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#scared prompts
nerdpoe · 3 months
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Phantom, the new addition to Young Justice, just accidentally made Impulse cry.
Whoops.
Impulse had been talking about a candy that had been in the future, that he missed a lot, that had no equivalent in modern times.
So the next time Danny was in the Zone, he asked Clockwork if he could reach into the future and grab a bar. Clockwork just told him that the timeline he was talking about was dead, but that the people from it were occupying the Zone if he skipped forward in time a bit; maybe one of them knows how to do a homemade version?
So he does that, with the help of Clockwork, and manages to find someone from that doomed and dead timeline that knows how to make a homemade equivalent.
He returns to the world of the living and recreates it, and Impulse is beyond ecstatic for both the food and the recipe.
Then he asks where Danny found this.
Danny, mostly human but having been something other for so long that the concept of 'Death' doesn't hit him the same way, cheerfully says he sought the dead souls of the future that had been dissolved and asked.
Now everyone is glaring at him and Impulse can't stop crying.
Shit.
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puppetmaster13u · 5 months
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You know what I need more of? The Batkids completely fucking with the Justice League and their rogues and coming up with stories for their existence.
Like I am talking about the creation of demigods sort of stories, like Loki sort of stories.
Duke has convinced all of Gotham that he's the Bat Signal brought to life and that's why he's never seen at night and why the signal literally doesn't work during the day. He's waiting giddily for the story to spread outside of the city.
The batkids have convinced half the League that Nightwing is quite literally Batman's lovechild with Justice. Hey, Constantine had a one night stand with the manifestation of a city and they've dealt with gods before, so surely it's not that surprising? Right???
I need more of the Batkids being little shits, of Alfred the-greatest-enabler Pennyworth backing them up and Bat(the-biggest-troll)man to never confirm the stories, but he doesn't deny them either.
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confessedlyfannish · 7 months
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DP x DC Prompt #4
When they all convene at the cave, Alfred is silently wrapping Dick's knuckles. Damian hovers beside him. Tim and Barbara are hunched over the batcomputer, not even sparing Bruce a glance as he strides over.
"Report," Batman grunts. No one reacts.
"Report!"
"Hood pushed his panic button at 2:34 AM," Barbara says shortly, straightening.
The button had been a joke, mostly because Jason would never use it and everyone knew it.
"I patched into his comm at 2:35. This is what I heard initially." At her nod, Tim presses play. What occurs next is a garble. There is the sound of high winds, as if Hood is rushing through the air, even though the comms are designed to filter out any ambiance otherwise the Bats would never hear each other. Interspersed is a mixture of static punctuated by high, inhuman screeches of metal and something else unknown.
"This goes on," Barbara says after thirty long seconds, switching it off. "Red Hood failed to respond to any attempts at contact. I dispatched Nightwing to Hood's location at 2:36 AM. He was approximately two miles away." She pulls up a GPS map of their respective locations, their beacons blinking.
"At 2:41 AM, Red Hood's comm goes off, as does his GPS," Barbara says, swallowing softly as the red beacon indicating Jason disappears. "Nightwing arrives at 2:42 AM."
Dick doesn't say anything, head hanging low as he grips the metal table he sits on. Damian glances between the two of them, expression flat but fists clenched.
"Nightwing, report."
"..."
"Scene was empty, B," Tim speaks up. "No trace of Hood, no sign of a struggle. No cameras in the alley. We've been checking the ones nearby but so far there's no sign of anyone but Hood heading in that direction...and no one, Hood included, caught in the cams heading out, not within that time frame."
"So he's still in the area," Batman concludes. "The local buildings?"
"All the entrances have cameras, which showed no evidence of Hood nor any evidence of being tampered with," Barbara says. "Nightwing, Red Robin and Robin canvased within a half mile radius to check for any signs of disturbances in any of the windows or rooftops but found no evidence to support Hood being taken. A scan confirmed several serial offenders, but when interviewed and searched there was no sign of Hood. Several in the area reported an unusual quiet for Crime Alley."
Batman forces the next question out. "Did you check the dumpsters?"
"Yes," Nightwing grits out. "Empty."
Barbara clears her throat. "I have attempted to reconnect to Jason's GPS and comm as well as restart both remotely but there's no signal at all. The thing is, when there's a disruption like that it usually leaves some sort of sign" she pulls up the audio waves, pointing at the end where the spikes conform into a straight line that makes everyone deeply uncomfortable. Upon playing, the noise from before plays before going abruptly silent. "But there is no large spike, this is clean. It just ends. His GPS is much the same. It's not off, it's just gone."
"I know you don't like to hypothesize this early on, B, but we think this involves a meta," Tim says, rewinding the audio. "We've been running the audio from Jason's comm through different filters, playing with the levels and isolating what we can and, well, take a listen--"
The screeching drops to a sort of muffle and in the background, distantly, they can hear bits of Jason's voice.
"No, I'm not---"
"--don't need--"
"get AWAY from--"
a particularly desperate yell that makes Tim flinch, "I am NOT--!"
and almost a whimper that makes Batman's blood run cold, "please..."
