shelter, he sighs heartily, shakes his head, and scoops up an armful of bombs

“Yeah, alright, I forgot. We’ll just go to Fenton’s class, raid the sports equipment first for weapons and Tim, Louis, Cassidy, you guys pick up some of the throwable bombs, you did best on your tests”

And I mean the kids aren’t gonna argue against being armed it’s a fucking Joker attack, some grab spares for the other kids in Danny’s class and Dash nods approvingly and gives them extra credit

They get to class and the gym kids are fucking VIBRATING what the shit are these two gonna do together are they gonna action man out and take the Joker down themselves???? Tim is freaking out is this Danny’s villain arc he can’t get away Dash gave him A BOMB

But when they get there Dash and Danny share looks (and Danny hastily removes something above the door before Dash opens it, this is normal) and Dash nods to the kids

“Alright Fenton, you keep an eye on the kids and set these up” *delivers an armload of bombs* “and I’ll be back soon”

Dr Fenton nods like this is somehow normal and off Dash goes.

10 seconds later, Danny is grinning at the class again

“Alright everyone from Shop class, this is gonna be worth… let’s say 20 percent of your final grade, if I can get back into this room WITHOUT being covered in glitter you’ll all have to do an extra project to make it back up. Set up your bombs, I see you have weapons, well done, share those out and everyone else… do you all have your Joker candies? There’s an extra bag in my desk, stay quiet, stay low, and no one tell Dash I left.”

And then he climbs out the fucking window with a fucking scifi looking ray gun

Tim is fucking TORN on the one hand he NEEDS to get out there and coordinate with B and get this under control, on the other hand these kids are now fucking undefended and also he does not have time for an extra project in shop class

No one ever finds out exactly what happened but by the time the Bats hit the scene Joker is concussed, covered in glitter, and sobbing quietly

Danny gets back in unscathed (dammit) about 20 seconds before Dash runs back in and triggers the bombs

Tim successfully argues that Danny can’t prove he was unscathed in the next shop class and they could just tell Dash he left, so they all get that free 20%

6) if Dick EVER complains about his time at school again Tim just stares at him dead eyed like a war vet

7) despite Danny’s known penchant for biting goons, Red Hood approaches him personally to ask him to run extra safety classes in Crime Alley, under his personal protection

But like if there’s this one incident where something more ghostly happens and Tim is the only one to witness it. Idk what it would be but I think it would be funny. Like if an Observant comes to Danny in the break room to talk about ghostly/kingly stuff but ends up getting souped instead cause that is something that he doesn’t want to deal with, now or ever.

There’s a week where Danny subs for the physics teacher. For the entire week they talk about different dimensions and how to get to them. By the end of his subbing period, Danny and his classes have created a working portal to the Infinite Realms. It doesn’t work for long but it’s enough. It burns out one minute and twenty three seconds after being activated and stable. Luckily with his personal experience and his parents notes, no one becomes a halfa or comes down with a nasty case of ecto acne.

Imagine Dash and Danny taking separate groups of students through a Metropolis Museum of some sort. Big villain chum attacks near Dash’s group; hence the students getting extra points for evacuating civilians and doing first aid. Dash distracts the big chum and kicks their ass.

BUT.

Dannys group was farther in and got stuck in the villains trap. Now locked in, the villain (stupidly) declares (declared is a strong word theyre really wheezing after Dash is done with them) that they have planted a bomb in the museum and unless the hero bows to their demands the kids inside will die.

Hero comes a bit late and gets held up trying to get the villains detonator. They storm in, ready to help the kids only to see Danny and Co. calmly walking out with (diffused bomb) carefully packaged and ready for disposal.

Some quotes I thought of:

*trap goes off, everyone is freaking out a bit. Tim knows he’ll live this down.*

Danny notices the bomb. And gets them to a safe (as safe as they can be) distance before realizing what kind of bomb it is and approaching it. “Oh Kids! This is a great learning opportunity! Watch closely. Now, before we start, what are the steps to safely take care of a bomb?”

Kids, behind tables and shelves: “Determine. Defuse. Dispose.”

“ That’s right! Now is this a bomb we can throw? Kevin?”

Kevin: “No, it doesn’t have (bomb part? Idk the difference sorry)”

“ Good! We have determined what kind of bomb it is. This is where it gets fun! See this cylinder here? This is a chemical that reacts violently to ignition! Diffusing this bomb will need to be done with a steady hand….”

The look on everyone’s face as the group waltzes out of the museum, diffused bomb in hand to give to the authorities/hero(es) is something Tim will never forget. (Tim took notes the entire time and definitely plans on using this knowledge in the future)

This is my favorite DP x DC post.

Kwan needs to also get a job at Gotham Academy or nearby just for that Dash Kwan meet up and all of their students assuming that Kwan might be the only normal Amity Parker.

If it’s the less friendly kind of stopping in the street, where a car pulls up and points a gun at him to get in? Let’s just say once and never again.

He got into the car of course, when a Gotham rogue points a gun at you, you damn well play along lest you lose your life, or well, your half life but they don’t know that.

When they stopped at a random rundown warehouse, Danny got shoved inside, and they demanded he make some new chemical weapon for them that there isn’t an antidote for. Danny, of course, had been expecting this since he got asked to become the chemistry substitute three months ago. They never found someone else to fill the vacancy and he was doing just fine so they let him stay.

By the time the bats arrives all the goons were covered in glitter and coughing up smoke but otherwise unharmed. A note was left behind telling the bats to get there sooner next time, this was sloppy. And for red robin to please see him after class.

Dick (you think Bruce actually goes to these?) wants to know why Tim is coming back with bruises every now and then,

and why he finds baby bird at 2am, with a haunted look as he whispers, “a dash of sodium peroxide…if the bomb doesn’t have a cylindrical tube, book it…a sprinkle…a sprinkle of copper powder…” as he sips coffee from what Tim insists is The ThermosTM

The ThermosTM is incredibly ugly.

But he’s also concerned about Tim’s chemistry class lab safety, or lack of.

Danny ends up in Gotham for whatever reason, and he needs money. He has some not so bad skills with basic dishes and with some effort manages to put together a street vendor stand out of scrapes. He has to get his materials for the first sales from stealing with his invisibility and intangibility. But look, he just needs something to start with, okay?

He uses his powers to heat the metal where he cooks, and keep the cold products cold. He's not going to say he has an stellar sanitary manage of the food, but he tries his best.

I'd really want to be able to throw in a bunch of examples of famous Gotham Dead that could be Danny's customers. All I can name from the top of my head is everyone's dead parents & stepparents. Which is all well and good, but hardly a wide cross-section of city population.

I want old gangsters, gilded age socialites, newsies, dock workers, shopkeepers, mall rats, and more.

Name drop ppl who canonically died in Bat- and other Gotham-centric comics, shows, and movies.

Joker victims order drinks with a straw and food cut into bite-sized pieces. Eating gets messy when your face is stuck like that.

People from different decades, ethnic groups, and social spheres have hankering for different foods.

Some people come to gossip. Some act like they're in a hurry, still. Several different ghosts even tried to mug Danny, or make him pay protection money. You know, for old times' sake?

Now to Hood.

Also, I feel that for the investigating side of this, it would be fun to have another bat go visit Danny first. Trying to subtlety ask about the special menu, and Danny just brings up the sandwich of the week or some themed dessert. Danny remains non the wiser to the investigation, he things their just really animated clients.

Then Jason goes himself because he's known to work with the Red Hood - Known Crime Lord that occasionally works with the bats, and immediately gets the dead menu option, except not for the reasons he thought he will.

Also, have the gotham ghosts he meets include the OG matches malone, and from there feel free to pile in deceased Goons and Victims, the mob matriarch who’s still around, talon victims from early gotham, hell the late Kanes too.

Danny is clearly Food Bringer and Maker to them—few are giving him gotham gossip beyond what it takes to make sure he stays alive

Jason gets the GossipTM and gotham ghost scene.

Danny does know the undead scene better by virtue of many undead being more mobile and they want to welcome the new member of the ‘been around too long to see this shit go down’ club as he’s (by their standards) baby undead learning to undead, and found a niche feeding dead and living to get by. Excellent survival and way to blend in buddy! We all got our thing.

Now, two questions:

What do we think is Matches Malone opinion of his identity being taken up by Bruce?

For matches, i find the idea of him being pissed off about the identity theft and see Batman as a hypocrite more interesting. Man looks at this guy’s Impact a million times over intent and method. Matches was a low ranking informant, so him respecting the ability to get the info but disapproving of 1) his death being brushed under the rug and being a restless dead spirit that can only Do Shit after eating Danny’s food. 2) making Bruce’s life difficult when using Matches Malone persona OR trying to use info he got as Matches far more intriguing than the standard ‘well i’m dead and can’t do shit about it or my legacy this guy stole’z and 3) matches is a multi gen gothamite from the main part of gotham, not the rich side, he is not taking his existence’s usurpscion in any way but a big ass insult to injury and is not letting that shit fly

Matches also liking Jason a lot—man is a methodical planner in his intro so fuck it keep Jason with that trait—as Jason is ‘real gothamite’ and worked within the crime framework that Crime Alley respects/tolerates/understands to forge a communal support system in a more formal style and enforces his shit as clearly as he informed everyone on day 1? Mad respect for the madlad. Possible game of Matches trying to work out how to get the stronger, more tangible ghosts to help him kill joker in the hospital as a ‘we appreciate you’ to Jason AND coordinate making sure Danny can suck the ecto out of the area to ensure Joker is yeeted elsewhere and not a ghost.

Matches sees Danny as Useful Tool to get what he wants, and give less than bare minimum to keep Danny alive in terms of info—will tell him what direction to go in and may escort him to safe locations while insulting Danny left right and center (new england city charm at it finest—fuck you i am helping but i am complaining as i do and you dont get to die until ive decided you’ve been annoyed by me enough and that will never happen)

Take that baby (grown-ass man) under your wing!

Joker victim: is he not already at the joker victim support group?

Matches: no, and i have a way to end joker while making him the devil’s headache—not ours.

Joker victim: … i am listening

Matches: if we get the newbie to pull the ecto out of the hospital joker’s in next time we manufacture an accident the fucking clown gets caught in—

Joker victim: this. This is going to the discord server for a group vote.

Danny, popping out of his truck: hey Matches, your usual or do you have another recipe for me to toy with?

Matches: the ghosts united beseech you for pad thai, and your teacher will be here shortly. Be warned—that woman will make you regret every mistake.

Danny: kk—i’ll add it to the specials for the dead menu once i got that one down. So mac n cheese balls with a cheese burger and extra fries?

Matches: yep—now where were we?

Joker victim: plotting the clown’s downfall.

Danny: fucking hate clowns—want me to call any of my friends from the Realms to help?

Matches:

Joker Victim:

Matches:

Joker Victim: no—we’d rather have less ectoplasm around him when he bites the dust.

Matches: yes, very much minimize the ectoplasm

Danny: oh. Would my cousin be okay? She’s a neverborn halfa and tends to pull nearby ecto in as long as she takes her injections

Matches: absolutely you just. Stay with the truck then

Danny: cool beans—oh is that my teacher?

An old woman with a crushed leg wanders over and points to the kitchen

Danny: oh she’s one of the hitty ones without a vocal chords—whelp. When in rome!

