Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A Servant's Adoration 

FootballDasher.

Chapter 67

You can't keep a Good Ghoul Down

Summary:

Notes: 

So hey guys, this is a Merlin slash fic, as such, this is your warning that I do intend to have some 🌶️spicier🌶️ scenes.. Merlin x Arthur 4ever.

The comments in the last chapter pointed out and I feel I should say, I based a lot of these characters on IRL people. I feel like this isn't a shock.

(See end of chapter for more notes)

Arthur Dashiel Pendragon paced back and forth on the floor of his throne room, the soft click of his heeled boots on stone floors. A constant backdrop for everyone else in the room, Arthur, dressed in his finer garb, was doing his best to hold himself together, one arm wrapped around his front grasping his elbow, as though trying to keep himself from bursting, while he chewed on the nails of his other hand. 

He couldn't go see him right now, but he's ever faithful servant was laid up in the infirmary, after a particularly harsh attack. Poisoned his dear servant. He felt so useless, he had to be in the throne room, seen by nobles and his men as a strong and capable leader, but his mind wouldn't leave the mental image of his servant, red-faced and soaked in sweat, writhing on the bed in the medical chamber! 

It threw off the king so hard, his Merlin was a great and powerful man, almost like a ghost on the battlefield. Able to flit around enemies without even being noticed for a second, to have him laid up by some poison?!? The very thought was enough to make him scoff in ridicule. And yet, as he turned to make his way down towards the room that'd been set aside for Merlin, walking through the grand hallways, the truth was presented before him. As soon as he entered and gazed down at the chiseled lines of Merlin's face. His eyes lingered on the man's soft lips, eyes wandering down his trim figure, drinking it in and looking for any sign that the condition might be getting worse. 

Arthur, watched as healers moved around, at what seemed like a lull in the action, he stepped forward. Placed a hand on Merlin's chest and felt his heartbeat beneath his fingers, he felt the gentle pulse and breathed out a slow sigh of relief, he could feel eyes on him and turned. Met full force by Arctic blue eyes that practically glowed. "My king." His voice was deep, changed with Sleep, deep and husky at the same time, briefly making Arthur's knees weak. He hid it by resting a hand on the corner of Merlin's bed and leaning forward to get a better look at him. 

" You look a right mess." Arthur couldn't keep the crack from his voice, and Merlin's eyes softened before a cold hand came up and brushed across his cheek. 

" It's okay. I'm okay." For a moment the tough facade broke and Arthur allows all the concern to show on his face as he turned his head to kiss the palm of his servant's hand. He had no intention to leave Merlin's side until his precious servant was healed. 

"The nights won't need You for a while." He whispered, his voice soft, but firm, giving a command, without saying it. " Please I miss my servant, stay awhile."

The smile that spread across Merlin's lips melted something in Arthur's heart and he caught himself leaning forward, watching his Servant's eyes ease shut.  " Forever and always my king." He whispered, before darkness took him. Arthur's dearest servant was dragged back under into unconsciousness. 

End Notes

thx for reading

Edit: 12/25/2xxx 

HOLY MOLY! THERE ARE SOOOOOOOO MANY COMMENTS!

EDIT: 12/27/2XX

0.0 THANKS FOR ALL THE KUDOS!!!!

Edit: 01/05/2xxx

HELLO FROM AMITY PARK! OH MY GOODNESS!!! Okay okay, my inbox kind of exploded with this. First of all, hi, as I said we're from Amity Park. The second of all, yes! Phantom is actually a hero operating on here in Illinois! The gross smelling trench coat guy from the Justice League came by to recruit him, but we made a lot of calls to them in the past and we're just not vibing with them right now. You know how it is, it's a big planet! And they kind of started helping out when it got big to go with them, you know when they got more Heroes? But once burned twice shy you know? 

Edit:.01/06/2xxx 

So we wanted to test how much else we could get out, because Amity Park is under a blackout. So here is a Video put together by one of my classmates! 

* Video is a thirst trap of a black and white superhero. The superhero seems to have a black costume, with a white logo, white hair, and glowing green eyes. The video, set to BBNO$ Hot Topic, Featured the Monochrome Hero Phantom. Phantom is a very trim individual, all the muscles on his body refined and compact, his movements graceful, taking advantage of his personal lack of gravity to spin and dance in a way that would make Nightwing jealous. For the most part, the video is a series of still shots, sneakily taken or otherwise, each managing to catch Danny in some stage of undress. In a short clip, his fist is shown glowing green, held back and gripped tightly in the other. Across from him, a portly, blue/green skinned man in overalls stands in front of him, decked out like he's the Goalie in a game of Hockey. When the music lowered just enough, you could hear a "Ka-Maaaaaa." Whatever he was doing in the video caused the muscles in his arm to bulge, to the point where one can almost make out the veins in his arms even through the hazmat suit of a super suit he wore. The video ends on one of the very rare occasions when Danny phantoms outfit got blown clean off, showing off his....everything. Tastefully of course. Qwan prided himself on managing to show off, not only the muscle so well hidden by his hazmat suit, while ensuring the camera ONLY offered the tease of drifting lower, As he charges his hands, the green backlight further amplifying the shred of the "tastefully" nude twink. The caption reading "Caution: Objects may be hotter when dead."

Chapter Text

Most of the ghosts had been in the ghost zone lately, a schedule had been worked out, where they could come out for enrichment. As long as they didn't cause too much damage, Danny wouldn't even come for them. Most of the major ghosts were simply bored, and the occasional brawl got them satisfied more or less. From there. It was just keeping the simple ones together, getting fresh boxes for boxy, getting the lunch lady a new job as the actual lunch lady for their cafeteria, that kind of thing happened and all was well with the world. One would probably think that that would mean that Danny had no problems.

One would be wrong.

" BATTER UP!" The truly pure and perfect sound of the Fenton anti-creep stick colliding with the head of a demon filled the air. The demon, said stumbling forward by the force of jazz is liminal powered smack, found himself entangled in a web composed of glowing green energies. The web snapped around the demon, sending coursing through its body as Sam began to recite.

Danny could understand every language, especially the dead ones. Eventually the dad wound up at his place, so every language that had ever been spoken wound up where he was. Ancient Sumerian was really no different, and although it sounded incredible in the guttural growls of Sam's voice as it tore from her lips, the instant translation was something more like..."Go home, go home, go home, go home, go home, go home."

That said, demanding that someone go home repeatedly in ancient Sumerian was the equivalent of dropping a nuclear bomb on a house guest. So it was in short order that glowing red embers cracked open in the earth beneath them and the demon was sucked back home. With Danny, standing at the ready with a Fenton thermos just on the off chance That Sam wasn't actually magical, and nothing would happen.

Not that he would really be of any help to anyone right at the moment. With the demon taken care of, Sam touched her fingers to the Fenton phones in her ear. " Pharaoh, magic worked." On the other end of the line Tucker let out a triumphant howl, and Sam rolled her eyes, gaze moving from nothing as she listened to her boyfriend, to focus on Danny. He hadn't moved in the last 10 minutes, which wasn't necessarily the greatest sign when it came to him.

Rather than try to bug him, which generally didn't work at times like this Anyway, she reached over and very gently knocked his glasses down. Just a hair. Just enough to see the deep black of deep space reflected in his eyes. For a moment. She was caught in the pull like a black hole had her and it took everything in her to knock those glasses back up and into place before she got absorbed by the fantastical wonders in those eyes. Instead she nodded to Jazz. " Space cadet." She hummed as she nodded towards Danny, before moving to Jazz. Jazz took a second to inspect Sam, carefully turning her around and then looking into her eyes. Satisfied that there were no visible injuries, Jazz finally broke into a smile.

" Congrats! On the whole magic thing." She hummed, reaching out to take the book and inspect it. " Honestly, when we found this old thing in my grandma's collection, I thought for sure it would have been one of us." She mumbled that she flipped the book open and poked through the pages, none of the magic called out to her like it did to Sam. Nothing pulled at her eyes, and every time she tried to spend any amount of time staring at the words on the page they just kind of.... Rejected her. Her eyes slid off like the words themselves were saying no.

" I mean I was waiting for my letter, too bad Hogwarts doesn't exist here. We might have figured this out sooner." Fingers danced over the old leather, before she tugged the book close to her chest and smiled widely. " Perk to this?" She extended a hand, and snapped her fingers. A wave of power rolled out of her, the deep purple of her magic washed over everything, concentrating for a moment on Danny before spreading out further. It latched on to Jazz and then Sam, and somewhere. It also hooked on to Tucker. Concentrating finally on the ghost portal, before all that energy vanished and Danny was yanked back into his body. His eyes snapping to look at Sam as light flowed back into him.

Sam and Jazz followed, their glows a different color from his. Where his was that ecto green that they had all grown familiar with, Sam's was the deep purple of her magic and Jazz was the same bright teal as her headband. Tucker, somewhere not visible to the rest of the crew, didn't glow with a color. He crackled with electricity, it sparked off the tips of his fingers and charged the air around him. He felt energized and connected all at once, as soon as it came it went and they all Let out a breath.

Danny could feel it under his skin. The portal was still there, it crackled there right next to his core, feeding energy into it, allowing him to eat without having to pull from the atmosphere.

In jazz, the energy focused, it whirled around her body looking for a place to grip, but without a core and only being liminal, instead it latched on to her headband. That teal headband that never really left her side or got too far away from her, she could feel the portal in it, within her grasp. She simply needed to throw it out.

Sam could feel it twisting around her arms and digging its way into the book, leaving the portal as a part of its pages.

Tucker for his part was engrossed in something, grabbing his PDA and heading out the door, he didn't notice when a crackling field of electrified sand rose up in front of him, he definitely didn't notice it as he stepped through, but the warm arms that wrapped around his neck and the body that pulled him against it was very familiar. He pulled his eyes away from his PDA and smiled at Sam. His gaze returns to the PDA, only to snap back up and look at Sam with wide eyes. "Sam?!?"

His confusion was met with a kiss. And for a moment all thoughts of how he got here fled his brain. And they didn't return when Sam broke the kiss and bumped her forehead against his. " Honey? I feel like I got punched in the dick." Tucker made a little face at that. " So you're going to be a good techno geek boyfriend and go get your girlfriend that vegan Tikka masala that she really likes."

Tucker gave Danny A side long glance, Danny nodded sagely. "Better do what she says man." Tucker nodded and quickly leaned up to Peck his girlfriend on the cheek before running off.

" I'll meet you home babe!"

As he turned and ran off, Sam turned on her heels to focus on Jazz. " Jazz, do you know what I just did?"

" No Sam, I certainly do not." Her voice came out in that slightly stilted way that still gave away when she was lying.

" Oh yeah what did you do exactly?" Danny asked, turning his focus to Sam. Sam ignored him.

"Well Jazz." She said with a calm smile. " Did you happen to know that that particular portal, due to being caused by sacrifice, is attached to its sacrifice?"

Jazz took on a thoughtful appearance, her hand coming up to stroke and imaginary beard. " No! I didn't know that. How interesting..."

Danny looked between the two of them, confusion growing on his face as Sam continued. Danny looked between the two of them, confusion growing on his face as Sam continued." What do you think would happen if someone.... Let's say unbound the portal from The Fenton's basement?"

Danny's eyes snapped to Jazz, wide as understanding began to take place. " Well, the portal would probably return to the owner I'm assuming." Sam snapped her fingers and pointed.

"And to his fraid!"

Jazz gasped dramatically. " Well, that means he'd probably have access to be able to use the portal, and see his fraid whenever he wants!" She gasped dramatically again, this one much deeper and her hand came up to her mouth. "Sam, Sam, I heard this incredible news. NASA has a special program for Metahumans who want to go to space." She tugged out her phone, tapping on it. Danny leaned forward, expecting to be shown a website for whatever this program was.

Sam caught his shoulder, Danny looked at her, meeting her eyes with a curious brow raised practically to the sky. "Wouldn't you know it Jazz? I have a pamphlet right here." Sam mused, while producing a pamphlet from her purse and gave it a wave. "And this pamphlet says you only need a college education."

Danny's phone buzzed, and he actually broke down in tears when he looked at it. Sat right down and started crying as arms wrapped around him. On the screen a college acceptance from Central City University. "Like this?" Read Tucker's message.

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Cassandra Cain couldn't help the stab of pain in her chest when she looked at the picture of Steph on her nightstand. Her thoughts drifted back to less than a year ago, as she leapt out her window. Grappling line whirring as she fired it off.

Steph'd been missing for 2 weeks, no form of contact, no warning, nothing just gone. It took them 2 days to realize that Barbara had vanished as well, and then the manhunt began. Cass was in Central City following sightings of a strange mirror that showed a blonde, sad-looking woman. Someone had watched it for a full day, and had noticed that it repeated the same two names over and over. "Cassandra Cain." Could be clearly read on her lips.

When Cass had arrived, it turned out to be her girlfriend! Much older, by the wrinkles around her eyes and the hand that had pressed up against the Mirror when Cass showed up, Cass would have guessed in her mid-30s early '40s. There had been no sound between them, simply mouthed words. Stephanie had gotten yanked to another dimension with Barbara, and they were trying to find a way back.

