Just imagine: Forever teen Danny adopting a post-JJ Tim. I just think it would be fun.
[Pt2: coming soon]
Danny has looked 14 for 26 years. It's literally the worst case of baby face in the world. He's not 14 emotionally or mentally, and when he's in human form, his scars and joints ACHE. He FEELS his whole 40 years of his fucked up life, even if he's stuck looking like a child. Thank Gods for Gotham's loosey goosey with child labor and Crime Alley Apartment background checks. Otherwise, he would have been homeless. He bounces between several jobs every 5 years, legal job or not, doesn't matter to him, so long as he's not outted to the flying furries.
He doesn't fuck with weirdos that have child soldiers that he replaces like tissues. He doesn't even seem to care about them. He was here when the Bat kicked out the first Robin. And while he seemed genuinely distraught over the 2nd's death, he didn't go to therapy. Instead, a 3rd Robin had to come and correct his shit, like a goddamn security blanket instead of a child. Danny seriously thinks the Bat should be in Arkham with the rest of the crazies, but since he's the only one willing and able to stop the Rouges, Danny won't fuck with it for now. Let the crazies fight themselves.
Or at least that was Danny's plan. All it took was phasing through one wall to change his stance.
He admits to noticing Batman and Batgirl frantically searching the city for something. It was easy to piece together that Robin #3 got kidnapped. And they haven't found him in nearly 3 weeks. So any "positive vibes" he might have had for Mr. Doom-and-gloom die a cold death.
Anyways, Danny decided to break into a warehouse. He likes to explore what weird shit is in them. It's an entertaining break from his day to day and he occasionally gets to sabotage Rouges' shit.
Danny instantly turns invisible when he steps through the wall of what he assumed was an abandoned warehouse, only to find it isn't as abandoned as it looked. The occupants don't notice him. Mostly because two of them are Joker and Harley, who are occupied with each other. Joker is beating the shit out of Harley, and Harley is fawning. The last occupant is a suspiciously Robin #3 sized child being electrocuted and isn't aware of the world outside of the pain he's currently experiencing.
Danny sees enough. He figured out how to transform without a light show years ago, and if he's about to out himself as a meta, then he's going to do it while looking the part. Once in ghost form, he floats behind the Joker, phases a hand into his chest, absorbing any ectoplasum in the guy's blood before he crushes his heart. The last thing he needs is this fucker becoming a ghost. He drops his invisibility so Joker can see his pissed off face as he dies.
"Wha-?"
"Shut up, you clown school reject. Die knowing no one thought you were funny and no one will mourn you." Danny growls at him. Danny completely ignores Harley screaming her head off and grabbing "her puddin'" as he falls. Danny instead destroys the machine shocking Robin #3 with extreme prejudice.
Robin #3 starts giggling deliriously between sobs. The kid mumbles, "D'n't wan' be Joke Jun'r"
"Then don't be." Danny tells him, unstrapping the kid from the dolly tilt table he's obviously been tortured on for weeks. Danny has to catch him when he flops bonelessly off. "Whoa, there."
"WHO ARE YOU??" Harley shrieks, but makes no move to leave the Joker's body.
"Someone who will be your worst fucking nightmare if you don't shape up, Dr. Harleen Quinzel." Danny growls at her, letting his eyes glow in a way he knows scares the unaccustomed. "But you may call me Phantom. I'll be taking the kid."
And with that, he zooms home with the kid in toe. The kid is barely conscious, but Danny needs to look over his injuries. He sets him on his ratty couch and quickly grabs his med-kit.
"Hey, kid, I need you to stay awake a little longer. I need to check you over to make sure you're not about to kill over." The kid mumbles something and shifts to sit up straight. He helps Danny remove the blood and mystery fluid stained clothes. Joker must have forced the kid into them at some point because they're thin bullshit that no one would be caught dead in in Gotham. "What's your name, birdie?"
"Birdie?" The kid slow blinks. Danny is mildly concerned about a concussion on top of the electrocution after effects.
"Yeah. You're the 3rd Robin, right?" Danny ignores the kid jolting, more focused on cleaning and stitching a shallow stab wound.
"I can't go back.." The kid whispers.
"Hm?" Danny pauses and looks at his face. The kid is staring off.
"I became Robin to fix Batman. I'm too broken now." Danny has to swallow his anger.
"Kid, he's a grown ass man. It's not your fucking job to "fix" him. You're what? 10?" That gets the kid to react. He twitches at the first part, probably to protest, but ends up pouting at the end.
"I'm 13. And Batman would have died if I didn't step in."
"Maybe he should have if he can't help himself without a child soldier security blanket." Danny tells him and cuts off the kid's protest. "I understand he does a lot of good for this shit hole. At least if it isn't Crime Alley. But the dynamic I've seen between him and you Robin's isn't right. You deserve a mentor or whatever that actually cares about you and not just what you can do for him."
