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I am deeply enamored with the prompt where Danny gets mistaken for (or correctly identified as) some kind of pit creature—god, angel, demon, mermaid, eldritch problem, take your pick.

The rules are simple:

• Danny is a gremlin.

• Danny either has no idea who the hell keeps bathing in his pool, or

• He knows and is doing something specifically to be annoying.

Now consider this:

Danny discovers the Lazarus Pit.

Naturally, everyone else assumes he’s a creature of the Pit. A guardian. A god. A cursed spirit. A mermaid (he got the look). Danny does absolutely nothing to correct this.

But instead of the usual routes—destroying the League of Assassins, adopting Damian, picking a moral side—Danny just… starts chatting and continues to do so for centuries in their world.

Ra’s al Ghul becomes his pool buddy.

They talk while soaking in the Pit. Ra’s gives long, dramatic monologues about destiny, immortality, and the decay of the world. Danny listens politely, floating upside down, occasionally splashing, responding through some kind of ghostly translation magic that turns his very normal thoughts into something vaguely ominous and prophetic.

Ra’s: “The world must be cleansed to be reborn.”

Danny (meaning): “Yeah, stagnation sucks. You ever try bubble filters?”

Danny (translated): “All cycles end in rot, and rot demands renewal.”

Ra’s is thrilled.

Danny just thinks his pool buddy is neat.

Then one day Danny sees Ra’s with the Batfamily.

Danny, with complete sincerity, assumes this is Ra’s trying to invite his other friends to pool time.

So Danny tries to help.

He attempts to guide one of them into the Pit. It does not go well. There is screaming. There is grappling. There is Batman shouting about unknown entities and containment protocols.

Danny is confused. A little offended.

Still, every time he sees them after that, he tries again.

Not aggressively. Just:

• appearing out of the Pit like a horror movie mermaid,

• holding out a hand,

• ominously intoning (via broken translation magic):

“Enter the waters. The pool is warm. We are bonding.”

The Batfamily is convinced this is a recruitment ritual.

Ra’s is delighted.

Danny is just trying to get his friends to hang out.

——————-

POV: Ra’s al Ghul

In his first centuries, when Ra’s al Ghul was still learning what immortality cost, he met the creature.

Back then, the Lazarus Pit was wilder. Less refined. Less… tamed. Ra’s had only bathed a handful of times when, during one resurrection, the waters did not still.

They shifted.

Something surfaced with him.

Ra’s woke choking on life and madness, and found himself face to face with a being already awake, already watching him with mild curiosity—as if Ra’s were the strange thing in the pool.

The creature was young-looking, but not young. Luminous in the Pit’s glow, hair drifting like ink in water, eyes reflecting death without fear. It did not recoil from the Pit’s frenzy. It was not consumed by it.

It belonged.

Ra’s understood immediately: a child of the Pit, born from death repeated too many times.

The creature spoke.

Ra’s heard:

“You return too soon. The waters remember you.”

What it meant, in a voice filtered through strange translating magic:

“Wow, that was fast. You good, dude?”

Ra’s laughed. He could not help it.

From then on, Ra’s was never alone when he resurrected.

In those early centuries—before the League, before empires rose and fell beneath his feet—the creature would join him in the Pit. Sometimes already there, sometimes arriving halfway through Ra’s rebirth, as if checking on him.

It asked questions. Strange ones.

Why do you do this?

Does it hurt every time?

Do you ever take breaks?

The Pit twisted these into riddles and warnings. Ra’s heard prophecy. Doctrine. Judgment.

Ra’s answered honestly.

He spoke of saving the world, of cleansing corruption, of shepherding humanity forward. The creature listened, chin propped on its hands, occasionally nodding.

It responded with statements like:

“Endless renewal without rest fractures the soul.”

(which meant: “That sounds exhausting.”)

Ra’s took this as sacred counsel.

Centuries passed.

Ra’s refined the Pit. Controlled it. Built rituals, safeguards, entire philosophies around it. Through it all, the creature remained—unchanged, unaging, eternally informal.

Sometimes it vanished for decades. Sometimes centuries. But whenever Ra’s returned to the Pit, there it was again, greeting him like an old friend.

Back again?

—rendered by magic as—

“The cycle resumes.”

