Ghost King Phantom - Blog Posts

Space Ancient Danny Phantom!!

Alice In Gotham Pt 2

  The Bats had been on edge that last 2 months, to put it lightly. Oracle was sure she heard movement above her in the clock tower. She had assumed it was one if the Bats but none of them moved that sloppily unless hurt. And yet, all their vitals looked fine on her monitors. She called Spoiler to check it out since she was the closest. What they found was nothing at all. Except the dust was unnatural. No foot prints or evidence of crawling. Like something had been dead there for a long period of time, then suddenly scrambled awake and disappeared. The way some of the dust was still settling when she got there was eerie and sent chills down the purple bat's spine. They set up a camera and motion detector to monitor the space, and after 2 months nothing came. Still, for Oracle’s sanity and Batman's paranoia, they left the camera there as a precaution.

Other than that, Gotham seemed to have less attacks, or crimes in general, than usual. Even crime alley, things were actually running. According to Intel, some homeless kid called Scraps was fixing things for small businesses and people who simply couldn't afford to replace things in exchange for food or pocket change. Sometimes he even did it for free if it was urgent. Not only that but apparently the kid could defend himself. Had saved a couple of the night girls from people who didn't understand the word “no”. They'd give him treats when he came by once in a while. Simple things like a lollipop or a granola bar. Concerningly though, they also said he'd eat it with the wrappers still on. Kid was eating actual trash to survive. That, meant Red Hood had to try and keep an eye on him. The problem was the kid kept fucking disappearing. No one knew where he was living, or if he even slept. Sometimes he'd be around early morning, or late at night. The kid had no schedule except for Sundays. When no one was watching the dump, he go and steal broken tech or salvage tools and other scraps. It was the only time Hood managed to get a glance at the kid. Didn't even need to be close because damn those blue eyes were bright, even under his hoodie. Fuck, that was adoption bait and the others were going to go nuts. Tying to follow Scraps back to his hide out was another loss, he completely disappeared around a corner as if he was never even there.

“Hold on, you said this kid works with tech but you can't catch him?” Red Robin asked.

“Nope, couldn't even find anything through the power grid. He might be working on something but he's not even using electricity for it. Or he somehow managed to get it while staying off the grid,” Red Hood responded. Red Robin was the last person he wanted to ask for help, but it had been 2 months, and this whole week not one person had been able to confirm if Scraps was around. No one had seen him since he said he had a job. Not Hood or Jason had been able to make contact since he first popped up in crime alley. At this point he was going to break his TV and hire the kid just to make sure they were okay. Kids disappearing was never a good sign. No one fucked with kids on his turf.

“Jason… what does the kid look like?” Red Robin sighed while working on the batcomputer to check crime alley more thoroughly.

  Taking a deep breath and sighing he spoke up, “Adoption bait.”

“We can not let B know about him,” Tim groaned as he drank out of a nearly empty coffee mug.

“B is not taking another kid to put into a suit. The kid’s mine to keep an eye out for,” Red Hood growled below his helmet before taking a breath, “Besides, with how smart the kid is, he'll probably get a scholarship to some school out here and end up at Wayne Enterprise anyway. He can wait a few years to meet him.”

“Hey boys,” Oracle chimed in from the Bat computer, “I've located the kid, he tends to make camera a little fuzzy around his face but those eyes are recognizable. He was spotted a week ago in the warehouse district. The same place we have a lead on scarecrow’s fear gas.”

“Fuck,” was all Red Hood said before getting back on his bike.

“Red Hood is going to investigate. Anything else you can find on him? Maybe a facial scan so we can get him back to his family?” Red Robin began going through the warehouse cameras to find which warehouse he went into, “Damn it, the same night as that storm? We can't get any good views after he entered Warehouse 56.”

“I'm going to check it out now,” Red Hood responded, “Keep B off my back. I don't want him involved, Scraps is my case.”

“I'll try, but you know he still makes mistakes with boundaries,” Oracle responded, “Should I call in Nightwing for you?”

“No, not yet. But fill him in. Something doesn't feel right about this. Red Hood out.”

—

  It took four days and about 24 renewed microchips for Hatter to keep Danny asleep. It frustrated him to no end that the chips kept wearing out after four hours. Eventually he decided some hypnosis was in order and asked the kid directly why It wasn't working.

“Regular tech doesn't respond well to my presence,” he answered soullessly.

“Really? How can you get it to work?” Hatter was surprised his Alice understood what was going on and how to fix it.

“It needs to be infused with my blood,” he answered a half truth. While under control his subconscious need to keep everything ghostly a secret somehow still came through.

“Is that all? That's so simple… Go back to sleep Alice. When you wake you will be perfect,” he ordered and Danny's eyes shut.

  Danny wasn't in anything impressive at the moment. A white night gown, plain and simple, while laying in a bed. They had moved from the warehouse to Hatter's hideout where he had access to all the tech he needed. Hatter wasn't happy to see the scars over Danny's body. His poor Alice had be hurt, been held captive by the looks of the marks on his wrists and ankles. A scar hidden in his freckles on the bridge of his nose along side others, Hatter could hide them with make up but still he felt distaste for who every damaged Alice’s face.

 In another day's time, Hatter had created a diadem with multiple chips throughout it's construction as a failsafe. All, infused with Danny's oddly green glowing blood. When it came time, his Alice was properly cleaned by the March Hare and her now finished dress was applied, along with the waterproof silver diadem. It locked into place, no simple tug off from Batman or any of the birds would work. It had to be completely unlocked to be removed. His Alice, harmed by someone else's touch was too precious to lose. It was a hard battle to get her fully under his control after all. He wasn't going to risk anything. He skin was already pale, pale like a porcelain doll. That was what this Alice was for. A doll to admire from afar for her beauty alone. Dressed in her sky blue dress with her white apron. Her puffed sleeves and white gloves to cover the scars on her wrists. Bloomers for added volume to the ruffle skirt, and of course the thigh high white socks with mary jane's shoes. A long blond wig with bangs to hide the diadem was placed on her head, another chip in the wig before the wig was glued down, as he didn't want to risk damaging her precious skin more than it was. instead Of a headband, A ribbon was tied into her hair instead. A porcelain Alice, one Hatter would keep by his side so as to not lose her.

His perfect Alice.

—

Staking out the warehouse didn't find Scraps, but they did find a surplus of fear gas being manufactured by scarecrow with what was the most efficient assembly line these goons could have put together. It was an easy take down when Nightwing and Spoiler joined in for a takedown to stop the plan to gas the city before it started. The goons were hardly a challenge, and Red Robin would be able to make a new antidote for the rebreathers incase there was another warehouse like this one. The one thing that caught their attention was a gutted microwave on display on a side table. Evidence Scraps was here. Fuck.

“What did you do to the kid?” Red Hood growled, grabbing one of the few conscious goons who had been ziptied.

“What kid?” Spoiler hadn't been let in on the Scraps case.

“Kid?” the goon looked confused.

“Scraps. What did you do to Scraps? He fixes tech to make money. You guys had him here. Tell me what you did with him or yours knees are going to bend in reverse,” Hood snarled and the guy pales.

“We hired him to fix the assembly line. Told him it was for screwing tops on bottles. Paid him and fed him. He pulled the microwave out of thin air, and used it to fix the motor or something. He left into the storm after we paid him,” the goons caved and Hood tossed him towards the pile of them where they were waiting for the police.

“So the only evidence of Scraps is a microwave he pulled out of thin air? How does that even work, it's a microwave. You can't just hide that thing. That's not even a little one, that one looks like it was built into the wall originally,” Nightwing looked at the microwave and used some light dust from his bag before brushing it away, “There's fingerprints all over. Mostly large ones, how small is Scraps?”

“Little smaller than Robin,” Red Hood answered.