"Batman needs a Robin!" The shout triggers a giggle fit. Danny pauses his stitching, waiting it out.
It takes a minute, but the giggles subside. Danny continues the first aid. "Okay. But do the Robins need Batman?"
"What?"
"The first Robin seemed to be fine without the giant furry breathing down his neck, it wasn't until the second Robin died that Nightwing seemed to spiral." Danny prods a bruised area on his ribs, checking for a break. "How many times have they called you his name?"
"I... How do you know they do that?"
"An educated guess." The ribs are only bruised. "I can smell the guilty consciouses wafting off them, especially when I see them interacting with you in Gotham proper. They need therapy."
"They won't agree... and I don't know if I can because of Mama Harley.." The kid grimaces. "I mean Harley Quinn."
"That's fair. Would you be willing to do zoom meetings with my sister? She's a therapist, but is chill. She specializes in childhood trauma and veterans." Danny wraps bandages around a swollen ankle. "I'm Danny, by the way."
"...Tim.."
"Nice to meet you, Tim." Danny cleans and slap bandaids on some scrapes. "My sister's name is Jasmine Kronoskori. Think about looking her up when you're up for it."
"..okay.."
"Do you have family outside of the flying furries that I can drop you off with?" Danny asks gently.
"My parents won't be home for another month.." Tim giggles nervously. Time will tell if that particular conditioning will stick.
"Would you be okay with me taking care of you? I can't just leave you alone with the shit you've been through the last, what, month?" Danny quickly grabs a clean shirt and pajama pants from his room. "I can't in good conscious leave you alone."
Tim lets Danny dress him. The clothes absolutely drowned the kid since he's practically skeletal.
"Can.." Tim swallows more giggles, looking sad and guilty. "Can I stay here? I... I can't face Batman... Not yet.."
"Kid, I know barely anything about you and I'm fully willing to fist fight the furry and adopt you." Danny informs him. He adopted his murderous clone when he was actually 14. He'll adopt this tiny child with a savior complex.
"You Can't Do That!" Tim's eyes are wide and a little wild. "You're the same age as me!"
"I'm 40. I died and stopped aging at 14." Tim chokes on his own saliva. "And I adopted the kid that tried to kill me when I was actually 14. No one can tell me not to at least emotionally adopt you."
"Uh! I have so many questions!" Tim flails. Danny finds it adorable.
"I might answer." Danny says while heading towards his kitchen. On the plus side of being broke, he has plenty of foods that should be easy on Tim's stomach. He'll skip adding all the seasonings he usually adds for flavour. Even if Tim can handle the flavour, his stomach wouldn't be able to. "Any food allergies?"
"Um, coconut? I'm also mildly fructose and lactose intolerant?" Tim admits curiously. He twists to look over the back of the couch, watching Danny putter around the kitchen.
A quick internet search later, and Danny has a simple potato soup made up. Tim doesn't speak the whole time, but Danny explains what he's making and why. Danny hands Tim a bowl and sits with his own. "Eat slowly. You'll throw up if you don't, and that's the worst."
"You've thrown up because of eating too quickly when suffering starvation?" Tim asks.
"Yeah, I was in a dark place... I think it was 15 years ago. Tried to starve myself to death, didn't work obviously, but the recovery period was the worst." Danny shrugs, "Means I know how to help with that at least. Don't even have to give you the "you deserve to eat" speech Jazz gave me."
Tim shoots him more curious looks while following the advice of pacing. Once they're done eating, Danny takes and cleans the dishes. After that, he picks the kid up and tucks him into his bed. It's not the best, but it's clean and beats the couch.
"Get some sleep, kiddo. We can continue talking after you get some real rest." Danny smiles sadly, "I'll be checking on you periodically to make sure you don't take a turn for the worse."
Tim konks out near instantly, between being fed, bandaged up, and made to feel safe, kid never stood a chance. Danny can only accept his obsession isn't going to let him leave this kid alone.
Demon twins AU where everyone in the league thinks Danny is dead (as usual) but Danny got amnesia after arriving at the Fentons and then years later, the Justice league discovers and interacts with Phantom. (Naturally, Danny isn’t just going to reveal his half ghost status when he’s kept it a secret from his own parents, so the JL fully believe he’s a full ghost) and then Damian starts realizing there are familiar things about him. Soon, he realizes Phantom is the ghost of his dead brother, (the bats likely being aware of said dead brother’s existence at this point, maybe even having made a grave for him at the manor) but it appears Phantom didn’t recognize the bats or even the Wayne’s (which they tested by mentioning them and showing pictures, in case their disguises were good and Danyal just didn’t realize it was them. Yet Danyal knew Batman was their father. He should have known who Batman and the current Robin were.) and the JL know that some ghosts don’t remember their past (likely informed by Boston and Constantine. Some ghosts remember, some don’t) so the bats don’t tell Phantom that they know who he was because they don’t:t want to force him into an uncomfortable situation. Yet they are still trying to subtly get to know him.