When Ra’s finally formed the League, he spoke of the guardian with reverence. He warned his followers not to disturb the waters unnecessarily. It was watched.

They obeyed.

Only much later—much later—did Ra’s bring outsiders to the Pit.

The bats.

——

Ra’s al Ghul has faced the Detective many times.

This encounter is no different: steel, smoke, accusations, inevitability. The Bat stands between Ra’s and the Pit, his allies fanned out behind him, tense and prepared. Ra’s is already calculating angles, exits, casualties.

Violence is imminent.

Then the waters of the Lazarus Pit ripple.

Ra’s freezes.

Slowly—deliberately—the guardian emerges.

Pale glow first. Then eyes. Then the familiar, impossible calm of a being that has watched Ra’s die and rise more times than any mortal ever should.

The Pit-spirit floats at the surface, blinking as it takes in the scene.

The bats.

The weapons.

Ra’s, poised to strike.

The creature tilts its head.

“Oh,” it says—though what Ra’s hears is something closer to:

“Conflict stains the waters before it begins.”

Ra’s does not move. He does not dare.

The bats, unfortunately, do.

One of them shifts, weapon raising half an inch.

The creature immediately misunderstands everything.

Its expression softens. Brightens. Recognition dawns.

“You brought friends?” it says, pleased.

Translated as: “The circle widens. New souls approach the threshold.”

Batman reacts instantly.

The creature reacts faster.

It glides closer to the edge of the Pit, extending a hand—not threatening, not aggressive, just inviting. Like one would gesture toward warm water on a cold night.

“Careful,” it says gently. “First time can be rough, but you’ll feel better after.”

Ra’s closes his eyes.

Of course this is happening.

Chaos erupts.

The bats scatter. Someone swears. Someone fires a grappling hook. The creature recoils, startled, nearly slipping back into the Pit.

“Huh,” it says, confused.

Rendered ominously as: “Fear resists transformation.”

Ra’s snaps orders, retreating—not from the bats, but to shield the Pit. He positions himself between them and the guardian, blade lowered but ready.

The creature looks at him, baffled.

“They don’t want to hang out?” it asks.

Ra’s exhales, slow and reverent.

“They are… unprepared,” he says carefully.

The guardian considers this. Nods. Withdraws a little, sinking back into the waters.

“Okay,” it says. “Next time, then.”

The bats escape.

Silence returns.

Ra’s kneels by the Pit, heart still racing—not from battle, but from relief.

“I apologize,” he says quietly.

The creature shrugs, already relaxing.

“It’s fine. You tried.”

And Ra’s al Ghul—immortal, feared, unwavering—accepts, once again, that he is not the most dangerous being in the room.

And at some point for whatever reason, whether bad reveal or the G.I.W get the jump on them, Danny gets really hurt, like missing an arm levels of bad. In this Ellie either destabilizes or is forced back into her core along with Dante, and desperate to protect them he takes them to his pool buddy to protect while he goes and deals with whatever is happening in his world, not exactly realizing what he looks like at the moment.

He just got tasked with protecting these two eggs. And has no idea how to keep them alive. He doesn't even know if Danny's eggs are like crocodile eggs, and the embryo changes gender based on temperature.

And say Danny was so desperate to protect Ellie and Dante became their cores are cracked.

So not only does Ra's have no idea what to do. He has no idea if either egg is alive anymore. Cracks on eggs when they aren't hatching is extremely concerning after all.

Then starts diving into ALL the centuries of bestiaries, trying to find Anything to narrow down similarities between these Apparent Eggs and. Any category of species ever. Anything. Birds? Reptiles? Amphibians? Platypi? AnYtHiNg, pls.

Given that they came from his Pit Buddy, he can guess that Lazarus Waters are Probably beneficial? But. Will they drown if he just. Nests them IN the Pit? Should he rig some kind of floating, supportively-suspending net to the shallows for them? Keep them always partially above water but rotate them so no spot gets too little? Should he be keeping the cracks above water or below it? Do they Need to breath air or Pit Water?

(I accidentally gave myself the mental image of heavy-but-exquisite netting attached to rings made of pool floaties or noodles. Like a floatie ring for toddlers but makeshift and silly.)

