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spacedace · 1 year

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Okay here me out:

dp x dc writing prompt where Dani ends up exhausted (and maybe a little weak from traveling for so long, maybe she got in a fight and is hurt) and finding shelter in a nice barn with a friendly cow in it, curling up in a dark corner to rest and recover where she’s pretty sure no one will notice her until she's ready to take off again.

And because her form since stabilizing has always been a bit prone to sliding away from more human and into the more eldritch when she's tired, she appears less like a human girl and more like an more humanoid-ish shadow creature. Emphasis on the creature.

Damian is a responsible pet owner, he makes sure to go around feeding everyone first thing in the mornings, even on weekends, and because of his training he has a sharp eye for things that aren't quit right, so he spots this...thing curled up in the corner immediately.

His first instinct is to fight it - it managed to get past all their security measures, it's an unknown, it could be a danger to his family, or worse BatCow - but then Alfred-the-cat jumps down from the hay bail the creature is curled up behind and lands on it. The creature gives a pained little noise, but doesn't strike out or hurt the cat, just turns glowing green eyes up at it and meets Alfred-the-cat's little mrrp with one of it's own and buts it's shadowy head against the cat.

And Damian, maybe a little more tired then usual up so early after a long night fighting rogues as Robin, just comes to the conclusion that - while obviously a supernatural creature of some variety- it clearly has been adopted by Alfred-the-cat as a kitten and equally adopted the cat back as it's caretaker. And separating them would be detrimental to both.

So obviously this is just another pet for him to take care of, especially when he realizes that Bruce-the-shadow (it only seemed appropriate since Alfred-the-cat adopted the creature) is injured.

Dani is a little too out of it to fully get what's going on at first, just vaguely aware of someone that looks a bit like Danny saying something to her and trying to check on her injuries - he must have found her, one of the local ghosts must have told him what was going on - so she just lets him because she knows how he gets.

The rest of the family thinks it's a bit weird that Damian has been spending so much more time down at the barn recently, but hey it keeps him from getting into fights with his siblings and they all get the need for some alone time now and then.

Things only start getting weird when Dani starts realizing it's not her original/brother/father taking care of her but instead some kid her age, but by then Damian has started talking to Bruce-the-Shadow the same way he does his other pets, sharing the things he feels he can’t share with anyone else, and she sees that same loneliness and unwillingness to trust that she feels and really with the bruises the kid keeps showing up with she worries okay?

So she sticks around, even after she's all healed and could take off again, keeping her form shadowy and doing her best to keep an eye on her new...friend? Friend.

Cut to Damian ending up in some bad fight and Dani as Bruce-the-shadow showing up to save him and BatFam is concerned™️ about what the fuck that thing is, and Danny getting worried because he hasn't seen his clone/sister/daughter in a bit and she usually at least checks in by now and deciding to go look for her.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #batfam #writing prompt #damian wayne #danielle fenton #dani fenton #danny fenton #eldritch dani #alfred the cat #Elle starts hiding in Damian's shadow to try and protect him throughout the day #the robin thing is a surprise but hey she gets the vigilante thing even if that's more Danny's thing then hers #Damian is delighted that his new pet is so well behaved and seems to understand him so well #he's 90% percent certain Bruce-the-shadow is a Lazarus pit demon #and excited to have so easily tamed and domesticated it #the first time someone tries to kill Robin while Elle is there ends up getting eaten by a furious eldritch abomination and spat out again #Damian is so proud #Bruce is PANICKING

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obsessedwithstarwars · 1 year

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THE BULLET IN THE BOY or

THE BOY WITH WHITE HAIR

(It’s a work in progress. Names are hard.)

Tim’s senses came back slowly. When was the last time he slept? Well, aside from passing out. When was the last time he slept voluntarily? He tried to breathe evenly and pretend he was asleep, but his mind was racing. What was he doing? He couldn’t remember anything after he went on patrol. How long ago was that?? The summer air had cooled down significantly, so it had to have been a few hours. Obviously something had gone wrong. He needed to come up with a plan before whoever had him realized that he was awake.

