The First Hero Phantom

DC XDP Fic idea: Gamer Boy

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton are well known for turning objects found around the house into ghost-fighting gear. This was partially to save money on materials and partially because the Fentons were geniuses like that.

They had no trouble changing an object's entire purpose. It was awe-inspiring if you didn't live with them and misplaced something.

What happened to the TV remote? It's now a controller for the defense of house security weapons.

What happened to the third chair at the dinner table? It's now the main anchor for the ghost shield at the top of the house.

Where were the forks? Melted down to create the Spector-Glider jetpack, allowing any hunter on the go to fly right after the ecto-foes!

Danny learned to keep everything he wanted to be left alone in his room (Jack and Maddie had a rule not to bother the kids' safe spaces); otherwise, it would somehow become gear. His room was messy, but he knew where everything was and when he placed it there.

They vanished if he didn't.

It was odd to be so well aware of his things, but it was a fact of life he accepted growing up in the Fenton Household, like the food coming back to life. When they came to visit, his friends knew he had a strict rule of leaving everything in his room.

So, really, there was no reason for this mistake to happen. Sadly, he's gotten a bit careless since the whole Phantom thing. This is his downfall. See, it started the day Tucker brought home a cool new mobile gaming console, lending it to Danny after his parents refused to buy it for him due to his grades.

He had been excited to curl up in a ball on his bed and play the mobile version of Doom. No computer needed, connecting to the world wide web and with a ton of new updates- some even inspired by him when he went into the game last time, and some developer saw him- it was everything he wanted to spend his Friday afternoon on.

Then, a new ghost yells about wanting to be the best showgirl this town has ever seen and starts Can-caning into buildings. She was from before Amity Park was even a town or a city. She was a ghost from the late eighteen hundreds who had arrived in what would have been his hometown with the few settlers who had tricked her.

From what Sam discovered, she had been promised a stage, her name on the headliners as the best performer, and riches beyond belief. What she got instead was a bartender job where the men laughed and mocked her dreams. They wanted something pretty to serve their drinks and would not pay her for it.

She was working to be fed and to keep a roof over her head.

She was too poor to leave and had no family willing to lend a hand after her father warned her that if she ran off to chase her dreams, he would cut her off.

Danny could understand why she hated the sight of this place flourishing and booming when in life it had been her cave but he couldn't let her break it all down. The fight with her last hours then days and finally weeks before he was able to put her away in the Zone.

He had been so exhausted that it wasn't until Tucker asked for his console back that he realized he had had it for a whole month and had not gotten past the main menu.

The worst was putting it in the living room drawer on his way out for a fight. That was a week ago. Rushing home, Danny was relieved to find it still in the same place, untouched by his parent's fingers.

He was supposed to return it to Tucker the following morning, and since no one else was home, he could at least leave it on for a few hours. Not bothering to change back into Fenton, Danny floated in the air, eyes dropping but determined to enjoy this game if it killed him.

The second he powered it on, a woman's voice beeped in a familiar chilling tone.

"Ghost detected. Activating FentonTrap."

He tried to drop it, but it had a similar concept to the Fenton Thermos. His hands were stuck to the metal, and thrashing about wasn't doing anything but fling him through the air.

Before he knew it, he was sucked right into the screen. He screamed, but no one was around to listen. Just his luck. The gaming console turned into a ghost bear trap, falling the second he was sucked into.

It landed in Jazz's cardboard box of old things she had set aside to donate. She was moving out for college and felt it was good to give it away to the less fortunate.

Danny panicked inside the gaming console, floating into a box of darkness with nothing but the screen acting like a window to see out into the real world. Unlike when he entered the game, he had no control over his surroundings or the settings.

He waited a few hours, and as soon as Jazz came down from her bedroom the following morning, he tried screaming as loud as he could to get her attention. But she didn't react. Not even when he pushed his ectoplasm into the screen, holding it would do something.

The game was off. Jazz wasn't a gaming type of person, so she felt no need to turn it on when she was opening the box with tape. Danny could do nothing as she loaded it into her car and drove it to a nearby Wayne Foundation donation center. He hoped someone would pick him up and turn on the console so he could get help.

It was the very latest system. Someone had to be tempted.

