Thevoidstaredback - Cats Welcome, Humans Tolerated

How To Balance Your Daytime and Nighttime Activities So That You Don't Burn Yourself Out More Than You Already Have

In Danny's defense, dying scared the hell out of him. Living in a house of ghost hunters was a bad idea, so he left. It didn't matter that they were family. He was a ghost living in a house of Ghost Hunters whose life's work was the very thing that killed him in the first place. He died turning on the portal his parents had spend nearly thirty years working on with two witnesses to his demise. The natural response was to destroy the portal and leave without telling anyone.

He didn't get to that point, though. The first few months after The Accident had been constant ghost attacks, one after another. Danny had tried t understand what was happening, but between his friends on some level denying his death, the ghosts attacking on sight, and the powers he was developing not getting themselves under control, he was reaching his breaking point.

On top of all of it, the portal destabilized.

No one had been in the lab, thank god, but the ghost portal collapsed in on itself. The running theory his parents had was that the ghost boy had been the one to break it. Danny's running theory was that the constant back and forth and overloaded the system. No new actually knew what had been the thing to turn it on in the first place, so no one could actually prove anything either way. At least, that's what Danny hoped.

Danny knew, in the deep recesses of his mind, what to do to get it working again. He knew what to do to keep it open if he so chose.

It had never been his choice in the first place.

Danny had known it wasn't entirely safe for him when the house started to turn on him, but that had only been solidified when the portal had gone down, Jack and Maddie Fenton doubled down on hunting down the Ghost Boy. He was the only ghost left in Amity Park, so he was the only one the trackers would lock onto.

Six weeks before he turned fifteen, Danny left his home. He didn't tell Jazz or Tucker or Sam, and he most certainly didn't tell his parents. Quietly, he packed his things - only those of which that would be easy to carry - and left. He didn't bring his phone or laptop with him. He thought about leaving his wallet, but figured that'd be useful to him.

The last thing he did before leaving Amity Park was go to the police station and tell them he was leaving willingly. He refused to elaborate as to why. They didn't need to know that. He didn't tell them where he was going, either, just that he was leaving.

It was an accident that he ended up in Bludhaven. Four weeks of traveling had tired him out. His powers only making it worse. He was low on money and food, he'd been sleeping on benches and in alleyways, his clothes were all filthy, he hadn't showered in days- He was ready to collapse.

Bludhaven, from what he understood, had a much smaller homeless population that her mother city Gotham, but it was still a lot of people. Particularly homeless youth. Danny was just another kid in an alley when he'd finally collapsed.

It took three days of sleeping behind a dumpster before anyone noticed him. In that time, he'd only woken up once. Not having eaten in a while, he had no waste to expel, so his body had focused on keeping he rested before allowing him to wake up. That was when he'd realized the actual danger he was in.

He had no idea if human weapons could still work on him or not, and he was not trying to figure that out any time soon. So, before the group of armed guys who'd just come into the alleyway noticed him, Danny let the invisibility wash over him before he flew up and away.

On the rooftops is where he found the city's vigilante. He was dressed in a black suit with blue accents and a black domino mask. His weapon looked like a broken bo staff and was strapped to his back.

Danny was not inclined to meet this man, but he'd never seen another hero in action before! Sure, he knew they existed, but he'd never actually gone looking for any. No one in Amity had, actually. It was a peaceful place. Well, until he opened the portal on himself, but that was hardly his fault.

Sure, he wasn't going to meet him, but maybe following him around wouldn't hurt? As long as he didn't get caught, he should be fine. It was only for the night, anyway. He'd probably never see this man again after this.

At least, that was the plan until he accidentally followed the man home at three in the morning. In his defence, though, he didn't know that it was that early or that Nightwing - as he'd heard a few guys call him - was going home! Regardless, he was going to take this to the grave. He was going to leave Bludhaven come dawn and he was never going to tell anyone the he knows where Nightwing lives.

Again, that was his plan. Danny ended up falling asleep on the rooftop opposite the building Nightwing lived in. He slept through the day, only waking up when rush hour foot and road traffic got too loud to ignore. Just as he was getting ready to leave the rooftop, he spotted movement in Nightwing's apartment.

Now, he couldn't even begin to say what had made him stay, but he did. He sat back down and watched as Nightwing moved around his apartment.

It was messy, messier than he'd have expected, but he wasn't one to judge. What really caught his attention, though, was the uniform Nightwing was wearing. Now that begged the question as to why the hero - vigilante was probably the better term here - fought crime at all hours of the day. Why approach the problem both legally and less legally? Why align yourself both ways?

