It started with a video.
Tim had been scrolling through social media, as one did when procrastinating doing boring paperwork for Wayne Enterprises. He found himself going down the rabbit hole and somehow ended up going down the Unreality/ARG path.
He had to appreciate the dedication to bringing these stories together, some of the stories could actually happen given all the shit he'd seen in his hero career. Anyway this ended in him getting fed back to back Not Real videos. At least that was until he found The Video.
The caption on the screen was the first thing that popped up in front of the face of a latina teen who was trying not to laugh; Imagine getting wrecked by a twink
The camera flipped two buff guys wearing red and white Leatherman jackets, one was on the grass with his head tilted to the side and a basketball next to him, the blonde guy was looking at his friend with tears in his eyes before turning red and turning to the side and yelling out.
"You're dead Weston!"
"I said sorry!"
The camera then did a sharp turn to zoom in on a lanky ginger teen. It looked as though the blonde was about to go beat the shit out of the guy before the ground shook and the sky turned momentarily green.
"Ah shit, must be Skullker"
The audio began to glitch before the cameragirl began to run, the blonde could be seen carrying his companion, the ginger guy running besides them. A sudden cry came from behind as they could hear what seemed to be a girl trip.
"Star!"
The video started to glitch again and the camera fell from the girl's hand. As the girl picked up her phone the video showed that the ground where the blonde fell was now charred. When the girl panned to the side he could see that the ginger guy had tackled her.
"Are you guys okay?" her slightly accented voice could be heard with a weird echo, the ginger guy had his head back to the camera as he helped the girl up.
"Ugh Skullker's the worst, I still can't believe Ember dates him" the girl groaned. She looked up;
Kara?
"At least Phantom's already on it" the ginger guy turned around.
Wally?
The video ended and Tim found himself rewatching it over and over again--- There was no doubt that those two were Kara and Wally. Sure they looked younger but it was them.
There had to be more to this, was this really some sort of ARG? The explosions and the weird glitches, was that just all some part of a gimmick? Also why were there two younger versions of prominent heroes? Were they clones? Was Cadmus involved?
If it was clones then Cadmus was definitely involved.
He clicked on the girl's profile--- PaulinaxPhantom<3
Most of it was blank, not in a 'She doesn't really post much' sort of way, like her photos and video were whited off. He could see a sporadic picture and video here and there but they were divided by blank pictures that never loaded or video that crashed without ever showing anything.
He knew it had nothing to do with his connection so what the hell was going on. Could it be something with the site?
On a recent picture it was a selfie of herself with 'Star'/Kara with a link to 'Star's' profile.
Same thing as Paulina; pictures and videos surrounded by never loading and permanently whited out.
He checked the blonde jock's, Dash, and had the same result. Apparently the guy he’d been carrying was named Kwan—
Was that Garth? Sure he was a lot bulkier but he had an uncanny resemblance to the Atlantean.
Then he found 'Wally' again, or Wes apparently; Wally West and Wes Weston? It wasn't giving him much hope.
Wes was apparently part of Casper High's journalism club given his video about trying to meet the deadline and ranting about how annoying 'Boxie' had been, having trashed their clubroom and making them pick up after him.
"Stop complaining and actually pick up the slack Weston" a female voice spoke up from behind him.
"Yes, yes Chief Editor Manson"
Raven!?
Another video had him in a local food joint where the waitress was taking an order from a black haired customer, scowling as she noted the camera on her and flipped him off as the camera zoomed in on her, which was a dick move on the guy's part (as if service industry workers didn't have to deal with shit customers in the first place). The customer she was helping didn't even look back and also flipped him off.
"Get a life Weston"
Karen?
Oh holy hell bats! Was that Dick!?
Oh crap. Oh motherhecking heck!
This was bad.
Fumbling off of his bed and out of his room with a single drive to get to the Batcave, where he knew Bruce would be at the time and be able to assemble an Emergency Meeting with the League, he only had one thing in mind.