So Cass Stayed. Bruce bought her an apartment near S.T.A.R. Labs where the mirror was being kept. And she helped out the broader hero community for that time. Rather than being contained to Gotham, she became sort of a traveling detective. She could slip into places, Of course, she had all of the bat training as well as all of her training growing up, so she would wander around Central City, or follow a summons to other hero cities and help out. It kept her busy while she waited

The perk to it all, being that in her second year living in Central City a man by the name of Daniel ("Please, please, please call me Danny.") Fenton was hired as a night cleaner at Star Labs, and since Cass made regular visits, they became pretty good friends. Cass discovered that he was in college learning astrophysics, intended to go to space, He was very Spacey (Hah!). Walked around with a bright grin. Sometimes stopping and becoming like a statue for hours at a time. Cass Did a cursory check on him, He just came across as your average guy. The area he was from didn't really draw up any red flags, beyond a tiny social media presence, but this was always more Barbara's area or Tim's, and she really didn't feel the need to bring this normal person to any of their attention.

Then she found out that he was a rather gifted engineer, and he helped her build equipment. Of course Bruce still gave her everything she needed, but she made a point to come across as interested in sci-fi-looking things. For the simple fact that whatever Danny built was pretty handy. His meta-suppression cuffs changed in size. Not just growing bigger to wrap around bigger wrists, but also in width, capable of changing from a simple pair of cuffs all the way up to something that wrapped clear up to their shoulders.

He gave her lipstick, a nice deep purple color called "UnderGrowth's Heir" that fired a Lazer AND could be used as lipstick. Canary had gotten one of her own when she saw it.

When Steph and Barb had finally made it back, they were....old. Not physically. The transition had shot the old women back into younger bodies. They did not come back long or with good news. Where they had been was under siege, it was some medieval world where Barb and Steph had been given magic by the gods of that world, in order to take on and beat the demon king.

Steph had also moved on.

"When we arrived....so much was happening. The System had come online, and now I was a sorcerer and Barbie was something of an artificer. You should have seen her..." Steph stared off. " The gods healed her legs... She could walk, she was so excited and then that first attack happened and we nearly died. It was this group, right and they were just...crazy strong, like fighting a dozen Banes WITH MAGIC!"

Barb nodded. " They also were not speaking English and it took us a while to figure out how to get the system to translate for us." She shook her head. "The UI was so bad, but we made it work."

" Anyway, we cleared all that stuff up, turned out that they had been given a prophecy that two great Heroes would show up." Steph beamed, waggling her finger between her and Barb.

" From there there was a lot of training, how to use magic, how to use swords. We had the upper hand. Of course, Batman trained us in fucking everything, but still. Some refining of skills. Then we went and fought." Barb frowned, her eyes twitching. " We were stupid, we slipped up. Leaned too much into the confusion and assumed we met good people."

Steph's face twisted and she glared at the ground. Outrage, shame, and a constant undercurrent of nerves in her body. So this wasn't even the worst thing she had to say.

" That's why we're going back. By the time we figured it out, it was too late and we were torn from there and shoved back here, but I can feel the System. We're going to rip open that portal and go back." She fixed Cass with a sad look and slowly reached down to grip Barb's hand. A ring Glinted on her finger and suddenly Cass understood what the worse news was

There was a lot more conversation that happened. Something about meeting a Ghost like Deadman and being told about something called the Anti-Ecto Acts. Apparently they wanted Bruce to dig into it, but Cass mostly floated through it, letting the words flow through her ears and out without retaining any grip in her brain. She simply allowed the shadows to wrap around her to hide away from the detectives as much as she could. To hide the tears. She couldn't leave though, she wanted to hear it from Steph's mouth, and thankfully when the meeting was over everyone had dispersed, Steph and Barb made their way over.

"I'm sorry Cass...We didn't mean to...but it was so hard." She wouldn't look into Cass' eyes. "We were fighting together, nearly tied together so many times. We...we were already married by the time you found me." She whispered, her voice cracking. Shame practically screamed from her body. "I should have told you, but....but I just couldn't."

Silence filled the air, and it wasn't until Steph finally looked up to meet Cass' eyes that she got a watery smile. It was forced, very clearly forced. Barely holding it together for a broken "I understand." She didn't. She couldn't. She didn't get a choice. She couldn't be mad at shitty circumstances and she patiently REFUSED to show her now Ex those emotions when she knew she'd be leaving again...soon.

Tears stung at the corners of her eyes. They'd finally left to that other dimension four hours ago. Cass had been into the underground Garage Bruce had bought and converted into a base of Operations for Cass to work out of. She'd put on her suit and been out into The Central City night. Currently she sits on the roof of a skyscraper. Only the bottom half of her face covered as she let herself cry in a place where she wouldn't be easily seen by anyone.

She was still quiet, always quiet, but the tears still flowed. They would have continued like that too! Her head bowed hands mostly covering her eyes as quiet sobs shook her, when a foil wrapped burrito was very carefully placed on her lap by a white gloved hand. Teary eyes snapped up to meet the sympathetic gaze of a vaguely familiar white haired man. His hand came up to scratch his neck as he looked away.

"It ain't much, but every time I've had a good cry, a burrito always helps me." He said, Concern and worry, radiating from him. He was about Cass's height, if not a bit shorter, thin, very thin, and pale. His chest also didn't rise and fall with breath. He wore a Black Hazmat suit with white gloves and boots. A flaming half circle held a P in black inside of it. A silver circlet ringed his head. The metal looking delicate and holding a subtle fire motif. His suit sort of reminded her of the black suit Kent owned. Maybe there was a relation? He floated into a seated crisscross in front of her, smiling lightly. Maybe her age or a little older. She couldn't see his eyes behind a reflective Green Visor that reminded her of Booster Gold's.

A wet laugh left her as she looked down at the burrito in her lap. "Super?" She asked quietly. Maybe a long shot, but she picked up notes of a Midwestern accent. The White hair was different, but he held that same sort of confidence that Clark held in his hero persona. If not a bit...regal.

Danny blinked. "Me? Oh yeah." He said, nodding. He was absolutely a superhero.

Cass Nodded back. So Kent has a new relative. Okay. At least he brought food. "Thank you." She mumbled. She reached up to pull The top half of her mask back over her eyes, slipping the mouth portion down over and under her chin so that she could bite into the burrito. Chewing quietly, she knew which truck it came from almost immediately. She had been excited to introduce Steph to it. Something that made it harder to take the next bite. "Name?" She asked, looking up, only for no one to be there. She blinked and looked around, not finding anyone, she looked back down to the burrito, before letting out a 'Huh' and biting into it.

It was a good burrito at least.

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All across Oa alarms were sounding. Green lanterns, the few that weren't deployed to a war, rushed to the central lantern, where the pale blue body of a guardian lay on the ground, its head entirely gone. A search was conducted, and calls went out to all of the lanterns in an attempt to get more people Looking.

Kyle Rayner puffed out a breath and Frowned, He'd been on Oa, preparing to leave when the Alarm was sounded and even he, For all he could do in this moment, did not have time. People were dying, and a scan of the planet showed that whoever had taken out that particular guardian was no longer here. The guardians were already pouring over their equipment, but if they could figure out who did it, they didn't say, nor did they calm down.

Without Hal or John here, it was just him, a few trainees, and Guy. So he made an executive decision and shot off to earth. Pouring every bit of speed into it as he raced across the vastness of space, aiming for the watchtower.

When he got into Range, he connected his JL comm. "Green Lantern to the Watchtower. I need a Bat."

Chapter Text

"Okay...Okay Hold on. Lemme just....Okay." Flash nodded along as he quickly scribbled down everything that Kyle said. "Okay. Yep. I can- No? Okay. Bats it is." He nodded as Kyle zipped off, and turned to set up a call with the Bat cave.

The call was accepted a moment later and an older, accented voice came through. "Batcave, Agent A speaking, Batman is out currently. How may I help you?"

"Hey A. Lantern swung by. Something went down on Oa and they'd like a bat to investigate. Sent the audio logs your way." He reported Cheerfully. There was silence on the line for a moment, and then a hum.

"I will see what I can do."

"One more thing. We don't got anyone to spare. The Lanterns are off dealing with a war and most of the tower is empty, dealing with....well...a lot. I'll have it all in a report for later."

"Understood." A responded, waiting a moment, before clearing his throat. "If that will be all, Sir? I must return to my tasks."

"Later A!" Flash called, hanging up and going back to monitor duty.

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Alfred let out a breath, and took a seat in front of the back computer. His hands moving to rest on the keyboard, tapping a couple of times to pull up the comms. With Barbra not currently acting as Oracle, Tim had taken the role, so Alfred didn't actually need to be down in the cave, but he could watch trackers from here, which helped reassure him that his charge and the children were okay.

"Pardon the intrusion. I have had a somewhat urgent request for assistance on Oa." He reported, waiting silently.

"Hmmm..." Batman grunted. "Sound off." He grunted.

Nightwing spoke up first. "Hey B. Gonna be busy. Me and Robin will be looking for a cure to giving the Fae your name until further Notice."

"Hn...." Bruce sounded stressed and a choked sound followed. Then silence for a moment. "Richard "Dick" Grayson." Then another choked off sound.

"Yep!" Nightwing said, cheerfully. "Don't worry B!"

"Hn."

Conner Kent's voice could be distantly hear from Red Robin's comm. "Timber is gonna be busy with things here with Oracle and Steph out."

"Names." Batman grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah B." RR replied. "He's right though. I'm out until Babs gets back."

"Signal Could do it." Nightwing hummed

"The Signal and Hood are on their way to Nanda Parbat." Batman grunted. "They have a gallon of Compound LW1015." That particular compound had been found to be rather interesting when combined with Lazarus Waters. To put it simply, it removed the Lazarus and just made them Waters.

Nightwing Snorted and Robin Tutted. "As if Hood could get passed Grandfather."

"I will-" Batman started

"I believe Master Bruce has three Gala's this month alone, all for fundraising towards Arkham, no?" Alfred asked. Resolutely stopping Bruce from taking on the task.

Two taps came over the comm and Alfred hummed. Cass was acknowledging. Silence likely being a request for details. "Kyle Rayner requested a bat to investigate the murder of a guardian of Oa. The location of his passing is being preserved to maintain as much of the evidence as possible. There is no sign of the killer on the planet and they're requesting an investigation to be carried out. There is no one available to take you to OA, so You would need to find your own way."

A few seconds passed and finally a double tap. Alfred nodded, sending Cass the audio file. It was good that she had become more active, and he was sure this trip to Oa would help to revitalize the poor girl. After Miss Brown had left, It had taken a month for Cassandra to have properly gotten back Being Blackbat. And even then she didn't talk for another month.

The first time Alfred had heard her voice in that 2-month period, had been to hear her talking about someone she met in Central, That was apparently a relative of the kents. This particular superhuman had been kind enough to give her a burrito to help her cheer up mere hours after Stephanie had left. She hadn't seen the hero since, but her tracker said that she still went to S.T.A.R. to Labs once a week or so, late in the evening to spend some time there. She never mentioned anyone in the lab, Alfred believed it was to speak to Stephanie through the mirror. Whatever helped her get past the broken heart.

He nodded to himself when he watched as her tracker went dark as she returned home and settled down for the night.

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Danny very quickly gained a reputation. He was smart, don't let him anywhere near technology that you don't want torn apart. He was passionate, get him talking about space and he will not stop. Devoted, the flight simulator at S.T.A.R. Labs, which any member of the astrophysics classes could make use of, after presenting Cisco Ramone with the equivalent of a thesis on why they should have access to the expensive tech. It didn't see near as many hours from any of the other students. Not a single person in Central City had ever seen his eyes. When he first started, people thought that he was blind with the big thick glasses, some bullies attempting to cold cock him in a hallway, found out that if he was, he wasn't defenseless.

As a Joke, someone started a DannyWatch page, simply because the weird guy would freeze in the strangest places. He could be doing anything. Someone was in line with him at a stall for brick oven Pizza's in the university cafeteria, when he froze. This particular student thought that perhaps it was some form of seizure, and very gently guided Danny to a seat, he'd been about to reach forward and tug down the glasses to check for pupil dilation or something, he wasn't really sure what he was supposed to look for, when Danny began to whisper.

It was like he was talking to a baby, coo-ing and encouraging the little guy to grow big and strong. For a moment the student thought Danny was talking about him, and waved in front of his face. No outward response, and walking around him. Didn't cause Danny to follow him. That didn't stop the gentle whispers, his hands even came up to reach out for something for a moment, the student thought he saw pale hands glow.

People understood better after that was posted, and it became more about using DannyWatch To relocate him into more convenient spots. They discovered over time that if they approached from the front, and very gently took his hand, he would follow along like a lost puppy. Sometimes people recorded his whispers, other times they sat and listened. Recordings of these whispers never came out clear, always heavy with static, and sitting to listen became a way for Astronomy students to study. He'd whisper to the cosmos, encouraging the stars.

Students In those classes began to, as a joke, whisper a little prayer before tests.

Isaiah Bradley was the first to notice....it kinda worked? Isaiah Was in engineering, his particular goal was to build satellites. He wanted to build a camera that could be dropped into a black hole. He didn't believe he could build a camera that would survive the process of getting crushed in a black hole, but he thought he could build a camera that would stream a constant recording all the way through the event horizon.

He could often be found working on this project, and as it got closer to a successful test run in a high pressure environment, he began to miss classes, fall asleep in the ones that he would go to, forget to sleep in his personal life, Isaiah let the project consume him just a bit too far, so when tests came along, he showed up, but he didn't know at all What would be on the test. So he whispered a little prayer.

"Danny, I really, really need to pass."

It worked too. Not well, it wasn't a perfect pass, but that particular B was only because, whenever he looked at a question that was even VAGUELY space related. He knew the answer with such clarity, That the problem actually became showing his work for some of the more mathematic questions.

