Cw: Blood - Blog Posts

Alice In Gotham Pt 4

Final Part (for Tumblr)

While clean up was happening along with evidence, Orphan sat off to the side with Scraps sleeping away in her arms. She was able to examine their face closely now. She had caught glimpses before, but hadn't been able to determine the true causes of all the scars on their face mid fight. Part of that was the fact that Scraps was wearing a bit of makeup. Robin brought Orphan a pack of wet wipes and sat down next to her as she cleaned off Scraps’ face. They both wanted to examine the same thing. The scars they'd noticed during the invites and the fights.

“...muzzle…” came softly from Cass as she traced scars from Scraps cheek, over the bridge of their nose to the other cheek. There were more along their jaw line, prongs in the bottom of the muzzle.

“And a collar… a shock collar most likely,” Robin tilted Scraps' head up ever so slightly. Revealing the rings of cuts and burns that decorated Scraps’ neck below the collar of the dress. The lichtenberg scars were still white but now they had some pink irritation around them. They managed to show ever all of the other scars, they were the most prominent on Scraps’ left arm and neck.

“... tortured…” Orphan couldn't remove the bracelets with the green glow, but below them saw the marks of cuffs on their wrists and upper arms, “New sibling.”

“Obviously. Their skills in battle are acceptable and their stealth is impressive with their abilities. We can train them to be stealthy without their powers. I'd personally rather have them as a comrade than a rogue,” Robin agreed, knowing his father would adopt Scraps anyway, “They need treatment, I'll get the paramedics.”

  Scraps started to stir as Robin left. Cass smiled below her mask and gently started coating her fingers through thick black hair. Soothing Scraps back to sleep, they needed more rest. Electrocution again so soon after the first was agony, they had all felt it. Cass knew Red Hood felt it the most for some reason. For now, she needed to focus on helping her new sibling feel safe and comfortable while they recovered.

—

It was quickly found out from the evidence that Tetch was planning a mass takeover of Gotham. The trap hadn't been set up yet, the supplies was down in the basement. Crates containing several cheap Alice costumes that had been stolen from Party City deliveries. His mind control chips were being produced by a machine hidden in the staff break room and hostages who were freed before the basement fight had started. Then one crate held diadem’s like the one Danny wore, were being made. There was one for each invitation and two more. Hatter was hoping to use Batman’s brood against him to over power Batman and take Gotham.

  Interrogations proved Tetch only risked it because of Scraps’ sudden appearance. Having a meta Alice had lead him to believe he could. The only thing unaccounted for were the last 2 invitations. It was unlikely the 2 extra diadem didn't serve a purpose outside of backup.

—

Danny's head ache horribly. It throbbed and swam in a way that was distantly familiar. The last time it felt this way, he woke up on top of a running train while one of his best friends was falling. However there was another feeling nearby. Someone was holding him, gently coating their fingers through his hair. His body was aching, he was electrocuted again… Why? The stinging on his face was a cut, from what? Who did he fight again? Everything is fuzzy… Why was he even fighting? None of his rogues had followed him- ah… right… the leprechaun. Memories slowly started making themselves clearer.

“Fuck…” Danny groaned as everything from the last 24 hrs ago came back clearest, but not as clear as he’d liked.

“She's waking up,” a voice to Danny's left answered.

“Her heart beat is still too low.”

“We can't do much until we know her physiology.”

  Immediately he tensed and noticed the feeling of a heart monitor clipped to his finger and an IV in his arm. He heard the beeping of his heart rate pick up and his blue eyes shot open.

“Hey, it's okay, it's okay!” He was surrounded by people in blue scrubs.

  Danny ripped the iv out of his arm and pulled away from the hands trying to grab him. He pulled off the clip, going intangible, and backing up until he was far away from them near some wooden crates.

“Scraps, it's okay. They're paramedics, they're trying to help you,” a familiar man in a black suit with a blue bird on the front of it, Nightwing.

  Danny hissed at him, well more like he said to back off in ghost speak but it came out like a hiss.

“I warned you the kid is feral,” Red Hood spoke up behind Nightwing and moved his shorter, but older, brother out of the way, “Hey kid, can I patch you up?” Hood crouched  down in front of Danny. Danny was tense, very quietly growling like a feral kitten as the large vigilante held up his hands in surrender, “You don't trust the paramedics, right? I've got a first aid kit. They won't touch you, okay?”

“... I'd rather do it myself,” Danny answered quietly, untrusting eyes scanning the area. Everyone was watching him… He needed to leave.

  They were still in the basement. Orphan was near the paramedics. He couldn't see her expression but he could feel her aura of sorry- mistake- trying to help- safe. She must have been the one who was holding him before. She didn't look hurt, he knew he could get aggressive with nightmares sometimes…

“Okay, can I watch to make sure you're doing everything right? Don't want you bleeding out because of a loose bandage,” Red Hood pulled out a small first aid kit from his belt. Safe- worried- coming from Red Hood. Danny could feel a sort of corrupted anger in the back of his mind. Right, this was the revenant he sensed. Danny's growling stopped, he didn't need another ghost fight right now. Danny was surprised when Hood opened the first aid kit and nothing made for an ecto entity was inside. All for humans, the kit was useless.

“That won't work,” Danny didn't take the kit, “My blood will dissolve it.”

“Shit, okay. Will it hold for a little while? I have your stuff in a safe house. You had a first aid kit in there, that one's special isn't it?” that made Danny tense again, they'd gone through his stuff. Nothing that could give him away was in there, but he could have his first aid kit at least. He'd kept the ecto-dejecto in a secret compartment in the first aid kit only Team Phantom knew about. Huh, he'd hidden something from the bats without using his pocket dimension. Bragging rights acquired.

“It'll only really hold for five minutes at most. I'd rather just,” he coated the open tear in his skin with his frost and only now noticing the blood was eating away at the skirt of the Alice cosplay he was in. He saw the red blood, and reminded himself it was from giving first aid to Batman. First aid… right. Signal had already seen his bigger first aid kit. All the Bats probably already knew about his pocket dimension.

“That works,” Hood waved off the annoyed paramedics who were trying to get close again, “Can you let someone else check over your burns and bruises?”

“Why?” Danny's left hand subconsciously rubbed at the center of the scar on his chest. He may have been asleep for the month he spent recovering but the memory of the pain was still fresh. It wasn't like that was the only injury he sustained in that basement.

“To make sure you're not dying. Your heart rate is low, as in you should be in an ICU low. Your temperature is hypothermic but we're not sure how much of that its your ice and how much is your health,” Hood answered, unknowingly emitting worry- concern- safe over that background anger that remained.

“If it's any lower than 50 bpm I'm actually dying. 55 to 60 bpm Is normal for me. Higher than 70 is not good,” Danny answered with a tone of irritation, “And I'm normally this cold. I'm fine. I have shit to do, can I leave?”

“No. We need you to answer a few questions,” Batman approached, his voice gruff as he narrowed his eyes at Scraps. He couldn't just let such a powerful unknown loose into his city, “Then we'll find you a place to stay before finding your guardians.”

  Danny’s heart rate picked up. He had bled in front of the bats. His blood was now green in his human form. They’d seen him use his ghost powers… Gotham wasn't safe anymore…. Panicpanicpanic- not safe- leave- runrunrun! Danny's eyes zeroed in on the collar attacked to Batman's utility belt. Panic was getting harder to control. Danny recalled the fight in how Batman had tried to collar and cuff him. Batman was going to turn him in, he'd be back on the lab table in the Fenton Works basement or worse, given to the GIW.

“Batman back off,” Red Hood had picked up on the panic quickly, he was standing between him and Danny, “They're scared, now isn't the time for questions.”

“She is an unknown who knows the Themyscira fighting style and has powerful meta abilities. She is dangerous to leave alone. We need to know a better way to handle the situation,” Batman glared. Danny still focused on the collar on his utility belt… a thick collar.

“Father if you attempt to collar them I will stand in your way,” Robin stood next to Red Hood, providing cover as Danny was beginning to spiral and could only think about planning his escape while having flashbacks of the lab. His green blood pooling at his knees on the ground. His arm sore from the injections of ecto-dejecto. The collar which would shock him and injection him with various drugs.

  Orphan approached quietly and knelt down to where Scraps had begun curling in on himself. She held out her hand and gently touched their knee, “Orphan, she/her.”

 Confused- wtf- Danny looked up from his panic attack, completely throw off by Orphan’s sudden introduction. He wasn't calm, but more focused on what Orphan was doing than the arguing behind them. He wasn't in the lab.

“Orphan,” she repeated, keeping Scraps’ focus on her, “She/her,” then she pointed to Scraps. Danny realized she wanted an introduction.

“... D… Danny,” his voice was shaky, his left hand was trembling. Orphan placed her hand over his, calming the trembling, “h… he/him…”

Orphan nodded and Spoiler quietly came up behind them, fully visible with a small plastic bag.

“Nice to meet you Danny. I brought you a change of clothes. They're Robin’s old clothes, they're the only ones that looked like they would fit you,” she handed the bag to Orphan who held it out for Danny.

“...It's fine, I'll… I’ll give them back… when I get my stuff,” Danny started taking deep breaths like Jazz had taught him. Jazz! “H… How long have I…”

“About a week and a half,” Red Robin answered as Nightwing finally got Batman to back off and Robin had cut the collar in half before kicking it away.

  Another deep breath, “... fuck…”

“Will you let one of us check for injuries? Mad Hatter isn't nice to his hostages. There are things we need to check for,” Red Robin spoke up.

“For your health and safety. Let someone, please?” Nightwing continued as they split off again.

  Danny considered his options. He knew Red Hood was a revenant, a sick one from the angry ecto he had. Robin and Orphan were liminal, they could sort of emphatically communicate with him. Red Hood, Robin, and Orphan were the only ones emitting protect- safe- friend… to him… Though every once in a while he would feel protect baby- from Red Hood. Which, rude. Danny was not a baby. He was technically a toddler ghost, not a baby.

“...Robin can do it… if he's trained too,” Robin had cut the collar in half. No one else made a move for it, but Robin did. That, but also something about him reminded him of Sam. Maybe it was how he was rebeling against Batman with that same dramatic flare Sam had.

“I am trained in first aid. I will do the examination quickly. I understand this makes you uncomfortable,” Robin ignored the order from Batman to stay near him and he took Danny to the other side of the crates for privacy. If they went upstairs Danny would end up being surrounded by cops and other freed hostages and both teens would rather not deal with that.

Danny checked the pocket of the apron as he recognized the faint ecto signature within it. He pulled out a batarang he'd pocketed while half mind controlled. A melancholy smile snuck its way onto his face.

“You shouldn’t have that. It's dangerous,” Robin reached for the batarang and Danny pulled it out of his reach.

“No, fuck off its mine. I'm keeping it,” Danny responded, backing away when Robin persisted.

“It's a weapon. Not a souvenir,” Robin glared, “Return it.”

“Well it's got my blood on it and it's radioactive so I'm keeping it,” Danny quickly stuck the batarang into his chest. He grinned and stuck out his tongue, “And now you can't take it even by force.”

“Why…” Robin was both curious and horrified that Danny could just put things into his body without a care.

“My body is a pocket dimension,” Danny shrugged, hand still rummaging around, “It's convenient.”

  The only seemed to cause more curiosity as there was another power to add to the growing list on Danny’s file.

  All is as it should be, right Clockwork? They didn't seem to know about his pocket dimension yet, but Signal was most likely already telling them. Danny felt something unfamiliar and pulled out two envelopes. One was checkered red and black, Harley Quinn, the other was covered in a leaf pattern, Poison Ivy. Invitations…

“I think you need these, for evidence,” Danny handed them over to Robin.