There are so many AU’s where Danny recognizes the Wayne’s/bats and hides his identity from them but I want the bats to recognize Danny/Phantom, and hide it from him while trying to get to know their dead brother’s ghost. The brother they never met. And the Brother Damian has so many regrets with. This is a chance to start over. Without factoring in how he treated his brother. I can even see Jon trying to help Damian bond with Phantom.
But their interactions with the ghost are rare since there aren’t that many ghost or supernatural situations that require his help. They treasure the times he is there though.
Tim was missing
Tim has been missing for over 5 months now. This wouldn't be a usual concern for them if he had said he was going. After the whole going off the rails searching for Bruce when everyone thought he was dead and ending up blowing up League of assassin bases thing, Everyone decided it was best that there was a check-in. Gotham Vigilantes used the same system for the missions as the Justice League but after everything went on they decided to make their own.
They had a log on the bat computer for longer missions so people know where they're going. The check-in is usually once every 2 weeks if it's a deep cover Mission with trackers on at all times, but there has been nothing from Tim.
Everyone didn't really notice at first Tim left at a very busy time. Tim texted regularly in the first week and kept up with everything that was going on, that most of them thought he was still in Gotham.
When everyone noticed he wasn't there they thought it was just a regular mission, but when Babs needed him to double check something on a case file and realized he wasn't on the roster for no contact missions she started to get worried.
Apparently the last time anyone had seen him was when he was in the bat cave for a drug screening after a very bad scarecrow attack. His trackers were offline. All of his emergency buttons and trackers were sending a signal even if it was not trackable.
The most worrying part was the silence. usually they would hear some whisper if they'd been captured or God forbid if he was dead but there was nothing. Everyone tried to use every contact that they could think of but no one could find anything.
until now
Every single tracker on Tim lit up like a Christmas tree. It took barely a minute for everyone to start dispatching themselves to find him. Jason and Cass were the ones that were chosen to go. Tim ended up in an abandoned Laboratory. Everything they could find on the building in the paperwork was said to be abandoned just before building was finished. the second they saw the building in person you could tell that was wrong. it was definitely abandoned now but it looked like the people left in a rush. the people working there probably left a day or two ago. The dust barely just started to form.
When they looked on the trackers he looked to be in the basement level. As they walked through the building it was like every floor looked like it had been copy and pasted. Every room had white walls so it was easy to see the splatters of blood in the hallway leading to the room they were looking for. They were very concerned. The blood had specs of green that seemed to be luminescent even though the blood was dried. they feared for the worst.
Jason opened the door and looked inside with Cass not far behind. The room had white walls like the rest of the building but instead of the normal White/ yellow headlights from the rest of the rooms they were bright Blue. There was blood just like the hallway even down to the luminescing green specs. The room had two chairs on the side farthest from the door and a bed in the furthest corner. Tim was laying on the bed and looked to be staring at the ceiling. He had made no move to interact with them even as they got closer.
“Replacement” Jason whispered to Tim once he was by the bed. When Tim didn't respond he grabbed his rest to feel a pulse.
Even though it looked like he was breathing it could be his mind playing a trick on him. Jason needed to feel his pulse.
Jason felt the pulse, it was slow but it was there. Jason looked over to Cass and said ”he's alive all right”.
Relief very clearly in his tone. Cass's shoulders relaxed only a little after hearing that.
They looked him over trying to figure out why he wasn't responding. His heartbeat was slow like he was asleep but Tim was a light sleeper unless he was knocked out or drugged he usually woke up the second someone touched him.
he didn't look to be hooked up to any machinery and the place had been abandoned for at least the day before they arrived. he wasn't even wearing his vigilante outfit, he was in civilians clothes.
Once they realized they were getting nowhere with this they looked around the room as it was becoming clear they couldn't wake him up nor was he an immediate Danger. They decided to look around only the rooms near the one that Tim was contained in to make sure that there weren't other people there as that floor seemed to be a containment unit.
Jason decided to look in the other rooms while the Cass stayed in Tim's in case he woke up. As Jason left to search, he looked around the room. she ended up finding Tim's bag underneath the bed pushed to the furthest corner away from the door.
Cass sat down on the floor with her back leaning on the side of the chair. She searched through the bag. The more she looked through the more confused she got.
She couldn't find Tim's phone neither civilian nor hero. She couldn't find his laptop but she did find a tablet that she knew Tim hadn't had before. she would question if this was Tim's bag if not for the wallet and ID she found in the front pocket.
She found small things like a package of tissues, a water bottle, chapstick and some of Stephanie's hair ties. Cass could tell that they were Stephanie's due to the fact they were all purple.
