You Should Give Yourself A Profile Picture Because Some People Might Think Youre A Bot

You should give yourself a profile picture because some people might think you’re a bot

Haven't thought about it, but you're absolutely right. Thank you very much

Yes, thank you. I thought about it too, but I had no idea how to put it in words

Party Crasher

Another prompt, more Justice League than bat, though.

It was just another boring Justice league gala, unfortunately required to assuage any world leaders fear of the Justice league going rogue, when all the sudden, a flipping vampire shows up, then some floating, glowing boy. The vampire disappears, then the entire JUSTICE LEAGUE start attacking said glowing boy, and the boy’s winning???

Meanwhile Danny’s freaking out, because, even if they were overshadowed, he just fought the Justice league!! And now they’re going to be hunting him!!!

The League however, immediately clocks that there was foul play. Considering they can’t remember the last few minutes of the party, they all reportedly had red eyes, and the glowing kid was apologizing the entire time.

Ok, so.

Yeah, it escalated. 40 pages. 20 000+ words...

Hope you'll like it

*****

Ok. So, Tim was in no shape to deal with what he saw. Really, he was just wrapping up a case on a Batcomputer after workaholic binge that got him a breakthrough and his sleep deprived brain got curious how his newest brother was handling his things. They all got separate spaces in database to work in, but everyone had access to them in case their cases were connected. They just all knew to not mess with each other files like they knew to not touch Alfred’s porcelain service or to not discuss cape matters during meals. So Tim just wanted to see if Danny, still getting used to looking for troubles and not just fighting them when they got too hard to ignore, needed any help. However he was doing quite well for newbie. He was working on some chain of suspicious bank robberies with the Signal as those two were patrolling together until Danny got all necessary skills on Bat approved level. Tim had to admit, two metas were doing wonders at keeping this hell of a city at bay during the day. He was about to click out and head up to the Manor to get some well deserved sleep when his eyes landed on folder called contingencies.

So, they all got folder like this, Bruce was really serious about them and learning how to make good contingency plans was one of the first thing Batman’s protégée had to do, so he wasn’t really surprised. Tim himself had at least three folders like this, hidden and encrypted so much that only him and maybe Oracle could get inside, with hundreds of contingencies for every known hero in case anything went wrong. Babs didn’t know about all of them, obviously, he needed some ways to stop her and she couldn’t know about it.

Danny didn’t encrypt his folder any more than simple password, which was literally Ph4n70m. He changed his moniker once he joined their merry company but really, Tim needed to make one heck of a PowerPoint about cyber safety and he needed to make it soon. Red Robin smiled when he saw sea of non-lethal plans for everyone they knew and some ghosts. Most of them weren’t even supposed to hurt, just hold them in place long enough to mind-control to stop working or to talk them down if they were going rogue. He even had some contact info to multiple counselors and psychologists with note that they had been all checked by his sister and deemed fit to handle superhero type of problems and instructions on how to break mind control. Note under this said that all instructions were tested before being put in the file, which was mildly concerning but Tim’s brain was a little too fried to really understand what it implied.

Every plan he saw so far was as safe as possible to person of concern. Danny was cute like that. He even refused to beat down rogues often saying he just didn’t know how to fight humans and refused to kill anyone on accident (which was its own can of bizarre worms that somehow made sense). They were getting him some actual combat training and in the meantime he stuck on evacuation duty and such which he honestly loved. Yeah, Danny was adorable like that. His whole files were regularly interrupted by mentions on how boy wished they never come in hand and how he wished there was more peaceful way of doing it if plan actually required punching someone. It was just wholesome to look at (also, bait plans were just funny to think about even if so naïve, that Bruce would probably repeat his lecture about contingencies being realistic if he knew about it).

Then Tim saw The Thing.

Alright, so, it’s not like he didn’t know their newest brother had issues. All of them had, it was easiest way of becoming Bruce’s kid other than running around streets of Gotham and beating up villains (honestly, isn’t it a sign of issues itself?). Well known joke of “blue eye, black hair, Brucie got you there” was funny but not really true. You had to have issues.

They even knew roots of his issues, after all kid’s whole support system died in explosion and he run away to Gotham, the crime capital of the world, to avoid his abusive godfather. Plus, he was doing this whole vigilante shtick back in his hometown as an underappreciated ghost hero Phantom but they learned better than to pry about it after first time he tried to run away when confronted with the fact that they knew about his hero persona. Though they weren’t called best detectives for nothing, they didn’t need him to tell them things to know what was up.

Not when he had days when he just couldn’t find it in him to even get out of the bed.

Not when they knew all his smiles were faked for their sake.

Not when they had to get him through panic attacks.

Not when he was so terrified whenever they got injured or were in life threatening situation.

Not when he would seem to do better only to shut down when something reminded him of his past life.

Not when after day shift he would try to tail Tim, Steph or Cass on their patrols so he wouldn’t have to go sleep.

Not when they saw him brighten up at smallest praise.

Not when he was almost moaning when he was eating Alfred’s food and was surprised by things like fruits on pancakes.

Not when he run straight at villain with no regards of his own safety only to protect.

Not when he ignored his injuries or told them he probably deserved them.

Not when he didn’t even try to defend himself when attacked be it by mean people at BatBurger or tugs in the allay.

Not when he screamed when he was finally forced to go to bed. Apologized for killing his loved ones. Not for being the only one to stay or not being able to safe them. For killing. Bats knew he had nothing to do with the explosion.

They all knew, their newest brother was depressed at best and had survivors guilt whispering in the back of his mind, infecting his thoughts, hopes, dreams and nightmares. However despite some of his behaviors, Tim wanted to believe Danny wasn’t intentionally suicidal. He knew boy probably wouldn’t be mad if something or someone killed him all the way but he wanted to believe his brother wouldn’t get out of his way to make it happen.

Looking at the contingencies Danny collected on himself, Red Robin had to admit, he was wrong.

He was looking at terabaits after terabaits of ways to hurt or kill his younger brother with blueprints of weapons, information Poison Ivy would need to brought back extinct flower that literally burnt ghost if near them and ways it could be implemented into food so he couldn’t run away before it burnt him out of existence. All Danny’s powers he refused to tell them about unless they became handy in field. All his weaknesses. Geotags of all bases and contact information of organization that hunted ghosts and all known competent ghost hunters. Plans of Gotham and Manor itself with marked places where he hid actual anti-ghost weapons with description of how to use them. Personalized weapons for each of their family to use what they were most comfortable with. Some tidbits about halfas’ biology to let them know where to hit to hurt him the most.

All described in cold, detached words, like scientific document.

First thing every Bat adjusted person learned about contingencies was the fact that they had to be physically realistic. For example they could just use normal rope to stop Superman. Second thing they learned about contingencies was the fact that they had to be mentally capable of using it. That was the reason Bruce had little to no plans against his kids. He knew he wouldn’t be able to use it.

Danny seemed to think that someone in their family would use any of the crazy shit he prepared.

Yeah, hell no, Tim was in no shape to deal with this alone.

You: Guys I need you all in cave now

Discowing: wassup Baby Bird

Discowing: im commin fir thw resq

Well, despite how horrendous was his texting culture Tim was just glad that Dick wasn’t in Bludhaven right then.

Demon child: Tt, Drake, I hope you are aware that if it turns out being something not truly urgent I will not hesitate to stab you.

Resident Zombie: I’ll cough in your face next time I got cold if it’s a prank Timbers

PurpleTurtle: It’s like translation from Demon’s to petty English

Jumpscare but human: Fact

Now, normally Tim would at least smile looking at his siblings shenanigans but it was not a normal situation. He just wished they would get there faster.

You: Just get your asses here

Bat Signal the kid: Tim, what’s wrong

Bat Signal the kid: Is Danny alright?

It wasn’t weird thing to ask since Tim did use no-Danny batkids group chat (in their defense, there always has been at least one chat without each one of them, though mostly used as place to plan pranks and share gossip). However it also wasn’t thing to share over a group chat.

Demon child: Obviously not, Daniel hadn’t been in good shape of mind and body since we met him. The question should be if he got worse.

Demon child: What did you do, Drake?

Discowing: u gpt Baby Bat worried

PurpleTurtle: Yeah he’ll break his phone if he squeeze it any harder

Jumpscare but human: Me Steph Duke Dick Damian in lift

EyeInTheSky: Tim, am I seeing what I’m seeing on Batcomputer screen?