“We do, thank you,” Robin took both envelopes and put them away, “I can look away while you change,” Robin offered as he turned his back to Danny. Not commenting on how Danny said his blood was radioactive, but still adding that information to Danny's file.

“Wouldn't it be easier if I was undressed?” Danny opened the bag and found sweat pants with a shirt that had a paw print over the pocket. There was both a packet of women's and men's underwear. Danny gratefully opened the package of boxers and phased off the cosplay completely. He pulled on the boxers quickly. Danny felt the tug of guilt as he'd forgotten the array of scars which decorated his skin, Robin was a kid who was going to see them. He should have picked Red Hood.

“It would make it faster, yes,” Robin answered, listening to be sure Danny didn't escape. Batman had wanted to collar him because he was a flight risk. Damian didn't care, Danny would never have to wear a collar or restraint again if he could help it.

“Just, don't freak out… it's still sore… you can check now,” Danny's voice became softer as anxious- sad- betrayed- hurt- waved from him, “Or trade with Red Hood. My scars are… a lot…”

“I assure you, scars will not be a problem. I've seen the ugly side of humanity plenty,” Robin's breath stilled for a moment as he turned. He hadn't known the extent of the torture Danny had endured… His desire for justice burned more than ever at the sight.

  No, Danny was an empath, he needed to calm down and stay professional. Still, Danny flinched at each touch. Feeling justice- rage- how dare they- protect- safe here- stay from Robin helped keep Danny’s focus off the memories that were starting to echo on his mind again.

—

“What the hell is your problem old man?” Red Hood could feel Danny’s sorrow, guilt, and fear as he was with Robin, “That kid just went through hell. I don't care how much you want to know everything he is my case. I will handle him, and that means no interrogations.”

“You are compromised Red Hood-”

“No,” it was a strong clear statement from Orphan that caught their attention as the fight was starting again, “No interrogation. Danny… tortured... Shock collar, muzzle, restraints. NO interrogation.”

“Fine,” Batman couldn't go against Orphan’s judgement, especially not after that tidbit of information of Danny’s past had been revealed. Orphan could read anyone better than all of the bats, her word on behavior was always final.

“Hood, you said Danny showed up about two months ago?” Nightwing spoke up.

“Yeah… He must be in Gotham to hide. Lots of homeless kids, he blended in well, no one would notice his scars as anything special. He made crime alley somewhat cheerful fixing expensive equipment for practically nothing,” Red Hood answered.

“Orphan, there's something else isn't there?” Nightwing asked. Batman had gone quiet and brooding. Listening as Cass explained.

“Panicked when guardians were brought up. Guardians tortured him or handed him over. Doesn't like paramedics. Heart monitor and IV torn out in fear. He doesn't trust medical procedures or personnel. Trusts younger adults and teens more,” Orphan sighed as she reviewed the short amount of time she'd known Danny’s behavior. She could be more detailed in her report tonight than a verbal explanation, “Recognized Red Hood while aggressive and calmed down. Danny trusts Red Hood, but only a little.”

“He can stay with me,” Red Hood said, still feeling Danny's anxious energy, “He's not gonna go back to the Batcave. I can keep him in one of my safe houses for a while and see if he wants to talk. But I'm not gonna interrogate him either. Danny can share what he wants to. As much as I'd love to shoot whoever tortured a kid, I'm not going to force that information out of him.”

“It's worse… Oh it's so much worse,” Oracle spoke quietly in coms, “Robin's mask feed… this poor kid…”

“Littlewing?” Nightwing placed a hand on Red Hood shoulder as his eyes were glowing green, “Deep breaths.”

“I'm fine, just want to kill the assholes who hurt him,” Red Hood started taking deep breaths, counting in his head as he pushed the green back. He'd review the footage when he was around some good punching bags for stress relief.

“We are finished,” Robin came back, holding Danny’s hand with the cosplay shoved into the plastic bag. The women's underwear pack unopened and clutched in the other hand. Oracle sent a picture to the family chat. Damian willingly holding someone's hand was a rare sight. After getting dressed Danny hadn't wanted to leave his hiding spot, he wanted to disappear as so as he was alone. Robin offered his hand to give Danny some comfort, they couldn't have Danny disappear on them again. Offering a hand was a suggestion Alfred had made for the hostage protocol for Robin, it was proving useful.

“Can I just go get my stuff?” Danny didn't want to be around any of the bats anymore. He felt groggy, and sluggish. He wanted a nice shot of ecto-dejecto and to sleep for a week. They hadn't mentioned the GIW yet, but whose to say they weren't already on their way. He'd have to hide out in the ghost zone for a while before trying to join Jazz in a few months. He'd be fine in the ghost zone, “And find a place to burn this.”

“Yeah, you can stay with me,” Red Hood approached them with a laughed, “Your stuffs already at a safe house of mine.”

“I'm just gonna get my stuff and leave. I've got my own place-”

“Does your place have food, a shower with hot running water, and a bed?” Red Hood asked. Safe- protect baby- care for- safe- trust was wrapping around Danny from Red Hood. All while safe- trust- protect were coming from Robin and Orphan.

  Danny sighed in defeat as he realized the damn revenant was not going to leave him alone now that they had an empathic connection. Danny hadn't accepted it yet, but he could feel the curious sense of a potential fraid bond from Hood. It wasn't as strong as when Clockwork, Pandora, and Frostbite bonded with him. More like with Ellie, or Ember. Great, a sibling…

“Fine, mostly for the shower. Lucky Charms was a creep,” Danny answered reluctantly.

  Jason burst out laughing, Nightwing and Spoiler soon followed. Robin smirked once he connected the dots. Batman pinched the bridge of his nose as he stayed back. The kid still had a sense of humor at least, but he had no where to go now. It didn't seem like Alfred needed to ready another room just yet. He needed to regain Danny's trust first.

“Come on, let's go,” Red Hood signaled for Robin and Danny to follow. 

“I can stay with you, if that gives you comfort,” Robin whispered, not enjoying Nightwings cooing over his phone in the background.

“Yeah… thanks…” Danny squeezed his hand a little as his lichtenberg scars ached a bit. He'd had so much adrenaline earlier he had been ignoring the pain. Danny added frost to the scars, the cold helping the ache.

“Can you take standard pain medicine? We have some made specifically for metas with a higher tolerance,” Robin reached into his utility belt and found his own small first aid pocket and pulled out a pill packet.

“This doesn't really work for me. I have some medicine in my first aid kit. I need two hands though…” Danny stopped they reached the lobby. Signal was guarding the hostages near the other paramedics.

“Over here,” Robin pulled Danny to a chair off to the side and let his hand go.

“What's wrong?” Red Hood followed them as they diverted from his lead.

“I forgot I had this,” Danny reached into his chest, startling Red Hood, and pulled out the same large first aid kit as before.

“What the fuck…” Red Hood stared at Danny as he opened the kit and pulled out a bottle of pills and mini thermos.

“Pocket dimension,” Danny answered before taking 2, very much glowing, blue pills and drank out of the thermos’ straw.

“That's not fucking fair.”

“It's convenient, are things organized?” Robin asked, getting a peak at the label of the bottle. It was written in a language he didn't recognize. It looked like runes.

“Mhm…” Danny took both pills and chugged the rest of the ecto in the thermos. It wasn't ecto-dejecto but it helped with replenishing his energy. Thank you Frostbite, he thought as he put away the ghost equivalent of ibuprofen. He even had ghost morphine in this kit. Frostbite was the best for giving him this first aid kit after the whole ice power development, “It's kinda categorized in my mind. Mostly I just reach into what ever body part I shoved something into to pull it back out.”

“Why is so much of your shit glowing?” Red Robin was behind them now. Danny didn't answer. Instead he shut the case and stuck it back into his stomach. “Why-”

“That's enough questions,” Hood was quick to pick Danny up in one arm, ignoring the ache in his back, before they left through the back door and began grappling through the city, back towards crime alley.

Danny felt scarily light in Hood's arm. Robin followed close behind. If Danny wanted Robin around, it was fine with him. Demon brat could use a new friend anyway. Danny quickly got down once they stopped on a fire escape.

“One more thing,” Danny tied off the bag with the Alice cosplay and tossed it up in the air before firing an ecto blast at it, cause it to burst into ashes on impact, “I feel better.”

“That's one way to burn a dress,” Red Hood wanted to ask questions, but ignored the detective side of himself in favor of Danny's trust. Besides, Danny was too light. He was absolutely going to feed the kid as much as possible.

“You should rest now,” Robin gestured toward the open window as Danny watched to be sure he didn't accidentally set something on fire. When it was all clear, he climbed into the apartment window after Red Hood. Robin followed him, also avoiding asking questions that would possibly trigger Danny.

“Here,” Red Hood handed Danny his folded clothes and a towel, “You should go wash up. I'll figure out dinner. Your stuff is by the bathroom door.”

“Thanks…” Danny went ahead to start showering. He wanted nothing more than to be clean, and then pack up to leave.

  With the privacy of the shower, he pulled the phone from his leg. Unlike before, he'd learned his lesson and kept the phone on silent most days. It had been on in his body, he was receiving messages from Team Phantom. GIW was leaving Amity park, fuck. And Jazz was annoyed he hadn't called yet, double fuck. He didn't have a lot of time. They wouldn't want him in the shower too long, there might even be a camera around.

—

Clueless1: Can't check in. Red Hood is a revenant and it's trying to fraid bond with me. I think he imprinted on me.

Nightshade: Ha! That's ‘cause you're a baby ghost!

Also, where the fuck have you been all week!

Pharaoh-Tech: Dude, ever since Ember found out you were a baby ghost she's been dooting on you. Now Red Hood is gonna baby you too. What about the rest of the Bats?

GhostGetter: Danny! You made a new friend! I'm so proud. Batman would be a good ally to get the Anti-ecto acts taken down. Use the connection.

Clueless1: Yeah, I don't trust the guy who wanted to collar me for being a dangerous meta. I'll catch you guys up when I get away from this situation.

And Tuck, Robin and Orphan are liminal too. So far they seem okay.

GhostGetter: He what?! I'm packing the creep stick 3.0.

Nightshade: I thought you already packed the creep stick?

GhostGetter: I packed the original creep stick. I'm gonna need the metal one for Batman threatening my baby brother.

—

“Danny, you okay in there?” There was a knock on the door.

“Yeah, just messing with the water temperature to get it right,” Danny quickly turned the heat down when he realized the room was steaming and it would be too hot for him.

“Okay. Use whatever soap you want,” Red Hood’s footsteps were heard walking away.

—

Clueless1: I've got to go. They're getting suspicious. Updates as soon as I get back to my workshop.

—

Danny shoved the phone back into his leg and got into the lukewarm shower and was a little grossed out to see the water turn brown as it ran out of his hair.

“Gross…” he spent 20 minutes washing his hair three times and scrubbing his body. The cut on his cheek and arm had healed without scars. He smelt food as he finished getting dressed in clothes that fit him and Sam’s sweater. He also checked his scrambler and signature dampener to ensure they were working. The GIW wouldn't be able to track them so he would at least stay in the land of the living.

“Feeling better?” Red Hood asked, he and Robin were around the table with three new guests…

“We brought food!” Spoiler cheered as she gestured to the bags of takeout from Batburger on the table. There were six bags total… why?

“These fools had the same idea and failed to communicate to one another,” Robin sighed.

“I wanted to check on Littlewing. We got launched pretty far into those crates,” Nightwing answered, “And the Night-Wings from Batburger are delicious.”

