So, I'm Gonna Write About How Carl Got His Name, Because Why Not?-------The Office Dani Was Currently

So, I'm gonna write about how Carl got his name, because why not? ------- The office Dani was currently in was decorated with weapons she didn't know the names of, maps of places that probably didn't exist anymore, and thousands of books in languages she didn't know. Normally she'd be trying to steal one of the maps or weapons (She always got caught) or begging the owner of those books to teach her the languages they were written in. (The old ghost aways looked happy when she asked him to teach her) But she had something more important to do now. Dani placed her chin on a glowing wooden desk as she stared at the ghost behind it, the ghost in question being Danny's second in command. The older ghost seemed unfazed by her staring, then again, he always seemed unfazed by everything. It was weird referring to him as 'Danny's second in command' when he probably had a name she could use, but the problem was that she didn't know it. He had never introduced himself, and she doesn't think she's ever heard anyone call something other than 'sir' or 'leader' She didn't think even Danny knew his name. "Can I help you, princess?" The ghost asked, he didn't look up from the complex forms on his desk, but Dani knew she had his attention. Dani thought about it for a second, was this going to be rude? Jazz said that things that might not be rude to humans would come across as rude to ghosts and vice versa, oh well she'd deal with it if it was. "What's your name?" The older ghost faltered as if caught off guard. "My name? I do not believe anyone has asked me that question in a long time." He admitted thoughtfully like he was searching his memory for the last time someone asked, it seemed to take him longer than it should have. "Well, what is it?" Dani questioned curiously, drawing him out of his thoughts. "Hmm, I do not remember it." He said unbothered, like it was something he had gotten used to. Dani gasped, eyes going wide. "How do you not remember it!?" Names were important, at least that's what Danny said when he gave her one, they weren't something you just forget. "As I said, it has been a long time since someone asked for it, or used it." Well that was sad. "So nobody knows your name?" She asked, there had be someone out there who knew him. The ghost paused. "Well, there is someone who might know it." Dani perked up, ready to go track down that random ghost and and get the information from them. He must have sensed her thoughts because he tacked on. " Unfortunately, I am unable to speak with him at this time. " the 'you can't either' was unspoken but heard. Dani deflated. "You could pick a new one?" She suggested, many of the other ghosts had given themselves new names upon their deaths. The older ghost waved his hand dismissively. "I see no need to, I have not needed a name for quite some time afterall." Dani bit her lip as she thought about what to do, she couldn't just leave him with no name, everybody had a name, even her. Though her name was given to her by Danny...Wait, that might actually work! "What if I gave you a name?" The ghost blinked at her in surprise, he was way too skilled to show outwardly but she knew by the way he actually looked up from his desk. "I suppose that would be alright." He said after a moment of hesitation. Dani grinned in a way that would've creeped out any and all humans, even Jazz, Tucker, and Sam. "I'm gonna call you Carl from now on!" She declared with cheer. The newly dubbed Carl stared at her for a second before he laughed. If Dani was feeling poetic, she'd describe the sound like tree branches when a gust of wind went through them, or the sound of a funeral parlours door creaking open. But Dani didn't have a poetic bone in her body, so she described the noise as quiet, very amused, unbelievably fond, and out of practice. Like he hadn't had a reason to laugh in a long time, the last time he laughed was probably around the time someone asked for his name. "I will use it well, princess." Carl promised making her grin become two time wider.

Alright, random idea about the Twin AU, or any AU where Danny is an Al Ghul. Everyone knows that Ra's has an entire army of assassins, but what about the dead assassins? I doubt Ra's is dipping everybody in the Lazarus pit.

So, what if they went to the ghost zone?

And then when Danny dies, these assassins, who are extremely loyal to the Al Ghul family, immediately start following him.

The main assassin in charge, I'm gonna call him Carl, whose been around since the very beginning of the league, who was Ra's right hand man, starts acting as Danny's second in command basically becoming his Alfred.

Carl orders some of the assassins to help Danny out with some small stuff, like distracting some of the rouges so he gets to school on time, killing the hotdogs in the fridge so the little prince doesn't die of poisoning, setting off a Fenton invention so Danny get make a getaway. He definitely orders them to not interfere in big fights, unless Danny really needs the help, as a way for Danny to learn how to fight.

Carl has no idea who the GIW is, but he's gonna find out and then he's gonna blackmail/threaten/unalive some people.

