2/3
Dcxdp trope twist
So, maybe taking Pariah’s crown was a bad idea, but he had meant it as a “rubbing salt in the wound” thing, not a “I want your power” thing. Now, he had been having trouble with his abilities being too strong and unpredictable along with new ones developing.
Luckily, his parents thought he was a meta. Unluckily, they were sending him to his great aunt and great uncle’s farm to learn how to control it. Apparently their son had had similar issues?
All Danny could hope was that he didn’t accidentally destroy the Kent’s farm.
The first time it happened, the Waynes were walking around a street market, glancing at the art, when a woman wearing a Red Hood jacket and drinking out of a Red Robin coffee traveling mug struts by.
The heroes stop to stare, more in shock, to see how well the two items are done, which grabs her attention.
She grins at them, waving her cup. "You guys like the bats? You should check out both nineteen. He sells all official stuff."
"Official?" Dick repeats.
"Yup. He has it all trademarked." She says, pulling out a business card. She hands it to Dick with a smile before bidding everyone goodbye. Babs reaches up, snatching the card from Dick's slack hold, pulling out her phone to research the name.
Babs hisses through her teeth when she finds out that, yes, whoever the artist is, they did, in fact, trademark their designs. But not only did they cover their art, but they also put a copyright over the idea of all the Gotham heroes.
"He copyrighted Batman!?" Tim demands, reading over the baby's shoulder. "The symbol, the technology, the fighting moves- his shadow!? How!?"
"No one else did," Bruce answers with an amused smile. "He probably realized this and decided to slap one on while he had the chance."
"He can't do that!" Tim shouts. "Batman should sue him."
"Kinda hard to take someone to court regarding vigilantes." Dick shrugs his shoulders. "The Bats are illegal themselves, and they didn't copyright before this guy did."
"He owns Robin!" Jason announces with a laugh.
"That son of a-!!" Dick shouts, twisting around and stomping down the booths. People who recognize them jump out of the way for the raging celebrity. The rest of the Waynes were right behind him, a few slightly surprised by the pure anger on the eldest face.
Not Bruce or Jason. They see and personally know Dick's rage.
"How dare he try to claim Robin!" The eldest hisses, rounding the last row and stumbling to a halt. The rest are unprepared for his sudden stop, so they stumble into his back.
Grunts of pain and slight soft swears are heard as the group tumbles over onto the ground. Dick is unfortunate enough to end up on the bottom, feeling the total weight of his family. He's pretty sure Bruce's elbow was digging into his lower back, and Tim's head had slammed on the back of his neck.
Maybe Alfred was right about them going on a stricter diet. Ouch.
"Get up this instant. We are ashamed of the family name." Damian hisses from where he is standing above them. Of course, Cass is next to him with a cheerful smile.
Both of them had danced out of the collision in a way that appeared accidental to the untrained eye. Bruce likely let himself fall because he enjoyed causing scenes as Brucie Wayne, no matter how much he denied it.
"Dick." Jason groans, taking the hand Cass held out for him with grace. "Why did you stop?"
"Look at both nineteen." Dick hisses feeling Tim delibertly dig his elbow into his back. His brother offers him a sweet, innocent smile that does not hide the anger in his eyes. Sometimes Dick wonders if anyone can spot the pettiness in Tim or if his madness hides it.
"Oh," Steph whistles when she hopes off of Bruce to stare at the booth owner. "Yeah, I get it. He's hot"
"No!"Dick shouts, rising up from the ground. There is horror in his voice that makes the Bats all tense. "No, he is not hot. That's disgusting Steph. Look at him. Tell me who's face that is."
It's Bruce who spots it first. "I have more chidlren?"
Damian gasps. "Father, you have more blood, children!? How did you recognize him, Richard?"
"He looks exactly like Bruce at that age." Dick hisses, leaning closer. "The Titians and I met Bruce when he was sixteen during a mishap with a time wizard. I may have pretended to be a butler sent to Wayne Manor for training to get access to the cave. The cave was the location that we had to use to go home."