The first thing to note was the frigid cold against his back. He was laying on a hard, smooth floor. He assumed concrete. Water dripped somewhere and echoed loudly as it hit a puddle. So it was a big empty-ish room. Probably a warehouse. Judging by the stuffy, stale, and metallic smell, it was most likely abandoned. With blood. A sharp burning pain emanating from his left shoulder meant the blood was probably his.

If Tim hadn’t been paying attention, he wouldn’t have heard the very very shallow breathing directly above him. Until extremely cold fingers wrapped something around his shoulder, jostling it. Tim reflexively took a small intake of breath at the sharp pain. It was quiet, barely noticeable but it was enough for the fingers to stop moving.

“Oh shit, you’re awake.” The voice was distinctly male, definitely young, probably a teenager.

No use in pretending now. Tim opened his eyes, surprised at how heavy they felt. Yup. He was in a warehouse. It was dark with no windows except for a few skylights on the ceiling. He was laying in the light coming from one of them with the boy sitting at his side. Moonlight outlined the boy from the skylight above. Tim couldn’t feel a breeze, yet the boy’s stark white hair moved like strong winds pulled at it. He couldn’t see a face as the boy was focused on Tim’s shoulder. Pain radiated along his arm and across his chest.

Tim attempted to sit up but found all of his limbs were heavy. What was happening? His mind felt alert, but his body was sluggish. The boy stopped what he was doing, grabbed Tim’s other shoulder and pressed down firmly on his chest. His hands were freezing. “Stop trying to move! If you start bleeding again it’s your own damn fault. I’m almost done wrapping your shoulder.”

“What did you do to me?” Tim whispered as the boy worked on winding the gauze around his upper arm.

“I didn’t do anything but you just proved my theory.” The boy huffed as he clasped two metal bandage clips on the gauze to keep it in place before sitting back.

“What’s your theory?” He had to keep the boy talking until backup arrived.

“You’re a fucking idiot.” Tim blinked. That was not the answer he expected. Maybe he did need more sleep.

“Ookayy. How did I prove that?”

“You were so focused on following that black haired kid, not to mention sleep deprived, seriously when was the last time you slept?! I thought I was bad. I sleep more than you and I’m dead.” He chuckled as if he had said something completely normal, and not something that was the equivalent of saying the sky was green. “Anyway, you were so focused on m-on him you didn’t notice you were being followed.” He slowly put his makeshift medical supplies into a backpack that had seen better days. Tim filed away the information for later. Better to keep the boy talking.

“I knew I was being followed.” At this, the boy stopped what he was doing and scoffed at him.

“Oh, really? Two guys attack you, you fight back. Not bad. You’re a better fighter than I am. Six more join and you get yourself shot in the shoulder. So I grabbed you and flew ran like hell. Hence you’re an idiot.” He gently pulled Tim up into a sitting position and propped him up with a crate. Tim’s eyes were now adjusted to the dark and he could see more. He studied him. The boy was extremely thin but surprisingly strong. He was very pale too. How old was this kid? Tim guessed younger than him. Where were his parents? Was he living on the street?

“They shot you in the deltoid.” The boy continued. Hmm, so he knows anatomy. That’s a class Tim was taking. They might be closer in age than he thought. “It wouldn’t stop bleeding so I brought you here, got the bullet out, and patched you up. It was covered in a weird substance. Probably a paralytic of some sort since you’re having a hard time moving. You obviously didn’t call for backup or they would be here already. So you’re a fucking idiot.” He zipped up his backpack.

“Why were you there?” Tim slowly and with great effort reached for his insignia. If he could just communicate with his team, he might be able to help the boy too.

“Nope, sorry. This isn’t Jeopardy. That is not a question you’re getting an answer to. Also, have you seen what you’re wearing?” At this, Tim froze. He was wearing his Red Robin uniform. He couldn’t feel his face from the drug. Was his mask still on?