EyeInTheSky: I really fucking wish I’m not

When they all finally got to the Batcave and to the computer (Jason probably broke every traffic law in existence on his way, he cared about his fellow undead brother), Tim just finished putting each of their contingencies in Danny’s files up on the screen. Someone would call him dramatic. That’s simply not true. He just needed them to get context before he showed them The Thing.

Babs, please stop screaming at him trough comm., his head was already killing him.

“Read it” he simply said when they were all there. For once, they listened, each getting through their part of the file with growing smiles on their faces. Except Damian, he looked offended when he had read part about bribing him to the good side with ghost animals.

“Baby Ghost is adorable.” Dick cooed, getting enthusiastic nods from everyone.

“And naïve.” Damian added, scowling “I still don’t understand why Daniel’s lack of ability to create realistic contingencies is such urgent matter.” Wait, from when did Damian started calling Danny by his first name? “We did deal with Zabini three days ago.”

Zabini was Danny’s absolutely horrible teacher from whom ghost refused to protect himself, giving them half hearted excuses like ‘I’m used to it’ or ‘Who will expect Fenton looser to be Gotham’s newest cape crusader, I protect our identities’ etc. Demon kid finally had enough and used his League training to get this nuisance from his brother’s back. Everyone else may or may not helped with it (blinking lights weren’t Duke’s doing, not at all). Dick could be scary if he really wanted to.

Yes, they could just use Bruce’s influence and money and get Danny different teacher for his online classes but it was way funnier and way better way of dealing with it.

“It’s not all. All his files look like these with sole exception of three people. One of them is his godfather, second Plasimus. Now close your files” Tim just sighed, getting up from the chair to let them see screen better.”Read this. These are contingencies Danny collected for third person, the most lethal ones”

They read in silence, dread and determination growing with every word. Whoever pissed ghost child enough to deserve such files was on instant on shoot without hesitation list.

Jason was grabbing his gun. Damian’s knife was already in his hands. Lights went a little funky, reacting to Duke’s distress. Steph’s fingers were twitching as if she was restraining herself from choking someone. Cass went inhumanly still, like predator ready to attack. Dick tried to get his escrima sticks but was out of suit so obviously he didn’t got them.

Batman’s no kill rule didn’t work outside Gotham, did it?

“These are the files Danny created for himself.”

It took them a moment to comprehend.

Then the hell broke loose with everyone speaking over each other which wasn’t nice to Tim’s very much sleep deprived brain and migraine.

“Well fuck.”

“Shit just got serious.”

“Tim you dramatic little bitch!”

“Drake I know you are not always in your right mind however I believed fathers training made you understand phrase ‘bury the lede’ and you learned why it is a bad thing. Clearly I overestimated your capabilities again.”

“Baby Bird please tell me it’s a joke.”

“It sure as hell isn’t Dick. I just checked logs.” Babs answered, hijacking Batcomputer’s speakers. “Danny was creating these files since he got access to database, before he did anything else. Though he named it some random keyboard smash before B got him through contingencies files and then he created plans for Vlad and Plasimus almost instantly after classes and then created other files.”

“Told you” Cass announced, speaking up first time since she got to the Cave, which actually wasn’t weird to her and maybe Tim shouldn’t focus on it so much.” Scared of powers.”

“Yeah, I get it, getting powers can be horrifying but also-“ Duke didn’t finish, probably not sure how to do it but tried again” Becoming meta is quite an experience and he just lost very important people to him but- how- I- he-“ he had taken a deep breath before he finally forced out whispered “ How can he hate part of himself so much? He is at peace when he is flying. Almost happy. How can he do that while being so scared of himself? How could he use it at all if he is so scared?”

Duke’s face was grayer than usual as he run hand trough his hair. Dick squeezed his shoulder in reassuring gesture.

Right, Signal and Lar had been bonding over being only super powered individuals in the family. Hate towards ones abilities was probably straight up disturbing especially if Danny managed to hide it for so long. They were probably playing with their powers during patrols. Did Duke feel bad for it now, knowing that his brother hated them so much?

Did he feel bad for not realizing earlier?

“You have to remember Thomas that all of his opponents had similar if not same power set as he does. Daniel could create some senseless connections between his abilities and moral code especially if we consider lower than normal percentage of metas in his hometown.”

Nobody knew how to react to that.

“Alright, so” Steph took deep breath before continuing “what do we do now? I’m afraid that Alfred’s chocolate, Damian’s pets and fluffy blanket may not be enough this time.”

Nobody as much as smirked but Tim was kind of grateful that she tried to ease the tension. It was weak joke but they weren’t in shape to do better.

What do they do? Great part of being a hero was going along the lines of ‘why is nobody dealing with it, well I can do it if nobody better does’ which meant that they often faced this question with nobody willing to answer.

“Let’s start with deleting this fucking files. I don’t give a shit if he’ll recreate them or something, I will smash computer if it’s not gone right fucking know."

For once Tim could agree with Jason. Maybe not on a ‘destroying batcomputer’ part but they shared rest of the sentiment.

“Cannot be alone for long” Cass stated and really, nobody could argue with that either.

“Maybe we should get him to talk with Black Canary?” Dick proposed hopefully. “I know, he doesn’t want to talk with counselors but she is a hero, maybe he’ll agree.”

Tim sighed at naivety of his oldest brother. It was understandable since he spent more time in Bludhaven than with them and hadn’t seen battles they had over therapy but still, it was so naïve.

“He’ll just call us out on our issues and ask why we didn’t talk to her if she is so great. We tried like seven dozen times already.”

“You don’t want to hear him calling us out on our issues Dickhead. He made Cass cry.”

“He cornered and scared and angry. Fast apologized.”

“Yeah, but my point still stands. You can’t get him to see therapist. Everyone was a mess after trying.”

“Well, we have to do something but also we can’t exactly confront him. He’ll run away again and we can’t let him. Not after we learned this.” Steph stressed.”We need to reassure him that we love him, that we care about him and that we won’t use any of this on him.”

“We can empty all his hiding spots from weaponry one by one and destroy it in front of him in some not obvious way. Daniel may not be the brightest when lacking sleep but he is not stupid, we need to make it look like he walked on us getting rid of means to harm him and not like we started breaking it down the moment he entered the room.”

“Demon brat I can’t believe I’m saying it but that’s actually not a bad idea.”

“Thank you Todd.”

Tim quirked his lips in almost invisible smile. He knew getting his siblings on case was a great move.

“Love languages!” Dick yelled as if he just discovered new element or something. He raised hands like cartoon character almost hitting still-not-well Duke in the process “You heard about them, right? Let’s use them. All of them.” Sounded like a threat.

“Dibs on gifts! I gotta use Alfie’s cookies and books about stars” Steph grinned, slamming her open palm on the table.

“Well if we want to actually give him food, I am the only one still allowed in the kitchen-”

“Shut up Jason.”

“Don’t get your feathers ruffled, you can share.”

“Touch.” Cass announced and nobody was willing to fight her on that. She was the best at hugs.

“I shall use quality time technique and get him to share his exceptional knowledge about space. He seems to be at peace when doing it.”

“Oh fuck, Demon child cares like, really hard.” Steph muttered probably to herself (or to Cass who knew it all along) but it hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“Tt, of course Brown. He painted all of Mother’s blades with neon pink paint first time he met her and said he will do it again until she leaves me alone unless I invite her to Gotham by myself. It was paint that would cause metal to rust faster so Mother spend next day and a half cleaning all her weapons. He kept his promise, next time he painted them in Richard’s blue and recently he asked me what color I would like to see on her next. This is service I shall repay for.”

They were all stunned after that, not quite sure what shocked them the most. Damian having someone other than Bruce and League in such high regards, Talia being victim of petty pranks or Danny repeatedly pulling such prank on literal trained assassin.

Well that explained first name basis with their resident devil incarnate.

“Kid is fucking incredible”

“I’m so gonna drown him in compliments.” Tim shrugged, partially as answer to Damian’s story and partially continuing on previous games of dibs.

“Right here with you Baby Bird.”

“Acts of service” Babs chimed. Nobody was going to fight her on it either. She could crush them without even being in the same room. Not risking that.

“Ok, great, so-” Dick clapped but didn’t get to finish.

“Hey guys-” Duke interrupted quietly, hand still halfway raised as he was waiting for someone to let him speak and just lose patience. He was so quiet that Tim kind of forgot he was still there. Don’t blame him, he was roughly on fiftieth hour without sleep, his brain wasn’t working on his whole capabilities.

“Speak up Narrows it ain’t school to raise your hand”

Duke ignored Jason’s bullshit as everyone should.

“I get that planning it all is fun or something but, like, if we’re all here, who makes sure Danny is safe like right now.”

Well shit.

