Z

cullens: we are a family but also date each other and our parents are barely older than us and we take collective hikes on school days and don't interact with people except this new kinda loner girl :)

forks:

Student: oh, they're the cullens. stay away from them. they're...

Bella:....dangerous?

Bruce gets exposed to the fear toxin. However, the dose is small, and he already has immunity to this strain. So he doesn't spiral into panic, just feels mildly more anxious than usual. All is good, life goes on as normal. He returns home and hears shouting and laughter of Tim, Damian, Steph, and Jason playing in the halls. He soon sees what it's all about - they are playing with nerf guns. Nothing they hadn't done before. Except when Jason points his tpy gun at Damian, it's like Bruce's brain got switched off. He is moving on pure instinct, covering Damian with his body, the styrofoam bullet bouncing off his back painlessly. Damian is yelling, "Hey!" trying to get out of the tight hold, but Bruce doesn't hear him, breathing heavy like he just ran a marathon. Others are laughing at Damian getting protected like a baby, but it only last for a minute until they realize Bruce isn't letting go, isn't straightening from his protective cocoon. Damian stopped struggling too, feeling Bruce's wet cheek touch his forehead.

Dan is many things. A violent sociopath. A narcissist. A man with good taste in home decor and jazz music. He is not, however, a good parent.

Danny has gotten himself in trouble and is now in a de-aged state. Jazz is currently out of picture and they still need her back. Clockwork says he's working on it but Jazz isn't one to stop a mission when she is halfway there.

Dan doesn't really care though. He is not dealing with a baby. The kid was awful as a teen as is but as a baby he is sickening. He was now a milk sucking, funny smelling, loud mouthed—infant!

But he has to watch him and take care of him. A hellish punishment. He was one diper blowout away from tossing him into a dumpster.

That's why he had to do it.

He needed the kid gone for a while so when he saw the revenant passing by he shoves the wailing thing off on him and made a run for it.

Look he had a plan. The kid is the current prince so the revenant will be compelled to take care of him. It's just how it works. The guy will do it gladly and Dan can get the kid when this mess blows over.

That's what he thought at least unfortunately Dan is also under the influence to take care of the kid. So when he finally gets some time to himself his brain starts going nuts.

Where is he?Where is my baby?Is he safe?Is he okay?I can't see him.Is he missing?Did someone take him?My baby.My baby.MYBABY!WHEREISMYBABY?!

Logically Dan knows what happened but his instincts is currently baby brained.

Gilbert Baker added a 9th stripe shortly before his death, with the new stripe representing diversity. He added this stripe in reaction to the 2016 US election. It’s unfortunately not as well known as the 8 and 6 striped versions.

Here’s an image of him sewing together the 9 striped rainbow flag.

Because Bruce is a emergency foster sometimes he temporarily takes in kids with no place to go, all the birds know the drill when that happens, no vigilante talk in the manor and Bruce's office is off limits (as the entrance to the Batcave is behind the grandfather clock within) So while few and far between, it isn't unusual for a kid to stay for a few months before moving on.

What wasn't expected was for a very visibly meta teenager with bright white hair, glowing green eyes and a very obvious meta suppression anklet on his left ankle.

Danny was forced to take refuge in another dimension after a reveal gone wrong, it is only until his friends and the rest of Amity park finish driving out the GIW so he can return. Staying in ghost form was just more convenient here, apparently something called metahumans were a thing here and they were protected by law! He could take advantage of his ghost's forms decreased need for food, sleep and warmth, without getting hunted down for being so visibly inhuman.

What he didn't expect was getting caught by CPS.

Escaping them wasn't a problem, he can just phase away the second they aren't looking, easy. What was a problem is when they determined him a flight risk and slapped a high tech cuff on his ankle that somehow suppressed his powers and prevented him from returning to human form!

This was fine, the Wayne guy seems pretty absentminded slipping out the old fashioned way shouldn't be too hard!

Because if Danny could speak he could clear things up with a "hey, this ankle bracelet is killing me," it wouldn't be too far fetched for him to tell them that. He's under the impression that the Wayne's are dumb and very very rich they wouldn't want a stain like that on their reputation. The bats wouldn't chance something like this even if they thought Danny was lying. None of them would want to be responsible for the death of a child in their care. Danny's desperate attempts at escape would just convince them farther that they're telling the truth.

If we go the angst route with Danny's halfa status things can be dragged in a totally different direction.

Danny being stuck in his ghost form doesn't bode to well for him. I'd like to think both halves work with eachother even when one is being used but the ankle bracelet...

The ankle bracelet cuts him off from not only his powers but his human half. He can't speak, no sound comes out. He can't properly breath, he can't eat/ process the nutrients he needs, he can barely sleep because he can feel his human half dieing! Nothing is working as it's supposed to and Danny realizes his situation is growing more and more dire with every moment that passes.

It's like tying off a limb with rubber bands and slowly watching it die. The panic for him would be immeasurable.

Better yet if his human half actually dies the cuff stops working and Danny turns to a batfam member and says the first words he's ever spoken to them.

We can go with Danny's core being super weird too!

Like, the crucial part is wrapped around his heart and that's all normal. But thin, root like strand spreading out from it. Integrating with his entire body, intertwined with his nervous and circulatory sytems.

Our cells can just up and collectively decide that "hey, this sucks I don't wanna do this let's do something else" and then we have cancer or something. Hell, some diseases are only as fatal as they are because they use our immune systems tactics against us! I think Malaria goes full on Ennard and hides inside the carcasses of cells it kills.

A ghost core integrated properly is ruthlessly efficient with both physical injuries and disease immunity in general. It has all the information our brain has and is like

"this is extremely counterproductive why are useless organs taking up space? They can explode!??? Why don't we regrow teeth," this goes on for months until the core just sighs and goes. "Hold on let me fix this, you don't need to cook us alive to kill infections just- let me do something real quick,"

Ghost cores fucking optimize, but they can only do so much.

I'm Imagining the batfam doing an autopsy and finding blueish green vines overgrown filling every empty space of his body. His core's desperate attempts to feed his human half and keep it alive.

@noxcheshire you've got it my friend. Angst you shall receive.

Imagine the fighting, the absolute anguish the family would feel knowing that they played a part in killing this child. Knowing that this child had likely been in so much agony as he slowly died due to their unknowing negligence.

Jason standing over his own grave staring down at the dirt knowing damn well he had unintentionally helped torture a child to death. It had to be painful, there were vines growing everywhere, dead and gnarled where they gave all their energy in a futile attempt to save the poor kid. Danny hadn't done anything wrong he rightfully didn't want to live with someone who didn't know what he needed.

Everyone knows it's the ankle bracelet that killed him or at least they theorized it did. Nobody wanted to be at fault not completely that is. They'd beat themselves up about it cursing that they didn't see the signs and take the damn thing off him. Even when Danny attempted to saw his leg off they'd been too scared he'd run before they could help him that they had become the catalyst to his death.

Lmao!! My bad! Don’t worry Danny’s not perma dead.

Damian was an older foster brother for a mere 37 days. It feels like a failure to him that Danny died of something so preventable. It was a failure on their part for not realizing there was another reason for Danny’s desperate escape attempts. Maybe if it weren’t for the Chaos of a recent Arkham breakout they would’ve been more attentive? They sure as hell were attentive now that it’s seemingly too late.

The body is rotting but Damian’s the first to notice the core isn’t as dead as the body despite the withered vines crumbling in his maggot infested chest. There’s a dim glow hidden by the human looking heart it engulfed. New vines hadn’t grown and old ones had died off leading to the hope crushing despair of their family who desperately wished to take things back. He gets grounded when he tries to pull it out.

Tim agrees with Damian on the sheer basis of a theory. He was morbidly curious the integration with the nervous system was so intricate. It’s by sheer coincidence that he discovered the core was producing something similar to brainwaves.