Almost as if the boy could hear his thoughts, he quickly said “Your mask is on your face. And I didn’t look. I understand the importance of a secret identity. You could say I was reborn with one. Or that I have a split personality.” He laughed. Tim felt relief, but the boys words provided more questions than answers.

“Anyways, we’re just going to pretend I didn’t see you and you didn’t see me.”

“Why would we do that?” Tim continued to slowly reach for his insignia.

“We both have identities to protect.” At this, the boy crouched down to eye level with Tim. Oh shit, he’s cute. The boy’s face was surprisingly clean, with scrapes on his gaunt cheeks, and a bruise forming under his right eye. The boy was beautiful. But something was familiar about him. Before Tim had time to process what it could be the boy slowly waved his hand across Tim’s face. “You don’t need to investigate me. I’m not the boy you’re looking for.” His eyes flashed a bright glowing green. The color was eerily familiar and definitely not normal for a human. The boy had to be a meta. A meta who’d seen too many movies.

“Did- did you just try to do a Jedi mind trick on me?!”

“Depends. Did it work?” The boy smiled a half smile and Tim had to remember how to breathe.

“No.”

“Damn. Well, in any case, you won’t say anything yet. I disabled your communication device.” He pointed to the insignia. “And your tracker. Can’t have your friends follow me. Or have my enemies find me. Especially while you’re incapacitated.” The boy stood up. Tim realized he was wearing a suit too. It was all black with a white collar, belt, and cuffs. He wore white gloves and white boots. It reminded Tim of a haz-mat suit, except for the weird logo that looked like a ‘D’ and a ‘P’ combined on his chest. Despite cleaning Tim’s shoulder, his white gloves were pristine.

“Enemies?”

“My sister says I’ve gone too soft. She says I need to take care of myself first and it’s not my job to protect everyone. I know she’s looking out for me, trying to protect me like she always does. But you need to know.” He took a deep breath and looked Tim in the eyes again. The green pupils glowed and Tim could see the green swirling, like a pool of bright, sickly green. Lazarus waters. That’s what his eyes reminded Tim of. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop looking.” The boy said in a low voice. “Lives will be in danger if you don’t. Mine, my sister, my friends, your brother’s, and the boy you followed.”

“What? Which brother? Who’s after you? Who are you?”

“The dead one. The GIW. And I don’t care how good your hacker is, don’t look them up. Matter of fact, don’t even breathe in their direction. They’ll know and your dead brother will die again, except this time he’ll die a much slower, much more painful, and permanent death. If it traces back to me and hurts who I hold dear, you’ll have a much bigger, and infinitely more destructive problem on your hands.” The boy slung his backpack on and started to walk away.

“How did you know he died?” Tim asked quietly.

“Phantom.”

“What?” The boy, Phantom, turned to look at him.

“My name. It’s Phantom.” His eyes started to glow brighter, with green flames extending outward, and a smile that showed too many teeth. Tim held his breath, unable to look away. The white hair moved unnaturally with a faint bright green crown floating above his head. And Tim knew that Phantom wasn’t just a name. He wasn’t sure if he was even a meta. The boy was different. Otherworldly. A being that could and would destroy the earth if provoked. Tim knew they were no match for him and judging by the look in Phantom’s eyes, he knew it too. They stared at each other for several moments, until a faint, barely discernible noise made Phantom jerk his head away. He stopped smiling, the power he so openly displayed almost folding back into himself as he said, “Your friends are here.”

Batman and Robin emerged from the shadows. Tim was sure Red Hood was also there, along with Nightwing. Waiting in the shadows or securing the perimeter. Phantom was surrounded. Tim felt almost sad for the boy. No good deed goes unpunished, huh. But they needed to know what was going on. He had more questions. Questions that needed answers. From Batman’s stance, Tim assumed he’d heard the last part of their conversation. Saw what Phantom did. If Jason was in danger, they needed to know. They needed to stop the threat.