Why the hell would they hide clones in the middle of bumfuck Nowhere Illinois?
Danny had been following...ok, stalking his bio dad for a while now. He didn't have anywhere to go after Amity blew up and Clockwork just came out of no where almost a week after the initial incident to pretty much say, "Hey! You're adopted! Also you're a clone baby! This is the name and main alias of your parent and here's how you get to your home dimension!" Then he was gone.
Ancients.
Again, its not like he had anywhere to go and he had nothing better to do. So following around his fourteen year old father (his original?) and his scary bat mentor around a gross crime filled city at night seemed better than nothing. It felt kinda wierd calling him dad in his head but at the same time he didn't want to call him anything else. His inner Jazz said it might be his subconscious grasping for any safe or familial connections it can find, but whatever. He'll call him dad. Who will ever know?
He knows Clockwork told him not to interfere with any of the battles here. He was only ever meant to be a fly on the wall (actually he wasn't even supposed to be here but the old stopwatch couldn't really stop him) but it was so frustrating to see this Red Hood guy appear one day and start hurting his dad and not being able to do anything without exposing himself.
But nothing prepared him for the new Robin.
He hated the new Robin. He had everything Danny ever wanted and he chose to treat his family like that? The anger he felt towards RH was nothing compared to what he felt towards the new little bird. Damian would look around whenever he was alone, likely feeling they eyes on him from Phantoms intense glare. Good. He wanted the kid to know he was unwelcome.
Danny may have died at eight and become a superhero, but that didn't mean he couldn't hate another child vigilante if he was given enough reason to. Danny stopped aging after the explosion that ruined his afterlife and his inner Jazz had a lot of theories about that but in reality he knew why.
He had been waiting.
He knew the bats were mortal and one day Batman would be too old to fight and Robin -now Red Robin- would need a protégé of his own, right? Then he'd pop in and reveal himself as Tim Drakes long lost clone son and everything would be perfect.
Damian didn't just put a wrench in those plans. He ruined them entirely! If Batman is replaced by Damian than Red Robin will likely always be a sidekick.
And sidekicks don't need sidekicks of thier own.
So Phantom made it his afterlifes mission to make Damians stay in Gotham as miserable as possible to make him leave. He would make sure Damian would go back to whereever he came from at the first available opportunity, even if he had to possess the whole city to do it.
----
Danny took cover with some other kids in a nearby clothing store. The riddler was one of Batmans common rogues and was dangerous. He and the others watched in horror as a third party, likely a gang of some kind that didn't appreciate a hero battle on thier turf, stupidly fired a freaking rocket launcher at the two of them. The projectile missed the mark by a large margin and hit a nearby business tower, sending rubble and debris down of the two fighters. Riddler was quickly pinned while Batman eventually got pinned after a few really cool evasive maneuvers. Red Robin went to assist while Robin went to fight the gang members. A lucky shot from one of the gang members got RR in the leg, sending him down momentarily.
Danny managed to rally the other kids to help dig Batman and Riddler out from where they were trapped by stealing a bunch of black hoodies for them to wear and ripping up a black shirt for them to wear as blindfolds. They could see out of them just fine, but it would hide thier identities from all parties.
Together they rescued the pair and Danny silently rejoiced at helping Red Robin limp away and treat his wound at a safer location. As much as he wanted to let this interaction last, he knew he had to bouce once RR started asking him questions.
Phantom later looked at himself in the reflection of a piece of building material. He had been told before that a ghosts appearance could change based on significant events in thier afterlives. Seeing his former symbol on his chest had disappeared and the smooth crisp edges of the black blindfold that had materialized on his face he knew what had happened. And he knew he would do anything to be with his father again.
His efforts to get rid of Damian intensified.
Another link to this post. Meet the parents style.
So, Danny and Jason have been fake dating for a while now, and ended up marrying each other solely for tax benefits. Also, they got cool ass fucking friendship rings that they just couldn't not wear everywhere and being married is convenient so...