It’s attempting to connect and send information back and forth with the corpse. Trying to send out more vines but they can’t fight the decomposition the body is too broken, too weak. It’s when Jason says he can feel an overwhelming agony radiating off the rock does Tim decidechi to do something. He does the obvious thing anyone would do. He cuts the rock free slicing away the veins still attached. Within a few hours, the core is attempting to create new blood but there nowhere for it to go so now they have a rock that may or may not have the consciousness of a child in it that’s slowly oozing blood.

Tim decides to make a clone (as one does when your foster brother is dead) not just any clone. Really it’s just a corpse, a husk, a damaged one at that. Tim figures that the core can’t create a new body by itself and if it could it would use a detremental amount of energy doing it but shoving the core into his chest and hoping things go well seems like bad idea. He made sure the husk was missing non vital organs as the core’s response to coming in contact with it’s own DNA is to attempt to share information with the nervous system and fix problems with the physical body.

It takes a year for the core to properly intergrate with husk properly.

Danny wakes up in cave in pain with an overwhelming sensation that everything is new despite remembering everything. The bats surround him, he’s confused why they’re so relieved by Danny’s safety. They aren’t his family. Danny didn’t have a family. They helped kill him.

A body dont just shut down, it's a progress, a painfull one, one that is stretch further than it ever shoud because of Danny funky anatomy

First there is a cut in the oxygen intake, this causes pain the chest area, some among of dizziness and lower energy levels. Than the pain increases, the muscle becomes more and more rigid, the energy level drops even more as food becomes harder do eat and digest, second problem emerge from the multiple deficiencies. The pain increases. Thinking is hard and hallucinations may start to happen because of the lack of nutrients, air and function as the brain, too, start to die.

Getting out of bed hurts

It's getting even harder to breath as movement lower every passing day. Eating, moving, brathing and anything that pulls a muscle becomes harder and harder, more and more painful. It fells like you drowning. But drowning is better, because at lest there are no vivid hallucinations playing before your eyes, in your ears, on your skin. remembering things also become impossible as your brain slowly loses the ability to create memories, and those that are created are filled with horrors and pain.

You lost what days is weeks ago, you don't know the hour either.

Maybe, if you're lucky, by the time you only have a few days left, your nervous system is so deteriorated that you won't be able to feel any pain anymore, that your brain has turned so much into mush that it can't register anything anymore, that most part of the body is so deeply necrotic that theres simplicity nothing more to fell

I feel like the symptoms Danny’s experiencing make this so much worse. Because it’s possible for the batfam to see what’s happening to Danny. They are watching him slowly deteriorate, hallucinating and walking around like a zombie. But they don’t take the ankle monitor off. They know Danny’s never hurt anyone with his powers but they still haven’t taken it off. Were they so worried about their secret identities that they’d slowly watch a child die just to keep him from escaping? They might not be able to see what’s happening to his human half but anyone with a brain could tell something was going on with Danny.

Imagine being brutally tortured to death because cps decided you were a “flight risk,” And your foster family were either to dumb or too cruel to save him.

So already weakened, poisoned, in Ghost form, and a little too cocky about the dimension not having anti-ghost tech, and he ends up with a cuff that weakens his core enough that it's struggling to keep him alive, let alone give him access to his powers. It would have probably been fine, for his relative health anyway, if it hadn't been for the blood blossoms already poisoning him and the fact that his core kept trying to push them out with all its strength and kept falling slightly short each time, weakening him more and more, taking away the energy he would need to turn back to his other form.

Skipping to him living with the bats, he would not be passive about it. Not if he'd tried to saw his leg off in hopes that it would help him get rid of the cuff. As that would have been a last resort, he would have first tried lock-picking it. It had not gone great. Meta cuffs usually account for that and won't come off with a normal key, much less with a lockpick, no matter how skilled Danny was with it. It would have probably been fine but well, Danny's luck rarely works in his favor. Desperation had made him move a little too fast and, when he heard a click (the false release mechanism specifically installed for those situations), he had gotten a little too excited and had tried to rip the cuff off his foot.

Not only did it not work but it made it malfunction in the worst possible way. It still blocked access to his core, more strictly now that it knew he was a flight risk and had tried to remove it without the key (protocol for criminals but I doubt they'd have a different one to use on kids they consider misbehaving, especially if they're already set on restraining them to that extent, which gross but yeah). But now it also started giving him shocks of increasing frequency and potency. Danny did not do well with electricity. Not since the portal. It strained his already tired core even more. Danny kept trying. Nothing worked. His jailors were a little too good at keeping him captive. Danny never stood a chance.

It would have still been fine, or like survivable. Danny's core was strong. Danny had experienced unmentionable horrors and still been able to go back to his life without being too affected by his trauma (no, Jazz, him not talking about it isn't a defense mechanism of repression, he's just vibing, ok?). He could've probably bounced back from the nightmare his life had become since the cuff. He would have taken a Vlad rescue at this point. But he was also in a new dimension with minimal access to ambient ecto (in this dimension, all the extra went directly to the Lazarus pits and was immediately contaminated by Ra's continued existence) and not enough access to his core to turn emotions into energy. All of it focusing on cutting the blood blossom and now enduring being continually electrocuted, which the bats somehow still did not notice...

It was only a matter of time. Maybe he could've lasted longer. Maybe he would've if he had gotten any sign, however small, that there was hope his torture would come to an end. There was nothing. No green notes appearing or size-changing dogs showing up to play. No gav or other Fenton related vehicles or communication devices making their way through the new dimension. No ectoplasm to absorb. Not even the ability to detect if it existed unless it was right in front of him, very close.

He had had a brief moment of hope when Jason had come to visit the manor the first time. He was highly liminal, his ecto was contaminated but still present. Maybe Danny could communicate with him through ghost speak despite it. He tried. Nothing. He tried again. Not even a twitch. Apparently the underdeveloped core wasn't able to catch much. Jason had left shortly after, feeling wildly uncomfortable –like a pebble had been stuck on his shoe but somehow feeling it on the inside of his stomach,– without really being able to know the reason (he felt Danny's desperation and attempts of communication but didn't know what it was).

It was the last drop for Danny. He let his core go (ghosts are deeply driven by emotions, Danny giving up wouldn't be enough to kill him usually, even without access to his human side, but with a core that's barely hanging on? Yeah. That was enough). He felt another tiny sliver of hope when he felt his powers returning to him as his core gave up but it was short-lived. As soon as it started to restart, Danny felt the infernal cuff starting his torture again. He only had enough time to tell the closest person his last words: "you killed me", before he completely faded.

The torture didn't end there. Of course it wouldn't. Danny could never be so lucky. It continued when his senses returned to him as his body started rotting and his core went back to frantically trying to cure him, still completely unable to do anything about it. Or even talk. It went on as he felt every single cut. Every part of the dissection (did it count as vivisection if Danny was aware enough to feel every second of it? Danny thought it did). Every time they stuck their hands inside of him and moved his organs around. Every time they decided to cut one out and put it on the side, separate from his body but somehow still connected to his core and therefore still cognizant of each time they cut them into pieces to analyze and see if that has been the cause of death.

They didn't touch the vines left by the blood blossoms poisoning. Of course they wouldn't. Apparently they thought that was his core's weak attempt at healing instead of a parasite leeching off the little energy he had access to. They didn't remove the cuff either. Danny would've probably recovered if they had done either. Of course, that meant it didn't even occur to them. Even after he was dead they wouldn't grant him his freedom.

Danny didn't think he could ever forgive them. He had experience with ambivalent feelings towards people. After all, his parents had loved one half of him while threatening to tear the other apart molecule by molecule. He knew how to compartmentalize. He refused to do that with them. Sure, they had been friendly enough and "nice" to him. They had also kept him captive and tortured him continuously with their ignorance, going so far as to keep going even when he no longer had a say in it. Of course they wouldn't let him rest in peace even when they thought he was fully dead. Even when he had gone as far as spelling it out for them that they had been the cause. His opinion never mattered to them to begin with so why would they start now that he wasn't able to communicate it anymore.