But no such luck.

He was moved through hands, everyone assuming that this was only donated if it was busted. It didn't help their assumptions that the darn thing randomly beeped and cried out, "Ghost detected!". Danny tried repeatedly to get someone's attention, but he always failed and was moved between centers across the country, watching time move on without him.

Being inside the GhostTrap was a strange pain. He didn't need food or water, but he felt starved. He missed the sun on his skin, the voices of people speaking to him and not around him, and his family.

A family probably losing their minds looking for him. Danny Fenotn had vanished at fifteen years old, and the earth kept turning. He was stuck there, never aging, never moving, and always watching as years passed.

He stayed long enough for the console to become outdated, and people stopped even considering taking him home.

Eventually, Danny was pushed into the retro gaming boxes, sealed up, and moved across the states. He ended up in a pawn shop in a bigger city, placed in a glass case facing up. I was far more interested in him than the community depot the Waynes had him in.

He watched daily as various shady people entered Crime Alley's best pawn shop and traded multiple items for cash. He had stopped trying to get people's attention at this point. A little over a decade of inability to communicate did that to a person.

Danny sat back, watching people from below place cash on the counter items and wonder about them. Sometimes, they would peer down at him, getting close enough to fog up the glass, but never ask for him.

Until one day, a tiny little boy wandered in, clutching a few dollars. He said he got the money, and Hans (the pawn shop owner) didn't ask. He just counted out the bill for the tiny thing and told him what he could buy with it.

Danny was shocked to see those blue eyes sparkle with glee when they landed on his system. The boy was told that it might be busted because Hans was a good man to children, but he happily claimed he had never had a video game before, and a broken one was better than none.

The boy clutched the game tightly to his chest, slipping him into his pocket with great care, and ran home. Not that Danny could see where that home was. All he got was an eyeful of lint and a half-eaten lollipop.

It didn't stop his heart from leaping in his chest as the newfound hope he had long ago given up on bursting into flames along his rib cages. The second the boy was in his home, he washed after his mother yelled at him to bathe and eat, and he powered on Tucker's system after nearly a decade.

At once, Danny's surroundings changed into a bright light, and his powers could finally pass the screen. He rushed at it, feeling himself slipping through the traps as powering on the console seemed to be the same button as "release".

He flies out, throwing his arms wide open and laughing because, finally, after so long, he is free. He spins in circles, bathing in the feeling of air, even if it's a bit stale. He strains his eyes to listen to the city outside after everything has been so muffled, just seeing the real world.

The boy was pressed against the wall, his wide blue eyes staring up at Danny in suppressed fear. He was obviously on the poorer side, with his mattress on the floor and clothes so faded they might as well be white with a bit of color stains, but Danny didn't care.

"You set me free!" He tells the child, floating before him, "Thank you!"

The boy's mouth opens and closes- isn't it odd that he hasn't heard his name so far- before his wide blue eyes widen. "Are you a genie?"

"Hmm?" Danny wants to talk to him properly but is too busy taking everything in. He is feeling the real world again, seeing color, and feeling the walls.

No wonder his old foes kept trying to come back here. The world was a wonderful place to be in.

"You are! Like the one Aladdin found! I know my first wish. I wish my mom was sober."

Danny doesn't know who Aladdin is, but that... is a sad wish. Oddly enough, he does know how to make it come true. He had been studying under FrostBite after realizing he couldn't be an astronaut anymore and had found that his ectoplasm had a side effect of healing humans.

In theory, it should make her sober.

He considers the boy's earnest and hopeful eyes and thinks I do owe him.

"Alright, bring me to your mom. I'm Danny, by the way. Danny Phantom."

"I'm Jason!" Jason cheers, rushing to the door of his small little bedroom and grabbing Danny's hand on the way. He's practically dragging him to a small living room.

There, leaning against the wall, is a woman, her head bobbing side to side, muttering things under her breath and looking like a mess. There was a needle near her leg. This makes Danny grimace, especially with how easily Jason accepts it.

He places his hands on her face- reeling at the feeling of other humans again!- and pushes his ectoplasm into her body, removing anything he can find that shouldn't be there. He's repairing the damages done by the drugs to her body as he does so.