And then, unfairly clear even through the faint garble, Jason says "I don't have a choice, do I."
And a minute later, quietly: "Ok."
The audio cuts off.
The defeat in Jason's last words is palpable, and fundamentally wrong. Jason has never sounded defeated a day in his life, and no one knows how to process Red Hood all but giving his hands over for the cuffs. Nightwing pushes himself off the table.
"I'm going back out there," he growls. No one tries to stop him as he stalks out the cave, not even Alfred.
"I will accompany Nightwing, make sure he does not punch any more walls." Damian says, nodding tightly.
"B?" Barbara asks.
"Keep working on it. See if you can identify what could be making those noises if Hood was standing still in an alley," Batman says, walking towards the zeta tube. "I'm going to make a few calls."
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dovewingkinnie · 20 hours
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let him yap
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DP x DC Prompt: The Watchlist
Batman has a watchlist. A list that contains every individual who could become a rouge and a contingency plan for if they did.  
And while they, his children, often make fun of his paranoia and him for having it, they totally understand why he did. They lived in Gotham, for Christ's sake. Where everyone’s just a pin drop away from being the city’s next big villain, forcing the bats to scratch their heads while playing cat and mouse with a sicko for a good few weeks. And while they won’t admit it, the list has helped them a few times. 
But that won’t stop them from making fun of any of the list’s new developments. Because you see, there was a new list. And it wasn’t just a watchlist. No, no, no. It was The Watchlist.
It was a new development after he and Robin went on an out-of-state mission to investigate some town in bum fuck nowhere Illinois. And it was under some pretty tight security as well, so they were expecting something good, like mad scientists or evil mayors. Not profiles of the kids who lived in the town. And while there were a few metas and vigilantes that made the list interesting, by the end of it all they just seemed to be teenagers. 
Until they saw Damian. They hadn’t seen him since he came back from the mission with B. He looked tired. Like ‘Tim hasn’t slept in a week and is surviving on just coffee beans’ tired.
“Ah, I see you all have found it. Good. A few of them will be arriving next week as they’re a part of Gotham Academy’s student exchange program. At least three of them will be staying in the manor with us. Father will need you all to be on standby and to be ready for any possible scenario. Please, for the love of all that is good, do not encourage them in any way, shape, or form. And please do not dismiss them either. The outcome of doing that will be much worse. Is there more that I should add? Yes. Will I? No, because you won’t understand. Not until you've seen what I have.” 
The demon child sighed, then looked them dead in the eyes. “Godspeed to us all.” Then walked away.
Okay, they were scared now.
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The JL are terrified of jazz
So jazz started working in Arkham and immediately got a reputation
She was patient and kind and gave answers to problems people didn't know they had and was just the best psychologist Arkham had ever seen
She also got a reputation for not being messed with after she used the Fenton-anti-creep-stick on Scarecrow after he tried to attack her
At first, Batman was suspicious but after all the background checks and passed all evaluations so he left her be with a light monitoring
The problems started when the JL needed a physiologist and Batman recommended Miss Fenton
At first, Batman showed up asking for her to leave Arkham and work for the JL, he thought she'd jump at the chance to get away from Arkham...
He was wrong...
After a few months, the patients at Arkham were getting better but the JL need a good phycologist so Batman is still pestering jazz about it
Batman is going full paranoid stalker mode, harassing her at work and constantly sending requests for her to transfer to the JL
The only reason she's not been forced to quit is that everyone (guards, prisoners fellow psychiatrists everyone) in Arkham would rather fight than loose her
But things got to a whole other level when Jazz gets a call from her brother asking why a vigilante is calling him and asking him to convince her to transfer
When she sees him next she goes off, yelling and screaming at him for his behaviour and actions
There's a full 20 minutes of jazz just physio-analysing him, calling him obsessive, paranoid, requires closure, OCD, ODD, inconsiderate, and a whole lot of less friendly things
Everyone is scared because Miss Fenton has never even cursed at anything and now she's going off on THE BATMAN
Their terrified
Someone records it and goes viral everyone in the JL see it and thought it was funny...
Until she requested a meeting with them...
They get in the room and see Miss Fenton, her younger brother and a lawyer
Jazz then proceed to yell at every member of the JL, she called all of them enabling lazy, irresponsible children pretending to be adults
Superman tries to get her to be quiet so he can talk and her brother fucking hits him with a tazer! The scary part is he couldn't use his powers after ("don't worry you'll get your powers back in 24 hours, this is just so you'll listen")
So Jazz spends the next 10 minutes calling all the JL out on allllll their BS
After she's done her lawyer gets up and hands out pieces of paper to everyone
:what are these
: a restraining order
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luckyfox3000 · 8 months
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DC X DP PROMT #6
Sup my lovelies! New Promt.
Danny Fenton has moved out of Amity Park and into Gotham.
Unfortunately, he suffered to a not so nice secret reveal at his 16 birthday party (just family and friends) thanks to an awful surprise in his cake.