Rest probably shared similar thoughts if their rapid paling was anything to go off.

Tim nearly jumped back to computer to check where was Danny’s phone, comm and panic button. Of fucking course they were in three different places with panic button localized somewhere in the severs under Crime Alley. How that even happened?!

Lift pinged, announcing someone’s arrival to the cave. Tim out of habit closed all files with contingencies which turned out to be right call.

“Oh, and here they are, whole colony working together!” Danny yelled not stepping out of elevator.

“It’s not whole colony work without resident ghost” Steph answered without losing a bit which sometimes wasn’t a good think. Boy tensed before ignoring her comment like he always did when they tried to include him.

“Hey Jason, I didn’t know you’re here today! By the way Alfred says lunch is ready!”

There were very few ways to make them stop what they’re doing and go somewhere else. Alfred was one of them. Food was also important part of his power.

Danny eyed Tim with concern when everyone tried to squeezed themselves inside the lift.

“After lunch you’re going to sleep Tim and don’t wake up before the patrol. Breakthrough in your case isn’t worth your well being.”

“Rich coming from you dude.”

“Can’t kill what’s already dead.”

“You’re still halfway alive, try not to lose it on something stupid.”

Danny didn’t answer for a moment.

“Will do.”

Tim really wished he could still believe that.

*~*~*

Danny was seriously considering running away again. Living and working with Waynes known also as Bats and Birds was getting harder. He was getting attached and he couldn’t afford that. Last time he did and he lost them, it was tragedy for the whole world and he was actively trying to avoid it happening again. And not think about it too much if possible. Waynes were at so much higher death risk than his family and friends had been. So not getting attached it is.

All they did, was as if they tried to actively laugh his resolution in the face.

They always were overly friendly and unnecessarily concerned towards him but recently they got even worse.

He wasn’t the brightest, he knew that, but even he could see that something happened and now they were showering him in positive attention whenever they saw him. And they refused to leave him alone for more than one god damn hour unless they thought sure he was sleeping. Like, he was nearly sure they bugged his room but he just couldn’t get himself to care enough to do anything about it.

He also couldn’t get himself to care enough to ask them to stop or something. He probably should since they refused to see non verbal signals but he really couldn’t muster enough emotional energy to have talk like this. They would ask too many questions and he always didn’t like to have The Talks anyway. There was a reason why he erased his parents memories after Freakshow incident.

Also it was nice to have people caring about him like this.

Though he was running away if he got too attached. Not yet but probably soon. After he ghostproofs Manor, Batcave, Babs’ Clocktower and other safe places. Maybe he should create some bunkers for the civilians? Yeah that was probably good idea. After that? They would be as safe as he could make them. Then he needed to leave. It was kind of the bummer, it was nice to have enough food, someone who cared about him and he cared about and safe-ish bed to rest again. Even if he didn’t use last one too often.

Danny stretched, joints popping, muscles singing in relief after Ancients know how many hours in position of the shrimp. He finally finished working on schematics, three prototypes and one finished product of anti-ghost shield because of course he, like an idiot he is, hadn’t retrieved them when he was running away from home so he needed to recreate them from memory, which was bitch and a half. On a bright side, he managed to make them better! Now there was no floor phasing tricks and even in human form he couldn’t get through it and got zapped instead. Future evil him didn’t have human form so some would call this precaution paranoid but it wasn’t. Really, it wasn’t exactly the same scenario, however since Danny knew he was becoming monster like this, it was better be prepared for villain halfa with all his powers and tricks.

He checked the time. 5:17 AM. Huh, he missed lunch and dinner again. No point in going back to sleep though. What could he do until it was late enough to go get some food?

Wait, Dick was visiting Gotham and nobody knew when will be next time he does. Danny should get him at least one shield in case they didn’t meet again before everything goes wrong. Yeah, that was good idea.

It was so much easier to make it second time around. He already knew what worked and how to connect everything. It was almost nice.

Next time he could focus on anything other than metal parts infused with ectoplasm from his cut forearm (thank Ancients it was fall and he could wear long sleeves without looking suspicious) was when he finished second shield. His eyes were a little watery so he rubbed them. He checked the time again. 9:34 AM. Yeah, it was good time for breakfast. His whole body ached from sitting in this horrible position for what was nearly twenty hours so he stretched again. Twenty? No, it wasn’t twenty, he got something wrong. Eighteen? Maybe it was eighteen, maybe twenty two, he was a little too tired to care and actually count.

He stood up and immediately had to seat down with how hard world started spinning around him. His vision was almost absolutely obscured by colorful dots blinking and moving like terrified ants. He closed his eyes and took few careful breaths before slowly getting up again. Yeah, he definitely needed to eat.

He didn’t actually remember his way to the kitchen.

“Hey Baby Ghost you look like a zombie.” Danny didn’t almost jump from his own skin, thank you very much.

“Morning Dick, you got wrong type of undead. For zombie go to Jason.”

Wait, he had a shield for Dick. He made it this morning. Where… Right, he left it in his room. Wait, no, he had something in his ha- right, for some reason he took it with him, clutching on it like a lifebelt. Well, at least he doesn’t have to go back to his room. He marched inside kitchen, swaying so hard he needed to lean on a wall to not fall face first on a ground.

Next thing he knew, Dick was carefully maneuvering him to sit on a chair and franticly asking if he was okay or something.

“ ’M fine” he muttered, not actually caring what was the question. He put ghost shield generator on the table for man to see better. “Remember when Mr. Wayne said-”

“You can call him Bruce or just B., he likes that.”

Danny choose to ignore this interruption and bit a sandwich Mr. Pennyworth gave him with disappointed look on his old face full of wisdom. It was weird to call good adults from outside of the family by their names.

“- that fact that every potentially hostile ghost can get inside Batcave without a trouble is serious security risk and that he will contact Constantine with this tone his uses when he really is mad at someone and hates asking them for anything but he has to anyway? The one he used when he agreed for me to join your night part-time business? You know what I’m talking about?” if look on Dick’s face was anything to go by, he knew and didn’t like that tone too. It was a little reassuring “He haven’t answered yet and Mr. Wayne was getting anxious, so I tried to get my last three brain cells to work properly and recreate ghost shields they used back in Amity. This one is for you ‘cause I don’t know when we’ll see each other again. If you stay for the dinner I’ll make you two or three more to ghostproof some spaces for civilians in Bludhaven.” He took another bite of his breakfast, Dick still next to him and not touching his bowl of cereals.

“Congrats Danny, I knew there is a genius under these messy tufts of yours.”

“ ‘M not a genius”

Man just ruffled his hair with blinding smile and Danny tried not to get too happy at the praise and affectionate gesture. Something in his chest, in place mirroring his heart, sung with delight. But he knew better. Don’t get used to it. Don’t get attached. Don’t-

“But maybe it will be better if you get some sleep before going back to work? I’ll stay up to tomorrow dinner if you do so.”

Boy blinked slowly few times.

Why did he use his longer stay like a price? It wasn’t good thing for him to be out of his city for so long. So many things could go wrong and Danny wasn’t the one to take others away from their responsibilities unless he took their place to ensure nothing happens. Only Ancients and probably Babs know, how many times he got one of the Waynes to sleep and took their patrol route instead. Danny couldn’t really go Bludhaven to ensure it was alright though. He didn’t want Nightwing to be away for too long.

Wait, did Dick misinterpreted Danny’s promise as some twisted not straightforward ask to spend more time together?

Man returned to his place at the table and ate his cereal, still keeping an eye on the teen.

“I’ll make ten if you stay so long and sleep only if I pass out in the meantime.” Boy admitted honestly. He finished his sandwich and drank his orange juice. Mr. Pennyworth refused to let him even nearby coffeemaker. It was okay. He was more of a energy drink enjoyer and had coffee alliance with Tim. Also nothing stopped him from phasing drinks inside walls and retrieving them later. He could make due. He checked time on his too damn bright phone. “I have an forty minutes before patrol so I’ll give you quick tutorial on how to use this shield, okay?”

“Maybe take a nap instead?”

“So, this button turns it on and here you can input radius and height.” Danny started, ignoring Dick’s concern “It’s like a dome. For presentation sake I’ll make it small” he input some random digits and dome in size of the big school back pack appeared on a table. Mr. Pennyworth coughed trying to remind boy about ‘No cape talks at the table’ but Danny ignored him too, way too excited talking about product of his hard work. “but it should be able to cover whole Manor. Anything larger I wouldn’t risk ‘cause it would weaken it but you can try. Now, whole purpose of ghost shield is to keep ghost out or in but I wouldn’t risk in scenario because they could just turn it off and I didn’t work out how to prevent it and don’t die while building it. Maybe I could think of something later if someone else is building it. Never mind ” Dick looked like he very much minded “This shield is better than ones back in Amity because I had to learn how hijack these to get home and such but I have no idea how to go inside this one other than brute force. But fear not, since I added things to make it electrocute every ghost that touches it, it would more likely break me before I break it.” He announced with proud smile.