She found a hidden Pocket as she was looking through the lining of the bag. It looked to be a syringe filled with glowing green liquid. The same green that seems to be in the blood from the hallway. In the same pocket there seems to be a folded file with medical scans stuffed in between. As Cass went through the bag there was one question that had been on her mind since the beginning.
Why was Tim here?
Danny has been reincarnated.
Which was an odd thing to realize, it wasn't even a slow one he just... snapped into it one day. One moment he was staring at a wall out of boredom the next, well, he was staring for an entirely different reason.
It was a task for his now young -he thinks around three years old?- mind to work its way through the memories, but it wasn't like he had much else to do honestly. So, what does he know?
His name is Danny, like, his actual name and not just a moniker. He was once a halfa and he already knows he's going to be missing invisibility and intangibility. He, well, died. For like, a second time which actually makes sense because reincarnation-
Anyways.
He was a clone of two people from this thing called the Justice League which, weird name but probably some government or activist group. Wonder Woman and Superman. Which were pretty weird names to name your kids but eh.
He doesn't really remember much besides that from this life, or the one from before but he's an adult! He'll figure things out once he gets out of this containment tube thing.
Did he mention he was in a test tube? He's a tube baby now. He thinks? Or maybe it's more like he's being contained.
Whatever.
So he breaks out. Thank you apparent superstrength that he has no idea why he has but he's not going to complain! He then wandered around all of the other test tubes, able to remember just enough of English to see that yea, they're dead.
He probably was too, before he had memories zapped into him. Or a vegetable.
He then finds this really big container, checks it out, then opens it because the clone inside isn't dead!
'Project Match' it said. He'll just call him Match.
Was he thanked for helping him? Nope. You would think that he would be thanked or at least somewhat respected for saving this guy but nope!
He was, quite literally, held up by his leg and dangled in the air. Who dangles a three-year-old?! Well, he was technically and adult but still! The next few things were a blur but after pulling off the old Fenton charm he found him and Match outside as he tried to stop him from attacking random people.
Luckily the charms and privilege of the youngest (he's assuming he's the youngest, because he's physically three) was more than enough to get through to him. Sure, the guy couldn't form words, really aggressive for literally no reason, really weird but also absolutely cool looking eyes. But he worked around the first issue by developing their own personal language from like grunts and stuff, the second he once again used his youngest privilege to boss him around and the third a pair of sunglasses easily fixed.
He just had to steer Match clear of those random S crest mark thingies. Which was a weird thing to hate but hey, he's not there to judge.
After moving to Gotham and having to deal with a stressful job, Danny has started taking walks around the city as a way to destress.
Since he knows that he could get mugged, he just becomes intangible and invisible while listening to some loud music on his phone.
Unfortunately for him, his control on his Invisibility keeps slipping when he gets lost in his music, and the people of Gotham keep seeing a semi-translucent ghost man walking around at night aimlessly.
Some thugs think it’s just a meta with invisibility and try to mug him, but pass right through and he disappears completely. This convinces them that he is a ghost, since having both invisibility, and intangibility would be too big a coincidence. Not to mention he never reacts to them whatsoever.
The Bat’s get word that a Ghost has been stalking the streets of Gotham, and he looks scarily like Bruce Wayne from the little they have been able to see from him. Now Batman thinks his dad may have come back as a ghost.
Danny is oblivious to all of this. He just likes his nightly strolls.
Tim tried to clone Kon again. Danny wakes up in a glass tube not knowing where he is and why he’s so much stronger.
Family Reunion AU, where cousins Maddie and Clark try to smuggle their clone children into the family reunion that happens every 5 years and pretend they've been there the whole time.
Spoiler alert, one of them does significantly better than the other. Mainly Kid POV, and also on AO3! Multichapter. ===
The problem with big family reunions, Danny thinks, is how utterly fucking lost Danny is all the gosh dang time.
"Well now, you're Maddie's son now ain'tcha? How old is you now?" The woman standing before him guffaws, ruffling his hair. He lets it, trying desperately to remember the speadsheet Jazz created for the family and (obviously) failing to recall this woman's name.
Agatha? Selene? Riri? No, Aunt Riri is over there—
"Yes ma'am," Danny smiles up at the unnamed aunt, accent going a little twangy like it always does at these functions, "I'll be hittin' 17 in a coupl'a months or so."
"My, my, you youngin's sure grow like weeds!" The aunt coos, gesturing to a height by her hip, "You used to be this tall last time I saw ya, betcha don't r'member me now do ya?"
It's a trap. If he says he doesn't remember, which is expected at reunions such as these that happen every 5 years or longer, she'll start going on and on about the stories she has of the family. Danny would have to stand here and demure and laugh at these cousins he doesn't really remember too well, but know enough to know that she's gotten them all mixed up.
"Pshaw," Danny doesn't react when a whisper breathes the answer into his ear, "I'd never forget a pretty lady like you, Aunt Helena!"