Matches, shaking his head: see, we cant leave that idiot alone.

Joker victim: yeah. He cant even tell us apart besides how violent our deaths were. Fucking midwesterners.

"He can't tell us apart besides how violent our deaths were"

Because Realms Ghosts and Lingering Ghosts (wraiths snd shades?) are ghosts in the same way as coelacanths and sturgeons are fish, it takes a certain level of acclimatization to sync up their ability to perceive and communicate.

Danny takes a while to be able to distinguish individual shades he's not familiar with by anything other than vague outline and their death echo.

The Gothamites can tell he died by electrocution, which is nasty but hardly unique, plus something else they can't really see (because Danny's suppressing the hell out of his ecto-signature, possibly with technology). Since he has a living body, they figure he's some flavor of revenant, like Hood, maybe with some extra Realms bullshit on top.

So, either overtime, they all start to notice the portal energy just like he starts telling his clients apart, or he has a little suppression fail and whoever's around at the time spreads the hot gossip.

Anyway, the portal IS a big deal. I sincerely doubt anyone knows what a Halfa is, but this kind of death echo would leave anyone shaken. Even in Gotham.

Ironically, unlike the Yeti, whose main point of reference were figures from their legends - all either victims of one-in-a-million run-in with a natural portal, or - willing or otherwise - sacrifices in a process of opening a magical one, Gothamites instantly clock that Mad Science was involved. Different "living" experiencem i suppose. So that's gonna color their interactions with Danny much more than any notion of mythical psychopomps.

----------

I doubt anyone suspects he has another form if they just think his like some sort of revenant with a little bit of realm flavor. It would be a crazy reveal to have.

Do you think Ivy and Scarecrow’s victims might try to get information about his life pre-Gotham out as they feel a form of ‘killed by BS outside of our control and comprehension at the time’ solidarity?

The portal energy takes longer to let slip, but yes, them being aware he had two causes of death and one was electrocution so they assume the second was being fried from it until they note that sometimes they sense a portal to the ‘Mystery Green Place’/Infinite Realms but only Danny is there and he claims there was no portal.

Danny is distinctly Gotham Transplant and no one knows the cause of his move (i’m team his parents are beside themselves for their life’s work killing their son, them never noticing, and Danny deciding they cant blame themselves and wallow about if he’s gone OR his parents not knowing how to process Danny Fenton= Danny Phantom and he got fed up with being treated like an experiment gone wrong, so he bounced).

Danny is Theirs Now as he is Useful Food Maker, listens to suggestions and has no questions about who they elect to teach him recipes, and even lets some of them help him make the food for others once they get a hold of telekinesis.

Hm. Genuine q, anyone have a clue WHERE in bat/gotham timeline this should take place? Jason helping them out can be anywhere from late in Tim’s robin run to well after duke and others joined the batclan.

How about fillipe garcia (the guy jaybin was implicitly accused of killing) and his dad being mentioned in passing by a dead sex worker as ‘someone she and the girls eviscerate’ and getting an uncomfy confirmation that Jason’s first kill was in the League of assassins and one of his (v morally corrupt) teachers—not the guy that kick started Jason’s uncertainty in staying with Bruce and Bruce’s distrust in Jason as someone who doesn’t kill?

Hm, aren’t there dead former vigilantes too?

What about late talons as regulars who are the chattiest with Danny as Former Undead to Current Undead and they mentor him/steer him to the Undead community as psuedo-sponsors?

… should it be Waylon and Grundy being the tip off about Danny’s food truck—they get separate menus all the time, Waylon mentions it to Roy/Arsenal (he sponsored him getting sober) and Roy suggests they grab a bite there?

Around the same time Stephanie grabs a meal/street food with a colleague in Nursing School post-study session and Stephanie gets Both menus with an explanation of ‘if you’ve had this medical condition and recovered, this one is okay to eat from but if you never had it, its normally a Bad Time. Made it after finding others with it—the deficency doesnt seem to both you since you fully recovered but you look as dead as me, so it can give you a boost but only do this now and then, otherwise stick to the same menu as your friend’ spiel sets off both of them, and they drop a tip to bat-hotline before Stephanie orders off of it and brings a sample home with a note ‘do not touch, going to lab for tests’

Danny is a contact creator.

He started off as a kid who wanted to dump info about space or other interests, making it more "Did you Know" as his theme, but his channel really took off the first time he invited a ghost to speak about the era that came before.

No one knows Sidney Poindexter is a ghost. Ghosts usually do not appear on camera; if they do, they are always a blur or barely visible outline. That doesn't come into play when the camera happens to belong to the Ghost King, who is unaware of the title.

Greta knows about Tim’s crush, she did this on purpose.

Paulina: Did he get me the stuff?

Sam: Yeah, he said he got the Clown Costume, Powerdrill, and 12 gallons of blood.

Paulina: Wow, where did he find 12 gallons of fake blood?

Sam:...You wanted fake blood?

Paulina and Star: *share concerned looks*

Mar'i: Uncle Damian! *runs up to him, her teacher, Danny, trailing behind with her backpack* Please get married! I want to be a flower girl too!

Damian: I beg your pardon?

Danny: *clears his throat and hand's Damian her bag* It was show and tell, and one of Mar'i's classmates showed off her flower girl crown from her aunts wedding last weekend.

Mar'i: Yup! The crown was sssoooooo pretty!

Damian: I see, however I am unsure who you think I would marry.

Mar'i: Eh uhhhh um *looks around frantically before pointing at Danny* Mr. Danny! Yeah! You can marry him!

Damian: Pardon?

Danny: Excuse me?*squeaks and face goes red*

Mar'i: Yeah! Uncle Damian loves animals, and helping people! And Mr. Danny loves animal and helping people! That's a-a um com-on inch-int-imper eh

Danny: In-ter-est

Mar'i: Yeah! Commons Interest! Daddy said thats good for people who get married!

Damian: That is not how relationships work.

Mar'i: You don't like Mr. Danny? *eyes start to water* But hes nice, and he helps me with my maths and he likes the stars and he has a puppy...

Damian: *panicking* I do not dislike him- but- relationships are difficult to-how do I say-

Danny: Mar'i, *Mar'i turns to look at him* When two people get married, it means they're going to be together for a very long time. You need to be very close with that person, and love them a lot. Your Uncle Damian and I don't know eachother that well, so we can't get married, do you understand?

Mar'i: So its like how I gave Lucy a friendship bracelet but not Conner because I'm not good friends with Conner yet?

Danny: Exactly!

Mar'i: Okay, I understand. Mr. Danny if you do ever get married, can I be your flower girl?

Danny: Sure! But that probably won't happen any time soon though.

Mar'i: That's okay! I'm patient!

Damian: *clearing his throat* I appreciate the assistance in explaining the complexities of marriage to Mar'i. I am afraid such situations are *grimaces* not one of my strong suits.

Danny: Don't worry about it! You'd be surprised how many children try to set me up with their family members. It happens to me a lot for some reason, which is weird because my coworkers don't have this problem?

-Insisted Danny give Damian a kiss because Damian had a pretty bad looking black eye, and when Mar'i insisted kissing boo-boos made the pain go away.

-Convinced Damian to buy her flowers so she could give them to Danny for "Teacher's Appreciation Day", only when the time came she gave Danny a bouquet of wild flowers she picked leaving Damian to awkwardly hand Danny the Peonies and Tulips(hes allergic to roses) for seemingly no reason.

-Saw Danny in a store and purposefully 'got lost' so that Danny and Damian had to work together to find her, then acted scared since she had been 'lost' so all three went out for ice cream to calm her down.

-Gave Danny Damian's phone number instead of Dick's or Bruce's when she got sick at school, so now Danny has Damian's number and vise versa.

-She told Danny that she was sad Damian didn't get a lot of valentine's treats because hes vegan, and convinced him to make some mini vegan chocolate and raspberry cheesecakes so Damian isn't left out. Not one to be outdone, Damian came back the next day with some of Alfred's double chocolate chip cookies.

And now Superman is out her door, holding three - very obviously not human looking - siblings and asked if they were hers. Because, if she was understanding this correctly, at the timeframe she looked away from them - they had somehow gotten out.

Turned Ghost, flew to where Superman was fighting Lex and some other Robots, before bashing them all in as 5-year-old Ghostly Toddlers.

Introduced themselves as Danny, Dani and Dan.

And now the public is calling them the real life 'Powerpuff Girls.'

"It's a low-power mode," Jazz explained, patting Dani's hair as she napped on her lap, "they're not exactly themselves right now. Frostbite said that their brains are too young to process their older memories, so they don't really know what or who they are.

"Anyways, they'll be back to normal in about a year or so. Until then, they're my headache."

"And this happened... how exactly?"

"Our universe collapsed. We only escaped because they pooled their power together. That's how they ended up like that."

Superman frowned at that, ignoring Danny as he tried to climb his cape, "Were there any other survivors?"

"Yeah, Sam, Tucker, and Val. They're at school right now... they took it hard, but they have a habit of working through the pain. I'd rather they take it easy to work through it, but hey! Whoever listens to the nagging older sister?"

The two reporters exchanged a look.

"But how are you holding up?" asked Lois, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, it's all good," Jazz scoffed, as if she hadn't also lost her home, friends, and family, "I have to be OK. That's my job."

"It doesn't have to be," pointed out Superman, "at the very least, it doesn't have to be just your job."

"How old are you, anyways?" asked Lois.

"Nineteen," she replied, noticed the looks on their face, and hastily added, "but the others help a lot!"

"And how old are they?"

"...Seventeen."

"Much too young to do this alone," sighed the kryptonian, "look, some other superheroes and I are starting a... team of sorts."

"For babysitting?"

"For support," he corrected, "any type of support we might need. The others step in if one of us needs time off, we work together to take on larger threats, stuff like that. None of us has kids yet... well, except Batman, but Robin and Batgirl are teenagers."

"Batman's real?" Jazz was honestly surprised, "Dang it, I owe Sam twenty bucks."

"Wait, how are you making money?" asked Lois.

"Well, the others work part-time at burger joints and stuff, but I work at the mail room at the Daily Planet."

Lois and Clark both made a mental note to check on her when they could.

"You haven't thought about college or anything?" asked Superman.

"I mean... I don't really have time for that right now. It was hard enough to get the kids into school-."

"Kid."

They looked down at the middle triplet, who was staring intently at Jazz from Superman's shoulder.

"Danny?"

"Kid... too..."

His eyes slowly clouded over, ultimately settling into the same wandering look Dani and Dan had, before turning to tug at Superman's hair.

"They have moments like these," she sighed, ''times where their old selves come back. They don't last though."

"He's not wrong though," Superman acknowledged as he put Danny on the floor, "you're not that much older than them."

"Well, you two aren't much older than me either."

"No, we're not," agreed Lois with a chuckle, "but we need help sometimes too. There's no shame asking."

While Jazz was pondering the idea, Dani woke up. She spotted Superman and opened her mouth to scream-

"DUCK!"

-hitting Superman with a beam attack which threw him into a wall.

"Dani!" Jazz scolded the youngest triplet, "What have I said about using your ghostly wail? You're taking the longest to rebuild your ectoplasm as it is!"