Danny was always a curious boy when something sparked his interest.

He was swift in his movements as he pulled out the binder of paper and scholork he'd taken with him. Opening up to the first blank page, Danny started to write.

He was a hero, whether people thought of him as such or not. He only ever wanted to help. Maybe he could help this guy. Maybe he'd feel some kind of accomplishment if he managed to help Nightwing.

Step one is to observe.

Part 2 Part 4

Tag List: @flame-343

I need to point out that I have gone off of the original prompt, if that wasn't already obvious. In the og prompt, Danny is an adult. In this one, as I continue my take on it, Danny is a child. I didn't mean for it to happen, but the words don't listen to me, I listen to them.

i think tumblr needs to find a new word for accounts i follow cause this is too ironic.

@aroacesafeplaceforall

Now that was odd. Oracle was the one to receive all the emails and messages meant for Batman and the others, so she'd been the one to receive the email about a disappearance at Gotham General Hospital. Normally, after filtering out the spam that sometimes leaked through, or the ones that had been sent to the wrong address, she'd forward the email straight to the Bat Computer so that Batman or Red Robin could look over them. This one, though, was one that had caught her attention.

"There was a disappearance at Gotham General. A kid was brought in after the Scarecrow attack yesterday, the one that got the mask of Fear Gas? His record has been wiped and the kid's gone. There's no record of his discharge."

While it was crude and poorly typed, it was to the point.

"Hadn't Red Robin been at the Scarecrow attack yesterday?" she wondered aloud, "Yeah. He was the one to carry that kid out. The one that got the face full of Fear Gas."

Between watching over the others while they were on patrol, Oracle didn't really have the time to properly assess the email or the situation, let alone check in on it. There was something about this, though, that dragged her attention to it. She'd learned, when she'd been Batgirl, to always listen to her gut feeling no matter what. It had saved her before, so she followed it.

She watches the security footage from Scarecrow's attack the previous day. She followed the ambulance the kid had been in via street cameras. She hacked into the hospital to check the records and followed the kid from those, cameras, too. Everything was as it should be.

There! The sign on the monitor in the hospital said there was a radioactive substance in the kid. It also said that the proper agency had been contacted. And- Ectoplasm? What's that? Doesn't that have to do with ghosts and stuff?

The more Oracle watches, the worse her feeling got. A quick check proved that there were, actually, records of this child missing from the hospital. He also hadn't been discharged. That room was still marked as occupied.

An hour after the two nurses had left the kid, a group of people wearing all white entered the room. They unhooked the kid from the hospital equipment before placing him in a wheelchair. Unconscious.

Oracle narrowed her eyes, suspicion falling heavy over her. This was bad. Something was wrong.

She managed to follow the group through the halls, out of the hospital, and to a nondescript white van.

"Shit."

DPxDC Prompt:

The vigilante meant well, taking the kid to the hospital to treat his injuries. The kid mumbled the entire time, barely conscious. "No hospital, please," he said more than once.

Poor kid, the vigilante thought. He must have a phobia of needles or something.

...

They never could have anticipated the danger they put that kid in, placing him in the care of that hospital.

(I'm also having a lot of fun, so here's some more)

The only thing Danny's brain could register as he woke up was pain. When had he fallen asleep? In between the shocks of hurt and pain, he remembered fighting and an ambulance, but nothing much other than that. He knows that he was in a hospital at some point, but that sure as hell wasn't where he was now.

Had the G.I.W gotten him? Probably. He didn't have the energy to care, though. The pain taking over his senses completely. That's not good.

The haze of pain lessened a bit over time, though he couldn't tell how long it was, and allowed him feel other things. The first thing he felt was that he was missing a few pieces of himself. The next thing he felt was the warm air on the inside of his skin. If his stomach had still been in its proper place, he would've been sick.

The next thing to make itself known to him were the voices. Loud, obviously not caring who or what heard them. They were talking about him and cores or something. It sounded important. Why did it sound important?

His sense of sight was the next to return to him, though he used it sparingly. The room was bright. White walls, white ceiling, white LED lights, and he assumed even the floor was white tiles. Though, he figured the table he was on - silver if he had to guess - and the floor were both stained neon green and dark red. Green because of the ectoplasm that made up his ghostly form and red because of the blood that flowed through his very human veins. He opted to close his eyes again.

That was another thing to worry about. He was Phantom right now. He could've sworn he was Danny at the hospital. When did he change? Did someone force him to? How? Why? Danny didn't know. He doesn't like not knowing. Memory lapses are dangerous.