It works like a charm.
The second he's out of her clutches, he feels around for a cold spot. There, trailing just behind him, is Ellie. She's not invisible anymore, so he tucks her under his arm and bee-lines it towards the metaphorical kid's table.
"Thanks, Ellie. Weren't you supposed to stay with Dad?" Danny leads them around, trying to avoid any other mishaps. "Did Jazz send you?"
"She made me flashcards!" Ellie smirks up at him, ignoring his other question and pulling a corner of an index card out from the palm of her hand. She's always been better than him at manipulating the ecto in her body, for obvious reasons. Danny's not bitter about it at all.
"Damn, all I got was a presentation." Danny grumbles. Jazz and Dad somehow know every single one of their family members, which is ludicrous when even Mom doesn't know despite it being her side of the family.
He still can't really believe how big his family actually is, but he supposes that's natural. He only sees them once every couple of years, the only relative they see even on a remotely regular basis is Aunt Alicia, who has no kids and refuses (rightfully so) to remarry.
Danny's fine with that, he gets the best of both worlds after all. Cozy holiday stays with Aunt Alicia and he has places to stay all over the country if he really needs it, no questions asked.
Plus, crazy as they can be, these reunions have always felt like a big country festival for Danny.
"She likes me better." Ellie snickers, tugging him back to avoid Uncle Charlie's drunken stumbling.
"Everyone likes you better," Danny rolls his eyes, pushing Ellie's head down and ducking to avoid a stray kid's toy flying overhead, "I like you better."
As if somehow knowing Danny's being self deprecating again, Jazz shows up to smack him on the head. "I like both of you equally in special ways."
Danny makes a disgruntled noise, grumbling as he rubs his head, "Mooooom, Jazz is therapizing me again!"
Even though he was only half joking, Mom does show up specifically to laugh at him. "Honey, your father and I love all our children equally!"
"It's a secret," Dad says from behind Jazz, kids climbing all over him, "But Ellie's the favorite!"
"Jack!" Mom yells at the same time Jazz screams, "Dad!"
Ellie dissolves into giggles, making everyone but Dad helplessly laugh. It's good to see Ellie laugh, she does it a lot but it still doesn't feel like it's enough. Danny picks her up, giggling mess and all, and tosses her at Dad.
She lands, as expected, straight into the pile of children who scream and accept her easily.
"Nice." Jazz chuckles, this time patting him gently on his head in approval. Danny shrugs, dusting his hands off and heading back towards salvation: the food.
He and Jazz mingle a bit, exchanging greetings and school updates with the Aunts and Uncles they occasionally bump into, making their way slowly through and keeping an eye out for the other cousins.
Eventually, Jazz gets nabbed by Cousin Dermot just as Danny reaches the table, tossing a pig-in-a-blanket into his mouth and chewing with glee. The locals of the family usually something potluck style—and though Dad's genes are strong and the Fentons can't cook, the bulk of the Walker family definitely can.
In fact—Great Aunt Martha said she was going to bring some mini pies right?
Danny spies a pile of them in the middle of the large table and reaches for one, only to bump into the spikes of black fingerless gloves.
The gloves are, of course, attached to someone else.
It's a boy, around Danny's age, in a spiked leather jacket (matching the gloves) and white tee shirt with ripped jeans. He's got the tiniest John Lennon sunglasses and piercings everywhere—it makes Danny squint at him, with how much the sun keeps catching on everything—the spikes, the piercings, the metal arms of the sunglasses, is this dude also wearing lipgloss?
Danny's not judging, a guy can appreciate proper hydration to avoid chapped lips or even just for the aesthetic, but it doesn't help with the glare.
"Sorry, my bad." Right, okay, city slicker then. Not that Danny's much of a country boy or anything. "Did my spikes get you?"
Maybe Cousin Jenny brought a plus one? Danny eyes the guys jeans—they look tight. Was Cousin Mark into guys? Is this dude a guy or possibly a masculine girl? Ack. Stupid sun frying his brain.
"It's okay," Danny says, blinking away and tossing mini pie to the other person. "Aunt Martha's pies are worth the minor injury. You comin' in with one of the cousins?"
"Uh, yeah." Citypunk looks at Danny nervously, "I mean, I am one of the cousins." The guy bites his lips, shrugging, "Uh, one of the Kents, actually. Ma's real proud of the pies."
Danny blinks.
"…You're not Jon." Danny says, very carefully and slowly.
"…No…" Stranger Danger draws his vowels out, "I'm Conner. His, uh, older brother? Can't blame ya for being confused though!"
"…You can't." Danny agrees, because out of the two them, Danny definitely isn't to blame for the confusion.
"Yeah, lots of cousins, and all," Curiouser and Curiouser beams at Danny, shrugging and rubbing the back of his neck, "Plus, I know Jon's more sociable at these things."