Superman picked himself up. Fortunately, he'd caught himself on time to avoid damaging the wall. Ectoplasm stung though.

"Ow."

"... Ok, if someone in your team can make a ghost-proof playpen, I'll consider it."

"Oh, I'm sure Bats knows a guy."

Batman simply stared stoically, taking a moment to process.

"I appreciate you taking the time to explain this. I know it can't have been easy."

"It's... well, it's not fine," she admitted, "but it will be... eventually."

"It doesn't have to be right now," he, rather hypocritically, insisted, "we do have a therapist in the Watch-."

"I don't need it."

If Batman was anywhere near as surprised as Jazz was at the outburst, he certainly didn't show it. Instead, the two stared at each other for a solid minute, before Jazz looked away.

"I wear a mask every day. It has a name, a personality, expectations, and a number of people it answers to... it's name is not Batman."

Jazz looked up at that.

"You don't want to spend too much time wearing a mask."

Elsewhere, Sam was chatting with Wonder Woman.

"I swear, my parents annoyed the hell out of me," she groaned, "they didn't agree with anything I did, had an opinion about everything I liked, and made sure I knew how little they cared about the things I cared about."

"Yet, you miss them."

"...Yeah," she admitted, "why? I mean, I didn't hate my parents, even when I told them I did, but I never thought I'd miss them this much."

Wonder Woman smiled wistfully.

"When I was young, I was the baby of the island. The youngest of them all, so I basically had a mother in every woman of Themyscera."

"That's the badass Amazon warrior island, right?"

"A lot of people are surprised when I tell them this, but not everyone was a warrior. I mean, we were all trained in the ways of war, but not all of us considered that path a lifestyle.

"Some were weavers, cooks, farmers, ranchers, shepherds, singers, dancers, poets, builders, architects, and so on. It takes more than soldiers to run a nation, even a small one like Themyscera."

"And you learned from all of them." Sam guessed.

"Hmm, not always. I was a tad... rambunctious as a child. I didn't always have the patience to learns the fine details of planning a building, weaving, sewing, or knitting... Looking back on it, I regret some of it, now that I cannot see them. They were all trying to teach me what they thought would be valuable to learn for the future, yet I only ever cared about swords, hammers, and shields. I do wish I'd let them teach me to weave sometimes."

"Can't you go back?"

Wonder Woman shook her head, "By leaving Themyscera, I became an exile. I wander the world of Man now, and can only return under very specific circumstances."

"How-?"

She gave Sam a moment to gather her thoughts.

"How do you deal with it?"

"I grieved the loss of my mothers long ago," she took a tissue and dried tears that Sam hadn't noticed on her own face, "but grieving takes time... time that you are not giving yourself."

Sam, for the first time since they arrived, finally gave in and cried like the child she was.

Tucker, for his part, was (trying) to have the time of his life. Cyborg was, in his geeky opinion, the absolute coolest superhero he'd ever met.

"Man, that is still, so epic," he swooned as Cyborg connected a wire to his head during a system test, "did it hurt?"

"Oh, a lot," admitted Cyborg with a chuckle, "technically it still does, but the system takes care of that. There's a bridge in my brain that keeps me from feeling it."

"Oh... sorry."

"It's cool, you get used to the oil changes."

They had a chuckle at that.

"So... Batman said you needed something?"

"Yeah, Jazz said you're good with coding. Mind helping me with some troubleshooting?"

Tucker practically flew at the terminal and started looking the code over. It was odd, but some terms in C were different in their universe and Python was called Boa. It was one of those things that were just slightly to the left between their universes.

"I wonder if I could add some of your stuff to me," mused Tucker, "not all of it, I like my hands, but just some stuff to make things easier."

"Eh, I wouldn't recommend it. This looks cool on the outside, but on the inside it's a mash of tech from three different alien cultures, time-travel bullshit, and really itchy nanobots."

"Still better than being helpless."

Cyborg raised an eyebrow at that, "You wanna elaborate on that?"

Tucker closed the terminal and went to the next one across the hall, "Not really."

"... All right."

They worked silently for several minutes, closing and opening terminals when needed. Cyborg worked faster, his wetware/hardware patching meant he could code at the speed of thought, but Tucker's coding was creative in a way that his wasn't. A wetware patch would make him a digital monster.

"How did you...? Nevermind."

"Had an accident," Cyborg replied to the unfinished question without looking up from his work, "bad one. Most of my limbs and internal organs were pulped. The doctors weren't sure how I made it to the hospital. They called it a miracle. I called it hell."

"...Yeah."

"I was helpless."

Tucker looked up from his work.

"This isn't a weapon, it's a prosthetic," he reminded him, "it's primary function is to keep me alive. Everything else is... a bonus."

"...Sorry."

"Don't be. I'm not. Just being alive is a good place to start."

"Yeah. I guess it is."

At the same time, Val was pounding away at a sandbag in the gym. Her father, her city, her friends (?), and every hope she had for the future had vanished in mere seconds, leaving her to pick up the pieces.

Again.

She punched the sandbag over and over, forcing herself to stay angry. Anger had fueled her so far, so why-?

"You good?"

"MOTHER-!"

Her armor was on in a heartbeat, but the targeting systems wouldn't lock onto non-ectoplasmic threats.

"I almost shot you!"

"Eh, you'd have missed," dismissed the Flash, "fastest man alive."

Val felt there was an obvious joke there, but she was better than that.

God help him if he met Danny though.

"You didn't answer the question though. You good?"

Val scoffed and went back to the sandbag.

"Well, considering almost everyone I know is dead, I'm stranded on a new dimension with no papers, I'm going from graduating with honors to struggling through a GED, and my super-powered suit barely works on anything here, I'd say I'm dandy!"

She stopped, panting from the strain, "I'm pissed, ok? I'm just- I'm just mad right now."

"Umm, you don't really look mad," Flash admitted, "you don't even look-."

"Are you saying I can't be mad?"

"Oh, you have every right to be angry," he rescinded, "I know I was, but I'm not sure that you are."

Val wasn't sure where to start, so she did what she did best.

"What do you mean that you were?"

She deflected.

"Oh, long story," Flash dismissed, "but to keep it short, I once traveled back in time to save my mom."

"Your... mom?"

"Yeah, she was killed when I was a kid. My dad went to jail for it, though he didn't do it."

"...Oh. I'm sorry... but she's fine now, right?"

"...Not really," he sighed as he sat down on a pile of gym mats, "turns out tinkering with time is a very bad idea. The League didn't exist and most of its members were either at war or dead."

"Then... oh."

"I had to undo it," he affirmed, "worst day of my life."

"...My mom died when I was seven."

Flash looked up at her. She'd gone back to the sandbag.

"We saw it coming, cancer's a bitch."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thing is, I thought that'd be the worst feeling of my life," she half-heartedly punched the sandbag a few times, but stopped and let her arms hang limply by her sides, "but I was a kid, so it eventually... dulled. Then Danny and I had a...misunderstanding and I mostly felt angry. I thought he was out to get me, so I went out to get him."

She gestured at her armor, finally retracting it back to wherever it went when she wasn't using it.

"It wasn't fair to him."

"It wasn't fair to you either, was it?"

"...No."

Flash thought very carefully before his next question.

"Is that why you were mad?"

She looked sharply back at him, wanting to tell him off for something, but couldn't quite grasp what for.

"I- why can't anything be fair? Why did I have to lose my mom? Why did that stupid dog have to destroy my stuff? Why did Vlad have to notice me? Why did I have to lose everything and everyone else!?"

She wasn't even punching the bag anymore.

"Worst part is, I'm not even the only one," she sighed, "Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and the Dannys. They lost everything too, so I can't-."

"Yes you can," Flash interrupted, locking eyes with her intently, "you always can. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise."

"... but I don't want to. I'm tired."

She dropped on her knees, looking up helplessly at the sandbag.

"I'm so tired of feeling angry and sad and everything else. I just want to stop for a bit. Is that too much to ask?"

Flash sighed and moved to sit next to her.

"I don't know if it's good to stop feeling," he admitted, "but for now, you can at least rest. Take all the time you need."

Val sniffled, allowing herself to lean on Flash's shoulder.

"I miss my daddy."

In the daycare, three apparent toddlers had a brief moment of clarity.

The oldest thought, "I can't lose again."

The youngest thought, "I can't run again."

For most people, this isn’t a huge issue. For the Batfam, it’s a huge problem.

But when Jason dreams of a boy who walked into a dark hole in the wall, only to hit a hidden switch, die of electrocution, and wake up as a ghost moments later?

In the early fall of an insignificant year, Jason Peter Todd went to sleep. At the age of 19 and having been alive again for 3 years, this was an insignificant day followed by an insignificant night.

Jason Peter Todd slept 6 hours before he woke up screaming from a nightmare of a horrible memory and this too, shouldn’t be anything new or significant.

But it was.

It was a significant day followed by a significant night with a significant nightmare of a horrible memory.

Because his soulmate turned 18 yesterday and Jason Peter Todd reenacted his soulmates most significant memory.

The memory of dying violently.

It started with a boy in a white, with black highlights, biohazard suit walking into a metal hole in the wall.

Jason, in place of the boy, didn’t stay upright for long.

He trips.

He falls.

He catches himself by pressing a hand to the wall.

A click and then pain.

This was a memory of being ripped apart at a molecular level for what should have been less then a minute and yet felt like HOURS.

The pain giving away briefly to the sight of a world beyond the veil of the mortal realm, of a green vastness that words fail to give an accurate description of.

But just as the pain left, it was back and he was back to being surrounded by white metal, only this time the pain was three times worse because there was now electricity F O R C I N G his being back into the shape of a boy and into a body beyond saving and no longer accepting of life.

Agony was the only word that could describe the pain he was in and yet the word did not give it any justice. It did not describe a level of pain that shouldn’t have been possible to feel.

He wanted to die. He wanted to live. He wanted to be an astronaut. He wanted to explore SPACE. Why was the pain not leaving? How long was dying supposed to take?

The screaming had started as something recognizably human near the beginning but as the memory carried on, it became less human and more haunting.

Yet still, there was human screaming present that wasn’t his own. He knew deep down, past all the pain and knowledge that he wouldn’t be making it out of this alive, that there was someone else there and that they were hurting too. He needed to get to them, to get to them and help them before he can no longer move, before they, too, reach a point where they are no longer able to be saved.

He wants to be saved.

He knows in his very being that he is past saving.

But he can save the others if he just gets to them. He can save them like he wants to be saved. He can PROTECT THEM before he dies so they don’t die too.

Jason could F E E L as every movement brought agony to every inch of his body.

As every movement felt like too much for him to handle.

But they were still screaming and he needed to get to them.

Seconds or minutes or hours or days and he knew he wouldn’t be able to tell you how long it took to crawl out of the tunnel. Only that he did.

The screaming had stopped but he couldn’t have told you when.

Movement to his left caught his eye.

His eyes met GREEN.

The creature wasn’t human. Eyes too wide, hair floating as if it was underwater, the colour matching the purest white he’s ever seen, and the body was just WRONG.

Sharp ears, claws, arms too lengthy and bending at the wrong places.

No legs, just a whispy black tail.

Black with white highlights.

It was wrong.

It was terrifying.

He was looking at a mirror…

The pain was no longer a thought in his head as everything was replaced with HORROR.

