“This is sooo not fair!” Danny huffed while dramatically falling in his bed “it’s like no one around here ever watched a hero’s fight on TV. Every time I show up it’s either an emergency and I have to save Sam the Cat from a tree he climbed before the poor thing falls or the ghost hunters are going to be on scene already and start shooting on sight! I never get to do my evil villain monologue. Lord of the Flies, I only managed TWO evil laughs EVER! And one of those times my voice cracked in the middle, which sooo embarrassing! What’s the fun of being a supervillain if the heroes won’t even let me give a proper monologue” Danny pouted while turning to lay face down on his pillow.

“There, there” Tucker patted his friends head in solidarity, “there’s still a lot of fun to be had anyway. Remember that time we raided the GIW’s HQ and put neon orange paint on their laundry soap? Their looks of despair and cussing for the month it took to replace their clothes was priceless!”

“… yeah, that was funny” Danny answered muffled by the pillow.

“Right! And besides it’s not your fault no one knows villain x hero etiquette around here.”

“Yeah, but it’s like they are singled me out!” Danny said turning his face around “every other ghost gets to do their monologue. Box Ghost starts to give a monologue and everyone just listens politely before fighting him! It can’t even be ‘cause I’m a halfa or they wouldn’t let Vlad do his evil speech. Moby Dick, even FREAKSHOW gets an uninterrupted evil speech and laugh, the guy isn’t even a ghost! Just some random creep with more time than sense” Danny groans.

“Being a villain means you don’t have to adhere to the conventional rules and can just do whatever though” Sam remarked from where she was laying on a nearby puff “I say let the heroes worry about being ‘polite’ and just do your thing” she gave her two cents.

“Yeeaah” Danny groaned long suffering “but what I wanna is to give my monologue. I got it all wrote out and memorized, even got my act down to a T in the mirror. It’s just… I worked so hard on it, I spent more time and effort in this than on all my lit homework from this entire year combined”

“That’s not something you should be proud of” Jazz remarked dryly from the open door as she passed the hallway.

“It just Frankensteins so much I don’t ever get the chance show it up!” Danny finished as if he was never interrupted in the first place.

“Sounds like it’s the heroes who are the problem-“

“As always” Sam interrupted Tucker’s musing.

“So… what if you tried another hero? One who would follow basic courtesy like letting you talk before the battle?”

At that Danny sat up to look at Tucker in interest “you mean like make another hero, like me and Cujo got Val to become Red Huntress?” He seemed to give it some thought before shaking his head “no, with Val it was a ‘right person at the right place’ kind of thing, I can’t just go around trashing people’s places and works to hope one of their kids takes up a cape and is more polite than the rest of the town heroes, that’d be rude.”

“Well yeah, but what if you just went up the territory of another hero? Like, you can swing by Gotham and put a ‘kick me sticker on one of the Waynes or something, that’s bound to get Batman’s attention and everyone says the guy is super polite and a great listener! All the goons and officers-“

“You just said the same thing twice” Danny chimed in and high-fived Sam.

“-who appear on interviews always talk about how the bat does everything in silence and how much attention he pays to details. The guy would be delighted to have a new villain in his city, I’m sure he is starved for new material as far as villain monologue goes.”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Sam immediately shot down “Gotham is the most gothic city EVER! I will NOT, have either of you visiting it without me, so not until summer vacation, which will take forever!”

“GOTHAM IS ALSO THE SECOND MOST CRIME-INFESTED CITY ON THE COUNTRY AND I DON’T WANT MY BABY BROTHER WALKING AROUND THERE UNSUPERVISED!” Jazz shouted from her room across the wall.

“Oh yeah, that too I guess” Sam agreed.

“Fine, so not Gotham. Central City?” Tucker proposed.

“Are you crazy? The Flash is the fastest hero EVER-“

“That’s debatable-“

“It’s really not”

“He will not even give me time to open my mouth before we start to throw hands! Star city?”

“I mean, Green Arrow seems like a total Moby Dick, not sure he wouldn’t immediately start shooting. Cost City?” Sam countered and proposed.

“I mean… isn’t Green Lantern like a space cop?” Danny scrunched his nose “that’s like a super GIW, right?” The three thought for a second and shuddered at the image.

“Right… so moving on, how about Metropolis?” The three thought for a bit.

“I mean, Superman is an alien, right? I’d love to meet him!”

“Metropolis is supposed to be the unholy child of a Hallmark movie and a cartoon for little kids where everyone is polite and sweet and stuff, you can keep that to yourself and please do not include me on it.”