"Right, he really is rambunctious, that guy." Danny nods, as if that's the problem, and not the fact that Danny knows every single cousin his age. Big as his family might be, Danny's generation came out the smallest. Cousin Jenny and Cousin Mark are the only two his age.
With Ellie and Jazz each being four years younger and older than Danny, and the other cousins being well beyond those ages in gaps, there is no way this guy is a cousin.
"Don't worry," Punk'd laughs self deprecatingly, "I know he's the favorite. even if Mom won't admit it."
Danny feels a vein throb in his right temple.
He's unsure if he should slowly back away or get up in the guy's face. It's just—now that Danny thinks about it, if wedding crashing is a thing, does that mean family reunion crashing is a thing too?
What's the protocol here? Should he fight this guy for having the audacity to use Great Aunt Martha's name in vein?
Wait, no, that's Jesus.
Is Great Aunt Martha Catholic? ...Is that the one with Jesus, or was that Christianity?
Wait, Danny, you knuckle head, Uncle Clark was adopted. Conner could be adopted too! Even though he looks exactly like that Uncle Clark when he was younger…
"Is this your first time at a reunion?" Danny ventures, "We only have 'em—"
"Every 5 years, yeah." Conner huffs, "Nah, I just used to hide with Ma in the kitchens."
Okay, clearly Great Aunt Martha isn't in on this, because Danny used to hide with Great Aunt Martha in the kitchens. Danny's about to lose his shit on this guy—or maybe sic Ellie on him. Whichever is worse.
"Oh yeah? That's must have been cozy." Danny grits out, taking a deep breath so his eyes don't flash.
"Yeah, it was!" Conner beams shyly. though all Danny sees is a smug smirk. "She's real nice-like, I'm sure you know. Real lucky to have her for a Grandma."
"Real lucky." Danny agrees, because Great Aunt Martha really was one of the better Great Aunts. Though most of the Walker Kin were hardy and tough, in that badass kind of way. Mom really liked Great Aunt Martha's lessons on bull wranglin' back when they were younger. "Speakin' of, she ain't here?"
"Nah," Conner makes a sad little pout. "She hadta stop by Auntie Agatha's for an emergency. She left two days ago, so she's runnin' a little behind. Cl—Dad went to go pick her up."
Danny squints at the possible imposter. That sounded like he was going to call Uncle Clark by his name, which makes things confusing for Danny. Guy will call Aunt Lois Mom but he won't call Uncle Clark Dad easily? Maybe he's a kid Aunt Lois had before marrying Uncle Clark? But Aunt Lois would never hide a kid, and Great Aunt Martha would never let her treat a kid like that. That's not even taking into account that this kid looks way too much like Uncle Clark for it to be a fucking coincidence. Plus, Danny knew about Aunt Aggie's emergency and how she might not be making it to this year's reunion—this gives Conner's story credibility.
But Danny knows that the best way to lie is with truths, even if the truths are confusing.
So what the hell is going on? Is Clockwork fucking with him? Did an alternate timeline get switched with his?
It wouldn't be the first time, but Clockwork at least had the decency to let him know at least.
"What the—" Danny blinks, as Conner picks up a very familiar, eye-searingly green colored post it note that was stuck to the plate under a mini pie. "Is this yours?"
"Yeah," Danny huffs. taking the note and rolling his eyes as lies roll off his tongue, "Sorry, y'know how it goes with Jazz."
"Oh, yeah." And Danny has to give it Conner, he at least rolls with the punches real quick, "I heard about it but didn't ever uh, see it in action."
"Really?" Danny feigns surprise, head pulsing in irritation at the words all is as it should be written in purple pen. There's no mocking smiley face, but Danny feels it in the ink anyway. "Thought she got all the cousins at the last reunion."
Conner chuckles nervously, "Oh, yeah—Guess I'm just, easy to miss you know?"
"Uh huh…" Danny eyes the guy and his piercings and very distinct style, from the tip of his clearly styled hair and needlessly ostentatious big black studded boots. "…Right."
Conner laughs, wincing. "These're new. High school debut."
"…You're a freshman?" Danny tilts his head, squinting.
"Junior." Conner automatically corrects, before stiffening. "…I just wanted to reinvent myself for Junior Prom."
"Right." Danny repeats, drawing out the vowels and finally giving up. He can tell Conner already knows what Danny is going to ask, and is trying to exit this conversation post-haste.
Fortunately for Conner and unfortunately for Danny, Jazz comes barreling in, almost knocking the former out in the process as she grips the latter's biceps tightly with her eyes wide and nervous.
Unfortunately for Conner and fortunately for Danny, though the look in Jazz's eyes thoroughly distracts the latter and gives the former a window to escape, Jazz's hissed out words end up keeping Conner rooted to the floor.