“Red Hood, Nightwing, I have eyes on Scraps with Mad Hatter,” Oracle chimed him, and the tension in the warehouse rose, “3 days ago he's spotted leaving warehouse 64 with the March Hare and Scraps following.”

“Fuck,” Hood punched one the machines, as he processed the information. Scraps was pretty androgynous looking. Hatter usually preferred natural blonde but those glowing blue eyes probably drew his attention. A wig would be an easy fix, “Scan everywhere you can Oracle, if Hatter has him we’re on a time limit.”

“Littlewing,” Nightwing placed a hand on Hood’s shoulder, “We'll find Scraps. She- they can't be gone for long. Hatter never stops with just one Alice, he'll leave a trail and we'll follow it.”

“Red Robin, Oracle,” Hood spoke into his com, “Do you have any other leads to Hatter’s location?”

“No yet, but we'll keep searching,” Oracle answered.

“Can I get in on this Scraps case? The tower ghost is coming up dead,” Spoiler asked and Nightwing left to talk with the arriving officers who took the goons into custody.

  Red Hood sighed. He'd like to keep crime alley business out of the rest of Gotham, but this kid could be anywhere in Gotham now. He needed to keep an eye on Crime alley too. He needed more eyes, as reluctant as he wasn't to accept it, “Fine. You and Orphan are in because I know you will tell her anyway. Keep Robin and Batman out of it. Kid looks like adoption bait. Goes by Scraps on the streets, their real name is unknown.”

“Sound like so are their pronouns,” Spoiler laughed, “Well keep our eyes out for them. Send the case file to me and Orphan. I'll fill her in about tonight. Should we tell Duke?”

“No, not yet,” Red Hood answered, “He can't keep a secret from B if he thinks it’s serious. We might have to if we can't find any leads to check if he can see something we can't. Scraps’ eyes are blue, like they're glowing. It’s hard to miss.”

“So, their a meta in hiding?” Spoiler asked as she walked away.

“If they are, Batman is gonna be pissed,” Nightwing responded on come.

“B can fuck off. It's not like people chose to be metas, kid probably didn't even know and has no where else to go. I'm checking out warehouse 64,” Hood left, riding his bike to warehouse 64 where he found a mostly empty lot.

  There were a few forgotten things. Evidence of a tea party and a few discarded headbands. Timbit would be able to look at them later. What pissed Hood off to recognize the edging of green in his vision, was a discarded backpack, and clothes that had long since been hung to dry.

“I found Scraps personal belongings. He was here during the storm. His clothes are hung over a banister to dry. And his bag was left behind,” Hood opened the bag, two different tool boxes inside along with smaller parts of tech. Some snacks- a frozen apple?

“Spoiler might be right about this kid being a meta,” Hood spoke up.

“Really? What gave it away?” Spoiler responded through coms.

“I found an apple that's been frozen solid in a layer of frost in their bag along with tools and tech. They're an ice meta of some kind,” Hood examined the apple. The frost was intricate like lace and beautiful as it glistened in the moonlight. No evidence of melting at all. It was freezing to touch even through his reinforced gloves.

“But they left 3 days ago. How hasn't it melted?” Nightwing asked.

“Don't know but it's still cold. The kids got a bigass first aid kit in here too. Not even a water bottle. A frozen apple, three granola bars, and the rest is all tech or tools. He carries his work more than his survival supplies. He's got a place to stay somewhere but I haven't found it yet,” he put everything back into the back pack along with his clothes.

  For now, it was a dead end. They needed a new trail, a clue, but they'd have to wait. Still, the idea of a child younger than Robin in the hands of the Hatter, it made Red Hood’s stomach churn something ugly as he fought back against the pit. When they found Jervis Tetch, he'd have first dips on punching the guy so hard he'd have to get replacement buck teeth.

—

Alice was still odd to Mad Hatter. She was under his control and the chips were no longer dying out. However there were small things she did. He complained about the temperature of the room being too high, and suddenly the room cooled while her eyes glowed even brighter. He never ordered her too, she did it on her own. She wasn't programed for that. He mentioned finding another girl to dress up  Alice disappeared from his side and reappeared 20 minutes later with an unconscious woman in her arms. Blond hair, and blue eyes. Again, he never ordered her to do so. And yet, Hatter only felt glee as he realized his Perfect Alice could do more than his henchmen ever could in a very fast amount of time. But the best part was when he asked her to disappear for two minutes and she turned invisible right in front of him. His buck toothed smile was mad as he had a tool he'd never had before. A silent Alice who was as skilled in shadows and she was in the light. An Alice the bats couldn't follow back.

“Alice, my wonderful Alice, you are more than I have imagined. We are going to send some invitations soon. So for now, go rest in bed. Your mission will be ready by tomorrow night,” Mad Hatter grinned, “I have a Tea Party to plan for a special guest!”

---

  A girl was reported missing, blonde hair and blue eyes. But no evidence of a break in what so ever. No locks were touched, only the bed where she had been sleeping was touched. Nothing on the camera aside from the quality being fuzzy. Odd, those should be updated cameras. This one may have to be replaced, or there was someone altering the feed. Oracle has yet to find evidence of tampering with the cameras. By appearance alone, one suspect on Batman’s list was Mad Hatter. He'd have to keep track of other kidnappings of women with similar appearances to be sure.

With nothing left to examine at the scene, Batman moved on. Robin following close behind, annoyed at the lack of evidence he'd managed to find. Not even a finger print, the culprit was wearing gloves. Most criminals wore gloves, it wasn't unusual.

The Batman came to a sudden halt, “Robin, we have confirmation Hatter is involved with the case.”

  Robin landed besides his father and saw a blonde dressed in a blue frilly dress with an apron. It wasn't the same woman taken from her apartment. This was a child, probably a little younger than Robin, himself. She was alone, on a rooftop. Scanning the area there was no one else around. Just this child dressed as Alice, trapped under mind control.

“I shall remove the wig,” Robin approached.

“Oracle we have an Alice, send medical and alert the police,” Batman ordered as Robin slowly approached the hostage.

“B, are their eyes glowing?” Oracle asked.

“Oracle, does this have to do with Hood, Nightwing, and Spoiler’s sudden team up?” Batman asked, voice gruff with annoyance and frustration with their lack of reports from that event.

“Yes. The kid is called Scraps, and is suspect to be an ice meta. They had a frozen apple in their belongings. According to Hood it hasn’t melted yet. Kid went missing a week ago. We had a lead that revealed Mad Hatter is the one who took them,” Oracle gave a short report, and Batman grunted in return.

“Mad Hatter has invited you to a tea party,” a soulless voice suddenly came from the child as Robin was closing in.

  The child was now holding out a green envelope. Masked eyes studied the arm holding out the letter for a moment, something made Robin stiffen subtly, Batman nearly missed it. Robin took the envelope and then tried to grab their wrist only for Alice to pull free and jump back. Now standing on the ledge towards the open street. 

“Come forward, you will fall standing there. I mean you no harm,” Robin held out his hand to Alice.

“You are not permitted to touch me. The invite was delivered, goodbye,” With that, the Alice stepped back and fell.

Robin jumped after them, shooting his grappling hook to catch the wall only to find the Alice was gone. Batman had run after the child as well, both splitting into a silent search of the perimeter to find nothing. No sound of foot steps, nothing but the cars and people below. The Alice was gone, and no trail to follow them with.

“Nightwing, Spoiler, Red Hood, Batcave. Now,” Batman motioned for Robin to follow, clicking his tongue as the mysterious child escaped.

“Father, we still have the invite,” Robin handed the green envelope to Batman as they were returning to the manor. Only a quick pause to check the letter for trackers. The only thing inside was coordinates, a time, and the date two nights from now.

  At the cave, Batman was forced to wait for the trio to appear. Nightwing arrived first, then Spoiler. No surprise Red Hood was last and took as long as possible.