So Danny was not surprised. Disappointed, sure. Annoyed. Frustrated. Tempted to go all ghost king on their dimension and blacklist it from the Infinite Realms (not that he would, he acknowledged that most of the people in it shouldn't suffer for the choices of the few, it was still tempting). Not surprised. So Danny endured. It's what he did best. What he had been doing ever since the accident with the portal. Maybe even before that. It's not like he had a choice. Not as long as that cuff stayed connected to his core. Not when the blood blossoms were still there. Still alive. Still in effect. Keeping him a little more dead every time and making it harder for his core to make a come back somehow. Danny was low-key rooting on them to succeed. He just wanted it to end. Even the GIW would have been more tolerable than this. He still couldn't do anything.

He got a small reprieve when they decided to cut his core loose off his body. He hoped they would leave it alone for a while, just enough for it to recover a little bit of its strength. Enough so Danny could leave or at least turn it invisible and intangible until they gave up searching. He didn't have that kind of luck. They inserted it into another body. An incomplete one his core would have to work hard to heal. One that wouldn't give him a reprieve at all, even when it wasn't his. Even when he shouldn't have had to heal it just because it was forcefully connected to his core. Danny was perfectly capable of going without a body and having his core create a new one. It was actually better for him. Not that his opinion had ever mattered to them.

At least breathing didn't hurt that much anymore. Aside from the emptiness, it was the best he had felt since his encounter with the blood blossoms. Maybe even before. He could feel his strength returning to him and his core kick-starting his heart. He gave himself a moment to hope that it would be enough to get out of this nightmare dimension and back to at least the Infinite Realms. Frostbite would surely know how to help him.

The hope didn't last long. After all, the cuff was still there, ever present on the same ankle as his previous body. Of course it was. He wasn't sure if he preferred it when the blood blossoms were still in his system. At least they limited the time he would have to endure existing in this state. Now, with a still diminished core and new organs to regrow, because apparently they couldn't even do him the kindness of putting him in a complete body, he would be just as vulnerable before, except without the impending final death to look forward to. Just enough work to keep his core strained and busy so he still couldn't access his powers and a certainty that he wouldn't even be able to escape them with death.

He hoped Jazz got there soon. He wasn't sure even his sister would be able to get him out of this. He hoped she stayed far away from them. He didn't want her to be exposed to these monsters and didn't want to know what they would do to her. Either way, it wasn't up to him at all. He still couldn't communicate with them. Not that they'd listen even if he did.

And the cuff stayed on. Danny pretended to sleep. It didn't work for long. Maybe next time he'd be the one to cut himself open and cut his core loose. Surely that would get rid of the restrictions. If he timed it well. He could probably get away with hiding it somewhere in the house with them none the wiser.

Also what do you mean the foster kid you were keeping dies, his last words being 'you killed me' and your first thought is 'ah yeah, let's do an unofficial autopsy when we clearly have no clue of what's going on to see what killed him. Couldn't have been us' like no, don't cut open the child just because, especially when Danny probably had vivisection PTSD. That's so rude (and unfortunately kind of on beans for the bats in this situation)

210

a leaked series of press shots shows a photo of the two recreating the spiderman pointing meme in the middle of the street and then a photo of Jason booking it while Dick gives chase, and the footage of Jason winning the gold will forever be immortalised in Gotham meme culture simply because Dick is seen in the background of the entire livestream, standing in the front of the viewing area with his arms crossed and fucking glaring into the side of Jason's skull without blinking or looking away for a second.

Okay, so you know how everyone talks about how Danny and Jason would recognize each other as members of the undead in a way?

Well, what about Talons? The Talons are basically undead assassins, so Danny would also recognize them. And maybe if you want to go with the idea that Danny is the Ghost King, the Talons might even feel more loyalty to Danny than the Court of Owls.

Danny watched the shadow out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know who or what was following him.

But at this point in time, he ceased to care. He was pretty sure it wasn't the GIW. They were never subtle, and probably would have attacked already.

Then again, them getting better at their jobs was the entire reason he had moved to Gotham to begin with.

Aside from that, the shadow only ever appeared to be following him at night. Dimly, Danny considered it might have been one of Gotham's many vigilantes and that his Halfa status had been compromised. But if they hadn't attacked him yet, he was probably safe. Maybe. Possibly.

And so, this went on for weeks to months at a time. But the figure never approached Danny. So, Danny decided that he wasn't going to give it much thought.

That was until of course something landed loudly on his fire-escape.

Grabbing a Fenton-Anti Creep Stick, he snuck over to his own fire-escape to just see a weird looking figure just sitting there.

The figure was dressed up as an owl? An owl assassin? It was some really weird cosplay.

Danny stared at the figure and the figure stared back. Neither of them moving. Just staring at each other.

"Are you just going to sit there staring all night?" Danny asked, exasperated. He didn't receive a reply.

Screw this, he was getting some sleep. He had work in the morning and he had to deal with people. Ugh.

He never did anything, just hung around his fire-escape. He didn't even come inside when Danny left the window open. Just sat there staring.

It was more than a little creepy, but the dude wasn't actually bothering Danny, so Danny didn't do anything about it.

But as it started to get colder and colder, and the snow began to pile up, Danny couldn't help but feel a bit concerned.

Danny could deal with the cold. The cold wasn't a problem to him, not with his Ice Core. In fact, Danny was most comfortable in cold weather. But he knew this wasn't the case for most humans.

(Not that Danny was so sure that the guy sitting on his fire-escape was human, but that was besides the point.)

It also didn't help that some part of Danny wanted to invite the guy in. That part of his Core, the part that was filled with his Obsession with Protection screamed to drag the guy inside.

Which was something Danny was a little more hesitant about. The dude was more than a little creepy. Danny still didn't know who he was. And he was always wearing that creepy owl cosplay.

But as the harsh cold of winter grew, Danny resigned himself to his fate.

Mixing up two mugs of hot chocolate, Danny walked himself over to the window next to the fire-escape.

"Do you want to come inside? It's getting cold out here." Danny inquired. He still didn't receive a reply. Figures.

So, in the end, Danny stepped onto the fire-escape himself. The birdman perked up at that, and Danny became equated with the fact that the man was decided taller than him. Curse his short height.

"At least take this." Danny handed the man one of the mugs of hot chocolate, and the man seemed to react mostly on instinct. Danny began to move back inside when a voice stopped him.

"What is Talon supposed to do with this?" The man spoke. This was the first time in all the weeks that the man had been coming to his fire-escape that he had spoken. His voice was smooth, but had a robotic lilt to it that made Danny shiver in discomfort.

"You can do whatever you want with it." Danny responded, eyeing the man up and down strangely.

"Talon doesn't have wants." The man answered back.

Okay, this was starting to get real creepy, even for him. What was up with this guy. Pausing for a moment, Danny responded.

"Then drink it. Use it for warmth. That's what it's there for." Danny pointed out.

Surprisingly, the man quickly moved to remove his mask. The sudden movement startled Danny, but the man didn't stop for anything.

He began to quickly down the glass, causing Danny to speak up in a panic. Not even having enough time to observe the man's features.

"Slowly! Drink it slowly! You'll burn yourself otherwise." And the man automatically slowed down at Danny's words. It was unsettling.

Strangely enough, Danny had never felt more discomfort around the man then when he was so clearly listening to Danny. Because that was the weird thing, he was listening to Danny's words like they were orders. Not the suggestions they were.

Quietly, Danny moved back into his apartment building.

Maybe he should be more concerned about the fact that some strange unknown was following him around.

Still though, he left the window open in case the man ever came inside. He never did.

But later that next morning when Danny woke up, he found the mug he had given the man resting on the windowsill. Completely drained of any hot chocolate.