"That was you?" Bruce demands. "I thought that was an idiot who was in love with Alfred."
"Ew, why?"
"You kept complimenting his cooking, doing chores for him, and trying to take him out for a fun night in town!"
"Well, excuse me for wanting Alfred to have a week's vacation from the broodiest and most troublesome teen!" Dick shouts, throwing his arms in the air. "You were literally hissing at him whenever he told you to bathe!"
"I didn't like water back then!"
"Hey guys?" Jason cuts in. "Tim left."
Both men swing to stare at the second eldest with twin looks of confusion. "What?"
"Tim. He's over there. Yelling at kid-Bruce." Jason points to where a crowd is slowly building around them. Tim is in a screaming match with the owner. There is a lot of hand-waving, faces turning red in anger, finally ending with the owner throwing himself over the Red Robin merchandise with a protective little snarl.
Tim reels back and punches him in the face.
"Oh shit," Steph sighs, running towards the both as the owner is quick to tackle Tim. The Waynes find it odd that they must show off their bat training to break the two apart.
And that's how the Waynes get on the front cover of almost all media coverage that tells the story of Danny Fenton (Wayne). Bruce's second secret love child with a married woman (Jack and Maddie had briefly opened up about their marriage back then, so neither was mad) and who had met his biological father after a public fight with his adoptive brother.
Danny would like to go on record as saying that he was unaware of why Tim cared so much that he saw a fantastic business opportunity and took it. It's not like Batman could challenge his copyrights, and if the crimefighter came for his kneecaps over it, he would find himself against the Ghost King.
True the Ghost King in name only, but the Bat didn't know that.
Danny will be honest if asked how he felt about finding out Bruce Wayne is his father. He already knew. When he was around twelve, his parents sat him down and told him. It was how his dad explained where babies came from, the genuine Welcome To Puberty! Talk and what open marriages meant—which was as horrific as it sounds—and they never bothered with it again.
Because Jack Fenton had been the one to raise Danny, he had been the one who held him after his mom gave birth and had been the one who loved him with all his heart despite not being blood-related.
He had a bigger reaction to having to fist-fight Tim Drake over the fact he made Red Robin the official LGBT+ member of the Bat family because he is bi, no matter how much Tim insists Red Robin was straight.
It sounds to him like Tim is deep in the closet and in denial. Bisexual Red Robin forever!
Danny decides to take a year after high school to travel like Ellie, except instead of earth he packs a speeder he himself updated and leaves earth.
On his adventures in space he finds out earth wasn't the only planet out there with life and how common deep space travel is for those other species.
On his first trip to a space port he meets an alien with a green ring that makes constructs of emotion and works essentially as a peace keeper among the stars.
Out in the isolated expanse of void between planets he meets another lone traveler, a small alien who resembles a starfish by the name of Jarro.
He find a planet that is ALIVE in a way he never knew planets could be and spends a bit of his time sharing stories with them before moving on.
All around he is glad he took this trip and regrets he promised to return to earth so soon. He stops once again at another space port to get directions to Earth, giving his thanks before flying back into the void this time in the direction of home.
When he arrives things are different then he remembers, there are satelites far bigger and more advanced then he has ever seen surrounding the planet. Beneath the clouds the continents don't look quite right, like they have a subtly different shape then he remembered.
He shakes his head, he's been gone a year he probably just forgot what the continents looked like. Heck with all the aliens and the advancements he's seen out in the universe it wouldn't be hard to believe there has been some contact while he has been gone and the satelites were alien made!
When he gets down to the surface where Amity should be all that he finds is endless emptiness of undeveloped land, Danny takes back to the sky assuming he landed in the wrong place and flies around to find something familiar.