The reflection wasn’t human. The reflection was a monster.

He knew he DIED. He was DEAD.

He was a MONSTER.

Jason Peter Todd woke up screaming.

He needed to find him.

————————————————

Danny had been dreading his 18th birthday ever since his accident.

He had a gut feeling that he would be the youngest and knowing his luck made him certain that that would be the case.

He was right.

Leading up to this point he had hoped beyond hope that he would be paired with either Tucker and/or Sam. He desperately wished to have someone that he knows wouldn’t see him as a monster. As some sort of freak.

Someone who would accept him as Phantom AND Fenton.

He has learned by now that he rarely gets what he wants.

But like usual, it worked out in the most unexpected way.

His dream turned into memory as he took the place of his soulmate.

His soulmate who was half beaten to death and still getting hit.

Over and over and over again Danny felt as each hit broke bones and left deep bruises.

The laughing haunting every strike.

Danny, for a brief moment, knew that he would have more clowns in his nightmares after he woke up.

The pain was quick and sharp, followed by an aching that he knew would last for months if not years.

He was crying.

He was screaming with each hit near the end.

He wanted Bruce.

He wanted his dad.

The sight of the lady across from him just brought him pain and hurt in a way that he couldn’t put to words.

Does Bruce even want him?

He wants be saved.

Bruce will save him.

He needs to get out.

Bruce will come.

The door is locked.

Bruce will be here soon.

There is only ten seconds left on the bomb.

B’s really pushing it close.

5

Where is he?

4

He wants his dad

3

Bruce should have been kicking down the door right now.

2

He doesn’t want to die.

1

He wants his dad.

For a brief moment Danny could almost hear his name being called.

He’s so sorry. He should have listened.

Bruce came for him.

But it was too late.

He’s so sorry.

True void filled his head and for a brief moment there was absolutely nothing. No pain, no emotion, no breathing or movement, no sight, no hearing, no touch or taste or scent.

Then, with a sudden great breath, he woke up to black. The kind of black you get only with the complete absence of light.

It was cramped.

It was cold.

It was dark.

It was getting harder to breath.

Where’s Bruce?

He wants out.

Pulling off his belt, Danny felt the memory guide him as he used it to punch through the wood.

There was dirt.

He’s buried alive.

Danny didn’t have much air and felt the panic grow.

He needed to get OUT.

He dug and dug and dug. His nails bled. His mouth tasted like ash and dirt.

He couldn’t breath.

He was going to die.

He was going to die again.

He wants his dad.

Then there was air.

He crawled his way out dropped to the ground with great heaping breaths.

Danny’s eyes felt unfocused as they dragged across the surface of the stone beside him.

In Loving Memory of Jason P. Todd-Wayne.

Danny woke up panting and crying.

His soulmate was a zombie.

He knows his soulmate’s name.

Be warned Jason does not have a fun time and connects all the wrong dots :D

.

.

Apparently ‘finding him’ is going to be a lot harder then his re-traumatized brain said it’d be when he woke up.

Jason stared at his high tech laptop like it offended him.

Sadly, his laptop was unaffected by Jason’s glaring and didn’t tell him anything about his soulmate or even where to start in his search.

The only thing he had was his birth date and age.

He had no name.

No location other then some kind of lab.

There was someone else there with him but Jason didn’t get to see them.

Oh and to make this even worse, his soulmate was also no longer human which will make searching for him either stupidly easy or unimaginably difficult.

Not that he minds the inhuman part since he is determined to be the best DB (death buddy) a ghoul? Wraith? could have at the very least.

He’s definitely down for something romantic though if it’s an option since he doubts he’ll find someone who will understand him to the level a soulmate will, human or not.

That was new information about himself that he didn’t need to think about right now.

Though seriously, wasn’t that a real kick to the gut. At least Jason still looks like a human and feels like a human. His DB didn’t even get the zombie experience, he just skipped all the steps and went from small teen to whatever the fuck he was now.

Jason froze.

He forced himself to backpedal through his train of thought.

His soulmate was in a lab.

His soulmate wasn’t alone.

His soulmate went in human and came out something else.

His soulmate was something ‘other’ and in a lab with someone else.

Someone who could be a scientist.

Someone who would be interested in the creature the hole in the wall produced.

Someone who could have no problem ‘studying’ his soulmate even knowing that he was the kid who went in.

Jason would have collapsed if he weren’t already sitting down. The air felt heavy and an edge of green tinted the corners of his sight.

His soulmate was a small teen (his gut knew that he was a teenager but probably only just).

A small teen who had a biohazard suit that fit him perfectly. Jason can spot a tailor made suit when he fucking sees one and that one was tailored for him.

Why was there a button that turned the machine on on the INSIDE?

A convenient pile of wires cutting across the ground with little to no light right before the button.

It wasn’t an accident.

It wasn’t a mistake made by a clumsy teen.

It was PLANNED.

It was a TEST.

It was an EXPERIMENT.

An experiment done on a KID who was UNAWARE that HE was the SUBJECT.

The LAB RAT.

WHERE IS HIS SOULMATE NOW?!

WHERE IS HE?!

——————————————

Danny reevaluated the level of difficulty ‘finding his soulmate’ would actually be.

One of the first things he did was grab his phone when he woke up to set up a video call between his friends and sister.

Jazz was currently living in her university’s dorm and thus no where near Amity but she was adamant about being included.

She knew how scared he was.

“How bad?” Was the first thing asked when the call connected, granted it was Sam asking and he probably was not looking great after what he just witnessed.

“So do you want the good or bad news first?”

“Bad,” Tucker cut in before the other two could answer.

“I now have more clown trauma and my soulmate died in a planned explosion.”

Silence answered him as his friends plus sister digested what that meant. The thing about soulmates is that when one dies, the other still gets the connecting dream regardless of the others death. The connecting dream will always happen after the youngest of the soulmates has existed for 18 years, whether they are alive or not has no effect on the dream and it’s the same if the older one is dead by the time the youngest reaches his 18th birthday.

You’ll always get the dream, but on the chance you don’t, it simply means your other half wasn’t born into your time period. Case and point that one famous singer dude who was the soulmate to Mozart.

Death was unfortunately something soulmates had to experience if whatever caused their soulmate(s) to die wasn’t fast enough to kill them instantly. Death is a pretty significant event after all and unfortunately not as rare as people wanted it to be.

“…You said there is good news?” Jazz was the one to break the silence but the mood had turned somber and Danny could roughly guess what they were thinking about his luck and life.

“He came back from the dead zombie style and I managed to get a look at the name on his gravestone,” this time the silence was filled with an ‘are you shitting us’ vibe and Danny couldn’t be more proud. “So I don’t think I’ll have a problem with them selling me out to the government before I find them.”

Tucker snorts an aborted laugh, but it was too late and before they could even continue the conversation everyone was laughing too hard to form words.

“Ancients! What the fuck man?!” Tucker manages to get out between two heaving breaths.

“Danny, your life is a bloody soap opera,” Sam states as she tries to force down the laughter. Unsuccessful, Danny notes, since her shoulders are still shaking but her attempt is appreciated.

“Only you, little brother,” Jazz grinned, “only you.”

“Well then,” Tucker pulls out a laptop from somewhere off screen, “give us the name. We’ll track him down for you.”

“Jason P. Todd-Wayne.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Yeah,” Danny nods, “heard enough about the Waynes from the three of you and Wes enough to recognize his name too.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“You know Wes is actually right like 97% of the time when it comes to his conspiracy theories and the only reason no one believes him is because of the curse placed on his family line. Which is good for me since every time he tries reveal me it just strengthens my secret identity….” he trailed off and waited for a reply but it seemed they were all still in shock so he just continued his train of thought, “so like, what are the chances that the Red Hood is actually my soulmate?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“So, I mean like, all I need to do is show up in Gotham and track down his safe-house or whatever?” He paused again but more so to put his thoughts back into order and to remember everything he’s been told about the Waynes and the Gotham heroes. “It would probably not be a good idea to approach the Waynes since officially Jason is still “dead”. I don’t think they get along all that much if the hero identity thing is true considering the last I heard they barely work together and only when it’s absolutely necessary.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Which means they would probably be hostile if I showed up? I mean, Batman is notorious for hating metas and even if that isn’t really my situation I think he’d be pretty unhappy about me being there and even more so that I’m his estranged son’s soulmate…” He shifted onto his back and stared at the stick on stars on his ceiling. “I’m thinking it might be easier and safer if I just approach Red Hood in Phantom form in case Wes is actually wrong. It might be better if I find him out on patrol instead of his safe house cause I don’t want him to feel cornered and Phantom can be slightly terrifying to non-Amity Parkers but I’m pretty sure he saw my accident so like he should sorta recognize me. What do you guys think?”

“…”

Also @justwannabecat Thanks for posting your idea cause I’m just going to town with this now. Your amazing. I love this idea so much.

Danny POV! He’s a little confused but he’s got the spirit.

.

.

Danny’s a little distracted.

He should be paying attention to his surroundings but honestly he just has so much on his mind.

Like, you could argue that it’s fair that he’s a little out of it considering he just had The Dream™️.

That anyone would be after experiencing a soulbond like his.

The problem, however, is not that he’s distracted by the dream so much as he’s distracted about how he’s supposed to introduce himself.

He does NOT want to mess this up.

Danny has a history of messing these kinds of things up, and sure, it has always slowly sorted itself out but Danny doesn’t want to risk a bad impression right off the block.

This is his SOULMATE.

Soulmate means FAMILY, regardless of whether it’s platonic or romantic.

His secondary obsession may be PROTECTION but before all else it is the PROTECTION OF FAMILY.

Jason is already tied into his obsession and Danny doesn’t know whether he’ll be able to take another rejection from his family.

The rejections from his parents, even completely unintentional on their end, hurt him so badly that he thought he was dying again. They weren’t (and still aren’t) aware of his Phantom status but his core received the message loud and clear that his connection to them was unwelcome.

Danny dodges to the left avoiding a stray ectoblast, his eyes still dazed as he contemplates his issue.

You see, Danny KNOWS Ghosts. He KNOWS Ancients. He KNOWS Nerverborns.

Danny KNOWs almost every sub species in these categories.

They are beings that he’s dealt with since he was 14 and freshly half dead. They are creatures that he’s grown up learning about from before he could even read (regardless of how biased that information was and how much of that information he’s had to relearn).

Danny does NOT know about the creatures of The Undeath.

Even though he’s technically a part of that category. More so then even the Ghost category, since Halfas are just considered as a honorary sub-subgroup of Ghost.

Since they’re stupidly rare.

Like.

There is only ONE true Halfa rare.

It’s Danny

Both Vlad and Dani are considered Halfa only because there is no other name to give them.

Danny may have lost it a bit when he was told that little piece of information by a confused Frostbite after a question on his biology brought up the fact that ‘of course you’re biologically different from them, they’re a different species then you. One is human-adjacent and the other is ghost-adjacent.’

He freaked out even more when he was told he was arguably an Ancient.

He’s getting off track.

Danny rolls forward to escape the glowing net and sends a spike of ice back in the direction it came from. A curse notified him that he’d hit and destroyed Skulker’s new net launcher.

The thing is, not only are Halfas rare, they are rare amongst the RARE.