Danny doesn't even know that he's suddenly gained a ghost army, all he knows is that there's a few helpful ghosts hanging around that really hate hotdogs. And then when Danny becomes the ghost king, hoo boy. The assassins replace the old ghost kings army, set up their own system and chains of command just completely change everything. Carl takes FrightKnights place as the king's right hand man/ bodyguard, makes sure all the members of the royal family are safe and is ready to fist fight the time ghost if he makes one more attempt to get his job.

Danny: I wanna be an astronaut. Carl who has no idea what that is: Sure, just let me do some info gathering and blackmail some people. Danny: What? And imagine the batfams reaction.

Wait till he tries to go home. Danny: Well, this has been fun, but I got to get home. Superman desperately trying to make up an excuse to get the kid to stay: Eh, but we have more questions! Danny: Okay? I'm gonna have to answer them another time though, my sister will get worried if I'm not back soon, but I can give you my phone number so you can contact me that way. Superman: You have a sister!? Raven: You have a phone?

Mistaken Identities (dp x dc)

Danny had been doing his thing, looking around, making sure he didn't alter anything in the past, minding his own business. Officially, this was supposed to be a trip to gather more blood blossom samples for Team Phantom to study, but he had ended up being a little sidetracked. Apparently though, puritan times made for beautiful forests, sue him if he was enjoying a moment of peace in his otherwise crazy life. So here he was, relaxing for the first time in way too long when this guy just barged into the clearing. Danny straightened up with a yelp which had the guy stopping in his tracks before he turned to look at Danny.

"Be not afraid, child. I mean you no harm," the man said.

Danny squinted as he looked up at the half-shadowed face of the man that seemed vaguely familiar.

"Boy?"

"Uh-" Danny managed as he realized he was supposed to answer. "Oh yeah, no problem, man."

The man tilted his head which directed Danny's attention to his weird buckle-hat. Sobering up as he recognized the clothes from his previous jaunt in the past where Sam had almost gotten burnt at the stake, he mentally congratulated himself for turning back into a human before his nap. He really didn't want to end up trapped in blood blossoms by witch-finders again.

"Are you lost?" The man said, as he edged closer. "Do you require aid?"

The halfa jumped to his feet. "Nope!" Danny said before letting out a nervous laugh. "No aid, I'm all good. Thanks though."

The man opened his mouth to say something before another voice, higher pitched stopped him. "You are back!" A woman wearing a simple dress, with a few birds fluttering around her like a Disney princess approached them.

"Annie," answered the man.

"Come," she said before leading him away with only a glance towards the teenager. The man let himself be dragged away, but not before a last few words. "If you are ever in need of assistance, please do not hesitate."

Danny waved his hand. "Yep. For sure, dude. Thanks!"

Then before the man had turned away completely, the woman grabbed his hat playfully which revealed his face completely to the weak moonlight, and coincidentally to Danny's view. The couple disappeared between the thick foliage as Danny sat, struck dumb with what he had just witnessed.

"Oh my god," he whispered to himself. "That was Bruce fucking Wayne."

Danny had seen enough rag magazines and newspapers with his face printed on the cover to recognize the billionaire for sure. What the hell was he doing in Puritan times? Then, it hit Danny like a brick. Natural portals. They weren't common, or stable and they'd been known to spirit away people randomly. Clearly, they also had some pretty severe side-effects including amnesia considering the old-timey speech pattern Mr. Wayne was using.

There was only one thing for it, Danny clearly had to bring Mr. Wayne back to the present. Not only because it was the right thing to do, but also because a missing billionaire was bound to attract a good amount of attention and if anyone connected this to the ghost zone... Well if the GIW was bad now, Danny didn't want to know what other kind of unsavoury people would pop up if ghosts were better-known. Just imagining the Justice League getting involved was giving Danny the shivers. No, the best thing to do was get Mr. Wayne back to his time and hope he wouldn't remember much of what had happened and wouldn't dig into it further.

Just as he was nodding to himself, he heard a scream coming from not too far away. He transformed before flying towards the noise, only to find the woman he'd seen before with Mr. Wayne being captured by a bunch of men wearing the same kinds of hat.

"She's a witch! Burn her!" He heard someone yell. "Hang her dead!" Someone else said.

This was giving Danny some major flashback to Sam's very own witch burning and without wasting a second, he phased the woman right out of their grips and flew them away from the angry mob.

As soon as he landed and let go of the woman, she turned to him and gripped his arm instead. "You have to help him!"

"Help who?" Danny asked, wincing.