But there isn't anything familiar, Amity park is gone and after hours of panicked flying he finds himself no longer alone in the air. Surprised he takes a fighting pose which the figure follows suit, the man looked human and wore a skin tight suit like Danny. Only instead of black and white, it was red and blue.
The man introduces himself as Superman as if Danny should recognize him and at this point he is feeling a lot less sure he has the right planet…
Get in the Water prompt Storm alternate version Animatic Fanart
There was a spell, Constantine had explained after his own trip to the afterlife. Something to contain Danyal's soul long enough to resolve his unfinished business, to keep him still and away from the influences of his fellow dead. And if that didn't work, Constantine continued, then there were ways to force a spirit to rest. It was better for a ghost to move on by themselves, but if there was no other choice...
Damian hoped Danyal would choose to rest on his own. That he'd let him explain, finally.
Danyal had been weak. Strong in a fight, but too weak to kill, and that infuriated Damian. But he was scared more than he was angry. Because that weakness would get Danyal killed, could get Damian killed, could get the League killed. Even the newest recruits had a stronger desire to kill than Danyal.
He was the weakest link in the chain. And while their mother had taught them to be ruthless, Danyal had remained limp with mercy.
They needed Danyal's body. It would be Danyal's tie to the earth, Constantine explained as he joined them on the Batplane. The souls of the dead don't often linger on the mortal plain. The magician had speculated that the only reason Danyal had managed to manifest in the waters below Gotham was because of Damian's presence, but his remains would keep him stable this side of life for however long it took to heal his soul.
But was that even possible?
"I don't know, kid," Constantine admitted during the plane ride. "Wish I had a better answer for you, but... Your brother is a siren now. And from the sound of it? He really wants you dead."
"Then why didn't he kill me?" Damian argued. "He had hours to do it... or minutes..." The time he spent in that green world felt longer than the ten minutes Father couldn't find him, but... "He had me in his grasp and let me go. Doesn't that mean he didn't want to-"
"Have you ever heard the phrase 'Playing with your food?'" Constantine asked instead. "Sirens aren't known for letting their prey go. If we're out here, its because he wants us here."
They--Damian, Father, Constantine, Grayson, and Todd--landed in Nanda Parbat after a few hours. There was a crypt inside for members of the Al Ghul family who didn't use the Lazarus Pits. It was there Danyal's body was entombed. They would have to steal it.
And it was unfortunate that Constantine got them caught within five minutes of entry.
Damian glared daggers at the man as they were led towards the Lazarus Pit. Constantine shrugged. "What? I don't want assassins chasing after me because of some light grave robbing! Besides, we need to explain the situation anyway-"
"And what, precisely, needs to be explained?" asked a woman from inside the chamber. The heroes were pushed inside, only to see Talia Al Ghul standing where her father should have been. The Lazarus Pit hissed and boiled behind her, casing the cave in a ghoulish light.
Damian could hear laughing.
Father stepped forward. "Talia. Where's Ra's?" Grandfather was the biggest threat to their plan succeeding.
Mother... looked away, unable to meet his gaze. "I do not know. At the present moment... the Demon Head is missing."
You could hear a pin drop. "What do you mean?" Father demanded.
"It's as I said; he is missing. Yesterday, he was alone in the Pit, and hours later, no one could find him." She glanced behind her, at the waters, before looking back at them. "I had assumed he'd left to care for the League's interests. Now-" She tilted her chin up, looking down at them. "What exactly do you need to explain? What is so important that you break into my home to tell me?"
Stepping forward, Constantine explained. Mother looked grim as he spoke of Danyal, but did not interrupt. "We want to put his soul to rest. But for that, we need access to his body-"
"You dare ask for such a thing?" Mother snarled. "As if I even believe you. My son would never-"
"Your son?" Grayson snapped. "From the looks of it, you didn't care for either of your children!"
As the group descended into an argument, Damian heard laughter again, Danyal's high pitched giggle harmonizing with something deep and bone shaking. The Lazarus Pits loomed over him, beckoning him, whispering. Damian took a step towards it as his mother said, "I don't even have his body!"
