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falseroar · 2 months

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Murder on the Warfstache Express

Part 2: An Easy Offer to Refuse

((Wilford's a hard man to keep track of, especially when Abe keeps running into other passengers with their own issues.

Here's a link to Part 1: All Aboard, Full Steam Ahead and a link to the masterlist for the series.))

Spoiler alert? Why did that sound familiar? Where had he heard that before? Had he heard it before now, or…?

For some reason, seeing the phrase made Abe want to down his own drink in a single gulp, which is just what he did.

When that wasn’t enough to drown out the uneasiness building in his stomach, Abe stood and make his way back to the bar.

“Really?” Benjamin asked when the detective placed the glass down on the bar a little too hard.

“Got anything stronger?” Abe asked, and when the butler turned bartender gave him a look, he tilted his head in the direction of the chairs he just left.

Benjamin followed the gesture, his frown growing more baffled as he asked, “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“It means of course I want something stronger, if I’m going to have to deal with—”

Abe’s voice caught in his throat as he looked back and found both seats empty.

“He was just—where did he go?”

“Where did who go?” Benjamin asked, only to raise his hands in defense when Abe shot him a glare.

“Wilford! Wilford ‘Motherlovin’ Warfstache, who else?”

“…Who?”

It dawned on Abe that not everyone had spent the last few…months? Years? Whatever, too long, chasing the man responsible for so many murders, a man who left identities in his wake like a terrible party clown leaving behind crying children.

“The Colonel,” Abe whispered, not eager to explain himself to the other passengers. Not that he could explain what happened back at that house, not even to himself. “He’s here, on this train!”

Abe expected shock, horror maybe at his words, not the pitying gaze before Benjamin refilled his drink.

“Abe, I think I would have noticed if the Colonel were here.”

“You didn’t know I was here until just a few minutes ago.” Abe shook his head. “And he’s not calling himself the Colonel anymore, he’s going by the name Wilford Warfstache now.”

“Oh really?” Benjamin cocked a smile, like that was even close to the most ridiculous name Wilford had used since the party.

Wingleheimer, really?

“Yes, really.” Abe snatched up the drink before Benjamin could rethink giving it to him and said, “Look, just keep an eye out and tell me immediately if you spot him, got it? If he’s running around here unsupervised, there’s no telling what might happen.”

“If I see that man, I think I would do more than that,” Benjamin answered, his voice sharp enough to make Abe do a double take. There was a glimpse of anger and something venomous in that scowl before professionalism and his neutral customer service face took over again. “But I think this is simply a case of mistaken identity, detective. Please, do try to relax on this trip. You do so look like you need it.”

Abe growled and walked away, mimicking Benjamin’s words under his breath as he plopped back down into the same chair as before, on high alert for any sign of the colorful killer. He was not about to let himself be taken by surprise by Wilford, not again.

Except the longer he waited there, the more Abe’s imagination conjured up images of what Wilford could be doing elsewhere.

The imaginary bodies were piling up and Wilford was at the helm or whatever they called the front of the train by the time Abe leapt to his feet and dropped the empty glass at the bar before charging toward the front of the lounge car.

Where he promptly collided with Harold Apless once again, sending the man staggering back into the small vestibule between cars before Abe shot out a hand and steadied him.

“Sorry about that, Haps,” Abe said.

“It’s Harold Apless,” Harold said, straightening up and dusting himself down with a frown.

“Yeah, of course. Hey, Happy, you seen anyone come through here recently? Man about yay high, black mustache going a bit pink around the edges, colorful suit that would stand out under a blacklight?”

“That…sounds like a hard to miss kind of person,” Happy said, brow creased as he considered the image. “But no, I can’t say that I’ve seen anyone like that.”

“Damn. Well, if you do see him, tell me immediately. He’s…” Abe hesitated. He didn’t want to start a panic among the passengers, but he felt a bit of a kindred spirit in Harold Apless. Maybe it was the image of a man just trying to do his job, whatever that might be, or maybe it was the resting sad face that looked too tired to be dealing with any of this, but there was something about the poor schmuck that Abe took a shine to, which is why he slid the door to the lounge car shut behind him and lowered his voice. “Look, Wilford Warfstache is a dangerous man, a wildcard that can’t be trusted. You see him, you keep your distance if you know what’s good for you. Got it?”