  Danny didn't approached until Orphan gently gestured for him to sit besides her. He liked her, she didn't try to interrogate him and was way better at speaking emphatically than the other two. She handed Danny a bag as he sat down. Spoiler pulled out a six pack of sprites and passed one to each person. It was a sealed can, that gave Danny some comfort. He opened his bag after everyone else and the burgers, various fries, and other items were piled into the center. Except for two burgers labeled vegan, those were handed to Robin.

“We have plenty of food. Eat as much as you want,” Red Hood grabbed the largest wrapped burger for himself. Nightwing was opening a box of chicken wings.

Danny pulled the items put of his bag. Wings, fries, and a burger. Everyone was eating around the table, no one really focused on him as a discussion about watching a movie quickly started. It was nice, he wasn't the focus.

Orphan tapped his shoulder, “Eat? Hungry?”

“...right…” now that he was somewhat aware of his memories and body, Danny recalled Lucky Charms feeding him regularly until today. He was starving, ghost fights always made him hungrier. Using his powers in human form alway had drawbacks.

  Everyone was sharing, he didn't smell any poisons or sedatives. Vlad wasn't here to slip blood blossoms onto his food. Nothing was coming back to life so far… It was okay to eat… Danny took a bite of the burger still wrapped in the paper, he wasn't going to waste anything.

  He heard a soft chuckle from Orphan as he took another bite, “Not the paper. Open, like this.”

“I knew that…” Danny was being taught how to eat a burger… Still, it was a waste. Trash kept him fuller than regular food did. He could eat less if he ate few wrappers. They'd just be tossed anyway.

“It's okay, being new to earth must be hard,” Spoiler spoke up, “You've only been here two months, right?”

“New to…” Danny blue screened for a moment, “Wait, what do you think I am?” Do they not know I'm a ghost? I don't have to leave? 

“It was hypothesized you might have been an alien, your powers are too vast to be a human meta. Please correct us if we are wrong with our theories,” Robin unwrapped his burger and opened his soda.

“Huh…” Danny didn't really know how to feel about that, aside from relief that they didn't know he was a ghost, “Well I've lived on earth my whole life.”

“But are you an alien?” Nightwing asked, “Our friends the Superboys are aliens. My girlfriend Kori is too. Knowing your species would help us find you a home.”

“I'm half human. That's all you get to know,” Danny growled and Robin glared at Nightwing.

“Let the kid eat or I'm turning on Pride and Prejudice,” Hood threatened as he reached for his second burger.

“You have an obsession with that movie,” Nightwing remarked.

“I can appreciate art, unlike you Dickwing,”  Red Hood remarked.

“Movie?” Orphan asked Danny who was still eating the paper around his burger.

“ParaNorman?” Danny suggested, he liked that movie. It displayed ghosts as the complicated species they were. Not just hostile and dangerous, but also peaceful and wanted to carry out their undead lives.

“Para-what?” That caught their attention.

“It's a good movie… This kid can see ghosts. His uncle tells him a witches curse is gonna come true and so he has to help her ghost move on to stop the zombie uprising on the town,” Danny fiddled with the box of wings as he explained. None were moving to attack or grow teeth suddenly, “I like it. It shows that the undead aren't all evil.”

“I wanna watch that,” Spoiler raised her hand. Orphan did the same.

“That movie sounds like it has an unseen perspective on the paranormal. I'd like to watch it,” Robin answered.

“Zombies, ghosts, and witches huh?” Red Hood found the movie on a streaming service and hit play.

  Danny proceeded to eat a chicken wing whole, bone and all like it was a chicken nugget. No one said anything. However Robin did insist he stop eating the paper and containers. Danny only half listened. He had no idea when he would eat again. He even froze a burger to keep in his pocket dimension. Frozen meat was no where near as good as frozen fruit but he wasn't going to waste anything. Jazz never complained about Danny's food hiding habits. She even got herself a mini fridge for her room to hide more food in for the two of them at some point. Sometimes it was nice to not fight your dinner.

  Nightwing and Spoiler were summoned to the bat cave halfway through the movie. Everyone but Danny and Red Hood had stopped eating for the most part by that time. Danny managed to hide another burger before they finished off the pile of fries that was left.

After the movie, the vigilantes changed into comfortable clothes, leaving their domino masks on. Red Hood decided to read a book instead. Robin and Orphan seemed content to continue watching TV after Danny had rejected the idea of going to bed. He was exhausted but he didn't want them to hear what he might say in his sleep. He'd fallen asleep talking on the phone to Sam and Tucker a few times. Waking up to their words of comfort enough time to know he wasn't the quietest sleeper right now. It would only make them want to dig into his background and then they'd hand him over. He didn't have enough energy to try and portal back to the ghost zone to hide if they did. So Danny had to stay awake to keep him from another tireless sleep. He doesn't deserve another nightmare. He needs a dream instead.

  Danny hadn't been winning the battle to fight sleep. He was leaning on Orphan who’d purposefully made sure he was on most of the couch. She could easily run her fingers through his hair if he let her. He still flinched a little when she'd tried about ten minutes ago. This time, he leaned in a little more. Robin handed her a pillow and she was able to get Danny to lay down fully as his eyes shut. Falling asleep surrounded by safe- rest- heal- safe. Cass continued gently petting him as Red Hood covered him with a blanket and move the backpack to lean against the couch so he could see it if he woke. They'd all noticed Danny took occasional glances towards it.

  It was only another minute before they noticed. It was quiet, only heard when it was completely silent. Robin heard it first and was immediately curious. Danny could purr. What other species was Danny that he could not only growl and hiss, but also purr. His behavior was like that of a feisty cat. He was apprehensive, and protected himself with his instincts. He'd been abused, and was displaying behaviors of it. Hiding food for later, eating trash to keep full for longer. Not wasting anything what was safe for consumption… How long was he starved? He was so thin, yet still held enough strength to rival wonder woman.  Danny knew her fighting technique well. It wasn't perfect, and his swordsmen ship was above Robin’s expectations, however the brute strength is what Danny relies on. He said he was half human, but never answered about his hybrid half. Was he experimented on because of his race? It completely violates the Meta Protection Laws.

“Robin, what do you know?” Red Hood spoke up, noticing how Robin had tensed.

“We shouldn't talk about this near Danny. You'll want to be somewhere you can hit something,” Robin answered.

“Listening,” Orphan pointed to her coms, “I'll stay.”

  With that, Red Hood and Robin left to the closest safe house without neighbors.

“It's unforgivable,” Robin spoke up as soon as the room was secure.

“Robin you examined him. What did you see?” Hood took a seat and waved for Robin to take one as well.

“He was starved long before two months ago,” Robin couldn't unsee the sickly pale color of Danny's skin or the obvious way his skeleton threatened to poke through the small layer of flesh he had, “His body was covered in scars. Some looked like they were burns, from a type of laser or small blast. Others were cuts made at random or medically… He'd been… He's been vivisected. Same scar as you.”

  The green felt overwhelming as nothing but rage and hatred for that monster to cut open a kid surged through him. Hood got up and punched the wall, easily tearing through the drywall. Robin was right, it was best to have this conversation far from Danny where Jason could hit something. He pushed the green back, grounding himself before waiting for Robin to continue.

“Another thing I noticed was on his left leg and right arm, he had a thick scar that circled the whole of his limb. Under that scar there were no other scars or very few. It suggests he may have… regrown those limbs… the cut on his face and his arm were also healed. No scars left behind this time. He has a healing factor, a powerful one for how long he's survived.”

“I can not let those assholes live. Who ever was responsible to treating him like a fucking science experiment. I'm going to kill them,” Red Hood snarled, taking his anger out on the wall. Robin silently agreeing that these people deserved death if only to be a mercy from his wrath. 

—

“Bruce,” Tim looked back towards the man reviewing the footage from Robin’s mask which Oracle had recorded, “Danny needs help…”

“Hm…” Batman agreed, disgust and disbelief that someone would hurt a child that way, “We need more information.”

“I do have this,” Red Robin pulled the vile of green front his utility belt. Robin had slipped it to him before they left, “Robin got a blood sample during the fight. We can run an analysis on it. According to Oracle the only information they got Danny to admit was that he was half human, but nothing else so far.”

“Run an analysis and we'll go from there. Robin and Orphan will get us information over time. This situation is more delicate than anticipated.”

“Yeah,” Tim responded, starting an analysis immediately.

—

  Jason and Damian returned to find Cass had cleaned up and was resting on the recliner while Danny was still sound asleep, the purring had stopped when Cass left his side but he wasn't showing signs of struggling while sleeping. It was one of the few nights he didn't have nightmares. And the first time since he'd been found out that he'd had a nice dream. Red Hood stayed in the living room for the night while Robin and Orphan slept. It wasn't just Danny who'd gotten a peaceful rest that night.

  Danny woke to the smell of food. Recognizing the ecto signature which was starting to fade, he'd have to thank Nocturn one day. At some point in the night he'd pulled the still rolled up blanket from Jazz to keep in his arms. He'd been doing that more often. He quickly put it away and found his bag with a new toothbrush and toothpaste on top.

“Sleep well?” Danny recognized the voice coming from his left in the kitchen. Red Hood was standing at the stove with a frying pan, and cooking.

“... Yeah…” Danny answered before quieting down, “No nightmares…” he whispered but Hood hear it. Orphan heard it too.

“We're eating buffet style. Grab a plate and serve yourself as much as you want when you're ready,” Hood instructed.

  He had noticed Danny was more willing to eat from the piles of food in the table than the single bag he was handed. He was going to do what ever let Danny eat more comfortable. The kid needed to eat, he was so frail looking for someone who'd managed to kick their asses into a crate. It made sense when he said he was half human. It still left the question of what his other half is. There was even a bet on it now in the family chat. Damian stayed out of it. Tim and Dick were betting on Martian. Barb, Cass, and Steph bet he was a new species they hadn't met yet. Jason and Duke had yet to place a bet. Yet, the way Danny had pinned him as undead… Jason made a bet: Danny was half supernatural entity.

  That'll caused the others to disagree in the chat because it seemed ridiculous, until Duke agreed. Raven was half demon, maybe Danny was too.

  Danny came back from brushing his teeth and washing his face before grabbing a plate and cup. He'd never gotten to eat his fill more than once before. Vald's one good trait was he always fed Danny as much as he wanted when he kidnaped him. He filled his plate with mostly pancakes. He froze and hid a few. Hood frowned a little as he noticed from the corner of his eye.

“Eat up kid,” he placed 2 fresh sausages from his pan onto his plate. 

  It happened in a second. Danny went still before the dull dinner knife stabbed into both sausages with enough force to split them both in half and break the plate. Danny suddenly took in a breath, the green in his eyes fading back to icy blue and he realized he'd just acted out of instinct. He let go of the dinner knife which was stuck deep in the wooden counter…

“Sorry…” he whispered before starting to pick up the broken pieces. He used intangibility to free the dinner knife.

“You okay?” Orphan asked. She was still in comfortable clothes with a domino mask on, “Don't like sausages?”

“N-not really,” Danny sighed, the adrenaline coming down making him feel tired again, “They're incredibly aggressive when reanimated,” Danny shuttered at the memory of the food wars fridge of Fentonworks.

“What?” Robin stopped eating and simply stared at Danny.

“Danny… What the fuck are you talking about?” Hood stopped cooking and sat down with his own plate and a cup of coffee.

  Fuck… Danny had forgotten food only reanimated in their fridge or the ghost zone. They were all liminal but they weren't radioactive enough to reanimate food. Everyone in Amity already knew food could come back, especially food near Fenton Works. Danny did not need them asking questions. He should just leave.