"Mordecai!" she said, her grip tight.

"Is that the man who was with you earlier?" the teenager asked.

The woman nodded before pointing southeast. "He is in the caves, fighting the dragon!"

Danny didn't waste anytime before flying in the direction she had pointed to. Going intangible helped with speed, and he phased through the ground, going straight for the aforementioned cave. He just phased through when he caught sight of Mr. Wayne. As he got closer, he could feel some sort of energy radiating from the man. Just then, the energy started building up and Mr. Wayne started to go transparent. Panicking, Danny did the first thing he could think of and absorbed the mounting energy to himself. It felt like a shot of adrenaline except way, way stronger and for a moment everything blanked out, before the world came into focus again. When he looked around, he couldn't find a trace of Mr. Wayne, but from the energy left over he could tell exactly when he had landed. The Golden Age of Piracy.

"Goddamit!" Danny yelled as he once again felt Bruce Wayne slip through his grasp as he stole away the potent energy from the billionaire's body before it could follow wherever he was going next. First it had been pirates, then the Wild West and lastly it was 20th century Gotham, clearly the natural portal had been all kinds of fucked up for Mr. Wayne to have been dragged from time period to time period. It was a miracle he was even still alive, the poor man! Danny let out a harsh sigh as he parsed out through the information the energy had left him with. This time he'd gotten the information for the two next time-jumps, which meant, Danny could get ahead of this for once and finally catch Mr. Wayne before he could jump again.

With a steadying intake of breath, Danny took out the Infiniv-map and set his destination before he let himself follow through. As he got through he could hear a bunch of different voices, all talking over each other.

"-distortions mean what I think it-"

"-not fair!"

"-time is breaking-"

"-only leave his body once he's dead."

Danny paid no mind as he locked eyes on Mr. Wayne who was lying in Wonder Woman's arms, in a black bodysuit, looking worse for the wear. The same energy as before was emanating from him, though this time it was even stronger. Danny approached carefully, invisible before he put a hand onto Mr. Wayne's chest and concentrated on drawing all the energy into himself. It wasn't like the other times, the flow was faster and he was having trouble staying focused as more and more flew into him. His brows scrunched in concentration, and unbeknownst to him, the invisibility dropped.

All the heroes in the room turned to look at the suddenly appearing white-haired teen who had a hand on Batman's chest. As they stared in confusion, the teen started to glow. It grew brighter and brighter before everyone had to shield their eyes as there was a pulse of bright light that died down almost immediately after. Wonder Woman had to blink the spots out of her vision as she felt the weight in her arms start to shift and let out a groan. "Bruce!"

She set him down and helped him put his head between his knees, as she gently stroked his back. Superman settled on his other side while Red Robin just sat in front of him, still half-believing Bruce was really back.

"What happened?" Bruce mumbled. "The omega radiation, I thought-"

"I'd like to know that too," Green Lantern said before he turned towards the glowy kid who was still blinking his eyes as if to chase away afterimages.

"His energy signature is the same as Darkseid," Raven said, her own eyes having not left the teenager since he had appeared.

"You don't mean..." started Superman as all the heroes turned to look at the kid slowly. The latter finally looked up as if sensing he was the focus of many eyes and cringed as he met the combined stares of the Justice League.

"Yes," Raven answered. "This is Darkseid's son."

@egberts So... How's your toaster?

my mom finally bought a toaster

Lost Souls (DPxDC Family Week Day 6: Lost)

Prompt given by @dissociativecatmeme

Danny is almost mugged while hiding in Gotham, but gets saved by one of the local vigilantes….what was that hiding under their cape?

Long post under the cut. About 4k words

Danny grumbled as he kicked an empty can down the alley way. The last hide away was a bust. Some of the other homeless moved in and Danny knew better than to try and fight them for a spot. Everyone was just trying to do the best they could, and this was their city first. They got first dibs. He could hardly blame them, that last abandoned building was quite a good find.

He might have to sleep behind a dumpster again. He supposed he was getting used to it. Who knows? Maybe he'll manage to find a good shelter before it got too late. As long as there weren't other people already there he should be fine. The less people who saw his face the better, and besides, those familiar with these streets would be able to tell he was an outsider before speaking to him. There was no Gothamite solidarity with him and the others. Sure there were friendly groups that would let him occassionally stay a night or two, but Danny knew there was no trust.

