Danny Is Just Smiling, So Wide, Bloody Nose And All. And Then His Face Crumpled And He Starts To Sniff.

Feral McGee™

It starts with the Joker. 

His goons picked up Tim Drake. Not specifically because it was Tim Drake, he just so happened to be in the Joker’s neighborhood, and we'll, he can't pass up that opportunity now can he? 

Except Tim Drake is watching, along with the rest of Gotham, at the Batcomputer. He’s nursing a broken foot and has been put on monitor duty until he's cleared for field work again. 

The guy looks enough like him, though. Black hair, blue eyes, and bags under his eyes for days. He's also got the same lean sort of build like he does. 

It happens like this. 

The Joker is doing his monologue thing where he explains whatever twisted game he's come up with this time. He takes up the majority of the screen, so nobody can see Not-Tim behind him, not until the big reveal. Then he covers the screen again, getting up close and personal, before stepping back. In those quick few seconds, Not-Tim is no longer sitting there tied to the chair. 

Someone off camera lets the Joker know, and he whirls around, confused as the rest of Gotham. 

And then Not-Tim comes in with the steel chair. 

Or, well, a crowbar, but the reference holds up. 

He takes out one of Joker’s knees before punching him in the face. The Joker drops like a bag of stones, out cold. 

Then he looks towards the camera. 

“Hey there. I'm not really sure where I am, but also if he was after Tim Drake, he got the wrong guy. I'm not him, I'm just some dude. Anyway, I'll just-yep-” he carefully steps over the unconscious Joker, gives the camera a little wave, and then leaves. 

Batman and Nightwing enter shortly after, with the Joker and his goons out cold and tied up. The knots were complicated enough where, in the end, the police resorted to cutting the ties off of them so they could be properly cuffed and taken to Arkham. 

“A constrictor knot,” Batman tells Nightwing as they watch the villain be taken away. “Often used by sailors to temporarily tie things together to keep something in a bag, or to hold something to glue it back together.”

“Huh,” Nightwing says, scratching the back of his head. “Go figure.”

—

The next time it happens, it’s the Riddler. 

He’s laughing, giving his riddles to the Bats and recording himself to all of Gotham while his victim, one of the Wayne brats, hangs over a vat of something. From a distance, he looks like Tim Drake, or maybe a lankier Dick Grayson. And he’s not the only victim, they’re all scattered across the city, but he thought an important figure such as a Wayne should be under the Riddler’s direct supervision while he enacts his schemes. 

While the Riddler cackles and plots and waves his cane around, in the background all of Gotham can see the figure escape. Several Gothamites recognize him as the kid from before, who clocked the Joker. They all watch with bated breath as he sort of wiggles his way out of the ropes holding him up. Once he’s free, he climbs the rope and gets himself down safely. 

Gotham holds their breath as the kid casually walks up to the Riddler, who’s mid-rant. He politely taps him on the shoulder, and as the Riddler is turning around, the kid clocks him just as brutally as he had the Joker. He’s down with one punch. 

They think he’s going to say another sort of awkward goodbye, but instead he pats the Riddler down until he finds a piece of paper tucked into the inside pocket of his jacket. 

“Right,” the kid says, looking at the list. There’s a lot more static overlay now, and several wonder if it’s damage to the cameras. “Uh, the Clocktower, the Docks, and-” he squints at the page for a moment-”Mama Nacaroni’s? What the fuck is that? Anyway, uh. See you later, I guess. Oh! And we’re at the Gotham Arena. Have fun with him, I guess.”

The kid tosses the paper off to the side before the camera cuts to black. 

Just like last time, everyone is out cold and tied up. The Riddler himself is sporting a pretty bad shiner, but well deserved nonetheless. 

“Stop it,” Red Hood tells him. Batman just looks at him, and though Hood can’t see the top half of his face, he can tell that his eyebrow is raised. “You know exactly what I mean, B. Put the adoption papers away.”

“Hn.”

—

After that, it sorta becomes a game. The rogues of Gotham are no longer after a Wayne, or after anybody who holds any kind of social status like usual. They’re all going after this one kid, all determined to be the one to hold him. And each one is televised. 