Despite himself, Danny couldn't help but thing back to how the man looked. His skin grey with what Danny could only connect with the dead. And yet, the man's soft looking black hair would suggest he was perfectly healthy. And the man's eyes? Well Danny never saw them considering they were hidden under his goggles.

Maybe he should shoo the man away. Things were just getting weirder to the point Danny could no longer ignore it.

But his Core screamed against the idea. Danny sighed in annoyance to himself. It seems, at some point or another, his core had decided the mystery man was apart of his 'fraid.

Talon turned towards the strange man, its claws inches away from the steaming mug.

The man had blue eyes, like Those Who Talon Did Not Know. Like his family the strangers in the Memories That Did Not Belong to It.

Talon had returned to the balcony again and again for the memories. It did not like it, because Talon had no likes or dislikes, but the color of the man's eyes made the memories clearer.

The man's eyes were not blue tonight.

Tonight the eyes were a neon green. This too carried memories.

Gunfire and rage. White streak and snark. Shared meals. Quiet libraries. First of little brothers. Lost returned. Little Wing.

DICKIEBIRD.

Eyes should not be glowing green. Eyes should not be gold

the one time it had seen its reflection in the mirror, it had tried to gouge out its eyes and slit the throat of the Good Doctor who tried to sedate it

Talon did not think the Doctors were good doctors. They always made the memories fade away.

They made everything fade away, and stored Talon in the Sleeping Cold until the Court needed him again.

The Above has started to remind it of the sleeping cold. If Talon could worry, it would worry that the cold would slow his reactions and leave him to sleep in the Above.

Perhaps the cold had already slowed it too much. It did not attempt strike back at the man's attack.

Was it an attack?

The man had wrapped his hand around its wrist and was gently tugging it towards the open window.

"I don't know where you go when you leave, but it's obvious they aren't taking care of you."

The Good Doctors insured that Talon was fully functional. The Court would be angry if it didn't return and would send others to hunt down whatever had delayed it. Is that not the same as care?

"I don't have much space, but the couch is comfy and it's way better than freezing out here"

It thought of the cold darkness of the roost and the memories that would slip through its fingers like sand.

"Please just let me help."

Valerie would also probably want to kill him. Or maybe she's giving up on understanding ghost shenanigans, same with Wes.

Danny glanced at the strange man, watching him from his kitchen as the man sat on his couch. Well, Danny practically sat him there himself, but that was besides the point.

If Danny didn't know any better, he might have thought the man was cationic with his lack of responses. But seriously, this was the type of weirdo that Danny's ghost core thought was ideal to be apart of his 'friad?

(It was strange. Danny's core so rarely accepted others like that easily, especially if they were living. Danny's core only really accepted others into his fold that easily if there were also dead. The man didn't seem dead, and he wasn't setting off Danny's ghost sense, so Danny failed to see why the connection had been formed, but he couldn't do much about it now.)

"The pantry's fully stocked. Feel free to help yourself. Bathroom's down the hall on the right." Danny stated, leaving the man to his own devices, deciding to go to bed.

The next day, the man was gone by morning. Nothing in Danny's pantry had been touched. Actually, the apartment seemed as if no one but Danny had even been inside of it.

The next week, the man didn't come back. But when he did, he hanged around on his fire-escape like normal. Didn't even try to come inside even though the window was open. So, Danny dragged him inside once more.

This time, it wasn't as late as it normally was when Danny noticed the man, so Danny put on a TV show as he sat the man down on his couch. Still no response. Still no real signs of life.

"Do you want any hot chocolate? Any snacks?" Danny asked.

"Talon doesn't want things." Was the first thing said to him all night. Ah, yes, the ever so cryptic words that Danny had no context to understand.

"Would you like to try some?" Danny tried a different approach.

"Talon doesn't have likes or dislikes." And really, Danny should have expected that response. That night, Danny dropped it, left it alone. He was already having the man watching trashy TV shows with him, best not to push it.

But the next night the man came over, Danny dragged him into his kitchen instead.

"Okay, mask off. We're having a taste test party." Danny declared, having prepared a large arrange of different drinks and junk foods to try. Danny wasn't a chef of any sort, so it wasn't anything elaborate, but Danny was sure he could find something the man enjoyed.

The man obeyed, taking off his masks, simply obeying Danny without a second thought. It made Danny uncomfortable, but maybe he could use it to help the man be something more than whatever the hell he was right now.

"We're going to find out what you like and dislike. This way I'm not just shoving hot chocolate at you." Danny explained.

"Talon doesn't have likes or dislikes." The man reiterated. Danny nodded, as if that made perfect sense.

"You've said that. But everyone has likes and dislikes. Even people dressed up in weird owl cosplays." Danny pointed out.

"Talon is not an Owl. Talon is a Talon." The man stated. Once again, making a comment that made zero sense.

"And I'm sure that statement makes perfect sense to you. Now, taste test time."

Danny watched closely as they made their way through the different items. The man's face was neutral the entire time, not giving anything away. He was really committing to the bit of whatever this 'Talon' business was. But it wasn't enough to hide the subtle nuances to Danny's obsessed core that insisted on coddling the man even though he was a full grown adult.

He noticed how the man seemed to linger around the cereal, ate more of it overall. Would have bigger sips of the Sodar verses the Zesti. Small things like that. It wasn't a lot, but it was something.

So, the next time the man came over, Danny had cereal prepared and bottles of Sodar at the ready.

It wasn't just the one weirdo this time. He brought someone with him.

He brought a child that was dressed in the same weird outfit as him.

Danny took a moment to collect himself.

"Ya'know what? Why not. This might as well happen." Danny couldn't help but mumble to himself.

He got to work, setting up the TV and got even more snacks and drinks out. He pretended not to notice as the man gestured the child through the actions, as if eating and drinking wasn't normal behavior. As if being offered food and drink wasn't normal.

Then again, it probably wasn't normal to get offered food and drink by the person of the apartment that they just kinda snuck into. So why not.

Weeks passed, and this continued to happen. Sometimes the original guy wasn't there, but it'd be some other random child. But the one Danny most frequently saw was the one guy.

So what if he took all of his scarce free time, including his lunch breaks, as an opportunity to either visit amity or Sam and Tucker (or Jazz) in their universities? Not his fault portals made it so he could get anywhere he wanted in the world in a matter of seconds.

So what if he refused to even speak whenever he was focused on his latest project? He had things to do, (self-imposed) deadlines to meet. Not like he could give his work any less than 100% of his attention, that's how explosions happened. No, Kyle, he wasn't being paranoid. He had enough experience with OSHA violations to know exactly what happened when you ignored them and pretended everything was fine. He had died at 14 because of one. He wasn't stupid. Or traumatized. Nope.

The talons' now almost-daily visits hadn't really made a change on his social life except to give him an extra reason not to have one. At least not in Gotham. He did have local friends, Jazz, didn't you hear? The owl cosplayers had finally gotten comfortable coming inside his house and taking his snacks, he was thriving. No, he did not need an intervention, thank you very much.

It had still taken him by surprise when one of his more persistent coworkers had insisted on walking him home after he had lost track of time and stayed slightly after hours to finish his project. Apparently outsiders shouldn't be walking out at night alone in Gotham. Danny thought they were exaggerating but they seemed genuinely worried so he agreed. It's not like he lived far, just about a 10 minute walk, nothing was going to happen to him, even if he did find trouble. He couldn't say that, though, and his reassurances that he was truly really fine were getting nowhere so he had just given in. They did make a good substitution for small talk while they walked together, even if his companion (so he didn't actually know their name, sue him) kept looking at him weirdly after he had given a couple of toned down examples of why he was perfectly safe.

They got to his door and Danny opened it, already wondering whether to invite them in or just thank them for the company. Neither happened as he noticed the sharp inhale and sudden silence behind him where a constant stream of words had been flowing before. He turned around to see his companion frozen, eyes wide and focused on something behind him. He opened his mouth to ask if they were ok, part of him wondering what rattled them so badly to stop them mid sentence, the other part cynically thinking they wouldn't have been much protection if they had gotten attacked on their way to Danny's house. Before he could do much, they talked although it didn't seem to be directed at him.