It might not stop her from doing more in the future, but the addiction is gone. She will no longer crave it.

When he pulls his hands off her, Jason lets out a little gasp by his side. Already, his mother looks healthy. Skin no longer shrunken, hair growing back, skin smooth and blemished free, and a rosy tint to her cheeks.

Now she's just a pretty woman nappin' against the wall with her son holding her hand, looking like he just witnessed a miracle.

Danny isn't sure how he can explain that she could just start up again and tear apart everything he fixed. It feels wrong to speak it as the boy snuggles close to her, crying silent little tears.

"I know what I want my next wish to be" Jason whispers. He looks Danny straight in the eyes when he says, "I wish you were my big brother."

And that is sad, too. But it gives him a reason to stick around and ensure she doesn't put this kid through this again. Besides, he's been missing for twelve years and hasn't changed much. He's scared to go back and has nothing to return to.

Danny shifts into his home form, making the little boy gasp again. "Do I pass as your brother?"

"Yes! You look a lot like me!" Jason beams, "Mom will be so excited to meet you!"

Oh,, he will ensure she is. After all, he needed to scare her straight. Maybe he can find a job to help her get Jason all the games he wants in the world.

Danny Fenton went missing all those years ago. The World kept spinning, but now Danny Todd was spinning with it.

Vlad is dragging Danny along on a "Field Trip".

Basically, Vlad's doing a favor for one of his creepy billionaire friends, and he's dragging Danny along with him. Something about said money-buddy needing help with a cloning project.

Danny, naturally, decides to be as inconsiderate as he possibly can, because fuck Vlad, and fuck Lex Luthor too.

He sneaks away and manages to phase through a few walls, accidentally finding Luthor's evil secret lair. Danny is...not surprised at all.

Instead of wasting time going 'oh noooooo how could this beeee', he gets to work on destroying as much as he can. While invisible, of course.

Then, naturally, he triggers an experimental weapon in one of the rooms.

It goes off.

Danny shrinks.

Danny looks in a mirror.

He looks like he's fucking ten. His clothes no longer fit, and Danny prioritizes finding something to wear that might fit. All he can find are weird white-gray jumpsuits, though. Fine. Whatever.

He's just finished putting it on when the door is punched out of it's frame, scaring Danny enough that he jumps a foot in the air and stays there.

An...older teen? Young adult? Superboy, right, he calls himself Superboy. The leather jacket one that should probably get the "boy" out of his name, not the actual kid.

Super(not)boy stares at Danny, eyes wide and mouth open.

Danny can smell trouble coming from a mile away, and he knows that whatever is about to happen, he wants no part of it.

"Uh, uh-Superma-?" Superboy starts, but Danny isn't having it.

"Fuck you!" Danny shouts, landing on the ground, throwing the nearest table, and tries to turn to phase through the wall behind him.

Except he doesn't, because the second he touches the ground he's grabbed and held in place by tactile telekinesis.

He would know what that feels like; he has tactile telekinesis. Tactile telekinesis that he's currently using to try to peel Superboy's sticky tactile telekinetic fingers off of him so he can go.

"Okay, maybe we should chill out," Superboy says, walking forward and trying to look nonthreatening.

"...Actually, that's a great idea," Danny concedes, abruptly freezing the floor beneath Superboy's feet.

Superboy floats to get off the ice, the telekinetic grip is released, and Danny uses that opportunity to...turn and run straight into Superman's chest.

Superman does not look happy. Superman is wearing the same look mom does when she finds out he failed a test.

Danny is, wisely, a little more scared of Superman than Superboy.

"I can explain," Danny starts.

"Start with where you learned that language," Superman advises, crossing his arms. "Clone or not, I will clean your mouth out with soap if I have to."

Wait I had an amazing idea: Dcxdp but instead of Danny ending up in the batfam Danny is in metropolis

What if Clark is absolutely sure Danny was a kryptonian with a health condition? So I like the idea of Danny occasionally having to make sure his heart is still beating while in human form and the little stutters sound like a small heart condition to Clark, now this would normally not be a problem as Clark would just keep an eye on Danny but Danny sometimes gets too focused on something and forgets to check his heartbeat and it stops and when he realizes he taps his chest to “get it going again”. Also Clark always just happens to be around when a ghost shows up (yes they followed Danny, they need their enrichment) so he sees and feels the subfreezing mist that comes from Danny’s mouth and sometimes see’s Danny’s eyes glow green accidentally and knows that despite Danny’s “condition” Danny is much stronger than a human should be because of an accident that happened that ended up with Danny lifting he shouldn’t be capable of.