His parents had somehow invented a serum that could affect ghosts "posing" as humans, and guess who's cake they decidedly test it on!
So. Yeah. He had to leave.
Tucker and Sam helped him grab his things while Jazz had distracted their Parents.
So, here Danny was, in Gotham, with no clue what to do.
But hey, at least the weird clown lady with pigtails is nice. I mean, she gave him free pizza for "helping" her with a douche (basically he told the man to stop bothering her then watched her kick his ass).
So yeah. Things are fine, Danny's fine.
No hes not hesnothesnothesnot
Danny's juuust fine.
In fact, hes perfect. This city has a great supply of Ectoplasm in its air, and everyone's so weird it's easy to blend in!
Hedoesntknowwhattodo-whydidtheyhurthim-whydidtheytrytokillhim
So. Danny's doing great, he's making a (undead) life. Now, if only that weird kid with a coffee obsession and that probably-trafficker with the skunk hair would stop following him.
Feel free to add on or use!
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Danny has became a patron saint of the homeless community in Gotham.
He didn’t mean to, he just really like certain people he has met during his time in the streets.
Little did he know that meant he has been accidentally blessing a lot of nice homeless people.
The people notice.
They whisper of a blue eyed black haired boy. He is as thin as a dead leaf but stronger than a bridge and seen across the entire city.
He doesn’t carry much on him yet always seemed to be able to pull out needed necessities.
He’s sweet in a way that few people are in the shadows they lived in and cared for the people who were kind back.
His tattered closes dance in an invisible wind and never complains of the cold.
Be kind to the boy, and the world will be kind to you.
He cares for his people and doesn’t care for those who mistreat them.
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just-more-pr0mts · 7 months
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Danny has a knife that if u slash the air it opens a portal to the ghost zone.
But in his exhausted state, he slashes the knife in the air while babbling on about how he wishes there were easier ways to deal with his rouges. Accidentally causing his magical knife to slashes open a portal to a different dimension.
____________
The justice league were at a loss... there was a small floating kid who fell through a portal on their main table, who was currently screaming something about furries?
____________
Danny: .....
JL: .......
Danny: is that....a furrie?
JL: .....
Danny: ....Sam was right
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Phantom: *Kicks down the doors of the Titans Tower*
Titans core four: *Getting ready to fight"
Phantom: Which one of you is Superboy?
Kon:
Kon: Me obviously *gesturing to the large S on his chest*
Phantom: Cool. What custody days do you want?
Kon: You're going to have to explain
Phantom: *partially unravels the bundle of blankets to reveal a baby with kryptonian blue eyes*
Phantom: Congrats! You're a dad!
Kon: Oh god the card I got in the mail wasn't a prank
Phantom: Nope. Help me name him.
Tim: I have so many questions
Phantom: I have so few answers
Cassie: Thats not comforting
Phantom: I woke up in a mad scientists laboratory 200 years in the future to find out i have a clone baby with someone I've never heard of and everyone I knew and love is likely dead.
Kon:
Cassie:
Tim:
Phantom: If anyone needs comforting here its me
Nightwing: *the only adult in this situation* Okay, how about we talk about this. I'm sure the Justice League will be happy to help you and your baby
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nerdpoe · 8 months
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I mean. You want me to be a villain? Really? Me? Alright, if you insist.
The GIW go over the top, and commit atrocious crimes against Ghostkind.
And when Danny tries to strike back?
They get the JLD involved.
Now to be entirely fair, they lied to the JLD and withheld valuable information that would have let the JLD know that they were siding with the bad guys.
To be even more fair, Danny doesn't know that.
So fine.
They want him to be the bad guy?
He'll be the bad guy.
He never wanted in on this hero crap anyways.
Phantom and his two associates, Overdrive and Hemlock, take to the streets and show the JLD exactly how bad of an idea it was to make an enemy out of them.
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puppetmaster13u · 5 months
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Prompt 109
“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck-” Tim chanted to himself, looking down at his cup of tea in betrayal. Was he hallucinating, had he been drugged with something? He had slept last night! 
Yet there in their own Lazarus Pit, the one in the cave not the giant one somewhere under the rest of Gotham, was a literal baby, looking just as surprised as he was. Of course that didn’t last, and its face scrunched up as it started to cry, which was his first hint that no, this was not in fact a hallucination. 
 There was a pit baby in the Lazarus pool. 
. . .
 There was a pit baby in the Lazarus pool. 
OH FUCK, there was a pit baby in the freaking Lazarus pool- 
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dcxdpdabbles · 10 months
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If possible could you do the Batkids summoning the Ghost King on a dare?
It starts with Tim because most insane things do. Kon had sent him a link to a trend, asking him to try it the next time Young Justice got together.
He made the mistake of clicking on the link while sitting near his siblings in the gaming room. The audio is also on full blast because he didn't realize his headphones were out of battery.
Thus while waiting for his turn to play Mario Kart, a loud male moan echoes from his speakers. Tim freezes in his seat, staring at his phone in horrified betrayal, as seven heads snap in his direction.