Word spread rapidly, and soon, DannyWatch took their activities further and started leaving "Thank You's" In the form of food. Someone from DannyWatch would spot him, standing Frozen, post the location. Then The last person to have done well on their test would come, find him, get him to a more comfortable spot and leave behind a small snack or meal, and a soft "Thank you."

In a dimension of swirling green and floating Islands, in a massive clock tower, surrounded by turning gears, the ancient of time looked down on his Little Brother and watched the formation of his first cult with glee.

Danny hadn't fully realized this was happening, he heard them when they said their prayers, but he hadn't put together that what he was hearing was anything beyond over heard conversation, since most of these tests were also tests that he took and passed fully concentrated, he didn't really pay attention when he would hear the occasional. "Please Danny help me pass." He just rolled his eyes and grumbled a "Yeah Sure. Whatever. I'm busy." And move on.

For his part he was actually doing quite well, he, Sam, Tucker, and jazz had all sort of scattered. Jazz went to Gotham, she planned on getting into Arkham asylum when the time came. Sam and Tucker when the Metropolis. All for building their own lives and going to college, they had been in fairly constant contact with each other, sharing stories and visiting whenever they got the opportunity. With the portal currently housed within Danny, he could throw it out and practically teleport to whatever member of his Fraid he wanted to visit in the moment.

He even got to watch Bruce Wayne go on a passionate rant about how the anti-ecto acts were a slippery slope to removing human rights from many of the non-humans that lived in the world as is. Lois Lane even wrote a scathing article tearing apart the GIW, such a glorious fire burning of their credibility. Danny had it framed, professionally.

He's doing good in class, he's making friends, he found an excellent coffee shop, the GIW defunding is only a matter of time. Life is going excellently. So could someone please tell him why he just walked into his dorm room to find a bat sitting primly at his desk.

And not just any bat. THE bat. The bat that made Danny's heart flutter. Graceful, she dances amongst enemies, he'd seen recordings of her fights. It was like watching an angel move. Each step flowed into a strike. Like a murderous ballerina. She matched him in height, if not a hair bit taller. His every movement under her scrutiny, making his heart hammer (A whole 7 beats a minute!). His hands moved automatically, closing the door and brushing down his shirt.

He scanned his room swiftly, cringing and frowning. His room was...barren. He had portals, so he could just go home when he needed something, so He had made zero effort to make this room look lived in whatsoever. He only had it so that if anyone looked into him, they wouldn't be confused that he didn't have a place here. The bed was made at least.

"Uuuhhhh...." His brain clicked over to third thoughts. Why was there a bat in his dorm? All at once the blood drained from his face, He'd given this bat a burrito....had she tracked phantom back to Fenton? How?!? She must have seen something, or maybe felt something, because she leaned forward and the eyes on her mask shifted down into slits. Danny lost his thought process. He could feel that glare picking him apart, peeling him apart layer by layer. She knew. She knew about phantom. She's a bat. Of course she knew. He swallowed and shifted. "I'm not....I mean....Uhmmm..." He cleared his throat, pushing his hands in his pockets and shifting to lean against the doorway. "I definitely didn't call for room service."

Blackbat didn't react, Well at least not to the joke. Instead, her hand came up, fingers tenting as they planted on a folder on his desk, deftly spinning it and pushing it towards him across the desk. Danny stood and moved forward, reaching up, about to take off his glasses, before glancing at BB. He frowned a bit and lowered his hand. She wouldn't be used to it. Better to leave them on. He placed a hand on the folder, looking at black bat patiently until she moved her own hand before flicking it open. He was greeted by his own face. He scanned it. It was his credentials from S.T.A.R. with the hours spent at the simulators underlined in red.

"I need to get to Oa." She said, leaning back, watching as he flipped through the pages. A heavily redacted transcript of the recording by Kyle Rayner. Any personal information removed from the conversation had, as well as specific details on why they were going. Those could be given later. "I need a pilot."

Danny nodded slowly. Yeah, that made sense. If she already knew about him, then of course she'd ask him. "Do you have a ship?" He asked, meeting the blocky white of her eyes. "Probably one with private rooms so you don't always have to be in costume?" He asked, moving past the desk to his bed. An unpack suitcase tucked underneath. It was a go bag, but it also carried a week's worth of clothes.

Cass blinked under her mask. It took her a moment and she watched him move around, before she slowly nodded. "Javelin-7." She said, leaning back. "Batman designed one with private quarters."

"Okay. She fast? Cause Oa is a ways away." Danny came to a stop, half under the bed, still as a statue. She slowly sat up and moved closer. He was whispering.

Cass had heard about this when she looked into Danny, and she slowly stood, walking silently around him. Lightly gripping the back of his shirt. With only the smallest application of force, he moved. So she guided him out from under the bed, leading him to the desk and sitting him on the desk chair.

She waved her fingers in front of his face, This was the first time she'd actually seen this. It was eerie. He was a statue, but the longer she looked, the more parts of him seemed...Strange. Firstly he was cold. Like...meta-human cold. She was pretty sure she could see a subtle green glow under the glasses. The same deeper lime of the lantern Rings.

He tickled a part of her memory, he was familiar in a way additional to her already knowing him. Black-haired, with spots of white that twinkled like stars, she swore she could make out the Big Dipper on the back of his head Occasionally. Walked slightly hunched forward, hands usually tucked in his pockets, head more focused on where he was walking than where he was going. He was trim in a way that spoke to both heavy activity and food scarcity. He was well known for spacing out for hours on end, she had followed DannyWatch just enough to make sure that her new friend was okay. Then when it began to shift into more cult-like activities, she watched it specifically to make sure they didn't plan on kidnapping the poor guy in order to make him their figurehead proper.

He dressed plainly, a red shirt with a pair of blue jeans that were just a size or two too big, a pair of well-worn sneakers, and occasionally his personality would shift, and he would take on this... Predatory nature. His eyes would smoothly track people around him, his hands pulled from his pockets and held at the ready. He moved like he was waiting for a bad shoe to drop, and then whatever had caused it would pass all at once and he would go back into the slouched pose.

It sort of reminded her of the transition between Clark, Kent and Superman.

She leaned in closer to try and understand his mutters, when he suddenly yelped, jerking away from her, causing the chair to tip, and him to tumble back. Cracking his head on one of the legs of the bed, he groaned, rolling into his side and holding his head. She darted forward, kneeling and dipping a hand into her utility belt, fishing out a small flashlight and doing a quick check. He protested, trying to bat her hand away as she reached for the glasses. She answered by gripped his wrist tight and leveling her own batGlare at him. He shut up and let her work. Probably not concussed if he obeyed so easily.

"Javelin-7 is hyperspace capable. If all goes well, I'm hoping we'll be there and back in a week." Danny made a little face, but nodded. She lifted his head to check for blood, finding none, she moved to remove the glasses. "You're being contracted by the Justice League through S.T.A.R. Labs. Professors have been made aware of your absence. You should receive your homework before we leave."

His free hand shot up, gripping her wrist tightly when her fingers made contact with the glasses. His grip was far too tight, she could feel it through her armor and knew there'd be bruising around her wrist later. "Don't." Cass turned her gaze to him and nodded. With that level of strength, strength which was rapidly adjusting to a more 'Human' Grip strength, he was likely a meta. His eyes might give him away or effect the person looking at them.

Danny nodded back. He took a deep breath and slowly sat up, replaying the conversation. Clearly the bat had already gotten everything lined out for him. "So when do we leave?" He asked as he picked up the suitcase and got ready to go.

And Cass shook her head, a firm hand planted on his suitcase, pushing it back down to the ground. " 2 days." She appreciated his eagerness, but it was entirely unnecessary, she still had to take care of some stuff in her personal life. " Will send coordinates to Meetup location."

Danny nodded, bending down to tuck the suitcase back under his bed. *What do you want me to do when we get to O-" when he turned around she was already gone. He frowned and looked around, before heading towards the window and peeking out. Seeing no sign of her. He shrugged and turned back to grab his phone and let his family know.

------------------------

KingBoo: got a bat visit today, might be unavailable for the next week or so. Maybe plan for a bit longer.

Jazzerincess: GIW related?

KingBoo: Nah. Needa pilot. I gave her a burrito as Phantom, cuz she was crying on a rooftop, pretty sure she knows who I am.

PoisonIvyJr: God dammit Danny.

KingBoo: I know.

TooFine: Bet she's cute.

KingBoo: She could fully kick my ass. I caught the tail end of a fight with her a couple of days ago? Let's just say I've started referring to her as the ballerina of death.

Jazzerincess: That's a yes, Tucker.

KingBoo: Fuck you 😂

------------------------

Cass frowned as she made it her way back home, entering the underground garage and going through her things before humming softly. She wasn't exactly equipped currently for an interstellar trip, so she had given herself the two days to run to Gotham, pack up everything she would need, and then run back to Central City to meet Danny at the Central City Zeta.

She changed quickly, swapping into casual wear before heading out the door. A ping on her phone Drew her attention to it as she walked, scrolling through the family group chat and tapping on the link sent through. (Video from Prologue chapter)

------------------------

Insomniac: New Hero

LivingDeadBoy: Booster Gold's Monochrome cousin?

DeathTheKid: Is Gold not from the future? Perhaps this is Booster Gold As a child?

LivingDeadBoy: Demon Brat's got a point.

BackInPurple: Damn Timmy. Get a new Boy toy?

DadsFavorite: 👈Met him.

DadsFavorite: Said he was a super.

DiscoWing: What, like....another Kent? Surely we'd have heard of him.

Insomniac: He's based out of Amity Park. Goes by Phantom. Claims to be dead, but that might be to fit the "Most haunted city" Motif. Maybe not House of El?

BruceWayneIzzaBitch: Clark isn't aware of any new Kryptonians on Earth.

BatmanIzzaBottom: Tim.

Insomniac: Yeeeeessss?

DeathTheKid: Batman can't be on the bottom. He is the most capable member of the league. They all respect him. Surely he would be on the top, no?"

LivingDeadBoy: Yeah Tim. What DemonBrat said.

-----------------------

Cass was about to tuck her phone away when something....clicked. she quickly flipped to Facebook, pulling up DannyWatch and doing a little fishing to find a good picture of him. She found one where somebody was taking advantage of his statue state to attach cat ears to his head, getting a good picture of it that gave Cass a clear view of him.

She save that particular photo, flipping back to the video to find the cleanest picture she could of Phantom and getting a screenshot. She flipped back and forth between pictures a few times, before clicking her tongue and sending the pictures to the group chat.

She tucked her phone away and Beelined for the car, time to get packed up. The glasses made way more sense if he was a super. They did like to hide who they were behind glasses. The fact that he wore them in and out of hero stuff still bugged her. She was kinda leaning towards him being blind. Maybe using his enhanced senses as eyes?

Chapter Text

T-MINUS:36 HOURS TO LAUNCH

"Holy shit, Holy shit, Holy Shit!" Jon whispered as he watched a black haired teenager walk passed. He was sitting on an examination table at S.T.A.R. labs, when a tall, gangly looking teenager strolled past the examination room. Jon did a double take and stared, no heartbeat, no sounds of footfall, there was signs of breathing, but it wasn't....right. Jon frowned, following him closely, when he realized. It was suuuper irregular. He followed him with X-Ray vision and noticed him stop breathing for a solid five seconds, before breathing again.

The guy wasn't even that much taller than Jon. Maybe 5'5" or 5'6". He still had that awkward sort of height that you get right after you come out of puberty. In fact the longer the Jon looked at him, Jon guessed maybe 16 or 17. A cursory scan showed nothing...weird on the outside, beyond the irregular breaths. He was very pale, ears had a bit of a point, his smile showed sharp fangs. He couldn't see the eyes behind those sunglasses. Maybe he's a vampire? Those exist, right?

Jon took a breath in and nodded. If he was a vampire it was all fine. The guy was okay. Maybe he's let dad know! He was about to look away, but something bugged him and he decided it couldn't hurt to give the guy a more thorough look over.

It was rude, it was a little intrusive, but the guy would never know. So Jonn did a quick X-ray. Just a quick one! Real fast. A quick scan of his whole body, only to discover a rock in his chest. A rock that looked a whole lot like Kryptonite. In. His. Chest. Jon watched him walk down a random hall and pushed himself to the edge of the examination table, about to hop off and run after the man. The door slipping open stole his attention, making him glance over. When he glanced back he couldn't find kryptonite vampire man. 'Fudge.' He thought.

The doctor who had done his examination and his mother discussed, and Jon decided he would wait and discuss this with...Robin. He frowned as he tried to focus on 𝓭𝐚мƗ𝐚𝐍 𝓌𝐚𝔂𝐍𝑒...Robin. That's weird. He whispered the Name and it came out...Wrong. Really wrong if the nose bleed he got from it meant anything.

Oh that was a mistake. The doctor was poking and prodding, tilting his head to inspect his nose. His mom is frowning in concern. He shifted awkwardly, and cleared his throat to try and possibly make it better. "Sorry doc...I...uh...I forgot to drink water today."

The Mom Glare™ Definitely didn't make him feel good about the little white lie. He almost backpedaled just so she wouldn't glare at him anymore.

With his head ducked down, he pushed off of the examination table, taking the bottle of water he was given by the doctor, and sipping on it as he followed immediately behind his mother. Best not to make the situation any worse than it already was.

By the time they had gotten to the car, she had calmed down significantly and he had drank all of the water in the bottle. So he thought he could risk this. He reached out to poke his mom, clearing his throat. "Mom? When we're done can I go talk to ██████....Robin?"