“The main villain there is Luthor, so no worries of stepping on another person’s toes. To heck with that guy, he puts paywalls on EVERYTHING.” Tucker grumbled.

“…” Jazz said nothing, which is close enough to agreement for them.

“So it’s decided, I’m going to Metropolis monologue to Superman!”

“Yeah, the Boy Scout won’t know what hit him!”

“… wait, do you think he was an actual Boy Scout when he was a kid? ‘Cause that’d be pretty cool”

“Nah, there weren’t boy scouts back when the old time heroes like him were kids”.

___________________\\_________________

Danny made good time to Metropolis. As a ghost he could turn intangible to avoid any air resistance or drag while also reducing his mass to zero. And, as he is creating his own propulsion by just thinking it, that means he could travel much faster than sound without worrying about causing problems for anyone. Really, his biggest issue is that if he goes too fast things get kinda blurry and it’s pretty easy to overshoot your target, so he had to stop to get his bearings and backtrack more than once, but he still made it to the city!

Upon arriving Danny took some time to go sightseeing as he likely wouldn’t get the chance during his fight. Took a few photos sat upside down upon the globe of the Daily Planet to put on his twitter, ate a hot dog, went intangible to Lex Luthor’s office and pantsied him right in the middle of a meeting, you know, normal tourist stuff. Feeling good about himself he decided to move to the harbor as it’s far away enough that his fight with Superman shouldn’t get in anybody’s way.

He then did some (unneeded) stretches and jumped a bit to loosen up, then did a few quick voice exercises he wrangled from Ember so his monologue would go perfect.

He was just about to kickstart his fight by doing the most heinous villain act of his entire career that would be sure to get Superman down ready to throw hands. He carefully picked the wrapping of his hot dog and was ready to throw it (on the street! Not the sea, he’s a villain, not a monster) when he heard a crash from behind him. He turned curiously to see the reason and- WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK!

If asked later, Danny would freely admit that this was the fastest he ever flew because that was Superman and that was a pregnant woman he was punching in the air, the heck-

He fortunately managed to cross the distance in no time and overshadowed Superman harder than he had ever overshadowed anyone before. Immediately upon entering the body he felt a foreign wave of terror slam into him with such an intensity that it almost made his vision wave before he gritted his teeth and forcibly threw it at his core to convert in more ecto. Now in control he wasted no time in flying up and scooping up pregnant lady gently.

“Oh man. Lord of the Flies, what! Who just- dude, yeah, pregnant woman scare me too since that bio class, but- What- Who does that! That’s- that’s messed up Sups. That’s a pregnant woman, dude you can’t just- the HELL!” Danny panicked while he felt the conscience of Superman in the back of his head gradually get his bearings with growing horror.

“Okay, okay, that’s- that’s not fine. She needs a medic and- Frankstein, this looks bad. I never saw someone’s guts before, but- okay, calm down Fenton, keep it together. A hospital is not fast enough I will just-“ now actively throwing his own anxiety and fear at his core on top of Superman to keep from panicking (too much) Danny took a deep breath and laid his hands on the woman’s side over her ribcage.

Being in Superman’s body is disorienting and frankly an experience Danny could do without. He was already used to holding back his own strength, but his was kinda a “mind over matter” deal with him being as strong as he could believe himself to be, Superman though… it was like there was no resistance whatsoever; air, flesh, bone, it all gave the same minimal resistance and if Danny wasn’t used to going intangible he was sure he would have already crushed this woman’s chest by pressing too far. His vision was all wrong going too far and under the skin with the flex of muscles he didn’t have and it was too loud and-

Deep breath. It’s… fine. Send the panic attack to core, we have no time for panic now. ‘Not the first time you had to get used to powers mid-emergency Fenton, keep yourself together!’. With a last deep breath Danny focused back in the pregnant lady on his arms. He never saw anyone’s inside before, but he could take his cues of what is around the bruised spots and that didn’t look right, her heart also seemed to be beating too slow from what he could hear and there was blood and-

“Right!” He took another deep breath “my vision is changing so much I might as well be blind and she is so close to death that no doctor would be fast enough to save her. That’s… fine, I’ve beaten worse odds. If Frostbite can be a doctor I can heal her. Let’s just… stitch her up… from the inside. That’s… fine”.

Without knowing well what to do Danny awkwardly sent some ectoplasm on the woman’s body and “felt” around organs until he came upon what felt like a misshaped closed fist growing and shrinking in uneven intervals, figuring that might be the heart he used his untrained telekinesis to press and pull it in a somewhat regular interval. Since his sight wouldn’t help him anyway with how it couldn’t choose what to look at nor how closely he closed his eyes and tried to block all his senses, focusing solely on his ectoplasm.

