#prompalomp

“Dick, no,” Wally hissed.

“Dick, yes.”

All of them turned to look at Raven in surprise. She just shrugged and gestured towards the new hero, Phantom. He was talking with Specter. She said something that made him throw his head back in laughter. It showed off his sharp teeth spectacularly.

“Someone needs to… what was the phrase for it?” Raven asked, head tilted. “Ah, ‘hit that’.”

“Raven,” Wally gasped, aghast.

She gestured again at Phantom. His his drifted away like smoke and his legs were less than solid. He felt like storm about to break.

“Yeah, no, I’m with Raven,” Gar said. His chin was perched on his hand as he watched Phantom with what was basically heart eyes. “Unless he’s into sharing?”

“Oh come on, you have to at least let me shoot my shot!” Dick whined. “You two already have your whole eldritch thing. Leave some for the rest of us.”

“Dick, no,” Wally said, again. “I’m just trying to keep you in one piece.”

Dick pressed his hands together with a little gesture. “Counterpoint: he makes falling apart seem so good.”

There’s someone running with them.

Someone else in the Speed Force.

It’s Bart who notices them first. He’s always been more sensitive to the Speed Force than Wally or Barry. Barry knows he’s the worst about it, what with constantly fighting against the idea of the supernatural, and even he notices this other being that’s running through time along side of them.

It’s hard not to once the fighting starts.

They’re a blur of black and white set against the vibrancy of the Speedsters. Set against the sea of agent white. Against red and green blood. Whoever they are, whatever they are, they aren’t afraid to draw blood, or to bleed. It’s a messy fight.

And then it’s over.

Everything ends so suddenly that Barry finds himself not only skidding to a stop but helping to stop the person that’s been running with them. They’re small; the size of Bart but frail in a way that Bart isn’t. And they’re thrashing in Barry’s arms.

“It’s okay,” Barry soothes. His words are soft, just between him and this kid—because it’s just a kid. A kid who’s splattered in red and green blood. “It’s okay. They’re down. They’re down and we’re going to hunt down all the others.”

The kid screams, though it’s an almost soundless noise, and then collapses like their strings are cut. Barry fumbles for a moment before he’s got the kid supported all the way. They’re sobbing now, their shoulders hiccuping with each one. It’s soundless too. Barry brushes fingers through the kid’s hair, even as he looks up in panic. In worry.

Bart fidgets. “Is… are they okay?”

!!CONTENT WARNING, GUN VIOLENCE, OPEN ENDED (but come on, it's Danny)

“The hostage is still with Two-Face,” the police radio hummed.

Hostage.

As if Harvey’s attention was on some anonymous stranger and not Bruce’s lover. Somewhere in Bruce’s shed tux the weight of a ring in the breast pocket sat heavy. Would Bruce even have the chance to ask the question he had been so afraid of?

“Oracle,” Bruce barked.

He was too sharp, too harsh, but he hoped they understood. They knew too.

It was Danny.

They cared.

“Danny is taking all the attention. SWAT almost has the all the other hostages out, the ones we know of. Some cars they can’t get close to check,” Oracle answered.

The bridge was mess of smashed and overturned cars. There was no way that there weren’t fatalities. They just hoped to avoid more. But with Harvey.

The coin glinted against the search lights as it flipped again. How many flips had spared Danny now? Each one a promise that Two-Face would stay focused on Danny and let another batch of people go.

Bruce was still too far to stop the flip.

One more. Danny just needed one more toss to go his way.

!!warning this one is a bit gruesome and grim.

Nightwing watched the agent twitch on the ground, unconscious body still jolting from where Nightwing had jammed his escrima stick into it. He tilted his head as he considered another blow.

“Phantom will not be happy if you kill anyone,” Raven urged. She rested her finger tips on his arm.

“They deserve it.”

“Yes. But Phantom will not be happy.”

Nightwing took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Right. Let’s press forward. The next room should be one of the larger labs.”

And it was.

And God it was.

Be there. Please still be there. Please still have a soul a core that thing that made Phantom Phantom inside that broken body.

Nightwing was beside the table without even registering it. Phantom is laid out—his insides are splayed out—split open in a deep Y that is only able to stomach because of what Phantom is. Nightwing rests a shaking hand on Phantom’s cheek. He doesn’t move.

“Synonymá… prosím…” Nightwing whispered.

But of course Phantom doesn’t move.

Because that deep Y is hollowed out.

“Nightwing? Is he…”

“They took his core,” Nightwing bit. “Find them. Take the others and find them. Take the core back and them. And then make them regret ever having lived.”

The room was quiet. It was quiet and ever person at the large, round table was looking at him. Quietly. Danny wouldn’t know what to say even if he could open his mouth to speak. The muzzle bit into him as he struggled with the… muchness of it all.

Slowly, Batman rose from the table. His oil slick black cape fell around him. Danny clutched tighter at his own borrowed purple cape. He didn’t want them to see the ruin of him under it. That wasn’t it—it didn’t—he was here for everyone else. As king. He held the cape tightly closed and raised his chin higher. His haloed crown of aura light shuddered. The light of it glinted off of the stark metal of the muzzle.