"Ugh, Timmy? Those are videos you should be watching alone" Dick says with half a teasing smirk. "I know you're growing up and are curious about-"
"It's not like that! It's a summoning circle!" Tim yelps, turning the phone around. On his screen, five male teenagers sit in a circle, each holding hands. Moaning. The caption reads, "Summoning the Ghost King! What's your offer?".
"What the hell?" Jason squints as the teenagers in the video burst into laughter. They jeer and taunt each other good naturally, indicating the random moaning was in jest.
"Oh, I know that trend!" Cullen chirps from the floor. He's been hugging the bowl of chips all night, laying down on his stomach to keep it guarded from the others. "Basically, you try to summon the Ghost King by offering something random. Guess he doesn't respond to human sacrifices or the typical stuff, so people have been getting creative. I once saw a group of girls who burned their training bras and offered the King the ashes. The point is to pick the weirdest thing you can think of."
"That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard. We have to try it." Steph announces, standing up. She pushes the coffee table out of the way. The rest of their siblings, who weren't as into the speeding game, perked up in interest. "What do we need?"
"Um," Tim scrolls through the comments. "We need four never before lite candles, each placed in the positions of the four directions. We have to sit crossed leg in a circle holding hands and call out to the King with a poem, and at the end, we make our offering."
Harper springs up. "I got some candles! Do they matter if it's scented?"
Tim checks online. "It's not recommended, but it's fine if they are."
"This is idiotic! Attempting to make contact with the Ghost King is far too dangerous. I shall take no part in this foolery!" Damian cuts in, face twisted into a- surprisingly- nervous frown. His hands are clasped tightly over each other while his eyes roam the room looking for unseen threats. If Tim didn't know any better, he said the brat was scared.
"Aw Dami, if you don't want to do a summons, we can play the game of life or something. It's okay to be scared of ghosts" Dick says, placing his hand on the kid's shoulder. He was obviously trying to comfort the kid but it has the opposite effect.
"I am not scared of a mere ghost!" Damian hisses. "I am merely stating we should not bother forces well out of our leagues!"
Jason snorts, planting himself on the ground as Harper returns. She had four different color candles, purple, blue, black, and green. After consulting with Cass- a human compass-she placed them facing the east, west, south, and north.
"Why did you make that disgusting noise Todd?" Damian demands narrowing his eyes at the striking man.
"Just admit you're scared of ghosts, brat. No one is going to judge you for it."
"I said I was not scared of a mere ghost. The Ghost King is far more powerful then-"
"Alright, alright. Damian is too much of a scary cat to play, but who else is in?" Steph cuts him off, a knowing glint in her eyes. The youngest flushes angrily before he marches between the green and black candle and sits with his legs crossed. A nasty scowl is playing on his lips, likely not noticing the high-five Jason and Steph share for getting him to join.
Cass gracefully falls right next to Damian, offering the younger boy a small. His scowl lessens just a little. Cullen crawls his way over, pressing the bowl of chips to his hip protectively once he's sitting up. He ended up between the green and the purple candle, offering Cass a smile. Harper lands next to Cullen, cracking her neck as if preparing for a fight.
Dick does an unnecessary flip over the couch to take the place between the purple and blue candles. Next to him, Steph sits, her knee bumping the blue candle slightly. Jason struts over to sit next to Steph right between the blue and black candle. Duke shares the space with him, giving just a slightly nervous chuckle as Tim and Babs push the black and green candle apart a little to squeeze into though Babs remains in her chair.
"Alright, so the person with the candle on their right side has to light it. Do it at the same time. Once that happens, we join hands and do chat about the poem. Says only one person has to say the words, but if you want, I can send the link in the family group chat so we can all say it?" Tim waits to see them consider it, but Cass excited nodding has him copying the link he found on an online forum. A few dings go around the room as everyone checks their phones. "Now we have to decide on a sacrificial offering."
"We should do our most embarrassing secrets," Jason suggests.
"No, no, our fabulous hair!" Dick perks up, flipping said hair in a dramatic flair.
"It has to be something we all share," Tim says, eyeing Duke's short hair.
The other teenager makes an offended noise. "My hair is fabulous!"
"We offer the gay." Cullen cuts in. The rest turn to look at him as he wiggles his fingers. "Ohhhhhh! We're all fruity~! Spooky!"
"Babs isn't," Dick puts in only to see his best friend shake her hand in a so-and-so motion. He gapes at her before throwing his head back and laughing "We really do flock together!"
"So we agree? The gay?" Tim tries to say seriously, but his lips are twitching too much, trying to suppress a smile. There is agreement around the circle. He gives on a single node before passing around the matches Harper had brought. "How are we going to do this, though. Do we just shout, "I'm gay," or are we giving material things?"
"Let's write our gay awakening on a piece of people," Babs suggests grabbing her bag from where it hands on her chair handles. She tucks out a spiral notebook and a few pens. "I read that summoning needs something physical."