The Undeaths are RARE and to make it even worse (for Danny) they keep to themselves.

But, there IS still enough of them to NEED their own category instead of just labeling them as some weird subgroup.

Which is where his problem stems from.

Danny knows NOTHING of The Undeath culture let alone the cultures of its subgroups.

He forms a sword out of ice and meets the serrated hunting knife in a stalemate above his head with a clash of power.

So yeah, Danny’s a little distracted because although he KNOWS Jason is at least a part of The Undeath category since he died and came back, he doesn’t KNOW which Subgroup he actually belongs too.

Sure, his first thought was Zombie and he did make Zombie comparisons when talking to his friends and sister, but in truth, he honestly has no fucking idea WHAT Jason actually is.

He felt Human when he came back from the dead and he crawled out of a grave.

Yes, Danny is guessing based on human stereotypes but he has nothing else to go on.

He’s never met an actual Zombie but he’s pretty damn sure whatever he’s learned about them through various medias is probably 99% wrong and/or misunderstood.

They probably don’t even eat brains.

Media portrayals are awful and mean after all.

Danny should know, he’s had 4 years of media spotlight and very little of it has shown him to be anything other then a monster that’s useful.

So yeah, Danny’s just going to assume that Jason is a Zombie until otherwise researched or told and he’s not going to believe anything he can find on the internet or in movies.

He’s going to treat this as an academic research assignment and only believe reputable sources.

He CAN’T let this introduction be ruined by a cultural misunderstanding. There is a high chance that Jason knows he’s an Undeath too if he witnessed his accident.

Which means he might (probably will) expect Danny to be aware of The Undeath culture.

Aware of what should be taken as an insult.

Aware of customary greetings and introductions when meeting someone you want to have in your life. Greetings and introductions that tell the recipient whether you actually want them or if your doing it out of polite curtesy.

Danny NEEDS to know these things and to preform them correctly so that Jason knows he wants him in his life in whatever capacity he can, and is willing, to give.

On the rare chance that Jason DIDN’T see his accident and subsequent revival and thus not actually expecting him to know the culture (which Danny highly doubts) then he at least wasn’t underprepared and it’ll be a nice surprise for his soulmate.

Which means he needs to ask Ghost Writer about researching The Undeath. He will have something on them and hopefully it will be a text that has been written by someone who’s actually apart of The Undeath community.

Someone that the community actually knows/knew.

Not someone like him, not someone who is alone and isolated because they have no one to even introduce them to the others. No one to learn from.

Danny, who has been matching the knife blow for blow, finally steps back before launching himself forward across the ground. He swipes his sword of ice across Skulker’s knees and separates them from the main suit, causing him to lose his balance for a split second before his flight kicked in.

The split second was all Danny needed.

With Skulker shoved into his thermos, Danny takes off towards the portal.

He’s got research to do.

———————————

Jason came into awareness in a warehouse turned lab, surrounded by (still breathing and alive, thankfully) bodies.

He’s been trying to avoid killing when he can.

He’s been trying to build some semblance of a relationship back with his family.

Jason has never been more grateful for that fact as he is now.

He might be at odds with Bruce and still hate his methods and choices but he knows he needs help.

He needs Barbra. He needs Oracle.

Oracle works with Batman.

He’ll give her whatever she wants if she can find his soulmate.

He’ll give Bruce what he wants. He’ll suffer through every family dinner and be polite and civil. He’ll get Bruce to ‘revive’ him and pretend to be the perfect Wayne kid at every gala.

He’ll stop killing completely.

Whatever it takes, as long as they find him.

As long as he’s allowed to protect the one person who is supposed to be his other half. Supposed to be there for him through the good and bad. Someone who’s supposed to want him for him regardless of how broken and damaged he is.

He just needs a plan. A plan to hopefully involve only Babs. Involving the Bat and his merry flock of followers is a last resort scenario.

Jason just needs to find his soulmate.

He just needs to find out who’s in charge of that lab.

Also I was just going to keep it Jason <—> Danny POV switch but other characters demanded time and bullied their way into the story so you lads can have a fun point of view switch this time.

.

.

WHO is Barbra Gordon?

The police chief’s daughter?

The first Batgirl?

A woman who lost so much potential because of a clown with a gun?

The Oracle who sees all?

A librarian who is always happy to help?

A woman who believes that the law will prevail?

These facts may give you a small glimpse into solving the question of WHO, but that is all it is, a glimpse.

Barbra has asked herself this question for years and yet she can never come up with an adequate response.

Since she, herself, doesn’t know the answer.

There are even times, like right now, where she isn’t sure if she’ll like the answer she will find.

Because when Jason Todd (a boy who was almost a little brother to her. Someone who was working his way back into that spot ever since Bruce was rescued) came crashing into her apartment and started BEGGING, she felt the cold icy rage like she hasn’t felt it since the day she was told she would never walk again.

Stubbornness and pride is what defines the Red Hood. NO ONE and NOTHING should be able to hurt him enough to make him B E G.

Not after the Joker.

Safe to say, Barbra Gordon was a wheel away from stealing Jason’s gun to shoot whatever had pushed him to this point.

She still felt the same way after getting the full story from him.

Someone was going to die and she is not surprised to feel absolutely no remorse in that thought.

So instead of thinking to hard about it, Barbra let that icy rage fuel her as she extracted as many details as she could get from Jason.

‘What kind of lab?’

‘How much of it did you see?’

‘What kind of metal?’

‘How about any papers?’

‘Do you remember what was on the paper?’

‘Could you describe the logo that was on the corner?’

‘Are you sure it looked like a G stacked on a W with a line cutting through it?’

Details she got.

Details she used to hunt down anything even slightly similar to a lab Jason described.

Details that led her to the government.

Details that led her to laws passed under the guise of something else.

Laws that used undefined, broad, and blacked out words to give them the right to kill and persecute and experiment on who ever they like.

Barbra Gordon decided she wasn’t going to control her rage this time.

She was going to let it burn and if she got closer to the answer of WHO she is, then so be it.

She would make them burn too.

—————————

“Heya Sweets!”

“Mmh?”

“O just called,” Dr. Harleen Quinzel smiled a manic smile, “she asked if us Sirens wanted ta burn down da Gov with Hood cause they’ve got his soulhalf.”

Both knew their answers and there wasn’t any doubt Selena would disagree.

.

—————————————

Danny sighed in relief.

The Undeath follows a similar culture as Ghost, subcategory Revenant.

Also, his soulmate wasn’t a Zombie.

NOT that there is anything wrong with being a zombie. The problem was that he couldn’t find anything written BY a zombie. The closest he got was a journal written by a wight which are, in GW’s words, a more sentient zombie.

The information he came across in the journal didn’t describe what he felt from his soulmate or line up with anything he’s heard about the Red Hood.

Considering some of the information he did read he is maybe (a lot) glad that Jason isn’t a zombie/wight.

He doesn’t have the stomach for it (even if he’s willing to force himself to adapt)

With that crossed off, Danny is proud to say that he managed to narrow the list of possible categories of The Undeath down by a substantial amount.

Although, he’s probably not going to get any closer to an answer until he meets Jason himself.

Thus, all Danny needs now is an adequate gift to give his soulmate.

Some type of gift that would impress him and show that Danny is very strong (luckily, the first gift in ghost courting and adopting a family member is the same so Danny doesn’t have to worry about being too forward or accidentally rejecting his soulmate).

The first gift always needs to show that you are capable of protecting the recipient and/or able to take out their enemies.

He’s stuck on what to do/get for his gift though, but he figured he’s better off thinking about it with his friends anyways so he simply heads back to Amity.

He was in the Ghost Zone for a grand total of 3 days.

He had 103 missed calls.

It’s safe to say, that Danny was both 100% certain Wes was correct about Red Hood’s identity and that he’s probably never blushed as hard as he did when he turned on the news.

The white house was on fire.

The headline stating the abolition of the Ecto-Acts along with a list of various GIW labs that have been blown completely off the map.

Starfire, Arsenal, Dr. Isely, Dr. Quinzel, and Catwoman walked behind THE Red Hood as he glided over to a heavily modified motorcycle. The light of the fire framing all of them in shadow.

Yeah.

Danny really needs an amazing gift if he’s going to come anywhere close to matching Jason.

It’s also, in Danny’s mind, confirmation that Jason knows what he is.

Danny has some trauma and decides to share it.

Jason finally figures out he’s not in a vivisection fic but he still has no idea what’s actually happening.

Thank you all for the comments and keyboard smashes btw, your joy brings me joy :D

Also if someone wants to tag others that’d be awesome cause my computer currently hates the ‘at’ button right now (again… I should maybe get a new computer soonish maybe)

Anyways…. Here ya go you funky internet people!

————————————

Jason needed this search to go faster.

6 days and they still haven’t found his soulmate.

6 days and all they’ve done is hit the major labs.

6 days and all they’ve fucking managed to do is change one government implemented act.

6 days and all Jason can do is wait and force himself to NOT shoot the various “scientists” simply because the government covered up UNETHICAL EXPERIMENTATION by leaving no record of their labs, making the scientists the only people who might actually KNOW where the other labs are.

The ONLY upside to this entire situation is the fact that there is apparently a group of KIDS who have been teaming up with the “Ecto-Entities” (Which Jason and pretty much EVERY OTHER hero/antihero who was present/listening to the conversation was pretty sure E.E. was just another way to say A META or Non Human. Safe to say it wasn’t just Jason who was holding back their urge to kill) who have been breaking INTO the labs to free the test subjects.

These kids seem to be stupidly competent too considering The Labs they’ve visited haven’t been able to keep a test subject long enough to preform “extensive research” like VIVISECTION and have only had enough time to do surface scans before they where “stolen” from them.

That and the fact that not even Oracle can find traces of this team up. Every single tech file and online trace has been wiped so clean it’s like they computerized bleach and flooded the system with it after every raid.

The GIW have had to start from scratch every single time because of that.

The government couldn’t even arrest the group either since all video evidence of the raid has ALSO been wiped from existence so other then some basic surface descriptions they had nothing to identify the group.

Jason has never seen Oracle be so impressed by another hacker.

The existence of this raiding team also brings up a very important fact, there is a large possibility they’ve already saved his soulmate.

He needs to find this team and give them a hug.

Still, the point remains that they still haven’t found anything about where his soulmate is, they don’t know where the raid team is from, and they still haven’t gotten the locations of the other labs.

Worse yet, Jason was called back to Gotham 2 days ago due to an Arkham breakout.

The Joker still hasn’t been found and the bats haven’t been able to track him which means Crime Alley needs Red Hood there for when shit hits the fan.

Jason once again considers just killing every Arkham rouge so he can get back to his search.

But he promised Babs and so he’s stuck.

Jason is stuck waiting and thinking about his other half.

They could be trapped in a GIW lab (though that has become less a worry. Seriously, even Barbra wants tips from that raid team).

Maybe his soulmate thinks Jason won’t like them if they’re not really human looking (or human at all) and isn’t trying to find him because of that. Jason hopes that that is not the case but maybe it is and that might mean that he’ll have to make his search public as Jason Todd.

Maybe his soulmate didn’t see his death.

Maybe they they only saw his death.

Maybe Jason is just spiralling into worse and worse trains of thought and maybe he should just stop but he CAN’T.