Anywho, so Jason has met Danny's parents but Danny hasn't met Jason's parents. Danny knows that he has some ties with the vigilantee scene due to being a Crime Lord-he still doesn't know what to think of his parents connecting the dots immediately when they only met him once while it took him more than that while living with the guy.
He thinks Jason may have been an ex-vigilantee at some point before turning to crime.
Then Danny gets blinded by rich people aura when he finds out that his bestfriend is the long thought dead child of Bruce Wayne. Frankly, he's insulted.
You mean to tell him that his could've been buying ice cream from that high class place all this time!? He shook (literally he grabbed and shook him) that point into Jason, he doesn't care that Jason never told him he was rich but he could've at least bought some high class ice cream once in a while.
Jason who was busy solidifying his power as a crime lord, avoiding his family and making sure not to leak his identity at all: I'm a literal crime lord, and the only thing you care about is me not buying you ice cream?
Danny: YES!!!!
Jason: Dork.
Right anyways, so Jason takes Danny along to meet Bruce and his fam but did say as soon as he started being uncomfortable they're leaving. The batfam is a bit blindsided by Danny, because they thought Jason was bringing his partner but its good to also get a feel for Danny's personality.
Danny and Jason did what's normal for them when Danny starts getting comfortable around the manor full of things that cost waaay more than his rent. Like half-heartedly insulting each other, being snarky, leaning on each other and other such things.
The batfam start thinking that there's more there than they know of. So they start watching a bit closer and ask a few round about questions that fly over Danny and Jason's heads. They just forget they're married often, unless it's regarding taxes.
All of this sends the wrong message when they walk into the same room and, being nosy, one of the batfam comes up to the door and uh. They hear the bed moving quite a lot.
So.
Meanwhile, Jason is trying to wrestle with Danny because this man does not pick a lane. He'll either be the human octopus (who is cold as hell) Jason has ever seen, he'll try to kick him off the bed in his sleep as if Jason personally offended him in some way, or he'll sleep in some wacky position that interrupts Jason's sleep. The last one is tied to the other two, however.
So, Jason has to frequently wrestle this man into a proper position where they both manage to get some sleep and it wouldn't have been so bad if Danny wasn't a goddamn sleep fighter. He would know, he had to nurse a bruised jaw for a few weeks.
Why do they sleep together? Listen, when you're in an apartment with not a lot of money, you gotta cut costs where you can alright?
DPxDC idea that has been floating around my head for a few months now:
Gotham, given its whole... thing with Lazurus Pools and general bad vibes, has a ghostly representative. Lady Gotham, when she bothers to be coporeal, looks like an influential lady from the 1920s, straight art deco elegance. A real classy girl.
Jazz is touring college campuses around the US. She has full ride offers from Gotham University, Metroplis College, and Star City State, to name a few. Danny, upon hearing that his sister is going to GOTHAM of all cities, decides he is going on this trip with her. He might be only 15, but his big sister isn't getting mugged while he has half an afterlife left to live!
Lady Gotham is all a flutter! Why the last ghost king was so frumpy! King Phantom is so handsome and powerful, and he is coming to her city. She absolutely has to show off her best side! She feels like a teenaged girl getting her home ready before a new beau comes to visit. She's flustered, she's nervous.
Meanwhile, John Constatine wakes up with cosmic alarm bells going off because something really, really bad is happening. He investigates to dicsover that for the past three days Gotham has not had a single crime.
No murders, muggings, hell not even a single jay walker!
Gotham the most cursed place on the North Or South American continent is suddenly more squeaky clean than whatever small farm town Superman grew up in.
No crimes, no smog in the air. Crime Lords seemingly gone in a puff of smoke, Assassins asleep in their beds.
Its so freaky. Even Batman is spooked and he is never spooked by anything.