Happy’s hand went to his waist, to the weapon Abe knew was hiding under that long coat, and he asked, “When you say dangerous…?”

“He’s killed people.” No point in beating around the bush, after all. “I don’t know what he’s doing on this train, but I’m going to take care of him.”

“Once you can find him?”

“…He can be a hard man to find sometimes,” Abe answered.

“In his bright clothes and pink mustache.”

Abe might have suspected some sarcasm there, but Happy’s face looked just as serious as ever. Still, considering he was letting the man in on the situation, Abe figured he deserved to know a little more about the guy, which is why he asked, “What about you, what’s your deal?”

“My deal?” Happy tensed.

“I know you’re packing heat,” Abe said, gesturing toward the barely concealed holster that Happy quickly covered. “And you had to say or do something to keep it from getting locked up during the trip. Looking at the clothes, general demeanor, the haircut under that ridiculous hat of yours, and that badge sticking out of your pocket, my guess is a government agent of some kind. Sound about right?”

Happy jumped and reached for his pocket, only for his concern to turn to confusion.

“You can’t have seen my badge, it isn’t even in my pocket!”

Abe grinned. “Yeah, I kind of took a long shot and guessed on that one. Thanks for confirming though, Agent Apless.”

“Don’t…don’t call me that, please,” Happy begged, looking around as though someone might have snuck into the small space between cars without their noticing. “Look, you’re…sort of right, but I can’t go into details or explain…anything, really. I’m here on highly classified business, and if you tell anyone who or what I am, I will deny it until…Until…”

“Until the cows come home?”

Happy’s brow creased, eyes shifting one way and then the other as he tried and failed to follow that train of thought. “What do cows have to do with this?”

Abe slapped Happy’s shoulder, a friendly gesture that nearly knocked the man off of his feet.

“Don’t worry about it, your secret’s safe with me. You got your job, I got mine, and I’ll leave you to it. But if you see Warfstache or need any help, just give me the word, got it partner?”

“Partner?” Happy shook his head. “No, no, I don’t do partners.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Abe said with a knowing wink before stepping around Happy to get to the door leading back to the sleeping car. “See you around, and good luck with whatever the hell it is you’re doing.”

“…Thank you?”

Happy stared after the detective before shaking his head and continuing on into the lounge car, muttering under his breath about cows.

On the other side of the set of doors, Abe stopped once again to consider the compartments to either side with the new information that these were the only ones on this train. One of them had to belong to Wilford, and while he would have loved nothing more than an excuse to snoop through each and every one, thanks to the music earlier he already knew where to start.

Abe approached the door opposite Happy’s compartment and, after trying in vain to get the right angle to see something beyond the drawn shade, pressed his ear against the wood and listened.

Silence, except for the muted vibrations of the train, and then—

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Abe turned to the man looking out of the next compartment over with a slow, dignified air that did nothing to erase the startled jump and swearing that preceded it, and answered, “What does it look like?”

The man, who clearly worked for the rich snob from earlier, frowned at him with the slightest shake of his head to announce his disapproval, which made it all the stranger when he said, “I was just coming to look for you. My employer would like to have a word with you, detective.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to have a word with him,” Abe pointed out.

“I believe you’ll find it well worth your while, if you take him up on his offer,” the other man said, and when Abe seemed less than persuaded, he added, “We’re just asking you to hear him out, that’s all.”

“Oh, so it’s an offer now, is it?”

The other man just smiled and gestured to the open door of the compartment. Abe had better things to do with his time, but curiosity was one hell of a temptress that he’d never learned to ignore.

The compartment was big, bigger than it had any right to be, and Abe might have given more thought to how the dimensions of the compartment failed to line up with the size of the train car it was in if his attention wasn’t captivated by the absolutely ostentatious decor inside the room.