Okay, so you know how everyone talks about how Danny and Jason would recognize each other as members of the undead in a way?

Well, what about Talons? The Talons are basically undead assassins, so Danny would also recognize them. And maybe if you want to go with the idea that Danny is the Ghost King, the Talons might even feel more loyalty to Danny than the Court of Owls.

Danny watched the shadow out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know who or what was following him.

But at this point in time, he ceased to care. He was pretty sure it wasn't the GIW. They were never subtle, and probably would have attacked already.

Then again, them getting better at their jobs was the entire reason he had moved to Gotham to begin with.

Aside from that, the shadow only ever appeared to be following him at night. Dimly, Danny considered it might have been one of Gotham's many vigilantes and that his Halfa status had been compromised. But if they hadn't attacked him yet, he was probably safe. Maybe. Possibly.

And so, this went on for weeks to months at a time. But the figure never approached Danny. So, Danny decided that he wasn't going to give it much thought.

That was until of course something landed loudly on his fire-escape.

Grabbing a Fenton-Anti Creep Stick, he snuck over to his own fire-escape to just see a weird looking figure just sitting there.

The figure was dressed up as an owl? An owl assassin? It was some really weird cosplay.

Danny stared at the figure and the figure stared back. Neither of them moving. Just staring at each other.

"Are you just going to sit there staring all night?" Danny asked, exasperated. He didn't receive a reply.

Screw this, he was getting some sleep. He had work in the morning and he had to deal with people. Ugh.

He never did anything, just hung around his fire-escape. He didn't even come inside when Danny left the window open. Just sat there staring.

It was more than a little creepy, but the dude wasn't actually bothering Danny, so Danny didn't do anything about it.

But as it started to get colder and colder, and the snow began to pile up, Danny couldn't help but feel a bit concerned.

Danny could deal with the cold. The cold wasn't a problem to him, not with his Ice Core. In fact, Danny was most comfortable in cold weather. But he knew this wasn't the case for most humans.

(Not that Danny was so sure that the guy sitting on his fire-escape was human, but that was besides the point.)

It also didn't help that some part of Danny wanted to invite the guy in. That part of his Core, the part that was filled with his Obsession with Protection screamed to drag the guy inside.

Which was something Danny was a little more hesitant about. The dude was more than a little creepy. Danny still didn't know who he was. And he was always wearing that creepy owl cosplay.

But as the harsh cold of winter grew, Danny resigned himself to his fate.

Mixing up two mugs of hot chocolate, Danny walked himself over to the window next to the fire-escape.

"Do you want to come inside? It's getting cold out here." Danny inquired. He still didn't receive a reply. Figures.

So, in the end, Danny stepped onto the fire-escape himself. The birdman perked up at that, and Danny became equated with the fact that the man was decided taller than him. Curse his short height.

"At least take this." Danny handed the man one of the mugs of hot chocolate, and the man seemed to react mostly on instinct. Danny began to move back inside when a voice stopped him.

"What is Talon supposed to do with this?" The man spoke. This was the first time in all the weeks that the man had been coming to his fire-escape that he had spoken. His voice was smooth, but had a robotic lilt to it that made Danny shiver in discomfort.

"You can do whatever you want with it." Danny responded, eyeing the man up and down strangely.

"Talon doesn't have wants." The man answered back.

Okay, this was starting to get real creepy, even for him. What was up with this guy. Pausing for a moment, Danny responded.

"Then drink it. Use it for warmth. That's what it's there for." Danny pointed out.

Surprisingly, the man quickly moved to remove his mask. The sudden movement startled Danny, but the man didn't stop for anything.

He began to quickly down the glass, causing Danny to speak up in a panic. Not even having enough time to observe the man's features.

"Slowly! Drink it slowly! You'll burn yourself otherwise." And the man automatically slowed down at Danny's words. It was unsettling.

Strangely enough, Danny had never felt more discomfort around the man then when he was so clearly listening to Danny. Because that was the weird thing, he was listening to Danny's words like they were orders. Not the suggestions they were.

Quietly, Danny moved back into his apartment building.

Maybe he should be more concerned about the fact that some strange unknown was following him around.

Still though, he left the window open in case the man ever came inside. He never did.

But later that next morning when Danny woke up, he found the mug he had given the man resting on the windowsill. Completely drained of any hot chocolate.

Despite himself, Danny couldn't help but thing back to how the man looked. His skin grey with what Danny could only connect with the dead. And yet, the man's soft looking black hair would suggest he was perfectly healthy. And the man's eyes? Well Danny never saw them considering they were hidden under his goggles.

Maybe he should shoo the man away. Things were just getting weirder to the point Danny could no longer ignore it.

But his Core screamed against the idea. Danny sighed in annoyance to himself. It seems, at some point or another, his core had decided the mystery man was apart of his 'fraid.

Talon turned towards the strange man, its claws inches away from the steaming mug.

The man had blue eyes, like Those Who Talon Did Not Know. Like his family the strangers in the Memories That Did Not Belong to It.

Talon had returned to the balcony again and again for the memories. It did not like it, because Talon had no likes or dislikes, but the color of the man's eyes made the memories clearer.

The man's eyes were not blue tonight.

Tonight the eyes were a neon green. This too carried memories.

Gunfire and rage. White streak and snark. Shared meals. Quiet libraries. First of little brothers. Lost returned. Little Wing.

DICKIEBIRD.

Eyes should not be glowing green. Eyes should not be gold

the one time it had seen its reflection in the mirror, it had tried to gouge out its eyes and slit the throat of the Good Doctor who tried to sedate it

Talon did not think the Doctors were good doctors. They always made the memories fade away.

They made everything fade away, and stored Talon in the Sleeping Cold until the Court needed him again.

The Above has started to remind it of the sleeping cold. If Talon could worry, it would worry that the cold would slow his reactions and leave him to sleep in the Above.

Perhaps the cold had already slowed it too much. It did not attempt strike back at the man's attack.

Was it an attack?

The man had wrapped his hand around its wrist and was gently tugging it towards the open window.

"I don't know where you go when you leave, but it's obvious they aren't taking care of you."

The Good Doctors insured that Talon was fully functional. The Court would be angry if it didn't return and would send others to hunt down whatever had delayed it. Is that not the same as care?

"I don't have much space, but the couch is comfy and it's way better than freezing out here"

It thought of the cold darkness of the roost and the memories that would slip through its fingers like sand.

"Please just let me help."

Valerie would also probably want to kill him. Or maybe she's giving up on understanding ghost shenanigans, same with Wes.

Danny glanced at the strange man, watching him from his kitchen as the man sat on his couch. Well, Danny practically sat him there himself, but that was besides the point.

If Danny didn't know any better, he might have thought the man was cationic with his lack of responses. But seriously, this was the type of weirdo that Danny's ghost core thought was ideal to be apart of his 'friad?

(It was strange. Danny's core so rarely accepted others like that easily, especially if they were living. Danny's core only really accepted others into his fold that easily if there were also dead. The man didn't seem dead, and he wasn't setting off Danny's ghost sense, so Danny failed to see why the connection had been formed, but he couldn't do much about it now.)

"The pantry's fully stocked. Feel free to help yourself. Bathroom's down the hall on the right." Danny stated, leaving the man to his own devices, deciding to go to bed.

The next day, the man was gone by morning. Nothing in Danny's pantry had been touched. Actually, the apartment seemed as if no one but Danny had even been inside of it.

The next week, the man didn't come back. But when he did, he hanged around on his fire-escape like normal. Didn't even try to come inside even though the window was open. So, Danny dragged him inside once more.