Phantom started laughing. His legs slowly melded together until they became a tail floating a few feet off the ground. “Aaand that’s all the time we have for today kids! Don’t forget to light a candle for your friendly neighborhood ghosts and stay away from the Guys In White. See you never!” At this, Phantom did a fake salute to Batman, bowed to Tim, and vanished into thin air before their eyes.

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celaenaeiln · 4 months

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I recently found out that cats can stretch to 3 times their body length because they're so flexible and all I can see is a thug beating up a member of the batfamily and then feeling an ominous sensation at his back. He stops and turns around a little scared to find himself eyeline level to a stomach. He slowly starts craning his head up, up, up and looks up at the shadow darkened face of the tallest slenderman (wait weren't those supposed fake?!) he's ever seen.

The 12 foot tall man asks in the nicest but scariest voice the thug has ever heard, "what. are. you. doing."

The thug decides the best thing to do would be to not answer but it's not like he could anyway even if he wanted to because even sounds are willing to hide in his throat. The last thing he sees before his vision blacks out is a slender hand with bright blue fingerstripes reaching down.

At this point the batkids are just as scared as the thug because holy shit they've only heard rumors not seen it in action!

"...Dick?"

Dick just shrinks down to normal size and helps them up.

"How did you do that?!"

"Do what? oh. I just disconnected my shoulder blades. C'mon, let's go back and get you all patched up."

"You.....what?"

#after finding out dick was so flexible during his robin days selina actually taught him how to do that #bruce once walked into the batcave with a cup of coffee and had a heart attack when a 12 foot & an 8 foot figure half hidden in the shadows #whipped their heads around to look at him. It didn't help that one was dressed as a traffic light and the other looked like an eldritch #weird thoughts #dick grayson #nightwing #batfamily headcanons

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authenticaussie · 6 days

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...eldritch!batman only recognises his robins when they are Small

When they grow older he stops being able to recognise them/identify them and ends up accidentally latching onto a new one. Happens more gradually for dick-to-jason but he Knows jason got taken away by force and thus has Problems because of it. And then for Tim-to-Damian it was a chorus of bad luck where Thalia figured out a moment in which Bruce had less control of the Bat and just. Stuck Damian in his path. Now Bruce has a new Robin even though he TRIES to get the focus back to Tim because he knows Tim is still Robin. And/or because Dick views Tim as an equal, when he dons the Batsuit he just. Can't remember Tim-as-Robin, which is dangerous and leads to Dami-Robin-adoption by the Bat.

If u are too big....you're not ALLOWED to be bigger than batdad. Robin is BABY.

(but also means that eldritch!batdad very much sees them as the Same Person which brings its own host of issues/problems)

....for more crack purposes you can, of course, also make the assumption (and Jason often makes the joke) that technically Bruce is a magical girl because his suit has vague sentience. He made a deal with an eldritch being and now he has a transformation sequence. He's totally a magical girl.

#batman #batfam #fic ideas i probably won't write #dick grayson #bruce wayne #robin #dc #eldritch!batman #eldritchman?#unfortunately i do not have a fun tag for this au so #eldritch batman au #it shall have to be

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jadedwolf18-blog · 1 year

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Jokes on you

Felt a little angsty today. Not sure how often I’ll get to this as I really want to try finishing Mini Phantom Invasion before moving onto a new story line.

🤍🖤💚💙💚🖤🤍

Tucked behind the curtain, a child giggled then laughed as the man on stage glance at him. He didn’t know why but if he didn’t laugh, the man would hit him. So, he laughed to escape the pain and the loneliness. If he giggled and laughed or even smiled, then the pain wouldn’t come and the man payed attention to him.

The boy remembered, there was a time, when he didn’t have to smile all the time but that was a long time ago. He still had a caretaker then… he didn’t know where she went and didn’t ask. They had moved then to. The apartment was smaller and the window in his room was cracked.