“Report,” Batman ordered, sternly. Eyes narrowing at his children who yet again hid something from him.

“Scraps was taken by Tetch during the storm. Red Hood started the case a week after Scraps went missing. We want to find this lost meta kid and get them into a safe place or back home. Hood’s area says they has an accent so they might not want to be in the city,” Spoiler answered, “They work as a handyman, fixing up anything. A tech nerd like RR.”

“Tech nerd? The kid had garbage in his backpack. Broken everything and mangled parts that should have been considered unsalvageable. How the hell are they gonna build anything from that?” Red Robin groaned, getting Batman's attention, “Shit.”

“Anything to report, Red Robin?” Batman glared as another one of his children was in on the withholding of information.

“The kid makes cameras glitch out or just fuzzy sometimes. We can't get a facial scan no mater how much we try and salvage the images or the cameras themselves. Scraps does something to them that we haven't managed to bypass,” and that made a sad piece click into this new case.

“We just ran into an Alice with vibrant eyes. They jumped off the roof after giving us a set of coordinates, a time, and the date 2 nights from now. I went to catch them but they disappeared. No sound of the landing, just silence,” Robin spoke up.

“These coordinates?” Red Robin took the paper from Batman and found the location on Gotham’s map.

“Hm,” Batman replied, looking up at the screen. A trap, but there was time to prepare.

“I shall prepare a guest room, then,” Alfred appeared behind them with a trolley of sandwiches and tea for an after patrol snack.

“No, we are not bringing Scraps to the manor,” Red Hood argued, although it was pointless to argue with Alfred.

“So you say Master Jason. I just like to be prepared,” Alfred left as quickly as he came.

“Scraps looks like adoption bait,” Nightwing sighed as Orphan came in with a smile.

Bruce just sighed as he removed his cowl, “If this hostage is a meta, we'll need to focus on trying to free them from the mind control. We night need to use suppressor cuffs, or a collar. What ever we can get on them temporarily to avoid injury. We will prepare in the mean time. Hatter uses mind control, we will be fighting civilians, keep that in mind.”

“Father, there was an observation I had when I was close to the hostage,” Robin spoke up again, “When they held out the invitation with their left hand I could see lichtenberg scars traveling up their arm. But instead of being pink and irritated, they were almost pure white. Along with several other smaller scars on their arms. They felt cold for the second I grabbed them.”

  Lichtenberg scars… They fade after a few days, which meant the kid was recently electrocuted… But why were they white? Red Hood took a breath, counting to 10 before focusing again.

“I need to know what happened to that kid and who's ass I need to kick,” Red Hood growled, after setting his empty plate back on the trolley.

“We’ll find them, now that we are all keeping an eye out. Tomorrow we patrol as normal, then we send a team after Hatter.”

—

Signal had been having a good morning patrol. He was quickly filled in on the Hatter situation and to try and follow the meta Alice if they came into contact. Signal was having a pretty normal patrol. Stopping a car jacking, a convenient store robbery, a mugging, and a purse snatcher. Nothing he couldn't handle on his own. Finally, a glimpse of shimmering sky blue caused Signal to stop in his tracks.

“Hey, there,” Signal turned to find the Alice, and just as described, their eyes were glowing. But so was the rest of their aura, it was flickering in an odd way, “Are you lost?”

“No,” they responded, and the aura began to fade a little more.

“Okay, you need me for something, right? Are you going to invite me to your team party tomorrow night?” Signal slowly approached. He just needed to be distracting enough that he could use a shadow to grab the wig.

“You do not have permission to touch me,” Alice turned transparent. The aura flared just as the shadow fell through them, missing the wig completely.

“Okay, I won't touch you,” Signal reached up to his com and spoke silently. Of course he didn't know Alice could hear him anyway, “Contact with meta Alice. They can density shift. My shadows passed through their body.”

“See what else you can learn about them. So far Meta Alice doesn't seem hostile,” Oracle responded, “If you can free or follow them back we might get a lead on either the trap or Hatter's base.”

“Copy,” Signal nodded, keeping the com on and recording the conversation for later. Alice was deathly still but their clothes and hair were flowing as if gravity and the wind had no effect on them, “Can you tell me what you need from me?”

“Has Robin read his invitation?” Alice tilted their head slightly, a habit Danny still maintained.

“Yes, was it just for Robin? Batman thought it was for both of them,” Signal hadn't actually seen the invitation himself, just the report about it.

“Just for Robin. Batman isn't invited,” their monotone voice continued. They lifted their left hand and held out a yellow envelope, “Mad Hatter has invited you to his tea party, Signal.”

“Okay, thank you,” Signal approached and took the envelope. Through Alice's gloves and his own, Signal felt a cold chill up his arm and down his spine.

“Goodbye,” they spoke before jump off the building, much like with Robin.

“Wait,” Signal tucked away the letter and followed Alice as their aura flared again. They never landed on the ground. Instead they were invisible on the physical plain and floating away slowly. Unfortunately the aura he followed soon disappeared with Alice all together, “Alice went west before disappearing from my vision. I'm attempting to follow. They can float, apparently. And go completely invisible, even hiding their aura. They're hard to track but if I can get another glimpse of their aura or find them with some light manipulation I can follow.”

“So definitely a meta,” Oracle was typing again, probably updating Scraps’ file, “Use the cuffs if you can get close, Signal. Scraps also causes camera to go a bit fuzzy when nearby, I'll let you know what areas I notice they might be in because of the glitches.”

“Still heading west as far as I can tell,” it wasn't an exciting chase since the hostage floated away at a jogging pace, but that didn't mean Signal wasn't having trouble. It was as if Scraps was using their aura like breadcrumbs for Signal to follow. Eventually, Scraps’ aura stopped appearing, they were gone, “I lost Scraps, I'm going to check the area incase I was lead here for a reason. We can pin the coordinates for later.”

“Already on it. Looks like you're pretty close to the coordinates on the invite,” Oracle responded, “Mad Hatter might be leading us to his base. Its obviously a trap, he must have confidence to be so careless.”

“My invite has the same coordinates as Robin's,” Duke looked in the general direction of the coordinates, the Botanical Gardens.

“Keep an eye out, we don't know where Scraps may next appear,” Oracle signed off and Signal moved on with their patrol.

—

Orphan was the next to receive an invite. It was the first time a civilian noticed her while blending with the shadows.

“Orphan, Mad Hatter has invited you to a tea party,” Once again holding out an envelope for the vigilante, Scraps stood unmoving until the letter was taken.

  Orphan attempted to follow, listening for breathing or foot steps, once again no one could follow them.

Spoiler was invited, and she tried and failed to grab the wig before Scraps disappeared.

Even Nightwing received an invite. Although his attempt to free Scraps was as fruitless as with the others. He did notice when he made a pun that Scraps had a habit of tilting their head to the side. A hint of a personality trapped inside.

Red Robin followed, but didn't immediately take the invite. His theory was Scraps would only leave after the invite was taken. It had been five minutes now. While he couldn't remove the wig, he was taking a few scans of Scraps.

“Shit,” Red Robin cursed as he scanned Scraps' vitals, “Scraps’ heart rate is dangerously low and is hardly breathing. Their temperature is insanely low at 90°F. They're hypothermic.”

“Please take the invite,” it was the first time Scraps has said anything since offering the invite and telling Red Robin not to touch them.

“I will, but can I get you to a hospital first- Hey!” Red Robin was quickly cut off by an ice shard suddenly flying his way.

Scraps was fast, slamming the letter roughly into his chest and freezing it to his suit before disappearing.

“RR what happened?” Nightwing spoke up on coms.

“I was trying to negotiate, and Scraps didn't take it too well. Fired an attack and now I have an envelope frozen to my chest,” he wasn't going to mention how that same push forced the air out of his lungs and bruised him.