Everyone agrees as they pass along the notebook, writing down their awakening. Tim raises a brow at Damian's "Jon Kent" but doesn't call him out for it. After all, Conner Kent goes under his little brother's writing in his own writing.
He does wonder who Danny Fenton is, but knows better than to ask Cass about her life before the manor.
"Okay, let's do this! On the count of three- one-two-three!" Tim calls, watching Damian, Harper, Steph, and Duke simultaneously lite at the candle. They all hold hands, reading off phones that are prompted up by either their legs or kickstands on cases.
"We call upon the Undead King,
The one who bridges the realms,
The one who wields the Ring,
The one who will lead dies and breathes!"
There is a moment of silence where Tim swears he feels a slight shock along his fingertips, but it passes too quickly for him to care. Seeing as he is the ring leader, he calls out to the air. "Oh great King of the Dead, my siblings and I offer you a list of our gay awakening!"
"Stop, stop!" The youngest yells, leaping to his feet. His eyes are wild, scrambling to a far wall like a cornered animal. "No! He's coming!"
"Coming out the closet, like mama, I like boys, I like pecs
Like the arms when they flex!" Stephs suddenly sings, swaying in her seat. Everyone laughs before joining, and Tim wonders if they should have recorded this when suddenly Damian shrieks.
"Damian, who-"
The candles' flames all turn green as a haunting voice echoes through the room. "Your sacrifice has been accepted."
Tim's mouth drops open as the flames rise into the air forming a portal of liquid green. Familiar green. No wonder Daimain had been so scared. That was Lazarus Pit water. This meant this was the real deal, not just a random trend popularized by stupid teenagers.
Leaping Lizards Batman.
"What-what do we do!?" Cullen yelps as a burst of wind rips around the room, throwing everyone back. A laugh that sounds far too much like the Joker is heard through the portal as everyone tries to get into a fighting position with the wind pushing against them.
A head of snow-white hair peaks out and they are greeted by a laughing teenager. "A gay awaking sacrifice list! That's hilarious!"
"Who are you!" Tim hears Jason demand over the howling wings.
Another laugh, but this time, it sounds like clicking ice cubes is a response. "I'm Phantom!"
Tim has a second to see, wide green glowing eyes before the ghost reaches down, snatches their list, and zaps away.
Cass falls to her knees with a look of horror. "They know"
"I told you this was idiotic!" Damian screams, shaking so hard he looks like he will burst into tears in only a few seconds. Dick rushes over to him, pulling the sniffing boy into his arms. "We must never do this again!"
No one knows what to do in the wake of actually succeeding in calling the Ghost King or watching Dmaian cry from fear.
A ringtone plays from Cass's phone, breaking the ill silence. Tim catches a glimpse of "Danny" with two little hearts before his sister grabs the cell and leaps through an open window with what could only be a squeal.
"What the fuck just happened?" Cullen asks, but Tim can only offer him a shrug.
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tanglepelt · 10 months
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Dp x dc idea 87
Danny is part Martian. He doesn’t know it tho.
Jack and Maddie decided to mess around with the DNA of their child before he was born. Adding in a bit of what they thought was ghost blood or something.
They originally planned to monitor and watch what happens to Danny as he grew up. See how it effects him. He was there ultimate research experiment.
But when he was born they felt just a tad guilty. They decided he deserved to be human. So obviously they suppressed that part of him. Every year they make sure it stays suppressed pill/shot or something.
That way he would only be human.
They wouldn’t have to deal with Danny’s “ghost” side coming out. They wouldn’t have to investigate what makes him tick.
Then the accident happens. The Fenton parents catch on quick. Already thinking Danny was part ghost. The accident obviously fully killed him and that’s why the ghost side was coming out full force.
They stop the suppression. Wanting to see what will happen. That’s when the Martian dna begins to effect him.
Shapeshifting and hearing others thoughts come first. Danny assumes new ghost power.
The fenton parents get more curious about what will happen. They decide it’s time to research Danny. This leads to him on the run.
Danny’s dna starts rewriting itself again. Danielle who Danny ran to gets him to frostbite. Frostbite reveals that he isn’t fully human. Thanks to Martian DNA being in the realm from an ex Martian frostbite informs them of his other part.
Jazz, Tucker, and Sam then set out to find Martian Manhunter. That way frostbite knows what the correct (alive dna not dead) structure is and figure out how to properly stabilize Danielle with it.
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luxaofhesperides · 5 months
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For the ghostlights drabbles: “Say my name” with a favor being called in?
Duke had saved Phantom years ago, back when he was just out of high school and working to take down a branch of the government that was kidnapping and experimenting on people, targeting magic users and metas. Phantom had been working on his own to take them down, and they met in the middle, trashing a lab and freeing as many people as they could.
They had managed to shoot his back, knocking him down and making him bleed a glowing green. Phantom couldn’t move, protecting two kids with his body, and Duke couldn’t reach them in time before they were taken away by another swarm of agents. 
He was able to go after them in time, free Phantom and the kids, and evacuated the victims before Phantom rained hell down on the facility.