Constantine is certain some demon or other nefarious being is harnessing Gothams cursed energy for some evil plot. Gathering the power to use it like a nuclear blast. Batman is concerned about mass mind control.
Lady Gotham is doing the metaphysical equivalent of hiding all of your stuff in a closet before a guest comes over because you dont have time to actually clean. She had to shoulder the thing closed! She just knows that when the lock fails there will be a huge mess.
Jazz and her family are just surprised about how nice Gotham U's campus is. She'd heard it was so dark and dangerous, but everyone is smiling and pleasant to her! Danny is just happy Jazz is safe from various villains.
So we have Batman investigating his rogues gallery for mind control plots, Constatine hunting for demons, Jazz and her family taking a walking tour of Gotham U, and Lady Gotham using every bit of her ghostly powers to make sure her damned, cursed city doesnt embarrass her in front of her crush!
There's an event where Justice League hero events are held. Danny is the staff member who wears the mascot costume. Taking a picture with the kids and visitors.
Soon there was a robbery. Danny can't leave people in the event to be injured. So he goes fight the robbers in a Justice League mascot costume.
And a video of him fighting in that mascot was post on the internet.
Do NOT Touch a God- DC x DP Prompt (Tim x Danny)
Correction: don't touch Danny.
A rule has been added to the house rules of Titans Tower. It started after the arrival of the summoning of the interdimensional teen that takes residence there.
Despite being only a teenager the power he held was at the level of a god. He causally reshaped reality around him to his liking. Rooms are made bigger on the inside but remain the same outside. Danny's hate for things getting too dirty made all clothes left on the floor for too long disappear into the laundry room and spilled drinks evaporate. The tower became self-cleaning as everything found its place on its own. Danny said it was just what he prefers, lab safety and all that. Sometimes Danny would turn off gravity, no reason be just likes it like that.
Unfortunately, he doesn't go on missions except for extreme situations where he is needed. He is content to spend his time in the med bay as the resident healer. He is also one of the few that can fix up Cyborg. Danny doesn't get involved unnecessarily. This has led to a few arguments in the past over how unhelpful he can be despite being able to help them. Danny shrugs it off and disappears when it happens. It was not fair on him, if he didn't want to fight he shouldn't have to. He was an asset and he offered his help freely.
So why does the No Touch rule exist? Well, Danny doesn't like touching people. He wears gloves for a reason especially when he is working in the bay fixing up everyone after a mission. He also avoids others touching him, shrinking away when someone tried.
Everyone respected that boundary but after a rough mission in particular Kon started an argument with him. The injuries were severe and he was just mad that M'gann was hurt. Danny was already overwhelmed with healing everyone and Kon seemed to strike a nerve. When Kon almost made contact with him Danny flickered out of existence and reappeared further away.
After several hours of fixing broken bones and open wounds Danny retreated.
Tim decided to check on him later. Kon was sorry for overreacting and blaming Danny for something he couldn't control but Danny probably didn't want to see him right now.
Danny looked worse for wear when he opened the door. He looked tired, weary from using his energy. He wrapped a blanket around himself.
They talked for a while. Mostly about nothing important, other times about how stressful things were right now.
Tim often found it hard to believe that Danny wasn't just a normal teen. Then again, what did he know about normal?
But he had wondered something.
He reached out and tried to hold Danny's hand but Danny moved away quickly noticing.
"You shouldn't do that." He said simply.
Had he been Dick he would repect the boundaries and if he was Jason he'd probably agree. But he was Tim and Tim was very bad at boundaries. That's kind of how he got here.
"Why not?" Tim asked.
"It might be too much," Danny said cautiously eyeing Tim who held his hands up.
"Try me."
Danny sighed and removed one of his gloves and touched his hand to Tim's shoulder.
All at once different sensations filled his senses. A comforting touch of a friend, a light fluttering of a passing stranger on the street, a strike of a hated rival, the steady hand of a family member, the playful tap of a classmate, the caress of a lover...all at once. Each feeling is defined but also blurred. It was almost like being pulled in thousands of directions as they tried to claim a part of Tim into their reality.