That’s when he started to smile all the time. The man didn’t let him call him ‘dad’ anymore since then. The man would come home angry all the time and if he didn’t laugh at his jokes the man would hit him.

So, he laughed and smile and giggled. Even when he wanted to cry and scream and shout.

*****

Danny shot awake as their head bumped against the glass of the bus window. Blinking, they placed their head in their hands as they huffed a laugh. It had been awhile since they’d thought of that man.Glancing out the window from the corner of their eye, they watch as familiar yet long forgotten streets flashed by.

It had been years since they’d last stepped foot in Gotham, with good reason… But something was here in the city. The tugging at their core, that had been there since the beginning, had grown in strength. It had gotten to the point that whenever they transformed, lately, it would cause them physical pain. It was worrying enough to make them giggle when ever they felt it. Which was NOT a welcome returning habit but they were learning to accept themself and this, unfortunately, was apart of them. No matter how much they wished it weren’t and they could forget it all.

A giggle slipped past their lips as they took in the buildings and caught site of bright red graffiti. They didn’t know why their core led them back here but they were not happy to be back in this broken city.

*****

@connorsbonez

@currant-owo

@persephoneblackrose

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puppetmaster13u · 8 months

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The GIW made a mistake when they went after Phantom. They made yet another upon venturing into the darkened alleys. They made their last when they harmed the ghostling. Gotham is a viscous, vengeful being, and their guardians just as much.

(1) (2) (3)

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ghost-bxrd · 1 month

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For @pics-and-fanfics who requested Fae!Dick 💚

I got way carried away with this one lol.

Anyway, looking at other creatures too long isn’t recommended. Catching even a glimpse can be… disconcerting.

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castrianamore · 1 year

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You Can’t Teach an Old God New Tricks

DC x DP Crossover

TW: Cannon-Typical violence+ some stuff, panic attacks, terrorist-like attack, Injury

Prologue

What was he doing? Really. Tonight felt off.

There was an eeriness to the air even more so than usual. Tim didn’t know how to take Gotham somehow feeling worse than usual. It was his solo night which was normally nice unless the night was young and then silence set upon Gotham.

“Anyone else not getting good vibes?” Tim’s voice broke the silence into the group coms. Tim could hear Jason finishing beating the shit out of someone. Just slightly labored breath.

“I’ve been riding around and only seen one instance of trouble. Either Gotham’s in a good mood or…”

“Something worse is going to happen.” Dick finished for him. Nightwing or rather Dick was working on his investigation tonight. Tim knew that much and had been trying to let him help. He was a pretty good detective he could say so himself.

“What do you think Batman?”

“I don’t know but something is always up in this city. It’s another night. We won’t let anything else happen to it anyways.”

“Fair fair, oh hey! I see you Babybird!!!” Tim perked up looking around and seeing Nightwing obnoxiously waving from a rather large distance. If it weren’t for his special lenses in his mask he definitely would not have seen the man.

“Oh? Yeah, I have something for you by the way,”Tim reached into his pocket before pretending to grab something and flipping him off with a smirk.

“Wow real mature, Red!”

“Thanks Hood’s been teaching me.”

“Of course he did, see you on the flip side RR.”

And Nightwing dropped from the building presumably running off to go work on something else.

“What did you do that i taught you?”Jason replied a little delayed but still there. “I said stay down you mother fuck—“

“HAHA You have to put money in the swear jar!” Tim teased the elder man.

“Careful Replacement. But what did I teach you that Night wing is being pissy about?”

“Oh I flipped him off.”

“But we both flip him off all the time I don’t?” Jason sounded mildly confused.

“I pretended I was showing him something.”

“Okay that makes sense now.” A small grunt of reply from Tim. He sighs and moves across the building hopping to the next and the next. However…

As Tim jumped to the next a building exploded throwing him into a building’s wall and down into an alley way. His back hitting the hard industrial trash can before making contact with the alleyway floor.