The thing is every time Clark tries to talk to Danny to see if “Danny knows what he is” Danny seems to disappear and somehow Clark can’t follow (hard to track a ghost lol). This culminates in Clark taking the nuclear option: Clark breaking into batman’s cave to use his computer to find out anything he can on Danny. This then leads to Batman coming down to suit up for the first time after a full week of having to show up as Bruce to galas to see a sleep deprived and obviously heavily caffeinated Clark with a bulletin board that looks oddly like a mess of conspiracy theories about Danny in front of the bat computer.

DPxDC Prompt

Danny doesn't have the best spatial awareness, you'd think he would given his bout as a vigilante, but his rogues all had the convenient ability of setting off his ghost sense and letting him know when to turn on his awareness.

So when he was taken in by Bruce Wayne in Gotham, far away from any ghosts or portals, he just didn't have any reason to be on guard. It worked well for him since his vigilante days were over and he could put all his focus on school again.

But you see, when he was first taken in, it was just him and his foster brother Tim staying at the manor.

Fast forward to now, Danny gets home from school to find not only Bruce waiting at the table for dinner, but a kid who looks surprisingly like Bruce??? The kid is small, rude and trying to be threatening in a way Danny doesn't really see as such, like the kid is like 8 how much could they really do???

Turns out a lot.

After Danny and Tim sat down and the introductions were made, Bruce filled them in on the situation that was Damian. Tim seemed to take it as a new puzzle, looking to Damian and Bruce periodically as if he could get answers simply by staring. Danny took it in stride, it isn't that unusually for a rich guy to have secret flings that result in children down the line.

Dinner was in full swing when it happened, there had been some bantering the entire time and many threats of bodily harm coming from Damian which weren't met with as many reprimands as Danny assumed it should. A distinct thunk sound was heard after a particularly harsh threat and Danny looked over to see a knife now embedded in Tim's chair where his head once was.

Before he could react, Bruce was standing with a sharp reprimand and Danny collided harshly with his chair as a new knife embedded itself in his shoulder. He cried out in shock, it has been over a year since his last ghost fight and honestly he forgot how much that hurts!

Aka, Bruce and Dick are forced to take Damian's threats more seriously when the civilian Danny is in the crossfire instead of just the trained vigilante Tim.

Ok, I need you to elaborate more about The Menace! Danny's Hero Persona cause I can understand if he's too nice (almost like Nightwing but more doting than funny) or if he's the "normal" one (he comes, beats you but hey! He isn't as violent like the rest so he's the best option)

I'm picturing him in his hero persona petting strays and openly talking about mental health

He's the kind of hero who stays behind after the fights, passing around assistance forms for insurance claims. He makes sure to get the information on the damaged properties so that he can later reimburse or fix them himself.

People took notice, and wherever there is a big fight, it's relatively common to see online postings of "Hey anyone that can help, Phantom is at Adress XXX trying to put in a roof! Gardeners too, for the lawns damage by car. I'll bring my grill and some stakes!" and people just....show up to help??? Turn it into a blog party???

Help each other??? Remember the good times.

Phantom always beams at them, which is just as rewarding. He also helps with several fundraisers. Like he'll stop his patrol to buy Girl Scout cookies, go to school bake sales, get involved in cleaning up parks, visit people in hospitals, and find warm shelter for anyone he comes across.

Phantom also never posts things himself. It's always one of his fans because he thinks that good things should be done without aiming for fame.

No one really knows when or where Phantom will pop up. After being Batman's star, since he glows and is a ray of hope, Phantom slowly developed his own time and rhythm, appeasing both Day and Night crimes.

He still beats the criminals up and cracks jokes as he does it. It's not like Flash, who can de-escalate situations, but more of mutual respect. He also teaches free self-defense classes and walks anyone who's scared at night home (Sometimes people try to trap him for this, but most of the time he has escorted young women and men home).