Exotic furs served as both rugs and covers on the absolutely massive bed that couldn’t possibly have fit through the compartment door, and there looked to be a private bar in the corner stocked with so many bottles that it made the bar in the lounge look bare by comparison. Shelves lined the interior wall, full of ancient books, designed more to show off the wealth and culture of their owner than to actually be read, alongside displayed curiosities from around the world, such as an elegant porcelain mask on a stand or the solid-gold honeycomb that would make anyone with even a slight tendency toward trypophobia deeply uncomfortable. Hanging on the wall adjacent to Wilford’s compartment was an oil painting of a depressed looking man dressed in a red jester’s outfit slumped in a chair, his stare haunting until Abe managed to look away and focus on the man lounging on the couch opposite him.

“What do you think?” the rich man asked, seeing Abe’s eyes make a circuit around the room.

“Bit much,” Abe answered. “You don’t believe in traveling light, do you?”

“Why should I? Traveling for business is fine and dandy, but a man likes to have the comforts of home every now and then, don’t you think?”

Abe shrugged and admitted, “I wouldn’t know. Home comforts aren’t really in my wheelhouse.”

“Would you like something to drink, detective? You seem a little tense,” the rich man said, and with a snap of his fingers and a gesture from his assistant to the private bar added, “Don’t keep our guest waiting, Mack. And fix something for me while you’re at it, why don’t you?”

Abe noted the brief, blink and you’d miss it spark of irritation in Mack’s eyes even as he plastered on a fake smile that would give Benjamin’s a run for its money and said, “Of course, right away sir.”

“Yeah, you keep calling me a detective, but I don’t recall telling you as much when we ran into each other earlier,” Abe said. He distinctly remembered being referred to as a “low class, ill-mannered lout” in fact. “Or you ever telling me who you’re supposed to be.”

“Name’s Richard M. Bags, Esquire,” the rich man answered over the sound of Mack uncorking a new bottle, although Abe suspected that “esquire” was thrown in to sound important more than to actually mean anything. As if to emphasize the point Richard added in a low voice as though imparting a secret, “The ‘M’ stands for ‘Money.’ I’m what you would call filthy, ludicrously rich, if you haven’t intuited that little fact.”

“I might have picked up on it,” Abe said, taking the glass Mack offered him and glancing at the contents with a frown as the assistant handed a second glass to Moneybags over on the couch. “What’s that got to do with me?”

Richard swirled the contents of his glass around, savoring the aroma before answering, “I have attained my vast wealth and estates through a mixture of hard, honest work and good business sense—”

Abe snorted back a laugh at that, and in his defense, Richard tilted his head and admitted, “And maybe some not so honest endeavors, although nothing that could ever be proven before a jury of my peers, even if there were many of those around. My point, detective, is that one does not reach my place in society without stepping on a few little people along the way.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard this song and dance before,” Abe said, spinning his finger around to gesture for the man to hurry up and get to the point. “Let me guess, you got rich, made some enemies along the way, and now the consequences of your actions are coming back to haunt you.”

Moneybags bristled, like most men of his kind did whenever someone suggested their situation was far from unique or even interesting, but Abe had dealt with too many similar cases to be surprised, especially not when Richard continued, “People want me dead, detective.”

Richard pulled a note from the chest pocket of his suit and held it out to Mack, who passed it to Abe for inspection as Mack explained, “This was slipped under the door after the train left the station. I looked, of course, and checked with the conductor, but we didn’t see who left it.”

Abe unfolded the note and nodded, taking a moment to appreciate the craftsmanship.

“Words cut out of a newspaper, nice.” Seeing the other two men’s expressions, he explained, “You just don’t see people taking the time to craft a quality threatening note these days. Obvious why some of these words are individual letters pieced together, but what are the odds of finding an article with the word ‘stupendous’ in it?”

“I’m glad you find the threat on my life amusing, detective,” Richard said, ice dripping from his tone.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Abe corrected while he reread the note again. “That would make it even a little bit interesting.”

Big Dick Moneybags,

Your stupendous greed and arrogance will be your undoing.

Enjoy your last night on the express train of life.

“Almost poetic,” Abe said. “You get many of these?”