"Baby Jon has powers!" Jazz hisses as she moves Danny away from the possible imposter a couple feet. Even though she says it low enough for only Danny to hear, Conner's wide eyes as he whips his gaze towards them suggests that Jon's not the only one with powers.
And then words actually register along with that thought.
Danny hisses out the first thing he thinks of. "Since when?? I thought he took after Aunt Lois!"
"Since now," Jazz gruffs, switching her grip to drag Danny away, "and I need you to do something about it!"
"What?" Danny doesn't struggle, going along even as he eyes Conner who seems to be following them at a distance. "Why?"
Jazz pushes him towards the kid's area, rushing out a frantic "He's in the bounce house with Ellie!"
Danny freezes, or tries to even as Jazz keeps tugging him along, before shaking off her hand and booking it towards the bounce house.
Once the bounce house (a castle) comes into view, Danny clocks several things in succession:
One: Ellie and Jon are thankfully the only ones in the bounce house right now.
Two: Ellie and Jon are laughing, and through the mesh Danny can see Ellie watching Jon jump way too high to be considered normal.
And three: The bounce house is about to fucking tip over.
There's a gaggle of Aunts herding the younger cousins towards the food that's dense enough for cover, but sparse enough for Danny to dash through.
Between one blink and the next, he disappears.
A group of cultists summon the Ghost King. Or, they tried to at least.
Instead what they got was a boy, an actual child, standing in the circle with a dead tired closed eyed face. Holding a mug of -from what they saw and assumed- warm milk. Practically smothered in a pretty fluffy and elegant cloak that was far larger than the child was.
"G'night, or is it morning here? I don't know man, time between dimensions is weird." The child said, muttering the rest of his sentence before he took a sip from his cup. "Hello? Yea, hello. I'm your mandated summoned royal because the King is away on uh..." He paused, taking another sip. "Sick... Leave. Yea, sick leave. So I'm here to help you with whatever you want I guess. Just so you know though, I don't vibe with the whole genocide, murder or offering the souls of either yourselves or others thing."
He took another sip from his cup, swaying sleepily on his feet slightly as he waited for the cultists to state their demands.
Unaware of the fact that said cultists were currently experiencing varying levels of psychic damage.
"Uh, not to be rude." The Ghost Prince pipped up after a few, rather long, moments of silence. "But can you hurry up? I really want to go to sleep after this."
Another Clone Danny x batfam au, Danny was also full dead before he's shoved into a clone body, but it's not really relevant in this part.
[Pt2: here]
Danny isn't a hundred percent sure how he got here. Last thing he remembered was running away from the GIW and his parents. They got a lucky shot on him, and he was losing ectoplasum fast. He's pretty sure he was about to fully End. He remembers being mildly amused over his parents' inventions killing him twice, before it all goes dark.
He woke up as a baby. A clone baby by the looks of his environment, an underground lab(?). His creator(?) is staring at him as if he's a miracle, and given the fancy sci-fi screen thingy (a tablet? Or ipad? He's not sure how he knows these terms) in front of the cloning tank say "attempt 99", he probably is this guy's miracle.
Danny doesn't see anyone else around, and this guy, a teenager about Jazz's age (?), seems happy on a personal level to see Danny wiggling in the tank. So it's not likely he was forced to do this. Whatever this is..
"I did it...? Holy shit! I did it!" The teen cheers before freezing, "I'm a parent now.. I did not think this through... welp, I'm a parent now."
The guy checks his vitals before draining the tank. Danny is handled as if he's the most precious, yet breakable thing in the world to this kid.
"Hello, I'm Tim, your dad, I guess." The kid, Tim, introduces himself, and Danny giggles at him because if Danny was a normal baby, he'd have no idea what he was saying. "You're the clone of my dead best friend. He was half kryptonian. I promise to do my best to help you learn your powers and culture. I'll break into Clark's ice fortress if I have to to do it."
Danny has no idea what any of that means, but Tim seems determined, so Danny isn't too worried. He's more worried about the power thing. Are they going to be completely different from his old ones? Does he still have access to his ghost powers?
His little baby body can't handle his big emotions, and he starts crying. Tim panics, checking for mess, before realizing he doesn't have baby supplies. He clearly didn't think his cloning attempt would work with how unprepared he is. And that's valid if Danny really is his 99th attempt.
Tim bundles Danny up and rushes them to the nearest store that has baby supplies. Danny is clothed and fed promptly and given a wolf plushy. Danny isn't sure about the wolf thing, but the stuffie does sooth his baby instincts, so he rolls with it.
"Alright, baby. I... I didn't think of a name for you. I originally was trying to make a clone closer to Kon's age and figured they could name themselves, like Kon did." Tim sighs, slightly rocking Danny in his arms. "Man, I must seem insane talking to a baby. A baby I made because I couldn't deal with one more person in my life being dead or gone."
Danny notes the interesting wording.