Batman came closer. Danny kept his chin held high, trembling. He clutched at the cape. The aura shuddered. A few feet of him, Batman took a knee. It was like all the air went out of the room at once, but in a good way. Danny swayed on his feet as his knees threatened to give out.

“Hello. This is the Justice League Watchtower. I am Batman,” Batman said, hands moving with his words, though Danny couldn’t understand any of the motions. “Is this where you intended to come?”

Danny nodded. His fingers hurt from holding the cape close.

He couldn’t see Batman’s eyes, but he knew that he was being looked at. Being seen.

Batman raised his hands again. Danny flinched. Batman paused and then moved more slowly. “Are you here for help?”

Danny nodded so quickly that the room started to spin. His hands ached. The light shuddered.

“Alright. To start, I would like to call a medic—”

No. No! Danny shook his head.

The room spun.

The lights shuddered.

Danny’s new boyfriend didn’t exactly live in town. Danny really only knew that because they hadn’t seen him around before. Danny had asked once, at the urging of Jazz, about schooling, and Bart just explained he was home schooled, it worked better with his ADHD. It made sense to Danny. (He wished that he could be home schooled.)

(Maybe he could pass English that way.)

Sam was convinced that Bart was a ghost and had Jazz and Tucker mostly on board with the idea. Danny got the feeling that Tucker was only holding out because he felt beholden to be on Danny’s side. But Sam… Sam wanted Danny to ask Bart all of these questions to try and catch him out on being a ghost who was masquerading as human like Spectra. Danny didn’t want to. He didn’t want to dig into every little thing about Bart. Was it so bad to want to get to know his boyfriend like a normal person?

“Danny!”

Danny looked up from studying his shoelaces. He couldn’t have helped the grin that split his face if he had tried.

Bart was there.

He had been willing to come out to the stupid fall festival with Danny just because Danny needed every bit of extra credit he could get and so had to go. But Bart was there to help make it bearable. He was there, and he was adorable. Bart was almost always in bright colors, whites and reds and yellows. Today was no exception; his yellow shirt was splashed with stylized hangul characters. The white jean shorts were a braze choice for a county fair.

“Hey,” Danny greeted with a little duck of his head.

Bart, shorter than even Danny, just used it as an excuse to duck in and kiss Danny. The kisses had never been more than pecks, but each one felt electric in the best way.

“Hey to you,” Bart said back. “This place looks amazing!”

“Yeah? There are butter sculptures.”

“Butter sculptures?”

“As big as you,” Danny said as he took Bart’s hand.

Bart bounced on his toes. “Oh-meh-gee, that’s totally crash.”

Danny started to lead them to the entrance. He had already bought tickets for them, this date was his treat. He’d saved up allowance and everything. “And we can do the corn maze.”

“Absolutely.”

“And then we’ll see what fried food there is. The fried Oreos are great.”

“Fried Oreo? Best day,” Bart said.

“Jasmine,” Diana says the name firmly, though she fears it will do no good. Her love is frozen, eyes cast down at the ‘thermos’ in her white knuckled grip. Gently, carefully, slowly; Diana reaches out and places her fingers on Jasmine’s wrist.

Jasmine jolts, startled. Her gun swings up as she steps back. It points right at Diana’s head with unfailing accuracy.

Diana raises her arms, palms empty and open.

It takes several blinks before Jasmine recoils at her own action, barrel lowing towards the ground. “Ancients, Diana, I’m sorry—”

“It’s alright, love,” Diana murmurers. She steps forward and cups Jasmine’s cheek. It pleases her that Jasmine relaxes into the touch. “You are upset.”

Jasmine sighs and closes her eyes. “I—yes, I guess. Upset would be one way way of defining this emotion.”

“And others?”

“Hopeful. Terrified. Overwrought.”

“Because of this ghost?” Diana asks.

This is hardly the first ghost that Justice League Dark has fought. Certainly the powers that she had shown were great, the way that glowing green vines had jutted through concrete and brick speak to that, but they had succeeded in capturing her in Jasmine’s device.

“Yes. I know her. Knew her,” Jasmine says, uncharacteristically stumbling over her words. She presses a kiss to Diana’s palm, gathering herself before she takes a step back. “Her name while she was alive was Sam Mason. She was one of my brother’s best friends.”

Diana sucks in a sharp breath. She glances down at the device. “Could she perhaps…”

“Maybe. I don’t know, but maybe.”

DP x DC:

- Danny /Bruce, /Dick, /Jason, /Duke, /Tim, /Bart, Barry/Iris, /Gar/Raven, /Constantine

- Jazz /Zatanna, /Wonder Woman, /Cass

- agit(ish)!Dan /Kon, /Tim/Kon, /Duke, /Cass, /Constantine

- Batpham, flashpham, Danny & JL

Original:

-Pascal/Apples (bureau lackey/eldritch being)

-Snek (a rubber snake)

- maybe I should just try to write a romance Jamie/the ghost he loves

2. Pick one color: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key

3. Words/a line from a song you can't quite remember.

Write your choices for 1, 2, and 3 IN THE REPLIES of this post.