"What?" Damian snapped at his mother, focusing back on the conversation. "But the crypts-"
"After your brother's murder, the Demon Head ordered for the culprit to be found. But they were never discovered." Because the culprit was Damian, he knew, and no one else ever learned about it. "I wanted to place him in the Pits immediately, but I was ordered to stay my hand until the murderer was caught. But..."
"He never was," Damian finished for her. "And then you put Danyal into the waters?"
"Yes." She closed her eyes. "And he never came back out. Even if it was too late, he'd still come back as the undead, but he never rose from the waters."
"Then this is entirely my fault."
"Finally," Danyal whispered in his ear, breath chilling his skin.
Damian did his best to ignore it. Danyal was haunting him. Danyal needed to be put to rest. If they couldn't do it Constantine's way, then they had to put him to rest another way.
Grayson looked troubled. "Robin, it's not your fault-"
"I'm the one who killed him," Damian confessed. Everyone stared at him. Grayson, horrified; Mother, blank; Father, betrayed. Damian continued, "I overheard you and Grandfather arranging a fight to the death, and I knew who would win. I couldn't... I couldn't allow Danyal to die without the Al Ghul name, in disgrace as the one who wasn't good enough. So I killed him, assassinated him, and now he's haunting me for revenge." Damian looked at the Pit. "So go ahead, Danyal."
"Damian, what are you saying?"
"Danyal wants revenge on the person who killed him; I'm giving it to him." Todd was staring at him. Damian might not be able to see past his helmet, but he could feel the respect coming off the man. "Danyal, I know you're here. Please come out." If he focused long enough, he could just making out wheezing breaths. "I can hear you, please-"
Father grabbed Damian by the shoulders. "Damian, listen to what you're saying! You're offering your life up for nothing!"
"B's right." Grayson placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's got to be another way. You don't have to do this!"
"Yes I do!" Damian ripped himself out of Nightwing's grip. "I'm the one who killed him! I'm the one at fault! My brother is suffering because of me, I have to save him-"
Stepping between them all, Mother slapped him across the face.
And the Pit's whispers fell silent.
Damian stared up at his mother, cheek throbbing with pain. She glared back. "Cease this behavior at once," she snapped. "There's no need to get so worked up over a ghost, of all thing-"
"T̴̯̃al̵̬͂ị̴̿a̵̮̕ ̵̼͐A̴̗̕l̷͈̆ ̴͚̓G̵͎̀h̷̻͒u̶̜͋l̴͍̀."
This time, everyone could hear Danyal's voice, filled with static and corrupted. Damian swallowed as his dead brother continued,
"D̸͕͠o̶̪̅ ̸͍̆ỹ̵̗ö̸̲ũ̸̧ ̶͖̚k̶̻͊ņ̸͐o̸̹̚ẘ̸̙w̷̛̹ḧ̸͚́o̷͉̅ ̵͈̑I̶̪̽ á̵̞m̶͙̂?̸̻͂"
The cavern shook as the Lazarus Pit bucked, a wave forming in the absolute center of the water. The wave rose, pillaring up above their head and brushing the ceiling. A cold wind rushed through the room and blew out the torches on the walls, leaving only embers and the occasional florescent behind. Damian braced himself for the waters to rush out and flood.
Instead, the water fell back into the pit, like it had never risen in the first place, leaving behind a lone figure in its wake.
"Danyal," Mother whispered.
And the dead boy glared back at her with pure contempt.
There are not enough aus where Frostbite adopts Danny.
Frostbite comes to the realisation that the great one who defeated Parish Dark is a neglected child and goes 'well that won't do'. Maybe Danny has to leave the living world and Frostbite's tribe takes him in. Danny gets a clan and a whole tribe of people as a support network and a stable environment to feel safe in. Maybe he even manages to finish his schooling!