That was fine. It was why he picked Gotham in the first place. No one would question where he went, or if he disappeared...but sometimes he missed the feel of Amity Park. The ambient ectoplasm and the occassional blob ghost that would able to visit him when h e had a bad day at school or fighting ghosts. Gotham didn't have enough ectoplasm for those kinds of ghosts to form. He was lucky if he got a shade with enough form to be visible. Most of the time all he could see were whisps of shadows to show that there was a ghost there, and if not for his ghost sense, he would easily mistake them as tricks on the eyes. There was the occassional stronger shade, but none nearly strong enough to be seen by normal humans.

It was surprisingly lonely that way. Even though he could talk to the ghosts, they were as distrusting as the living Gothamites. And some of them were spirits of those that could not be trusted. Some tried to possess him when they saw he could speak to them, and others cried and sobbed, begging him to relay messages to their living loved ones. Sometimes he managed to oblige their requests...other times he couldn't. It would attract too much attention or their loved ones had left.

Danny shook his head free of his depressing thoughts, trying to make a plan on where to stay that night....Maybe he could find an abandoned subway station? Underground might be safer as long as he knew the right locations. Might be tricky not running into other homeless though.

While he was trying to come up with a plan, Danny picked up on footsteps behind him. He realized too late that he had hit a dead end and someone had been following not far behind him. He still wasn't familiar enough with the streets to know it as well as the crooks and thieves who lurked at night, and it had finally come to bite him in the butt.

"Hand over the backpack," A raspy voice behind him sounded, lungs obviously destroyed through years of abuse and addiction.

Danny raised his hands and slowly turned around. The man was in a hoodie and was holding a rusty but large knife towards him. Danny vaguely remembers him being in the last homeless camp Danny had passed by. It had only been for a minute to ask for directions, but it had apparently been enough time to be seen as a target.

"It's just clothes," Danny said, not wanting to risk losing the Fenton thermos and emergency ectoplasm vials he had in his bag.

"Don't care, hand it over!" The man snarled, taking one threatening step closer.

Danny would seriously hate to use any powers to restrain or escape the man, but he also didn't want to actually fight him either. The poor guy looked sick, and with the raspy coughs that came up during his threats, he just might be. It wouldn't be surprising really, Gotham wasn't all that safe for the homeless. Even by homeless terms.

But Danny could also see the look in the man's eyes. The desperate and mad kind. The kind that was willing to go through with stabbing Danny if he had to and without a second thought at that. If Danny didn't do something, he was definitely getting stabbed.

Before Danny could come to a solution, a shadow shot from above and within seconds the man in front of Danny was restrained and cursing up a storm.

"Are you ok?"

Danny blinked at the red and black uniform in front of him. A big R greeting his eyes as well as a domino mask that quickly assessed him in concern.

"All good!" Danny responded to Red Robin, trying to look as confident and totally not homeless as he possibly could. "You got here just in time! I'll never hear the end of it from my brother if I ended up getting stabbed right after we fought."

That...sounded believable right?

"Will you be ok finding your way home? It's getting late," Red Robin responded, tying the man to the nearest fire escape where Danny knew the cops would soon arrive to take care of him....If the good cops were on duty though. That was a slim chance.

"Oh, I'll be fine. There's still some light, if only a little bit." Danny responded, already taking a step or two before he paused and glanced back towards Red Robin and tilted his head at confusion. He could have sworn he saw something floating just under Red Robin's cape.

He didn't imagine it. There, floating just under Red's cape was a small green blob ghost. To say Danny was shocked was an understatement. Gotham didn't even have enough ectoplasm for shades to fully form, so how on earth did this blob ghost form? And what was it doing hiding with Red Robin? Could Red Robin see it? It's white lights seemed to squint at Danny, as if assessing him.

"What's wrong?"

Danny's head snapped back from the blob towards Red Robin, who was looking at him in confusion.

"Huh? Oh uh...nothing? Just...thought that your cape looked cool?" Someone slap him please.

Red Robin seemed only more confused at the out of nowhere compliment, lifting his cape slightly and looking at it...the way his eyes just slid over the blob told Danny that no, he could not see it at all. Poor thing. It might have hoped that the hero could help him and latched onto him. Too bad there still wasn't enough ectoplasm for it to be fully formed, therefore visible to regular humans.

Danny continued to look at the blob, still pretending to admire the cape much to his own embarrassment.

"Yep...interesting cape." He said, trying not to cringe.

Finally the blob seemed to confirm its suspicions as it floated away from the hero, only for Danny's eyes to follow it. It seemed to continue to test its theory, and Danny kept his eyes on it.