This time, it wasn't as late as it normally was when Danny noticed the man, so Danny put on a TV show as he sat the man down on his couch. Still no response. Still no real signs of life.

"Do you want any hot chocolate? Any snacks?" Danny asked.

"Talon doesn't want things." Was the first thing said to him all night. Ah, yes, the ever so cryptic words that Danny had no context to understand.

"Would you like to try some?" Danny tried a different approach.

"Talon doesn't have likes or dislikes." And really, Danny should have expected that response. That night, Danny dropped it, left it alone. He was already having the man watching trashy TV shows with him, best not to push it.

But the next night the man came over, Danny dragged him into his kitchen instead.

"Okay, mask off. We're having a taste test party." Danny declared, having prepared a large arrange of different drinks and junk foods to try. Danny wasn't a chef of any sort, so it wasn't anything elaborate, but Danny was sure he could find something the man enjoyed.

The man obeyed, taking off his masks, simply obeying Danny without a second thought. It made Danny uncomfortable, but maybe he could use it to help the man be something more than whatever the hell he was right now.

"We're going to find out what you like and dislike. This way I'm not just shoving hot chocolate at you." Danny explained.

"Talon doesn't have likes or dislikes." The man reiterated. Danny nodded, as if that made perfect sense.

"You've said that. But everyone has likes and dislikes. Even people dressed up in weird owl cosplays." Danny pointed out.

"Talon is not an Owl. Talon is a Talon." The man stated. Once again, making a comment that made zero sense.

"And I'm sure that statement makes perfect sense to you. Now, taste test time."

Danny watched closely as they made their way through the different items. The man's face was neutral the entire time, not giving anything away. He was really committing to the bit of whatever this 'Talon' business was. But it wasn't enough to hide the subtle nuances to Danny's obsessed core that insisted on coddling the man even though he was a full grown adult.

He noticed how the man seemed to linger around the cereal, ate more of it overall. Would have bigger sips of the Sodar verses the Zesti. Small things like that. It wasn't a lot, but it was something.

So, the next time the man came over, Danny had cereal prepared and bottles of Sodar at the ready.

It wasn't just the one weirdo this time. He brought someone with him.

He brought a child that was dressed in the same weird outfit as him.

Danny took a moment to collect himself.

"Ya'know what? Why not. This might as well happen." Danny couldn't help but mumble to himself.

He got to work, setting up the TV and got even more snacks and drinks out. He pretended not to notice as the man gestured the child through the actions, as if eating and drinking wasn't normal behavior. As if being offered food and drink wasn't normal.

Then again, it probably wasn't normal to get offered food and drink by the person of the apartment that they just kinda snuck into. So why not.

Weeks passed, and this continued to happen. Sometimes the original guy wasn't there, but it'd be some other random child. But the one Danny most frequently saw was the one guy.

Robin tries to come up and talk with him, but Danny just brandishes his ladle threateningly and says "We are a no cutting household--wait your turn."

Damian: Father. There is a man who is attempting to deprogram the Talons of the Court of Owls.

Bruce: What?

Robin or Batman keep popping in randomly as well. Danny has no idea why? But they seem pleased he is helping the Talons? So whatever. He has undead to help rehabilitate into their own choices. Some of them even start living with him! He is so pleased they are starting to stay!

Batman? Is very confused. But whatever Fenton is doing? Works. And the Talons are no longer following the Courts orders. He will keep an eye on the situation. But Fenton has no idea about what a Takin is. Poor man seems very confused. But very willing to adopt them all.

Drake also shared his suspicions, but was so far keeping a distance, instead attempting to dig up what he could on the boy before approaching. Probably so he could pile up Blackmail. Damain on the other hand would observe closely. Make sure nothing happens. Make sure Fenton didn't take advantage of the fact that he had an army of undead assassins that would probably do anything for him. Todd had said he was like catnip for zombies, whatever that meant. Though Damain suspects that Todd may very well be compromised in that case.

Like always, the Fenton boy let him in. And while it was clear that he wasn't as open to his presence as opposed to the Talons, even seeming apprehensive of it at times, he did nothing to shoo Damian away, which ultimately worked in his favor.

He did his normal rounds of the house. Nothing seeming to out of the normal, the Talons still much like baby chicks that had to be coaxed into most things. It was a normal sight. Nothing out of the ordinary. That was, until of course, Damian stopped by the living room, where he saw something different for the first time.

Or maybe it wasn't something different, but rather Damian didn't have the tools earlier to realize.

Sitting in the living room was Dick. His older brother Dick that was thought to be dead. And in a way, Damian supposes he was, as he was now a Talon. But that was still his older brother. The one that had first shown him the ropes in Gotham. The one that had been his mentor.

Dick, seeming to notice that he was being watched, turned to stare right back at Damain. And besides the tilt of a head, he made no change in facial expression. He stared and he stared. And Damian stared right back. But Dick never seemed to recognize him.

"Ancients, are you drinking that again?" Danny came up from behind Damian, gagging. Now finally taking notice of the drink, Damian had to agree with the disgust. "That can't taste good."

In a brief moment of defiance, Dick brought the unholy concoction to his lips and drank it, staring Danny right in the eye as he did so. Danny visibly gagged at the sight, but made no move to actually take the drink away. And while Dick's expression never changed, he certainly seemed smug.

But that requires talking to the stabby brat. Dammit. Put on your grown up pants Danny! He waits until Robin is back around again and asks if they can talk.

Danny: Look. I know your colony knows something about them. Is there anything you know that can let me help them better? Or am I about the best bet we have cause? They've been hurt so bad.

Robin: Nothing we have ever tried has worked before. Do you even know what the Talons are?

Danny: Some sort of undead. Only thing that makes sense. And.... They've been hurt. Enslaved would be my guess. Hence the, giving of choices and then not stopping them from making them. Even the unholy cereal shake of doom.

Robin: Yes. I will... Speak to Batman. He may have suggestions. Why do you help them?

Danny: No one else was. And... They came to me. There was no way I was leaving them alone after that.

----

Damian: He finally spoke to me. Fenton wished to know if we have any knowledge that may help him break their conditioning. He also stated that the Talons being 'undead made sense' but gave no context.

Tim: Urgh. I can't find anything! His home city? Total information lockdown. Initially some sort of government sponsored issue. Then it looks like the government were slapped back hard. And the locals took control. And decided to put the information on lockdown. Possibly for safety reasons.

Brice: The Justice League has nothing on the city. For a city, even small as it is? no calls at all? Never? We have to ask.

Damian: I will ask for a meeting. He trusts me far less than the Talons. He deduced they were enslaved. And is determined to help them. One of them... The first. I believe he was Richard.

Bruce let out a gasp of pain at the same time as Tim.

Tim: Why?

But he doesn't seem to be a halfa, so what is he?

Lady Gotham has been subtly leading the Talons to Phantom. Leaving a trail to his place. She's too cursed to help them. And look! She was right! He imprinted on them and everything. She will have to visit soon... He's starting to get worried about how many there are....

Danny is just about to head out and track her down when she arrives. And he just slumps in relief. Letting her in. Which... Confused the bar watching. What the fuck was the shadow monster he just invited to his place???

Danny and Lady Gotham are sitting in the kitchen with a drink each. It's a good example to his Talon's after all!

Danny: So. What can you tell me about my Talon's?

Lady Gotham raised an eyebrow at him.

LG: Your Talon's?

Danny: Yes! They came to me for help! My Talons now. I refuse to give them back to people who hurt them!

LG: The Court of Owls steal the bodies of the dead. And use chemicals and rituals to create Talon's to become their assassins. Then they are harshly trained. Until they are perfect for their purpose.

Danny could feel his ectoplasm writhing at the news. And knew his form would be... Flickering because of it. How dare they.

Danny: How dare they! How DARE they! Do they have more? Where are they based? I will destroy them for this!

LG: Calm Phantom. I will tell you all I know. I would prefer they were tried in the Realms. As you know Gotham is corrupt. And members of the Court are wealthy.