He did it! He made it better! It was horrifying, his heart was beating way faster than it should, knowing that even slightest touch would send familiar shock through him. The thing, in place where heart would be if his organs were mirrored, was painfully twisted because he used his own blood, his own ectoplasm to create this.

It was wonderful. It made people safe from him.

He was his parents child after all, he was ecstatic that his creation was working more than he was scared of what it could do.

“Baby Ghost, no-”

“I also made sure that I couldn’t cross it in human form which was also lacking in previous ones and that it don’t stop on the floor. In Amity ghosts sometimes just phased through floor and flew up inside. But not with this one! Try to phase? Get zapped and maybe for few seconds powerless underground, see how you like slowly suffocating on earth and little stones, crushed by tones of material above yo-” he sounded like maniac, he was maniac, replaying out loud one of his worst nightmares from the time his powers where developing. He stopped himself with awkward cough “Sorry, got carried away, anyway I didn’t have a way to test how it reacts to overshadowed people.” He continued to ramble, a little stressed over unknown factor about his creation. Mr. Wayne made it clear that he didn’t like unknowns and his protégées all shared this sentiment.“Ghosts still get zapped because I know in human form it’s hard to say if I’m halfa or just overshadowed by something and I get zapped anyway but I don’t know if host wouldn’t get harmed in the process. I don’t think it’s likely but until I can test it I suggest checking people you suspect of having spectral co-pilot and freeing them from it before you make them walk under shield. For normal humans it won’t do a thing, maybe cause a shiver but nothing more. It’s absolutely safe for you and other people to walk through it after it’s turned on, so in case of emergency you can turn it on immediately and-”

“That’s all great Danny but you shouldn’t work on this instead of sleeping.” Dick was cautious and pleading at the same time.

“And eating.” Mr. Pennyworth added in most deadpan tone boy heard since Sam. “I truly hope that you had some snacks in your room and this isn’t your first meal since yesterday breakfast Master Danny.”

Teen just grinned, rubbing back of his neck. Elderly man just gave him more sandwiches with disappointed look on his face. Dick paled.

“Probably? I’m sorry I kinda hyperfocused and lost track of the time. Finally nobody was bothering me so I just kept working and before I realized it was next morning.”

“That’s it!” Dick shouted almost offended, clapping his hands and standing up again “We weren’t bothering you because it was your day off and we thought you were finally resting but since you didn’t you’re doing it today.”

“But-” Danny started, although he was standing up as prompted by firm hand on his back.

“No buts, let’s go,” They started slowly walking to the door “you’re worse than me and I have, like, three Nightwing cases and seven officer Grayson cases to keep me up at night. We’re going to make you sleep.”

Boy straighten up, freezing like deer in the headlights.

“Do you need help? I mean, I’m half dead I probably need only half amount of sleep I can handle going to Bludhaven few nights in week if you-”

“No, Baby Ghost, stop right now. Just stop. I don’t need your help and even if I do, I don’t want it to be given by sleep deprived disaster. Your wellbeing is priority right now.”

Dick made him walk further.

“Ghosts see a lot of things living don’t.” Boy tried to tempt “I could ask around and get you a lead in at least half of your cases if not all of them. Just give me a few nights and you’re clear. Just ask and I’ll do it.”

“Alright Danny, I get it. I don’t need your help now but I’ll remember to ask you if I do.”

Teen didn’t quite believed it but he let it slide for now.

“If you need any help, you can tell us too, you know? We will be more than happy to help.”

Boy froze again.

“You know right?”

He wished he didn’t. If they were so eager to help him, it meant that despite his greatest attempts they grew attached to him. It meant that when he becomes evil, they won’t stop him or they’ll hesitate until it’ll be too late.

It was his role to protect them not the other way around.

He messed up so bad!

He could feel when all blood left his face.

“Please tell me you understand, you aren’t a burden to any of us. We can and will fight a god for you if you need us to. Do you understand?”

Oh, Ancients, Dick just wouldn’t stop until Danny didn’t agree, would he?

“Yeah, right.” He managed to whisper.

“No matter what type of problem it is.” Shit, Danny didn’t muster enough enthusiasm to stop it? “You feel sad? You can tell us. You sprained your ankle and it hurts? You can tell us. Relationship troubles? Tell us. Homework is too hard? Tell us. Anything you want, anything that’s troubling you, you can tell us and we’ll help. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I do. I’ll tell you if anything happens.” He said, nodding enthusiastically to make Dick quit talking.

Danny didn’t need to hear it. He didn’t want to hear it. Something in his chest was almost singing at the affection and promises but he couldn’t let them close. It was better both for him, to not hurt so badly if something happened to them and for them to not hurt so badly when he inevitably goes evil.

“I sure hope you do. From experience I can tell you, too many things can go wrong if you go alone. Now go to sleep. Well rested brain works better. And with all due respect, I don’t want anything you created so exhausted. It’ll more likely explode than work properly.”

Whatever Dick tried to achieve by this comment, failed miserably.

Danny’s blood boiled. He could take insults about his height, his idiocy, his lack of multiple skills, you name it. He could be beaten, laughed up, spit at and he couldn’t care less.

He would not ignore someone suggesting something he made wasn’t working.

“More likely to explode?!” He yelled, rage flowing out of every pour in his skin, ringing in his voice and posture.“FUCKING WATCH ME!”

And before his survival instinct kicked in, Danny punched his shield with full furious ghostly strength. Dick needed to know that it worked. He, Danny, needed to make sure he knew. He-

There was electricity dancing and burning across his nerves. His body couldn’t move, overflowing with pain. There was ectoplasm filling out his veins and lungs like liquid fire and evaporated ice, burning and freezing at the same time, drowning him with every attempted breath. Scream that came out as pathetic bubble. His chest was crushed by unimaginable weight, exploding from inside at the same time. Billions of millions cries of pain as if every inhabitant of Ghost Zone wanted to be heard all at once, all both inside and outside his head. His body was getting destroyed, very atoms of his existence were changed, rearranged, his cells killed and built again while his mind was still lucid enough to try and comprehend it. He was waiting for Death, dark and brutal, mother of all ghost he was taught to hate and he wished she wouldn’t wait for so long. He knew her since young age, was taught all there is to know about her murderous children and he couldn’t help but see her as a familiar face in this painful, horrifying, wrong, wrong, wrong situation. However it felt like hours before her cold fingers finally ripped out his last breath away, stopped his racing heart, let him finally get rest.

And then for a moment everything was as it’s supposed to be. There was calm, soothing darkness, silence and coldness. It’s what should have happened to him after he died. He should just stay in this nothingness and then slowly form somewhere in the depths of the Ghost Zone and latch on some older ghost for help and advice until he was ready to survive on his own. He should be mourned and get a grave and feel happy thrill whenever someone laid flowers there.

“-ny”

Instead there were voices but different than last time. Last time there were two high pitched voices of panicking children barely out of middle school. This time there was a lot of older, male voices, calm but with concerned and scared undertones. One was really angry.

“-sponsive, call doctor Thompkins and take him to the cave.”

“THE FUCK YOU DID DICK?!”

He opened his eyes and blinked few times to make world clear again. He laid on a floor, head on someone’s lap. There were warm hands on sides of his face, keeping it secure.

“On it B.”

“Nothing Jay, I promise I just tried to force him to go to sleep.”

Danny tried to seat with a groan but hands held him in place. All conversations stopped at the same moment. Where was he? Who were they? Where were his friends?

“Lay down Baby Ghost. It’s okay, you’re okay.” Person who was holding him whispered in soothing tone.

Oh right, his friends were in cemetery in Amity, these were Waynes aka Bats and he was laying on their kitchen floor having flashbacks of his own fucking death after he oh so smartly electrocuted himself. They were probably not panicking only because of their training. The one who held his head on his laps was Dick.

“I didn’t know I could do this.” He joked, trying to ease older vigilantes. “Sorry for spooking you guys.”

“Kid in the love of the fucking god, don’t you joke on us right know. You screamed like you were fucking dying.”

Huh, from what Sam and Tuck told him, he hadn’t screamed when he was actually dying. He knew he couldn’t because the ectoplasm in his throat was drowning and he couldn’t breathe let alone scream, despite how much he wanted to, but it looked like flashback didn’t include that.