“Threats on my life? All the time,” Richard said with a nonchalant shrug. “Like I said, enemies happen. But that was before the brake lines on six different vehicles I have been in over the last month were cut, before the stage light at the theater last night fell on the seat I was supposed to be sitting in if I had not needed to go to the restroom due to some questionable dining choices, before a rabid raccoon ‘accidentally’ got locked in the elevator with me at the hotel…”

“Before someone poisoned your drink.”

Richard froze, the glass pressed to his lips.

Abe tilted his glass this way and that, observing the powder that had failed to disintegrate in the alcohol swirling around at the bottom. “Unless you’re just in the habit of putting weird crap in your drinks. I don’t know, I’m just riff-raff that prefers a hard whiskey over whatever it is rich people drink.”

Richard lowered the glass and stared at the same off-color sediment in his drink before looking to Mack, whose face had visibly paled at the detective’s words.

“It was a new bottle, I swear sir,” Mack said, glancing over his shoulder at the offending bottle. “It—it didn’t look like it had been tampered with or I would have never…”

He gulped, trembling so hard Abe almost took pity on him.

“Not impossible to tamper with a drink and hide the evidence,” Abe said. “I’ve seen some clever stuff using syringes, or you could just pop the cork and reseal it with fresh wax. Takes a bit of planning, and unless they went through and tampered with everything you’ve got lined up over there, a bit of luck to make sure you end up opening the right one.”

Mack took both glasses carefully, as though afraid even touching the alcohol might be dangerous, and Abe added, “Of course, we can’t be sure without testing it, but if I had to guess…”

He stuck a pinky in one glass and, ignoring Mack and Richard’s horrified reactions, put it to his mouth for a taste before confirming, “Oh yeah, I know this one. I’d give somebody an hour tops after drinking that stuff.”

Abe, registering that they were still staring, said, “What? It’s not like it’s iocane powder or something,” his numb tongue only slightly slurring the words.

“What should I do with this?” Mack asked.

“Toss it, of course!” Richard rolled his eyes while Mack walked the glasses to the private bathroom, and Abe considered suggesting they keep the stuff for testing before thinking better of it. “See, detective, this is exactly why I’m looking to hire you.”

“You want to what now?”

“Clearly there is someone on this train who wants me dead,” Richard said, leaning forward as he spoke. “It took me a minute to place you after our little…unfortunate run-in earlier, but I overheard your spat with the conductor back at the station. Your list of accomplishments might not have persuaded him, but I believe you could be the solution to my little problem.”

“Your little problem being someone on this train wants you dead?”

“And I’m willing to pay you handsomely if you find and deal with them,” Richard said, and in case Abe had any false notion on what he meant by dealing with this potential assassin, “With a bonus for extreme prejudice. I don’t want this cretin getting off the train at the next station, if you catch my drift.”

Abe whistled.

“Wow, you really are a horrible judge of character if you think I’m going to get my hands dirty for you.”

“What…Are you saying no, detective?” Richard stood up from the couch, visibly shocked. “After I just told you someone is trying to kill me?”

“One, I’m a detective, not a hired thug. Two, I don’t work for rich idiots, kind of learned my lesson on that one the hard way. And three, there’s probably less than a dozen people on this train, I think you can narrow it down to the people who want you dead without my help.” Abe lowered his voice and added, “My money’s on your boy Mack, but that’s just because if I had to work for you, I might be tempted to knock you off too.”

“What?” Mack said from over by the bar, panic in his eyes.

“Just a joke, kid, kind of like this whole conversation.”

Richard was shaking with barely concealed rage, and his voice was as low and as poisonous as that drink as he said, “Get out. I should have known better than to look for help from some washed-up, drunk excuse for a detective. Get. Out!”

Abe shrugged, already on his way toward the compartment door. He’d been called worse, hell, he’d said worse stuff to his reflection in the mirror every morning back when he was trying to do the daily affirmation thing. It certainly didn’t do anything to stop him from feeling like he’d just dodged a bullet when he stepped out of the elegant to the point of suffocating compartment and back into the familiar hallway of the passenger car.

((End of part 2. Thanks for reading!