A ringing sound cuts off his panic before it can really start but it still takes him a moment to realize it’s Babs calling him and that he should probably step away from the edge of the roof he was on.

“Joker has been found.” Jason loved that about her, always straight to the point when she knew he was worried and couldn’t tolerate long meaningless interactions.

“Where?”

“In the medical ward at Gotham General. Apparently someone found him before us and they weren’t happy to see him.”

Jason drew a sharp breath. Barbra doesn’t sugar coat things unless it’s very bad and he knows what she sounds like when she tries to understate something. She sounds like him.

“How unhappy are we talking Babs? The standard Gothamite unhappy or our version of unhappy?” He could almost feel her lips flatten into a cold grimace as the conversation paused.

“Ours,” he pressed down on the sick satisfaction that boiled up from the emotionless tone of the original Batgirl’s voice as he imagined exactly what ‘Ours’ meant for the Joker. Jason didn’t need to imagine for long. “The Doctors said he’ll live and that he’s healing but right now they aren’t exactly sure of the true extent of his injuries because he’s currently in what looks like a self induced coma. They also said they’ll need to wait for the X-ray results and for him to wake up before they can confirm whether or not he’ll regain full use of his arms but even if he does he’ll most certainly have chronic pain in his hands for the rest of his life.”

“So he won’t be hurting people for a while huh?”

“No Hood, I don’t think he will be doing much of anything for a while.”

Maybe Jason should have said something more and maybe Barbra should have been helping Bruce track down the person who did that to the Joker but maybe they both needed a moment to feel satisfied.

Maybe they both needed this moment to just feel some small bit of relief.

No matter how temporary.

——————————————

*3 day before the Joker was found*

Danny wasn’t quite sure what to do for Jason.

He sat down in the air as he stared at Arkham Asylum.

He came to Gotham almost immediately after he was filled in on what Jason had been doing for him and Danny knew he had to do something about the Joker because that’s the only real enemy he knows Jason has.

But what should he do?

He obviously can’t kill Joker even if it’d be so stupidly easy to do.

Maybe even because it’d be stupidly easy to do.

Red Hood, and therefore Jason, never killed The Joker when he had the opportunity too. Time and time again Jason has had opportunities, Danny remembers seeing and hearing the news talk about The Red Hood bringing The Joker in which means it’s an active choice.

Honestly, from what Danny has seen, Jason has been actively avoiding killing people for roughly a year now.

Further proof of this is that Jason didn’t kill a single GIW agent either and honestly that should have been even harder then killing them. They have a stupid tendency to use untested weapons that backfire on them 90% of the time which means they end up needing to be saved most of the time from themselves.

If Wes is to be believed (which again, he usually is) then Jason might not have been right in the mind when he was having his kill streak anyways.

Maybe he was mind controlled and/or manipulated.

Danny knows what that can be like.

He knows what it’s like to blame yourself for things other people and circumstance made you do.

Take Freakshow and Dani for example.

The image of someone making Jason do something that might haunt him for the rest of his life makes Danny want to rip the imagined person to shreds with his claws. It makes him want to find them and put them through a real horror movie scene as he hunts them from empty corners until they’re screaming at their own shadows and then drag them into the deepest part of the Infinite Realm.

He wants to weep and curl up on himself as the image of Jason being hurt that way makes his core cry out in pain.

Danny wants to rap Jason in a hug and tell him that he had already proved how strong he is by how far he’s come.

So Danny can’t kill The Joker because if he does then he is undermining whatever Jason is trying to achieve by letting him live.

But Danny can make him hurt.

He needs to display that he’s physically capable of protecting Jason so a few broken bones from the Joker should work but it doesn’t feel like enough.

He wants to kill him.

He knows that he won’t for Jason’s sake and because it’d place him one step closer to becoming Dan.

Dan’s timeline still gives him nightmares.

Regardless of whether he’s reformed or not.

Oh.

“Now that’s a thought,” Danny whispers to the air as it whisks his voice away.

He looks back down at the asylum, his eyes shadowed as he lets himself think.

Danny’s worst enemy and biggest monster has always been himself. It is what keeps him in check and it is what keeps him in control of his abilities.

The Joker keeps killing and killing and hurting and hurting with no remorse. He will keep doing so because he knows he’ll get away with it.

The Joker acts as if he’s playing a game.

He acts like he’s obsessed.

The Joker acts like some members of Danny’s rouge gallery. The ones who have forgotten what it means to hurt and to die.

But Danny’s rouges usually only need to have it pointed out to them that they are causing pain, that they may have almost caused someone to DIE before they immediately stop.

Ghosts might forget what it was like to be mortal in death but they also remember what it was like to die.

Ghosts rarely (if ever) want to kill.

But The Joker doesn’t act like a ghost.

He acts like an Ancient.

A being who doesn’t know what it’s like to feel fear or pain.

A being who hasn’t learned to be afraid of itself.

Danny should teach him to be afraid of himself.

He even has beings who will help him. Who are required to aid him because he is their Crowned Prince.

He is sure Nocturn would love to work with Fright Knight in creating a very terrifying and long lasting nightmare. It’d be fulfilling their obsessions and Danny is quite sure he can convince Ghost Writer to write the nightmare’s script.

Who knows, the nightmare might just make The Joker relive his every kill from his victims’ point of view. It might make him experience EVERY SINGLE BIT OF PAIN AND FEAR they felt before they died by his hand and word.

It’s not like The Joker needs to wake up until he’s terrified of himself.

It’s not like he needs to only relive their deaths once either.

An alarm sounds below.

Danny smiles.

First things first, Danny needs to shatter every bone in those awful hands that touched HIS SOULMATE.

Maybe he’ll take a small souvenir to turn into a gift too.

For most people, this isn’t a huge issue. For the Batfam, it’s a huge problem.

But when Jason dreams of a boy who walked into a dark hole in the wall, only to hit a hidden switch, die of electrocution, and wake up as a ghost moments later?

Welcome to Part 6!

You pals have given me your opinions so now this fic will be graced with Danny’s friends! Aka you’re all going to get some worried Sam and multiple sections of slightly terrifying Tucker Foley who knows way too much and has seen too much about this world and is like one bad day away from punching multiple gods.

Tucker’s part is next btw so look forward to #7. (Although it may be awhile because of work deadlines) He’s got feelings and he’s going to make those feelings very well known towards the batfam and most definitely Jason

Anyways without further adieu, here is a scene from Sam’s pov cause she is stressed and people need to know why and a lovely reaction scene from Jason’s POV of the batfam who just got ahold of Jokers medical report.

—————————————————

When patrol was done that evening, after they had all double checked to make sure that the last of the rouges that had escaped were back in Arkham (or in the Joker’s case, the medical ward at Gotham General), every bat and bird reconvened at the Batcave.

Jason watched as his siblings came trickling in from the various entrances, having arrived first in an odd twist of fate.

He was almost giddy with anticipation.

Barbara had rolled off the elevator around 2 minutes after he had pulled in on his bike.

She looked giddy too.

Not all that surprising though considering how the night went for the Joker and the fact that they were going to pull the medical files from the hospital once everyone was present to see just HOW unhappy Joker’s assailant was to see him.

All the bats and birds know that the Joker’s injuries looked bad just from a cursory check but that could mean everything or absolutely nothing when you get into it.

The important part was how long it’d take for the Joker to heal.

How long of a break do they have where he isn’t a boogeyman they have to face or even think about.

Jason and Barbara were giddy.

The bat-mobile pulled to a stop on it’s platform. Everyone was now present.

Barbara got to work.

As Bruce walked up to the crowd of vigilantes surrounding the computer, Barbara finished pulling the files.

Jason couldn’t breath.

“Is that….?” Dukes voice trailed off as he stared at the bat computer, or more specifically, the report and photographs currently being displayed on the screen.

Jason wasn’t breathing.

“Yep,” Tim answered, popping the ‘p’, as he too, stared at the monitor.

Jason needs to breath.

“What the fuck.” Stephanie’s voice was small and muttered under her breath, it sounded as though the words simply slipped out without her knowledge.

Jason really needed to breath.

Barbara was just staring, her mouth slightly open and her eyes blown wide. Tears were slowly running down her face as Cass maintained a solid grip on her shoulder.

Jason felt faint.

A sharp intake of breath, that Jason knew came from Bruce, was barely audible even in the silence of the cave.

Jason needed to sit down.

All at once, Jason’s legs gave out but it didn’t even matter since Alfie was right behind him with a chair.

A wrinkled hand pressed on his shoulder to stabilize him and a hand belonging to his older brother slipped into his grip returning the pressure he was dishing out.

“Little Wing?” Jason could feel Dick’s concerned eyes on him but he couldn’t look away from the report.

From the pictures.

From the X-rays.

Distantly, he knew he was crying too.

The tension in the cave could be cut with a knife.

“They are anatomically correct.”

Or apparently one fucking sentence from Damian.

Dick wheezed.

Bruce looked like Damian slapped him with a fish.

Steph started giggling.

Jason could breath again.

Barbara was sobbing and laughing. Hiccups breaking each one.

No one could say shit though cause, yeah, they were anatomically correct.

He had a point.

On screen, an X-ray of the Joker’s arms were displayed among other reports, like the one about his lumber spine vertebrae being damaged to the point of no fixing.

He won’t be able to walk again.

Back to the Joker’s arms, the hands were smashed but the doctors got to them in time to save them.

Not that it would do anything considering he was missing his Ulnar nerve from the shoulder down in both arms.

Both nerves having been accurately replaced with fishing wire.

It almost distracted from the fact that his humerus bones were replaced by bent crowbars.

They were also anatomically correct in their placement.

The Joker won’t heal from this, never fully at least.

He’ll never be able to swing his arms again.

He’ll never be able to walk or run again.

He’ll never again be able to hurt another person.

The Joker that haunted his nightmares was, in a way, dead.

Jason decided, for once, that he’ll let himself be weak.

He’ll let himself cry.

He’ll let himself seek out comfort from his family.

He will allow himself the feeling of protection.

Maybe, for once, things were going to be okay.

—————————————————

Sam’s worried.

Her hands move through the motions of picking up and filling her watering bucket, moving instinctively to make sure nothing spills as she turns off the tap.

Sure she isn’t as worried as she originally was before Danny told them that his soulmate was some type of undead and from Gotham, but still, she’s worried.

The clicking sound of her greenhouse’s door registers in her ears as she stays stuck in her mind.

You see, as often as they now “joke” about Danny being an eldritch horror even though he’s still very human adjacent in appearance, it is, in fact, not a joke.

Not a joke in the slightest.

The only reason why Danny himself has not realized this is due to the fact that Tucker and Jazz have been helping her hide that particular detail from him for the past four years.

That and the fact that they lived in a city where the veil to the Other was already almost nonexistent even before a permanent hole was made which meant every citizen had some form of exposure to it.

She’s now holding a yellow zinnia. Unsure of what to do with it she places it between the two purple zinnias she had near the back of the green house. The combination felt right.

Her thoughts took over again as she stared at the arrangement.

Sam had quickly realized, six months after The Accident, that they were extremely lucky that the ghost situation happened in Amity Park.

That over time, with the help of an open portal, the city, and therefore it’s citizens that were already lightly coated before the portal opened, were now drenched in Other.