And Danny still isn't back yet.

So to Ra's it looks like his Pit buddy's kids are hatching. Without him.

And he read about how many animals imprint on the first thing they see.

Meanwhile, the League has started leaving offerings in the pit chamber for the twins. Lots of soft materials and piles of shiny treasures that the female loved to play with and even a couple potted plants that the male seems to appreciate.

When Danny eventually returns, he brings Sam and Tucker with him.

I'm a sucker for the everlasting trio as halfas, so Sam is in full dryad mode and Tucker has skin that shimmers, golden eyes, and golden claws. It's clear to Ras that these are the Guardian's mates and the twins' other parents.

He doesn't dare protest as the dryad tips over the potted plants which rapidly grow into a miniature jungle and the gold touched being begins to create otherworldly devices by molding the precious metals like clay.

I'm imagine that the trio are in rough shape right now, with Danny being the worst atm, way worse than before. I'm imaging that life half his torso is gone and his tail is all sorts of fucked up, wounds that'd instantly kill any mortal (and maybe even Ra's).

The thing that ends up concerning Ra's the most though is that the Guardian isn't healing as fast as usual, he understands that this amount of damage would take ages to heal, but by the time the Guardian's partners are healed the Guardian themself has barely made any progress.

So concerned, he asks one of Danny's partners if he was okay and why healing was taking so long (I'll say that it was Sam he asked), and she explained that he got hit with a weapon that used blood blossoms, and how they were essentially death for Ghosts and liminal.

But because we still have translation issues Ra's hears of a flower that eats away at and devours all that the Lazarus Pits touch, how it was turned into a weapon to destroy the waters and all those blessed by them, how despite the danger the Guardian, who the Dryad called Diadem (she actually called him Danny, but weird magic translation stuff happened and now he's a star), had taken hits from this weapon to protect his partners. And while he'd heal, it'd take much longer as the poison remains in his system trying to eat away at him.

A shot from an old fanfic, but one of my favorites

Fanfic:

AKA "Nightwing has a coin that allows him to see the ghost of his dead brother. Except Jason Todd is definitely not dead anymore, so who is haunting the Wayne Manor??" DPxDC prompt where Danny Fenton looks like a pre-Lazarus Jason Todd and misunderstandings ensue.

Okay, so, imagine Danny takes on a quest for Clockwork and is doing a favor for Lady Gotham. Lady Gotham, of course, graciously offers him housing for his stay in Gotham City.

Unfortunately for Danny, it's already inhabited. By superheroes. One of which is an OG Justice Leaguer, has come back from the dead like 5 times, and is absolutely terrifying; but Danny can't exactly say no to an Ancient Ghost. So, he... improvises. He can't go Ghost since Gotham doesn't have the ectoplasm to sustain him for long periods of time, but he goes intangible and invisible.

Danny has met (read: desperately avoided) Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, Tim Drake-Wayne, and Alfred Pennyworth. He's gotten to know their schedules fairly well. Bruce spends most of the day either out of the manor or in The Lair of Batitude, Tim goes to work, Damian goes to school, and Alfred does chores. That leaves Danny wandering around the manor during the day. (Don't ask him about his quest, Clockwork was frustratingly elusive and vague. All he said was, "Be prepared." Which wasn't ominous at all.)

Anyway. Danny's not really prepared to see Dick Grayson in the manor. Especially not when he's in the Wayne's personal library, skimming through familiar titles for something interesting to read. He may have... accidentally not been so careful as he usually is when wandering the manor. As in: he was totally visible. Thankfully, he's able to go Inviso-Bill just as Dick is walking passed the library doorway - extra grateful when Dick scrambles back into view, doing a visceral double-take that looks physically painful.

Danny can see the doubt seep in, watches as Dick's eyes desperately search the library before settling on a well-loved chair by the window. The guy looks terrified and heart-broken and confused. And Danny feels awful. He knows the right thing would be to come clean but what could he even say? An Ancient Ghost told him to bunk with her Knights, so he's been bumming off them? Invading their safe space, their ancestral home, because he couldn't say no? He feels bad, but he resolves to keep himself quiet and do a better job of staying invisible.