“We can't wait for tomorrow with their current vitals, Scraps is going to die if we don't get them into a hospital. They need an ICU in that condition. Hatter is going to kill the kid at this rate,” Red Robin spoke up, trying to pull the letter and the ice off. The ice wasn't melting or breaking at all. Not even a scratch when he tried to use a bird-a-rang to pry it off, “What the fuck is this ice made of? I can't get it to budge. Can't even scrape off a sample.”

“You couldn't even get a sample off the apple,” Red Hood responded.

“This ice has an edge to pry under, the apple is solid all the way around. I thought if maybe… ha!” the entire chunk of ice along with the envelope came off in one solid peace, “I finally have a sample I can work with.”

“Everyone return to the cave for a debrief. We'll be infiltrating the tea party tonight,” Batman ordered his brood who wrapped up their current tasks to return to the cave.

It was time to crash a Tea Party.

~~~

Master List

Part 1

Part 3

MasterList:

Alice in Gotham:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

I will let you know when the whole story eventually gets posted on Ao3. I'm still deciding on whether I should flush out the first 4 chapters in the full version or leave it as is. For now, I'm aiming to do around 10 ish chapters for the full story or so. When it's ready I'll add the link here.

Alice in Gotham Pt 1

  It had been 3 months now. 3 months since Danny escaped the examination table in the basement of the brick house he used to call home. 3 months since Sam, Tucker, and Jazz found him in the basement and freed him and he left with a go bag.

  He used 2 canisters of ecto-dejecto to keep his flight stable. Searching for any space with a heavy amount ambient ectoplasm to recover. He found his way to a dark city covered his heavy clouds. Maybe a storm was on it way? Outside was the worst option for recovery either way. Making his way to a clock tower with would be out of range of most GIW scanners on the streets far below, he slipped in with his last burst of intangibility. He found himself in a crawlspace where there was no clear entry point without a saw of some kind. Setting his bag down, Phantom collapsed silently. Tears without so much as a sniffle steaming down his face as he curled up, his bandages keeping his stitches under a comfortable pressure despite the pain. The last thing he managed to do was slip his phone put from him bag, send a message to Team Phantom that he was going to sleep before he shut it off and hid it within his leg.

He slept for a month straight, regrowing the organs and bones that had been removed after the skin on the surface sealed itself together again. At least his limbs had grown back by the time Team Phantom freed him. Green ectoplasm blood that had spilled was slowly reabsorbed. To redistribute the energy into healing. He woke up groggy, and still weak. He was more ghost-like now than he'd previously been. His ears pointed with his wild white hair that had barely grown with the energy focused on the largest wound he'd ever received. Green eyes struggled into focus, and for the first time in a month and a half, his stomach growled. His human half was starving, despite him spending a month in his ghost form. He needed to eat before he could change back. He rubbed the heavy sleep from his eyes, his suit back to its usual black and silver like nothing ever happened. His bag, untouched and settled with dust. Grabbing it, he found the fresh fruits Sam had packed him that he had covered in frost. Not even dissolving the frost, he bit into an apple. It was cold, but hadn't rotted, like it was frozen in time. He forced himself to eat slowly. The ectoplasm from the frost helping his ghost side as the apple itself was quickly being dissolved is his newly grown stomach and sending nutrients through his core to his human half. Danny didn't even leave the apple core, he ate the stem and seeds leaving nothing behind. He did the same for the other fruits he had in his bag. As well as a granola bar, plastic wrapper and all. He couldn't afford to be picky. It wasn't as if this was the first time he'd eaten plastic, he once swallowed a spork whole after all. It wasn't like he was fed while in the lab…He only stopped when he heard a sound above him. Quiet footsteps normal ears wouldn't be able to hear, but his enhanced hearing was even stronger in his ghost form. Quickly, Danny checked his bag for other missing items. Nothing was gone, all of it was there. He quickly shoved his entire backpack into his chest, a convenient pocket dimension he'd only just started using. His fight with Dan may have been why he discovered it but he really didn't like using it for a long time. Going invisible and flying out of the dusty crawl space, Danny just missed Spoiler taking a peak into an empty space. An empty space with a single area that lacked dust where it looked like a body had been for a long time…

Danny didn't return to the clock tower. He found an area of this city, which looked so familiar but he couldn't remember why, that had lots of homeless people sleeping around or walking. A perfect place to blend in. He found an abandoned building where the stairs from the first floor were unstable to the point of collapse with just a step. he floated up to the 2nd floor, covered the windows with tattered cloths he found and returned to human form. He felt sick and weak, changing forms after his injury was healed. He found one of the rooms had a broken vanity, his clothes from his old life still looked mostly clean. However, they were torn and scorched in some areas. He looked even thinner now, and when he lifted his shirt he felt sore. The injury was healed but the bruise was still there. The stitches weren't, which wasn't weird since his body had a habit of absorbing the stitches from the ecto-line over time. But still, even when he looked like he was starving, which he was, he still looked the same… Same face, same height, same clothes even, from when he was fourteen. But there was more of an uncanniness to him now. His heart faltered a bit as he noticed fangs… Fangs in his human form… Vald didn't have fangs while human…Tears pricked his eyes as he looked back at the cracked mirror and he pulled his shirt back down, it'd taken the Fentons 3 years… 3 years to notice Danny hadn't gotten any taller while Jazz was as tall as Jack. 3 years to notice he still had his baby face… 3 years to figure out he and Phantom were the same…

Looking away, Danny pulled his back pack out of his chest and set out all of his supplies. He had 2 first aid kits, and stuffed the largest one back into his pocket dimension. The other only had one vile of ecto-dejecto and had some supplies for normal humans, so it was safer in his bag that the kit with 6 viles and two rolls of fishing ecto-line. He kept simple things that could be hidden on his person, like the wrist rays which looked like a simple bracelet. And other weapons went into the pocket dimension alongside the space blanket Jazz must have smuggled in, as it had her head band wrapped around it to keep it from unrolling. He left his bag with one first aid kit, and most of the food he had. He kept a few reserved in his pocket dimension, just in case. He found Tucker, his wonderful friend, had left him a basic tool box. And in a bat themed wallet he shoved into his leg, was money from Sam. He had such amazing friends… Sam even left a large black Hoodie inside for him. They had stuffed this bag with so much supplies, it looked so small. It would be perfect for carrying anything he needed. And it was purple with a small keychain of saturn on one zipper, and a ghost keychain on the other. Sam had to have been the one to buy it. He took a steadying breath, and pulled his phone out of his leg before turning it on. There was a fury of buzzing as messages it had received over the past month- had he really been asleep for a month?- came flooding into his phone. He read through all of them. Messages of how Red Huntress distracted the Fentons long enough for Jazz to erase all the data they had on him. That Sam had been working on that go bag since last year when they realized Danny hadn't grown at all and went to visit Frostbite for the confirmation. Messages from Tucker explained that there were 2 usbs in the toolkit for Danny, one with every invention ever created by the Fentons, and the other with their own personal files. Danny would have to build himself a computer for this soon. And Messages of how they miss him and are worried since he hasn't answered in weeks.

—

Clueless1: Just woke up. Didn't know I could sleep for a month straight. Everything is healed, but still sore. Not fully dead yet.

Nightshade: Danny! You scared the shit out of all of us! You seriously just slept for a whole month!?

Have you eaten yet?

Where are you?

Clueless1: I ate, not sure where I am. I woke up from my nap in the crawlspace of some clock tower. I found a new place to crash for now. Not sure what city I'm in yet.

Pharaoh-Tech: Dude, that's a coma, not a nap.