At the end, standing in the background as they watched paramedics treat the victims and take them towards the nearest hospitals, Phantom had turned towards him and thanked him.
Or rather, he thanked the Signal and offered him a bracelet with a rounded orb of ice, glowing faintly in the dark. If you ever need me, he had said, Hold this, and call me name.
Phantom vanished once the last of the victims were transported to a safer location, and Duke hadn’t seen him since.
He’s kept up with news about Phantom as best he can, but from what he could tell, Phantom is based primarily in Amity Park, Illinois, and the town is fiercely protective of their hero. News rarely leaks out of there, and with them running on their own servers and independent internet, it was nearly impossible to get in from the outside. 
Phantom remained a curious and distant figure in Duke’s life. He holds onto the bracelet still, guarding it carefully and sometimes running his fingers over the ice that never melts.
But he doesn’t call in that favor. He’s never to.
At least, not until now.
Sucking in a breath, Duke prepares himself and holds the orb of ice in the palm of his hand. He’s in civies, unable to hide his identity for this, and closes his eyes. “Phantom,” he says.
For a moment, nothing happens. Duke blinks his eyes open and frowns, mind already forming new plans to contact Phantom. Then the ice goes bitingly cold, almost painful, and the temperature in the room drops dramatically. The ice lifts up from his hand, floating in the air, then cracks open.
White-blue light spills out of it, growing brighter as it seems to swallow up the room entirely. Duke hurries to back up, an arm thrown up to protect his eyes. His breath mists out before him and he shivers as the sound of ice cracking fills the room.
And then, just as suddenly as it started, the light disappears and the cold fades away like a bad dream. 
Slowly, Duke lowers his arm and looks up at Phantom, floating in the middle of his living room with a crown made of ice, engulfed in blue fire, hovers above his head. He looks older, more regal, holding his head high. 
He regards Duke carefully for a minute, then tilts his head and says, “Signal?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Man, I’m so glad you came.”
“You… need help with something? You’re calling in your favor now, right?”
Duke nods. He understands Phantom’s confusion; being in the hero business means that favors like these tend to be used only during the most hopeless of times, when the world is close to ending, when the chances of getting out of a situation alive is close to impossible. It’s exactly the kind of thing Duke was expecting to call Phantom in for.
Not the kid sleeping on his couch.
“You’re a ghost, yeah?”
Phantom blinks at him. “Ghost king, now. Why?”
“Well…” Duke rubs the back of his neck, nervously. “I didn’t really know who else to call, and I can’t do this on my own since I’m not a ghost. But this kid got attached to me and won’t leave, so now I’m taking care of her and I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“I don’t know why you think I have any experience with kids but—”
“She’s a ghost.”
Phantom stops short. “Ah. I see.” He floats down until his feet touch the floor, and then he’s standing like any other person. “Where…?”
Duke looks past Phantom’s shoulder, and Phantom turns to follow his gaze. Chelsea, the ghost girl, looks to be around nine years old and is fast asleep on the couch, curled up under Duke’s softest blanket.
“Signal,” Phantom says quietly, “What, exactly, is the favor you need from me?”
“You can say no,” Duke starts. “I get that this is a lot. But I need help raising her. And since you’re a ghost, I figured you could help me learn about the ghostly side of things. You don’t have to raise her with me or anything! Just… I would appreciate any help you’re willing to give me.”
Phantom doesn’t say no. He doesn’t say anything. He just stares down at Chelsea, an unreadable expression on his face. 
On the couch. Chelsea shifts in her sleep, brows furrowing as she makes a choked noise in the back of her throat.
Moving on autopilot after so many nights of this routine, Duke kneels next to the couch, fishing one of her hands from beneath the blanket. He gives it a few reassuring squeezes, keeping it a slow rhythm to pull her gently from her nightmare. She settles down in just a minute, brow smoothing out as she continues to sleep. 
The silence grows and Duke is all too aware that his heart is the only one beating. 
He doesn’t hear Phantom move. Doesn’t realize he’s right next to him until he sees Phantom’s hand reach out towards Chelsea. When Duke looks, Phantom is sitting on the floor next to Duke, looking at Chelsea with something soft and devastated in his eyes. His hand hovers about her head for a long moment, then slowly lowers to rest on her head. 
The touch looks gently, barely putting any pressure on her head, but it’s enough to make Chelsea’s eyes snap open, suddenly wide awake. She stares at Phantom with wide eyes, then sits up and looks between him and Duke.
“Who are you?” she asks in a small voice that makes Duke want to stand against the world to keep her safe. 
Phantom smiles. It’s casual and charming and makes him look like anyone else, as if he’s not a powerful king from a realm unreachable to humans. “Hi there,” he says, “I’m Danny. I’m a ghost like you. Signal called me and asked me to meet you.”
The Ghost King is good with kids. Who would have thought?
Chelsea looks at him for confirmation and only relaxes when he nods. “I’m Chelsea. What do you mean ghost? I’m not dead.”