He doesn't expect Dick Grayson to come back the next day. Danny's curled up on the big wingback chair in the library with a copy of Pride and Prejudice on his lap (it's an assigned reading for his English class) when he hears a sharp intake of breath. His head snaps up to see Dick in the library doorway, staring directly at him. But that's can't be right?? The Waynes don't have access to Fenton tech, there's no way they could see him without it.

Except Dick exhales shakily and asks, "Jaylad?"

Danny gapes and sputters out a baffled, "You can see me?"

That seems to jar Dick out of his daze because he jerks forward as if to touch him and Danny... maybe doesn't have the best of judgement. He does the only thing that comes to mind.

He flings himself out the window.

((He's not present for the conversation that follows. After Dick came to Bruce, hysterically insisting he saw Jason's ghost in the manor library - and after Dick had been tested for hallucinogens - they began investigating. The batfam huddle in front of the batcomputer, analyzing their home security footage. Just like Dick said, there was a noticeably teenage-shaped cold spot in the library. The cold spot seemed to move throughout the manor but primarily took up residence in Jason's old bedroom and the library. Never, ever going near the basement.

So Cass, remembering what it was to be hungry, got help making a batch of cookies from Babs (since Alfred was unavailable but would understand the importance) and together they asked Dick to bring the cookies to the library. To guard that plate from anyone not his anticipated target. Yes, even Big Jason. And how does that even work???

Bruce is attempting to contact JLD, checking for temporal anomalies, and having a breakdown.

Meanwhile, since Danny can't go ghost for long and is built like a toothpick, he's been getting roughed up whenever he goes into the city. He'll go ghost long enough to avoid vital targets, but what's a few contusions... a split lip... a black eye... anyway, what's a little minor short term facial disfigurement in comparison to saving the city and getting a break?

So when Dick locates him (snoozing in a sun spot in his fave ragged clothes from the attic because it was laundry day and the rich kid wasn't likely to miss old clothes from a box in the attic for one afternoon!) Dick sees the face, sees the threadbare clothes, and drops a silent but urgent text to B. "Library now. Urgent." with a picture (badly distorted) of Danny unconscious and looking mangled.

Poor Danny. After a long night of kickin booty and a short nap in the morning, a sunspot siesta had sounded so nice. He was not expecting the heartbroken whisper of "Jay? Is that really you???" before being forcibly cuddled by a guy built like his dad.

And it had been so long since his dad had hugged him.

Maybe he'd tolerate it... just for the moment.

Jazz: What?

Danny: Remember how I told Ghostwriter I was going to write a novel just to shut him up?

Jazz: Yeah?

Danny: Well, I actually did it.

Jazz: Really? Danny! That's huge! Writing can be so hard!

Danny: Thanks, it was a lot of fun.

Jazz: Of course. Did you just finish writing it? Is that why you gasped like that?

Danny: Oh no, I finished it weeks ago. I just got an email from Queen Publishing that they want to be my publishing company

Jazz: *spits out water* WHAT?!

Danny: I know! I didn't even submit it!

Jazz: Oh....it might be a scam.

Danny: Oh. Yeah. You're right. That makes sense.

Maddie bursts into the room: It's not a scam! I found your manuscript while I cleaned your room and sent it in! Oh, Danny, it was a wonderful piece!

Jack right behind her carrying a rainbow cake: On a unrelated note, you know we love you right? No matter what?

Maddie unzipping her hazard suit to reveal a t-shirt with the words Be Who You are in rainbow: WE SUPPORT YOU CHILD

Jazz: Ummmm??

Danny: The book is about the holidays personified as gay men who come to Earth and fall in love with humans. I based them off the Bats from Gotham.

Jazz: Ah. Yeah that explains the parents but not why you choose the Bats.

Danny: Simple. Batman is Halloween because his big and scary. Nightwing is Valentines because of how bubbly and loving he is. Red Hood is ground hog day because-

Jazz: You made Red Hood into a gay personification of Ground Hog Day!?

Danny: Its makes sense in the plot

Jazz: HOW!?

Danny: You can read my book and find out. Queen Industries will have the first printout by late November.

Jack in the background: LOVE IS LOVE. NO MAN'S HEART IS SAFE FROM THE FENTONS!!