The very top of his list of surprises was when the LEDs and the voices in the room were drowned out by ominus red and a blaring alarm. That, added with the frantic running through the halls, painted the picture that someone was either attacking or raiding the base. Huh. What a coincidence.

Not that it mattered to him. Whoever it was would either be taken down or leave after they got what they came here for. Best not to get his hopes up. Intead, he was going to focus on piecing himself back together. Not having use of his limbs was making the task difficult, but he'd handle it.

Well, that had been the plan. He was alone in the room now, so he could do it, but the door was thrown off its hinges before he got very far. How unfortunate.

A gasp and several curses filled the room as someone (multiple someones?) rushed in and stopped by his bedside.

"Are you alright?" someone asked.

"He's probably asleep," that was a different voice. Definitely at least two people in there with him now.

The fingers on Danny's right hand twitched as he growled a soft "No," to answer the question.

"Shit!" a third person swore.

"You mean he's awake?!" a fourth.

Damn. There are a lot of people in this room. If he wasn't currently an open book, he'd say he was getting claustrophobic. As it stands, that's the least of his problems.

"Oracle?" he heard the first voice ask, "What do we do?"

He didn't hear a response from whoever 'Oracle' was, but he did hear the people get closer to him. Two on one side, one on the other, and one probably by the door. That's four people, plus whoever 'Oracle' is.

"We should've told father or the Justice League." the second voice said, "They would know how to deal with this better."

Now that was a name Danny knew. Everyone knows who the Justice League are! But, why did these guys not tell them? The Justice League are heroes! Don't tell him these are kids that're here!

He groaned, moving his head and prying his eyes open. He had to get them out of here. They weren't safe here. He needs-!

"Sh, sh, sh!" the first guy started, his hands waving a bit but not touching Danny, "Hey, hey, don't move. You're, um..."

"A little bit everywhere," the third voice said.

"I k'nda fig'red tha'." Danny slurred. Wow, maybe he lost a bit more than he expected. Oh, well. Nothing to do about it now. "Got'a ge' up!" It was proving to be a very difficult task, seeing as he was still strapped down and wide open.

"Whoa," the third guy pushed his shoulder back down like it would do any good. He had leather gloves on. "You're not going anywhere."

Danny mustered up the best glare he could and sent to the guy. A red helmet? Weird, but okay. "Why no'?"

The first guy spoke again, his voice smoother and a bit higher than little red riding hood's. "You're a little stuck," He was wearing black and blue with a black mask, the eyes whited out.

There was a scoff from over by the door, "He's been cut open, he's little more than 'stuck'." Rude little gremlin, obviously younger than the others, but speaking more formally.

"I'm working on it!" that was the last one. His voice was familiar. Why?

Danny leaned his head back down. He knew he couldn't do anything while strapped down like this, and it was very upsetting. Why did this always happen to him?

No use lamenting about it now. He's at the mercy of whoever the hell these guys are. Hopefully, they're a step up from his previous company.

DPxDC Prompt:

The vigilante meant well, taking the kid to the hospital to treat his injuries. The kid mumbled the entire time, barely conscious. "No hospital, please," he said more than once.

Poor kid, the vigilante thought. He must have a phobia of needles or something.

...

They never could have anticipated the danger they put that kid in, placing him in the care of that hospital.

I love the idea that the JL need to summon Phantom for one reason or another (dealer's choice) but hear me out. Instead of Constantine or Zatanna or Raven or someone pulling out chalk and drawing a summoning circle, what if it's:

JL Member: We can't do this alone. We need help. Any ideas?

Magic user: Well, there is one being I can think of to help, but I don't know if I should.

JL Member: What do you mean you don't know? We're out of options. Who is it?

Magic User, mumbling: Well, he probably just got out of school for the day and has homework...

JL Member: Just summon whoever it is. We'll be sure to pay them back for any inconvenience to them for their help.

Magic User, know that was a terrible thing to say and that this is probably a bad idea: Alright, gimme a sec.

Magic User then pulls out a phone none of the others recognize and press the only contact in the list. After two rings, whoever is on the other side picks up.

Danny, pissed off and tired: This better be good, [Magic User] because I just got done with mid terms and you are encroaching on my nap. I haven't slept in two days, so the world better be ending.

Magic User, visibly distressed: I'm sorry, Phantom, but you'd be correct? My world is going to end soon, so we kind of need your help.

Danny: *long, drawn out, frustrated sigh* I'll be there in a moment. *hangs up*

JL Member: What the hell?