"Right...well, I'll just be on my way then." Red Robin finally said, completely confused at the strange boy who's eyes seemed to follow something that he couldn't see.

Danny just hummed in acknowledgement as the vigilante swung away into the night, but his eyes didn't leave the blob ghost. It wasn't until he was certain that the vigilante was gone that he started walking away, still keeping his eye on the blob. With his back towards the restrained man just to be sure he couldn't see, Danny allowed his eyes to flash green a bit, hoping that by showing his ectoplasm a bit, the blob might relax around him.

It worked, the blob just stood still at first but then it started floating towards Danny. Danny took that as a good sign and kept walking away. He would hate to leave a blob by itself in Gotham. It might run out of ectoplasm and eventually fade. It was already so small, it wouldn't last long without something to keep it stable. He'd hate to see it fade into one of the millions of formless shades that roamed the city.

After he was a good distance away from the scene of his almost close-call, he finally whispered out loud, hoping the blob would hear him.

"Didn't think I'd see something like you here." He admitted, glancing at the blob that was keeping a small distance but much closer than before. "You probably need a place to stay too huh? You lost?"

The blob didn't respond, obviously. All it did was stare at him with squinted white eyes that reminded him of the vigilante that had just left. Now that Danny had a closer look, the blob looked like it had tips at the side of it, almost like Batman's tips on his cowl. A superhero fan? Maybe. It was following a vigilante earlier.

"Me too." Danny whispered again, weaving through the alley ways and this time paying more attention to his surroundings. "Then again, I guess if you don't have a destination in mind, you aren't really considered lost are you? Maybe I'm not lost...feels more like lost. You can stay with me if you want, I bet we could both use the company."

The blob floated just a bit closer, but it remained out of reach of Danny, who sighed but relented. He had never met such an untrusting blob before. Most blobs would chirp and snuggle into his shoulder once they felt his ectoplasm. This definitely had to be Gotham if even the blob ghosts were unfriendly. At least it was better company than the homeless camps.

And so, with new companion in toe, Danny swept off in search of a new shelter for the night.

~*~

Bruce was torn.

It had been a horrible fight with an unknown sorcerer of some kind, and the spell had hit him while he was attempting to aide people to safety. The back up hadn't arrived in time to witness what happened next. How he felt like his whole body had been melting until, to his horror, he had realized that he was melting. Melting and getting smaller.

When he had fully reformed consciousness, he was as he was now. A formless creature that made it hard to keep any kind of shape. He had felt weak and struggled to keep said form. It wasn't until Damian arrived on the scene that he felt just slightly well enough to move, but he learned just as quickly that whatever spell that he had been hit with made him invisible to all of those around him.

Several of his children arrived, but none of them acknowledged his presence. He watched as they all debated among each other and attempted to find him, but to come up empty. Damian would occassionally glance in his general direction in confusion before returning to the conversation as if nothing had happened. He had hoped that meant that Damian could sense him in some way, but it apparently wasn't enough as all attempts to get their attention amounted to nothing. He could not touch them, and any noises he made, strange as they were, did not reach their ears.

Eventually, he had to relinquish himself to just keeping watch over his children as they panicked and scrambled to find him in such an organized way that only a bat could do. Tim seemed to be most obsessive over it, while the others remained concerned. Tim hadn't slept in days, leading Bruce to following him on patrol that night in concern.

That was the night Tim had stopped a potential mugging. The boy he had saved had seemed oddly confident though hesitant, as if he had actually debated defending himself. There was something strange about the way he felt.

Bruce had gotten strange feelings from Damian and Cass, as if they had some kind of energy surrounding them that Bruce could only assume was the influence of the Lazarus pits. But this boy? It was amplified so much that Bruce swore he could have been glowing the same color as the dangerous waters.

But what had really surprised him? It was the way the boy's eyes seemed to latch onto his hiding spot and stay on him. He even moved to test the theory, even though the kid had claimed to be admiring Red Robin's cape of all things. Sure enough, the boy's eyes followed him exactly.

There was no doubt that the boy could see him when no one else could. A spark of hope but also suspicion could be felt. If this boy could see him, then he could possibly find a way to communicate with his family and team...but that could also mean that the boy was connected to the sorcerer that had done this to Danny in the first place.

Bruce regretted that he could not follow Tim, but he also couldn't afford to lose the only person who could see him. As soon as Red Robin was gone, the boy turned his back towards his would-be mugger and to Bruce's surprise, his eyes flashed the same green that Bruce knew his new form had taken on.