They were extremely lucky that as long as you have been exposed to at least a small amount of Other or have had near death (or actual death) experience then all the ghosts just look adjacent to what they were in life (if they had one at all) and only feel slightly scary but mostly just unsettling.

It was only luck that saved them from The Madness.

Danny Phantom is a true Eldritch Horror like the majority of Infinite Realm beings and somehow they have been lucky enough to not have a single case of The Madness of Revelation in Amity Park’s citizen population.

The same can’t be said for the tourists who visited Amity Park before Amity became unsettling itself.

Before the mere sight of it’s buildings on the horizon made people instinctively turn around.

Before Elmerton’s citizens realized that Amity’s warnings weren’t a joke they could scoff at and make fun of as they went about their short visits.

The people who came to Amity sane only to be shipped out of the city to different asylums with The Madness after seeing a ghost was not knowledge that Danny needed to know yet.

They just barely got him to a point where HE doesn’t see himself as a Monster. Which is a down right miracle after they learned about the Dan incident. An incident they only found out about a year after the fact when an Observant tracked him down and told him he’s royalty which sent him into a panic attack about evil futures and having that much power.

So yeah, Danny doesn’t need more fuel to hurt himself with and she will do her damn best to keep said fuel away from him until it is absolutely necessary to tell him. Tucker and Jazz had agreed.

This was the reason why they made sure Danny would call them when he got his Dream. Why they made him promise to run through all his plans with them before he tracked down his soulmate.

They had all hoped that’d it would be one of them or, at the very least, someone from Amity.

An undead vigilante from Gotham will have to do.

She looked down at her hands, they were now covered in dirt and for the life of her she can’t seem to recall the last hour of gardening.

Her water bucket sat empty on the ground under the zinnias in the back. The setting had given her a good feeling after she had placed the yellow one between the two purple ones but now they looked like they’ve been cut off from nature.

No green anywhere near them.

She spots the other zinnias she had off to the left, one of them was green. Perfect.

Sam grabbed it and made her way towards the back, setting it down gently in front of the three zinnias already there.

It was better but something still felt like it was missing.

Maybe it’s just the worry for her friends who’ve gone to Gotham.

Gotham and Danny.

Gotham is soaked in death and Gothamites are close enough to Parkers that none of them should suffer The Madness.

However, Gotham does get outsiders unlike Amity.

Sam knows she can’t do anything about that fact.

So she had given Danny her medieval black hooded travel cloak and told him to wear it constantly because the world is full of idiots who have phasmophobia.

She had pressed upon him that he doesn’t need to suffer through some random citizen’s delicate prissy mindset just because they can’t handle ghosts being a thing, especially not while his soulmate is so obviously trying to court him.

Then she’d watched him leave through a portal to Gotham with Tucker, who had gave her a nod and a knowing look.

All that’s left is for her to stress and worry with Jazz and trust in her best friends.

To trust that Tucker will keep Danny safe while Danny keeps Tucker safe.

Sam realizes that she’d walked back over to the zinnias to grab another colour while she’d been off in her head.

She places down the blue Zinnia in the front of the two purple, one yellow, and one green zinnia.

It felt complete.

For most people, this isn’t a huge issue. For the Batfam, it’s a huge problem.

But when Jason dreams of a boy who walked into a dark hole in the wall, only to hit a hidden switch, die of electrocution, and wake up as a ghost moments later?

Guess who is still alive? (It’s me) My life went sideways and through two walls but I’ve got PART 7!

All of you get Tucker POV for the next several parts btw. He is also an inch away from killing several gods and the gods are both aware and terrified about that fact. Also a bit of Billy Batson POV as a treat. This is significantly longer then other parts btw so enjoy :).

(I’m reblogging/reposting this again with the hope it actually shows up on my blog this time because it was apparently invisible) also I have no idea where my other reblogs have gone in the reblog section but they still show up on my blog so ʅ(~⌓~)ʃ

If Tucker knew that this train was going to be held hostage for one of Riddlers schemes he would have taken the bus instead.

One participant of the train had to solve the Riddlers puzzles before they would meet some flavor of gruesome end. The Bats were working on establishing a connection to the transit captives to help with the clues but so far no dice.

This’ll be easy. What could go wrong?

It's too easy.

'I am swift, I am unseen. I bring Death with me, but touch not a soul. Hell follows in my wake. What am I?'

This has to be a trap, right? Some kind of 'the right answer is the wrong answer' situation.

"Can I see the second riddle?" He asks, carefully.

The Riddler hums smugly, "But of course. You get to see all four clues to solve my final puzzle and save your dear fellow passengers." Dramatic condescension topped with the threat of imminent death. No pressure.

"Right, right..." Tucker takes the second piece of paper and reads.

'My master takes peace and paints my coat with blood. What am I?'

Okay, yeah, no. There HAS to be a catch, an extra trick at play. A quick glance at the other two clue-riddles does nothing but confirm his answers.

Tucker chewed his lip, floundering to find the right words. How do you ask a riddle-based supervillain with a body count, what the catch is, without insulting them if there really is no catch, and their riddle is just disappointingly simple? But like, politely.

The Riddler chuckled darkly.

"So, Mr. Volunteer, feeling like you've bit off more than you can chew?"

"No, I just..."

The train car was deathly quiet. The Riddler was clearly enjoying Tucker's silence, practically vibrating with villainous validation. It was almost enough to make Tucker do the smart thing and simply solve the clues. Almost. But he just HAD to open his big mouth and blurt out:

"I thought you would give me a harder riddle?"

Tucker winced when a few of his dear fellow transit hostages hissed 'come on man!' 'are you serious!??'. Yeah, that was a total Danny move.

And the Riddler looked LIVID. Silent, staring, still as a statue and probably seconds away from ordering his henchmen towards premature violence. If Tucker were a smaller guy, he'd be worried about the villain personally throttling him. For now, all the man did was whisper.

"Excuse me?"

"Look it's just- I mean, the first one, it's a Pale Horse, right?" Tucker stuttered, "'I bring Death with me and Hell follows in my wake.' it's a reference to the four horsemen of the apocalypse." It's fine, this is fine. Too Fine, in fact. Tucker can totally talk his way out of this. (Or at least buy time until someone gets here to deal with their man.)

"And I mean, it's not a bad riddle. There's no shame in using existing riddles! I just thought..."

Tucker fidgets with the strap of his gym bag. Everyone is staring at him now. The Riddler, the hostages, even the henchmen stand agape. To be fair, what kind of idiot with a deathwish decides to critique a villain mid-scheme? Bad Luck Tuck, that's who

Welp, he's already dug himself this deep. Let's see how far the hole goes and if there are noxious fumes at the bottom. Time to Bugs Bunny this sitch.

"You know what? Screw it. I'll say it; I'm insulted." Taking advantage of his height, Tucker took one long step into the Riddler's personal space and flicked the man's stupid bowler hat right off his scheming head.

"You went through all the trouble of taking a train full of people hostage, put together this convoluted riddle-solving scenario, and then your riddles don't even make a statement? Or at least a social commentary?"

Another step forward and the Riddler took one back.

"I get that 'a pale horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a white horse' is probably alluding to a location or referencing some future team up against Batman, but honestly? It feels lazy, man. As soon as you figure out one clue, the rest are obvious.

"My life is on the line here and you're half-assing this. So suuuue me for expecting harder riddles. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised, when your performance today was downright pedestrian."

A few women and maybe a henchman or two gasped from the rear of the train car. Of all his comments so far, the Riddler looked most offended at that.

In the back of Tucker's head a little voice kept whispering bits of advice. Keep talking, keep him distracted and off kilter. Keep the pressure up, stay in his face, don't let him regain his footing, physically or mentally. Be it from his years of watching Danny do the exact same thing, or a little bit of ancient wisdom making itself known, he listened.

"And also, if I'm reading this correctly, it's pretty pretentious to compare yourself, and whoever you're working with, to the apocalypse. Full offence, you are not world-ending material. I've seen what world-ending dudes look like, and you. are. not. it!"

The last four words Tucker punctuated with sharp jabs to the Riddler's left lapel, forcing the man to pivot.

"Heck, Red Robin has more world-ending potential than you do. But, you know what you are good for?" Tucker said, stepping back.

"Wha-"

"A meat shield."

local college student verbally eviscerates the riddler, makes batfamily's entire day

Original Post

pov: you got locked in a closet

pov: you're tim drake

Memes pt. 2

Memes pt. 3

Memes pt.4

Memes pt.5

Memes pt.6

Memes pt.7

Memes pt.8

Memes pt.9

Memes pt.10

Memes pt.11

Cultists want to summon the Ghost King, the League pull up to stop them, failed summoning successfully and got Ghost Prince Danny.

With a twist.

The head cultist tells Danny what they want, but it's so pitiful that Danny just sits them down, each and every one of the cultists and explains that maybe it isn't the best idea to give your soul to an otherworldly entity just for that.

Then it somehow turns into therapy because Jesus Christ these people have been living some pretty shit lives, then Danny decides to pull some favors with Frostbite and the Yetis to get some of the cultists family members medical treatment for their Mother/Father/Siblings that they're too poor to pay for.

Other times he just kinda tries to get a few others to get more confidence after being drawn in by a few bad people against their will and try and give them ways to get out of said situation.

All hail the Great One.

Gothams Phandom summons their lord and savior to tell him of their accomplishments.

Phil has now more time to spend with is kids.

Robert and Alexander are now dating.

Annabeth got rid of her maybe cursed puppets and is changing the room into a small temple dedicated to her lord and savior Phantom.

Small Lilly is here to meet her mommas hero.

Cassie, a old woman with a bakery, dragged her long time customer Dr Freeze with her so she can introduce him to the RELIGION Phandom. Some non criminal friends wouldn't hurt him.

-----------

They didn't expect Phantom show up bleeding green blood all over the floor. (if they did they definitely wouldn't have tried the summoning in the living room. The poor carpet)

They also didn't expect him to pass out and turn into a Wayne bite...

-----------

The cultists heal him. During his stay with them Danny finds out that he is in a different dimension. (Its a reveal gone wrong fic (no vivisection) and Danny was just running from the Giw and his parents when he felt the summoning. He used it as a escape.)

Now they plan a second summoning ritual for his sisters.

@mutable-manifestation Siuxdjkdifjdhsjzdkxj😂😂

I was thinking more that, considering they're a self-formed cult based around this one child god, there was literally no way any one of them would be willing to be left out of supporting their little savior in his time of need. So, yeah, they're all the parents! ...Yeah, all of them. They're, like...married? (Yeah, that's close enough right?) (This is Gotham, you can tell them we're a cult, they're not going to judge) (Yeah, maybe, but they still might call CPS?? Can a cult have custody here??) (...Maybe?)

@desatu's tags. Yes. The warehouse is Key to the vision here. They constantly look like they're running a drug operation or some shady bs, but no. The only thing stashed there is their teenage god.

Cult1: ...Yeah! It's. It's like a hobby. It's enrichment! It's good for him!

Cult2: And you're not worried about, oh, I don't know, the electrical engineering at play here?? What if he hurts himself??

Cult1:

Cult1: I mean. He seems like he knows what he's doing?

Cult3: hey. Have we considered that our lord god is all powerful and probably can avoid hurting himself on this through application of his will and aptitude?