He felt a second kind of energy running through Superman’s body besides his own. One that was warm and strengthening for a lack of other words. In impulse he tried to divert some to join the flow of ecto going to the woman’s body, but it resisted being diverted, whatever it is it’s course was too rigid for it, different from his own free-flowing ectoplasm. Not willing to just give up Danny directed some of his own energy to “dip” on Superman’s and collect some before re-joining the flow, which… worked? Better than expected even as the heart he was forcibly pumping seemed to all but soak on the warmth infused ecto and start mending up.

“Right” thought Danny “I can do this” a determination that seemed to echo his host as he could feel a wave of decisiveness from him and what felt like him deliberately trying to pull himself back to be as unobtrusive as one could be on their own body.

Now with a route in mind Danny got to work, using his ecto “touch” to try to feel around the woman’s body from the inside and awkwardly make things work however felt right. When he felt a pool of what he assumed to be blood outside the veins he telekinetically scooped it up and pushed it back where he felt a burst or sliced vein before stitching it up with a thread of ecto he then solidified inside the body. Bone was pulled back in a form that felt right-ish, torn muscle awkwardly pressed back together, still-

“I can’t see!” He cried out “I can’t see what I’m doing, where things are how bad it is, how-!”

In the middle of his latest panic he felt a flash of determination from his host and a sudden focus razor-sharp and intense focusing on the eyes. It did nothing against his overshadowing, but the message was clear nonetheless.

“You want to control the eyes?” Danny asked dubiously “you are not gonna laser beam her down are you?” The presence recoiled aghast and then turned back to trying to control the eyes “this is a terrible idea”, but despite his best judgment Danny still relented and pulled back his control over the eyes, Superman immediately took over, opened them and did… something? Like pulling a muscle and relaxing another while focusing somehow into a certain depth and suddenly Danny could see the bones of the woman and the surrounding bits of muscle and organs consistently. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth he proceeded to direct his ecto to put those back in a somewhat right way, now with a lot more confidence and knowing better what he is doing.

On the on they went, looking for parts that seemed damaged and putting those back together, the ecto keeping things in place and the warmth making the body heal much faster, when they got to fixing the damage to it. The fetus in particular seemed to soak up on the warm ecto like a sponge to the point that Danny had to spend more time ensuring it hadn’t eaten up his previous work than actually fixing it. At many times Danny had to redo his earlier work now that he could see where he messed up, but gradually they got the woman’s body back in one piece that looked right-ish. In the end of the impromptu procedure Danny cautiously let go of the hold he had kept on her heart pumping it and it kept beating, albeit on a different rhythm than the one he guessed.

Finally, with a sigh of relief, Danny disentangled from Superman’s body, figuring the local would have a much better idea of the best hospital to take his former victim(?) than Danny. For a moment the three stood floating there without knowing what to do. At some point what looked like Wonder Woman and Green Lantern had flown to stand near them, but thankfully hadn’t interrupted. Now that he wasn’t actively blocking out outside stimuli to concentrate anymore he could even spy what looked to be Batman on the ground near what looked like the cross of a sports car and a tank “probably the Batmobile” he reasoned.

He could see Superman gearing up to say something, so he spoke first.

“Right” Danny clapped his hands in front of him “so, I did what I could, but I’m really not a medic, or a nurse, or - strictly speaking - good at biology, so… you should probably get her to a doctor asap. I would recommend mine, but he doesn’t really come to this dimension a lot, so-“

“Thank you” Superman cut him off quietly, a deep and sincere look of gratitude on his face “I was under the effect of Scarecrow’s fear gas, it almost made me kill her. I don’t know what I would have done if I- just… thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Today you were a true hero” at that Danny groaned.

“Not again” he whined “I already get that from miss Albrey for that time rescue her cat from a tree and from mister Smith for not letting his son be run through, and- not important. Look dude, I’m a supervillain, not a hero” Danny explained.

For some reason all the heroes, even Flash who had just arrived, looked baffled by this.

“But… you saved my wife? And… you just said you saved kids and cats, and… just… how come you think you are a villain?” Superman seemed to be genuinely confused by the concept despite him fighting villains every other day. Also, pregnant lady was Supes’ wife. Huh, good to know, but back to the matter at hand.

“Well, yeah? This was an innocent civilian woman you were beating the daylights out of like me ripping into Skulker, I couldn’t just… leave you to it? That’d be horrible! I’m a villain, not a monster, no matter what the GIW says and- wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.” Danny shakes his hands walking on air from one side to the other.

