So I had a silly little idea about what if Danny was ghost king but he didnāt actually have to be in charge because he is baby. You donāt put a baby in charge you put an adult in charge until baby is ready. Vlad would be the most qualified. But heās Vlad. So. It needs to be somebody else. Batman. Iām talking about Bruce Wayne. Death touched and not ready to rule the infinite realms in his stead. Iām full of big thoughts on this but instead of organizing them and sharing them I wrote a little Blurbo.
Bruce was on the bat computer writing incident reports on the nightās patrol. It was a quiet night and it looked like everyone might get at least 4 hours of sleep tonight. Well, quiet on the streets of Gotham. The cave was very much not quiet as Tim seemed to have had the stupendous idea to intentionally rile Damian up. Idle hands may be the devilās playthings but apparently an Idle Tim was more likely to lose all sense of self preservation. He wasnāt too worried yet, he could hear Dick trying to keep the peace which had about 50/50 odds of working.
The sudden silence was the absolute worst thing he could be hearing right now. He spun around in that chair as fast as bathumanly possible and stood up. Prepared to deal with an attempted fratricide. But what he saw froze him in his tracks, though not quite as literally as everything else. Damian was frozen mid leap towards an equally frozen Tim who's laughing face was in the midst of shifting towards regret while Dick was reaching out to catch him. He was instantly on guard for whoever had done this, it would be an unlikely coincidence for him to be the only one (or even one of many) left unfrozen if this was a global event that had nothing to do with him. No this was likely a deliberate act but the question remained if the intent was hostile or not. Not that it really mattered because they froze his boys and he would not be relaxing until that was undone.
He felt a presence above him and threw a batarang even as he was turning to face them. And the batarang passed straight through a floating blue humanoid. A being who radiated an aura of power that was only somewhat ruined by the pendulum clock in their chest and a total lack of concern for the weaponry thrown their way. There was a beat of tense silence before they shifted into the form of a child and gave the impression of raising an eyebrow despite not having any above the unsettling wholly red eyes āDid I catch you at a bad time Bruce? I can come back.ā And just like that his guard was up even further. An intruder in the batcave with this kind of power and he knew his name? That could not mean anything remotely good. He was mentally preparing alternative methods of attack should this turn to violence, as most forms of physical attack would be useless depending on what form of phasal shifting that just was.
āOh thereās no need for any of that Bruce. Iām just here to congratulate you on your ascendancy to Kinghood.ā That left him wrongfooted and before he could even muster up a response and begin with any proper Questioning, the being continued. āWell, King Regent at least. The rightful ghost king is still a child and you possess the familial relation necessary to stand in until theyāre ready to ascend the throne. Should you choose to refuse this position you have 30 days to find a suitable replacement and contact the high council of the infinite realms with this information.ā And just as suddenly as theā¦ Ghost? Just as the possible ghost had appeared, they were gone.
All at once life returned to the world and there was an audible thump as one Robin collided with another. But it was Dick who screamed. For if one were to view things from his perspective, Bruce had teleported from across the room and he thought he was immune to the Batman jump scares now! With Dick and Tim briefly caught up in their own individual terrors it was Damian who noticed something was wrong. He shoved Tim aside with contempt, rising to his feet and dusting himself off as if he felt especially dirty after the physical contact he himself had initiated. āFather? What is it?ā
Bruce let out the slightest huff of relief at seeing his boys in motion once more, most wouldnāt notice it at all, but the collection of current and former robins were not most people. They were all at attention, waiting to be told and willing to resort to trickery if he wasnāt in a sharing mood. āSomething was in the bat cave.ā All three stiffened, knowing this was serious. He returned to the computer to begin a profile on the (man? Ghost? clock?) and also to avoid looking his children in the eye. No need to give away how badly this had shaken him. āThey were capable of freezing time selectively. And froze all of you while we spoke. Possibly everyone else. Oracle, is it still 1:27 outside the batcave?ā
He could hear rapid fire typing before she replied. āMatches up with the time in Gotham and thereās no noticeable time delay between here and anywhere else on Earth. Iāll have to get back to you on if we fell out of alignment with other planets, but I can tell you thereās no gaps in the footage in the batcave either, itā¦ it looks like you teleported.ā
Well that was not comforting news in the slightest. Whoever this was, they were incredibly powerful. Possibly capable of stopping all of time with (hopefully) no consequences. Looks like he might actually have to take what was said seriously. For such a powerful entity would have little reason to lie about such a thing. But could he really? He might have had a few close calls with death but he was still living? His heart was still beating? How could a living man be the reigning king of ghosts? Even as a regent? And regent to who exactly? A child? Is that by human or ghost standards? Bruce seemingly didnāt qualify as a child but would Dick? The ghost had said familial relation which was incredibly vague and unhelpful. Did his adopted children count or was it only Damian? Could it possibly be some distant cousin? He didnāt know and unfortunately he had no leads to speak of. How was he even supposed to contact this High Council of the Infinite Realms? He got the sinking suspicion that was the point. That he wasnāt being given a choice in the matter.
His eldest broke him out of his thoughts with a hand on his shoulder, reading what heād written before locking eyes with him. āAnd what exactly did he want to talk about B?ā
He couldnāt help the slight downturn of his lips as he answered, āApparently Iāve been named the Regent King of Ghosts.ā
And with the widening of Dickās eyes and a muffled curse from Tim as he missed a step and collided with a table he couldnāt help thinking he was right. The intruder hadnāt brought anything good.
When he later called Constantine asking if he knew how to contact The High Council of the Infinite Realms and the man promptly swore before hanging up? He was absolutely sure he had found himself tangled up in something that was bound to cause him at least one headache in the near future.
When he found the first green sticky note that appeared between one blink and the next he was ready to have words with whoever put him in this position. He sincerely hoped the King he was playing regent for wasnāt Jason.