After that the boy started walking away, but his posture and slower speed told Bruce that he wanted him to follow him. That wasn't even an option. If this kid could see him, he had no choice but to stay with him and discover a way to communicate with the others without compromising their identities.

It was only after they were a distance away that the boy spoke to him, and his situation became much clearer. Asking if Bruce was lost, claiming to be lost himself...Bruce knew a homeless kid when he saw one. He had unfortunately witnessed it too many times.

The boy whispered to Bruce the whole time that he was walking, only stopping when someone would get too close to hear him. It was simple things, like small talk. He talked about how he had just enough money to buy a hot dog that afternoon and how he liked the street artist he had seen in passing. Things that acquaintences or even friends might speak about in passing. He seemed to wander aimlessly through the streets for a bit before finding an abandoned entrance to the subway system.

Definitely not, Bruce knew of various drug dealers and crooks who used those same systems as hideaways. There was no way that he was going to let this kid go down there for shelter. He may as well be asking to get mugged again.

So, finally getting closer despite his suspicions that the boy might be linked to his current predicament, Bruce got closer and gently bobbed back and forth in front of the boy's face. He was trying to shake his head...which was hard to do when he now longer had a head.

"...Um, it's ok. I won't get caught by anyone," The boy said, stepping closer to the entrance only for Bruce to get in his way again. The boy seemed to huff at that. "I think I'll be fine. You're an oddly concerned blob...Unless you sense something down there?"

The boy squinted his eyes, glancing back at the entrance in suspicion.

"...I don't sense anything?"

Bruce wasn't sure what he was sensing, but he stubbornly stayed where he stood. This kid was much too young, only about fifteen or sixteen if Bruce had to guess. He still had a whole life ahead of him, and Bruce was helpless to him in this state. If he was to get attacked, Bruce couldn't do a thing.

"...It's ok you know?" The boy said, making Bruce squint his eyes(?) at him. "No seriously, I'll show you. You might have to touch me though if you don't want to lose me. I'd hate to lose you too. Hard to find a buddy here you know?"

Bruce squinted his eyes, but for some reason he had no doubt that he would indeed lose the boy if he didn't do what he said. So, he floated towards the boy, who held out an outstretched hand as soon as he saw Bruce approach.

Bruce hesitantly landed on the boy's hand. The boy gave him a gentle smile before looking around and ducking out of sight of any cameras that could possibly be nearby. Then, he vanished from sight. If Bruce hadn't been touching him, he would have been scared that the boy had teleported.

Before he could wonder what happened, a strange chirping noise rang out, almost like a bird's call but echoey and whispy.

Calm. Safe.

...Was that the boy? It seemed to be. Bruce could feel the boy move as he was then carried further into the subway station. It appeared the boy was right, he could definitely go in without getting caught. Of course, he had to be a meta. One attempting to hide in Gotham of all places. That was dangerous. There were too many in Gotham that would love to get their hands on a meta, especially one that could turn invisible. The boy would be hunted if anyone were to discover it...but when the boy had turned invisible, Bruce was surprised to feel that same energy that had encompassed Damian and Cass seemed to be amplified even more.

The longer that Bruce remained with the boy, the stronger he felt. It was no longer as difficult to keep a form, even one as a simple as just a round ball. He no longer felt exhausted just trying to keep himself going. He was sure that if he was floating, he wouldn't be as tired. For some reason, being around this boy was energizing for him, but he had no idea why.

Finally, after about an hour of walking, the boy dropped his invisibility and ducked away behind a crumbled wall that led into a tiny dent in the wall, just big enough for him.

"Dang, this is a find!" The boy said happily. His voice was slightly louder now that they were much farther from any possible human interaction. "If I hadn't had my night vision, I would have missed it! It's just big enough for both of us see? And out of sight too. Perfect for an emergency stash."

It saddened Bruce to hear the boy speak like that. Like he was a criminal on the run, needing places to hide and stay safe. He did not know this boy, but he could see the way the boy's eyes didn't leave the exit, like he might need to spring for it at any second, or the way he clutched his bag like someone was about to wring it away from him. His footsteps had been so quiet and light the entire way, almost as if he was floating...or maybe he was? Bruce wasn't sure if he had any other power.

This wasn't right. This boy should be in a safe home, not a broken and hidden corner of an abandoned subway station, telling a random creature that he had no more money and that he had managed to evade other muggings before. If only Bruce could talk, he could tell the boy where there were much safer locations...maybe he could?