Both he and Phantom tense, carefully keeping their expressions neutral. She hasn’t told him much at all, just that her parents were gone and forgot her and she got hurt, so she wanted to stay with ‘Mr. Signal’ because he’s a hero and heroes keep people safe and he was the only one who was Black like her. Duke hadn’t had the heart to say no, and began searching for her family, only to find that her parents had fled the state, and likely the country, after killing their only child through neglect and a dangerous environment. 
It was then that he realized that her powers were not because she was a meta, but because she was ghost.
It still hurts to realize how young she is, how much of her life had been stolen from her in an instant. Duke hadn’t been brave enough to broach the topic with her, instead choosing to let her grow comfortable in his presence, get them both settled into a routine now that he was her primary guardian. 
“I know it sounds scary,” Phantom says, “And you may not want to believe me, but it’s true. I’m sorry that you died so young, but that just means you get to hang out with me and other ghosts from now on!”
Chelsea crosses her arms over her chest and glares at him. “I am not dead,” she says.
“Cici, I’m sorry to say this, but you are,” Duke cuts in. “That’s why I called… Danny. You have new powers as a ghost, and he can help you get used to them.”
“I’m not dead!” she says again.
“Kid,” Phantom begins, but Chelsea shakes her head hard and hops off the couch.
“I’m not lying! Watch, I’ll prove it to you!” She closes her eyes and scrunches up her nose, concentrating. Her hands curl into tight fists by her sides, and the glow around her grows dim. Two faint, stuttering rings of light appear around her waist. They flicker and wobble in the air, as if weak and uncertain of their own existence, then split apart, one moving up towards her head while the other falls to her feet.
Beside him, Phantom sucks in a sharp breath, but Duke can’t turn to see what’s wrong when he’s trying to take in the sight of Chelsea suddenly full of vibrant color, looking more solid that he’s ever seen her, very much alive.
“See?” she says proudly, lifting her arms and doing a spin to show off her right she was. “I told you I’m not dead!”
“No, you’re not,” Phantom agrees, sounding shell-shocked. When Duke is finally able to look away from Chelsea to check on him, he looks awed. There’s the smallest smile on his face, just the slightest upturn of his lips, but it makes him look softer.
Duke turns his attention back to Chelsea before he can be caught staring. “Cici, can you come here for a second?”
She goes before he’s finished speaking, crossing the space between them in a single jump, then grins up at him. Her hair is a bit of a mess, the two buns he managed to get her hair into falling askew. He makes a note to visit the old aunties in the Narrows later to ask them to teach him how to do hair. For now, he holds out a hand and Chelsea drops an arm into it.
It seems to good to be true, having her be alive, but her pulse is steady and strong when he presses his thumb against the inside of her wrist. 
“Well,” he says, leaning back and letting go of her arm. “You certainly proved us wrong.”
Chelsea doesn’t have much time to look smug before PHantom quietly says, “You’re like me.”
“What?”
“You’re like me,” he tells Chelsea. “A halfa.”
She tilts her head to one side. “What’s that?”
“Someone who is half human and half ghost. Both dead and alive.”
Duke blinks, taking in the words, then turns to face Phantom so quickly he’s worried he might give himself whiplash. Halfa, he said. Like me, he said. 
And sure enough, two rings of light, bright and strong, appear around Phantom’s waist before splitting in half, moving over his entire body. 
Gone is the Ghost King, all powerful and adorned in dark clothing with a crown of ice above his head. In his place is a guy who looks to be Duke’s age, eyes a deep blue and his black hair messy, feet set solidly on the floor. He looks completely normal, completely human, and no longer an impossibility.
“You still up for learning how to use all your new powers?” Phantom asks.
Chelsea grins. “Yeah!” And then, with a quick flick of her eyes going from Phantom to Duke that he almost misses, very innocently asks, “Are you going to stay with us then?”
“I… don’t know?” Phantom looks to Duke for an answer.
Already, Duke can see this going two ways. The correct way forward, the normal one, has Phantom popping in every so often, taking Chelsea out for a few hours to work on training her and her powers. It’s easy and routine and they can keep their boundaries uncrossed and be professional. 
The other path is what Duke wants most that he shouldn’t impose onto the literal Ghost King. He could have Phantom living with them while he’s on Earth and out of Amity Park, having a place at the table, a section in the closet for his own clothes, a quietly domestic night together while Chelsea sleeps where they can get to know each other more, get to know each other outside of news reports and texts on a screen.
“You can stay with us if you want,” Duke offers, casually, “It might keep my apartment safe from her powers acting up on their own again.”
“Are you sure? I could always just fly in on the weekends or something.”
“I’d appreciate having you around. So you can help Cici.”
“If you don’t mind,” Phantom says, looking away. Like this, fully alive with a beating heart, it’s easy to see the blush steal away across his cheeks. 
“I don’t.”
“I don’t either!” Chelsea pops in, looking far too gleeful by their awkward conversation.
Duke can’t help but laugh, feeling lighter than he had in ages. The relief of knowing that Chelsea is alive, for the most part at least, eases the guilt of thinking he had been too late to save her, that there was no chance she could have made it out and had a future, makes him feel weak. All the exhaustion of the past few weeks hits him all at once and he wants nothing more than to collapse in bed and sleep for twelve hours.