“I'm just gonna go,” Danny started getting up only for Robin to grab his arm.

“You haven't eaten yet and are recovering. You should stay here to rest,” Robin started clearing away the broken plate and Orphan replaced it.

“I'm not staying if I'm going to be interrogated,” honestly, Danny really wanted to eat the pancakes hot instead of frozen. The more real food he could steal, the better. 

“So long as you eat until your full,” Red Hood placed a Massive pile of steaming pancakes onto Danny's new plate. Then an omelet on the side and a bottle of syrup.

  Danny ate quietly. Actually, everyone did. It was comfortable silence. Content hummed from all four of them as they drifted from breakfast to lounging a bit. Eventually Robin and Orphan had to leave. It was just Danny and Hood. Hood broke the silence after finishing his book. 

“Danny,” Hood called him, “I want you with me from now on.”

“What?” Danny hadn't expected that. He thought he'd be dragged to the batcave eventually if he didn't leave soon. So far each time he tried to leave he was told no and to rest.

“I'm not leaving you on the street. You can stay with me most of the time,” he repeated.

“Are you asking me to move in with you? Why?” There was no way Danny was trusting him.

“I don't think sugar coating this would convince you, so I'm going to be blunt. You look like shit, like a breeze is going to knock you over. Then there's Robin's report on your injuries. I want to keep an eye on you. Not just for your health. You are powerful as fuck and I would hate to have you as a rogue and I'm going to make sure that is not a path in your future,” Danny internally winced at the memory of Dan. That future was always haunting him… “Danny, you're a smart kid. We could put you through school, give you a chance reach for whatever goal you want.”

  Hood waited quietly for the kid to respond. Something in him didn't want to let Danny back out of the streets. He needed Danny near by so he knew he was okay. Still, he couldn't force Danny to stay.

“No thanks,” Danny got up and grabbed his bag. He was still barefoot, “I'm gonna go. Thanks for breakfast.”

“Danny, I know you're scared of something. Of someone. That's why you're in Gotham, right? You're hiding,” Hood got up, blocking Danny’s way, “We all want to help. I want to give you space to be safe.”

“It's none of your business,” it was better they didn't know. They could just hand him in. He still had a high bounty thanks to Vlad. 

“You're scared to trust anyone, I get it, but I'm not leaving you alone out there. Someone hurt you, and they're still after you. You don't have to tell me anything, but if you change your mind I'll help you. Until then, you stay with me. We'll move to a bigger safe house, you are going to learn how to cook and take care of yourself, and I'll give you a warehouse to yourself for whatever machine you want to build. We can even get you specific materials. Give some people jobs by delivering scraps to you and getting you your little handyman jobs. All I want is you sleeping here at night and eating when you're hungry. Sound like a deal?”

  Danny sighed as he felt the gentle nudge against his core. The fraid bond was formed, Hood had claimed him as a fraid member. He had completely imprinted on Danny as it was probably his first encounter with a young ghost. Nothing Hood said had been with malicious intent, he was being genuine when he offered Danny his own warehouse for a workshop. Danny felt his core throb in excitement at the space he'd have for tinkering… The revenant was at risk with the GIW anyway, Danny should probably make him a scrambler bracelet. Robin and Orphan may not ping their sensors but Red Hood would. He couldn't just leave him like this. Being near Danny would help filter out that gross ecto over time anyway… and that warehouse deal… not to mention he'd love to know how to cook without the side effect of necromancy.

“Fine…” Danny sighed in defeat, “But I'll have to move my stuff.”

“So you did have a home base. We've been wondering where you disappear to when you aren't criptidly lurking around, scavenging trash like a raccoon, or fixing someone's ac,” Hood smiled before removing his domino mask.

“Oh, I was not expecting an identity reveal,” Danny quietly spoke to himself as Hood stood up.

“We're going to be living together, might as well get it out of the way early. It's proof I trust, even if you don't trust me. And it’ll piss off Bats when he finds out,” Hood answered, “My name is Jason.”

“... Okay…” Danny nodded. He just stood there awkwardly, not really knowing what to do next.

“Let's go get your stuff. We can move to the next safe house tonight,” Jason answered, having already reset this safehouse.

—

  In the Bat Cave, Tim had disassembled the diadem while he ran an analysis on the microchips he found. They had an eerie green glow, the same glow Danny's blood gave off. Mad Hatter had infused Danny’s blood directly to the chips. Why? Was that how he got a hold of Danny? Why did he use so many microchips? Why was Danny so difficult to mind control that Tetch had to go so far?

The analysis finished…

“What the hell…” it was bizarre… Not even a trace of Martian DNA. He had a fully set of human DNA and it was delicately intertwined with another set the computer couldn't read completely. Danny had quadruple helix DNA. It was something that sometimes occurs in sections of human DNA of cancer cells or mutation areas. However Danny’s entire DNA structure followed the quadruple helix neatly and completely. The base components on half the sets were similar to Lazarus water. The pit water was similar in color, but Danny’s blood had a brighter glow and was thicker, more like a slime than water…

 Tim pulled up the scans of Danny’s scars. It was still a bit blurry but it was the clearest pictures of him they had. Especially when his face wasn't in frame. He had puncture scars in his right arm under the ring of regrowth scar. Not like a regular injection. No, it look like he'd been stabbed several times with a metal boba straw. Still… It was obvious Danny was an experiment of some kind. A half human hybrid, someone made him, then experimented on his body for results. Had he lived his whole life as a test subject? According to Orphan's mask feed, he didn't know he wasn't supposed to eat trash. 

“Master Timothy, it's time for bed,” Alfred shut his computer, Alfred's words were final in this case. Tim had been sucked into investigating after he and Batman searched the Botanical Gardens for more evidence of the trap and found nothing.

  Tim surrendered, after all, if Danny spent his whole life in a lab there was most likely no evidence he existed outside that lab. Tim would need to get information out of Danny to figure out who it was. He left his theories in a separate document for now.

—

“The fuck?!” Jason stood where Danny told him was the safe spot. Jason was only listening because every project looked like it had the potential to blow up with their eerie glow, “Danny… You a fuckin’ mad scientist?”

“I mean, nothing in here is a doomsday device if that's what your asking. Everything I built is essential to my survival. I do have some weapons, but only for my protection,” Danny slipped on a wrist ray bracelet and activated it.

“You got a gun to fit into a tiny ass bracelet?” Jason wanted to shoot it. How much power did it pack?

“Yup,” Danny deactivated it. Some blob ghosts were hanging around as usual. His main concern was the condenser he'd made out of an abandoned refrigerator. He opened the door to see exactly what he was hoping for. Ectoplasm, three 2 liter soda bottles of it. Each bottle was coated in layer of frost to keep the ectoplasm from dissolving the plastic. In the glass jar at the end, a concentrate was slowly brewing. An inch of it from the overflow of the liters cycling through a secondary condenser.

“Danny… I need you to tell me what that is,” Jason’s tone went serious. He had gone stiff when Danny opened the condenser to access the bottles.

“Jason, have you never seen ectoplasm before?” Danny took out one if the bottle and replaced it with an empty one, “Don't leave the safe zone,” Danny growled a bit as Jason tried taking a step forward, “Please…”

  Jason hadn't said anything about the blob ghosts, and they stayed pretty clear from him. Odd, they normally crowded around friendly, more powerful ghosts. 

  Jason took a deep breath, “You called that ectoplasm? What is it?”

“Exactly what I said, ectoplasm. It exists everywhere in every realm of the universes in varying densities and concentrations. This machine condenses it from the atmosphere,” Danny answered before taking a sip, “This is more potent than usual…”

“I know I said I wouldn't ask questions, but I have some serious concerns,” Jason couldn't tell if the green in his vision was the pit or the room. That shit looked like Lazarus water. It was deeper green when he looked at the bottle Danny brought closer. It was a different consistency. And Danny just drank it like it was a bottle of water. Yet, he felt more concern than rage. He took a deep breath, he could ask Danny questions when he earned his trust. The kid was still a flight risk. Even though this shit looked like Lazarus water, it wasn't the same. Danny needed it to live, Jason could get over it, “You need all this to live? How are you doing a week and a half without it?”

“I'll do better after drinking this throughout the day,” Danny shoved the bottle into his chest, “I don't need to bring the machines with me. So long as I can visit a few times a week I can survive away from it all.”

“Okay. Sure. Pack up what you're bringing home,” Jason had so many questions… it was then that his phone buzzed. The girls had won the bet according to the results of a DNA test Timbit ran without Danny's consent. Of course he did.

  Danny had put a few things into his mostly empty backpack. He just stuffed everything else he was bringing into his pocket dimension. Danny was probably going to have to explain the phone at some point… Or build a second one and lie some more.

“I'm bringing a project to work on,” Danny had a feeling it would be a few days before Jason went out as Red Hood again. Deal or no deal, Danny was well aware he was a flight risk to them since they knew his base powerset.

“Do you ever run out of space?” Jason watched as Danny shoved three discarded phones with broken screens into his chest.

“Hm?” Danny paused to think of everything in his pocket dimension. He had gotten lucky and snagged a car engine last month. He was planning on building a larger specter speeder to serve as a kind of mobile home, “I don't think so…? I've got some cool stuff though.”

“Huh…” Jason watched as Danny tore out some wires from a box and grabbed a laptop in a condition that would have Tim in mourning.

They left after Jason okayed Danny taking a smaller portion of ectoplasm for his project. As uncomfortable as Jason was, Danny needed it. They arrived at a two bedroom safe house and Jason gave Danny the master bedroom since he'd be here full time and had more stuff he needed access to. 

“You're allowed to decorate,” Jason spoke up as Danny sat in the mostly empty room. He'd already put away the things he'd brought with him.

“... Sure…” Danny glanced at him, “... You're really not going to ask?”

“I want to. I have a lot of questions, but I'm not going to ask,” Jason answered, “You seemed okay when I asked about the pocket power you have.”

“...You already knew about it. And I'd never considered having limited space before,” Danny answered.

“Hey, you always have the option to pass when someone asks and you don't want to answer yet,” Jason placed his hand on Danny's shoulder, “But there are some questions I want to know just to be sure I'm taking care of you right. You need ectoplasm, you said you had to visit your workshop a few times a week. How often?”

“It fluctuates sometimes, but I estimate two to three times for the next week before it balances out. Then I'll just have to go once a week,” the halfa sighed, he'd spent a week and a half using his powers without replenishing with ectoplasm. His core was hungry to replenish his energy. Not to mention, until last night he'd felt like he hadn't slept in a week. Did mind control sleep count as sleep? It didn't feel like it.

“Okay, sounds like a plan. It's because of that condenser right? Maybe we could eventually move it here,” Jason suggested.

“That would expose you to more radiation than you should be exposed to but…” Danny squinted, sensing the sickly feeling of Jason's revenant ectoplasm, “Maybe that'd be good for you…”

“It can't collect from inside a lead box,” Jason had to line that whole wearhouse for Danny with lead.

“No, but so long as we put a lead casing around the collection bottles there shouldn't be a problem. Can't risk exposing humans carelessly if we move the machine,” Danny had already found a solution. It was a simple fix honestly. Not all the Bats were liminal enough to carelessly be around ectoplasm.

“So long as it works, I'll get you a lead case,” Jason sent a message to one of his contacts for the case, large enough to fit 4 bottles, 2 liters each, “Come on, it's dinner time, you're learning to cook.”

“Fine,” Danny got up to follow. He'd actually been looking forward to cooking lessons. Jazz's food was edible, but he wanted to enjoy food that wasn't just burgers, milkshakes, and the Casper High cafeteria food, “I kinda need that life skill. And you're the best cook I know.”