But the boy waved Bruce away when Bruce tried to get his attention, shoveling through his back pack instead. Finally he pulled out a granola bar, peeling off the wrapper and taking half a bite before tearing off a bit. His eyes flashed green again as he almost glared at the crumb. Green pooled from his finger tips and into the granola piece, making the boy look incredibly pleased with himself.

"There we go!" He exclaimed softly, still keeping his voice low just in case. Then he held out the piece of food towards Bruce. "That should help you feel better. Bet you were just about close to completely unstabilizing poor guy. Give it some time, and you'll slowly recover as long as you keep getting enough ectoplasm."

..Ectoplasm? Clearly the boy knew more about his situation than Bruce did. He knew he had felt weak, and he had feared that he was dying, but the boy practically confirmed it. Whatever he did to the granola piece...Bruce could only trust that it would help. He couldn't think of any other options, and the boy hadn't seemed particularly harmful. So he reached out and tried to grab the granola piece before remembering he didn't have arms.

"...You must be newly formed huh?" The boy whispered, gazing at him curiously. "You seem a bit clumsy, but that's fine. It probably takes some getting used to. You just gotta absorb it. It will probably feel weird the first time but this is the fastest way for you to get your strength back ok? Trust me, you'll feel a lot better. I put a good amount of ectoplasm so it could help you feel energized but not too much so it won't overwhelm you."

Bruce wasn't sure how to absorb it like the boy said, so he just bumped the food with his head, surprised to feel part of it go inside his head...Only there was no pain. In fact, just bumping his head into the food a little allowed him to already be able to sense the energy it was giving him.

After that it was almost instinctive how the food went completely inside him, like a gelatinous cube of some kind. He could feel the food disintigrating inside him, which was a strange feeling that he didn't particularly enjoy.

"There you go! Better? Even a little?" The boy snickered, and Bruce realized that he was still resting in the boy's hands. The boy seemed satisfied with this as he leaned against the wall, and Bruce could finally fully see just how exhausted he looked. "Don't worry...I'm sure us lost souls will be ok."

Bruce squinted his eyes at the boy, but he felt pained again at the sound of the boy's voice. So small and soft, like he had been resigned to a fate that Bruce didn't fully understand. He was way too young to sound so...lost.

"I'm Danny by the way," The boy started talking again, finally introducing himself. "Probably should have mentioned that...You probably can't tell me me your name huh? That's fine, I'm sure we'll find something I can call you eventually...It's nice to have someone to talk to after all this time. Gotham's been...a lot, but I guess it really is the perfect place to disappear after all."

Bruce desperately wished he could ask the boy questions. Questions about who he was and why he was actually in Gotham...but he couldn't, and he could see Danny's eyes beginning to slide shut as sleep seemed to finally welcome him.

He didn't leave Danny's hands, even when the boy lost consciousness completely. It was at that time that Batman was especially grateful that he didn't seem to need sleep in this form so that he could keep watch over the strangely kind stranger he had discovered.

~*~

Tim growled in frustration as he finally began to make his way back to the Batcave that night. He had been out all night, even had an early start and everything. And yet, despite all of his searching, he couldn't find a single clue as to where Bruce had gone. Everyone was beyond concerned at this point. The comms had just turned off then...nothing. By the time they had reached the fight that Batman had been engaged in, he had been nowhere to be found.

The crook they had found at the scene was anything but helpful. He claimed he had "freed" Batman's soul...whatever that meant. Tim hoped it didn't mean freed from this realm in some way. If Bruce had been somehow killed or sent to another dimension...he wasn't sure what they would do.

But it didn't matter, because those weren't confirmed theories. Then again, none of their theories were confirmed. It was if Batman had just disappeared into thin air. At this point, he may need to call in back up from even more people.

An emergency call to the Batcomputer caught his attention, immediately making him answer it.

"Red Robin." He stated, serious and clear.

"It's Superman," Clark's voice rang out, completely distraught with worry. "Bruce and I were supposed to meet today, but he never showed up or sent me anything to tell me he canceled. And I can't hear Bruce's heartbeat, what happened?"

Tim could have sworn he stopped breathing right there and then.

"...You can't?" He asked, hating how small his voice sounded. He didn't even wait to hear a response as he shook his head and steeled his nerves. "We had an encounter with an unknown power. I think Batman may have been sent to another dimension or even maybe a crack in between. If you can't hear him then that's my only lead."