Okay, so technically "Big Dick Moneybags" is what Mark was called back on a Thankmas stream back in 2018 and not even close to an "official" ego, but I'm going to pretend like it counts. Because even if Actor Mark isn't here, he can still be with us in spirit. And be just as much of an asshole.

Link to Part 3: Dining Service.

Taglist: @silver-owl413 @asteriuszenith @withjust-a-bite @blackaquokat @catgirlwarrior @neverisadork @luna1350 @oh-so-creepy @95fangirl @a-bit-dapper @randomartdudette @cactipresident @hotcocoachia @purple-star-eyes @shyinspiredartist @avispate @autumnrambles @authorracheljoy @liafoxyfox @hidinginmybochard))

#markiplier #fanfiction #murder on the warfstache express #wkm detective #wkm butler #big dick moneybags #iswm mack #agent harold apless #abe is quite the connoisseur of death threats #he's seen more than most #and not all of them addressed to him

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starry-bi-sky · 19 days

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I am absolutely loving your Danyal Al Ghul au. While I have a soft spot for the whole plotline of Danny becoming his canon personality almost right after breaking away from the LOA all because of Jazz, I'm just as much for your take in which he goes through the same character development as Damian.

Now I'm curious. You already tackled his relationship with Dani, will you eventually take a stab at when he, Sam, and Tucker meet Gregor? Given that it's one of my hated episodes as I couldn't stand Sam's infuriatingly hypocritical attitude to Danny's suspicions of him, I'd kill to see your spin on it.

Aw, thank you! Danyal Al Ghul aus are what got me into DPDC first, so I have a major soft spot for them. That being said, uh, its exactly that soft spot that causes me to have Many Opinions about the trope you just mentioned. Like the trope is all fine and dandy, i don't blindly hate it, my main issue with it is that most aus i've seen treat his backstory as an ex-assassin more like a pretty cosmetic accessory rather than something that actually should have had an impact on him. Especially if he remembers being in the league.

Like i cannot stress enough the fact that being in an ecofascist assassin cult (regardless of his standing in it) should've left him, in some way or another, screwed up morally and psychologically because that's just how development works. Nature vs. Nurture is like a game of tug-o-war that never ends, where they are constantly fighting against each other and one side usually has the upper hand or greater influence. Children model the behaviors of the adults around them (ex: bobo the clown doll experiment), and what impacts them in childhood can stick with them permanently.

Like how my psychology professor put it: a baby's brain is like wet cement; if you slap your hand on it, it leaves an imprint, and the cement dries that way. The same rings true for small children.

I could go on, but I frankly have so many thoughts on that alone that I would end up completely derailing from the second half of your ask, and I don't want to be more critical than I already have. Especially since you just mentioned you have a soft spot for the trope.

[Okay, hold onto your hats because this is long. Naturally lmao.]

Gregor! Man, I'll admit I last watched the show back in middle school on a dodgy illegal website (it had surprisingly good audio and visual graphics, and full episodes. But really annoying porn ads.) but I only made it to like season 1 before my hyperfixation faded and I lost interest. So I never actually saw the Gregor episode.

But... it is relatively easy to find free websites that stream Danny Phantom :), so finding the episode took me like. Thirty seconds. Plus the Tv.Tropes recap page because my damn earbuds just died and im out in public as of rn.

I'm not sure if I'll write something for the gregor episode like I did with Dani, since Dani's a bit of a special case in that she's a clone and tends to be a reoccurring presence in DPDC, and I thought the new dynamic with Danyal would be interesting.

Plus, I'm not a big amethyst ocean shipper for the pure reason of I'm just not all that interested in it; its kinda bland to me. I'll admit I've entertained the thought in this au due to the whole balcony scene i wrote, but I would've entertained the thought anyways if it was Tucker in that position instead. Big multishipper, me.

But, if I had to make it official? Danyal is not interested romantically in Sam when the Gregor episode happens, regardless of his relationship with Valerie. Who, speaking of I'm trying to think about how that would go, and I'm torn between including him almost-dating Valerie or not.