  Jason learned a few things while they made dinner. Danny was mostly wary of chicken, not as afraid of beef, and had no problem with vegetables, fruits, and carbs. Dairy seemed to make him a little anxious. Still, nothing like his reaction to sausages at breakfast. He'd have to keep his shopping mostly vegetarian for Danny. Sausages and hot dogs were banned from the safe house. Danny was as good with a knife as he was the sword. And his aim had incredible accuracy when he tossed vegetable scraps into the stock pot. Danny was kind, genuinely kind. He was still cautious around Jason, But it was to be expected. When the cooking was done and Danny saw his work, Jason saw him smile for the first time. It was small, and melancholy, but he was happy. Sure, some things were a little burnt and it wasn't meticulously arranged like Alfred would do, but it was great for his first time.

“Good job,” Jason patted his shoulder, “Don't let your hard work go to waste, dig in.”

“I'm not wasting a bite,” Danny had a wider smile now, a bit mischievous. He quickly shoved a large bite into his mouth. His canines were more like fangs. And one of them had punctured the metal spoon in his hand. He was testing Jason's reaction, the revenant noted.

“If you're gonna eat my spoons I'm reducing you to wooden ones,” Jason sat down to eat his own portion.

“I'll try not too,” Danny continued eating, proud his own cooking could taste so good. Jazz was gonna be so proud.

“Sure kid,” Jason made a mental note to buy a box of silverware on his next shopping trip, just in case.

—

  Danny didn't sleep that night. He didn't want to have a nightmare. Last night was lucky. Still, it was nice laying on a mattress that didn't reek of mold and dust. It wasn't comfortable without the green glow of his machines. He took out one of his lucky treasures from dumpster diving. A small lamp. He'd used a thumb tack and sharpie to draw the constatations and allow light to make the stars shine. He infused the bulb with ectoplasm so it wouldn't burn out. Then connected it to an ecto battery in the base of the lamp where the wires used to be. A green night light. A portable map of the stars. He kept it on as he started separating the components of the phones. Setting them up in piles to choose from later.

He'd finally caught up Team Phantom on what happened. Jazz was happy he finally found someone to stay with. Of course everyone was wary about trusting someone. Sam and Tucker were less prickly about it than Valarie since They were more familiar with ghost empathy from Danny. Though, Danny didn't tell them Red Hood had revealed his identity. It wasn't his secret to share.

  Sighing, Danny looked out his window to see a patch of smog had cleared… the moon and tiniest hit of stars peaking through. Danny’s eyes and freckles lit up, chasing the first glimpse of starlight in months. He was stuck in that basement for one.

  As the gap shrunk to only show the moon, a figure appeared. Familiar brimmed hat, and elegant gown of shadows. Jason was asleep on the couch out in the livingroom. Danny had already checked before tinkering. He transformed into Phantom and left the room silently and unseen.

“Ḧ̷͕é̶̩l̶͖̀l̶͖̅o̷̠͑ ̴͍̿l̴͓̄i̸̟͛t̸̙̓t̶̜̂l̸̡͂e̷̛̜ ̸̨̂K̵͈̓i̸̩͗ņ̷́g̴̑͜,̶͍̉ ̵̭̎I̶̡̋ ̴̧̂s̵̢̈́ḛ̶̑e̶̲͠ ̴͍̂ô̵̝n̶͎͊e̸̜͝ ̸̏ͅo̶̹͗f̷̢͐ ̵̪̔m̵̨̕y̶̪̔ ̴̫̓K̶͖̐n̸̫̾i̵͎̎g̶͉͑h̸̳̽t̵̰̿s̷̫͌ ̵̳̐h̸̘̽a̴̹̅s̷̖̍ ̶͓̄ẗ̸͚a̴͍͛k̴̐ͅe̶͖͠ň̵̪ ̵̲͘ỹ̸͚ò̷͉u̴̹͝ ̸͙̾h̸̻͝o̵̹̍m̸̫̊e̸̡̋.̸̼̈́ (Hello little King, I see one of my Knights has taken you home.)” Lady Gotham smiled as Danny arrived in the only moonlit space around them. Danny and Gotham bowed to each other, the image of a small boy and massive entity together would have baffled the bats on patrol of they could see them.

“I'm not sure how much I want to tell him. But I'm willing to accept him giving me a place to stay and teaching me to cook. I can't rely on someone forever. Especially when everyone I rely on will eventually grow old and I'll still be here, like this,” Danny sighed, feeling sorrow- safe- trust- from Gotham.

“Y̷̧͈̪̬͗͠o̷̲̩͍̾̃̃̔͗͆͝ŭ̸̫͙̈́̆͂̿̄͋r̷̛̟̗̯͒̀̑͂̚ ̸͙̘̺̖̩̌H̷̤̼̾͑i̷͎̘̞̜̜̱͙̒̓g̵̞̈́͂̑h̵̛͖̲̰̉̊̃̈́̍ǹ̶̪e̴̛̠̗͍̻̭̓̊̈́̐̚͘s̸̡̹̯͖̰̦͗͜s̸̏͂͋̆̽͜ (Your Highness),” Gotham spoke sternly before speaking the clearest Danny had heard from her, “M̵y̴ ̴k̸n̵i̸g̴h̵t̴s̸ ̸c̴a̶n̶ ̸h̵a̸n̵d̷l̴e̵ ̸t̴h̶e̷ ̴G̶I̴W̵.̵ ̵I̸ ̸u̴n̴d̶e̷r̶s̶t̶a̷n̶d̸ ̴y̷o̶u̸ ̶n̷e̸e̶d̷ ̷t̴i̵m̷e̴ ̴t̷o̷ ̷t̵r̶u̶s̷t̴ ̴t̸h̷e̷m̷.̷ ̸B̵u̷t̶ ̶l̴e̸t̴ ̷t̴h̷i̴s̶ ̶b̶e̵ ̸a̷ ̸s̶i̴g̴n̴ ̵t̷h̷a̷t̴ ̴y̴o̸u̷ ̴c̵a̸n̴.̵ ̶C̴l̵o̵c̷k̶w̴o̶r̶k̸ ̶a̵n̷d̷ ̶N̶o̴c̵t̴u̷r̷n̴e̵ ̶m̴a̷d̷e̷ ̶t̶h̷i̶s̷ ̵j̸u̴s̸t̴ ̸f̶o̸r̷ ̴y̶o̵u̴.̴ (My knights can handle the GIW. I understand you need time to trust them. But let this be a sign that you can. Clockwork and Nocturne made this just for you.)”

“For me?” Danny took note of the box in her hand. He hesitated, Clockwork was his mentor but Danny also knew that man wouldn't hesitate to laugh at his pain. Nocturne, he was a little less certain of. He hadn't caused trouble since he put Amity Park to sleep. Every once in a while Danny would feel his energy pull him to sleep when he'd been up for three days straight. Suddenly becoming King apparently made Nocturne the manager of Danny's sleep schedule. And last night he'd even had a nice dream of hanging out in Tucker's attic with Team Phantom, and Wolf.

“T̵h̸e̴y̵ ̵c̴r̴e̴a̵t̴e̴d̷ ̶i̵t̴ ̸s̴o̸ ̸y̸o̷u̵ ̷c̴o̴u̵l̵d̸ ̸s̶l̵e̸e̵p̷ ̷p̵e̴a̸c̴e̴f̷u̸l̴l̸y̶ ̵f̴r̷o̷m̶ ̶n̴o̸w̷ ̵o̵n̸.̷ ̴N̷o̶c̵t̸u̷r̷n̴e̵ ̶c̷a̵n̷n̷o̸t̴ ̸r̸e̵a̷c̸h̶ ̵y̶o̵u̶ ̴s̷o̶ ̶e̶a̵s̵i̴l̸y̷ ̶s̷o̶ ̸f̶a̷r̶ ̷f̷r̸o̶m̷ ̶a̴ ̶p̴o̷r̶t̶a̷l̷.̴ ̴H̷e̵ ̵w̸o̶r̷r̷i̸e̶s̵,̸ (They created it so you could sleep peacefully from now on. Nocturne cannot reach you so easily so far from a portal. He worries,)” Gotham chuckled, amusement- emanating from her as she pushed a shadow into the box before handing it to Danny, “C̸o̶n̶s̶i̵d̴e̴r̶ ̴i̵t̵ ̴a̷ ̴t̷o̶u̴c̷h̶ ̷f̴r̶o̴m̶ ̴m̵e̴ ̷a̸s̶ ̷w̴e̸l̴l̴.̴ ̴S̸l̴e̸e̸p̴ ̴w̷e̴l̸l̶ ̴f̷r̶o̷m̴ ̷n̷o̴w̶ ̸o̶n̸,̴ ̵L̷i̷t̵t̷l̷e̵ ̴K̴i̸n̸g̴.̴ (Consider it a touch from me as well. Sleep well from now on, Little King.)”

  Danny was alone under the moonlight now. He opened the navy colored box and found a pendant. It was made from a silver metal, with a 2 inch stone. Deep blue, almost black, with white glimmering speckles, it was like looking at the stars. The stone was called blue gold stone, but this wasn't a normal stone. Over the stone on the bottom left side there was a cog like Clockwork's symbol and silver strands in a web pattern. A dream catcher. Danny could feel both their ecto signatures and Lady Gothams as well. He clipped on the pendant and it glowed. Dark shadows pouring from it before a cloak formed around him. A black exterior with the inside a green void like that of the ghost zone.

“Cool, a costume change where Sam didn't have to kill me,” Danny smiled, then grimaced as he realized he'd technically died the same way twice.

  He returned to his room, Jason was still asleep and hadn't moved from his spot on the couch. Danny changed back to human form, the cloak returning to the pendant with his transformation. Danny smiled before tucking it into his shirt. The sun would be rising in two hours. The pendant was supposed to help with his nightmares, then he may as well see if it works.

If it didn't, at least he got a cool cloak out of it.