"Do you need help?"

"As soon as I figure out what kind of power was used to banish him I can call in professionals regarding that," Tim said, gritting his teeth the more he thought about it. "Until then, I will need to continue investigating. Thank you, you've been a lot of help just by telling me this."

"If you need any help, you know you can call me."

"Understood, thank you Superman."

The call ended, leaving Tim feeling even words than when it had begun. So Bruce really was banished...or he was...No, Tim wouldn't even consider that a possibility until he confirmed it with his own eyes....But he wouldn't deny that he felt like he was missing something. He hadn't felt like that earlier. Earlier he had felt concerned yet oddly confident that Bruce was ok, like something was telling him that Bruce was fine...Now? Now it felt like that same something that told him Bruce was safe was gone, leaving unease in its place.

He wasn't sure when it had left. He remembers it being there when he had left for patrol that night. In fact, he had been oddly confident he could find a clue of some kind. It had started near the start of patrol then, but when exactly?

Tim couldn't figure it out, instead pouring over the information of every item that one crook had had on his person at the time of his arrest. If anyone had real clues it was that dirt bag, but Nightwing and Black Bat were dealing with his interrogation, with Robin and the others having joined Red Robin in trying to find clues elsewhere.

He had hoped they had found something where he had failed to find anything...but ever single one had come back empty handed. Even Nightwing and Black Bat came back frustrated.

"He just kept repeating the same thing!" Nightwing exclaimed loudly, frustrated and worried. "That he had freed Bruce's soul or something, but when we asked if he had killed him he said something like 'I wouldn't dare taint my soul with such atrocities lest the king come after me.' I don't know, he might have dealings in the occult. He's seriously messed up enough for it."

"...Maybe he trapped Bruce's soul somewhere?" Tim muttered, sleep deprived and grasping at straws. "Like an object or something. We've see it before."

"...I really hope not because it could have been anything at that building and by now about half of it is in police custody for evidence." Nightwing responded. He glanced at Tim in concern. "Hey, you should sleep, I'll take it from here."

"Not until we find a lead," Tim grumbled.

Nightwing shook his head. "Then you'll just follow that lead to another lead and another one. I'm not falling for that loop. Come on Timmers, I'll wake you up if I find something I promise, but you can't help Bruce if you can't even keep your head up."

...He supposed Nightwing had a point, but he was just missing something he knew it! He wasn't sure what it was yet, but he was definitely missing something. Maybe a nap really was what he needed. Maybe with a refreshed mind, he would be able to see something he missed or accidentally skipped over.

"Fine...but if you find anything, and I mean anything-"

"Yeah yeah, I'll wake you," Nightwing waved Tim off, taking his spot in the chair. "Me and Oracle will have this for now. You forget that while you may be the best at this, I was definitely raised with this computer. I know how to run it perfectly. Let me search for now while you get your strength back."

"...Ok, I'll see you a little later Dick."

"I'm sure you will Tim."

~*~

Distantly, a father wondered how his children were doing, and he wished that they were safe, no matter where they were. That, and that they would continue to remain safe until he could get home to them.

And he would get back to them. He was certain of that...

He glanced at the slightly snoring boy whose face scrunched in frustration in his dreams. Perhaps, this could be a blessing in disguise. Maybe he could help both Danny and himself at the same time. In the situation he had found himself in, one could only hope.

Another random thought. You know the idea that ghosts aren't aware of the passage of time? What if we take that and apply it to Danny Phantom? Now losing track of time isn't that uncommon, it's pretty easy to get lost in what you're doing then look up and see that fifty minutes have passed. But what if it was longer than just minutes, or hours? A situation I could see happening is Sam, Tucker, and Danny get separated and lost in an unfamiliar forest. Danny stumbles across an old ghost town filled with, you guessed it, ghosts. Most of the ghosts would ignore him and go about their business, but not the kid ghosts. The ghost kids are thrilled at the sight of someone new and want him to play with them. Danny of course agrees to play with them, but only for a little while because he has to go back to looking for his friends. Time passes. Eventually Sam, Tucker, and Jazz find him playing with the ghost kids and Jazz immediately hugs him. "Where the hell have you been!? We've been looking everywhere for you!" Danny gets confused. "What are you talking about? We've only been separated for a couple of hours, tops, and when did Jazz get here?" The three get real quiet then Sam tells him "Danny...You've been gone for six days."

WE MADE IT FOLKS!!!