Phantom has also placed emergency buttons around the city, after clearing it with the mayor. People push them to let each other know that something is wrong, and to send an SOS to Phantom. He will pop in to check on you, even if it's just a street kid asking for homework help.

He's literally an angel without wings......and then there's Danny Fenton-Wayne, who's setting shit on fire while throwing in home-made dolls of his classmates and pointing at people to growl "The spirits want you".

anyone done this yet, or

Teen Dad Marvel

There’s some very big leaps and logic the JL has decided at Marvel is a teen dad. Billy doesn’t even know how it happened. Let’s take a look at some pass incidents that have made them think this.

To start us off, the very first incident of this occurred when Batman, Superman, and Marvel were debating how old a kid should be before they become a sidekick.

Marvel: “I wasn’t even 12 when Junior came along.”

Supes: “I’m sorry, not even 12?”

Marvel: “Nope. And then it was about… two years or so later that he got his powers and we went on the fight crime together.

To Billy, that meant that he met Freddy when he was around eight and the other boy was nine. It when Billy was nine himself that he got his powers and then a year later, Freddy gained his.

To Superman and Batman, that sounded like somehow, in some way, Marvel had a kid at a max of 12 years old. It also sounds like that two-year-old got powers before it could probably even walk.

Batman and Supes: *sharing looks*

Supes: “I… I’m sorry?”

Marvel: “For what?”

Batman and Supes: *share another look*

Batman: “Nothing, Captain. We just hadn’t expected that you’d gone through something like that.”

Marvel: “Something like what?”

They didn’t answer Billy’s question because they assumed he was playing dumb.

The second incident that convinced the JL, or just Batman and Superman, of this, happened when both Marvel and Junior were at the Watchtower. It seemed like that day was a bad day for Junior’s leg, so Marvel offered to massage it. That how they ended up in the rec room watching Cartoon Network a little too intently as Marvel absentmindedly, massaged the leg draped across his lap.

Marvel and Junior: *watching Gumball or something and sipping juice boxes*

Junior: “How do you do that so well?”

Marvel: “Freddy, I’ve been doing this since I was like nine, obviously I’m gonna do it well.”

Junior: “Yeah, but how did you learn?”

Marvel: “You know that kooky doctor on 48th Street?”

Junior: “The one that’s not evil and turned like half his patients blue?”

Marvel: “Yeah, him, so on one of your really bad days, I got really desperate and really wanted to find a way to make it less bad. So I went to him and he gave me a masseuse book for a penny.”

Junior: “Oh… Cool. Do you still have that book?”

Marvel: “Yeah? It’s probably somewhere at the Rock.”

Supes; *listening from around a corner, clenching his heart because he finds them wholesome*

And it really was from Clark’s point of view. See, most of the JL assumed that Junior was born with a bad leg. After all, he’s supposed to be a demigod, isn’t he? He’s pretty much indestructible so they didn’t think he’d gotten that injury from someone or something. In Clark’s mind, he’s imagining a nine-year-old, itty-bitty Marvel with a baby Freddy massaging Freddy’s little baby leg because he was crying.

Also, Junior’s real name is Freddy? Also, Marvel was NINE when he had him??? Wait, but then how old is Marvel now? Also how old is Junior??

Supes never got an answer to these questions because he was too chicken to bring up the topic.

The third incident came from Mary and Marvel who were also at the Watchtower when this happened. The two were baking cookies together, one of the usual father-daughter activities the JL have seen them do. Specifically, they were making dark chocolate bat-shaped cookies for Batman, on the request of Robin. When Bruce found out about this, he went to go tell them to stop because he really didn’t need the cookies even if they were absolutely delicious.

That’s how he overheard their conversation.

Mary: “Do you remember mom?”

Marvel: “Uh…” *thinking* “Nope, I got nothing.”

Mary: “How?”

Marvel: “Because the last time I saw them, I was eight years old, Mary? You were too.” *whisking something in a bowl*

Bruce took that as Marvel leaving home, at a concerningly young age, for whatever reason and eventually taking Mary to see her grandparents when she was around the age he left. Either that, or he left, and took her back to visit her grandparents when she was two-years-old.

Mary: “Yeah, but I had amnesia. What’s your excuse?”