His world was spinning. He was sure he had a concussion. Had to have one with how hard he had been thrown. He was vaguely there for a moment as he collected himself hearing a brief conversation over the coms.

That wall had hurt he was floating between consciousness and being a goner. He guessed he blacked out because when he woke up it was hard to breath.

His own breathing was heavy and the air was thick with smoke. Where was his air filter? He patted his suit getting up. Fuck! He had to have forgotten it in the batcave. How could he forget it in the batcave.

An echoing evil laugh sent a shiver down Tim’s spine. What the fuck was he doing. He moved his hand to his ear as he peaked around the corner of the building to see what was going on. Flames lit the night sky up in a beautiful orange hue but the Smokey fog made things hard to see. He touched his forehead feeling blood and wiped it away for a moment. No use worrying about it now it would have to be treated later

Fuck it was hard to breath.

A large ominous figure floated above the city of Gotham. A flame covered crown floating above his head.

This was supposed to have been a normal night of patrols. His shift. Red Robin’s shift. Nightwing had his own investigations to run and Batman was requested at Arkham asylum for a moment by one of the members of the staff. Tim didn’t really care much in that aspect.

But tonight wasn’t supposed to bring trouble. No one had expected the explosions. The earthquakes and tremors through the Earth’s rock and crust as the concrete cracked and broke and a few buildings exploded.

A silent pressure falling over the city so quickly to lift to the flames. The city that seemingly reached towards the welcoming embers. The screams echoing in his ears as Rubble had scattered around him as the first explosions had gone off and a figure appeared.

“You guys seeing this?” Tim whispered into the coms.

“How could we not? It’s only at least as tall as most buildings around Gotham and FLOATING,”Dick whisper yelled.

“Scarred Dickie-bird?”

“Shut up Little wing.”

“Does anyone have visual on our target?” Batman’s voice silenced the trio of brothers. “And does anyone have contact with Robin? He’s not showing up on coms?”

“Robin? No. I haven’t seen him since we finished our rounds last night.” Tim looked around him grappling to the top of the building to look around and try and get a good look on the person responsible for this.

Definitely not human. Could they be Martian? No they tended to stay around the same size as humans and their natural forms. Who was this?

The wind blew the smoke out of the way. A little as he ran from roof top to roof top a cloth over his mouth as he had one thing in mind. Get higher. He had to get higher. Out of the smoke. Out of the flames. See who he needed to fight.

A cry came over the coms. “Out of commission guys.”

“Nightwing!” Tim’s panicked voice rose as he stopped in his tracks as he lands on the next building eyes going from the ground to the sky.

“Broken ankle and probably crushed my tibia on my left side,”his voice sounded strained.

“What happened?” The stern voice of a concerned father slipped through Batman’s voice ready to tell the kids where to meet to help him.

“Got a few civilians out of a collapsing building but it collapsed and I didn’t get completely out of the way in time.” A deep breath of Nightwings familiar techniques to keep himself conscious and working. He’d definitely been through worse but if he was pinned? That was another question entirely.

“Nightwing, Can you move?”

“Afraid not. This is a solid piece of wood on my leg Babybird.”

“Hood you’re the closest can you get to him?”

“Already on my way.”

“Good.”

“I am so not whelmed right now.”

“RR?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have a better visual? I’m on my way back from Arkham.”

“I do…”

Tim’s eyes widened as he stared up at the figure. Midnight black armor with the flaming crown he could see through the smoke. Cape whipping in the wind as the man gave out a dark a chuckle.

“And you think you Can stop me?”

There was something—no someone in front of him.

A weak cough came from the coms.

“This is Robin to the bats.”

“ROBIN!” All of the bats in synchronized concern at hearing the youngest voice even if it was weak.

“Report, where are you? Now.”

“Bat cave.”

“But your readers aren’t..?”

“I was outside and had to bolt. I dropped it.”

“You’re lying.”