GhostGetter: DANNY! Are you sure your injuries are healed?! I'm glad you could rest but you tend to say you're okay when you really aren't.

Clueless1: Yes Jazz, I checked. Just a bruise is left and I'm sore. Nothing that won't go away in a few days.

GhostGetter: So long as you're sure. Now find out what city your in so we can send you supplies. I'm sure you need more ectoplasm.

Clueless1: Wherever I am, it has a ton of ambient ectoplasm in the air. If I can build and hide a condenser with a scrambler I'll be able to collect my own ectoplasm here for a while.

Pharaoh-Tech: You memorized so much of their tech I felt like the flash drive might be pointless.

Clueless1: Still appreciate it. I'm gonna go scout the area and figure out where I am. Then I'll find a place to get scraps to build a computer and condenser.

GhostGetter: And there better be weekly or at least bi-weekly check-ins from you from now on.

Clueless1: And I will check in weekly.

Nightshade: Don't get into anymore trouble Ghost Boy.

Pharaoh-Tech: Sam, he might be feral but trouble usually comes to him.

GhostGetter: What they mean is be safe little brother. When you find out what city you're in, my gap year will be over. I'm not leaving you alone forever.

Huntress: Nice to know you're still haunting this realm Phantom. Keep yourself hidden, the GIW hasn't left Amity yet and the lock down means your interdimensional phones are the only form of communication we have for now. I'll keep you updated on their movements.

Clueless1: Thanks guys, I'll keep myself out of trouble.

—

Turning off his phone again, Danny sighed and fell back onto the dusty couch which had been eat at by moths and rats had probably burrowed in. He stuck the phone back into his leg before opening his bag and taking out the tool box. He found both USBs and stuck them into the pocket dimension as well. He was exhausted again, so soon after just waking up. He didn't care, he fell back asleep with the hoodie Sam gave him wrapped around him. 

  Danny woke up hours later instead of days. Hungry again, he went out to explore. His ghost metabolism was going to be a problem. Dispite being 17, Danny new his appearance would most likely stop him from getting a legal job. He didn't want to stop to crime, but he may not have a choice. His obsession was going to need to be satiated somehow. Wondering the streets, Danny found himself entering a dark alley. His ghost sense startled him and he looked around. He didn't have the energy to fight, so he hoped the ghost wasn't hostile. The shadows around him grew darker than before, devoid of light in a void of endless darkness. The alley had no clear escape route anymore as it now seemed like an endless hall. Before him, the tendrils of shadows converged into a figure. A dark dress of shadows on her figure. Her skin a sickly grey with piercing yellow eyes looking down at him from behind a vile that flowed from the brim of her hat. Her hat was large, and feather stuck out of the brim. She smiled, too wide for it to be human, and too many narrow sharp teeth to be comforting.

“Ÿ̵͎̹̚o̵̖͝ṷ̴̢̓̀r̸̟̫̂̓ ̵̧̥̈́M̸̦̌͜ȁ̸̙j̷̥̈ę̸͑̓s̶̯̯͊ẗ̷͙̪́̒ẙ̵̪̥͋,̴̪͘ ̵̲̦͑y̵̝͕̚ò̵̘̠ű̷̦̟̓ ̶͉̘̈̚a̴̟̽̚r̷̢̙̀́e̶͍͂ ̴̙̎r̴̺͗̏e̷̝͕̓̑c̷̘͊ö̷̤̔ṽ̵ͅè̸̙̇r̵̜͛î̵̬̂n̵̹͓̒g̷̻̑̓ ̷̘̻̾͑w̶͕͈̌͝é̷̲l̸͚̣̆l̴̤̓,̴̬́͝ ̷̞̂͝Į̶͔͝ ̷̳͕͌s̵̘̓ȅ̵̗e̵̖͋͊ͅ.̴͇͊̓(Your Majesty, you are recovering well, I see.)” The spirit bowed to Danny who kept a tight grip on the strap of his bag. Danny bowed back and she chuckled, amusement emanating from her to Danny, “L̶̦͌͂̐i̴̛̫̰͌t̸̰̀̍̓t̸͔͐l̸̙̓̓̚ë̵̻̼́͑̐ ̷̫̽K̷͔̮̆́i̵̤̬̾̂͒n̵̙̈́̉g̵̨̩̑̌͊͜,̷͚̝̆̇̒ ̴̯̘̒̋͘y̴͈̣̪͊̏͐ö̸̩̖́͌u̶̬̓ ̶̡͙͌d̸̰̏͋̅o̷̠̓͜ ̴̯̋̓͂n̸͎̪̬͆o̷̼̟͒t̴̺̝̣̔̒ ̷͕̬̊̇̕n̵̠̰̈́̎͘ḙ̸̖̭̈͘ė̶͖̣̘́̃d̶̝̟͆͒ ̸̝͈̺̀̓̀t̴̛͍̥͙̓o̴̳̙̥͂̓ ̴͖͝b̴̧̦̘͐o̵̩̞͒̑̚w̵̮͗ ̴̱͎̀t̶̰͜͝o̸̤̿̂͘ ̸̥̫͈̄̏m̴͇͆́è̵͈̾͊.̶̜͌̚͝(Little King, You do not need to bow to me.)”

“Sorry,” Danny raised his head, “I wandered into your haunt to recover without asking for entry.”

  He felt a wave of emotions from her - amusement - sorrow - safe - stay here? Danny looked up at her then to himself, safe? - hurt - alone - sorrow - betrayed - stay? came from his own empathic projection to her and she nodded.

“Y̷̫̕o̷̞̊u̶̠͛ ̷̪̉m̷̙̀a̴͝ͅy̷̛̼ ̵̞̍s̷͓̉t̷̕ͅa̸̪͐y̵̙͠,̶̰̅ ̵̯̕L̴̳͂ȋ̸̤t̴̤̽t̷̟̍l̶̲͒e̷̙̽ ̵̧̈́K̵͙̚i̷̳͂n̸̙̈́g̵̰̊.̶̭̋ ̶̡̑Ṁ̸̗y̷̦̔ ̶̨̊K̸͖͂n̷͙̋į̵̓g̵̹͝h̸̛̬t̴̗̃s̶̡͝ ̶̥̇w̵̻̓i̸͎̿l̸̩̎l̷̲̍ ̶͇̑p̷̲̑r̴͇͂o̸̫͗t̷̗͌e̷̘͋c̸̙̿t̵̫͌ ̵̥̕ỷ̵͕o̵̘͋u̷̯͗.̷͈̈́ (You may stay, Little King. My Knights will protect you.)”

“Your Knights? Forgive me my lady,” Danny quickly bowed again they hadn't even introduced themselves yet. His mind running through all the royal training Dorthea and Pandora had put him threw. It was clear this spirit was old, ancient and powerful. He wouldn't stand up to a fight if he pissed her off. His core fluttering worry - messed up - sorrysorrysorry - fix this- “I failed to introduce myself, I am Phantom.  I'm afraid I don't recognize you.”

  Not angry - small child - care for - stay - safe here - amusement. She chuckled at him again, reaching down and gently moving his hood ruffling his hair with just a finger, “I̸̬̅ ̸̮̀a̵̢͗m̷̲̐ ̶͈͒L̴̙͐a̵̹̅d̶̫̓y̶͚͒ ̸̘͒G̶̱̈́o̴̖̔ẗ̸̺́h̵̢̀ä̴̰m̶͉͐.̴̮̓ ̸̬͗Y̶̪̿o̴̝̚u̴̲̓ ̷͙̔m̴̖̎a̷̮͝y̴̩͂ ̶̼͝s̸̹̒t̴̞͘a̶̢̐y̴͉͐ ̷̱̍h̴̳͒e̴͂ͅṙ̶̼e̷̹͝ ̵̠̃y̴̤͝ò̸͖u̶̺͒r̶͙͛ ̸̯́M̶̛͙a̴͕͠j̷̻̅e̴̼͗s̸̞͗t̷͉̊ȳ̸̧.̸̲̾ ̴̳͗Ȋ̶̯'̸̞̊d̴̲̓ ̴͎̍k̵͇̋ȩ̸̓e̶͈͑ṕ̴̱ ̴̩̕y̴̝͆o̸͂͜u̸̗̿ ̸͙̏i̸̟͋f̸̘̎ ̵̰̈Ï̶͕ ̸͙͊c̷̬̅ö̶̮́u̶̢̚l̸͔̉d̶̻̓,̸͍̈́ ̵̧͝ḇ̶̑u̸̪̍t̷̀͜ ̸̦̍I̸̗͑ ̶̘͐k̶̙̍n̶͇͗o̴̢̚w̶̩̃ ̷̙̐y̵̧͒ọ̴̔ū̸̩ ̶̪̀w̷̼̓ĩ̴̺l̶̙̑l̷͕̇ ̸̩̚b̷̭͊e̷̞̍ ̴̯͝t̵̲̅o̴͓̒ó̸̞ ̴͉̏p̸̀ͅơ̷̱w̴̫̏ę̶̉r̸̫̆f̵͉̀u̴͎̓l̸̗̒ ̷͉͗f̸̂͜ȏ̴̤r̶͚͒ ̶̥̈t̶̳͘h̸̡̅ả̴̪t̵̟̕ ̸̛̰w̶̡̒h̸̺̄e̷̬̾n̷͚̕ ̴̙͛y̷̰̓o̵͕͝u̵̮͝ṟ̷̽ ̶̛͈s̵̨͒t̵̪̄r̵̀ͅẻ̷̟n̷̺̈́g̵̣̍ṯ̷̚h̶̜́ ̴͉̔r̵̖̆e̴̮̒t̸̲̄u̵̳̅r̴͎̿n̴̬̏š̴͇.̷̼͒ ̶̱̔F̴͕̎o̵̢̅r̸̖̓ ̶̪́ǹ̷̡o̵͇̽w̵̭̚,̵͇̒ ̷͖̎y̵̦͂ò̵̢ų̷̅ ̵̅͜á̷̤r̶̬̿e̷̫͛ ̸͚͠m̷̡̀i̸̝̐n̷͉͗ê̸̼ ̷̯́w̴̤̋h̵̟͑í̴̜l̸̢͝è̷̝ ̶̯̾h̵̘̀e̸̘̓r̴̯̔ẽ̵̘.̶̙́(I am Lady Gotham. You may stay here your Majesty. I'd keep you if I could, but I know you will be too powerful for that when your strength returns. For now, you are mine while here.)”

“Thank you,” Danny let her ruffle his hair a while longer before he felt something with his core. She had fraid bond with him now. Though is was more distant than the parental bond Clockwork, Pandora, and Frostbite had on him. More like an aunt, than a siblings like he was with Ellie.

“R̸e̴s̴t̷ ̷w̵e̷l̸l̷,̸ ̷L̶i̶t̵t̶l̴e̵ ̶K̵i̴n̵g̶.̵ ̷I̴ ̶w̴i̷l̴l̵ ̶a̴l̵w̸a̵y̷s̷ ̸b̸e̵ ̷n̸e̸a̴r̸.̴ (Rest well, Little King. I will always be near.)” Just as she appeared, Lady Gotham was gone. The alley now returned to its normal amount of dark, gloomy, and creepy. 

  It didn't take long for Danny to fall into a routine after that. He found a burger place he would occasionally steal invisible meals from. Seriously though why is one burger $15 there?! He would take from all the big corporate stores for food and supplies. He'd sneak into gyms to shower and collected coins for laundry. Simple things. But his favorite thing, was to go to the dump. All kinds of discarded tech for him to scavenge and bring back home. Since his bag was usually empty, he could fill it up with pieces of what ever he needed. Anything bigger, and he could either carry it, or open his pocket dimension outside of his body to bring it back to the house he had made into his base. He even scored some new tools when a rogue attack caused the wall of a hardware store to break down. Not that he needed it too, but the preloaded electronic kits were right there. He knew batman was close by in a fight, but he took the risk and swiped the biggest kit he could carry in his bag. Over the next month, he'd built his condenser and started on the computer. Using ectoplasm in his tech meant it didn't need wifi or service to run. It would work anywhere in either dimension, just like the phones. In addition, he also made a wearable scrambler and ecto signature suppressor as a matching bracelet set. With no way to take them off without phasing them off. He wasn't risking the only tech that let him use his powers without the GIW finding him. He might not be able to change into Phantom without an emergency, but he wasn't going to be helpless if in a ghost attack with no weapons around. Danny made a mental note to make a wrist ray that could only be phased off next. Vlad somehow always found a way to short out his powers. At least he'd still have a weapon of he could make it only work with his specific signature. He definitely needed Tucker to help him Vlad proof his tech.

 Danny continued to check in weekly, lest Jazz hunt him down with a boo~merang and kill him again for forgetting. Once they found out he was in Gotham, Tucker kept pestering him to find Oracle which Sam shot down repeatedly because that would risk the GIW finding him. Sam and Val both told him to keep off the Bats and Birds radar, which Danny agreed with. Jazz was happy to announce receiving a full Scholarship to Gotham academy and would be moving next year. Surprisingly, Vlad offered to pay for her tuition and housing, which was quickly rejected because he'd bug the place again. However Knowing he'd only be on the streets for a year was reassuring. He just had to wait for Jazz. Danny felt more hope than he had in the last 2 and a half months. 