  And well… of 3 ancient beings of immeasurable power were insisting Danny could trust Jason, then he could live with the revenant for a while.

~~~

Master List

Part 3

Alice In Gotham Pt 3

“Oh, it's such a lovely party tonight, Alice,” Hatter was overjoyed, gently dancing with Alice. Only twirling Danny gently, not to hurt him, treating him like a fragile flower. They had a small tea party, Hatter and his 2 Alice's. Now they were dancing the evening away, “Did you eat enough?”

“No, this body required more sustenance than the average human,” Danny’s soulless voice responded.

“Oh dear, then you must stop this dance and eat until your stomach is satisfied,” Hatter stopped the dance and March Hare returned with a fresh tray of small sandwiches, cut fruits, pastries, and other tea party foods. Alice began to eat slowly. Hatter was determined to keep his Alice alive and healthy for as long as possible, “Very good. When you finish your meal, go to bed. You need rest to recover. I still have two more people for you to invite. They will be guests of honor to celebrating you joining me.”

  Alice nodded and continued to eat silently. Hatter had began sending out his goons distract the Bats from his base. Nothing specific other than drawing their attention. Hatter had a larger table to invite their next guests tomorrow night. He needed more than one decoy Alice, lest Batman steal his porcelain doll.

—

“Bad news,” Oracle spoke up as the plan was starting to move into action, “Girls are starting to be kidnapped for their blue eyes. Good news, we have a lead on Mad Hatter's hideout since it's his goons taking them instead of Scraps. Which means he wasn’t in the botanical gardens so that trap is likely still there.”

  The sound of Red Hood cracking his neck and knuckles echoed in the wind and he geared up in one of his safe houses where he brought Scraps stuff. The fact that Scraps was no longer being spotted was more than worrying now that they knew what the kid's vitals looked like.

“Send me the coordinates,” Red Hood pulled on his helmet and left the safe house on his motorcycle. He had a set of buck teeth to punch out of a perverted redhead.

“Sending them now,” Oracle was heard aggressively typing on her keyboard, “How does the facial scan keep failing? I can't get anything on the kid. It's like they don't exist outside of 2 and half months ago. I still can't track their path home, they just disappear with their abilities.”

“That's the problem I've been having with Scraps. When we free ‘em from Hatter Imma set them up somewhere safe. Other kids said they have an accent and are weirdly nice. My guess it, they aren't from Gotham. We might be able to get ‘em home if they were stuck here for some reason,” Hood answered.

“Sounds like Mad Hatter erased that accent for now. Poor kid talks like a robot from the recordings we have,” Nightwing responded.

“Coordinates have been sent. Looks like a standard rescue mission for now,” Oracle spoke up again, “Robin, Spoiler, and Nightwing are clear for distraction. Orphan, Red Hood, and Red Robin will focus on rescue. Get Scraps and the other girls out of there.”

“We will,” Hood rode off into the night, following the location Oracle had sent him with less than legal driving.

“Tsk,” Robin responded, moving towards the coordinates. Unsatisfied in his role as distraction but  following orders regardless.

“There's a disruption nearby. Mad Hatter's goons are going wild,” Oracle spoke up, “It only just started and there aren't many.”

“Signal and I will manage the disruption,” Batman quickly readjusted the plan, “Everyone else, stay with the original plan.”

  Men in white rabbit hats were running around causing chaos as the members came closer. Nothing specific, or uniform. Some broke windows for the sake of breaking them. Others chased people, some stole, others shot their guns at random. They were being mind controlled but given no clear instructions. Some were putting masks over random civilians to increase their numbers. Others forcing bows onto women who began walking towards the same building. A hotel on the smaller side, all of the windows had been covered up. Following as planned: Spoiler and Nightwing made their entrance into the hotel known.

“Hello~ any rooms available tonight? I need a place to dream off to wonderland,” Nightwing burst in and sure enough, the entire hotel was filled with employees who all had tophats.

“That was terrible,” Spoiler commented as she quickly started taking hats off employees, freeing them and directing them to a space in the lobby to wait for police and medical.

“Yeah, not my best,” Nightwing responded as Robin moved past the lobby. 

Orphan, Red Hood, and Red Robin snuck in through the rooms on the top floor. Girls were asleep in the beds, but it was an unnatural sleep. They quickly removed the clips from their hair, destroyed the clips, and moved on, checking room after room. Only 8 rooms with 1-3 girls in each and 3 floors. Almost 40 women and girls were hostages, excluding the staff which were also being freed.

Outside, Signal was using the shadows as tangible tendrils to pull the masks and hats off hostages. Something wasn't right, it was too easy. Mad Hatter wasn't known to team up with other rogues often, but it was still a possibility.

“You are interrupting,” a familiar monotone voice appeared behind Signal. He turned to find Scraps, standing behind him.

“We can't let Hatter kidnap people and force them to do his bidding. How about you let me free you,” Signal tried again to grab the wig only for the shadow to be grabbed, frozen in a layer of ice and, shattered with only one hand, “Okay, didn't know you could do that.”

“Scraps is outside and engaging with Signal,” Oracle announced to the others.

“The tea party is tomorrow, please wait until then,” Scraps’ aura flared and began gathering in their chest and hands. Eyes completely ice blue and glowing, “You will only get one warning.”

“Sorry, but we have to crash the party. You need a hospital like yesterday,” Signal turned his vitals scanner on to check. Scraps’ vitals hadn't gotten better, but they weren't lower so they still had time. But their temperature was dropping even lower.

It took only a second but Signal was a distraction as Batman approached from behind with a meta suppression collar. Before he could put it around Danny's neck, he received a swift kick to his arm sending the collar flying and Batman back onto the asphalt.

“Scraps is getting aggressive,” Signal blocked, but was still sent back when a punch was aimed his way, “Add enhanced strength to the list.”

“Why the hell does this kid have so many powers?” Nightwing responded.

“Ice manipulation, floating, invisibility, density shifting, and enhanced strength? We need to keep this kid on our side,” Red Robin commented as he hacked into all the security cameras of the hotel, “Eyes on Hatter, he's in the basement.”

“Dibs!” Red Hood began racing Orphan down to the basement, leaving Red Robin and the distraction team to deal with the hostages' release to the police. Most were still in their civilian clothes, it was a good sign, they had acted early into Hatter's plan.

Outside, Batman's cape was frozen to the street, the collar which had been discarded was picked up by Alice and examined. It was only for a second, but their normally blue eyes flashed green. The collar was snapped in half at the hinge and frozen into a block of ice before it was tossed aside. Vibrant blue eyes turned to Batman who had unclasped his cape to continue the fight. Spears of ice were fired his way, each one missed would either penetrate the ground or dissolve before hitting a civilian. One lucky shot struck Batman's side as a civilian prevented him from fully dodging.

“So, that meta collar just pissed off Scraps,” Signal announced, noticing the kid had just gotten way more aggressive than they were before. Still, not once did they hit another civilian. They had such control over their power to only target Signal and Batman. They somehow managed to keep surrounding destruction from their ice attacks to a minimum.

“They've clearly had experience fighting,” Batman didn't even need to bandage the wound. There was a layer of frost keeping him from bleeding out, “Not a single casualty has been caused by Scraps.”

“That's odd. Hatter has never cared about casualties unless it involved a particularly favorable hostage. This could mean the mind control isn't as complete as we thought. Tetch is known for killing his Alices’ yet he's kept Scraps much longer than usual, probably because of their meta abilities,” Oracle reviewed the information they had gathered, “Batman you were hit by a spear and that section of your suit reads its colder.”

“Hm. They covered the wound with frost at the moment of impact. Not as cold as other ice samples Red Robin has observed but enough to keep the pain and bleeding at bay. They don't want to hurt us, even if Hatter is forcing them to attack,” Batman responded, “Your theory seems accurate Oracle, Mad Hatter doesn't have full control over them.”

Signal was off catching the last of the mind controlled civilians outside while Batman continued to try and catch Scraps. He wasn't slowed down much with his injury thanks to the frost. It was when they had backed up, closer to the hotel that the fight became more challenging. Signal rejoined the fight to weaken Alice in order to get the wig off them. Scraps startled by a mist of blue escaping their lips before looking around, then down. It was faint in his mind controlled state but Danny felt it. Rage- protect- children in danger- protect- angry! It stirred a part of him as his core wanted to respond to the undead it felt nearby.

  Using the distraction Signal caught Scraps in his shadows, Batman attempted to cuff Scraps only to find the kid had slipped out of their grasp again and gotten behind him and struck hard enough to knock Batman unconscious. Though it would only be temporary.

“Enough,” Scraps encased Duke’s arms in frost and grabbed the same cuffs Batman was attempting to put on them before. With Duke handcuffed, the fight was over. Grabbing both vigilantes by their suits, Scraps dragged them both back into the hotel before sinking them into the basement where they were met with another battle. One Mad Hatter was losing, and becoming desperate. The last of his goons and about 5 other Alice hostages were in the fight. Hatter had a busted lip and his buck teeth were now one broken tooth and a gap, courtesy of Red Hood.

  No one noticed their sudden appearance in a secluded area. Nightwing lead the freed hostages out towards the main floor. Red Hood and Robin were focused on disarming the goons. Spoiler and Red Robin focused on the hostages. Where was Orphan?

“Remain quiet and I won't have to tape your mouth shut,” Scraps whispered, too low for Duke’s active com to pick up. 

  Signal nodded, he needed to focus on picking the lock on the cuffs and freeing himself from the ice. He would only distract the others if he called out now. He observed instead. Scraps didn't behave like a mindless zombie anymore. Not to mention their aura was starting to flicker brighter than before. It had happened so suddenly outside. That blue mist caused their entire aura to flare bright enough to temporarily blind him. Signal’s eyes were still recovering, but he could tell it was flickering. Something was going on, and their behavior was changing. Scraps reached… into their chest?! -And pulled out a metal tool box with a green cross on it. It read first-aid underneath. They opened it and pulled out latex gloves after removing the ones they were wearing before. There were some odd silver bracelets with a green stripe on each wrist below the white gloves. Where they a part of the mind control tech? Did those need tk be removed? Scraps sterilized their hands, a needle, and Batman’s wound after removing the frost. It was slow to bleed, the frost had been helping it clot and prevented swelling.

“What are you doing?” Signal asked quietly, observing as Scraps thread the needle and began stitching Batman’s wound without any form of anesthetic.

“Batman requires first aid. I am providing it,” they answered, already half way done. Their stitches were neat, and the wound was hardly bleeding. Not to mention they worked almost as fast as Alfred! Batman wasn't responding to the feeling. The cold must have completely numbed the area or he was out colder than Signal thought he was.

“Why?” Signal began an interrogation as quietly as he could with the fighting on the other side. Still, they spoke loud enough that his com was picking it up.

“I know how. And I had supplies,” Scraps was answering questions. That wasn't something they'd ever done before. The control was slipping.

“Why do you know how?” Duke knew Scraps was too young to have ever studied medicine. They only looked 13 at the oldest, but they also looked malnourished. These stitches were done perfectly, something from lots of practice.

“I have to.”

“Scraps,” he was free from the hand cuffs and caught a glimpse of movement in the shadows, “Why do you have to know?”

“...” They stopped responding and simply packed away the first aid supplies after wiping the blood off their gloves on the apron and setting the bloodied gloves into a pocket. Now that he caught a glimpse inside, there were way too many glowing materials and tools in that first aid kit. Scraps shoved the kit back into their chest and stood.

“Noo!” Mad Hatter shouted, “You're ruining everything!”

“You're mind controlling innocent civilians for your own enjoyment. As if we would agree to allow that to continue,” Robin snarled as  he captured Hatter and cuffed him.

“No, where is she? Where is she? Alice!” Hatter called, Scraps followed the shout quickly, leaving Signal and Batman behind. Hatter gave a nasty grin as his perfect Alice approached with red blood on her apron. That put everyone on edge except Hatter, “Alice, stop them! They'll destroy our tea party. We need them alive to celebrate.”

“Leave the civilians out of this,” Robin growled as he secured Hatter in favor of rejoining the fight.