Marvel: “I was eight?” *hands her the whisk so she can lick it*

It was this incident, and the two others that shaped this idea of teen dad Marvel. Thus, using the combined brain cells of both Batman and Superman, the two came to a conclusion: for some reason, Marvel left home, during the time he left he somehow got someone pregnant and that resulted in Mary and Junior.

Either that, or he just found them on the side of the road, though, the first theory is more believable. The only problem being their ages.

If only they could find their mother… maybe she’d be willing to spill.

"...Timmy...?" Dick hasn't called him that since before Bruce disappeared, but it's the only thing he can say as he stares at his brother's broken, bleeding body.

Tim, Timmy, his little brother in all but blood, bleeding from his ears and eyes and nose, burned so severely his skin is peeling off, actually turns to look at him.

Freezes.

"Shit. No one's supposed to see this." Tim says, and Dick lurches forward to do...something. He doesn't know what, for all his first-aid training doesn't know how he can help when there's this much damage, but he has to do something.

But Tim disappears, like he was never there.

Or; On a ghosts death day, they gain the appearance they had at death. This includes the injuries. Danny spends his death day very far away from home, since it actually makes his human form look like he got electrocuted to death by untold voltage and mass dosages of radiation, and he really doesn't want his mom and dad to see that, even if they're cool with the half-ghost thing. Problem; apparently he's a dead ringer for someone Nightwing knows, and he just mentally scarred Valerie's favorite hero. Fuck.

Damian, as Robin, is about to be sacrificed to summon a Powerful Being. Except instead of a Powerful Being, a kid his age pops into existence as though he was shoved forward.

The kid looks around, startled. He's got a black eye and he's holding a length of rope, presumably what had been restraining him.

"Uh. Is. Is this the afterlife?" The kid asks, bewildered.

"...No, this is Gotham. We were trying to summon Pariah Dark?" One of the cultists answers, also confused.

"But I was being sacrificed to summon Pariah Dark?" The kid says, brows furrowed.

The cultists pause in their attempted murder of Robin and hurriedly reconvene, taking their eyes off of the kid. They're muttering about how maybe there was another cult doing a sacrifice at the same time, and things got switched up. Should they sacrifice both of the boys?

Damian, though. Damian never takes his eyes off of the new kid.

Unlike the cultists, he's not an idiot. He knows a liar when he sees one. That boy is no sacrifice.

That boy is the being they summoned.

He waits for the being to show it's true colors. And waits. And waits.

'Hurry up!' Damian mouths to it.

'I am trying!' It mouths back, motioning at it's feet where it's been wearing away the containment sigil.

'Well try faster!'

'That's not how it works!'

'How hard is it to mess up chalk?'

'Well then you come here and you do it!'

"Maybe I will," Damian spits outloud, done with this farce.

"Uh, do you two need a moment or...?"

Damian answers the cultists question by kicking her in the face as he cuts himself loose.

He will rescue both himself and the demon they dragged into this world.

Danny gets mistaken for Superman 24.2.23

DP x DC. Danny Phantom, Superman, Batman.

A group of villains attack an event they know the JL is going to be investigating undercover. They're looking for secret Identities amongst the crowd, and Danny, long since a full-fledged adult, happens to be attending as well.

Danny, unlike Clark, does not dress to conceal his physique, or hide behind glasses, or hold himself to seem smaller or bumbling.

He gets wrongly picked out as Superman within moments.

And Danny, who can fly, who has mild superstrength, who can tell where kryptonite is because it radiates like all food-quality ectoplasam, who's not as concerned about being discovered since the meta rights act overturned the anti-ecto acts, and who's only become more of a gremlin as full fledged adult, figures 'Sure, why not, I can be Superman :)'

Batman is not the only person who is blindsided when "Superman" leans over and eats the kryptonite right out of the man's hand.

"That was rock candy." Not-Superman gave the man a cheshire cat grin. "You might want to double-check your supplier."

"That was definitely kryptonite," Superman informed him over the com, his voice flat with the kind of flabbergasted disbelief Batman had thought they both left behind a couple of world-ending-disasters ago.

Day (634/100) in my #∞daysofwriting @the-wip-project 24th of Feb