A single touch sent him into a trace. When Danny pulled away he expected to have broken Tim like how a child accidentally snaps their toys when playing. He knew his touch could overwhelm people almost to death. Clockwork said he'd be able to control it some day but Danny didn't even want to test it. Being able to fracture someone's mind was scary. Seeing it happen once was enough. So why did he try it on Tim? Did he not care what happened to him?
It's a bit selfish and embarrassing to admit but...not being able to touch another person was awful. He's not clingy but it feels like he has lacked sensation for a long time. Tim willingly asked for this and Danny wanted this as well.
Tim wasn't broken. Infact he had never felt more alive. When Danny removed his hand he found himself pulling it back to him. He couldn't explain it but it felt like...everything. Indescribable but amazing. It was contradictory but all of it made sense.
"Do it again!"
Things kind of escalated from there. It would probably be crass to even say it but let's just say that neither was lacking sensation. It was profound, not purely physical nor emotional, something else entirely. The religious sort would call it divine or a blessing, perhaps it was what heaven feels like. Others would call it sinful, partaking in things no human was meant to know or experience. The folly of humanity.
It was certainly addictive though. Whispered words echoed in every tongue. With every contact a new chorus created. The memories of long dead god flashed and worlds yet unawakened showed themselves. And just when it seemed like everything in the universe had collided and finally made sense...it was over.
There was a knock on the door.
Danny managed to roll the breathless, Tim off with a groan. He stretched feeling a bit locked up. He had been holding each other for a while now.
He opened the door and saw Kon standing there nervously.
"Look, Im sorr-"
"Danny?" Tim called out groggily interrupting whatever Kon was saying.
"I'm busy," Danny said quickly closing the door to go back to...you know.
(So were they having sex or just cuddling? I have no fucking idea and I wrote this. I feel like it's a secret third that is somehow worse.)
Tim Drake wakes up one day in a room he doesn't recognize with bandages wrapped around his throbbing head. He takes stock of his surroundings and realizes he's in bed with a man he doesn't recognize. He freaks out internally and lifts the covers find them both clothed in pajamas. Relieved, he tries to roll the other man off of him to escape, which was much harder than he first assumed it to be due to him just snuggling closer into Tim's shoulder and chest.
Tim eventually manages to escape the cuddle trap and investigates the house they were in. He finds his own wallet and is shocked when his id says he's 39 years old! His reflection in the mirror didn't look a day over 27! The last thing he remembered was fighting some of Riddlers goons and then nothing. No win, no loss no hit to the head, nothing. The memory just fades out. Did he have amnesia?
He found the other man's wallet near his own and opened it up. Oh boy, if he was shocked at his own id then he was absolutely floored by the id of one Daniel James Drake, not to mention the little marriage license tucked in behind it.
Tim was nearly 40 and married. Wth happened?!
Once Daniel wakes he shows to be very loving and affectionate. Also he makes the best coffee Tim has ever had (possibly why he married him) and gives him some pain medicine after checking his bandages. Daniel, or Danny as he preferred to be called, kissed his forehead and informed him of Bruce potentially coming over for dinner tonight to check in on him.
Tim is a little caught up staring at thier wedding photos. Dick was crying into a handkerchief in the background of a few and Bruce was even caught dabbing his eye in one while a young redhead he didn't know, probly Dannys relative, patted his arm.
Tim is pretty shook and isn't even sure if any of this is real. It seemed too good to be true.
Danny was weak. Amity had been destroyed because of his failure to act and it had hit his obsession hard. The other ghosts jumped on him exploiting his moment of weakness and while he was able to defeat them he was left with very little power left.
He was dying.
Again.
Danny had to choke back a sob. He was alone, scared, and in pain in an unfamiliar dimension in an unfamiliar city that had a smell bad enough to make raccoons turn thier noses away. He needed to find a way to feed his obsession and fast.