 Duke was the only one to notice the snowball appear in Danny’s hand. It had an eerie green light inside it. He was still stuck in ice but he could look a few seconds into the future. He was struck with a migraine as a bright light burst into view. 

  The snowball was tossed in the air, it drew everyone's attention. An innocent snowball tossed up carelessly. The snow sparkling in the basement lights as it reached the center of the room.

“GET DOWN!” is shouted just as a green light bursts through the snow and shards of ice scattered across the entire room. The shards shattered on impact, only leaving a small scratch, the problem was the frost growing from each hit. It left a 5in area on the body or surface stiff and immobile. The frost covering the hostages quickly melted as the explosion came to an end. They were completely unharmed. Hatter, oddly, wasn't untouched like the hostages. Hatter’s legs were frozen and stuck to the gound, he'd been hit with the most frost out of everyone.

“Was that a fucking ice grenade?!” Red Hood was both amazed at that and also hated that he was on the other end of it.

  Ice was coating the floor in patches. The inconsistent surface would make fighting more difficult. Duke and Batman were covered in snow instead of frost. The automatic heaters regulating their temperature noticed the cold and turned on. Duke was having no luck escaping the ice, even in his shadows.

“Signal, report,” Red Robin ordered as he noticed Signal and Batman had been captured.

“Scraps got fed up in the fight and took Batman in a single blow. Then provided him with first aid. Something drew their attention in the fight. A blue mist came out of their mouth and it caused their aura to flare. It started glitching after that. I think the mind control device is starting to fail. They'll answer some questions but not all of them. Scraps is becoming more independent. You might be able to talk them down at some point,” Signal reported, still focusing on getting out of the ice. The repeated flashes from looking at Scraps was giving him an unbearable migraine. He couldn't help much like this, so he's guarding B instead.

“I hope that wig is malfunctioning. This has been one of the most annoying cases with Hatter because of Scraps’ powers,” Red Robin sighed, “I'm going to try remotely hacking into the device. You guys keep Scraps from disrupting me and try and get either a collar or cuff on them to try and grab the wig anyway.”

“If we can even get fucking close,” Red Hood growled through his modulator, something about the pit felt weird. It was making him angry, but when kids were being taken hostages any one of the Bats would be angry. What was weird was the pit was also yelling at him to keep Scraps close, they were needing protection. They were a baby- Why a baby? They're at least like 13? Why do they feel baby?

  It happened again. As Red Hood approached while the others continued to deal with the hostages. Alice hadn't really moved after the snowball grenade. A blue mist escaped their lips and they turned to see Red Hood, who's eyes were green but not hostile. Scraps tilted their head, it was less subtle than it was before.

“Undead?” That caught everyone's attention, Scraps had just called out Red Hood's undead status.

“How do you know that?” Red Hood growled again, noticing the green in his vision.

“Littlewing,” Nightwing jumped between them, “Deep breaths, you're looking kinda green. We don't know anything about Scraps, we don't know specifically what that means for them.”

“I know that,” Hood snapped, backing up from Scraps a bit and taking some breaths to calm down.

“Hey now, how about we get that wig off of you, Scraps? Blonde is not really for you,” Nightwing reached out but didn't step closer.

“Alice what are you doing, fight the-mph!” Orphan had gagged Hatter and gave a thumbs up to Red Hood and Nightwing.

“Understood,” Scraps took an offensive pose. Their eyes kept glancing towards the escrima sticks on Nightwing’s back. Their scarred left hand trembled slightly. It was then that Red Hood, Orphan, and Robin felt a sensation of awake?- Where?- scared! 

“Empath?” Orphan called out, missing the wig as Scraps turned intangible.

“Feels like it,” Red Hood responded.

“I don't feel whatever you guys are feeling,” Nightwing dodged a punch and tried grabbing Scraps only for them to dodge again, “The density shifting is a real pain-Agh!”

 Scraps knocked back Nightwing and Red Hood into creates nearby. A sheet of ice suddenly appearing on Hood's back kept them from being seriously hurt. It disappeared just as quickly. Robin was next to go after Scraps. They exchange blows, dodging each other mostly. It was then that Robin decided using his sword may be the best choice when Scraps started using small arrows of ice against him and other Bats within range. The ice only left small cuts in their armor but it continued to spread frost on contact. Watching as Robin deflected arrows with his sword, Scraps took a different stance. A sword of ice appearing in their right hand, and a smaller shield in their left.

“No fucking way,” Red Hood would recognize that fighting stance of his favorite Justice League Member anywhere.

“Finally, someone who can go against my blade,” Robin smirked and their swords wasted no time colliding.

“Are we seriously fighting a meta Amazonian right now?!” Nightwing groaned, pushing broken wood of the crates off him and Red Hood, “Great, we're fighting someone with no convenient weakness.”

“Okay well we're not doing Batman's contingency plan for Wonder Woman, that would kill Scraps,” Oracle spoke up through coms, “We do have the possibility that she has a weakness to electricity if her reaction to Nightwing's weapons are anything to go off of.”

“I don't want to electrocute a kid,” Nightwing groaned as he got up with a wince. His ribs were bruised but not unbearable. Red Hood was in similar shape.

“Robin might be able to tire them out- Oracle did you switch to she/her for Scraps?” Red Hood watched as the sword fight continued and the last of the hostages were just about free.

They were sword fighting while Alice not only dodged Orphan’s grabs at them but also stray bullets being shot around the room. The fact that Alice was mostly unharmed aside from some tears in the dress’s frilly skirt only displayed what a good battle sense they had.

“I was thinking more she/they. Only women live on Themyscira and can learn the fighting style. Men are strictly forbidden. But it's weird, Wonder Woman said there are no children on Themyscira. So someone had to have trained Scraps outside of Themyscira or brought them in. It looks like she's been learning the fighting style for a long time If they're keeping up with Robin.”

“Red Robin, how's hacking going?” Nightwing moved to help keep stray ice shots and bullets off Red Robin. Spoiler needed to focus more on civilians.

“I've managed to sabotage all of the other wigs in this building except for 10 of them. They're signals are jammed so close together and something is keeping me from shutting them down the same way. I'm trying what I can, but I don't know which one of these is controlling Scraps,” Red Robin answered, angrily typing away at his wrist computer, “Oracle can you use my position to isolate the chip controlling Scraps?”

“Working on it now,” Oracle could be heard typing away in their coms as the fight between Robin and Scraps continued. So far, it seems Scraps was able to back Robin closer to an isolated spot. His beloved sword was half coated in frost along with a part of his torso. Spoiler only had 2 hostages left to free, both with guns. She threw 2 batarang to disarm them before grabbing the rabbit helmets off them.

It was only a second, the batarang flew towards the wall after disarming the hostage. It hit, at an -oh so convenient- ricochet. To hit Danny. A blonde chunk of hair was on the ground as the battle suddenly halted between him and Robin. It grazed his cheek and the blade was stopped by the diadem under the wig; it had only cut a third through the band. Just a little interference… A white gloved hand touched the cut to see green blood. It was corrosive and slowly eating at the cloth glove. He reached up and pulled the batarang out of the diadem with little effort and examined it. Danny could sense a familiar energy from it. 

  Robin had frozen. A stray batarang had just landed in the head of the hostage they had been trying to save. They were dead- or not? There was no more than a small smear of… blood? It was green, and glowed a little, and so did the cut on their skin. It was their blood. Scraps was not human… That didn't matter, Robin still needed to free Scraps and get them somewhere safe. Mad Hatter needed to be locked up in Arkham, though Robin always thought that was too light a punishment for him. 

  Robin was able to get closer while Scraps was focused on the batarang. Examining it with calculating eyes. The wig now had an uneven cut, but it revealed that the wig wasn't the problem. Getting close enough to grab them, Robin did so. Scraps’ eyes were flickering, bright blue, to dim blue, and an occasional flash of what had to be green. Lazarus pits… No, their blood was also green, do not draw conclusions without all the evidence. Robin could get a sample at least. He snuck a vial from his utility belt and touched it to the cut, getting a small gush of blood and seeing the metal band which had been cut partially. Scraps hadn't moved, frozen into a deep stare… Taking advantage, Robin used a solvent to melt the wig glue and remove it. Revealing the band to everyone along with fluffy and matted black hair. Then the band sparked from the cut.

That seemed to have snapped Scraps out of their daze as they grabbed Robin’s arm and covered him in a net of ice that kept him from moving again before jumping back. 

“RR, I don't think you'll like this,” Oracle spoke up, “Three of the chips are flickering in and out of function but it looks like all ten of them are on Scraps.”

“Fuck,” Red Robin cursed as he was having the same result on his screen, “It must all be in that band around their head. Nightwing-”

“Yeah, I know,” Nightwing took a breath before splitting off from Red Robin.

  Spoiler had tried approaching Scraps in the meantime. The ice sword had disappeared along with the shield. It was a short fight, one where Scraps was clearly distracted, and still, it ended with Spoiler frozen in an ice net, much like Robin. Red Robin would have jumped into the fight next, but found he'd been frozen to the beam he was perched on. Red Hood found his boots had been frozen to the ground. It was up to Nightwing and Orphan.

Scraps jumped away as Nightwing got close again, it was obvious they were avoiding fighting them. Red Hood, Robin, and Orphan felt it again can't stop- don't fight- help- hurts- hurts- please…

“Tsk!” Scraps flinched as the diadem sparked.

“Four chips are offline,” Oracle reported, “A fifth started flickering.”

“Come on , Scraps. Lets get that off you,” Nightwing slowly approached, “You don't want to fight, right?”

“... … no…” their voice was just above a whisper. Their real voice, with that slight midwestern accent. Another spark made them flinch.

“Right,” Nightwing gave a soft smile as he reached out a hand.

  Scraps eyes still flickering between blue and green. They moved quickly, past Nightwings hand and grabbed one of the escrima sticks. Jumping back again, Scraps stood on a defensive stance, trembling left hand holding onto the taser end. Red Hood couldn't focus as all he felt from Scraps was scared-hurt-stop-resistresistresist! 

“Nightwing,” Red Hood spoke up, the feelings from Scraps were starting to become overwhelming. Stop me- please- gonna hurt- hurting- please… “They want you to do it…”

“It's gonna kill them…”

“... Sh… ort… cir-cuit… please…” Scraps was flickering, internally fighting between avoiding the pain and being intangible and being solid to take the shock, “...I’ll… be… … o…kay… …”

With a shaky breath Nightwing leapt forward and activated the stick before Scraps could shift away. It was the worst scream that had erupted from them. A wave of pain!- painpain! - dying- hit every one of the bats. The windows cracked and the lights flickered out, a few bursting sending sparks and hot glass over them.

It went on, mostly because Scraps refused to let go. It was a full minute before the lock on the band shorted out and it slipped off. Hitting the ground as Scraps fell. Orphan was quick to catch them, they were unconscious now.

“That was terrible,” Nightwing sighed. He had just zapped the kid they were trying to save. The kid who already had dangerously low vitals.

“The frost is weaker now,” Robin had finally broken himself free from the cold prison.

“My head is killing me,” Signal, free from the ice and snow, managed to get Batman to wake up.

“Batman, Mad Hatter has been apprehended and the hostages have all been freed. Scraps still needs medical attention,” Nightwing was the quickest to recover, but that scream was still haunting him. His focus now was making sure Scraps didn't die.

“What was that?” Red Robin rubbed the sides of his head as he was freed from the beam. Ice all around the room was defrosting. Slippery surfaces were disappearing, not even puddles of water left behind.

“Empath,” Orphan answered, running her fingers through Scraps's hair, “Felt their pain.”

“Let's just get the kid some medical attention,” Red Hood stood closer to Scraps. He couldn't feel anything apart from the quiet humming of hurts- in pain- free- comfort… as Orphan continued to gently pet Scraps. They seemed comfortable with the touch, for now.

“I'll grab a spare outfit for them,” Spoiler left, she had a less bubbly mood than usual.

“Hm,” Batman grunted, as the team started to split up again. His head was still throbbing, he likely had a concussion. Signal and Red Robin left to fill in with the police, but not before grabbing the diadem for examination later.

  For now, the fight was over and all that was left was the clean up here and at the Botanical Gardens.