  Then, one day, Danny was at the laundry mat. He had 2 sets of clothes now, and would alternate washing them. The owner's ac had stopped working and everyone was sweating with the dryers running.

“Stupid thing!” He punched the boxy unit, and sat back down with the only working fan at his desk.

  Danny didn't have anymore new projects since the computer, scrambler, condenser, and ghost shield protecting his base. He'd been itching to do something more and raiding the dump was tomorrow's task. Plus, he was running lower and lower on cash. With a breath, he pulled pull his tool box and walked over.

“I can fix it,” he spoke quietly, he hadn't talked to other people in a long time. Most people ignored him outside of insults for being homeless.

“You? What do you want if you can?” He grumbled. In crime alley nothing came without a price.

“Either food, or some cash… but I can fix it,” Danny repeated more confidently the second time. Ac units were simple, it would be an easy fix.

“Fine. I'll buy you something if you can get it working,” he waved Danny off who quickly went to work on the unit. Within 20 minutes, it was working better than when it was new out of the box, “Shit kid you really did fix it! Damn. Here,” he held a $20, “Get yourself something to eat, keep the change to use it here next week.”

“Thank you,” Danny took the cash and grabbed his dried clothes before going back to his base.

  Word spread quickly about the bright blue-eyed boy who could fix anything in exchange for cash, food, or even unwanted tech. He'd earned the name Scraps by the next week. Need the fryer to work but don't have the money to replace or fix it? Ask for Scraps. Need your phone fixed? Ask for Scraps. Need to prank your friend by hiding a speaker with a battery that lasts all week? Surprisingly Scraps will make you one.

  Danny may have stopped a few muggings or assholes harassing night workers while he wondered around like he was patrolling, but never got more involved. He stayed away from gang fights or anything to do with crimes outside of his need for basic survival. Not that he needed to steal as often with the tech people brought him to fix. Everything was going great, and he even had a crime free under the table job. While Danny was still lonely, if he kept himself busy with projects his mind didn't drift back to the lab. If he kept busy, talked like he was normal, like he was human, no one would notice a thing. No one would notice how broken he felt when ever he had a glance at that Y which now scarred his chest.

  Now, 3 months of living in Gotham, Danny had gone out to the warehouses for a job. Someone needed a machine fixed, they didn't specify what kind, but they did offer him a lot of money and even some of their unused power tools if he did it. Danny would be able to use them, or at least their parts anyway. He wasn't about to turn down parts. He had three ecto condensers around the area now. One at base, the dump, and the cemetery. Each with their own ghost shield and ecto scrambler to keep off the GIW's radar and to keep shades from stealing his ecto. He had a been using old jars or even his ice as storage for it. With the money he'd earn, he was going to by a set of beakers and proper storage for it. Then he can start making his own supplies of ecto-dejecto, ecto fishing line and more. Jazz wouldn't need to send him anymore via cujo, and the Fenton Portal could officially be shut down for good. It wasn't like Danny was going to be locked put of the realms forever. While he has still adjusting to the power, he was learning to make portals to and from the zone. They didn't need a permanent portal for now. If they ever did in the future, he'd make one, with the on button on the outside this time. Never making that mistake again.

He arrived at the warehouse with a no longer moving assembly line. The job was simple, one of the machines wasn't work no matter how many times it was calibrated, disconnected and reconnected, and even their usual mechanic couldn't figure it out. They were behind schedule for a “shipment” of some kind. Whatever the machine was manufacturing, not a single product was in view now. It took a few hours, 3 burgers - wrappers still on, a milkshake and the cup, and broken down microwave –no one questioned when Danny manifested it out of thin air– for parts before it was fixed. This particular machine was for screwing the tops onto bottles, so the microwave motor was part of the fix. Though it wasn't a permanent fix, they'd need a new one anyway, it would last until they made their shipment and got the money for a new one. Danny was happily paid, and even given a little extra for the microwave “party trick” before he left. Outside, however, was pouring fucking rain. Danny was soaked even if he was intangible. Stupid ecto contaminated rain, just like Amity. At least that annoying part felt like home, somewhat. And the rain would be collected by the 2 out door condensers and separated into 2 liquids. One side for ectoplasm, the other for purified drinking water. So he could handle being soaked for a while to get home. However the rain and wind made it difficult to see, and it wasn't going to let up anytime soon. So, Danny took shelter is a dark, hopefully empty, warehouse nearby. He was never that lucky. There looked to be some weird ass tea party going on.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Danny flinch when all eyes turned to him, “Just wanted to get out of rain.”

  It was an odd collection, but nothing like fighting ghosts. A Leprechaun at the head of the table. A woman dressed like rabbit was next to his seat on the right with an empty space to his left. The rest of the table had people wearing rabbit masks. If Danny wasn't used to creepy he might have felt a chill.

“Oh my…” The Leprechaun stood up and walked over to Danny, his view completely fixated on the brilliant icy blue eyes that so vibrantly glowed no matter the lighting.

“I can leave, this looks like a private party,” Danny started to turn back as the Leprechaun reached out his hand.

“No need Dear,” he smiled, a face peaceful smile as the rest of the party members stared. The Leprechaun was quick to pick up that the child had no recognition of their group what so ever. He didn’t know to run from Mad Hatter, “Let me introduce myself, I'm am Jervis Tetch. We were having a tea party but hadn't started yet. Let's get you something to dry off with and you can join us. We have plenty of food to go around,” Hatter grinned as Danny slowly nodded, keeping an eye on the characters around the table.

  He didn't feel anything much from the Leprechaun in front of him other than glee at the moment. The others were a little too far for his empathy to fully register. Unlike in Amity where everyone was at least a little liminal, in Gotham he actually needed to be within a radius to feel others emotions. The warehouse was massive, and if he got closer he'd feel their emotions in just a few steps. He'd feel it easier if he focused or stopped repressing his energy, but he wasn't going to risk it. He kept things pretty tight with the revenant, Red Hood, around crime alley. Didn't need to alert him of his presence, no thanks. Red Hood was a known hero in the ghost zone for Gotham spirits. Danny had heard stories, and he didn't need to hear much to know not to fuck with that guys territory.

As he approached, he felt no tension from anyone. They were relaxed, content even. No malicious energy or desire to fight. Although Danny half expected that with his permanent appearance. He followed the man with wild ginger hair to the back room where Danny was given a towel, and a fresh shirt that was way too big for him, and pants that held onto his waist with a draw string, hopes, and dreams. Still, it was better than nothing since he left his change of clothes back at the base.

Mad Hatter, on the other hand, had prepared a small black headband for the child with the most beautiful blue eyes he'd ever seen. His Alice.

“Thanks for the clothes. Can I hang mine to dry somewhere?” Danny emerged from the room.

“Of course, anywhere is fine dear Alice,” He smiled again.

“Alice? Oh, my name Danny,” he corrected.

“This is a costume party, Danny. We're all playing characters from a story, Alice in Wonderland. I am the Mad Hatter,” as far as Danny could tell, he wasn't lying, “We have the March Hair, and his fellow rabbits. You, my dear, have blue eyes just like Alice. He handed Danny the headband, “I don't have a full costume for you as an unexpected guest, but this will do. You are now Alice.”

“Oh,” Danny examined the headband, plain black with a bow. Nothing glowing, no buzzing sound for electricity, just cloth on a metal stick, “I guess I could wear this. I still get to eat right?”

“Of course! It's a tea party,” Mad Hatter smiled again, “We had planned it already when the storm hit. Now we're just waiting out the rain, just like you are. If you enjoy your time here Alice, you can join us again for the next one.”

“Sure,” Danny slipped on the headband.