Tim could read Damian like a book. It wasn’t intentional but while the kid was a skilled assassin it didn’t change the fact he had awful people kills and even worse cover stories at times. Quick to anger. Quick to prove wrong too, sometimes.

“Shut up Red.”

“Now is not the time to be playing games Robin. Are you hurt?”

“I was taking down a gambling den and the building collapsed on top of us….”

Silence fell over the group. Robin was trapped under a building with criminals.

“Robin answer the question, are you hurt?” It was Jason this time. The faint sounds of win whipping past and a familiar hum of his motorcycle. Dammit his own motorcycle was probably gone once again. This time more than likely destroyed due to the debris and explosions. Jason was probably on his way to Dick’s location.

“Yes.”

“How badly?” Tim couldn’t help the mild panic in his voice. Damian would be okay, he knew that but his brotherly instinct kicked in for the youngest Robin. He wanted to protect Damian. As much of a nuisance and trouble maker the child was he was still family. His family.

“I think my right arm got dislocated but I popped it back into place. My left wrist I think is fractured. Definitely a broken rib or two.” His shallow breathing and tremors were concerning.

“Anything else?”

“I don’t know how much air I’ll have down here. I don’t think anyone else made it, I’m small so that should buy me time and if I can get my breathing under control until rescue services arrive I might be able fo last.”

Robin was trapped under a building with little air to breath and several broken bones and possible fractures.

No one wanted to breath as it dawned on them how serious this entire situation was. However, before anyone could say another word into the communication devices they were cut off.

“Citizens of the Mortal plane!”

Not that anyone would talk now.

“Red! All I’m picking up is static from your end? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know… the figure it’s talking!” Tim looked up in horror as the smile across the figured face grew and grew with ever sharper teeth and eyes that seemed to be focused exclusively on you and only you. He couldn’t move? Of course he couldn’t move that creature. That thing was terrifying.

“I am here to take control of this existence and your wretched short lives will serve me well. You may call me, Pariah Dark. The Ghost King. The king of the Infinite Realms! You’re new overlord, or your new butcher!”

“Red how close are you?” Jason’s voice. “Red how close are you to that THING?!?!”

“Red!”

“RED ROBIN ANSWER US!!!” Tim wasn’t sure if he could. It felt like his bones had turned to mush and his eyes were focused and trapped on the one thing. He couldn’t move.

The longer the being talked the more static filled his ears as the radios and comms were filled with noice and a high pitched sharp sound caught him off guard as he desperately clawed out the coms throwing it out of his ear in pain. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

He could feel the ringing in his ears and the blood trickling down his cheeks as he slowly reached up to touch it. Did his comms just bust his ear drum? He looked around again. His hearing was dulled. It had definitely busted his ear drum.

“You will bow down to me or you will pay a severe price!”

A loud explosion called the man, Pariah Dark, to look in that direction. In a glowing mass of green was another figure. Much smaller but if Tim hadn’t known any better he would say easily more powerful than the so called King of Infinite Realms. But what the fuck was that? How did his coms glitch out so severely to hurt him?

He stood up wearily trying to get closer to the duo. In his head he could hear Nightwing and Jason screaming for him to stay where he was until they could get backup, but Tim knew backup wasn’t coming.

Ghosts were real. The dead could walk amongst the living and haunt people. Had they messed up so badly as humanity that the dead had to come back and teach them a lesson? Was this a chance? A coincidence? He prayed not, but one thing was for sure about this ghost. About this situation he found himself in.

The king stood right in front of him and they needed intel. He had to overhear what was happening to help his family because…

Dick was severely injured.

Damian was trapped and injured

Bruce was too far away.

Jason had to help Dick or Damian.

His electronics were no longer working. No coms. No tracking. No maps. Nothing.

The only one left to get anything useful was himself, and he swore he would do that. The smoke blowing in front of him gave him trouble seeing the figure floating in front of Pariah. The size of a normal human being but was obviously far from normal.