“What was that Danny?” Mr. Wayne asked calmly and boy only then realized that man was crouching next to him. Why?

“Caused by electricity, PTSD related reactions” Tim said and Danny remembered it was down to word quote from his contingency files.

“Oh, you finally read it! Great! Is it enough in depth or should I add something?” Was he desperately trying to change a topic of the conversation to anything but his attack? Yeah, but also he was genuinely curious, which was, probably, a sign of some issues. Whatever.

Tim ignored it anyway and started interrogating him instead.

“You wrote it yourself, what do you mean you didn’t expect this?”

“Yeah I knew something’ll happen, but all the times before when I got zapped I, like, froze, had some minor panic attack or got really anxious, not whatever the hell was that.” He thought for a moment, forcing himself to seat despite Dick’s protest “ It’s probably because I mixed ectoplasm with electricity, it enhanced my reaction. You know, shit suddenly hit a little too close to home. Even though I was the one hitting.” He grinned. Grandfather clock in some other room played to announce 10 AM.

Danny grinned even wider. It was perfect, excuse to escape this conversation just presented itself on a silver plate. He knew they would press him about it later but it was problem for future Danny. Not an evil future Danny, just few hours older Danny, of course.

“Well, that’s my clue, I need to suit up before the patrol, again, sorry for scaring you all” He slowly started to phase through a floor, snickering as all vigilantes tried to stop him.

“Right, Dick I forgot to tell you. On button is also an off button. You can safely shut it down now, since I can’t do a presentation anymore.”

As soon as he left kitchen, Danny let out a breath he didn’t even knew he was holding.

He felt awful, remains of electricity still making his hands twitchy and his body shiver in terror. He wished that patrol would be relatively calm. He needed a moment to get himself back together.

He took another shaky breath descending to the Batcave.

He could do it.

He had to.

*~*~*

Dick was certainly having a day, an awful day at that. He slept in some weird position so when he woke up his muscles were tense and twisted. Before he even ate breakfast, he had to stop fight between Damian and Tim, forcing younger boy to walk Titus to calm down without injuring anyone. Man always hated when his siblings were fighting, so it was enough to turn whole day into something far from good. Then he got to the kitchen, where Alfred gave him his favorite cereals which lightened up his mood a bit. Then Danny, his precious, newest, suicidal younger brother, stumbled inside, looking like he would fall face first on a ground without any help. He actually nearly did. They talked. Dick didn’t liked what he heard.

Though it was nice to see boy so excited about anything. Since they first met him Dick felt like majority of reactions he showed and almost all positive ones were faked for their sake. Maybe it was a little naïve, but man wanted to believe it was sign of healing. Teen finally acted his age or like he was even younger, showing of his creation with shinning eyes. Naturally shining, none of the ghostly magic added.

However, as much as he would normally encourage any of his sibling’s interest that wasn’t associated with their nightlife (did it even count? Maybe not, but it was furthest he ever seen Danny go from it), boy was in too bad shape to be out of bed and he focused on that. He really tried to be gentle but firm, testing waters to see what’ll break this stubborn child.

Unfortunately it seemed that he pressed a wrong button and Danny got angry. Boy’s eyes glowed bright, scary green, his face twisted in pure rage and Dick needed all his willpower to not stumble back. It hit a little too close to home with its resemblance to Jason’s Pit Madness episodes.

And then Danny punched his dome and screamed.

It was loud, high-pitched scream that was painful to hear. Scream that, despite being unintelligible, described great torture better than whatever words someone could use. Dick almost felt electricity killing his nerves and something else making his cells explode.

Boy fell to the ground, trashing around and still yelling. Man quickly sat on a floor and caught Danny’s head to ensure he wouldn’t injure himself. He couldn’t do much more on his own and Alfred had left somewhen before things went south.

As if called by this thought, Jason, Bruce and Tim run inside a kitchen at neck breaking speed, realizing even quicker that there was no time for questions. Youngest of them was already halfway taking his phone out to call doctor Thompkins. Jason tried to restrain Danny but kid was too strong and slippery for someone in his state. At some point he kicked so hard that man fell on his butt, hand already checking if his nose was broken. Thankfully it wasn’t. Bruce looked a little lost.

Then suddenly scream was cut and Danny went deathly limp and they knew how deathly limp looked. They had seen it far too many times. B immediately crouched next to them and took boy’s wrist to check his pulse. He sighed with relief when he found it but kept his fingers where they were in case things changed.

“Danny, Baby Ghost, do you hear us?” Dick quietly tried to call but didn’t get any response.

“Danny?” Tim chimed a little louder.

“C’mon squirt, you’re scaring Dickhead out.”

“Danny, move any of your fingers if you can hear us.” Bruce sounded like he was calm and collected but every one of his sons could hear worry sipping into his voice.

“Danny?” Dick tried again with same result as everyone.

“He is unresponsive, call doctor Thompkins and take him to the cave.” B. commanded, while Jason yelled.

“THE FUCK YOU DID DICK?!”

It was cute that he was so protective over their little brother. A little less cute that because of it he probably barely restrained himself from choking his only older brother.

“On it B.”

“Nothing Jay, I promise I just tried to force him to go to sleep.” Dick pleaded, knowing his life was on the line.

Danny tried to seat with a groan but he held him in place. There was no way for him to let him get up so soon after attack. Especially with how his unfocused eyes swam around room, seemingly without recognizing anyone.

Everyone momentarily shut up.

“Lay down Baby Ghost. It’s okay, you’re okay.” Dick whispered in, what he hoped was, soothing tone. Danny had to feel awful. Dick needed to make sure boy felt as safe and calm as possible. He rubbed kid’s temples in gentle manner. All the comfort.

“I didn’t know I could do this.” Danny quipped after a moment, strain clear in his voice. “Sorry for spooking you guys.”

“Kid in the love of the fucking god, don’t you joke on us right know. You screamed like you were fucking dying.” Jason was back on his feet but he looked like he barely stopped himself from shaking some senses into Danny.

Boy looked thoughtful which was not a good sign.

“What was that Danny?” B. pried.

“Caused by electricity, PTSD related reactions” Tim recited with closed eyes and Dick didn’t like the thought of where he probably read it.

“Oh, you finally read it! Great! Is it enough in depth or should I add something?” Why was Danny trying to be so cheerful when he talked about it? Why did it sound more like genuine happiness than when he was spending time with them?

“You wrote it yourself, what do you mean you didn’t expect this?” Baby Bird was almost accusatory which was not good in their current situation so Dick send him warning look. It was not the time for this.

He noticed how Danny’s limbs trembled. Probably subconsciously boy clenched his fists on his pants to hide it.

“Yeah I knew something’ll happen, but all the times before, when I got zapped” he was electrocuted not just zapped “I, like, froze, had some minor panic attack or got really anxious or trembled for some time, not whatever the hell was that.” His tone was forcefully bright, even though they all knew it was hard to him to talk about. Nothing surprising. Dick was about to tell him that he didn’t need to talk now, when teen sat up and didn’t let himself be put back down. Dick kept his hands on boy’s arms “It’s probably because I mixed ectoplasm with electricity, it enhanced my reaction.” He said thoughtfully which, again, wasn’t a good sign “You know, shit suddenly hit a little too close to home. Even though I was the one hitting.” He quipped weakly. Grandfather clock in some other room played to announce 10 AM.

Danny broke away from his older brother’s embrace.

“Well, that’s my clue, I need to suit up before the patrol, again, sorry for scaring you all” He started to disappear through a floor, smiling at them when they tried to stop him.

“Right, Dick I forgot to tell you. On button is also an off button. You can safely shut it down now, since I can’t do a presentation anymore.”

Way to push him under the train, huh?

Though Dick didn’t really care about it. After all, he hadn’t missed how Danny was shaking and how his eyes shone with tears even when he was phasing with forced smile on his lips.

“We won’t catch him before he’s out, will we?” Jason asked with his eyes fixed at the point where his brother sat a moment before.

“Not a chance.” Tim answered without hope.

They sat in silence for a long moment.

“I believe there are some explanations to be made” Bruce announced with dangerously Batman undertone in his voice. They nodded with grimaces on their faces. They definitely should explain everything but it didn’t mean they wanted too. It was complicated. It wasn’t going to be nice conversation since B was, understandably, kind of mad.