“GIW? Look son, I don’t know who that is, but you shouldn’t believe everything people say, especially if it’s about you. Nothing you just described sounds like a villain to me” The Man of Steel said to Danny’s indignation.

“Excuse me!” He turned pointed a finger at the startled alien “I will have you know that I’m a villain and a very cool one at that! I regularly raid bases of the government every time I hear about them having captured another person or ghost to experiment on! N-the scientists who opened a rift to the world of the dead in their basement so they can vivisect ghosts minding their own business call me the greatest menace their town has ever known!” Danny crossed his arms and filled his chest in pride.

“Al- right. So you are a… villain?” Superman said raising his hands placating.

“And a dang good one at that! I mean, a dang terrible one! Terrifying one? Well, I’m scarier than Box Ghost, so there!” Danny pointed triumphantly, before shaking his head in consternation and pouting “I had this whole monologue ready for months, about my evil plan, why I’m evil and stuff, but none of the heroes in my town stay still long enough for me to say it! I had come here so we could fight and I could finally get to give it, I had planned to litter in the street so we could fight and all… but now the moment is gone. And you should really take her to the hospital I think? I guess I can come back in a few days and we can have our epic showdown. How does Friday sound to you? This way I can stay up late-“

At that Danny seemed to realize something and looked up in alarm.

“Lord of the Flies!” All the heroes jumped “it’s almost my bedtime! Moby Dick, I’m going to be in so much trouble, oh no, oh no. Bye Sups, see you Friday, gotta go” and then he flew up at top speed back home. The baffled heroes still reeling from the surreal experience and with more questions than answers. Unnoticed by Danny a cameraman and reporter nearby had captured the entire conversation.

/////////////////////////////////////://////////////////////////////////////

In the aftermath Lois is (finally) taken to a hospital and makes a full recovery. Their baby (I’m tempted to have Clark and Lois name him Danny instead of Jon as thanks to Danny for saving him once they learn his name) is born healthy if somewhat liminar (your pick to what effect - if any - this has), Danny shows up later for his promised fight, he is received with a delicious homemade pie courtesy of Ma Kent and the heroes sit patiently to hear his entire monologue, which is great! They give him reason for his actions instead of fighting upon hearing his speech of how the anti-ecto acts are terrible and the GIW deserves having their bases messed up, which is less great. They then proceed to publicly claim he is a hero and the GIW are the actual villains, which is terrible! At least the anti-ecto acts were recognized as a blight that should never have been allowed to exist and scrapped, which, silver linings?

Now Tumblr, do Your Thing!

The Observants prided themselves on their foresight. They guided Ghost King Pariah Dark’s reign, curbed his excesses to some extent, and prevented the Ghost Zone from descending into chaos...most of the time.

Now, however, they faced a unique problem: Pariah had an heir after his defeat at the hands of the Halfa. Heirs of kings—especially dictatorial, war-hungry ones—needed careful guidance to avoid repeating their predecessors' mistakes. The goal was not to teach them how to rule, but rather how not to. 

Before them stood infant Daniel "Danny" Fenton, also known as Danny Phantom, the hero. After the Ghostly Incursion War (GIW) bombing of Amity Park, they picked him up and took him to Clockwork. Now, they had to consider his future. They also had to consider how to prevent him from becoming depressed. They did just that by turning him into a child with Clockwork's help. It was much kinder that way, as no one in Amity Park had become a ghost from the anti-ghost bomb that the GIW had used. They had to make sure he is taken of. 

One Observant floated before the Council. "It is decided. We will send the heir of a tyrant to—"

Another Observant blinked after their leader finished to explain. "So they can learn from the worst?"

"Precisely. The mistakes of one mad ruler will be the lessons of the next. As we know that the other heroes would save the child and once he becomes king they know what to not do as Ruler. Seeing all the evil that Tyrant did. But still be ready to finish the job."

There was a murmur of agreement. After all, if a king was a dictator, the council only advised; they didn't make choices for him. Best of all, if the heir was out of the Zone, there was less paperwork.

After a brief and highly questionable magical procedure, Pariah’s heir was transformed into a human infant.

"Who shall we pick?"

The lead Observant’s single eyelid narrowed. "We don't really have a list, but I know just the man."

Clark and Lois's Apartment — Morning

Clark Kent was in the middle of making coffee when a green light suddenly filled the kitchen. An enormous floating eyeball appeared, holding a swaddled baby.

Clark blinked. "That's new."

"You are Kal-El," the observer intoned, "also known as Clark Kent."

"...Yes?"

The Observant unfolded a scroll with one of his hands. "Husband of Lois Lane?"