It was at that moment a very obviously drugged and hurt Red Robin came falling out of the sky and landed with a thud before him and promptly passed out.
Danny could work with this.
Dragging the other teen as far as he could (which wasn't far in the halfas sorry state) he settled down with the supposed hero on the front step of a boarded up store and rested the guys head in Dannys lap. Taking a deep breath he pulled out one of his parents weapons that he had personally modified. A laser gun that if turned up to the highest setting would be a death ray and at the lowest would be powerful enough to blast someone down a few city blocks. Anyone who tries anything would be in for a world of pain.
Unfortunately there were a lot of people who saw the downed bird being protected by a frail kid with what looked like a toy gun and came walking up with crowbars and bats, intending to get revenge only to find out that it was very much not a toy.
The most annoying ones were these wierd people who Just. Would. Not. Give. Up.
The one with a blue bird on his chest had almost convinced him that he was the heros friend, up until he let slip that his brother, Red Hood had tried to murder him. He got blasted away after that.
Red Hood didn't even get down from the rooftop before Danny blasted him. He had so much bad ghost vibes that Danny could feel exactly where he was even five miles away. Hood didn't understand why he couldn't sneak up on this kid.
Batman gets the "on sight" treatment and Danny is convinced he's a supervillian.
The Joker gets vaporized in front of the batfam, whose jaws are on the floor, except for Jason who's cheering. (Jason later throws a party) Everyone who has a bat logo on them gets blasted. No one can get close and nothing they do can get the kid away. Its only when Robin appears before the kid that Danny visibly relaxes. When Robin asks how he knew he was Red Robins ally Danny pointed out the matching colors.
Robin did not understand the logic behind it but was happy to get the civilian that had been giving them so much grief to a hospital and drag RR to the med Bay to see why he hadn't woken up yet. But no, it was not meant to be. Danny revealed he was not human and that his injuries were more severe than they first appeared, which said a lot because his white shirt looked mostly brownish red at this point.
Anyway, Danny was a supernatural entity who protected people and fed off of them, creating a mutually beneficial situation. The people he protected turned on him seeking knowledge about his biology via the "science and a knife" method and he barely escaped. Danny is so weak now that if he let's Red Robin go Danny would quickly die, but if he doesn't let Red Robin go, he won't wake up. So naturally Danny is too terrified of dying to let RR go and as a consequence Tim is getting the best sleep of his life
Halloween prompts no. 11
Something happens where Lazarus pits are opening up all over the world and no one knows whats going on or how to stop it.
Robin and Red Robin find a boy at a Lazarus Pit and watch from the shadows as the boy raises a hand and his eyes glow the same as those who carry the pit madness, the only difference was the sharp white light of his pupils. Within moments the Lazarus Pit seems to crumple in on itself but in reverse. The stones rising from within the pit and the glowing waters receding until there was no hint a pit was there in the first place.
Damian rushes in with his katana despite his brother telling him to stop and demands the boy explain. Instead he vanishes into thin air. The birds fight as the boy makes his unseen escape.
This continues with Lazarus Pits opening and just as mysteriously closing and the batfam/Justice League enter a race against the League of Assasins, the League of Shadows and the Chaos Lords, as well as many other factions who want to capture this child and learn his secrets.
After all, its clear that this boy knows far more about Lazarus than anyone has a right to, and perhaps even whats going on.
----
Danny keeps getting saved and saving these strange people. Mostly these ones in red black and yellow. Sometimes purple. Also they have muscles...Ancients. Sam had always joked that a good heart and muscles made him swoon, but he never knew he was this bad. How dare he. Getting back on track, he enters into a pseudo partnership with one of them as they work together to avoid Danny being captured and using weapons made from blood blossom plants to fight boss battles against the monsters the currupted Lazarus Pits spawn (or "Pit Bosses" as Jason calls them) Danny immediately closes the pit after the monster had been defeated and turned into goo.