Danny: They committed crimes against the dead. I'm dragging them kicking and screaming to the Realms of I have to! Fright Knight could use something to do. And uh... Red Hood? What's his story? And is that a Realms issue or no?

LG: He was revived as a revenant. And given back his mind in a pool of corrupted ectoplasm. The League of Assassins use the ones connected to the living realm for themselves.

Danny groaned and got his head on the table repeatedly.

Danny: Ok. So definitely a Realms issue. Know where the leaks are? That way I can seal them. And I can banish the Ecto to the blob pit. Would Hood benefit from a blob cleanse?

Lady Gotham laughed freely at that. Then patted him fondly on the back of his head.

LG: Yes young Phantom. He would. If you could sneak a few into the city I would be grateful!

Danny have her a thumbs up even as he left his head on the surface.

Danny: I can open a portal in the attic to the blob pit.. Leave it open for oh... 15 minutes? That should let a load through. They'll find their way back to me when they are done.

She leant forward and pressed a his to his hair and left laughing. He knew she would come back with a map to the Court people and the Assassin people. He would go and open the portal now. May as well.

Danny: Right! Robin, This is Lady Gotham. She is the spirit of Gotham. Swamp Thing, Spirit of nature. And Grundy. Who I will be helping move on. Swamp Thing reanimated Grundy by accident, but had no way to fix the As He till they found me!

Robin: ... You are a spirit medium?

Danny: Sure. Anyway! Lady Gotham has been telling me about the Talon's! And who I have to arrest to see the rest freed. And where to find their notes. So this never happens again!

Robin:... You are capable of that?

Danny: Oh yeah! And if I struggle? I have spirits who owe me favours I can ask for help!

Robon: Good to know. I will warn Batman about the upcoming arrests.

Lady Gotham: No need for that my youngest Knight. They will be tried by the courts of the dead for their trespass in our domain.

-----

Damian: Fenton is either a supernatural being or a spirit medium. And has spirits that owe him favours. Lady Gotham, our city spirit has tasked him to take down the Court of Owls. And they will be tried by the courts of the dead.

John: 'm sorry what???

Batman:... There is either a spirit medium or supernatural entity studying at Gotham U. They are helping the Talon's. Lady Gotham, Swamp Thing and Grundy were at his house last night so they could plan helping him move on. Also, they will be arresting the Court of Owls to be seen by the Court of the dead.

John: Definitely not a fucking medium then! Not if they can get people seen by the courts! But if they are uh, liked by Lady G? I wouldn't worry.

Batman: Hm?

John: Oh! Yeah. So uh. She loves you bats. And her city. Any threat to either? She drops her curses on em. That she's at his place? Allowin him in her city? He's not a threat.

Batman: Would you be able to discern what type of being he is?

John: Maybe? But he's got a civie alter right? So he might be half human. Makin is loads fuckin harder to figure out.

Batman: Hm. Come to dinner. We can take you to the meeting tonight.

Batman: Fenton.

Danny: Batman. So. You wanted to ask questions and stuff? And I have questions too. Can we just.. Like go to my place. Or is this spooky meeting place an intimidation thing to make yourself feel more in control. Cause like... I can vibe with that!

Batman withheld a sign as he heard his children snicker over the coms. Well of course the meeting place wouldn't give a psychological edge against a supernatural entity.

Batman: Neutral ground is supposed to imply equality.

Danny shrugged. He kinda got that. But also? He could see the others in the rafters. He slowly pointed at each of them. And then the one hidden in his 'blind spot'. He snickered as he heard a series of curses.

Danny: Sure Jan. Anyway. I can feed all of your colony. You can meet the Talon's too! They are starting to show proper preferences for things! Oh! Uh Grundy moved on last night. So he won't be a problem again!

All of the vigilantes came out of their hiding spots and stared at him. Most of them just looked amused at the situation. Robin looked frustrated though. Probably thought his hiding spot was good.

Robin: How did you know where I was!

Danny: Cause I could feel you. You radiate intense focus at all times man. It's really distinctive! Anyway! Back to my place for food? Or we do this here?

Batman did sign as all of his kids looked at him intently. They were curious about the Talon's. And Damian had praised his cooking.

Robin: You have began options yes?

Danny: You know who he was?

Batman: He was my first Robin. My first son. My little Dickie-bird.

Danny held out a hand to Batman. Once the offer was given he tugged the man to a sofa. He gently say the man down and rounded up the other heroes.

The Bat spoke it's name! Could he read minds?!

Names had been FORBIDDEN by the Court. Talons were to have no individuality beyond what the Court bestowed upon them, and titles such as Dickiebird's "Gray Son of Gotham" were exceedingly rare.

For all that the King insisted that Dickiebird make its own choices, the harsh punishments of the Court had filled its mind when it thought of names.

Not even the King knew Dickiebird had picked a name for itself.

Dickiebird doubted that King would harm it for choosing a name, but it was too worried about having its name taken from it yet again to share.

After all, Dickiebird still had no idea why the King did what he did. It barely understood what it meant that the King was a king.

All it knew was that was the reverent title the many visitors used whenever the King made Decisions.

Deep down, it knew it was silly to fear the Court's punishment. The Court had many people Deciding, so obviously the King's power was greater than theirs.

In any case, It had long stopped returning to the Court once the night had transitioned into a lighter gloom. They would have to catch it first if they wanted to punish Dickiebird, and none of still trapped the Talons would harm their freed brethren.

"Dick?"

Red Robin had noticed it's shock at the Bat's words and hesitantly moved closer to peer at Dickiebird's face.

The King had explained the concept of nicknames when the Talon with the light brown curls had asked why some of the visitors addressed them as Danny and others called them Daniel.

Tilting its head in thought, it decided that Dick was an acceptable shortening of its name.

Danny: Hey, You like the name Dick? Do you want us to use it?

Dickie-bird tilted their head for a moment before nodding. Ok good. Danny smiled softly and bumped their shoulders together. The colony appeared to take on board what he was doing at least? And they would respect the few boundaries his fraid had, or so help him! Once everyone was fed he let Dick (it was wonderful! His friend had a name!) Herd the other Talon's to wash up.

Danny: You know. Dick started to do that as soon as more Talon's arrived. I had wondered if there were younger siblings. Dick brought a lot of the younger Talon's to me as well.

Batman was staring at Dick, just watching his eldest. It hurt to know what had happened to him. And he was so very glad there was someone capable of helping. He didn't know where to start. What to ask. He could barely focus on anything else. Danny took that in and smiled sadly.

Danny: I can't make any promises. Except that I will do my best to help them all regain as much as they can. I know a healer for those dead, and undead. I am planning to summon him soon. There's a few items I need before I can. I've ordered them. Just waiting.

Tim was making notes ever since he arrived. And he could see that B wasn't going to be able to focus just yet. He would take over the questioning for now.

Tim: Why do you have such a profound effect on the undead?

Danny: Because I'm dead too. Not fully. But... Enough to count. Most dead and undead are... Extant? That works. Extant because of a naturally occurring chemical called ectoplasm. In certain types of dead and undead there is a specific organ that powers their unlife. I have this organ. Meaning anyone revived by ectoplasm? Can feel I mean them no harm. That I'll protect them.

Jason: You're saying I have ectoplasm in me?

Danny: Yup. It's fucking corrupted though. Which... Is NOT good. Lady Gotham said something about an Assassin cult using it? So uh, I have to track them down to arrest for crimes against the undead as well. So that's going to be fun.

Jason: Can it be removed?

Danny: Absolutely not! You're a revenant! You need it to continue existing! It can be purified though. Either by a trip to my healer. That's quick but unpleasant. Like, severe dialysis. Or! I can get you a blob ghost! They are the natural filter feeders of the afterlife. So it will slowly eat the corruption, purify it, and feed that into the atmosphere. Which you would then naturally absorb. Take a few weeks.