T-MINUS: 40 hours to launch

Danny dug his fingers into the soup of the universe, pulling together ingredients and smoothing them out into a doughy nebula. He hummed softly as his fingers moved new stars into this particular nebula, stretching it out and reshaping it until he was satisfied with the appearance, sliding it out into its designated place in space. He turned to the new Star factory he had been building.

" You're almost there. Little guy! And I have just the system to put you in." He told the forming star, expanding his vision and turning as though to show the star a system where years ago a planet's radioactive core had self destructed. Like the Atlantis of space, the people there had gotten to involved with themselves and forgot to care for the planet they were harvesting. The explosion had sent a ripple out, and the red Giant had imploded when assaulted by the weird radiation, forming a black hole that radiated this strange radiation.

His star would burn Hydrogen AND that radiation to counteract it and allow proximity....hopefully. He wanted to put a planet right in the middle of these two and see what happened.

It was a project he had been looking in on for a while, and noticed that the Green lantern corps was also taking note of it. There was a war far off in another sector, but the occasional Green lantern would swing by and check up in Sector 2813. The Green Lantern rings were actually fairly skilled at giving him exact measurements for what he was doing. He could do it himself, but why do yourself what you can make others do for you?

He would have or could have stayed out there to continue to play with the Stars, but he felt a firm hand and a shake somewhere far far away. Turned his focus back when lightning crackled. It was loud and nearby, relatively speaking, the scare shocked him back into his body and perhaps out of instinct he swung.

His fist made contact with nothing, and more electricity crackled around him. He looked around slowly, noticing that the world was brighter than normal. When a pair of glasses slammed over his eyes. They were hot, pink and covered in sequins. Ah. Impulse

"Danny!" He slid to a stop in front of Danny, watching as his head turned to follow the motion. " Crash!" He breathed, bending in half and resting his hands on his knees. A little ways off a group of men were tied to a pole unconscious. " Dude you have got to stop doing the space thing While walking around."

Impulse knew, like he knew knew. The little guy was from the future, so of course when he was traveling back in time, clockwork was made aware of him. He wasn't from the bad future, he wasn't even born in the future with Dan, but everyone seemed to know of the Ancient of Space where he came from. His status as a halfa, all of it. He always said Danny looked different, like he didn't look right. He seemed anxious for the day that Danny looked like he was supposed to, and made a point to keep an eye on him.

Followed him into stores, on his walks, if Danny wasn't in school or in the lab? Impulse was nearby.

This version of phantom... This version of Phantom was going to get him killed by Blackbat. Clearly he couldn't control his godliness, it was going to get him found out worse than he already was, and changed the future, impulse had to be on his toes at all fucking times.

" I am truly not feeling the aster." He mumbled, making sure that Danny was all right before he continued on his self-given task. He caught himself staring at Danny's backside, not because the guy had a good backside or anything. It was.just... different. Not right. Phantom had once told him that he had changed after he relaxed for the first time. He'd been trying so hard to get this one to do it too. Unfortunately it seemed like whenever he told Danny to "Remember to relax dude!" The guy seemingly didn't take it to mean anything more than a parting courtesy.

T-MINUS:34 HOURS TO LAUNCH

Jon swooped into the bat cave, spotting Tim working at the Batcomputer. He flew over and landed with a thump. "Hey Tim! Where's Da-....Robin?" He asked, glancing at the screen and frowning at the two images on the screen. His eyes moving to a paused Tiktok, only for it to vanish before he could see much more than a flash of white hair. The one with black hair looked a lot like that kid with the kryptonite in his chest. And the one with white hair looked a lot like the kid with the black hair. "Oh yeah. I forgot with the whole Robin thing. I need to tell my dad about him..."

Tim whipped around, pinning Job with a stare. "And why?"

Jon flinched back. Tim frowned but lowered his intensity a hair, which encouraged Jon enough to leaned past Tim, taking the mouse and highlighting a spot on his chest. " Right about there. There's this glowing green rock inside him, it looks kind of like kryptonite." Tim stared, visibly blue screening as he slowly leaned back in the seat. " Okay, so get this I'm at S.T.A.R. waiting on Mom, I just finished my check up, and at this point I'm, you know, waiting. When this guy walks past, no sound whatsoever. Which is weird right? Cuz I got really good ears. Of course. Dad's got good ears so I do too!" Tim cleared his throat. " Right! So anyway, I tuned my ears in real close and I'm not hearing a heartbeat, no footfalls, nothing. Like this person doesn't exist on a...like....Sound scale. So I do a quick check, of course his heart isn't beating. Not the weird part." He paused just long enough to earn an annoyed glare. "Right where his heart should be, Is this green glowing stone? And I was going to bring it up to Dad, but then I couldn't say Robin's name and I got really cu-"

"THERE'S A WHAT IN HIS WHERE?!?" He heard from Tim, Connor, and Clark. Connor and Clark being quite a ways off. He can hear Clark choke, and then mutter a "...Robin.... Heir to the demon's head....D-" another choking sound.

" Oh yeah no don't try Dad, I tried to force myself to remember, and I can feel the name around the edges but I can't get the name." He said before turning his focus to Tim and smiling brightly. " Clark knows, so does Connor." Unfortunately, the distant rumble of a volcano, and the screams of people trying to escape the magma told Jon That his father was currently occupied, and he could hear Kaldur ordering Superboy to focus up, so both of the other supers were busy.

" Cass said he claims to be a super." Jon blinked at Tim, A frown marring his features as his gaze turned down. " If he is a Kryptonian and has kryptonite in his chest...."

" Maybe he somehow adapted to it? And that's why he's walking around?" Jon asked. "Like....He straight up didn't have a heart. Just this rock. Should we....Get him to a hospital?"

Tim shook his head, glaring at the computer. "We should...but Cass is meeting up with him already, and we're spread very thin...I...I think it'll be better if we let her take point on this. I'll let her know."

John closed his eyes, his focus spreading to his ears to try and pick out where the people he knew were. Tim was right, it seemed like every hero that Jon knew of was doing their own thing, and really couldn't be pulled away. " Well then I coul-"

" Jonathan Samuel Kent your time is up. Get your butt back here. It is a school night and you need to do homework." Jon tensed up, and duckex his head.

" Never mind Tim..." He mumbled, kicking his foot a little bit as he turned to leave.

"Honestly It's good that we know. Even if we can't do anything about it right now, the fact that we know means that when we're not quite as busy, we can do something about it then." Tim turned back to the Batcomputer. " And I'll make sure Cass knows. She's going to space with the guy, so if anyone could sneak in a medical checkout it would be her."

T-minus:33 hours to launch

It was assumed that Danny would need to pack the next day, so Cisco had been nice enough to give him the following day off. That did not mean he did not work this evening. He got his gear together, switched into some overalls and got out on the floor to start his cleaning duties.

Headphones went in and he wandered along, starting off with a broom that he pushed through the Halls. He didn't notice right away that he had a companion, until he turned a corner where the light cast a bit differently and noticed a second Shadow. His hand came up and he pulled his headphones off, glancing over and spotting Cass.

She usually came for visits to Steph, the girl in the mirror that was in the room that Danny wasn't supposed to know about, you can't really be the ancient of space and not know about other spaces and people traveling between them, something must have happened though, because her visits slowly turned into following Danny around, and then catching him near the beginning of his shift to walk around the lab with him once or twice. Usually she would leave at random, And Danny never quite figured out how to know if she was coming back or not.

He didn't even attempt to tell her to stop, she gave off the feeling of someone who would not be told no, and she was never in the way. He could still sweep the floor, mop, whatever he needed to do when she would be at a respectful distance. If he wanted to chat she would listen, and if his hands weren't busy and he could focus, she would chat back. Usually using sign language, but he had also had verbal conversations as well.

She was taller than him, graceful, she moved like someone who is very aware of their body, Danny had figured out that she was a dancer, participating in ballet, Even got invited to a show, unfortunately work and school meant he couldn't attend. Her hair was cut short, just above her shoulders, pulled back into a ponytail held loosely at the back of her head. She wore a t-shirt with an unrecognized band on it, a pair of black jeans, and had the prettiest little Moon and star piercings in her ears. Those brown eyes pierced him tonight, he didn't know why, but she seemed even more intense than usual. They tracked over him slowly, lingering on his chest where his core sat.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice coming out soft and concerned. Danny felt his cheeks warm up and he had to force himself to look away and Forced himself to focus on sweeping once again. The intensity with which she had approached him had his heart hammering in his chest. His cheeks tinting red as he cleared his throat.

" I'm f^Ine>" fixing her with an embarrassed grin. " Fine! Totally fine. Nothing wrong with me here." He got back to pushing the broom, and after a moment a thought occurred to him and he felt himself slump just a bit. "Atually no, I'm not super fine." Cass perked, and moved around in front of him. He stopped and rubbed the back of his neck, slowly moving to meet Her gaze. " I'm actually really nervous. Blackbat from Gotham? She needs a pilot. So she's taking me to space to fly her to a different planet." He tried to be vague somewhat, not sure how much he could actually tell her. " I'll be away for like a week, maybe more. It's not that it's going to be like my first time flying or even going to space..."

Cass gave him a confused look and he laughed Awkwardly, Looking at one of the walls in an attempt to keep his brain on track while he spoke to the other gorgeous girl in his life. "Well she's... Gorgeous and deadly, and I'm.... A Janitor. We're going to be alone together, so I would like for her to like me." He gave an awkward little laugh as he waved his broom just a bit. "I hope I can make that hap-" He cut himself off when he looked at Cass, noticing the pink blush that had taken over her cheeks. "Cute." Slipped out of his mouth before he could catch the words, his hand coming up to slap over his lips as he ducked his head.

He stood there silently, hand over his mouth, eyes closed, waiting for the embarrassment to pass or her to start giggling or anything to relieve the tension. He felt. He'd even take him getting slapped, just something to make this less awkward. When he gathered the courage, looking up at her, she looked to be waiting patiently. Her face still slightly pink, but her shoulders were rolled back and she was poised and not looking away from him, making him swallow as she cleared her throat. " Breakfast?"

Danny blinked and stared, blinking a few more times before slowly nodding his head. " Seven? We could meet here?"

Cast nodded her head. " Motorcycle."

Danny blinked until she tapped her own chest and he nodded slowly." Oh! Same here actually. We could still meet here at like....7:00, link up and go for a ride together? I have to meet the bat at like 7:00 p.m. Or something, I'll have to double check my calendar.".

Cass gave A firm nod and held out her hand. Danny stared in confusion for a moment, before slowly lifting his hand to place in hers. She smacked his hand and made a grabbing motion with her fingers. He lifted his other hand to place in her hand and she smacked it again, giving a barely suppressed laugh. " Phone."

Danny made a little face, before digging in his pocket. Obediently handing over his phone. She tapped at it a few times, and twisted it back for him to put in his password, before quickly navigating and putting in her phone number. "Good. 7 AM." She said, turning and leaving Danny to stand there. Shocked.

"I am Too Fine for you! Begone thot!" Came the digital call of Tucker's anti-virus. He lifted the phone and tapped on it. "She got a tracker on my phone?" He asked, lowering the phone to look off in her direction. "Cass wouldn't be GIW, right? Would the GIW Honeypot me?" He slowly sorted through the anti-virus and frowned. " For now I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt." He finally decided before tapping the 'ignore' on the tracker...for now.

T-Minus: 34 Hours to Launch

Cass wasn't stalking Danny. She wasn't! Over the couple of months before Steph had left, she'd taken up a habit of showing up to S.T.A.R. to chat with Danny. He knew Sign language, so even when she didn't have verbal words, she had physical ones. He also seemed to instinctively understand body language. Not to her level, but a bit like someone with a heavy accent, they could 'talk' in that way as well.

It was nice.

Especially after Steph left. It took her a week to actually find words, but Danny never once pushed her. He'd let her follow along behind him, shared his lunch and drinks, filled the night with easy chatter or was quiet when he sensed it was needed.

By week two She still hadn't found verbal words, But occasionally she could come up with physical ones. Danny never needed too much encouragement to Yammer on. She brought up having met a Tamaranian, and he went off. He never once questioned how she could possibly know a tamaranian, simply accepted it and told her everything he knew about the star system.

For about 3 weeks after Steph that's all she did, she'd go to the lab, get Danny to talk, and just sit down to listen. It was easy. It was comforting, and he just had this air of someone who wanted to help.

Looking back on it she could see all the things she didn't really pay attention to in the moment, the things that really should have given it away that he was human adjacent. He never seemed to have any problem lifting things, and when he did display it was a problem, it was faked. The muscles that were apparently straining weren't even flexed, he never moved with strain, he slowed his walking pace but that was about it. The more she looked back on it, without the lens of a broken heart, it was as though he didn't remember how heavy things were supposed to be.

As BlackBat she'd seen him putter around on a green and black motorcycle. The bike wasn't recognizable as any specific brand, leading her to believe he, or person he purchased it from, built it themselves. That's not to say it was anything crazy, it was smaller and quick.

There was the eye thing, something rather well documented amongst the vigilantes of Central City, and accept it as a part of his metahuman status. When you looked into his eyes, there was something hypnotic about it. After seeing it done to criminals, the rest of the hero community made sure to keep glasses on hand, even black bat carried a pair of discowing Inspired glasses on hand, just in case

Week four she decided to start bringing him food. It wasn't that he didn't eat, it was that she realized he mostly at e microwavable meals. Almost nothing he made was homemade, and a lot of it was just scrambled together. The way he ate, especially those microwave meals, made it very clear. He had a very fast metabolism. Almost to a speedster level, which wasn't great as he seemed to be eating only what.he needed and not properly filling up.