Danny never explains himself. Who he is (other than his first name), whats happening, how is he connected to these events, how he's closing the pits, what are those things, nothing. Cue batfam member using thier detective training and gathering clues to discover the truth.
At the end of the journey they work together to fight an Ancient. A truly ancient being from Lazarus itself seeking to murder the prince and usurp his throne by drowning this world in the toxic energy of Lazarus and devouring the souls of all that passed, gaining the power necessary to rule.
They beat him of course and Danny slays him once and for all with a spear made from the stems and thorny vines of the blood blossom plant. Later, while everyone else is celebrating, Danny tries to sneak away and the batfam member follows him to a bus stop near the party. They can still faintly hear the people as they stand there under the streetlight.
"Where you really planning to leave without saying goodbye?"
"It would probably be for the best."
"And why is that?"
Cue love confession that tuggs at readers heartstrings and Danny confessing back only for Danny to reveal his Phantom form and tell them it could never work as Danny was a spirit of Lazarus, the prince himself, and it could never work between them as Danny had died years ago and left the living world and all his connections to it behind.
Phantom couldn't sustain himself in the living realms without the power of the Lazarus Pits everywhere as he would fade if he didn't return to his own reality. The batfam member couldn't come to Lazarus because the place was toxic to the living and they could never survive there.
They had to say goodbye.
A portal opens up behind Danny, making him seem to glow all the more and imprinting a scene of ethereal beauty into the batfam members mind forever. Then he was gone and they were left alone and hollow with the sounds of others joy not too far away.
Dick comes by soon after to ask what that light was only to see his little sibling staring blankly ahead and silently crying. Dick bundles them into his arms and they start sobbing, letting loose the most soul shattering sound big bird had ever heard.
The end.
Or is it?
Most of the people involved had been exposed to high levels of ecto radiation off and on throughout this adventure, and the batfam member can't help but think of what could have been. Couldn't help but think of the future they could have had together, the dumb quips Danny would make, the way his brow would furrow whenever he was worried about someone, the cute way he'd turn invisible when startled bad enough or-or!
The batfam watch uncomfortably as one of thier own falls apart, but its just heartbreak right? Little do they know the true essence of Lazarus isn't just life or death.
It's obsession
Danny had a problem. If it was a big one, he couldn't tell yet but he was partially sure Clockwork was at fault for this. Or at least he wanted to blame his ghostly godparent who most likely just wanted to cause some chaos for entertainment with the pretext of helping Danny. Which was a very likely reason for why Danny had a problem right now.
As it was the former Fenton now Fenton-Wayne boy was pacing his room in the Manor trying to think what is next step should be, because as it was his 'new' family –Did new still apply if he was living with them for a little more than a year now? – knew him under three different Identities now. And to top it all off they were not aware that the three identities were all pretty much connected as one.
For one. His family, knew him as Danny, the space obsessed kid, who became a meta because of his ectobiology science obsessed parents and his teenager recklessness. A kid that was actually a genius if you gave him enough time for school and could make you anything out of a ancients be damed toaster. That was the Danny they mainly knew. The Kid they took in, let in on the family business and then chose, to the happiness of Alfred and dismay of some of his 'new' siblings, normal life over vigilante life.
Then they knew Phantom. A dead ghost hero that was helping the Justice League and Young Justice to help them deal with the aftermath of the huge fallout caused by the GIW, Guys in White or rather Ghost Investigation Ward. And while Danny didn't know he had apparently worked with nearly his entire family and that time he knew it now. Which was awkward because he had pretty much pestered one of his elder brothers about his condition until Red Hood, aka Jason, let Phantom help him. Ancient, things might get awkward if that secret is lifted. He had done a lot of things Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Orphan and Robin had scowled him for. Thankfully they only thought of him as a dead teen hero and didn't know what a Halfa was. So they didn't make the connection, and he had yet to meet Signal, aka Duke as Phantom.