Maybe the Observants try to have Danny thrust onto the throne because they think he'll be easy to manipulate if they force him into unprepared and tear him from his haunt. Danny is panicking and so the Far Frozen are like. Well :) according to the law of the Far Frozen realm and customs of the tribe that the child is a ward of, Danny is still a minor until his coming of age ceremony in about fifty years or so, so until then :) the Observants council would never violate Far Frozen law like that, would they? :|
Thus Danny is free to live his life and maybe find a new candidate in the meantime.
Simply put, she'd just read Frankenstein and there was a thunderstorm. She flew into the clouds and deliberately set out to get shocked by lightning.
It worked. It actually worked. Her Core went from something delicate and unsure of it's own alignment to having a Lightning Core. She wasn't thrilled that she shared that with Vlad, but hey! Now she only randomly got sick sometimes instead of all melty! Even then, she only gets sick if she runs out of juice, like a battery.
So she makes it a point to charge up her core as often as she can, and tornado season on the plains is a great way to find storms.
The Kents, watching a large storm roll in with clouds so heavy that they seemed to reach towards the ground, notice the figure of a small person darting in and out of them.
It happens again with the next one.
And the next.
It gets to the point where they ask Clark if he can find the strange meta that likes storms and invite them over for dinner, because they're starting to feel kind of like this is a neighbor now and Must Do the Polite Thing.
Danny is on a bit of a roadtrip. An accidental roadtrip and might be getting chased by some sort of assassins or whatever they were. Look, it’s not his fault, he was injured and out of it! How was he supposed to know that the Pits or whatever the people were yelling about were important. Or sapient.
Actually, he should like… “How do you even know how to drive if you’re like, thousands of years old??” That was not what he was going to ask his current roadtrip buddy, but maybe he had a concussion.
Ectoplasm-green eyes turned towards him from the road, framed by a mixture of black and white hair that shifted like his own. “You most likely don’t want to know the answer to that, actually.” Okay, but what if he did, huh?
“Okay, but where are we going, because I don’t think this is my dimension…”
They shrugged, their clothing shifting with the motion. Ha, ninja clothing for a sapient pool of ecto, or whatever it had been. “I am, not exactly familiar to things that were not known to those thrown into my blood, so we’re, I believe the saying is going in blind?”
“Oh. Okay. Y’know you’re kind of nice for an ecto-death pit thing.”
“... I am going to pretend I didn’t hear that, child.”
“Okay. I’m going to go to sleep because my head hurts.”
Haunting Heroes DPxDC. December 22: Baking
Right before Christmas movie night, the power went out at the Manor. Dick was hysterical. Yeah, Tim's laptop still had enough charge for at least one movie. The real problem was that the Traditional Xmas Bat Cookies weren't ready. And Nightwing wasn't going to accept that they would have to spend that evening eating store-bought ones. Dan adjusts his Santa cap and indignantly hurries the birds and bats. "Leave the poor dough alone. Bruce will soon sort out the breakdown anyway. Go watch the Grinch or I'll turn on Saw and drain your laptop's battery so you'll just be staring at the wall for the rest of the night." Jason, with the confidence of a man who has come up with a brilliant idea, grabs a strand of Phantom’s hair that has escaped from under the red cap and pulls. "You! You are a solution to the problem."
~~~~~ Dan: Auch, I prefer to be part of the problem, thanks. Jason: Come on, take off your sweater and give us some warmth. Dan: First take me on at least one date, brat. Danny: Actually, that's a great idea. You can warm up your core to the desired temperature, right? Just lie there with a sheet of biscuits on your chest for about twenty minutes and Dick will leave you alone. Dan: I refuse to act as an oven! ~~~~~ Also Bruce, who an hour later comes into the kitchen and sees the children sitting in a circle near lying on the floor Dan like a sect: “..You all know that we have a backup energy source, right?” Tim, who is tired of trying to persuade Dan to warm up another cup of coffee: Mother of f..