"Okay. Can you understand me at all? I forgot to adjust the knowledge download to a year old's level, but that doesn't mean your baby brain absorbed any of the info."
Ooooh, that explains why he knows things that didn't exist where he's from.
Danny blows spit bubbles and attempts to nod. It's a bit hard, his baby muscles not developed enough for the action. Tim understands, though.
"Okay, okay." Tim looking both scared and relieved. "How about you pat me once for yes and twice for no? At least for now. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
Danny lightly smacks a hand to Tim's face. They both giggle over it.
"Alright, so I'm going to list off names, and you can tell me yes or no, okay?" One pat. "Okay, let's see."
Danny wonders if he can get a new name that can still let him have Danny as a nickname.
"Jasper" No
"Darin" No
"Dugu" No??
"Presh?" No! Tim? Where are you getting these names??
"Ratan" No
"Cicil" No
"Matthew" No
"Theo?" No
"Alihan" No
"Atiya" Nope
"Tesher" No
"Senai" No
"Uuum... Habwat?" No
"Geoffrey" No
"Amari?" Nope
"Jordan" ... huh, technically could get Danny from that, but still. No.
"Riley?" No
"Drew?" Nope
"Nova" Oooo so tempting, but no
"Esteban" Nope
"Izar" No
"Aedan?" You know what, good enough. That's Danny's new name.
Tim looks misty eyed when Danny finally agrees to a name.
"Alright, welcome to the world, Aedan Drake." Danny blows bubbles at him. "We'll visit adding Kent and getting you a proper kryptonian name when you can actually speak and understand what those names mean. Kon's human name was Conner Kent, and his kryptonian name was Kon-El. It translates to abomination of the house of El. He was a clone of Kal-El and wasn't treated well for it. I won't let the Els treat you as they treated him."
Tim looks pissed on his friend's behalf and cradles Danny protectively.
"The Els don't matter anyways. You will always be a Drake. And Drakes protect what they claim with viciousness." He kisses Danny's forehead. He then moves to the fanciest computer Danny has ever seen, and with the hand not supporting Danny's body, starts designing what appears to be a bulletproof and stabproof baby carrier. "I should have waited til after I finish hunting for clues to get Bruce, he's my adoptive father, out of the timestream. My siblings think I'm crazy, which creating a clone isn't helping my case over, but I know he's alive. I found evidence, just not enough to prove it to them."
Danny starts nodding off. Tim's ramblings are soothing and his hold gentle, Danny's tiny baby body doesn't stand a chance at staying awake. He's sad he's missing out on all the dad lore because of it.
Once the carrier is ready, Tim starts going out and taking Danny with him. Danny is actually pretty safe on these outings. The carrier is bulletproof, stabproof, has tinted bulletproof glass so Danny can get sun without people seeing him, it's temperature controlled, well ventilated, and has plenty of cushion. Seriously, Danny is sure the whole thing is like 60 pounds with him in it, but Tim gives zero fucks. He's determined to keep Danny safe.
It's super touching. And Danny swears to one day return the favour. The day is closer than he thinks when a creepy old fucker crawls out of the woodworks. Danny hates him instantly. Tim explaining the creep's relation to Tim's family doesn't change Danny's mind. In fact, it probably makes his opinion on this Ra's Al Gul even worse. And once he sees how that pedo looks at his sweet new dad, he plans to be an absolute menace.
Something has changed. Everyone in the hero community could feel it, even the ones outside of the Justice League.
Over night it seemed like all of them got stronger, faster and more resilient when they were trying to protect someone.
On the other hand, if one of them tried to use their skills to do something unheroic, it was harder to use them and other heros seemed to be able to sense their betrayal easier.
It took some time for Zatanna and the rest of the Justice League Dark to figure out what was going on. Mostly because they didn't think of this specific thing.
A new god had ascended. Something that happened rarely, especially nowadays. But the magic users were sure. Every hero they had checked, had a divine blessing from a new patron god. And every former hero who had fallen to villainy in the last few month had a curse put on them.
The god of super heros had ascended and was watching over them. While some heros got paranoid, others felt some sense of pride and relief.
And maybe it wasn't a bad thing, if something else was making sure that evil wouldn't take hold of them. As soon as they knew their name, they could properly worship them.
Danny Fenton sends Superman a fan email in which he asks for advice. In it he says he is also a non-human hero (he is vague because being a ghost is illegal) Danny mentions that he is being raised by humans. His parents don't know about his activities or species and hate his kind.
Danny was mostly looking for advice on how to make people stop being scared of his non-human characteristics. But Clark really sees himself in this teenager's email. He knows he was lucky to get parents who loved him even as an alien, but he also recalls being young and scared that would change.
So they start regularly exchanging emails, and Superman becomes a kind of mentor even if Danny refuses to tell him anything about his identity.
Im real I just don’t like talking or posting on anything. Also chronically frustrated when I forget to like something.
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