Because on one hand it helps point out Sam's hypocrisy (and i love her but i am always happy to point out her flaws and address them in au) in this episode in terms of Danny spying on them, but on the other hand I'll want to include a lot of set up in order to make Gray Ghost work in this au and wow will that take a while.

Especially with the Flirting with Disaster episode because it happens due to Technus' meddling, and Danny is, well, the son of the Batman? A trained assassin? An ex-assassin nonetheless, but still an assassin? A prodigy child in this au? He might not have needed to use most of his skills in the last few years, but like... there's just a bunch of 'what if' and 'well technically...' and 'would he? he could, but would he?' things that is getting in the way of my thought process and making my head spin.

Mmm. Okay. Flirting with Disaster occurs relatively the same as canon with a few exceptions; like Danyal noticing the strange coincidences, and he might take the idea into proper consideration because Sam has a point it is strange, especially out of nowhere.

However,,, he really enjoys Valerie's company, and he does really like her. He's been adjusting to civilian life for the last four years and while he's made a lot of progress, he's still. an ex-assassin child living like a wolf amongst sheep. This is normal, typical teenager stuff, and usually his friends like to encourage him doing normal teenager stuff.

So he's stubbornly holding out on the thought that this is normal, that ghost stuff isn't interfering here. He's a little hurt that his friends are discouraging this, he's not bothered by the fact that Valerie is a ghost hunter and he a ghost -- his mother is an assassin, and his father is Batman, and they still had a relationship. (Granted, he's not gonna tell them that)

If anything, being diametrically opposed to each other but still being in love is part of the family! Granted, usually both parties are aware of said opposition to each other, but he'll make a special exception this time around.

(And man now that i'm thinking about gray ghost, im now thinking about various like. scenes i could write between the two of them. maybe in a reblog.)

Anyways uhhh things relatively go the same as canon. Yeah. I think Sam still has a crush on Danny and still spies out of jealousy with Tucker.

Now, the Gregor episode! With that out of the way; the TVTropes recap for this episode isn't the best because it doesn't go into detail about the entire episode like it does with Flirting With Disaster and Shades of Gray.

(which i looked at earlier because I made a section of this post talking briefly about what changes I'd make to the Shades of Gray episode to help set up Gray Ghost, but ended up deleting because it was kinda irrelevant for the matter at hand.)

So I'm taking in bits of the episode clips at a time, I'll try not to get too nitpicky about how each scene goes because then it's gonna take me a longer time to write this.

But! First thing's first; since Danny is not romantically interested in Sam, he is also not jealous of Gregor. He is however, a bit eyebrow-raisey at him in their first introduction, but that's because Gregor is coming off as obnoxious.

Danny thinks he's kinda annoying, and it doesn't take a genius to see that Gregor is trying to impress Sam. But since they've only known him for five minutes he takes the good faith assumption and assumes that Gregor is genuinely trying to show interest in Sam's interests too because he likes her, so he keeps mum. The fake hungarian accent is weird, but it's overall harmless, so he doesn't point it out.

He does do the spying thing when he starts suspecting that Gregor might be working for the GIW. The episode only has this happen twice, but for the au this happens a handful of more times over the course of the week, with Danyal's suspicion steadily rising more and more each time.

Hah, when he brings up wanting to spy on Sam and Gregor because of this reason, Tucker still does his "woah! you wanna spy on Sam?" thing.

Danny immediately turns to him, completely unimpressed, and crosses his arms. "Tucker," he says, deadpan, "you and Sam spied on me and Valerie."

He uses a combination of his ghost powers and his regular stealth ability to spy on them. He's hiding in a tree when they're skipping rocks, close enough that he can use his powers to hear them talk but far enough away that he has a good view of their surroundings.

He's invisible in the cinema, but doesn't accidentally get in front of the projector. He checks the inside of the room for the GIW, and then waits outside the actual room itself, keeping an eye on the area and occasionally flying in to watch the movie out of boredom. It reminds him of being back on a recon mission with the League, but it doesn't end with him orchestrating someone's death.

Then when they're at the mall he stays in human form, blending in with the crowd. He runs into the GIW there, but realizes that they're not there because of Gregor; they're just shopping. They didn't show up at either of the last two locations, and he follows them to make sure they're not also trying to blend in. But they're literally just there for shopping.