She had the sneaking suspicion that he had experienced food scarcity and due to that he had a habit of just eating whatever was available. One of the combinations, apparently a favorite of Iris West, was a mainstay in his diet. Anchovies for the salt content, Ritz crackers, a little bit of hot sauce And a random seasoning, she was pretty sure it was paprika but was unwilling to actually consume this item. So she got in contact with Alfred, went to Gotham, and came back with lunch which she shared with him.

It felt nice to have private moments with him. She still went about her work with other Heroes, her and Black Canary had been working together a lot recently. She generally only had an hour or two to spend at the lab, so it's been the rest of her time helping Black Canary out with whatever she had on hand.

Doing this while living in Central City meant that she got blanket permission to use the Zeta tubes in order to travel back and forth from home. This consequently meant that she could go back to visit Alfred and get cooking whenever she wanted. So she started joining in on Sunday Family dinners, worked out a system with Alfred to take a little extra with her and got Danny some proper food.

The thing that got her to start following him around on his trips into town, were reports of some kind of monster following along behind him.

The living suit of armor looked over BlackBat. The look he gave her, even beneath that helmet and with eyes that weren't expressive, was unimpressed. She couldn't see it sneer, but the rumbly voice that shook from the armor carried a sneer.

"Bats." He laughed derisively. "Return thee unto thine city’s womb, 'Hero.' I shall keep vigil o'er mine liege; I, the Fright Knight, have no need of thy 'aid' in safeguarding mine Liege upon his outing." A wave of condensed Fear filled the air like Fear Toxin, but Pure. Unfiltered. The hairs on her skin stood in gooseflesh and her mouth went dry. Adrenaline slammed through BlackBat. Fight, flight, freeze....Fight. Black Bat lowered into a battle stance, hand moving to the utility belt, unclipping one of the batterings.

"Woah woah woah! Frighty Chill! This is BlackBat!" Danny as phantom yelped, appearing between them, Back to BlackBat. His hands up to calm the suit of armor. A long stare down between Blackbat and the suit of armor, over Danny's shoulder. "Fright knight." Danny's voice was firm. A warning and a command. The knight looked at Danny and huffed, shifting and rolling his shoulders back. The fear left the air and he relaxed.

"I shall grant it, mine liege. Know ye that they possess not mine trust." He rumbled, turning and striding away, Phantom apologized, ducking his head and quickly turning back to his knight and moving after him. The knight looked back at her, smoldering eyes glowing fiercely. "Thou shalt ensure thou dost comprehend the honor that hath been bestowed upon thee. For if ill shall befall My Liege, I shall bring forth the selfsame harm upon those that wrought it." With those final words, he gave her nothing more and walked away. Phantom scolding him even as they left.

"BlackBat, your heartbeat appears to be quite rapid." Came the soothing voice of Alfred. She swallowed hard, watching the glowing men vanish from sight. Unwilling to give Chase after meeting that thing. A shaky hand came up and she double tapped the comm, forcing herself to take a deep breath and relax, focusing on slowing the heavy hammering of her heart in her chest.

"Red Robin...Fright Knight."

"Sure thing BB."

It turned out that monster was the concept of Halloween. The spiritual concept, a ghost. They found out more about Fenton, and his parents who were former Ghost hunters, a lot of their new new papers spoke to the vast diversity within the ecto entities, it had been handy, Bruce added it to his speeches when he went and campaigned against the anti-ecto acts.

There was a mention of their culture being a kraterocracy in nature, where combat prowess is the most important thing to most ghosts. Not because they were violent or needlessly combative, they were just dead. There wasn't much else going on, so a good brawl meant that you got a little excitement! And since they couldn't die, the excitement got a little too rowdy.

This led everyone to believe that Danny must have come into his powers and decided to fight the ghosts. Perhaps a strong enough fight with this Fright Night had caused the Fright Night to respect him like a king!

With no sign of Constantine, Zatana or even Deadman (not that they could talk to him if he was there) They didn't really have a solid explanation on what was happening, so she simply began to follow him and keep an eye on things.

She never did See Fright Night again, as though he had been dismissed. He just never made a reappearance. Perhaps he was a bit too heavy-handed for this world? It didn't matter, if the knight wasn't going to be there to protect his King, then black bat would do it. It became very obvious very quickly why Danny needed his guard, the occasional shifts into statue mode, meant that he got robbed. Often. Especially when criminals began to realize that if they just left him alone and took his wallet, he wouldn't even wake up from his trance. It happened three times before Cass deeply internalized that he didn't feel a thing. The third time she fed him Batburger, he'd been out, he went into his trance, somebody stole from him.

She beat the tar out of that person, took Danny's hand and walked him to a Batburger for a meal. She was halfway done with hers, when he finally snapped out of it and looked around. He didn't even question it. When he looked down at the burger in front of him and started eating. He did do a double take when he noticed it was her.

" Oh! You're not Sam or Jazz! How you doing?" He asked, digging into his food. He didn't actually expect an answer, but noticed that she was waiting patiently for something. When he looked up, her hands began to move and his eyes shot down to focus on them.

Honestly it had been a long day at that point, and she'd gotten so used to talking to him in her alter ego that she sort of just let it all out. To start the day she lost Rochambeau, and had to go fight condiment King. It was only thanks to the diligent working of Alfred that she was even back here to watch Danny, She hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, she missed her last dance recital due to a case that came up with black Canary, she hadn't eaten properly in a couple of days, making this her most recent meal, and it was a burger and fries.

Her emotions were just a bit too high when she went to grumble about him doing his little freeze up trick and she admitted to following him to make sure he didn't get robbed anymore than he already did.

She froze when a guilt lashed over his features and he dipped his head. "I know, I'm really sorry." As his hand came up to scratch the back of his head, she reached out and lightly tapped on his arm.

*It's not a huge deal, I'm sorry I shouldn't have gone off on you.* She signed, she pointed to the meal, and then back at him. He looked lost for a moment, before she pointed to the meal again and he nodded. Understanding filled his eyes as he quickly stood up and hurried to the counter.

"Yep! You're right. I owe you at least another meal if that's what you've been going through!" He had chuckled.

After that night she quickly looked up 'Sam' and 'Jazz.'

She found Sam and Tucker in Metropolis. Tucker was a childhood friend, and Sam was a fairly recent addition to that childhood friend status. She also held ex-girlfriend status. Cass took it on herself to see about giving them some protection and convinced Steel to keep an eye on them for her.

Nothing too close, she simply told him that a good friend had friends over there and she didn't want to see them lost in one of the bigger attacks Superman usually deals with.

There were reports of him screaming in frustration as his suit flew him away.

"'Study Purple Backed Gorilla at Library -TF.' What?" Steel asked as the words printed in green across his visor. He spent a week following Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley. He just wanted the basics of their schedule, that way he had a few places to look for them if something big went down in Metropolis. BB was a sweetheart of a vigilante and he wouldn't let new friends get hurt.

Seems someone caught him following them and took exception to it.

The Jets on the bottom of his feet lit up without command, and he suddenly found himself rocketing off towards the closest Library. "NO! WAIT! WHAT?!? STOOOOP!" For just a split second as he rocketed past him, Tucker Foley flashed him a peace sign And a shitting grin. "YOU DID THIS?!?" He screeched

His sister Jasmine, Jazz, was in Gotham. Clearly she was the one with the Death wish.

So she got a hold of Helena, and asked the Huntress To keep half an eye on the psychologist in training. Apparently not something that needed to be worried about, since a chance run in with scarecrow, showed she had a rather advanced level of self-Defense training, a whole host of hidden weapons (Including a bright green bat and lipstick that shot lasers, of course.), and a gas mask. When Huntress got her away and grilled her, she simply shrugged. "Fenton's are always prepared to fight." The image of Scarecrow curled up on the ground holding his creep stick crushed nuts was a permanent addiction to the main wall of the Gotham social medias.

His little sister, Danielle "Ellie" Masters, wasn't a worry. Not only did she seem to be in regular contact with Danny, but Ellie was dating one Billy Batson, AKA Captain Marvel. They were currently using one of Bruce's many, many Safe houses as their home. With permission, apparently this property was bought on a whim when Brucie had seen the Trellis and had been reminded of a movie he watched.

She didn't even attempt to protect his parents, they were surrounded by a literal arsenal They built themselves. Least now she had a pretty good guess on who built Danny's motorcycle.

Of course she found where he lived and it was... Sad. Boring. Like he didn't actually live there. The tracker she tried to sneak on him would show him going there occasionally, but the trackers never lasted. For some reason. They would work for maybe a day, and then the tracking system would go nuts, they'd fritz out and shut down. Not that she actually needed the trackers, she had a pretty good idea of his schedule and followed him pretty easily, it was for the stuff that might happen outside of his schedule like a kidnapping that she was worried about.

Thank God the one on his phone seemed to stick. She would prefer to have one on his body, but most people didn't just ditch their phones, so she was pretty sure she'd be fine To use that to keep an eye on him.

That's all she was doing, keeping an eye on him, keeping him safe.

The was until her phone pinged.

Insomniac: Batcave. ASAP.

Cass beelined back to her motorcycle. Zipping off towards her place to access the Zeta tube. She inputted the bat cave, and stepped in, disappearing with a Flash.

T-MINUS: 33:30 HOURS TO LAUNCH

Tim. Wasn't. Stalking. Danny was just a really pretty guy! Smart too, since he learned, not only how to speak to, but also the Gender of the Purple Backed Gorilla. He had good grades all the way up until freshman year of high school, so that must have been when he picked up his powers, and likely at that time became a teen hero. Yeah that can be hard to juggle the two, especially if he's operating by himself.

A bunch of videos had cropped up of phantom. Including a rather interesting thirst trap that Tim was playing when Jon appeared, fortunately, he's pretty sure he managed to close it before Jon got a peek at the thirst trap.

That particular news was... fascinating. Awful, horrible, a bad thing to happen to anyone...but also. A kryptonian with kryptonite in him USING powers? Tim was salivating with the desire to Know.

Tim started digging into Danny. First thing he found Was records for a Mastectomy performed within the last couple of years, so he didn't have invulnerable skin. Then he found a name change, one Danica Jesse Fenton became Daniel James Fenton when he was about 12. And lastly, adoption records When Danny would have been 2 or maybe three. The sentence claimed it was a surrogate, which could have been true, it seemed that Mrs. Fenton had come in contact with something radioactive and was incapable of having a second child according to her medical records.

He got all of his medication when he was supposed to, busted his leg when he was 10, zero signs of invulnerability. An accident mentioned when he was 14, a severe shock but he managed to come out of it with only a minor coma and some Burns. There was a note in his medical file that he was healing abnormally quickly, the doctor assumed he might have awoken his Meta-gene in that particular accident. The doctor apparently informed the parents as well.

His parents were ectobiologists, they studied ghosts and something called ectoplasm. The chemical structure of ectoplasm, according to their paperwork, was very similar to the chemical structure of Lazarus Waters. Lazarus seem to have something additional to it, but they were in the same vein. Like distant cousins.

As far as Tim was concerned, Danny, landed years ago, might have already had the kryptonite in his chest at that point since he showed no signs of powers, at 14 he has an accident that either dislodges or changes the effects of the kryptonite giving him access to some of his powers, who knows what kind of negative side effects that has, Live the dual Life as a teenage vigilante for a while, things start to settle down and he finds a way to go to college, leading up to today.

Maybe the ectoplasm acted like a catalyst? It was radioactive and Kryptonians thrived on radiation from the sun. Maybe the different type of radiation forced adaptation?

It was doubtful any supers would be available. He'd prefer if they were the ones to tell this kid that he might be one of them as well as running on their weakness. They could get a doctor to get the rock out pretty easily...but who knows how his body adapted to having that rock in it. Maybe he needs it to survive now.

Tests would need to be done, and they were simply too busy, nobody had the time. Especially if he's still upright and moving, and apparently not feeling too horribly, if he's able to go to college anyway.

Still he should let Cass know.

He gathers everything up, making an easy little presentation for her to read, and saving it to a thumb drive. He then sends a text and sits back to wait for her to show up. Fully falling asleep until the Zeta goes off.

"Cassandra Cain: B-06"

Tim snapped up, blinking owlishly, before looking at Cass and Yawning. He stood, lethargically moving and woke himself up. Cass blinked, looking at the screen and moved to take his spot on the seat. Tim leaned over her shoulder and clicked. " This, as you know, is Daniel James Fenton. AKA Danica Jesse Fenton. He was born through surrogacy to Jack and Madeline Fenton. All his shots and all that jazz."

"Broken Leg..." Cass frowned.

" Also a mastectomy and an electrocution accident." He leaned back to sit on the computer desk. BatDesk?

"Not Kryptonian."

"And that's where you might be wrong. Jon X-rayed him." He waited until Cass made eye contact with him, and he held it. "John said he saw a glowing green rock in his chest. Like...No heart. Just a glowing green rock."

" No sign of powers..." Cass mumbled, frowning.

Tim nodded. "Then the accident happens, and all the sudden. Phantom."

Cass looked thoughtful, staring at the screen for a moment, before extending her hand to pat his head. "Good Job." She said, lowering her hand for him to place a thumb drive in her hand.