“We should probably bring that talk downstairs” Dick proposed. Was he stalling? Yeah, he really didn’t want to explain it all. Instead he cautiously poked still active anti-ghost shield. Danny said it shouldn’t hurt humans but Dick was serious about not trusting anything made by sleep deprived teenagers. Nothing exploded and he hadn’t been shocked so he put his hand inside and turned this cursed thing off.

Bruce hummed and left room without any further acknowledgment.

Dick exchanged glances with his brothers.

“If you can’t explain it well, your fucked” Jason declared in surprisingly gentle and hurt tone.

“I’m sorry, Jaybird”

Tim just sighed. This had to end poorly.

“Let’s go”

They did, with heavy hearts and dark thoughts in their heads.

When they arrived, Bruce was already standing at the briefing table, visibly bracing himself from pacing. He looked at them and Dick recognized that look. ‘Talk’ he almost said. ’Explain’ he nudged.

‘Where do I even start?’ he wanted to ask, but he kept it to himself. After all, since he was Robin he was taught how to rely information in best compromise of short and usefully detailed.

All his years of training felt useless in face of everything he was supposed to share.

“Alright” Jason clapped, standing on the opposite side of the table, probably to stop himself from murdering someone “now that we’re here, Dick, care to share what the fuck just happened in the kitchen?”

With a sigh he placed a sci-fi looking box where everyone could see it.

“This is anti-ghost shield generator. Let me finish-” he held his hand when Tim tried to comment. Dick needed to let it all out as soon as he could or he wouldn’t be able to say it at all “Danny made this last night. He told he wanted to make it after you, B, mentioned security risk of Batcave being unprepared for ghost rogues. He recognized your ‘I have to talk with Constantine’ voice but also thought it was the same as your ‘I have to let next kid in the field’ voice. He thinks you’re mad at him. So he decided to make it to ghost proof whatever place we want. He explained how he made sure it’s better than ones he saw back in Amity. He had to hijack them to get home and he proudly announced and I fucking quote ‘I have no idea how to go inside this one other than brute force. But fear not, since I added things to make it electrocute every ghost that touches it, it would more likely break me before I break it.’ “ he tried to replicate how cheerful was Danny’s tone, which added to grim effect of his speech.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Jason muttered and Bruce looked like he would say something similar if he did speak his mind more often.

“I tried to get him to sleep and he got angry and went all scary ghost bullshit and punched it. You know what happened next.”

“And he just- punched that- just like that? After he told you that it could kill him?”

“We’re talking about Danny, are you seriously surprised by his self destructive behavior B?”

“So intense outside the field? Yes, I find it surprising. Why shouldn’t I?

Jason groaned.

“He haven’t seen Danny’s contingency files.” Tim stated with hollow voice with only slightest hints of disbelief and understanding. Dick’s eyes widened. He was right. Jason muttered curses under his breath.

“No, I haven’t had time for this, what’s in them?”

They exchanged glances again. ‘What isn’t there?’ they asked each other with that alone. And also, ‘how fucked are we?’

“Ok, so imagine you asked five year old to create the most Looney Tunes type of contingencies” Tim started, building dramatic effect with tone of his voice alone. Dick let him, after all, they all were just slightly different types of theater kids (even Damian despite how he refused to admit it) and Baby Bird was master of creating tension while briefing in Bat approved way. “These are Danny’s files for everyone, including some of the ghosts he fought back in Amity Park.”

Dramatic pause to let B comprehend this.

“Now think about Dick’s plans for Tony Zucco. You know, the ones from purple notebook. These are Danny’s plans for Vlad Masters and ghost called Plasimus.”

Well, it’s not like it wasn’t accurate but man, did he hate when Zucco was brought up. Also, how Tim even knew about purple notebook? Dick burned it before kid came to live in the Manor!

“I suspect they have similar situation as Danny and Phantom but it’s more of a hunch.”

“Now Timbers, that’s new. When do we go for this fucker?”

“Jason, you can’t just ask that!” Tim looked displeased, making subtle head movement towards Bruce. Yeah, better not discuss beating someone up in front of him. Even if Dick was nearly sure after some background info B would be down to it.

It was funny thought. Whole Batclan coming to some medium sized town in Illinois to beat down one specific guy.

Fuck you in particular Masters.

Danny nearly got panic attack when he saw that man at gala (they forced kid to attend, not as Bruce Wayne’s newest ward, but they sneaked him there anyway, they couldn’t suffer without him). Whatever that reclusive millionaire had done to their brother, he deserved severe beating from all of them. With assassin training some of them had and all other jazz.

“We can talk about that later” Bruce stated “I assume you haven’t finished Tim” he added, sounding annoyed at interruption.

“No. There was one more file, one that disturbed us the most when we found it.” Boy took a deep breath before he continued “Imagine you got all the craziest villains you ever heard about. Most torturous, brutal ones, all got merged into unholy abomination of hive mind and created plan to destroy someone.”

Bruce looked furious. Dick could understand, he had been in the same position just three days ago. He could almost hear thoughts running through his dad’s head.

‘Who deserved this? What did they do to my son? Where are they and how do I kill them?’

Maybe without killing part.

“This is what Danny wants us to use on him as soon as he shows any signs of turning evil.” Tim dropped and in any other situation he would be smiling. He was just dramatic like that and took satisfaction in effects his storytelling had on his listeners. Not then though.

Bruce paled. He stared into nothing in front of them with wide, horrified eyes. His mouth moved as if he tried to say something but couldn’t force his vocal chords to it.

“He ensured that this would not only hurt and kill him but also make him cease to exist in any form. He listed all his powers and weaknesses to encourage us to create our own plans because he realized that it doesn’t make sense if we use his. He hid weapons that could ‘rip a ghost apart molecule by molecule’ in various places around Manor and Gotham itself, with notes on what each one of us would probably prefer to use. This is fucked up and we’re still not sure how to handle this without causing him to run, so we were showering him in positive attention and refused to leave him alone for prolonged periods of time.” Tim finished, leaning back on his chair.

They gave Bruce time to comprehend all information he just learned. They also needed a moment to redigest it themselves.

Their newest brother was suicidal. Their newest brother was so full of self-hatered that he wanted to be gone. That he believed he should be destroyed the first moment he steps out of line.

It was so easy to forget sometimes.

“How long do you know about it?” Their dad finally spoke, words heavy with poorly hidden anger and concern.

“About three days.” Dick stated cautiously. He understood why Bruce was angry. It didn’t mean he wanted to face said anger.

“Why didn’t I learn about it before?”

Oh, he wasn’t angry. He was disappointed. That was probably even worse.

“You were kinda hard to catch and we focused more on Danny, sorry we didn’t tell you before.”

“Dickhead is being nice, we just forgot you weren’t in on it old man.”

“I mean literally everyone else was there and it wasn’t too hard to assume Damian will tell you…” Tim supported quietly.

Bruce just sighed.

“What preventive measures have you already taken?”

Tim was explaining when suddenly Damian walked up to them in full Robin gear.

“Todd I require your assistance.”

Well that was going to be interesting day at the very least.

*~*~*

Damian had enough honesty and self critique skills to admit to himself that he wasn’t efficient in contacts with people. He was raised to be the best at killing them not talking. He was raised to be obedient puppet, understanding what was expected from him, even better if he did it before anyone could voice it. This left him a little wrong footed when he came to live with his father, in environment where he wasn’t expected to be a weapon. In environment, where he was supposed to have things he enjoyed other than learning to wield blades even better, where there were people who wanted to help him with finding what he liked and where he could spend his time condoning such mundane activities. He was not sure how to proceed but he was slowly getting better at understanding societal rules. Jon was inestimable help in that.

However he was great realizing when he was subjected to the test. It was skill necessary while living in the League of Assassins, where everything, every time, was a way to check if he was worthy keeping alive.

Offering them tools specifically made to harm him was clearly Daniel’s way of testing if they were trustworthy. Obviously, Damian took it upon himself to prove to his father’s newest ward that no harm will fall upon him from Wayne family or anyone associated with them. In his mind best way to do it was to destroy aforementioned tools.

That was why despite sun still being high on the sky, he dressed in full Robin armor and got inside the Batcave. He got a little surprised to see anyone there, let alone his father, pale and with wide eyes, but he didn’t let it disturb his mission. Albeit he was pleased to see other person that could be valuable to his task.

“Todd I require your assistance.” He announced.

“Damian, what are you doing? Why are you all dressed up? It’s barely noon.”

“Good morning Father, I need to retrieve some weaponry before Daniel and Thomas return from their patrol. I thought that I shouldn’t be seen as civilian while doing it. I also do think Todd would be pleased to help me since hideout I found is in his territory and Signal keeps me updated on where he and Lar are, so we won’t be disturbed.”