Mr. Freeze freezes him in a block of ice, but due to the cameras glitching out, nobody can really see how he got free. They do, however, see the kid suplex Mr. Freeze. It should seem impossible, given his lanky figure, but he evidently has more muscle than he’s originally let on. 

Two-Face gets a hold of him, using chains and some power-dampening cuffs just on the off-chance that he’s a meta. They all watch as the kid leans down, pulls a bobby pin out of his hair, and picks the locks on his cuffs. One punch, and Two-Face is down. 

Gothamites are going wild for the kid. They’ve dubbed him Feral McGee™ (an online poll, of course), because every time he goes in for the punch he gets this feral look in his eyes. Also, just the fact that he casually goes up to these rogues and takes them out with all the casualness of doing something incredibly mundane? Incredible. The Gothamites are eating it up. However, despite the video evidence, nobody has been able to properly identify the kid. They know he has black hair and bright eyes, but any time he gets near a camera, it’s like there’s this weird, sort of warped quality the camera takes on. It doesn’t usually calm down until the fight is done-as one sided as they usually are-before he awkwardly skedaddles away.  

He gets kidnapped by the Penguin, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy (though that was more just a friendly chat than anything), Mad Hatter, and the Riddler again. 

And then the Joker escapes. 

It’s no surprise as to who he’s going to go after. 

Due to one too many careless goons, they manage to find their way to the Joker’s hideout pretty quickly. This time, it’s all Bats on deck, and they all hide away in the rafters as Feral McGee™ is hung over a vat of acid. His whole body is tied up, hardly a single inch of exposed skin to be seen except for the neck up. 

They watch the goons, they watch the Joker, and they watch Feral McGee™. 

The Joker is monologuing, practically begging the bats to come find him before the timer runs out. When it does, the kid gets dumped into the vat of acid. 

Despite these stakes, the kid seems to be only mildly annoyed. 

“Fuck this, I have homework I still need to finish,” they hear him say. 

They all watch, amazed and confused, as the kid starts gnawing through the ropes. Human teeth shouldn’t be able to do that so easily, but one bit after the other, and soon enough the kid’s got himself freed enough to just climb up the rest of the rope. When he’s at the top of the crane holding him up, Batman lets down a rope and pulls the kid up and out of danger. 

“Oh, cool, you’re all here,” the kid says casually, as if meeting the entire Bat Clan is just a normal Tuesday. And then he pulls out a notepad and pen and hands it to Red Hood. 

“Can I get an autograph? You’re dope as fuck, dude.”

Red Hood has to look away and hide his face in his arms for a few moments to not give away their location with his laughter before signing. And then, one by one, the others do as well. They pass along the kid’s notebook with shit-eating grins and barely contained snickers despite the fact that the Joker is still right below them. Even Batman signs it, after his children don’t stop hounding him about it. 

In their distraction, they didn’t see the kid sneak away. He’s far away from them now, nearly right over the Joker. Danny waits, though, until the Joker has turned around as the timer almost runs out. They watch as he snickers at Joker’s flabbergasted look. The Joker comically looks back and forth and under objects the kid obviously isn’t under. However, before he can do or say anything else, the kid drops from the rafters and right on top of the Joker. He crumples to the ground, unconscious. The kid, however, just brushes the dust off of himself. Despite the fall he took, there isn’t a scratch on him. 

When the bats join him, they give his notepad back to him, barely able to contain their laughter at the absurdity of it all. The kid, too, joins in the camaraderie, laughing and joking along with them as Batman secures the Joker. 

“Okay, okay, but I gotta ask, dude,” Red Hood says at one point, looking at the kid. “How do you keep getting kidnapped?”

The kid just shrugs. “I get distracted easily. And I’m sleep deprived, so you know. Social awareness is kind of at an all time low right now.”

“Why are you sleep deprived?” Nightwing asks, barely hidden concern in his voice. 

 “Finals are kinda kicking my ass right now. Especially this dumb English homework I have. You guys wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“Oh, lucky for you,” Red Hood says, wrapping an arm around the kid’s shoulders as he walks them out of the warehouse, “I happen to know a lot about English. So, it is Shakespeare?”

“Yeah, Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

As they walk off, Batman calmly watches, though the rest of the bats can see his jaw twitching. Nightwing comes up behind him, clapping a hand on his shoulder. 

“If you don’t adopt him, I will.”