Clark frowned. "Yes, I—wait, why are you reading my bio like it's my Wikipedia page?"

"Here it states," the Observant continued in the same flat tone, "that you murdered her and your unborn child."

Clark froze. “What?!”

"Yes, after the Joker tricked you into it, of course. Also, Metropolis was destroyed by the nuke the Joker used. You executed the Joker in prison before Batman and then became a cruel tyrant who still insists he is a hero.”

“Excuse me?!”

The observer tilted its head. "Oh, wait. What year is it?”

Clark, still in shock, told him. There was an awkward pause.

"Ah," the Observant said. "We appear to be early. My apologies. We'll come back later, once everything has happened. It's time to search for another tyrant—"

A burst of green light appeared, and the baby vanished with the Observant. A thick file landed with a thunk on Clark’s kitchen table. Across the cover, in bold letters, was written: INJUSTICE: THE REGIME.

Clark opened it. Each page was worse than the last—transcripts, photos, battle reports, and atrocities. His hands trembled. He had seen dark futures before, but this...this was about him.

Then the green light returned. The One Eye being floated back in with the same baby.

"On second thought," it said, placing the infant in Clark's arms, "you are perfect for our purposes. Raise him as an example of what not to do as a tyrant. Ensure he learns that power must be balanced with mercy.”

Clark stared at the baby. Bright blue eyes blinked up at him. Tiny fingers grabbed his cape.

"I—what?"

"Temporary arrangement," the Observant said. "Until we find another tyrant. Where he can life under."

Then, it vanished, leaving Clark alone, holding a baby and with a horrifying knowledge of his possible future.

Fifteen minutes later, the Justice League's communication line rings.

Ring. Ring.

"Pick up! Pick up! Pick up—"

A click. "Clark," said Batman's gravelly voice. "What's the emergency?"

Clark’s voice was tight. "What's your plan if I go insane and the Joker tricks me into killing Lois? I kill him. Then Metropolis gets nuked and I establish myself as a global tyrant."

"That's oddly specific."

“A floating eyeball from another dimension just dropped off a massive file documenting my descent into madness and left me with a baby!”

There was a pause on the line. "Describe the baby."

"Human. Black hair, blue eyes. I have no idea where he came from. They said I’m supposed to teach him not to be a tyrant."

“I have a plan,” Batman said at last.

"That plan is not 'take the baby,'" Clark warned.

"... Fine. I’ll make a new plan.”

"You seriously had a plan to take a baby if I were given one?"

“Yes. For all League members. It’s in the file labeled Parental Failure Protocols.”

Clark’s jaw dropped. “You have plans to take babies from everyone?”

“Yes.” “How many oddly specific plans do you have?” "Several dozen."

"Bruce," Clark groaned. “There’s being prepared, and then there’s being incredibly paranoid.”

“Do you want my help or not?”

Clark sighed and glanced at the baby, who had tangled himself in Superman’s cape and was giggling. "Yes."

Later that night at Wayne Manor:

Bruce examined the child's DNA using the Batcomputer. "He's not from our world. I can tell you that part of his DNA is human; the rest, I'm not sure about."

"Neither was the floating eyeball," Clark muttered.

Alfred appeared with a bottle. "If Master Kent insists on keeping the child alive until the tyrant's plan is resolved, he should learn how to feed the child."

The baby let out a soft coo, and his eyes glowed faintly green for a moment before returning to their normal baby blue color. Bruce noticed.

"This is going to be a problem," he said flatly.

Clark crossed his arms. "He's just a baby."

"That's what they all say," Bruce replied, turning away. "I'm still not sure how your parents hid your powers." Try telling people you know he's a meta baby and see if that works."

Somewhere in the Ghost Zone:

The Observant floated back to the council chambers.

"Has the heir been placed?" "Yes, in the care of Kal-El." "Excellent. Will he learn humility?"

The lead Observant hesitated. "...Possibly. Either that, or Superman will learn to never become a tyrant in the first place. Either outcome is acceptable."

The others nodded.

After all, the Ghost Zone's paperwork load had just been dramatically reduced. The young heir was no longer there to bring chaos. As Clockwork didn't do anything, it must have been part of a plan.

Back in Metropolis — Two Days Later:

Clark sat on the couch, rocking the baby. According to the name stitched into his blanket, his name was Danny.

The future loomed large in his mind. The file sat on the coffee table, unopened since the first day.

Lois walked in, having returned from her work overseas, and raised an eyebrow. "Whose baby is this?"

"We are fighting against three giants, my dear Sancho: injustice, fear and ignorance."

Miguel de Cervantes