“What weaponry Damian?” father looked distressed.

“Weaponry Daniel prepared and located around Gotham meant to cause him harm. We would like to retrieve it to the Batcave and destroy, preferably in front of him, to ensure he understands we won’t hurt him with this.”

Only answer he got was a nod. It was as good as he would get.

“Todd do you wish to come along or shall I take my leave?”

“You bet I’m coming, you can’t even drive, Demon BratW.”

“Great, I shall wait until you dress up.”

Todd almost tipped over a chair with how fast he got up and run to the lockers. Richard and Drake also used this as moment to leave. Or look like they were leaving, he didn’t miss how both of them just hid from eyes of father and stayed to observe. Whatever conversation they all just had clearly wasn’t pleasant to anyone involved.

“Damian, did you know about Danny’s contingency plans as long as they did?”

Right, if that was the topic, it obviously couldn’t be pleasant. He wondered if father was mad at them for lack of more direct measures. He hoped he didn’t, Damian wanted to do more but according to Richard, they couldn’t if they didn’t want Daniel to run away. He didn’t quite understand that, however in circumstances like this, he trusted his oldest brother’s judgment more than his own.

“Yes father. Drake found them first and then called all of us on emergency meeting to share his discovery with us.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He didn’t know?

“According to Gordon, these files were in Batcomputer’s database from the moment Daniel gained access to it. Even despite how he previously named his file somehow else I assumed you were aware. I do not go looking through others’ contents, as you are aware at times I have trouble using my own files, however I thought you are regularly checking information we put in there.”

Father clearly deflated at that.

“Thank you son”

“Let’s go Demon brat!” Todd yelled, finally dressed in his uniform.

“Call me that once more and I will not hesitate to stab you.” He said with a scowl but he made his way to where Red Hood left his motorcycle. He still wasn’t allowed to own one because of his age. He found it ridiculous, he was more than capable of using vehicle like that but he learned that there were times when fighting with his father was useless. It was one of them.

“Damian, you can’t stab people.”

“I apologize.”

Father sighed but didn’t stop them when Todd sped up out of the Batcave. Once they got on the roads man was riding so fast Damian was sure he broke at least three traffic laws. Not that he cared. They weren’t endangering anyone. Boy let Thomas know that he was with Red Hood on that mission. He thought daytime vigilante would appreciate information like that.

“So, where are we going?”

Damian gave him whole description of the place Daniel left in his file and Todd whistled.

“It’s literally the fucking worst place in whole neighborhood to leave anything.” He explained “It was some fuckers gang hideout up until two weeks ago when I busted it with my boys so now everyone is looking out for it to get it for themselves. After someone finally gets their dirty hands on it there is mandatory cleaning to make sure previous owners didn’t left any fucking surprises. Then all precious weapons Danny left start making rounds underground and soon he is fucked.”

“Let’s hope we’re first to find it then.”

They did in fact found it undisturbed which was relieving. What was less relieving was the amount of weaponry that Daniel had collected in just this one place. Like he tried to prepare them against whole army with another army on their own. Thankfully he prepared it in a way that was convenient to transport on motorcycle but the quantity made it dangerous to travel at high speed.

Before they could came to agreement whether Todd should make rounds leaving Damian to ensure rest doesn’t disappear or should they try to get everything at once and just pray for it to go well, their comms cackled to life.

“Red Hood, are you still where you were planning to be? There is some big fight east, up to three streets from your location. Lar and I are approaching as fast as we can but I thought it would be better if you handled it.”

Damian did not pout at being left out, don’t be ridiculous.

“He’ll know that something is up if you show up in my turf in the middle of the day Demon Brat.”

It was reasonable, he couldn’t argue with that but he still was not to keen on being left out.

“I’m on my way, tell Lar that I’m handling it and go on a snack break or something.”

“Or something, got it Hood.”

Todd returned half an hour later, when Damian finished setting up all boxes for transportation. They returned to the Batcave in the timely manner and started setting up everything on work table to destruction. Cain joined them soon after, explaining that Richard got sudden call and had to go back to Bludhaven which was a great loss, Brown had some school group project she had to take care for which was a medium loss and Drake got put down for a nap which wasn’t loss at all.

Damian was not sure where Cain found baseball bats but he figured she properly assumed they were perfect tools for wrecking havoc. He caught it like his katana, which earned him some snickers from Todd, but he soon proved that it was acceptable way to wield such tool while breaking down high tech weaponry.

It brought him surprising amount to satisfaction. Just mindlessly raising his hands and hitting. Raising and hitting. Raising and hitting. Each hit destroying another piece of equipment meant to harm Daniel. Meant to harm his brother because if anyone deserved such title it was boy who faced Mother without an ounce of fear and laughed her in the face to make sure that he, Damian, felt comfortable.

Person like this should not be harmed. Not on Damian’s watch as some of his siblings liked to put it.

Raise and hit. Raise and hit. Dodge flying metal piece. Raise and hit.

He almost missed two voices that announced return of two daytime vigilantes. He didn’t, he was raised better but in privacy of his thoughts he could admit he nearly did. He should up his situational awareness training again. He was getting sloppy while living with his father.

Sometimes he wondered if it was actually bad thing.

“You’re taking a nap first thing after your out of costume dude.”

“ ‘need tooo add smthing to m’ f’les on B’tco-” he was slurring.

“You can do it when you can actually see letters straight squirt.” Todd interrupted.

If Damian hadn’t seen Drake on his research sprees and didn’t knew it was typical symptom of sleep deprivation, he would assume Daniel was drunk or drugged. Especially when he came inside swaying. It was like his first time in the cave all over again but then he had been homeless and delirious from blood loss and/or drugs because he had kept showing up for rogue fights with torn jeans and dirty t-shirt as his only armor. Good thing that he had resumed to evacuation duty that was sometimes lacking in their confrontations with the villains. Despite that (or maybe because of) others had been concerned over his well-being until he stayed under their care after lucky bullet got him in the side.

It was good thing he didn’t seem to drive any vehicles in such state. Damian put his bat on a table and resumed to observe.

Daniel took a moment to peer his mask of his face before turning to face them.

“Oh, hey guys I didn’t know you were there” he said with sheepish smile, while rubbing back of his neck. He made a few steps to get closer before he tripped over one of stray pieces of metal they send flying in wake of their destruction. It should not be able to trip him, not unless he was already greatly out of balance. He barely caught himself from falling face first to the ground. Damian started to seriously consider what were the chances that his brother got drugged or concussed while on the patrol and Thomas just haven’t realized.

He had to admit, they were not too high, Daniel was most likely just absolutely exhausted.

“Your lack of awareness of your surroundings is worrying, go to repose Fenton.” Damian was not ashamed of calling Daniel his brother and admitting that he felt enough companionship with him to use his first name, however for some reason older boy was greatly opposed to his full name. For this reason he retracted to calling him by his surname since he would not lower himself to use childish nicknames.

“It’s Demon brat’s way of saying ‘you look and move like shit, go the fuck to sleep’ if your brain is to fried to understand that.”

“Stop it guys, it’s not that bad re-”

“We all. Worried. You. Sleeping and standing. Go rest.” Cain interrupted which seemed to finally made Daniel realize that they were serious and his state was bad, to say the least.

“Damian look out!” Signal yelled. There was nothing to look out for.

Then Todd hit some sort of gun, somehow making it shot in the process. Shot in Damian’s direction to be more specific. He dodged it out of reflex which turned out as not necessary when transparent green shield appeared in front of him. Daniel was by his side seconds later, much more awake, visibly checking him for any injuries blast could have caused. When he made sure he was well (as if Damian would let something like this hit him), older boy spun around with clearly uncontrolled swing to look at the table and finally assess the situation. Even while looking just at his back, Robin knew he didn’t like what he saw.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” He shrieked with disquieting undertone to his voice. He jumped to catch bat that Cain was swinging at yet another piece of equipment. That one looked like boomerang. Honestly, how much of it was there?

Too much, but that was clear from the start.

“Getting rid of this shit” Todd just shrugged, trying to hit but his bat too was stopped but this time by ectoplasmic arm and not real Daniel’s one. It was much weaker than the shield he made moments before, slightly blinking and dithering.

“Why?!” he whined loudly even though he not discreetly leaned over work table for support.

“You left it for us as a clear way of testing if you can trust us. We are destroying it to prove to you that we are in fact safe to be around and we will never use it against you.”

That visibly gave him a pause. Then his face turned from utter confusion into absolute horror as he took few staggered steps back.

