#poor danny

AKA "Danny Fenton accidentally hits the Joker with the GAV during a livestream. It quickly becomes a Gotham meme." DCxDP prompt! TW: Brief description of vehicular assault.

Pro tip: Don't drive while on the phone. You could hit somebody.

Okay, so Danny does ghost-hunting livestreams (endorsed by FentonWorks) and tours the most haunted cities in America. Gotham happens to be in the Top 10 Cursed Cities of America, featured by youtubers like Buzzfeed Unsolved and Netflix true crime documentaries. Danny just... capitalizes on that a bit. He needs to make money, okay?? His "ghost hunting" is mostly debunking supposedly haunted places, doing side quests for ghosts with unfinished business, and interviewing interesting people.

Anyways. Gotham City is confusing. The streets make no sense, half of the city is blocked off due to the latest Rogue attacks, and he's pretty sure he saw an ambulance smash through a barricade with zero hesitation followed by several cop cars. Danny's livestream chat is blowing up, begging to see what just happened, and he's fumbling with the dashboard phone holder when several groups of people in clown masks start swarming the street. They're surrounding the truck, actually shooting at him, a couple swinging baseball bats and crowbars. He takes his eyes off the road for one second just to check whether the GAV has its shield deployed.

One second is all it takes. He feels more than hears the thunk of something particularly human-shaped hitting his front bumper. And his stomach drops. Heart-stopping panic grips him and all he can do is grip the steering wheel and drive forward. He can vaguely hear shouts all around the GAV but shock blurs everything together until he's frantically driving away. He somehow ends up in a quiet one-way street that looks half-abandoned. His livestream comments are a mess of what just happened?? and r u okay?? and, notably: WAS THAT THE FUCKING JOKER?!

As Gotham finds out, Daniel J Fenton did, in fact, commit a hit and run on the Joker. The GCPD dismissed a vehicular assault charge as the livestream showed Danny being shot at during the time of the assault; judges would absolutely categorize the case as self-defense. The Joker unfortunately didn't die. Also unfortunately, screenshots of the livestream got leaked and now Danny's absurdly baffled and horrified expression post-hitting the Joker is trending on Gotham News.

A new trend of "Get Ready With Me to Hit The Joker With My Car" circulates, much to Danny's utter horror and mortification. Gothamites adore Danny. There's something hilariously ironic and slightly endearing about some out-of-towner hitting the only person in Gotham that everybody agrees should be dead with their car. Unintentionally, too. Even the Bats begrudgingly can't even be mad about it. The situation for the kid was clearly traumatizing and horrific.

DC x DP but it's just Danny being the universe's punching bag (we're looking at you, Clockwork)

Edit: This is now posted on Ao3!! Enjoy!

--

"You're wondering why my parents are making deals with a well-known terrorist, anti-alien enthusiast, meta-human antagonist, and warmonger? Yeah me too," Danny said, pulling out something from the fridge. "Orange juice?"

Batman couldn't help the blink of surprise at the boy's lack of tact. "You don't seem surprised at their behavior."

"Nope," He said popping the 'p' and sipping his orange juice. "They do that a lot."

Once again, Batman blinked in shock. "Make deals with terrorists?"

This was a lot worse than they were expecting...

"Yup. Terrorists, villains, corrupt government agencies. You name it, they've done it."

Batman stared at the glass of orange juice Danny was holding out to him. Numbly, he took it. Then, "Why have you not reported them?"

Danny laughed. It was dry and humorless. "Report them? You're kidding right?"

At Batman's silence, Danny continued.

"Not kidding, then. Sir, with absolutely no respect, the Justice League hasn't helped in worse situations in the past. Why would I expect help now?"

Well. That.

Batman will have to raincheck on Dick's insistence on family movie night.

Normally, he'd just phase through and disappear, but they're livestreaming it.

Also, the livestream has gotten...weird.

Apparently Wayne is willing to pay the ransom, but Oliver Queen is also willing to pay the ransom, and is saying he has more right to pay it since Danny is in his city. They're having a ransom competition with each other. The kidnappers are begging them to stop, but they won't.

Tim's life as Co-CEO (I think that's the role) has been going much more smoothly since he hired his secretary. Mr. Nightingale is a godsend, especially when it comes to having all the needed paperwork ready. It's just that Tim doesn't believe in the Fenton curse Danny mentioned once. It's just superstition, but the inkling in his brain is growing bigger and bigger. When there is a rogue attack. Again. And again.

From that point, there's always a rogue attack where Tim sends him without a doubt. Sure, Danny comes out unscathed most of the time, but it's insane!

He's paranoid enough to go to a coffee shop nearby on his day off when he suggests a roller skating rink he and the Waynes went to.

Then he sees Danny walking by with his sister from the window.

The stunned silence was louder than the rest of the gala had been. Every single pair of eyes were wide with shock, fear, and even concern. The last sound to have left the patrons was scattered gasps at the reveal.

It was meant to be simple. A new up and coming technological company had put all their savings into this. A huge gala to show of the reason the world needed their technology. Needed their help.

No one believed it. Truly, who could have? A large group of men and women dressed purely in white suits, spouting about the threats of ghosts. It was insane and impossible.

Many of the big names that attended today only came for publicity. The notoriety that came with having been there when this company crashed and burned in one night.

It's the only reason Bruce Wayne was even among the crowd. Accompanied by Oliver Queen and his own son, Dick Grayson. As much as Bruce hadn't wanted to be here, he knew his reputation was important to keep up.

That was until two agents stepped out onto a stage they had at the back of the large room. A thick curtain had kept the sight behind it completely hidden from the patrons. Until the moment was right. That was when the thick curtain had suddenly been ripped back, as a third man took a microphone and began to explain.

But his words fell on deaf ears. Especially for the three secret vigilantes in the crowd. Not a single person could tear their gaze away from the cage that now stood in full view.

It wasn't the cage that had everyone enraptured. No, it was the glowing creature curled up in the center of it. No, not a creature. It was a boy. Still baby faced and youthful. Too young to be in a cage.

A high-tech muzzle was securely wrapped tightly against the boy's mouth. His knees pulled tight to his chest, one arm wrapped around them. His other hand pressed tight against the muzzle, seeming to almost be trying to keep it in place.

The boy's toxic green eyes were wide, filled with a clear intensity of pain and terror. There were old tear stains on his cheeks, quickly being replenished with fresh tears. His messy, bright white hair fell into his face. The boy looked both like he wanted to look away, but also like he couldn't. Like he couldn't risk not seeing the threat coming.

It didn't take a genius to see the boy was in pain. Human or not, this went beyond inhumane treat. Making minds racing with thoughts of what else these people had done to the poor boy.

Bruce knew in this moment that this company had just caught the attention of Batman. Based on the look in Oliver's eyes, they also just collected the wrath of the Justice League as well. Bruce hadn't even needed to look at Dick to know he was on the same page.

Jason was frustrated with life, of course he was a revenant without a way to get revenge with Bruce’s no kill rule. Doesn’t say he can’t get others to kill for him, so when he gets captured by cultists he decides to take a leap of faith and make his wish to the Ghost King before the cultists can make their stupid wish about world domination or something.

from “reality trip”