Tim:... Can you those a bunch of them in the Lazarus pits?

Danny: Lazarus pits? Assassin cults really called corrupted pits that? How fucking pretentious! Nah. I'll just banish them to the Realms. That way no other humans can fall in them. Pure ectoplasm? Is incredibly dangerous to the living. And it can reanimate anything.

Damian: Does living near ectoplasm have effects?

Danny: Yup. Live near it long enough? You become liminal. Guaranteed access to becoming a ghost after death. Minor health boost. Minor enhancements across the board.

Bruce: Can we visit Dick? While he... Regains what he can?

Danny finds a spaceship in the middle of a field in Kansas while flying. He finds a little boy with blue eyes and black hair. The kid could pass as his own.

He decides to raise the kid as his own.

Maybe this is another reason why Clark wants to be a hero? He heard all these stories about his dad being a hero, and it inspired him!! Holy fuck, there's so much potential!

And then we get Kara in here, and then Conner and it's such a big happy family!

Kara can connect with her homeworld better, like Clark did!

Conner can grow into himself faster with the help of Dani/Elle/Ellie!

When Clark marries Lois and has Jon, Jon has so many more people he can play and act a fool with, casually throwing around his strength and so forth!

Well would lead to a lot of feelings. Lots of big feelings. Misplaced guilt and shame. And some good old hurt/comfort when Danny points out that he can't be held accountable.

Clark was so excited to meet his bio parents that the Fentons had decided to search for them through the portal and make a holiday out of it. They knew the infinite realms were way too big for them to find them quickly. They were having such a good time, too. They had even packed their Fenton lamp with natural sunlight so Clark wouldn't be weakened during their trip.

Tim: Yes?

Danny: Is this the location for the casting audition of My Brother's Wedding?

Tim, who was left alone in a newly purchased Wayne Studio and bored: Yes. Yes, it is. Why don't you take a seat in the lobby, and I'll call you in when I'm ready.

Danny: Oh okay.

Tim: It will just be a minute.

Danny: Alright.

Tim is speed-reading the script: Trash. Horrible. The main character is in love with his brother's bride and tries to steal her the entire wedding planning up to the actual wedding. Blah. At least the Best Man knows what he's planning and stops his plans every time- Oh! Plot twist: He ends up with the best man!?? Nice.

Tim opening the door: You can come in.

Danny: Is there a reason why the building is dark like this?

Tim: We forgot to pay the electricity bill. Now, can I have your name and the role you're auditioning for?

Danny: I'm Danny Fenton. I'm interested in Eric. I'll be doing scene seven.

Tim: The Best Man. Good choice. You may begin.

Danny: "You think I didn't notice?! The way you look at her.... She's going to marry your brother!"

Tim: Stop. I've seen enough.

Danny: Oh- I-

Tim: You got the part.

Danny: Really!? Oh my gosh thank you!

Tim: You're welcome. I'll send you details for the script reading and filming. The email on your resume good?

Danny: Yes! Yes, it's good. I'll be waiting. Thank you!

Tim: of course. Okay take care. Bye-bye now. *watches Danny leave then yanks out his phone* Hey Bruce can you buy me a moive? I lied about being someone on staff of My Brother's Wedding and I sort of promised the second lead to some random guy.

Bruce: Why? There was literally no reason for you to do that.

Tim: I have severe mental problems.

Bruce sighs: Alright. I'll pull some strings and get you that moive.

Tim: I knew you loved me the most.

Tim: of everything I said, that's what you have a problem with?

Jason goes attends a gala undercover to try and catch Vlad Masters red handed in his crimes.

While mingling with the crowd he met Danny, a lovely and everything Jason wants in a partner, so it was love at first sight. Through small talk, Jason finds he's a Fenton (another family that is under watch by the JL).

The problem? Vlad does not aprove of this and manipulate the Fentons (even Jazz, who's knows what the fruitloop is like) into not approving the possible relationship.

Vlad knows that Danny values his parents opinions and will cave in to their wishes, it's only a matter of time. And it's and perfect way to convince force Danny in becoming his son, and no way will Daniel marry someone he doesn't aprove of.

So now we have a bunch of misunderstandings happening and getting in the way and making the Waynes and Fentons hate each other, Jason and Danny trying the best they can to get together, and the internet watching this.

The best part? Some random dude saying in a post that Danny and Jason are so Romeo-and-Juliet coded it not even funny anymore. It spiraled from there and ended up with everyone thinking that they're the reincarnation of Romeo and Juliet.

Damian: *Drops behind a car* What's the situation, Drake?

Tim laying flat on his stomach: One of my worst enemies is in the area. Level nine threat.

Damian: A level nine!? We must call for reinforcements. There is little chance you and I have to defeat them, as much as it pains me to admit it.

Tim: No!

Damian: What?

Tim: No, don't call for help! I don't want the rest to know about this!

Damian carefully moving his hand aside: It is too late. I pressed the panic button.

Tim: What!? When!?

Damian: When the words "level nine" came out of your mouth. It's effective to call as soon as an emergency presents itself. It's why the button is so easy to push.

Tim: NO! We have to leave before-

Danny leaning around the car to stare at them: Timothy?

Tim: *jumps to his feet* DAnIel! hEY! HoW ArE YOu?

Damian: Why did your voice crack like that? You should be far past that stage of puberty.

Tim: Ha HA hA sHUt Up DaMIan! AlLWays MaKIng joKES thAT ONe!

Danny: *laughs* It's good to see you haven't changed much.

Tim: I'M DONE WITH PUBERTY!

Danny: ....Congraulations.

Damian: What is happening? Who are you?

Danny: Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Daniel Fenton but you can call me Danny. I'm Tim's ex.

Damian: ....what

Tim: MY EX. WHO I DON'T MISS OR RUN AWAY FROM IN PUBLIC.

Damian: Drake why are you shouting?

Danny: Tim has always been been like that.

Damian: ....No?

Tim: WeLP ThIs has been NIce but we gOT to Go-

Batmobile driving through a fire hydrant, smashing it to pieces, water bursting, A voice screaming over a microphone yelling from it's speakers: THE NIGHT, THE VENGEANCE, THE BATMAN IS HERE!

Danny: Wha-

Damian: *Points at Danny*

Tim: NO!

Batmobile: *Runs over Danny*

Tim: This is why I didn't want you to call them! Why'd you have to single Danny out like that when you know Batman is more violent in the daytime!?

Damian: Actions must be taken when the panic button is pressed. Fenton had to be taken out.

Tim: No he didn't!

Danny: *rolling off the Batmobile windshield* Can somebody take me the hospital?

Tim: Danny don't talk! He'll notice you're still conscious and- BATMAN DO NOT PUT THE BATMOBILE IN REVERSE TO HIT HIM AGAIN!

Damian crouching down to Danny crumbled form: How big is your medical deductible? I feel like you're going to use a lot of medical insurance in the next couple of minutes.

Danny: Please help me

Damian covering Danny's mouth and nose: Shhhhhhh...go to sleep. Go to sleep.

Tim: DAMIAN! STOP TRYING TO SUFFOCATE HIM!

Batmobile: *honk*

Tim: I AM NOT GETTING OUT OF THE WAY! STOP TRYING TO RUN OVER MY MAN!

Damian: Your man? *pressing harder on Danny's face* See, Fenton, this is a better fate for you. If you live, you'll have to deal with Drake not being over you, but you can avoid that if you sleep....That's right. Stop struggling. You don't have the strength anymore. Shhhhhhhh. Sleep.

Tim: *kicking Damian straight in the face sending him flying* GET OFF HIM! DANNY ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?

Danny, gasping for air: I'm good.

Tim: Im so sorry about Damian!

Danny: Its...cool....you should see....how my distant Not-relatives are....the day after....Truce Day. This is actually tamed.

Tim: Wow really- *Get hit by the Batmobile* AGHHHH