Maddie: RAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

Danny: I can't tell if they want me to fight other men or date them

Already, this first foray into the Ghost Zone had yielded more data than she and Jack had gotten in all the time before opening the portal, and more data than they recorded in a week back in Amity Park, waiting for the ghosts to show up on their own terms.  Minutes after entering, they had encountered whole swarms of lesser ghosts, little creatures that barely showed up on their scanners, and to their surprise, a vast variety of ghostly architecture.

True, most of the buildings were ruins, and there were far too many stairs and free-floating doors to be at all logical for entities that could fly, but their presence had been entirely unexpected and brought up whole new lines of inquiry.  

Who built these structures?  Why?  How?  Had humans once lived here?  Because ghosts didn’t have the focus, the organization, or the intelligence to do something like this.  Perhaps they were stolen.  She and Jack had researched occurrences of people and vehicles being spirited away, most notably in places like Bermuda.  But for all these buildings to suffer a similar state…

Maddie had to investigate.  That meant leaving the relatively safe confines of the Speeder.  Jack had objected, of course, not to the concept of entering one of the buildings, but to Maddie being the one to go.  But she had talked him over to her point of view.  She was the better fighter, after all, and less likely to set off any traps the ghosts had left in the buildings.  

She had lucked out, too, in their choice of buildings.  This appeared to be an abandoned library, or some kind of record repository, full of scrolls and bound books.  

There were too many for her to take all of them, sadly.  The ecto-preservation box she had brought for samples would only fit a few of the thick, dusty tomes- and she had to put them in the box.  There was no telling how quickly they would decay if exposed to normal, real-world air.  

She picked the five books that looked best preserved, with leathery covers and silver-edged pages.  The scrolls appeared to be more fragile, even if she could probably fit more of them in the box.

Giving the room one last glance and snapping one last picture with her Fenton Ecto-Imager, she turned, and followed her tether back to the Speeder.

.

They kept the books in a sealed glass containment unit, using attached gloves to reach in and manipulate the pages, as if they were handling lethal chemicals or disease-carrying vials.  For all they knew, the books could be just as dangerous.  Even something as innocuous as a musical instrument could become a weapon in a ghost’s hands.  

Still, the main reason for their precautions was to preserve the books.  The pages were fragile enough, and scans showed that the paper and parchment they were made of had a high ectoplasm content; a high enough content that, were the ectoplasm in them to disperse, the pages might crumble entirely.  

Maddie and Jack painstakingly took pictures of every page.  They were written, and beautifully illuminated, in a language neither of them were familiar with, forcing them to send the work of translating them to a linguist friend.

Jack literally held his breath, waiting for the linguist to call them back.  Maddie was less optimistic about the response time.  Jocelyn was a friend, yes, had been a friend since college, but Maddie was well aware of the reputation she and Jack had built up over the years.  They would be lucky if Jocelyn looked over the images this month, let alone within five minutes of-

The phone rang.  

Maddie hit the speaker button.  “Hello, this is Fentonworks, Dr. Fenton speaking.”

“Maddie, this is Jocelyn.  Where did you get these books?”

“The Ghost Zone!” said Jack, excitedly. 

Jocelyn laughed.  “Right, right, don’t tell me, that’s fine.  Anyway, four of them look like they’re in Voynich script-”

“So you can translate them?” asked Maddie, excitedly.  

“Afraid not!  Before you showed me these, I thought there was only one example of that in the world, and no one has been able to translate it.  You should get these all tested for authenticity, by the way.  If any of them are legit, you have a fortune on your hands.  Anyway.  The fifth one seems to be mostly in Gaelic script, with some notes in Latin and Ogham.  Very interesting.  Subject matter seems to be ghosts from what I can tell, which, well, I’m not surprised, exactly.”

“So you can translate that one?” Maddie asked, eagerly.  She didn’t want the trip to come to nothing.  

“Well, some of it.  I’m not super familiar with Irish languages.  I’ll have to ask my colleagues, and they’ll really want some kind of confirmation about the books before they spend too much time on it.  You know?”

“That’s reasonable,” said Maddie, even as she winced.  She’d have to follow up with Jocelyn on what kind of ‘confirmation’ translators would want.  