CultAll: *reassured muttering*

Danny: Hey, look at this! I made a ray gun! :)

CultAll: *Parental praise and support*

Cult2: let's sign him up for a shop class. I heard that at the public level it's basically supervillainy 102

Cult4: I mean. Does he even WANT to be a super villain?

Cult1: No, but he can do whatever he likes with an engineering background, right? Support his interests and all that

CultAll: *unison chanting* Support His Interests... Support His Interests... Support His Interests...

So, if Jason rolls up to the warehouse and slams the doors open like WHAT UP, NERDS, I'M GOING TO FUND YOUR WEIRD COMMUNITY THING, there's every reason for the cult to go ooookay...do you, um, would you like an audience with the lord god? About it?

And, being nosy, I can't imagine Jason turning down the opportunity to see this kid in person and make sure he's not being pushed around or anything. So yeah, sure. The cult disappears to put on their robes or whatever and the kid pops into the kitchen (different corner of the warehouse with a fridge in it) with like his robe half put on and half flying in the wind.

"So, uh," Danny tries, looking upwards, because this guy is tall and Danny's fourteen, "Do you have, like...personal problems?"

"So many." Jason can't really emphasize just one. "Anger's usually the worst of it. Why, got a cure-all or something in this joint?"

"Er," says Danny. "...No. Actually, this seems more like my sister's deal. Hold on. One minute."

And the kid god darts out, only to return by pushing his older sister in, giving her a thumbs up and leaving. The girl rolls her eyes and straightens upright. She asks him what's up.

...Jason tells her a very abbreviated version of what's up. Kid censored. He leaves the dying in there though, because whatever, it's a cult! They'll believe that stuff.

The girl. Frowns. "That's...that's super weird. Actually. Hold on."

Jason then proceeds to watch her take an abundance of greens out of the fridge, pull the world's jankiest homemade blender off of the floor, and make two portions of the healthiest smoothie he's ever had the misfortune of seeing in his life.

She pours two glasses. Jason drinks one, and she drinks the other. It tastes indistinguishable from grass. "Try to meditate on things that brought you joy in life tonight. You'll feel better if you have good memories."

...okay.

Jason pays $3000 for bogus services rendered, goes home, and resolves himself to sleeping in his crappy safehouse bed for the night like any other.

He dreams about his mom when she was sober. They were reading doctor Seuss books together. It's a memory so old...Jason doesn't think he was even talking at that age. He wakes up in the morning totally, entirely cured.

What the fuck. Wait. Does that mean the cult is actually onto something?

Danny: anger issues are more my older sister's purview, unless you mean that you want vengeance. That’s my younger sister's area.

Jason: Vengeance?

Danny: Alright, then. HEY DANI, WE GOT A VENGEANCE CASE!

Jason: That wasn't what I...

Dani: *scitters along the wall before turning her head 180 degrees to grin manicly at Danny and Jason* Tell me all about it.

Danny: Make sure to specify if you want the guy dead. Otherwise, she'll assume he isn't owed that mercy.

Jason: *stares*

Meanwhile? Danny eventually notices that Jason is revived, and has something nasty in there... Hmm. Blob boba tea it is!

Danny: So! While that's happening! Anything else you wanna talk about? Like, we try to offer space for people who need rehab, or finding funds for medical care and shit? Got anyone who needs help?

Jason sipping on the weird, but very tasty boba tea.....

Jason: I run some of the charities in crime alley. Can I get you to add them to your list. Often safer that the government programs.

Blob boba tea has clean ectoplasm (because he needs some) and Blob ghosts (to filter the nasty stuff already in there).

The blobs will work their magic cleaning all the grossness out of his system and then phase out of him when they're done.

Later that night, Jason is lying in bed, feeling oddly peaceful and content, when a cloud of little glowing green blobs flows out of his stomach, making cute little comforting noises. The cloud disperses. Most of the blobs fly away through the walls (off to chow down on the buildup of icky energy in Gotham). A couple stay with Jason, purring gently as they snuggle up to him (hoping he will either aquire more contamination or lead them to the source).

Jason decides that dealing with this is a tomorrow problem and falls asleep. When he wakes up, the blobs that stayed are still there. Apparently, it wasn't a dream.

...guess he's going to have another talk with cult leader kid.

-

Blobs: *happy purr*

Jason: Your tea made me pregnant!

*holds the blob up to show the proof*.

This of course has Danny and Ellie crying from laughing. Like.... Ok. They kinda get how he came to that conclusion. But. just. No. That's not what happened here! We promise! They are filter cleaners! They are the bad Ecto and then phased out of you! More like a pet than a baby! We promise!

Danny: Oh my Ancients! I haven't laughed so hard in months!

Ellie: Don't worry! It would take a LOT more work to get you pregnant than just a cup of boba tea!

Jason:..... Wait! What!?!? You could anyway?!

Danny: You have a proto core. So like. If we got it turned into a full core? Yeah. But it would take time and energy. And you would have to be a willing participant. So you're safe!

Jason: I might need the ghostly birds and bees talk.

Besides he already introduced Blobert to their great grandfather. And no one has to tell the BatFam that Blobert is basically a Pit cleaner fish.

He would like that liminal health class though. Now please. How does his core go from Proto to real? What else is this gonna do to him? Were they fucking with him when they said he could get ghost pregnant? There are a lot of answers he would like.

True to form Alfred accepts Blobert immediately. Barely even raised an eyebrow.

Tags by @hdgnj

Did Blobert eat the curse that keeps turning people into mad scientists? Because I think it would be funny to have Blobert become super intelligent. With the right guidance, they could be a benevolent mad scientist, but there will be a plethora of inventions, discoveries, and zany hijinks.

Tim might just be Blobert's favorite uncle, but he's not allowed to watch Blobert without additional supervision. The last time they were left unsupervised together they tried to find a way to use ectoplasm's antimicrobial properties to fix Tim's immune system and this somehow spiraled into them either making Tim heavily liminal to the point where there's very little chance of him not becoming a ghost or straight up recreating Danny's accident and making him a full halfa. (Blobert was really shook after Tim got a bad infection. None of their family is allowed to end.)

The other Bats never learn that Blobert started out as a cleaner fish. They just think the lack of comprehension early on was due to them being a literal infant. Of course they became more knowledgeable and capable of more complex thought as they grew. That's how children work.

Blobert builds things for their family. Things that will keep them safe (like better armor) and things that make them happy (like cameras that work on ghosts).

I do enjoy the idea of Blobert becoming super intelligent by eating the local curses. Probably learns how to shape their body into something less blob over time as well. Still goes blob when tired. Or in search of cuddles. But otherwise has a form with hands.

Jason loves liminal health care class. He's learning so much? And these poor kids? Really are trying their best to help. They escaped a shitty situation. And yeah, the kid is a godling of sorts. He can see why these guys love him. And he can see the kids are trying to get them to tone down the worship aspect.

Eating the curses gave Blobert power to grow. But it was the Batfamily's belief that Blobert is Jason's baby that allows them to gain human intelligence and grow into a humanoid-ish form.

Even learning Blobert was actually a cleaner fish, Jason never lost that first emotional surge of attachment to them as his baby. And as Blobert grows in intelligence and gains a more humanoid form, Jason fully commits. This is his child, Blobert.

The Bats are all a bit liminal and connected to the city spirit, Lady Gotham. Batman was even claimed as her Brother.

Their belief, that Blobert is a baby growing up, formed the blob ghost into a more humanoid shape. The power of their belief that Blobert is their baby nephew-niece/grandchild/great-grandchild influenced them into growing into human intelligence. Their support and encouragement allowed Blobert to grow into a person of their own. Their love and attachment steadily feed Blobert to keep growing as their family member.

Blob form is good for cuddles and total relaxation. But Blobert wants to be like their family, so grows and shapes themself to eventually look more like a Wayne. Even if they're a semi-translucent, squishy noodle-physics, green-glowy Wayne-ish kid. Details and color is hard ok. They're also limited by ectoplasm-mass so they're still little kid-sized.

Danny: Ohh gosh!! You're feeding him so much love! He's gonna manage to grow and become a person!!!! That's amazing! Do you know how RARE that is!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Charles smiles as the latest guest writes down their name in the guest book. He doesn't even have to press the bell to get Danny's attention, because the boy appears at his side, picking up the guest's bags between one blink and the next. He was dressed like a railroad worker, tilting his cap at the guests in greeting before loading up their bags on his shoulders.

The children in front of him were startled by the sudden appearance, but aside from a slight jump, they didn't react much.

"You'll be in our presidential suit," Charles informs the group with a smile. Danny had already vanished out of sight, having prepared the suit long before the guests finished booking the room over the phone. "Please enjoy your stay, and join us later tonight for the banquet. We'll be assigning everyone roles for the Wild West Weekend after the meal, if you wish to play along."

So Danny, now an adult and no longer actively a hero, is like 99.9% sure he’s immortal (the 0.1% is largely self doubt) because of this and an unwillingness to handle an 9 to 5 without killing his manger, he decides to become a daredevil by the name of Un-killable.

His shows r an instant hit. He’s able to do things that others would only dream, all with the causal attitude of a guy on a grocery run. As if jumping off the tallest building in the world and landing in a kiddy pool is just a normal Saturday for this guy. 

Now while people have come to the reasonable conclusion that he is a meta, their still 50-50 on if he’s actually un-killable or not. This is not helped by the fact that Danny refuses to acknowledge any of the crazy shit he does as anything unusual.

This all comes to a head when Danny does a show in Gotham and Joker (jealous of someone else taking the spotlight) decides to test just how un-killable he is. 

He fully expects it to be a lie. Fully thinks that if Danny is a meta, he’s not immortal. That with enough bullets, bombs, joker gas, poisons and just good old fashioned brute force the guy will die. 

Is like a checklist:

Set fire to your hair

Poke a stick at a grizzly bear

Eat medicine that's out of date

Use your private parts as piranha bait

Get your toast out with a fork

Do your own electrical work

Teach yourself how to fly

Eat a two-week-old un-refrigerated pie

Invite a psycho-killer inside

Scratch a drug dealer's brand new ride

Take your helmet off in outer space

Use a clothes dryer as a hiding place

Keep a rattlesnake as a pet

Sell both your kidneys on the Internet

Eat a tube of superglue

"I wonder, what's this red button do?"

Dress up like a moose during hunting season

Disturb a nest of wasps for no good reason

Stand on the edge of a train station platform

Drive around the boom gates at a level crossing

Run across the tracks between the platforms

Safe to say Danny went viral in Gotham which was the opposite of what Joker wanted.

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

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

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

Danny sighs and goes back down but keeps talking.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Sam! Sam, holy Fffffffuudge"

"What!? What??"

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

"A baby!?"

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

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

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

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

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

"Call the justice league?"

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

"... shit, you're right"

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

"Sorry..."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Is she talking about me?"

"I really doubt it Tuck..."

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

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

The group just looks at him rather annoyed. 

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

…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Danny was still gong strong at three hours.

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

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

"Where?" Mera hissed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I'm simply following orders..."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I would like my insides to remain inside!"

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

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

"Well at least I-"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What."

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

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

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

"I'll get you Davy Jones!"

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

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

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

"Maybe our new friend can shed some light?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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