“Oh, no, no, no, no…” he muttered, grabbing his hairs. “Oh, Ancients I messed up so badly.” was probably not meant for their ears. All other four vigilantes exchanged concerned glances. This was not reaction they expected in the slightest.

“Why do think that way?” Thomas asked quietly with hands raised like he was trying to mimic character from movie about dinosaurs they watched during last ‘Family Movie Night’.

“I didn’t gave it to you to test you or whatever!” He flailed his hands around, clearly on verge of some sort panic or anxiety attack. “I gave it to you because I know you’ll need it!”

“You said that all ghosts are locked in the Ghost Zone and you personally made sure of that before you left.” Damian stated with clear question under the surface.

“I did, unless Vlad gets sloppy there is no way ghost without portal powers gets to this side.”

It looked like the question was not clear enough for Daniel’s mush of sleep deprived brain.

“Then against who you think we will need it?”

“ME!” ghost cried without hesitation. Everyone tensed.

“Daniel, is it declaration of you going rogue?” Damian asked cautiously.

“Don’t call me Daniel.”

“Answer my question Fenton.”

“I’m not going rogue-”

“Then why the fu-” Todd interrupted but was ignored.

“- but I will. You need to be prepared for that.” He finished with dark expression but not the one Damian saw on Grandfather when he was plotting or frankly anyone actually planning to do something sinister. It was more like expression of general before hard battle, when he knows how bad it will be but can’t do anything to prevent it.

They stood in silence after that declaration until Cain of all people found her words again.

“You are not bad. What do you mean?” her voice was soft, body language as non threatening as she could manage.

Daniel blinked then shook his head few times as if he just realized that he let slip something he didn’t mean to tell.

“That’s it, I’m not lucid enough to have this conversation. We will talk after I rest.” He announced and stormed out of the Batcave, still in his Lar uniform, as dramatically as he could while he barely kept himself up right.

They waited for a moment.

“I’ll go insure he doesn’t pass out on his way to his room.” Damian said.

Daniel in fact made it to his room unharmed and actually gotten to sleep (allegedly, Damian was nearly sure older boy was crying before he was picked by Morpheus).

They did not talk about accident in the cave.

*****

Last part in next reblog because Tumblr is screaming at me for reaching limits

DC X DP Prompt #4

It turns out that one of the things Danny inherited from Bruce was his need to make contingency plans.

Or: Danny's family finds out that he has contingency plans for all of them, including if Danny turns evil and how to permanently stop him

Bruce feels a certain way when he finds out his son has a plan to basically commit suicide.

i drew this because i. wanted to, i guess

I love you all so much. Your ideas are amazing

I just realized that there is literally zero fanfics with Danny Fenton/M'gann M'orzz pairing and idk, am I the only one who see nearly endless potential in it?

I don't know how they met but they're probably pretty fast friends.

With Danny being space nerd, he would ask M'gann all the questions about Mars. At the same time, from what little I know about Miss Martian, she is "Earth nerd" and would ask him all the questions about Earth and what normal teenage life is like, because YL team is not the best study case. Like, only Wally and maybe Artemis (I don't know a thing about her other than 'snarky/blunt archer') had normal human life. He is happy to answer, introducing her to his semi normal life before accident.

They exchanged stories about stars from their respective homes.

Just imagine, Danny binge watching "Hello Megan" just to know what she is talking about and it's not his thing, really, but he learnt to enjoy it because he associated it with M'gann (we can have Jazz being fan too and feeling 'betrayed' because she tried to strongarm her brother to watch it for years and all it took was to cute alien girl to mention it and he is pulling all nighters).

Just imagine, M'gann asking one of her teammates (probably Robin) to teach her to play Doomed, so she can play with her halfa friend and his friends and not ask about every controller. They don't really mind her being newbie but sudden progress doesn't go unnoticed or unpraised.

Everlasting trio inviting her to Nasty Burger every once in a while to talk about random, not hero related things.

Rest of the YJ may not even know about Phantom. They just know about this Danny, M'gann's totally civilian friend, who likes milkshakes and video games.

They share their stories and tips about heroing and powers they have similar. Mostly M'gann shares things she learnt from her uncle or in Mountain because let's be honest, self taught is rarely better than someone with proper mentoring. She for sure helps with ghosts if they attack during her visit, even if Danny tries to shield her from it. "I'm supposed to be your civilian friend, am I not?"

She definitely does what she can to help with his hero PR. She may or may not accidentally convinced rest of the Team she has celebrity crush on underappreciated ghost hero from the middle of the nowhere. They help her, spamming all negative news reports with praises for Phantom from both hero and civilian accounts. It caused some mess, Justice League had questions but Danny was happy so it doesn't matter.

If we go with ghost being super emphatic we can have Danny overwhelmed by everyone's feelings (honest hate his parents have towards his hero persona, confliction of towns people, concern of his friends, excitement of Casper students idk, EVERYTHING) and M'gann helps him overcome it. Later both of them being there for eachother when everything was just too much. Y'know just this mutual understanding that nobody else can really give them.

Maybe some communication troubles because M'gann prefers telepathy and Danny does not like it in a slightest (Freakshow flashbacks or something) but tries to accommodate. Or M'gann doesn't even try because idk, one of telepathy rules is "don't read thoughts of dying person unless they project it to you" and she feels it goes for dead (even if only halfway) too.

They're just vibing with eachother.

Then there is ghost attack outside Amity and Team is send to deal with it. M'gann is surprisingly competent at dealing with everything ghost does while evacuating civilians while someone magic competent is called. Suddenly she stops, gets her phone and makes a call:

"Hey Danny, do you have a moment?" whole team is too shocked to react, because in the love of whatever they believe in, why is Megan calling her civilian friend in the middle of the battle with unknown entity. "It's [insert whatever ghost you want] wrecking havoc. Can you come by at take them to the zone? I don't have thermos on me right now. Thank you."

WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

Que Danny flying top speed to wherever she is, fights a ghost and contains them. Que someone (maybe Wally) being like:

"When did you wanted to tell us that your civilian friend is a hero?"

M'gann honest to god forgot that Team thought Danny was a civilian.

"I worked quite hard to drag her into as little of my Phantom bullshit as I could. I am proud of being a civilian friend, thank you very much"

They all came in contact together after that.

Martian Manhunter tried to give Fenton a shovel talk but boy was too excited to meet his favourite hero and to focused on not making fool of himself to be actually scared or something. He deals with Skulker on a regular basis anyway, there are very few threats that could actually scare him.

Team members also tried to shovel talk him, just in case. They all failed for one reason or another

Or maybe Danny is already YJ member. Everything above can still happen just without ghost attack. Danny can have issues with Zeta Tubes though. That's a good stuff.

There can be a drama of "I'm your friend only because I'm alien/semi normal, am I not?"

Or we can go with space obsessed Danny going full Vlad on cute alien girl. Y'know, because "that's a halfa thing to do". M'gann is not into that. I'm not really excited about this take but that's a possibility too.

Use it as you will. Just please someone write it

Also sixth, because I forgot to mention it before. Not lighthearted, really. If your here for happy ending maybe don't read it.

With the power suppressors I wanted to go similar route as the one shot "16 hours" (or something like that you can find it on tumblr, plot summary: League contains Danny, they put him in the suppressors and he just drpps there unresponsive in agonising pain. It takes 16 hours for Bats to arrive and Red Ribin to clock it almost immediately). Basically, because Danny died and came back via ghost portal, his ghost side, i.e. his powers, is what keeps him alive. So when put in power suppressors, he starts dying all over again. You know, typical lighthearted headcannons.

Here I think, normally one suppressors wouldn't do much, maybe just tire him out a little. However at this point he is absolutely exhausted from running away from GIW for days without a moment to catch breath, so one suppressor contains his powers enough for him not to run away but just a single one is not enough to kill him or cause real pain. Though the whole GIW asset (wrists, ankles, neck, maybe some sort of muzzle) probably feels like the worst moment of his death itself. The most painful. The most hopeless. The moment when he wanted to scream the loudest, but no sounds came out of his dead mouth. For days, as he still somehow feels the cuts scientists make. And it ads up, and for some reason, he can't just pass out. Just barely conscious. Barely alive.

Hope you're doing alright, have a great rest of your day

# 17

The Justice League try to threaten Danny saying that if he dose not start talking then they will have to hand him over to thr GIW when Danny does not talk they tell him that there going to connect the GIW when they leave his cell and go to the camera they had there heart drop when they see Danny pull out a little vile and what look like a red flower be eaten when they run un they hear him say " I would rather die a second death then go back to the table." before pasting out