Now came the third identity, which totally did not happen by his choice. After all officially he hadn't accepted the throne yet and would only get it once he was dead dead not half dead. To bad ancient texts don't care about formalities. So when trouble hit the fan really hard the Justice League Dark had the bright Idea of getting some other worldly help. Which in other words was summoning the Ghost King. Oh boy, was it fun to learn that way that Danny could get summoned against his will. Clockwork did not give him that warning when he told him about the future of his afterlife. But best of all? Oh he doesn't get summoned as Phantom which would have made things maybe a bit easier, oh no. Life wasn't easy. He got someone's in some as a super weird black-green mass of a formless eltrich body with sharp teeth, claws and glowing green eyes with no pupils or irises. Hell Danny even scared himself when he saw his own reflection in a window and he didn't have a single idea how to change his form.
Let it be known that Danny acted then on purpose like he didn't know a single person in that room he had been summoned in right out of his bed and that he wasn't staring at his adoptive father like he needed help who interpreted his stare as the ghost king sizing him up. And Danny knows this because Dick had a good laugh about that at the dinner table with the rest of his siblings.
Now a smart person would probably come clean to his family and explain to them the three identities they knew him under and how they are connected.
To bad Danny wasn't 'smart' when it came to things like that. No in his panic and newfound awkwardness of the situation of what he had done on separate occasions with his identity as Phantom AND Ghost King, he decided to keep acting like he didn't knew them personally like the truely does. Really how hard could that be? Besides he liked the way his family threaten him now. He didn't want to get threaten differently because he was half dead, or a Ghost King. He liked that his family was treating him as plain old Danny who had an obsession with space and was their quirkily little brother with powers.
So that gave him even more incentive to keep the act up. Even if it was hard at times, especially if he got summoned out of nowhere. It would be easier if he could get a hang of the duplication power. He even had played with the thought of getting one of his ghost rogues to help but his family was perceptive. Maybe not perceptive enough to realise that all three identities were one and the same person but they would notice if Danny acted just slightly different or if Phantom was more of then usually. But somehow he still managed to keep it up.
But it was the hard way that he learned, Danny was bad at doing the 'talking' and realized that maybe Jazz was right and he was going to slip up one day causing huge misunderstandings like right now.
He stared down at Batman and Nightwing in his Ghost King form. Red Hood had his guns pulled on him, Wonder Woman and Superman looked like they where going to try to pull back Batman any second now while Nightwing, maybe at first was going to try to calm down the bat but Danny was pretty sure the eldest bat kid was now fiercely glaring at him too. He was also pretty sure the only reason he didn't see Red Robin or Robin threaten him too was because their super friends were somehow holding them back. For their own or his safety he doesn't know at the moment.
Because apparently the Bats did not fear fighting otherworldly beings to protect one of their own.
"What did you just say about Danny Fentons death?!" Batman grunted out and Danny just knew his adoptive father was glaring at him. Ancients Danny cursed his brain to mouth filter right now. As he had the collective hero scene before him staring at his Ghost King form. Would this be a good or bad moment to come completely clean or maybe he should find some kind of philosophical bullshit of 'All things death belong to him'....
Mm. Pain.
Project R au where Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake have a kinda sorta custody battle (more like argument) about who should take in Danny.
The twist? None of them want to take Danny in and are trying to force him onto the others. Each has valid reasons not to take Danny in, Jason is a crime lord, Dick has had paparazzi trailing him around lately, Tim is still a minor and can't take in anyone, ect. Theres a million reasons for each of them. Unfortunately no one realized Danny was overhearing all of this from another room.
Danny had spent so much time building his dads up in his mind, thinking that when he finally found them everything would be great. He never even considered his dads wouldn't want him. Heck, how was he supposed to know his dads were adopted brothers? He kinda understands how this was weird but...what about him? He didn't really have anywhere to go but...should he just leave?
Maybe that would be for the best...