~~~

Master list

Part 2

I apologize if this is a ramble and not much punctuation it is late I am tired but I want to say this and I cannot write worth a s***

What if there was a fic where Jazz saves Danny from vivasection like she came back from college and was visiting and because she is in so much stress the and because of living in that Ecto contaminated house for so long she manifests a bit of powers and one of them is that she can open portals within their own Realm to different places and she was so stressed and desperate to get her little brother away from what hurt him that her power is manifested and they took him to Gotham dropping right in front of Ivy and Harley Jazz obviously doesn't know where she is she's freaking out her little brother is dying in her arms

IVy and Harley are just kind of freaking out because this teenage girl covered in blood dropped in front of them holding a boy equally if not more so covered in blood but he's like bleeding from his nose and his mouth the same time and they can clearly see he's bleeding through his shirt they're trying to keep a cool head we're trying to get the girl to let them come closer so they can help her brother cuz they clearly had come from a horrible situation and maybe it's at the point where like Harley is kind of close to Batman's family and Batman and it's kind of like Aunt Harley to the bat kids so she gets like on the phone and it's trying to contact with them like hey we have a situation here we could use some discreet medical attention cuz at this point jazz is yelling like no hospitals he can't go to a hospital after Ivy said that they should take him to one

Batman / Bruce Wayne you can decide what Persona they're going to use for this get Harley and Ivy custody of these two kids because obviously they're not in the safe living environment and they refuse to go to their Godfather saying that he's like creepy in that and they just don't trust him especially with some of the things he said( I kind of want Vlad to be like really creepy to Danny if you know what I mean like really creepy creepier the better) Harley and Ivy end up raising Danny even though jazz is at basically an adult they still take her in as like one of their kids because that is Danny's sister even if she's older like an adult age

No this is just a thought feel free to add in like I said I am tired it is late but I had to write this down so sorry if it's rambly and it runs together I didn't have the energy to use proper punctuation feel free to add if you wish I do see it morning being like a Tim / Danny coupling and if you want to like couple Jazz with someone else singing like dick or Barbara or making them in like a Triad and I'll probably be posting more lately fake ideas for different fandoms right now I'm in a real kick of dcxdp so probably going to be a few of those I've said before I can't write at least I can't write fanfiction it does not flow well with me and if any of my writing point on this website points to that then you would understand

Just an update to let people know that the performance au has a name! "The Phantom's Façade"! (Or The Phantom's Façade AU, if you want)

One of my friends gave me the name idea, what do you think? :)

Here's a WIP, subject to change.