"He is moving, talking, and isn't regularly visiting the hospital. The doctor noted a healing factor. Best guess? The parents use something called Ectoplasm." He clicked their papers. "It's radioactive, but doesn't really have an effect on people. However, if you were an alien that absorbed the sun's radiation in order to get your powers..." Tim gave a shrug. " Without testing its speculation on my part."

Tim watched as Cass thought through her situation, eyes darting up to check on the roster and note the lack of availability around her. She scrunched up her nose, before sighing. "Can't do anything about it right now."

Tim nodded. "You think he knows?" The way her face sort of...scrunched up, followed by a shrug. "Yeah....Maybe wait on it. It would suck to hear you might need surgery as soon as you get back."

Cass nodded And turned to leave, intending to study the information she was given, as well as prep for her date.

T-MINUS: 24 HOURS TO LAUNCH

Danny yawned, A jaw cracking yawn that pulled on his ghostly abilities to draw his mouth open wider. He stretched his arms above his head, arching his back to stretch out his core muscles. He froze when a sort of choked off sound came from directly in front of him. He opened his eyes to look at the sound, spotting Cass, he smiled brightly, only to frown. "You okay Cass? You're kind of red." He asked as he stretched the hand out to place the back of his hand against her forehead.

She seemed warm, but not feverish. She also was quick to reach up and grab his hand, pulling it down and smoothly moving to take the spot beside him. "Let's go." Danny blinked, but nodded.

He turned to start heading for his bike, only for a firm grip on his arm to pull him right back. Cass leading him away. Her grip was tight, unyielding. Danny blinked and focused on her. Ghosts carry a sort of Aura, it lets their emotions be easily read. Cass also had this. Not the same, but close enough that he could make out...something had gotten to her. conCern/wOrry radiated off of her.

He frowned, a twinge in his chest drawing out the protective urges of his secondary obsession. His gaze swept around, a surge of ectoplasm through his veins letting him know his eyes were green beneath the glasses, inspecting the area for dangers, when a hand caught his cheek and he was made to look at Cass.

They were standing in front of a black and gold Ducati Monster. His eyes roamed over the machine, fingers twitching. His eyes roamed down, over the engine, where he frowned. Expecting to see the 800 CC engine, he was surprised to see the Streetfighter's 1100. He tilted his head slightly, cataloging that before his focus turned back to Cass.

There was that worry. She wasn't looking at him though, her eyes were on his wrist. Her fingers pressed Into his wrist, looking for a pulse apparently. "Uhmmm..." She was frowning. Yeah he's pulse. Probably felt really weird with the core in his chest pushing ectoplasm through his veins.

As he got older, more and more of his blood had been replaced with ectoplasm, in fact, if one were to look closely at his wrists where you could see the antebrachial veins, They were more of a green than blue. Since all of his ectoplasm came from his core, it sort of just flowed. Rather than being a pulse, it was more like a constant flowing river. Sam said that if you pressed your fingers into it, you could feel it moving like static from a TV under your fingers.

For just a second there was something like relief in her eyes. Perhaps all she needed was reassurance that there was blood moving through him. Even if that blood was thick and green.

Wait...why did she need that? She kept throwing strange looks at him, her eyes darting down to his chest before moving back up to meet his eyes. He blinked and frowned, glancing down. He didn't notice anything different? He was breathing....she could feel his pulse, so why was she radiating concern like that?

Before he could ask a helmet was shoved into his chest. He looked up at her and blinked, before slipping it over his head. She mounted her bike, twisting to pat the seat behind her and he nodded. Still a bit confused with her actions as he climbed on behind her. A. Crackle through the helmet and a ping told him it was Bluetooth. "Ready?" Cass asked, starting the bike. Danny nodded and she tugged his arms around her waist, before turning out and heading off.

"Where are we going?" He asked, looking around as they drove.

"Planetarium." She hummed, revving the engine and nearly knocking Danny off. Apparently he wasn't holding tight enough for her. So he increased his grip like an obedient backpack.

She would have to tell Tim that he was probably right, she had never in her life seen any Kryptonian do that when they yawned.

When she found him. He had been mid yawn and stretched. His arms had grown longer, his back arching in a way that shouldn't have been possible, she could hear bones, crack and skin stretch uncomfortably, the shadows behind him lengthened as well, twisting into a gnarly adaptation of what a human should look like in a shadow. If that was it, it would have just been very uncanny valley.

But his mouth...

The moment he yawned any semblance of humanity disappeared. Looking into his mouth was like staring into the void of space, teeth, sharp and jagged, glittered in that void, circling deeper and deeper in a way that made her wonder if he had teeth all the way down his throat. His tongue lashed out, curling like a dog's would in a yawn. Long and forked, it flicked at the air.

She heard his jaw crack and open wider, drawing in a sharp gasp that ended in a squeak. Which caused him to look at her. And although he still had those glasses on, she could feel those eyes boring into her. When he reached out to check on her temperature, she could see how his fingers had once been claws that were slowly retracting into normal human hands.

His touch was like ice on her forehead. So yeah. She got him in a helmet before anyone else could see that With how cold he was, she was happy she wore a hoodie under her jacket. It was already chilly and the extra layer would help combat his cold too.

She had taken a risk and checked his pulse briefly, simply because after that display she really wanted to make sure he was actually...okay? The only files that you can think of for weird mutations in kryptonians was doomsday, and if that was the route that Danny was taking, she was kind of nervous.

So maybe she was a little tiny bit worried, nothing huge, and he very quickly warmed up against her, so she was reassured, and he was quick to readjust his grip whenever she thought he wasn't close enough, which was nice.

She managed to convince Bruce to buy out the planetarium for her, not that there was really much convincing needed. She basically just sent him a text message and then he sent her a thumbs up back. So when they arrived, they had free range of the place. The planetarium had an observatory, a bunch of different displays on meteorites in the moon, on different planets.

She chose today for a very specific reason. Clark as Superman had a prior engagement here. He couldn't stay long, he had a prior engagement with a diplomatic delegation from Tamaran to negotiate a sort of...foreign exchange program so tamaranian students and earthling students could learn about different cultures on a planetary scale.

But he devoted an entire day to the planetarium, and since Bruce Wayne had been kind enough to buy out the first hour of the planetariums opening, She and Danny would get him all to themselves. Allowing Danny to meet an Alien and for Clark to get a better look at him.

That went about how Cass thought it would. As soon as they walked into the wing devoted to the history of Krypton, Superman's gaze shot over and locked on to Danny. Danny was looking at the displays and didn't notice the flash of emotions. Surprise, confusion, intense focus, followed by more shock, then sadness.

He hid that last one rather well behind a fake smile when Danny looked at him. His jaw dropped and he began to shake with excitement. One moment he was standing next to her, and then the next he was in front of superman.

"Mister Superman." He said, taking the man's hand and pumping it. "It is an honor to meet you sir." He said breathlessly. His head snapped to Cass, even with the glasses on she could see just how wide his eyes were as he mouthed 'Thank you!' to her.

Superman looked taking a back for a moment, before slipping into an easy smile and putting on the mask of Kal-el, son of Krypton. "Please, please. Call me superman. Mr Superman was my father. What's your name?"

Danny blinked, but nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, uhm Danny. Sorry...can you tell me about Krypton?"

Superman gave him a forlorn smile and shifted. "There isn't a whole lot I can tell you, my father did a fairly decent job of describing it to me, but I was sent off when I was a child. I didn't really grow up knowing anything of Krypton. It orbited a red sun, they were very advanced and most people were bioengineered to become whatever the planet needed."

As he spoke, Danny was enraptured, or at least He was at first, but with Clark really unprepared to describe the planet itself, his speech shifting to cultural and historical things, Danny became a statue. He didn't even notice when Clark trailed off.

It was actually rather convenient, giving the two of them a moment to speak privately. After Clark gave a couple of waves and made sure that Danny wasn't paying attention, he turned to Cass. "So Jon was very right." He said, looking back at Danny. "He doesn't have a heart, like at all. Whatever that Crystal is, it looks like it's surrounded in ice."

Cass blinked and tilted her head in confusion. "Ice?"

"Yep! The rock is about Baseball sized. Green, and covered in a layer of Ice." He said, focusing on Danny's chest as mutters left his mouth. " He's not really radiating any kryptonite.... Radiation..." He said, whincing at the way he put it. " I think Tim was pretty close to accurate without further testing...."

Cass nodded, frowning. "Tell him?"

Clark stared at Danny for a minute, before slowly shaking his head. " Everything else is working the way it's supposed to. As far as I can tell his blood seems to have taken on the kryptonite, because it's also green and is carting it through his entire body. Not to be callous, but if he were going to die he would have done it already." He frowned harder. " Not that it would matter either way, because I repeat he does not have a heart. Somehow the icy kryptonite thing is pushing that blood through him, I don't know. We probably should tell him but there's nothing we're going to be able to fix right now." He said, turning to look at Cass. " For now? I would say don't do anything. When you get back, then we'll do something. Okay?"

Cass nodded slowly and let out a breath. She curled her fingers around Danny's wrist, and tugged him away. She didn't know how long the trance would last, and they hadn't even gotten to the observatory.

He came back to his senses about the time that they passed through the Martian exhibit, chattering on about what he knew about Mars from his many visits to the other planetariums. He took the time to dial in the telescope. "Pluto should be visible right about now." He told her. (It was. He made sure of it.) Adjusting The scope until they could see the little dwarf planet.

They fell into an easy rhythm. She could move along with him, listening to his chatter about stars, letting him tug her along as they left the observatory and down some stairs into the basement where a theater had been built. There they watched the moon landing, crunching on popcorn and leaning into each other to whisper back and forth.

When their hour was up, she took him by the hand, led him back out to her motorcycle and they took off to a little Diner. Eating pancakes and drinking bad coffee. It was really nice.

Which is why she was going to murder Captain Boomerang.

The little diner she had taken them to was across the street from a bank, and that asshole decided to blow out the vault. Impulse was doing his best but it was a trap. The rest of the Rogue's Gallery sprang on the speedster. They managed to trap him, but in the process an exploding boomerang had gotten too close. Danny had thrown himself THROUGH THE TABLE to tackle her and cover her with his body when the explosion went off.

When it passed down rolled off of her and onto his back. Aborting a scream as he quickly rolled onto his belly and curled up, hissing in pain. His back....his back looked like charred ground beef. It was bad. She could see his spine and the muscles around it. She wanted to puke and scream and MURDER THAT JACKASS.

It was both a relief and somehow so much worse when he began to heal. The burnt bits were sheared off by some kind of glowing green energy, which caused a spray of blood in some areas. Blood that froze into crimson crystals and latched to his back. Every drop of blood spent is drawn in to create a gruesome layer over his back. An ice sheet formed and she could see as skin began to...grow to cover the damage.

The process wasn't even complete before Danny was rolling back over to grab her by the wrist and scramble away as quickly as he could. " We are getting the fuck out of here." He hissed, practically yanking her away as she stared, transfixed. She watched in real time as destroyed Muscle rebuilt itself in his back, his damaged spinal column regrowing the parts that were broken. She watched his skin, pulled itself back over him, absorbing the bloody ice, before it resealed into a solid patch of normal skin. A massive, ugly scare taking up almost his entire back. His top was destroyed. His Pants BARELY made it out with only some charring.

Then the knight rose from his shadow and Cass stared. Sharp, rage filled, glowing eyes turned on her and they stared at each other. "Who hath done harm to my liege?" His rage shook the very earth and Cass simply pointed.

"Do not kill him." Danny said, tone strained.

The knight sneered at him, and they glared at each other before he sniffed and turned. "He shall not die, yet shall he know true Dread." He growled, stomping away. His voice booming as he disappeared from Sight, Danny pushing her to get on her motorcycle. "Quake in dread, thou mortal wretch. For thou shalt face the very image of Hallow's Eve. Thou hast wrought ill upon my Liege, and for it, feel the maggots gnaw thy skin, even as thou livest by my King's grace."

"Shit." Danny hissed and whipped around to run back, only to get caught by BlackBat and yanked back.

"Ass. On. Bike." She growled. His face went pale and he sat quickly. "Stay." She hissed, pinning him with her glare, until he nodded. She turned and stormed away.

As she walked, she tore off her sleeve, walking out of site as she wrapped her face and lifted her shirt. Beneath was a nanoweave armor with her bat symbol and a basic utility belt. Not that she needed it as when she slipped out of the restaurant and disappeared into the shadows, she noticed that the entire rogues gallery was simply gone. Vanished as if never there. The knight standing over a shivering Impulse who was rapidly speaking.

"Pleasepleasepleasepleaseletthemout!" (Please please please please let them out.) He said over and over. The knight barely acknowledged his existence, eyes moving to where Cass was hidden.

"How say ye, Gotham's Shadow? Hath thy wrath been slaked? Shall they be freed from their own living hell?" He asked. Cass blinking in confusion, so he lifted his sword. "Mine own dearest love, Soul Shredder, it doth convey any stricken by its blow unto their nightmare realm. Whilst they be bound, naught shall they know but dread. Thus I say again, Gotham's Shadow, is thy wrath satisfied? Have they felt fear enow that thou mayest grant them liberty?" He strode over to loom above her. "I asketh, for if 'twere left to me, they'd ne'er again feel Freedom's warm embrace."

Impulse was nodding so rapidly That his face was a blur, and Cass got the feeling that this was a much worse fate than anyone deserved. That didn't stop her from taking her time in answering. Something the knight noticed and apparently approved of. When she nodded he simply swung his sword and the Rogues Gallery appeared. Trembling and white. Boomerang especially looked...bad. Terrified to the point of being catatonic. The knight puffed out his chest and began to sink into the ground. "Mark well this day. For if we meet again in such wise, restraint I shall brook no more." He growled, before vanishing entirely.