“Alright, squirt,” he says, reaching out to pat her head. “It’s late. We can talk more in the morning, so go to bed. In your actual bed this time, not on the couch.”
Chelsea stands up taller, ready to argue, but Duke gives her a Look™ and she quickly shuts her mouth, nods, and drags her feet back to her room (the former guestroom he can never give any of the other Waynes ever again, once they find out about her). 
Sighing, Duke collapses onto the couch once he hears the door shut behind her. Phantom joins him after a few seconds, sitting tentatively on the edge of the couch. The cushion moves beneath his weight, another reminder of how solid and alive he is right not.
Duke wants to touch him, to reach out and feel for himself his pulse, the warmth of his body, his chest lifting with each breath. 
He doesn’t move. He stays where he is, hands carefully still, and tries to think past the dizzying thoughts of she’s still alive, I’m not too late, he’s still here, he’s alive.
“Rough week?” Phantom asks, voice purposefully light.
“Something like that.”
“You should get some sleep too.”
“I don’t think I can. Not after everything. My mind’s too loud right now.”
Phantom shifts closer to him, hesitant in a way that Duke has never seen before in him, and asks, “Want me to stay with you until you mind quiets down some?”
“Yeah. I’d like that. Thanks, Phantom.”
“You know, if I’m going to be around so often as Chelsea’s halfa mentor, then you might as well call me Danny.”
Truth be told, Duke didn’t think that was his real name. He’s glad to know it’s not. 
“Then call me Duke.”
“...Are you sure? You could still hide your identity from me.”
“Nah, I trust you. A name for a name, yeah?”
Danny smiles. “Duke,” he says, testing out the name, and it’s never sounded better than when it falls from Danny’s mouth.
“Danny,” Duke returns. He belatedly realizes that they’ve leaned towards each other, drawn together like gravity, stuck in each other’s orbit. It feels natural. It feels like this is where they’re meant to be.
Maybe he should be more cautious. They’ve only meant once before, after all. But he’s read all he could on Phantom and has seen how Amity Park loves him. He’s stressed and exhausted and trying to figure out how to look after a half-ghost child that’s already been dealt a bad hand in life. He should be keeping Phantom at a distance, watching over him carefully to ensure he isn’t a threat to Chelsea.
But Duke saw how he acted with Chelsea, so gentle and understanding and kind. That’s all he needed to see.
He may not know much about Danny, but he knows this: he is trustworthy.
Enough to entrust his identity to him.
Enough to entrust Chelsea to him.
It’s more than a favor; it’s a promise to walk this road together. 
There’s no one he’d rather do this with. 
“Thanks,” he says again, “For all of this. I know it’s a lot.”
Danny shrugs. “I don’t mind. Really. It’s nice to know there’s another halfa out there, no matter how she came to be one. Makes things feel less lonely.”
“Will you tell me more about halfas?”
“Later. Once you get some proper rest. We’ve got time, haven’t we?”
“We do,” Duke agrees, affection settling warm in his chest. “We’ve got plenty of time.”
Learning how to control her new powers won’t be easy for Chelsea. Learning how to take care of her won’t be easy. Learning how to do things together, as Duke and Danny rather than the Signal and Phantom, won’t be easy. But Duke knows with a certainty he feels in his bones that they’re going to be fine.
So long as they’ve got each other, they’ll be fine.
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Danny looks like thomas wayne
21 year old danny decided to move to gothem, he was aplying for a position in the aerospace engineering division.
He was told that because of his...unique qualifications they wanted to interview him for a higher paying position than he applied for.
He did what he could, he's wearing the only suit he ownes whitch is a second hand peice he picked off of a thrift shop.
So needless to say he passed nervous and is sitting in terrified right now dispite the fact that danny had literally defeated ghosts and has been hunted by the government
They called his name and he went in, the person doing the interviews was the co-ceo tim drake-wayne, he watched as tim looked up at him, then did a double-take looking at him like he was a ghost(pun intended) asked him to sit, then left...
Danny didnt have a good feeling
.
.
.
Tim was nothing short of sprinting down the hallway to Bruce's office
Tim needed to make sure he wasent being crazy (or if he's this sleep deprived) and that a person that looked like his late grandfather just walked into his office
When he got there he only said "bruce, you need to see this" and bruce was already spanding up and following him again
Bruce asked about what was going on and all tim said was "i need to make sure im not crazy"
And opened the door...
Bruce froze as he saw a man that was the spitting image of his father...
He had the same soft eyes, crooked smile and a wave a nostalgia and panic washed over him
Bruce was on the verge of a panic attack, but later he would plan to find out everything about this Daniel fenton
Tim looking at Bruce's reaction both sighed in relief that he wasent THAT sleep deprived where he was hallucinating his dead grandparents
Danny was wondering now in the 30 second of meeting tim did he fuck up so bad to the BRUCE WAYNE OF ALL PEOPLE HERE
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