The Young Justice League: About to lose an actually very important fucking fight.
Danny: Don't worry guys, I got this.
Danny: [Tilts back, head facing the sky as he sucks in a huge breath of air.]
YJ + Big Bad: What the fuck is he doing-
Danny, unleashing a wail: PAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Pariah Dark: I feel a disturbance.
Also Pariah Dark: [Punches hole through dimensions and starts immediately brawling with and beating up Big Bad for the sheer disrespect of picking a fight with his son.]
Clockwork: Yep, that's my man.
Danny: When the hell did you get here-
Clockwork: Shhh, worry not my son. I am always watching over you.
Danny:
Danny: Do you mean in the metaphorical or literal sense.
Clockwork: :)
YJ: What the absolute fuck is going on.
Jason Kicks down Dick’s apartment door with a duffle bag in hand: turns out it’s not going to work out with Danny.
Dick about to enjoy some Chinese: oh no I thought you were really into him.
Jason, sitting down with a huff: I am but it’s just not going to work out.
Dick: what happened jason?
Jason: I fucked up that’s what.
Jason: he kissed me.
Jason: and afterwards, I panicked
Jason: and, just exclaimed “golly!”
Dick, trying to not keep a straight face:…
Jason: I exclaimed it very loudly..
Dick: oh jason-
Jason clutching a pillow: I can’t step foot into crime alley again Dick, I’m going to have to burn my bridges, start over-
Dick, lightly chuckling: it’s not that bad-!
Jason, into the pillow: just put me back into my casket!!
Danny has always been able to manage his obsession with the help of his human half & also because a variety of urges were running through him when he died - curiosity (the desire to explore), service (the desire to be of use, to fix), and his overall innate nature, protectiveness (to protect this new, loving family he's found, to protect his little brother, no matter the cost)
-and underneath it all, buried deep down and an admittance he will never speak is his desire for power, because with power comes the ability to accomplish all of the above.
Still, he has seen what power does to people, to his Grandfather, and then what power had done to him, in a future where no human half had tempered his urges and his desire for power was doubled when he combined with the ghost of his godfather, obsession meeting obsession.
So he keeps himself on a tight leash except for the day he embraces Power and Ends Pariah, which is fine because the power from the suit is temporary and he still has no idea the dark future that awaits him, believes that he can temper himself. But he is something wild and dark and feral when he goes after Pariah, calling upon lessons from a past life and not hesitating to go for the kill in a way that makes Vlad, the only true witness, hesitant around him forevermore, a sliver of fear in his eyes that he cannot mask.
If he had known defeating Pariah would mean inheriting the crown, he never would've done it. Because with the power of the Crown and the Ring comes again his inability to fight his urges - not for more power, he has plenty, but to protect.
For Clockwork, for the Ancients, a King that will Protect his Realm is the ideal. But the ramifications for Danny are clear to his family the moment he wrenches Ellie from the Earth and into a room in The Keep for a week until her cheeks are flush with ectoplasm but also tears and Jazz and Maddie have successfully talked him through how safety must also mean happiness. To this day they do not know if it was their words that eventually penetrated his mind or his power settling. But he still struggles to allow them their freedom, and it is apparent to all who love him.
And so they figure out ways to manage. Systems. None of his Beloved, his Fraid will ever willingly step into danger. They will give him consistent updates, they will provide tech that manages their vitals. They will visit and allow him trespass in turn. They will sleep in his bed (less necessary, but said with a wink and an errant hand that shows they are willing to make the sacrifice).
And deep within the Zone, on one of his routine checks with nary a soul in a sight, Danny allows himself to curl into a ball and cry. Wail. Because he knows he can never go in search of his brother, nor his father, the Batman. The one reunion he craved, because with power came the ability to protect, even from one as horrible as Ra's Al Ghul, is the same reason he must deny himself. Because Damian Wayne and Bruce Wayne will always put themselves in danger. And if he comes to them, he will never let them go.