As impulse got to work binding and delivering the gallery to the police, she made her way back to where Danny was obediently sitting on the back of her motorcycle. His helmet was on and he waited patiently as she got on the bike and they rode off. She pulled to a stop in front of His bike at S.T.A.R. Labs and he slipped off the bike, tugging off his helmet and smiling at her, shifting awkwardly for a moment, as she took her helmet off.

He darted in to kiss her on the cheek and wrap his arms tightly around her. "Thanks." He said, releasing her after a moment to take a few steps back and clear his throat. "I'll...Uhmmm...I'll be in space for a bit....I think like...maybe three weeks? I'm not entirely sure, but when we get back." He met her eyes and fixed her with a blinding grin that showed off sharp fangs. "We should go out again as soon as I get back." When she nodded he pumped his fists. Giving her a wave, before moving towards his bike.

Cass watched him for a moment, eyes moving down his back where the scar was mostly gone and the frowned, She quickly unzipped and shocked off her coat, tugging her hoodie over her head and throwing it at him. It collided with the back of his head and he jumped, twisting to catch it and glance at her as she slipped her coat back on over the black T-shirt she'd worn underneath.

Seeing she wasn't losing a warmth layer, he smiled and slipped the hoodie on. "Thanks?" He called, tugging his helmet on and starting his bike. Tossing her a wave as he rolled off.

T-Minus: 12 HOURS TO LAUNCH.

Danny stood In front of a phone booth, tapping a hand on his thigh, still wearing Cass's hoodie as he waited for BlackBat. Having her order him around for his own protection had just...melted something in him and now he really wanted to bury himself in her scent and her warmth. Like a big blanket. So he really hadn't removed the hoodie for even a moment, grinning like an idiot all the way home. He got in bed and caught a few hours. Gave himself enough time to shower and change, before slipping the hoodie back on and heading for the coordinates.

He was still grinning when BlackBat stepped out of the shadows. She stared at him for long enough that he began to shift awkwardly, before she stepped forward and lightly pushed him into the phonebooth. She squeezed herself in with him and picked up the phone, twisting the dial a few times.

"Cyborg. BlackBat plus Guest. Central City Zeta." Danny heard a confirmation and white light flashed around them.

When the light cleared they were standing on a silver platform on the watch tower.

As Danny stepped out of the Zeta tube, He made a realization. He could have flown here at any time but there was something different about this. Maybe it was the fact that he was currently on a space station, in space, about to get into a spaceship, and fly to another planet. The space station being the final straw on the camel's back.... But he relaxed.

All the way down to his core everything untwisted. A muscle that had been tense for so so so long that he had never realized was tense to begin with. Something rippled through him, causing him to stumble forward and plant his hands on the alumino-silicate window, whispering to himself, listing off everything he knew about the watchtower's construction. About the stars that he could see in the distance. He even whispered his thanks to clockwork and Pandora and Boxy and anyone else he could think of.

His vision was blurry and something was vibrating. Loudly. Danny couldn't look away.

The second they stepped out of that tube, Cass wondered if she made a mistake. If she had made a horrible and deep error in her choice. At the moment that Danny looked out that window, a ripple passed over his skin, washing from his midsection all the way up to his head. His skin lost all color entirely. Sickly pale, with a sooty black left arm. A lichtenburg scar traveling from one hand all the way up his wrist and disappearing under the hoodie. Ears like a cats appeared on the top of his head. A tail followed a moment later, coiling back and forth in a slow sway.

Then he began to whisper. Loud enough for her to hear easily. Not that she could really keep up with much of it. It started with technical specifications, the same ones that she'd heard from Bruce occasionally when debriefing others about the watchtower, then on to listing constellations and the distance from each one. His tail coiling back and forth and is slow sway that spoke of peace and enjoyment.

That's when the deep thrumming purr started up, rumbling in his chest. It was a soothing sound, Cass found herself moving towards him, His body was like a beacon of shock, awe, joy, joy, joy. If emotions were light, he'd be a star. She slowly stepped forward, standing beside him at the glass and looking out as he whispered to the cosmos. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see tears rolling down his cheeks. That beaming smile would put Dick's to shame. She frowned and her eyes snapped over him, Was he taller?

He was floating. Adorable.

She brought a hand up, placing it on his shoulder and very gently pushing him down. His feet. Tapped softly on the ground. Not that He even seemed to notice as he stared out that window.

Chapter Text

It took a solid hour before he even attempted to pull himself away from that glass. And that was simply to fix her with a beaming grin. Absolutely blinding. She smiled under her mask and shook her head, giving his shoulder a pat as she walked away. She met up with cyborg, and he helped out with preflight checks, stocking food, and generally helping put together everything needed for the extended trip.

Oa should have food, but Cass wouldn't be a bat if she didn't pack food just in case, that was three weeks of food, three MORE weeks of the calorie dense speedster bars (Just in case Danny did need more.), a backpack with a week's worth of extra food Incase all else failed, and finally filling the Promethium 'Cooler' with another week of rations and water. As a last resort.

Cyborg chuckled and leaned against the Javelin. "I used to laugh at Dick when he got over cautious about food and water."

Cass nodded. Everyone laughed at the bats being prepared, right up until they were stranded and the BatEmergency Beacon was broken out. Or the BatShark repellent. "Seems Silly."

Cyborg snorted, nodded. "At first." He said, pushing up and moving back towards where they left Danny. Midway through the walk he froze, and a smile spread over his lips, he began to chuckle, then chortle, slipping into full, belly shaking Guffaws. Cass hear a screech and her head snapped up, racing towards Danny. "N-no! Wait!" Cyborg gasped, chasing after her to try and show her something.

She raced in to the room, her eyes scanning about looking for danger as she found Danny, sitting with a faux innocence written All over his features. Cyborg strode in, took one look at Danny and snorted like a pig with a cold, body shaking as he bent over and gripped his belly.

"Oh God...please no." Danny whispered, horror flashed across his face, which only made Cyborg topple over, laughing harder.

"C-Cameras!" Cyborg barked out and Danny's face washed in crimson slooooowly sinking into the floor. BlackBat strode over and scruffed him, holding him up, above the ground. Danny looked at her, blushing for an entirely different reason before he looked away.

" Can we go now?" His tone had an air of petulance to it, BlackBat looking back at cyborg who was slowly collecting himself and pushing to his feet.

" Chill dude, yeah it's ready to go, well. Mostly. We're finishing fueling procedures, but those are pretty much done, and you'll need to do your pre-flight checks."

Confidence filled Danny's emotional spectrum wiping away the shame, and from the way that it flowed she was pretty sure that when he opened his mouth he had been about to try to get them to hurry up, or maybe even cut corners. And she was about to make a rebuttal when he nodded his head quickly.

"Awesome! Show me the Javelin!" He said, striding up to black bat as he spoke and looping an arm through her elbow to tug her in. " Lead the way!" He said waving a hand. He seemed to be trying very subtly to keep Cyborg away from showing her what happened, so of course she got to work tapping into the Cameras.

MOMENTS EARLIER

Danny took the chance the moment it was presented. As soon as the two heroes left his space, without ever once removing his eyes from the pure Majesty outside the window. "Fright Knight. Remain unseen, but you will have to remain." He said, feeling an invisible gauntletted hand land on his shoulder, his night letting him know where he was.

"Art thou certain, me liege, thou shalt be far from hearth and succour?" His knight asked, nearly silent in his ear.

" Do you see that?" Not far off, a glowing shape bounced around the moon, leaping and bounding across the surface, before shooting in the sky.

"Hark, a spectre? 'Tis most strange to behold such amidst the stars."

Danny sadly shook his head. "That's Laika... she'll be my knight in the stars."

Fright Knight blinked and he nodded. "It hath been a spell since mine eyes didst light upon another Knight. The Starry Knight...verily, 'tis a boon most great to be so nigh." The spectral dog zipped towards them, vanishing from the visible spectrum as she passed by the watchtower.

" You would not believe how happy it makes me to see her play among the Stars." He murmured, A wide and proud smile spread across his lips.

"Verily. 'Tis foretold the Ancient o' Space shall be warded by the Knight o' Stars. Wilt bid she be seen, or tell thy lady o' her being?"

Danny tilted his head curiously. "'My lady?' You mean Cass? I doubt she will meet her, but of course I'd tell her."

His knight turned towards him ever so slowly, And although he could not see his Knight's eyes, He could certainly feel the judgmental glare coming off of him. "I am…certain that thy Ballet bent paramour shall verily meet her anon. One might even dost say within the next few hours." The last part mumbled under his breath, or lack thereof.

"Hmm? Could you repeat that?"

"Naught it be, mine liege. I must needs depart. I shall return unto the realms and resume mine vigil. I have faith that betwixt Thy dancer of demise and the Starry Knight, thou shalt be well guarded."

His idiot of a king let out a happy sigh. "Yeah....I wonder if Cass would date BlackBat with me..." He hummed, causing his knight to smack his gauntlet against his face, before sinking into a shadow. "Like a hedge of protection, but as a Throup-Oh. Bye!" He turned his gaze back to the stars and sighed softly..

"Wrap them both up in a nice warm blanket at the end of the day, protect them all night. BlackBat is already suuuper protective of me...watching over me when I go for walks and stuff." He smiled like a dumbass, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the window ledge, there wasn't much there, but there was enough to rest on with his chin in the palms of his hands. "I could have Pandora make armor for Cass..."

His thoughts were stolen from him for a moment when something fell off. He could feel something move behind him, frowning and glancing back, he watched a furry black...snake? Swaying behind him. When he noticed it, he made a grab for it!

Unfortunately, the moment he turned, it disappeared. He frowned with a little hum, wondering if a ghost had somehow snuck up on him, when some movement out of the corner of his eye signaled where the thing was. An attempt to be crafty, he pretended to continue to be looking in front of him, before whipping around as quickly as he could and making a grab for the air only for the thing not to be there anymore!

But it was still tormenting him, there right in the corner of his vision, and then on the other side and back and forth, like it was swaying behind him, fury built up in his chest and he quickly spun, not seeing it. He spun again, and again and again and again before freezing. Whatever it was whipped around like he thought it would and he grabbed it, some instinct making him chomp down on the black furry object to hold it in place, only for a lance of pain to rip up his spine.

He let out a screech that was more like a yowl and gripped his backside, feeling something poking out of his pants? Is that a tail?

He didn't have time to ponder on it, hearing footsteps pounding down the hall towards him, he looked around quickly before diving for a chair and sliding into it, doing his best to pretend like he was just sitting here, doing nothing. He has no idea why there was a scream, none whatsoever. Scream? What scream?

Black bat stormed in, radiating concern. He was about to open his mouth and come up with some bullshit to get her to calm down Just a little bit. When a robo guy walked in. Robo guy took one look at him and fell over laughing.

Oh fuck.

He wasn't entirely sure what he said, just wanting to get out of the conversation that was about to happen, apparently with footage attached. So the moment the javelin 7 Came to mind, he moved to take advantage of it. He practically dragged black bat away, quickly making his way to the Javelin 7, and hurrying up the ramp with her. Best to keep the robo man far away, he might show him making a fool of himself after all.

Then he heard a tinny yowl over what must have been an incredibly tiny speaker, the sound coming from black bats direction.

She was silent and he resolutely refused to look in her direction. A thought occurred, and his face paled. How far back did she look? If she got the cameras and and he's pretty damn positive that that was his yowl on her speaker, if she got to the cameras, what else did she hear?

As bad as that was, as God awful as that thought could be, he was reminded that she had just watched a video of him chomping down on his own brand new tail. He ducked his head, opening his mouth, about to make an excuse. That was when something black with a gold symbol on it flashed in front of him.

PREY!

He twisted, and darted after it. It was much worse than prey, it was some kind of enemy! It was only circling black bat! Surely it had some nefarious plan for her, and he would have to protect her from this enemy! But it didn't seem to be attacking yet, so perhaps if he caught it he could simply contain it and she would be fine!

He went around and around and around and around, before slowing to a stop, his head spinning as he knelt down and slowly moved his hands over the top of his head. He felt nauseous. When some of it settled he could hear soft giggles and full-bellied chuckles, and lifted his head to find both black bat and robo man. Black that appeared to be holding some sort of rod, that led to a string, that led to a feather.

" Best use of the batcat toy." Black bat said with a smug grim hidden behind her mask. How did he know it was smug? He could fucking feel it. His face turned crimson, and he slowly picked himself up, a hand moving behind his head to scratch along his neck.

" You're so mean." He grumbled petulantly.

Black bat moved up to him, giving him a pat on the shoulder. " It's okay, Maybe your throuple of protection can protect you from me?" Amusement radiated off of her aura, clear and like a beacon, and Danny squeaked and ducked his head.

"can we please just go to space? I'm so much cooler in Space."

Cass let out another laugh, guiding him to the javelin 7, they went through their prechecks and cyborg ran all of his scans on the tracking system for just in case they got lost, Danny took a moment to reach into the fabric of the universe and make sure that there weren't any significant events headed their way that would stop or halt their travels, before they waved their goodbyes to cyborg, and began their trip to Oa.

Chapter Text

A couple of Hours after Launch.