~~~

Master List

Part 2

Part 4

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.

CW: Blood (not really graphic though lol)

Dark Pit's wing is injured from a fight, and he keeps to himself because of how badly it stings. Arlon sees how serious that wound is however and makes sure the young angel understands that he can't leave injuries untreated. Then Dark Pit lets him treat it, putting aside his pride ^^

I just want more Arlon & Dark Pit interactions lol :)

Guilt.

APOLOGIZES FOR MY LACK OF FANDOM / VAMP FINN PIECES!

I was working-

ON THIS‼️‼️‼️

Alright so, this isn’t really an oc, or at least not MINE.

This is how it went down mama, at first my friend had given me an art request to do. [See below]

(Basically turn this roblox guy into literally anything)

So I did!

But afterwards, one of his friends goes.

“Do you think they [me] could draw my icon eating a human heart? Predator style?”

This friend was [as the first image suggests] Prince Insomniac, and I never turn down an opportunity for a good lil horror feast here and there so I said.

“Ok!”

And got to work.

BUT MAMA

OH MY

LAWD

THIS PIECE TOOK YEARS OFF MY LIFESPAN ISTG

[Okay maybe not the actual piece itself but THE WEEK THAT I WORKED ON IT WAS STRESSFUL ENOUGH 😭😭😭]

FIRST I WAS FORCED TO PAINT FOR 3 DAYS STRAIGHT, NOT FUCKIN’ FUN-

THEN PEEPAW TOOK A TUMBLE AND FRACTURED HIS HIP SO WE HAD TO CALL THE GD PARAMEDICS [TRAUMA ALERT WEEWOO]

AND THE VERY👏 NEXT 👏DAY 👏, OUR POWER GETS TURNED OFF AND I DONT THINK I EVEN HAVE THE STRENGTH TO GET INTO ALLA THE STRESS THAT HAPPENED ON THAT DAY SPECIFICALLY-

Needless to say, I was not a happy bunny-

But hey I got it down, so now its here, BON APPETIT-

Pure Love.

Himiko Toga x Ochako Uraraka

contents : togas blood thirst ofc, fluffy? i guess? more like sweet, they’re so in love, blood drinking, death mention

authors note : i love them. also i don’t know if i’m even able to write actual fics cause all i end up writing is odd poetry kind of things..

She’s pretty. So pretty. So pretty that I love her. She’s so cute, so beautiful. She’s beautiful and she’s bleeding. The pooling crimson of her blood makes my own blood rush. I want to hold her, to love her. I want to taste her, to devour her whole. How is this not normal? How is it not normal to want to be with the person you love, to love them so deeply and wholeheartedly that you want to become them? To feel so much for them you can’t help but sink your teeth into their soft flesh? I never understood why it was so frowned upon to love the way I do. But in this moment, as I drink the blood from her veins, feel her heartbeat next to mine, I feel perfectly normal. I feel love in its purest form.

•

I’ve never seen a cuter smile than hers. Her smile radiates pure joy and love. My vision blurs as she drinks from my bloodstream. It should hurt, and maybe it does, but I can barely feel it. All I can feel is her soft blonde hair brushing against me, her fast heartbeat against my own. My heart should be slowing, I can feel myself start to grow faint, and I don’t know when she’ll stop drinking. My heart beat should be slowing as I die, but it doesn’t. It matches the pace of hers, strong and sure, exactly as it should be. Even if she does kill me, I'll be glad the last thing I saw was her beautiful smile. I’m glad I put that smile on her pretty face. This should feel bad, wrong. It is wrong. But it doesn’t feel wrong. It feels perfectly normal. I love her, and this is how I will show it. This is love, pure and perfect.

YAYYYYY CHAINS

Play My Way by Jakeneutron

(blood + slight gore/organ CW)

if u like nerdcore and u don’t know who jakeneutron is what are you DOING LOOK THEM UP RN 👹☺️☺️☺️

@helluvabossfan08

@bbubarnabyfan

picrew and last song you listened to <3

Picrew

crow's character creator :)

- free to use! just credit me please :D - tag me @crowwithapen on instagram and tiktok ✿ - do not use for commercial use of any sort!! th

no pressure tags

@wilburthetherian @hold-my-dr-pepper @femboy-hooters-official @100percent-shell-oil @nanochittle

@tameable50 @ford-mustang-1969 @truly-jcjenson @sam-the-skelepun

we don't talk about how sick qbagheras lore was enough

CW BLOOD & YUKKY SOUND-EFFECTS

Here is redraw of a something I did in 2021 yay! ☆(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*

2024 redraw

2021 original

Il/I mostro/i di Firenze

Obsessed with them, actually.

(I know that I drew Wolvie taller than he is, but by the time I realised, it was too late to fix it… sorry my short king :/)

HAIII I REDREW OUR ACTUALLY ANCIENT CACTUS RING ART :3

my friend got me to watch scream (1996) and i knew what i had to do

“Aber liebst du mich nicht?”

the little Triple Changer asked, looking up to the bearer of the death mask, only watching down to him with apathy in the moment. He didn’t hate him, he didn’t love him, he only used him. How pitiful.

cw : blood, robot gore (badly), implied abuse.

bust comm from 2023 by debuff999

Ask No Questions (Aizawa/Fem!Reader)

Summary: Despite sleeping with the man a couple of times, there's not a lot you know about your neighbor, Aizawa. Perhaps that's for the best, you've never been a fan of complications. (FWB to Lovers? Aizawa/Reader. Reader is female.)

(Content: Blood and injury, needles, no smut.)

-MHA-MHA-MHA-

It's the middle of the night when you hear a horrendous crash sound from your fire escape, followed by a muffled groan. It's enough of a commotion to draw you from your insomnia-driven TV marathon to go and investigate.

You push the window up, poking your head out into the cool night air. Illuminated by the moonlight is the crumpled, bloodied form of your neighbor and occasional fuck-buddy, Aizawa Shouta, laid out on the landing and breathing harshly.

Well, shit.

You haul yourself out onto the fire escape without grace, your bare feet making contact with the too-cold metal grating. You're not exactly surprised to see Aizawa in this state. You have no idea what he does for work, but you've seen the bruises and scars on his body, how he never seems to be fully healed at any given time. He gets into fights, lots of them, that much is certain. However, this is your first time seeing him faring quite so poorly after coming back from... whatever it is he does when he slinks out of the apartment complex.

"Aizawa," you say, alerting him of your presence in case he didn't notice you come out. From the way he grunts in acknowledgement instead of startling, perhaps he had noticed. You make your way over to his side, crouching down beside him.

He's looking rougher than usual. The blood trickling down the side of his face from somewhere past his hairline is the most eye-catching at the moment, but there's plenty of other cuts and scrapes besides that, and the way he's clutching his bloodied side can't mean anything good. But when his dark eyes meet yours, there's clarity there, you're thankful for that.

"Do you want an ambulance?" you ask him evenly. Maybe you should just call for one, this might be over your head. But you don't know what side of the law he's on.

The question gets him moving, and he pushes himself into a sitting position with great effort. He doesn't look much better now that he's upright.

"I'm fine," he says, not fine. Stubborn, though.

No ambulance, then.

You twist your mouth to side in thought then sigh, pushing yourself up. "Okay, let's get you patched up."

It takes a lot of effort to get him into your apartment through the window. He doesn't protest your offer to help, but you have a feeling it's because he's so focused on muffling his noises of pain. You practically dump him onto your old, shitty couch, not too bothered by the idea of a few more bloodstains on it, and go to fetch your first aid kit.

When you return, Aizawa's managed to maneuver himself onto his back, his strange scarf and a particularly loud pair of yellow goggles set on the floor beside him. You realize, then, that he's wearing some sort of costume. Interesting.

"There a zipper on this thing?" you ask as you kneel beside him, looking over his black jumpsuit. He gestures to a hidden zipper and you're tugging it down, revealing his sculpted torso to you. It'd be a much more appealing sight if not for the nasty gash in his side. It looks like it was made by a knife.

You help him take some painkillers, nothing fancy or very strong, and start on cleaning his wounds, working with a practiced hand. You're mildly aware that Aizawa's watching you as you work, his breathing not as labored as when you first found him.

"You've done this before," it's not a question.

"I have," you confirm, not looking up from what you're doing. If he has any questions, he doesn't ask them, neither do you, and you definitely have questions.

Silence settles over the two of you as you patch him up. You don't think anything's broken, but you're not a doctor. Now that most of the blood has been wiped away, he doesn't look as bad as you'd initially thought, especially the cut on his head. Still, that wound in his side would need stitches.

You have the needle and suture thread in your hand, but you're hesitating. Again, you wonder if a doctor really isn't an option for him.

"You don't have to do this for me," he says quietly, almost gently, probably picking up on your reluctance to continue. He's already trying to sit up, "I can handle the rest myself, you've already done more than enough." Despite his stoic demeanor, the guilt in his expression is easy enough to read.

"I've already done this much," your hand presses to the center of his chest, stopping him from getting up. "I might as well do the rest."

It's clear to you that if you don't help him now, he's not going to go to anyone else. The images of him in his tiny apartment bathroom, an exact copy of your tiny apartment bathroom, trying to stitch himself shut flits through your head and it doesn't sit right with you.

"I'll be quick," you tell him, finding your resolve.

The minutes pass as you carefully suture his wound, sweat beading on your brow as you work. Every flinch and tensing of his body, every concealed grunt of pain, has your stomach turning slightly. It's been a while since you've had to do this for someone, you never quite got over the queasiness it gives you.

"Okay," you practically gasp, sitting back and setting the needle aside. Your hands are shaking.

Aizawa is looking paler than before, sweat coating his body, his breathing rapid. "...thanks," the words are sincere through his labored breathing. He looks exhausted and you don't blame him.

You shrug, awkward in the face of his gratitude, staring down at your bloody hands, the stains on your pajamas. You lick your lips, "...have I just involved myself in something illegal?" you have to ask. Providing aid to vigilantes or villains, even unintentionally, was a decent invitation for the law to step in and fuck you. If you have trouble coming your way, you want to be prepared.

He raises an eyebrow, "no," he tells you, giving a tired shake of his head, "you're fine... I'm a hero."

Your eyes drift from his dirtied costume to the goggles and strange scarf, "huh." It hadn't been your first guess, but it makes sense.

There's an awkward silence, "are you a paramedic?" he asks, and you can't help but snort. "Or a nurse?"

"Nothing like that," as if anyone would let you handle a job of any importance.

His eyes narrow, like you're a particularly interesting little puzzle. "You sure handled all this pretty well. You seemed to have experience."

"Yeah," you confirm, but you don't elaborate. You turn your face away from his curiosity, gathering up all your supplies. "You can crash here tonight if you want. You should probably see a real doctor soon."

You can feel his eyes on you as you stand, but you don't look at him. There's a pause where you think he might protest staying and try something stupid like attempting to get up and walk to his own apartment or some other macho nonsense, but in the end he just lets out an exhausted sigh. "Okay..."

By the time you've washed his blood off of you and changed your clothes, he's out like a light.

(Requests)

Self-Indulgent sona drawings

Bro almost broke up the sapphics so they broke his knees instead 💀💀

🍷✨

Combined days 4 and 5, self influenced cannibalism !!!!

Posting day 1 on the 2nd day? Yeah I'm tired goodnight

Goretober day 1, lacerations

-BELIEVE-

(Analog AU Comic - CW for Blood and Amputation)

faster, heated in this sweet space.

(for the staytisthiddenhaunter2024 event in twt!)

tw:blood

i hate the taste of blood, makes me feel sick (one too many nosebleeds as a kid) but ngl, if i was kissing someone and there was blood involved......that's kinda hot.

this is kinda relating to my other post about fighting someone lol

imagine fighting someone, and you make their nose all bloodied and they split your lip and to make it up to each other you end up kissing, tasting both of your blood together

WARNING: some digital bloød! not real, just my doodles! be careful

tap ⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇

vent art :(

Skull Dog!!

I made this in IbisPaint

all dogs go to heaven

time will change you

no one warned him that the fish are god :/