“Anyway, from what I can tell just by looking, this is a treatise of some kind on the ‘half-dead,’ compiled by a couple different authors over a long period of time.  The Latin notes read like clarifications, or personal anecdotes, but there are also a lot of references to the god Janus.  There’s a bit much to go over on the phone.”

“You can email us,” said Maddie.  

“How about I drive down to Amity?  I’ll bring my notes, and I really want to hear where you got these.”

“We told you!  The Ghost Zone!”

“You always were a joker, Jack.  Good to see life hasn’t changed you.  So, do you guys mind if I come?”

“Not at all,” said Maddie.  

.

Jocelyn regarded the portal with guarded disbelief.  “I can’t believe it.  I really can’t.  No one is going to believe this.”  She paused.  “Were those books written by ghosts?”

“Unlikely,” said Maddie.  “Ghosts lack the mental capacity.  It’s more likely that these were stolen from people who were researching ghosts.”

“Right, right, that makes sense, I suppose.  Anyway, I think I’ve put together a good summary of what’s in that book.  I had to call in some favors, by the way, so you owe me.  Also, you’ll have to pay to get the whole thing done, sorry.”  She put her bags on a clean counter top, and gazed longingly at the books under the glass.  “Man, I hope you can get more of those.  Wouldn’t it be wild to translate the Voyinch manuscript?”

“Well, lets work on the one we have now,” said Maddie.

.

By the time Jocelyn left, Maddie was obsessed. 

The book was about half-ghosts, a species of ghost that had to be either entirely mythical or, at least, extinct in the modern day.  Humans simply couldn’t have ghost powers.  The science didn’t work.  

But the stories were fascinating.  The descriptions of how ‘half-ghosts’ developed and acted were detailed.  The logic of the ancient authors compelling.  

As far as the translated portions went, in any case. 

It left Maddie wondering: What if half-ghosts were possible?  

How would one be made?

She and Jack spent hours pouring over the notes Jocelyn had left, staying up all night.  Her visit hadn’t been nearly long enough to go over everything.  

Maddie felt a little guilty.  She knew her children, Jazz and Danny, worried over them when they got so invested in a project like this, especially a project so likely to come to nothing.  Danny, in particular, had come down several times to bring them snacks or peek over their shoulders.  

Maddie and Jack, feeling guilty, and also tired, had relented towards dinnertime, and ordered pizza for the family.  Then, they had gathered on the couch to watch a movie.  Jack fell asleep right away, but Maddie was too wired.  

“So,” said Danny, his eyes fixed blankly on a dialogue-free action sequence.  “What are you guys working on, down there?  You’ve been busy since yesterday.”

“Well,” said Maddie, “you remember that we took our first trip into the Ghost Zone a few days ago?”

“Yeah,” said Danny.  

“We found those books there, and Jocelyn translated some parts of one of them for us.  We think they’re field observations made by medieval ghost hunters.”

Skepticism and exasperation flitted across Danny’s features, but quickly vanished.  Maddie pushed away her disappointment.  Danny and Jazz had never been very enthusiastic about their work, and she despaired of what would happen to Fentonworks when she and Jack got too old to keep it up.  

Still.  He was showing interest now, even if it was only to be polite.  

“Okay,” said Danny.  “What are you guys going to do with them?”  He rubbed his hands back and forth on the couch upholstery.  

“We were planning on running a few tests to see if the claims made in them are feasible.”

Danny winced.  

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure everything we do is perfectly safe,” said Maddie, patting his knee.  

“You’re going to be playing Mythbusters with ghosts,” said Danny, dryly.  “I really doubt that’s going to be safe.”

The characters in the movie started talking again.

.

Danny had a point, Maddie had to admit.  On the other hand, it wasn’t as if she were testing these things on herself, and Jack was around to double-check all her calculations. 

“… manuscript retrieved from the Ghost Zone,” said Maddie, clearly, into her recorder, “suggests that natural portals formed an important role in the formation of the first generation of so-called ‘half-ghosts’ or ‘doorway spirits.’  The exact role is unclear at this point in our translation efforts, however, based on our own interaction with the Fenton Portal, and the fact that we do not exhibit the abilities of ‘half-ghosts,’ we believe the most likely cause is being ‘caught’ in a forming portal.  If, of course, there’s any validity to the manuscript’s claims in the first place.”