BlackBat moved into her pod. The Javelin was small, compact for quick trips and seemed more weapons focused than comfort focused. Because of that their rooms were... Well more like pods. It was a twin sized bed, bare silver walls, with a panel that could be closed to grant a bit of privacy. They were tall enough that you could sit comfortably without hunching, and when the panel was closed noise was cut off. Tap a button and the bed would slide back, giving just enough room that Danny and her would stand up comfortably. Perfect to change in, or clean yourself off.

BlackBat took the chance to change out of her bulkier armor and into the lighter, but warmer 'leisure' batsuit. It wasn't the proper name for it, but this was the same costume she often wore under her clothes. The nanoweave fibers were capable of stopping a knife from puncture, they were more flexible and light.

Ever since a freefall from space, they came equipped with oxygen and were heat resistant to the extreme. For now she would wear a Domino Mask around the ship.

She tapped a button on the wall and a panel slid away so BlackBat could glance in a mirror. The bat logo on her chest was a lot more triangular. She'd decided to ask that it looked sort of like when Bruce would drop in on thugs. So the wings were up and spread wide to catch as much wind as possible. The tips of its wings touched her shoulders, while the 'Tail' ended near her belly button. It was just a gold outline, with everything inside being the same black as the rest of her suit. The seams were also gold colored. Black cape and a bright yellow Utility belt that she'd swiped from one of Bruce's first suits. She tugged on a pair of gloves that she swiped from Catwoman before she left, that way she'd have a piece of both 'mom' AND 'dad.'

Since she was going with less covering on her face, she tugged her hair up into a tight bun, And just enough makeup to slightly change her appearance. Enough to rather easily separate BlackBat and Cassandra further.

Satisfied, she exited her pod to find Danny laughing, scratching behind the ears of a glowing terrier mongrel. The dog was on her hind legs, tail whipping back and forth, her forepaws on the knelt Danny's shoulder, licking his face. She was mostly blue furred, her body was almost a panorama of looking at the earth from space. In fact, as BlackBat moved closer, she fairly easily found Gotham. It glowed on her back and BlackBat found herself reaching out to brush over Gotham.

She rubbed the spot curiously, noticing the dog's paw was thumping away at the ground, drawing out a little giggle. She ran her fingers along the dog's back, tracing places she knew on Earth, following the patterns in her fur. "Metropolis...Central City...Fawcett City."

"Did you know Laika means 'Too Bark' in Russian?" Danny smiled, a little sadness in his smile. " There's a rumor that her name was changed from Kudryavka, or Curly, to Laika because she had some serious pipes on her." Laika dropped to sit, panting, tongue hanging from her muzzle, tail swaying back and forth. "She was picked with a bunch of other mongrels, because harsh Moscow winters might have helped the dogs understand how to stay warm."

He sat down properly and Laika shifted forward to rest her chin on his lap, while Danny scratched the top of her head. BlackBat moved to sit near her back, where she could stroke through the fur on her back. With her resting like this, BlackBat noticed a golden heart shaped mark on the tip of her nose.

"10 days before launch she got to play with the kids of The same guy that picked her to go off into space. She was quiet and charming and deserved some fun." His fingers brushed over that golden heart. "They kissed her nose and wished her Bon Voyage." He smiled lightly and glanced up. "Laika was the first to see earth from the stars. She's going to do us the honor of being our guardian in the stars."

BlackBat looked back down at the dog, blazing green stars that made up Laika's eyes, moved to meet BlackBat's gaze. Her muzzle dropped open and her tongue flopped out in a wide, doggy grin. It was oddly silent and she glanced back at Danny. He was staring, open mouthed, his eyes roamed over her face, darting down to take in her costume. BlackBat smiled and waited. When his eyes came up, she lifted her hand in a little wave. "Eyes up here." She hummed with a grin.

Danny promptly turned into a tomato, his face practically a crimson beacon of embarrassment, his hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. "Ah...Uhmmm...Sorry. You just...I mean...The last time I was this close you were sad..." His shoulders practically touched his ears as he turtled up. "I didn't mean to..." His mouth opened and he closed it with a click when he looked at her and saw her shake with silent laughter, her hand over her mouth.

Sue her. He was so cute flustered. The way he somehow turned EVEN REDDER when he saw her laughing, which only made it harder to keep quiet about it. He looked away, crossing his arms and sticking out his lower lip. "Meanie." He huffed.

BlackBat leaned forward as she giggled and pressed a kiss on his cheek, before standing. " Going to make dinner." She told him. He looked stunned, Laika's tail thumping against the floor of the ship as BlackBat walked away with a flourish of her cape, feeling his eyes lingering on her back.

This. Is. The. Best. Day!

SO MUCH GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING!!

Starry Knight doesn't have a lot of memories before she woke up on the white rock that looked at the blue green rock. She's pretty sure it's been a while though. A purple man that turned into a purple kid gave her many scratches and told her she was a Knight now.

A KNIGHT! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?

Starry isn't entirely sure WHAT a knight is, BUT it's awesome! She's sure of it! Purple Man kid person Said that Knights protect kings! Starry wasn't Sure. What that meant at first.

Then the King appeared and guess what!!! KNIGHTS PROTECT KINGS!!! EVEN BETTER NEWS!!! The king is HER Person! Purple Kid Man said her person was this thingy called an ancient. Whatever that is, she knows like...way deep down in the moon rock in her chest, that THIS is her person. WHICH IS AWESOME, But there's EVEN BETTER news!

HER PERSON CAME WITH ANOTHER PERSON!! That's right! TWO PEOPLE to love on her! And, and, and! The second person has CLAWS! They feel soooooo good against her back. She had this gold bird on her chest, so Starry Knight was gonna call her Birdy.

Her person got distracted from petting Starry when Birdy left and that simply wouldn't stand. She had been about to bark when his face pressed into her fur. Her person was very warm against her fur and Starry lifted her head to look at her person, tilting her head in confusion. Starry barked to ask Her person what he was doing.

"She's so, so pretty." He mumbled into her fur. She didn't know what pretty was, but her person seemed...like he needed to be licked. So She would do her duty as a knight and lick his face!!

Danny Sat back, hand coming up to touch the spot she had kissed. God he looked like a perv. Her suit was just...and she had such a pretty face.

He looked down at himself and frowned. He sort of wanted to show off for her, but most of his clothing was pretty baggy. He wore a pair of Blue jeans, a comfortable pair of tennis shoes, and Cass' hoodie. Even the shirt underneath, some classic NASA merch, Hung off of him like a blanket. Not for the first time he was annoyed that he hadn't gotten Dan's height.

Ancients he been caught staring. He really hoped he didn't come across as creepy or anything.

She didn't seem angry with him, more amused than anything, which was a good sign, right? And she already knew, especially if she was on the cameras, that Danny was talking to Cass, so maybe she was cool with it?

He blinked and dropped his head into Laika's cold fur, groaning in frustration. It was one date! It was one Date that ended in Danny getting blown the fuck up. Why would he even assume Cass wanted a second date? It's not like they were together together, so he was jumping the gun, right?

Lord his back...he rolled off of her after getting blown up. It had HURT. He wondered if she saw what it must have looked like. He hadn't been thinking when he'd been made to sit. Her demand for him to stay had short-circuited him, the way she stalked back all protective...

He jumped when a tongue lashed across his cheek, snorting and sighing as he lifted his head. "You're Right Starry. I'm in space. Enjoy space." Danny lifted his head, looking out, into the stars, smiling.

He had so much energy! Everything was so easy! There was no strain on his core, no twists, nothing that made him grit his teeth. Looking out into the stars, it felt like he'd unlocked. He'd gone his entire ghostly life, almost devoid of this... This sort of perfection. His eyes roamed over the Stars, they breathed in air recycled in a SPACESHIP! They were on approach TO MARS! Danny had MADE SURE that the red planet would be easily seen on the trip. In fact, astronomers would be talking for a very long time about how every single planet was lined up on this day, for seemingly no reason. They shouldn't have been lined up on this day at all.

What good is it to be in charge of the universal soup, if you can't mess with it?!?

Danny stood and checked the controls, autopilot was running, Danny double-checked their course. There were four planned fueling points at specific galactic outposts. Danny slipped a hand into his suit to check his access to the royal Treasury and smiled broadly. He was gonna meet so fucking many aliens.

Ancients. BlackBat was protective AND on a date to space.

He focused back on the charted course and was moving to make a couple of course corrections based on the vibes he got in his connection to space. Some areas would be prettier than others as well as a sliding danger scale.

A hand on his shoulder startled him out of his focus and BlackBat passed him a plastic bowl of some kind of chunky chili. Danny hummed with a mild frown. "Huh. I thought there'd be like...Nutrient tubes or something."

"Brought Nutrient dense bars if you'd prefer." She offered.

Danny took the bowl. "Honestly? I'd like it for the vibes, but I also want the chilli." He shrugged. Scooping some up to munch on. Ah! MRE. He'd had this one before.

BlackBat wandered away, returning with her own bowl and dropping into the seat beside him, and holding out a crimson wrapped bar with a lightning bolt on it. "Super Dense. Only eat a little." She said, waiting for him to take it before she focused back on her meal.

They ate quietly, Danny staring out the window, taking in the stars in quiet adoration. His eyes lit up when a speck of red began to swell in the dark of space, he reached for, tapping a button. A holographic display lit up, acting like a telescope for him to more clearly see the red planet. Laika barking and hopping up onto the console, deftly avoiding the controls as she circled around the display, before their eyes, they watched as the crimson face of Mars took over her fur, her core helping her to show what Phobos and Delmos saw.

Danny stared at her, open mouthed. He reached out to brush his fingers along the dog, playing in her fur. " That is the coolest thing ever. Starry." He whispered, earning an excited little Boof!

BlackBat's fingers joined his in playing through her fur, and the dog shifted to lay down on the console. Her eyes moving forward, watching the actual planet grow as they moved past. It wouldn't get much bigger than the moon is from earth, but That was still closer than Danny had ever physically been. He'd seen the planet when he first realized he could touch cosmic soup, but this was different, this was in a spaceship, in space, flying past it.

He must have started floating again, he could feel BlackBat resting a clawed hand on his shoulder and pushing him back down into his seat. His free hand came up to rest on hers, the tips of his fingers playing along the back of her glove. He stared at that red orb until it passed the cockpit and he let out a breath and a laugh, squeezing BlackBat's hand.

By the start of the next day, they had passed Pluto and were working their way out of the Milky Way. A quick glance through her cameras after seeing Danny sitting at the console, told her that he hadn't gone to bed even once. She frowned. She would need to keep her eye on this, Tim got like this during heavy cases. Would get to a point where he'd be asleep just about anywhere. She'd asked Bruce if he was Narcoleptic once, Bruce gave her a pat on the shoulder.

" Eventually we all get that way. You might not be there yet, and that's okay." His hand moved up to rub at the top of her head. " The only one among Us who's going to have even a semblance of a normal sleep schedule is Duke."

Bruce wandered past, sipping on a mug of tea. " It's kind of a part of just being a hero. Used to see some of the places that Clark falls asleep. Ollie Too." He shrugged. "Tim's got it worse cause he gets obsessive. Thank God he doesn't drink coffee, or we probably would not ever see him sleep." His relief always made Alfred's British accent come out in his words.

She had had good luck in the past with doing family cuddle piles, just luring them all into a room for a movie or something, and they would usually pass out together for several hours. Warriors needed sleep, so even a little sleep was better than nothing. She pushed herself out of her bed, stretching and twisting. She would try the normal way first, if she couldn't get him to go to sleep by prodding and poking him towards bed...well....

No one could blame her for cuddling him into bed, right? He was leaving her no choice after all. It was for his health. No other reason.

She wandered out, moving over towards him and giving him a little poke. She froze when his eyes met hers. His eyes, eyes. Not the mirror of his glasses, but the deep pools of sparkling voids. Stars and galaxies, infinite swirling nebulas. It held her, pulled her in and kept her. Praise God for Bruce's training. She had just enough control over herself to pull away from those eyes and grab for his glasses.

She shoved them in place and stumbled back, holding her head. It felt like she got a download of space directly into her brain, and even though she tried to grasp at it and understand what was filling her head, it slipped away from her. Not able to latch onto anything in particular, she stumbled back and fell into a chair. Her head dropped as she breathed in slowly, Her knees coming up around her head as she sucked in deep breaths.

Hands move to rest on her back, rubbing slow circles against her spine. "I am so so sorry." A voice managed to push through the ringing in her head, she swallowed, realizing her mouth was dry and slowly reached out. "Deep breaths, deeeeep breaths. That was a lot. Just like that, in." That voice sucked in a deep exaggerated breath. She copied "And out." As the voice breathed out, she copied the motion, breathing with them. "There you go. Come on. You got this." The voice was soft and the hand was under good pressure. " Eyes are the windows of the Soul, and mine's pretty big insane."

BlackBat breathed in again And slowly unfolded herself, her hands coming up to rub her eyes as she centered herself. A warm nose bumped against her chest. The moon was very, VERY warm sometimes and, as Laika pressed her full body into BlackBat, like a heated blanket, BlackBat found herself groaning and laying back. "You do that to people who rob you?!?" She asked with a manic laugh.

"Impulse is from the future...he...uh....Yeah He knows how to help." Danny mumbled, back to her and looked at the floor. "S-sorry. I was looking at an experiment." He rubbed his arm slowly. BlackBat closed her eyes and let out a breath.

"Pancakes." She breathed, listening to Danny rush away to prepare her pancakes. Her hand moved to rest on the dog's head, stroking through its spectral fur as she continued to breathe slowly. "Fuck." She breathed.

💜