White hair glowing bright and just slightly floating around him. The faint Green light he gave off with the aura of Superman if not far more powerful. Tim didn’t even realize his hands were shaking. The figures arms were crossed and despite being in the presence of someone so powerful the figure seemed relaxed.

Tim placed a hand to his wrist checking his pulse. It was highly elevated was he… was he scared. Yes. He was, but as the figure opened his mouth to speak that fear changed to terror.

An unearthly wail of immeasurable incomprehension filled his ears. These were words, but his mind could not process the language, the pronunciation. Part of him felt as if he knew exactly what the man was saying. The words harsh and strangely familiar. The sounds caused Tim to cover his ears, even if already dulled from having lost one ear drum for the moment. It would not stop the true paralysis of fear in his bones.

He couldn’t breath. Fuck. No. Take in a breath dammit.

Breath Tim! The smoke choked his lungs and his panic attack began to set into his veins which didn’t help his case.

He shook. Knees on the gravel roof hands over his ears. Tears slipping from his eyes catching on his mask, before rolling down his cheek.

Did this make him a coward?

He was petrified. How could they fight something like that? It was far too strong to be human, to be a ghost even. Too … too what?

No, what stood in front of them with a catch of a gleaming smile of razor sharp teeth and glowing green eyes, had to have been a god. The power. The fear.

Tim didn’t know what happened next.

He just knew he blacked out and woke up struggling to breath in Jason’s arms eyes wide as he clutched his brother desperately. Jason kept his grip on him tight.

“Is-is it gone. Is that THING gone?!?!!”

Jason have him a small shush holding him still in Tim’s bedroom. “Tim, it’s been a week since that creature was defeated. Take a deep breath. “

What.

Slowly he looked up at Jason. The tired eyes and a stitched together cut on his forehead telling him that yes. Time had passed. He had been asleep. It was the only thing that made sense.

“Is Damian? Is Dick are they? Are they okay!!?! I need to see them! I need to make sure that they’re.”

The feral attempt to get out of his brother’s arms in a frenzy of panic and anger and confusion and worry only had his brother’s arms growing tighter around him.

“Tim. Tim. Tim .” Jason’s stern voice shook the younger one for a moment though he should have been far more used to it than he had been. “They’re safe. You’re safe. Anyone who was within the immediate hearing range of that fight have been recorded with onset anxiety, panic attacks. Seizure’s, etc. Some jumped off roofs, out windows to escape whatever it was..”

“Am I okay?”

Tim knew he probably looked broken. Hands slipping past his brother’s arms to cover his ears as his mind began to properly take in what had happened. He had passed out from the overwhelming panic and inability to breath on that roof. Jason had said people had been terrified. Rightfully so. That creature was the stuff of nightmares. Anything who had to go toe to toe with them should be fearful. Jason explained a bit more but Tim was already too far gone again staring down at the blankets his heart monitor beeping away next to him.

His heart began to pick up slowly. Jason’s hand on his arm as his eyes grew wide again. He knew what it meant now.

“What did… what did that do to me? What did It do to them?”

Jason looked at him extremely concerned.

“Tim, what do you mean? What happened to you?”

What that creature had said, and he had no idea how he knew this considering all recordings of the event merely ended up as static from his broken electronics, more than likely. Right as he saw Damian enter the room in several casts. He glanced up at him his eyes glazing over once more.  

“I am Phantom, and I will destroy you for touching what is mine, you will be the King of Nothing when I am finished with you.”

Tim didn’t remember much else after that. Merely Jason and Damian having to call for Alfred. Tim was told later that week that he had been in an out of seizure fits for a while. For another week. He had never had seizures in his life but now? That event had changed his brain.

It was another month and a half before Bruce let him back out on duty. And still another 3 before he was allowed to solo.

Tim occasionally could feel the seizure’s coming on but only rarely, But the days went on and years passed.

Tim never forgot those words. He prayed that remembering that fearful night would never amount to anything.

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