Hey so I like broke my back drawing hunched over for six hours last night so- No performance au art or art in general for probably the next few days, I just need a small break from it, sorry!

I do have an idea for how I could do the story though, I personally feel like it wouldn't be as impactful as a comic, but I still want to do art for the story, so I was thinking of a combination, but I don't know what I'd do... Thoughts?

Since I don't have any art to go with this post, take my favourite of the earlier sketches lol

Here's a full illustration for the Performance AU! I decided to do a version with and without the spotlight turned on! Which do you like best?

Also! Green blush! :D

Click for better quality! (I think)

The Hunt of Joker | DC X DP

ERRORS WILL BE MADE BECAUSE I’M AN OVERWORKED PERSON

“What?” The Ghost King of the Infinite Realms hissed out in rage.

Danny stared down at where his Spymaster, a liminal who willingly stood up to take on the title to keep an eye on the human realm for him— was kneeling still as they waited for Danny to process their report. The silent in the throne room was deafening and yet his Spymaster— Lucero Castillo continued on to stay defiantly at him to showcase the seriousness of the situation.

“He’s called the Joker, he’s killed and caused more harm than I’ve realized. The person tasked at keeping an eye on him had failed and the man got away from landing in the realms for his trial longer than I’d like to admit.” Lucero said with a bitter tone, their anger obvious in the moment. Danny could understand, seeing the countless ghosts who landed in the realms because of the Joker grew.

Knowing that the Joker managed to defy death and kept inflicting it? It made Danny’s blood boil as he remembered the death of one of Lady Gotham’s Knights, the boy was young— so young that Danny wept to himself in the shelter of his own keep because that was a young boy who despite everything still tried to save his own mother. Danny felt like he was looking to a mirror every time he saw the Robin, purely because they were both teenagers— kids who had died. It was a limited time that Danny spent with Robin- Jason but enough that Danny missed him when the boy disappeared.

“You’ve kept tabs?” Danny rumbled out, his words echoing with authority that caused the ghosts in the throne room to straighten and Lucero to give a grin, their fangs glinting in the light of the ghost flames that lit up the room.

“Once I realized, I made sure to keep tabs on the clown. I figured it’d be a good premise for a hunt.”

A hunt… Lucero wasn’t wrong. A hunt would be good, it’d allow those who had been harmed by him. The ghosts will enjoy the thrill of hunting down their own killer, he’s sure Gotham’s shades and lingering ghosts would enjoy it as well. Lucero would keep an eye on the hunt, put a stop to any ghosts who stepped out of line and protect any humans.

Danny’s fingers drummed against the arm rest of his throne, the crown above his head flickering wildly as he thought it over.

“I approve of this hunt, it’s been too long.” Danny said as he gave a crooked smile before gesturing to Pandora who immediately began to speak the hunt in existence with another ghost besides her writing it down so a missive would appear before every victim of Joker that had died and lives in the realms.

“Under the orders of High King, the Hunt of the human named Joker the Maddened False Clown, the man who has denied our Mother’s embrace and who has cruelly ended lives of others before their ended time. The Spymaster has been deemed the Watcher of this Hunt and those who had been harmed by him may indulge in the hunt. The hunt will begin in a week’s time.”

☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️

Jason felt that something in Gotham was different, the air felt charged in a way he never felt even before his death. He was more in tune with Gotham than any other person, he knew Gotham at its core just as she knew him at his very being. It’s why he claimed Crime Alley as his when he had come back, why he dug his roots and kept digging them even if people tugged him and tried to make him change his tune about the Alley.

They didn’t understand.

Nobody understood the fact that Crime Alley is the very heart of Gotham, how she thrives on its very essence and how even at her weakest she relies on it to protect the rest of Gotham. The City Spirit loomed over him from the shadows, her hands placed on his shoulders to keep ahold of and giving a motherly croon whenever the Bats came into his haunt.

The leylines that Gotham lived on seemed to beat along as the excited trills and chirps of various ghosts were heard as he walked through the Alley, they sounded like a murder of crows in the death infested city. Shadows and blurs of greens and blues darted around, seeking. Hunting.

A soft croon from shade caught Jason’s attention, watching it peer shyly up at him with a wide childlike gaze. The shade was in an alleyway, one that Jason knew the kids around used to run after stealing some food that he knew Mrs. Jimenez purposely put on her windowsill for to take. He debated on ignoring it, wanting to head home because his skin felt too tonight, his pulse thundering in ways even adrenaline rush never could.

The shadows beckoned. Jason followed.

“Do you guys feel that?” Steph asked at family dinner of the month, her eyes darting around to catalogue the Bats reactions. Everyone looked on edgy, as if a single pin needle could drop and it’d shatter every peaceful pretense they had. Jason however looked at ease, as if he didn’t feel like he was a prey at the moment.

“Yeah, it’s made a lot of things brighter. I had to be careful during patrol because I’d start getting migraines from the lights.” Duke said as he poked his fork into his pasta, eyes hidden behind sunglasses that he wore to prevent his lingering headache from flaring into something worse.

“Oh it’s probably cause of the Hunt.”

A silence occurred before chaos erupted.

☁️☁️☁️☁️

NOTE: I am a firm believer that while Jason doesn’t remember anything from during his time dead, he knows ghost culture because its ingrained into his very being and has been aware of all the shades/ghosts of crime alley because its his haunt and he is protective of them as he is of humans. He’s basically Lady Gotham’s disgruntled feral cat and she’s basically throwing him at the shades as exposure therapy to the ✨other side ✨

also Jason casually dropping the fact of the Hunt is so funny cause he’s just reading a book while eating. Like hahaha yeah it’s cause of the Hunt :) we all had died or had brushed with death enough that we feel the excitement of the dead ! Jason is also very much unaware that the hunt is AIMED at Joker and pretty much. has a dead joker dropped at his feet by excited kiddo shades because !!! PRESENT FOR PAPA !!! before it gets yoinked into the infinite realms by Lucero.

morally grey danny because he is balance !! HE IS A KING !! he has the right to choose who dies !!! tbis was done at 2am again and scheduled to post at 7am

Danuary Day 5

The day's prompt gave me a set of confusion so mind defaulted to poetic and dark. i give you angst sprinkled with fluff and metaphors that may actually be true. @crossoverdanuary will be cross-posted

Day 5- Fortune & Pokemon

It had been years since Danny had human connection. After all, the things he had known when human were long gone as his world had evolved. He had seen the slow death of all those around him, as he stood frozen in the narrowest space in the hourglass.  

His world was the origin, the development had begun to branch as soon as his time paused. He was king, Balance, Space, Son of Time, and the Deity of Fortune. His luck and core blessed those who held others dear, and cursed those with no love or reason in their hearts. Many good souls had come and gone, some thinking themselves cursed but were truly the most blessed. He had created afterlives for those who died heroes and those who died evil. He made the worlds in between, always the closest to his home. So that he may protect those closest to his kind. His daughter and son shone their ideas upon worlds letting their choices guide the universes, after all they were his.  

He was yet not full, his life was missing something, what; he did not know. He needed a friend. So what he created was creatures of his wildest dreams, fish that became dragons controling water, living ecosystems that developed sentience controling the plants they carried on their backs, blobs of goo that could morph and mimic, and shadow beasts that sough comfort in the energy they were made from. He created creature after creature, finding those in his memories and creating ones that may have brought them joy. He placed the creations on a world that he adored, a gift. Then he left a final being, powerful as he to look out for the little blessings of the world.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

High King Dannal felt a pull in his chest, a call for him. A soul was calling for him at a temple made by his gifts. Calling him Danny. It had been a long tome since the boy that never grew had heard that name.  

He followed. 

King Phantom

Ghost King Phantom's secret twin brother WHO?!?!?😱😱😱