“Hn.”

I like the way it looks.

*gathers all of the people in the world who write the number 7 with a little dash in the center of it so I can study them like little critters and find out what makes them do that*

Say hello to Leshen, it/its pronouns. It likes to kill humans and subsume their flesh and souls into its forest. From my fic Who's Old Now, on Ao3.

He has artifacts of several dozen extinct/endangered cultures. Sometimes he will share or show you them if you ask nicely. He has a pouch of Martian seeds that he uses to grow some cool plants with Sam. He gifted Martian Manhunter several seeds and sprigs so he could have a piece of his home. But for the rude people who demand he hand over his rightfully gained gifts, well, how about no.

DP x DC prompt

Time traveling Danny Phantom doing missions for Clockwork. On these missions he makes friends and learns about the culture. He always comes back with souvenirs they can be clothes, weapons, books, anything really.

Aquaman invites the Justice League to his birthday party in Atlantis. Everyone was happy to come especially Phantom who was so excited because he hasn't visited Atlantis in a while. Before Arthur could ask what he meant by that Phantom flew away.

Cue Phantom showing up in traditional royal Atlantean clothing that hasn't been worn in hundreds of years because the material went extinct. Now Danny has to fight off Queen Mera and historians demanding he hands it over, while he is refusing to because a kind man gifted it to him for helping save his son and daughter.

Bruce, busting in: WHERE IS HE.

*Batfam proceeds to tear down the entire GIW in epic cross country road trip full of red herrings, false leads, cold leads, and emotional breakdowns*

Jason, in Gotham, still forgetting to contact his family: More pancakes?

Danny: Yes please.

Short DPXDC Prompts #657

It was supposed to be a basic bust. Get in, beat up the goons, alert the GCPD of the illegal goods, get out.

This bust wasn’t the same. The strange men in the white suits overwhelmed Nightwing and Red Hood and knocked them out. Nightwing woke up still in the warehouse. Red Hood however, was gone.

Red Hood didn’t know what these Ghost Investigation Ward guys wanted him for but a sinking feeling in his gut said that it wasn’t for anything good

Ok what this about a mountain?? Bird boy?

That's @st-whalefall 's story, it's pinned on their profile, so if you're interested you should check it out.

Danny: You think because they're the same species as me they'll listen? No. Some people just hate and hate because they WANT TO. I can't change people. Some people just don't care. I'm fourteen. It's not my job to fix other people. YOU break them up. You volunteered for this, you want to fix it, you go ahead and try. There is no right side here, and so few are willing to listen. I was on my own. Now it's your turn.

“That’s it! I give up!” Phantom yelled. As though he had said something blasphemous, all fighting stopped as the participants stared in confusion. “You humans think you’re the paragon of all existence, proclaiming that anything different is lesser. Well we aren’t! We’re just as sentient as you are, and we have thoughts and feelings! You just choose to ignore it so you can justify your xenophobic actions!”

Phantom turned to Technus, who had frozen in shock as Phantom went on his tirade. “And you! Tell the other ghosts I’m done saving them, too, because none of you care! You don’t care if property is destroyed, or if humans get hurt, or if other ghosts get hurt! All you care about is your stupid Obsessions! You’re too caught up in your own mind to see what you’re doing to everyone around you!”

“But your Obsession is Protection, is it not? You’ve never stepped down from a fight-“ Technus began. Phantom didn’t let him finish.

“My Obsession is Space! If I had my way, I’d spend my nights stargazing, or maybe even on the moon! Instead I’m stuck cleaning up your messes because you can’t control yourselves!” Phantom growled. He glared at the crowd of people who had gathered, curious as to why all fighting had stopped.

“Humans are cruel and hateful. Ghosts are ignorant and careless. I’m tired of wasting my time protecting both sides from the other and being blamed for it. I quit. If anyone dies, or is captured, it’s no longer my problem.“

Like that, Phantom vanished.

The Fentons celebrated, not even noticing Technus make his own escape. The crowd murmured, worry just as prevalent as confidence. The few phones that were recording the event were put away, and later the footage would be checked. Unfortunately, most recordings were corrupted beyond recognition.

Most, but not all.

——————————————————

Amity Park. Ground Zero for the start of the war between the Living and the Dead. Humanity and Ghosts.