Danny is rather pleased with this turnout; so far Gregor isn't a spy, he's just annoying. The next day at lunch he asks Sam how her date with Gregor went, and that's how she figures out he spied on them, because well, she didn't tell him that.

"Have you been spying on me?"

Danny messes with his food a little bit, and Tucker is sinking into his seat with embarrassment. He frowns, "Only last night. Those incompetent government dodos--"

His lip curls up; he gets all 'Shakespeare-y' (as Sam and Tucker put it) when he's insulting someone, "--kept appearing whenever Gregor did. I followed you and him last night to make sure he wasn't a spy."

A roundabout way of saying, "I was worried".

Sam is, as canon, furious. Danny understands why, he knows generally speaking that people don't like being spied on. But he's confused on just how angry she is, and is a little irritated by it.

"Why would you do that!" She exclaims, "That's way out of line, Danny."

"How? You spied on me when I was going on dates with Valerie." He narrows his eyes, and points his fork at her, "I'm not blind, I noticed."

"That's different, we told you why we were suspicious. And we don't have ghost powers like you do."

"I don't need ghost powers to sneak around, Sam, you've seen this firsthand. And I just told you why I followed you, I thought he was working with the guys in white--"

"So you think someone can only be interested in me if they're after you?" (this is a paraphrased quote, folks ;D)

"No! If that was the case I would have voiced my concern the moment I thought it. I don't get why you're so angry, you spied too."

Iiits.... a mess. Sam storms off with Gregor, Tucker tags along because okay, yeah, maybe Gregor isn't with the GIW, or maybe last night was a fluke. Either way he ends up tagging along. Danny overhears that conversation between the GIW and Mr. Lancer, and maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong; but something is up.

I've gotten to that scene in the locker room where Gregor tells Danny that he knows he doesn't like him, and I've paused at Danny's reply to say this: Danyal doesn't even bother trying to deny it.

"I know you do not like me."

"You're right; I don't."

"Ah, let me finish. I know you do not like me because you want to protect your friend, Sam, and I respect that."

"...That's correct."

"Good! Because I am going to ask her out."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he stands up, claps his hand tight on Gregor's shoulder, and leans close to him with a threatening smile, "so you understand me when i say; if you break my best friend's heart, you're as good as dead, right?"

"Ah,, yes. I am so glad we got that cleared out of the way, and now I hope after we can.. how you Americans put it, hang out?"

In the episode he hugs Danny and gives him a la bise (which is that french greeting where you kiss someone on the cheek two or more times) after they end their conversation. But here, when he goes to do that to Danyal, Danny leans away, points an accusatory finger at him, and says; "Absolutely not; we are not close."

The next scene after that is like, end of day. Sam, Tucker, and Gregor walking away. Sam looks over her shoulder to glare at Danny, then gets forlorn. Tucker looks back and just looks forlorn.

(When did I start narrating each scene?? Eh, I'm writing this in brief spurts of time throughout the day. Don't fix what's not broke)

After that there's this whole scene with the two GIW agents that have been chasing Phantom all episode. They're there because they have Tucker's PDA that Skulker took, and it's got the information of their purple backed gorilla assignment on it. They've been going around seeing who Tucker associates with in hopes of catching Phantom.

Uhh ahaha and that is where this gets a little interesting imo, and also allows me to mention that im retconning Danyal's (already) redesigned ghost form. Which I've wanted to retcon even before this moment bc it was just too busy. I'll get to that in a moment.

The GIW suspect Gregor for being the Phantom because of his white hair and green eyes, which is all fine and dandy until you remember: Danyal (and by extension Phantom) has that very noticeable, rather identifiable facial scar that goes across the middle of his fucking face. The GIW could easily suspect that Phantom hides his scar with makeup if he's in disguise, but if they meet a kid with a seemingly identical facial scar and similar disposition? Hoo boy.