Maddie paused, adjusting some of the controls in front of her, making sure everything was in place.  Jack was taking care of the mice.  

“We are going to test this theory with mice.  Based on our current understanding of portal physics, our current expectation is that the mice will simply die.  However, we ignore the wisdom of the past at our own risk.  Are you ready, Jack?”

“Just about!” said Jack, fitting the last mouse into a harness to keep it from escaping the opening portal.  He jogged over to stand with Maddie behind the blast shield. 

Maddie nodded, checked the cameras, and then pulled the lever to bring the portal gun into alignment.  They both pulled on their tinted goggles. 

“Will you do the honors, dear?” she asked Jack, nodding at the firing button.  

“You betcha!  Geronimo!”

The lab was filled with a flash of light, making both of them wince, and then everything went dark.

“I think we tripped a circuit breaker, Mads,” said Jack, sheepishly.  

“It happens,” said Maddie.  “I hope the kids weren’t in the shower…”  She tapped the night-vision switch on her goggles and walked over to the breaker box.  She flipped the culprit switch.  “There we go.  Now, let’s take a look at the mi-”  She blinked at the wreck of the mice cages.  “They’re gone!”

They would have to revise their theories.  None of them had predicted the mice being vaporized.  

.

“I think I know why our experiment with the mice didn’t work,” said Jack.

“Oh?” said Maddie.  She was working on preparing the Speeder for another expedition.  

“No Obsession.  To get a halfa, we need something that would have become a ghost on death anyway.”

Maddie frowned.  “Halfa?”

“Easier than saying ‘half-ghost,’“ explained Jack.  

“You may have a point,” said Maddie.  “But that just means we’ll never be able to create a halfa in the lab.  We can’t predict what will make a ghost.”

“That’s true,” said Jack.  “But, we agreed before, halfas would be able to blend in with the living pretty well, right?  Their human brains would override most of their ghostly impulses?”

“Except for a slight tendency towards violent and possessive behavior, yes,” said Maddie.  “What are you getting at?”

“Well, natural portals still form all the time!  And there are more humans than there have ever been.  Halfas could be all around us and we’d never even know it!  What we need is a way to detect them.”

“You’re right,” said Maddie.  “But how?”

“Well, in theory they’d have ectosignatures, like ghosts, right?  So, we could use our regular scanners, and if a human showed up as a ghost on them, then they’d be a halfa!”

“But, Jack, our scanners never work properly.  They keep latching on to Danny, remember?  Ever since…”  Maddie’s brow furrowed.  “Ever since… his accident with the portal.”

Jack had gone an odd, pasty color.  “You don’t think-?”

“No,” said Maddie, firmly.  “It isn’t possible.”

“But if it was?”

The quiet rapture happens while the Teen Titans (Dick, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven) are on an interplanetary mission. They realize that the Earth and all the stars are gone, and they have lost contact with the Watchtower. On their way back to where the Earth should be, they discover an ocean of blood. Energy signatures around the blood moon indicate that it is incredibly dense and is putting off a lot of energy. It’s the only thing they’ve seen since they started their journey back, so they decide to investigate.

During this, their ship is damaged, leaving them stranded in orbit. Starfire flies back to where the Earth should be and discovers that the Watchtower is the only thing that remains. They can’t communicate directly over that far of a distance and Superman was on Earth when it vanished, so Starfire serves as a liaison between ships. The Justice League decides that the T-Ship should stay where it is and investigate the moon since 1. They can’t spare the resources to bring it back and 2. As apparently the only thing left in the universe it might hold some key as to what happened.

Slowly, everyone comes to the realization that there is no undoing what has happened. People are running out of resources, isolated and paranoid, and increasingly worried about their missing family and friends. Under these conditions, Raven attempts a ritual to contact an extradimensional being that might help them.

Gods and goddesses are usually tied to individual planets, and they’re as dead as everything else in the universe. That leaves extradimensional Gods. Of the known Gods of the Void, Raven only know how to contact a few, and she knows even fewer who might be willing or able to help. Eventually, she settles on summoning Overgrowth, Liminal of Flora, Consort of Phantom, Embodiment of The Green.

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