Work Text:
TourettesDog's Original Prompt:
DP x DC prompt where, somehow, Danny winds up in a thermos. Somehow, that thermos winds up locked away in one of the Justice League’s vaults.
The energy that radiates off of it is powerful– dangerous, dark, twisted, and dead. The magic users that interact with the thermos deem it unsafe to handle. They store it away, until they can better understand what they are handling– but later never really comes.
It just sits, collecting dust, and the world outside moves on.
Years later, following in her original’s footsteps, Dani becomes a hero. It’s been years now since Danny disappeared and she’s given up hope of ever finding him. The portal was shut down when the ghosts became too much to handle in Danny’s absence. Amity has been quieter than it ever was, somehow feeling deader without the ghosts that used to haunt it so frequently.
Dani moves on– all of Team Phantom does, with nothing left to anchor them to Amity Park. Even the Fenton parents shy away from it all, for once setting down their work, a little too late to fix what they missed.
Dani winds up on the Justice League. She doesn’t talk much about Danny, if at all. It’s easier to focus on the now, which Dani’s always been good at. It’s easier to keep moving forward than it is to think about what all she’s suffered and lost.
Even without the Fenton portal, however, the ghosts of the Zone make themselves heard again. A large natural portal opens in Gotham and Dani finds herself the best equipped for the job. She never saw much use in explaining ghost weapons to the League before, always a little worried that it would endanger herself, but now the threat demands more firepower than she can give by herself.
Dani talks about the sort of weapons they used to use on the ghosts, recounting the Fenton thermos and how useful it was for capturing ghosts.
Someone remembers a thermos. Someone pulls it from the vault, and Dani takes it with shaking hands. It’s the first time she’s held one in years.
There’s a familiar energy coursing through it and Dani feels like she might be sick.
She feels relief and anger in equal measure when Danny is at last freed from the thermos.
Danny appears in a flash of light, slightly bent, his arm snapping downward, hand reaching into the empty air, the other cradling an overflowing bag of ghost patrol gear. He looked like she’d remembered him on any of hundreds of nights: tired, frazzled, a little grumpy, and ready to throw his plucky self into the task at hand.
"-uck." Danny mutters, reaching for something that's already disappeared.
Annoyance flashes in his expression and he looks down at the floor, trying to see where the stupid thermos rolled to. His mind registers that the floor he’s standing on is metal and not concrete at the same time his ghost-sense registers the presence of something nearby.
The bag falls from his arms, clattering to the floor as all at once all the details flood in.
He’s been moved somewhere, gleaming metal facility, white walls in every direction, strangers in bright costumes surround him.
His ghost sense screams danger, something as strong as him or Vlad.
He draws power, green light burning in each hand, bright enough to cast the well lit room in an unearthly glow.
There’s yelling. Weapons are drawn: strange glowing swords, whirling patterns of light, futuristic guns.
“STAY BACK!” He yells, heart pounding in chest. He turns, trying to face every direction at once, trying to see every threat, trying to find an exit.
“Danny!” The woman's voice cuts right through him.
He turns, standing directly behind where he’d first appeared was a woman. Some disconnected part of his brain informs him that if they were still back in the lab, she’d be standing where the Portal would be.
“Danny, it’s me. You need to calm down.” She held his Fenton thermos in one hand; it looked old, half its LEDs had burnt out and the silver had tarnished. That wasn’t right, he’d just replaced those an hour ago, had he done something wrong.
He could still feel the power burning in his hands, but it felt distant, he couldn’t tear himself from that dented and chipped thing that had saved his life a thousand times.
“Danny, look at me.” Her voice cut straight through him again, it was so familiar.
He looked at the speaker, a white haired woman his mom’s age, she looked scared.
“Good. Ok Danny,” She moved slowly, setting the thermos down gently on the table beside her. “I need you to let go of the attack. You could put a hole in the side of the Watchtower with that much energy, you’re scaring people.”
A glance past her showed more than a few sweaty brows and worried expressions. He swallowed nervously and reined himself in, he didn’t let go entirely but he wouldn’t level the building. “Where am I? And what’s going on?”
“Like I said, you’re on the Watchtower. It’s the home of the Justice League.” She kept her arms wide, hands open and in plain view, every inch a trained negotiator. “We found the Fenton Thermos in the League vaults, they were just bringing it to me to take a look when it reacted to something; you came out.”
“No, no, I know the Justice League. None of you are in the Justice League!” And what was this about the thermos? He hadn’t been in there, he’d been packing for a patrol. He was going to meet Sam and Tucker at the Nasty Burger. “Go get Batman if this is the League!”
“It’s true Danny.” She kept her voice steady. “Batman retired, but if you’ll just take a breath and calm down we can go meet Wonder Woman. I just need you to trust me.”
“Retired? What are you talking about?” This lady was crazy, and this fake league? It looked like a Comicon. “And why should I trust you? Who are you?”
“Oh Danny, do you not?” There was pain in her voice. “Of course you wouldn’t.” She took a breath and there was a flash of light, it made him twitch, but he recognized it.
She stood in front of him transformed, white hair turned black, green eyes turned blue. It was impossible, it was unmistakable, he didn’t want to believe it.
He remembered being in the basement, it was just a minute ago, but it felt like forever.
He remembered the flash of light.
His shoulders slumped and the burn of green fire subsided in his hands.
“How long has it been?”
Dani hesitated, “Danny, I don’t think we should-”
His eyes flashed a dangerous green. “How long, Dani?”
“It’s been almost thirty years.”
His knees gave way and tears welled in his eyes.
She kept talking but he didn’t hear her.