Solution? I've got two: Gregor is canonically a kid from Michigan who faked everything to impress Sam. Considering he knows she's gothic and knows that she's ultra-recyclo vegetarian? He probably watched her from afar or got information on her somehow. His hair is dyed, his eyes might just naturally be green, but if he notices that she's got a crush on either Danyal or Phantom? A little sfx makeup could help him recreate a similar looking scar.

My second solution that's gonna happen anyways bc its that suit redesign; Danyal does hide his face as Phantom. Ghosts are emotional creatures and its a popular headcanon that their interests, ambitions, etc, influence the way they look as a ghost, not just their death. A big reoccurring theme of my au is that Danyal did not leave the League unscathed, and that being an assassin is an important part of his identity.

So i'm discarding the hazmat suit look entirely and leaning into the 'assassin' thing. But the general (stylized) feel is like, white ribbon/cloth vambraces that he has used as a garrote at some point, a hood, a gaiter scarf-type thing. I'm keeping the cape. I did a doodle a few days back that's not the official redesign, but a redesign for Phantom. I may reblog this post with that attached because it's got the general feel down. There's very little white involved, but the inside of his cape flares out and looks like the night sky.

Now, the hood and gaiter scarf gets rid of most of the problem, but Danny's hood doesn't stay on all the time, so the GIW have likely seen the upper half of the scar. :] Gregor's own drawn-on scar doesn't have to be 1:1, but it looks close enough, right? A small scar cutting through the edge of his brow and ends right below the corner of his eye. A 'cool, badass' one opposed to Danny's 'garish' scar.

But! Back to the episode scene. Canon Danny gets written off as being 'too prepubescent' to be Phantom, and honestly it'd be hilarious if Danyal was written off for the same reason (he's calling them idiots in his head if they do). But instead -- leaning into the GIW's incompetence here -- he gets written off as being too mature or too talkative. Or something equally as absurd.

Sam breaks up with Gregor for canon reasons, but when Gregor does his "i really like you, but, come on-!" and gestures to tucker, he adds on "and that scary friend of yours too, seriously!"

Things go relatively the same as canon after that. Danny does end up apologizing for spying, however. Sam does it first. Sorrows, prayers, all that.

Things usually end up changed or different when I actually write it down, so I'd likely add more or adjust different scenes according to the flow of the oneshot. This is just like, a general vibe of how things would go, and where some of the more obvious changes would be if I did write this oneshot.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the ask :]

#dp x dc #dpxdc #dpxdc crossover #danyal al ghul au #danyal al ghul #i dont even mind the trope that danny becomes like his canon self i just want *some* kind of impact on him. but as it stands most aus i've #seen lowkey treat his assassin background as an accessory. like dyeing your hair or piercing your ears. that being said its also a silly #au where they're brothers and are related to each other and thus doesn't have to be that deep at all! im just bored of seeing the same thin #all the time. especially considering danny is usually depicted as the paler/whiter passing twin and being the 'kinder. more compassionate'#one between the two of them. give me danny who suffered crises of morality! danny whose morally darker than a cloud #morally orange and blue danny who sooner understands 'dont litter' than 'dont murder'. arrogant danny! he dotes on the people he loves but #is an utter bitch to everyone else and thus has to learn to be kinder. danny discovering himself outside being an assassin #his brother remembers a kind and compassionate older brother because thats how danny interacted with him. But danny had no qualms turning #around and slicing the tendons of one of the other assassins because of smth they did that displeased him.#he can still be like his canon self but shouldn't there be something that stays behind? Lingering like a blast shadow?#danny who carries weapons on him always even though he knows he doesn't need it but it makes him feel safer.#danny who spits out the oddest. most foreboding shit sometimes and his friends just stare at him and go 'bro what the fuck??'#idk if i can share the website where i found the episodes bc of risk of copyright. but just search up #'where can i watch danny phantom for free' and look for a reddit post with that question. the comments give website options.#i keep thinking about gray ghost now. valerie finds herself becoming a member of the 'danny fenton protection squad' with sam and tucker #danny takes a page from his beloved mother's book and calls his partners 'beloved' and equally sappy pet names.#he also throws the BIGGEST shitstorm of the century when he finds out about what Axion Labs did to the dogs. hoo boy.

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