Why it had only recently escalated to this, Batman couldn’t tell. His research found that there had been a portal opened to the Realms years ago, and the laws passed just a year after that. Most of the town was stuck behind an information blackout that the government refused to give access to. Whatever happened, Constantine assured him that it was almost certainly the government’s fault.

After almost three weeks of trying to get beyond the firewalls, he finally figured it out. “Research” that claimed ghosts were nothing but evil. News articles calling “Phantom” a troublemaker. Forums that spoke about how “Phantom” ruined the town while fighting other ghosts.

A video, old and grainy but still clear enough to be used as evidence. A glowing, white-haired boy that told everyone he was done. That he was tired of fixing everything. Of saving everyone. That nobody was good, everyone was bad, and they were on their own.

They used to have a hero, but Phantom left. Without him, both sides tore at each other until there was nothing but an all-out assault. They needed to stop this, but without a mediator they would not make it through to the ghosts.

If they could find Phantom, perhaps they could fix everything before it was too late.

By LabradoriteKing on Pinterest

Fanart for @playedcrowd5610 and their fic Resurrected on Ao3!

Dinah's never been particularly... religious. She hardly ever prays, but even less expects to be answered. But the last time, she was, and now...

Dinah knelt at the small altar she had made. It was simple, and honestly more of a completed checklist of things from the book Constantine had given her.

A metal bowl of offered food. Dinah went with grapes as it seemed the safest option, given she didn't know who or what she was praying too. Sticks of incense, an unoffensive orange blossom scent. A cup of rose water, as a fancy but low key offering. She wasn't still entirely sure about doing this, but, well... They'd answered her before, and she didn't know if they'd answer again. Better to establish some form of rapport now.

John's book had been very clear that there was no fury like a god scorned, and Dinah would rather not to have to fight off another invasion.

Dinah carefully lit the incense and clasped her hands in what she hoped was an appropriately prayerful position.

"Hello," Dinah said quietly. "I am Black Canary, and two weeks ago you answered my prayer to help protect people. I don't know if it was a one off thing, or you want me to be a follower of yours, or what you want at all.

I'm not going to demand anything. I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for answering my prayers. Thank you for lending me the power to protect people. Thank you for helping me save my loved ones. Whoever you are... thank you,"

Dinah kept her head lowered for a few moments more, breathing in the orange blossom incense and out her worries and fears. It felt a little like meditation.

When Dinah lifted her head, her eyes immediately zoned in on the empty bowl and cup. The cup was empty, but in place of the grapes there was a scrap of blindingly neon green paper.

Dinah picked it up carefully, and not for the first time hoped that John hadn't steered her wrong.

I'm glad I could help, it read. I'm called Phantom, and if you need help protecting people again, I will be there if you call. Acceptable offerings include chips, soda, and NASA souvenirs if it's a really big thing.

Well. Dinah blinked at the paper. That could have gone worse.

Black Canary is in a tight spot. She prays to any high power that might be listening to help, and she actually gets it.

There's a huge alien spacecraft about to land, it's a total invasion attempt, if that mothership lands then it's gameover, and it's all hands on deck.

Specifically, the Mothership is an unholy amalgamation of magic and alien tech, and if it lands, it'll start pumping pollutants that will change the ecosystem on Earth and make it unable to support Humans.

It'll terraform into something for the aliens at an extremely accelerated rate.

Everyone is preoccupied.

The Mothership is getting closer.

Dinah prays to someone, anyone, to help her keep that thing off the ground.

She opens her mouth...

...And lets out the strongest, most powerful scream she's ever let out.

The Mothership isn't just thrown back, it's torn to pieces. Those pieces are then shoved well past the stratosphere.

Anything that was in the air around the mothership is decimated.

The buildings below it are starting to crumble.

Black Canary stands on the street, voice gone from the strain, and stares blankly at the destruction.

Who, exactly, had she called on?

Or: Undirected prayers go to the Infinite Realms, for anyone to look at. Prayers allow the Prayee to borrow something from the Being that accepts the Prayer. Danny accepts Black Canary's, and lets her borrow his Wail. Except he wasn't expecting the difference between his home dimension and hers to be so great, because while it's considered an overpowered ability even in his own dimension, in her's it could accurately be classified as Godly.