When talking about the distinction between Simon Petrikov and the Ice King, it’s important to remember that originally, the Crown wasn’t trying to turn Simon into Ice King -
It was trying to turn him into this guy.
At the time, the Ice Crown - or rather the Wishing Crown - was programmed with Gunther’s wish to become Evergreen. So everything related to making the current wearer like Evergreen is a very direct result of the Crown’s Magic. The physical changes -
And the obsession with the name ‘Gunther’ -
And maybe some of the irritability and anger issues -
That is something the Crown is very directly forcing unto its current wielder.
But everything else?
Ice King, personality-wise, was not much like Evergreen at all, or even like Gunther's view of him. And Ice Finn of the Farmworld Universe was also pretty different from the both of them.
At the time, I remember people assumed Ice Finn’s behavior is more indicative of what the Crown is actually trying to do with its wielders. That Ice King is so different because of Simon’s subconscious resistance against the Crown - while Finn’s much younger and dumber brain is a lot susceptible to the Curse’s influence to become some sort of mad world-conquering emperor of ice and snow.
But, with the context of the Crown’s actual backstory. That doesn’t seem very likely anymore. I think what’s actually happening there is that the Crown is just trying to make its wielder an Ice Wizard on par with Evergreen (who was the Actual Goddam Ice Elemental) and that means pumping the wielder’s brain so full of Magic, Madness and Sadness to a level that is bound to overwhelm anyone.
And Simon’s and Farmworld Finn’s very different behaviors after putting on the crown is indicative, more than anything, of how their psyche reacts to Madness and Sadness in general. You know, Finn has a very proactive and kinda aggressive personality - and you add Crown-induced-Madness-and-Sadness and a compulsion to use Ice Magic as much as possible and you get all of…. this
Meanwhile, for Simon, the compulsions of the Crown originally filtered exclusively via the language of protection
As his madness always manifested as romantic obsession
And using goofy humor to try and deny the pain he’s going through
Because that’s how Simon’s mind specifically reacts to being flooded with so much Madness and Sadness.
That’s why there’s so many parallels between Ice King and the sort of mistakes and screwed-up stuff Simon does right now! He’s even kidnapping people again!
Because the Madness and Sadness of Ice King might’ve been induced by the Crown, but now Simon has plenty of personal home-grown Madness and Sadness inside him - and it’s no surprise that Curse-Induced or not, his mind reacts to it in a sorta-similar way. (Although obviously not as intensely, again, there was a LOT of MMS in the Ice Crown).
Now as for Ice Thing, and the fact that he seems to be actually rather well-adjusted under effects of his version of the Wishing Crown. I mean... not by the time of the 1000+ Era, but that’s literally eons in the future and also maybe more Gibbon’s fault. Even if the Crown will eventually take some sort of toll on him, for now he seems to be doing pretty well considering his wish. I mean, there's still some sort of Loss of Identity stuff going on
But everything we've seen of Ice Thing (in the present day, at least) shows him as a friendly and cheerful individual that gets along well with others. A far cry from how maladjusted every single wielder of the Ice Crown acted.
At the very least, if there's any notable amount of Sadness in him, we really haven't seen it yet.
There might be several factors here:
First things first, I should acknowledge the possibility that it’s just that Orgalorg’s eldritch brain is better at intaking all that MMS juice. That could play a part, but I think it’s probably more important, at least thematically, to look at the distinction between ‘I wish to be Evergreen’ and ‘I wish to be Ice King’.
First in the sense that while Ice King was occasionally mean to Gunter at times - he was generally much kinder than Evergreen ever was for ‘his’ Gunther. So, like, pretty much the one Personality Flaw of Ice King that you can directly link to the Ice Crown’s attempt to mimic Evergreen is the occasional anger issues.
And how they relate to Gunther’s view of Evergreen, so grumpy and controlling and constantly saying ‘NO!’
(Both Finn and Simon’s demonstrable not-crown-induced trauma responses can make them pretty short-tempered as well. So I’m not going to say this is purely the effects of the Crown. It still probably plays some sort of factor at why the wielder of the Ice Crown is Like That).
And that is not a factor in how Gunter views Ice King. For him, Ice King was a doting and loving father figure - so if the Crown was ever trying to implement any sort of specific negative personality traits, this is absolutely no longer a factor. Because the original Ice Crown was a reflection of Evergreen’s abuse, and now Ice Thing is a reflection of Ice King’s fatherly love.
Which is, itself, probably an echo or remnant of Simon’s own strong parental instincts.
Secondly, while the Crown was trying to make the Ice King just as powerful as Evergreen…. Ice King was obviously not as powerful as Evergreen. Because he was already a second-rate copy of the Ice Elemental’s power, and because Ice King was often just too doofy to use his powers correctly and probably because some remnant of Simon’s original sensible self is subconsciously holding his powers back.
Either way, being ‘like Ice King’ as Gunter sees him requires less Magic than being ‘like Evergreen’ as Gunther saw him - and therefore less Madness and Sadness. Leading to the wearer or, um, the eater being a lot more well-adjusted from the get-go.
And I think that the implication that Ice Thing has fused with the Crown, so there's never going to be another poor sap who puts on the Crown and gets Ice King'd. But if there is one somehow... at least the process is going to be less mentally detrimental that time around?
Maybe one day Simon could look back and appreciate how much he (or Ice King, or both of them, or however you want to look at the situation) is responsible for basically neutralizing the Crown that ruined his life in the first place.
Sometimes.
Just sometimes.
Bruce, tired father of too many children, wished for a small break.
Just a tiny one.
He pinched his nose, cowl covering his head and expression and glared.
"I can't believe you snitched on me!" Billy batson, freshly revealed teen and sitting on his usual spot during meetings, hisses.
"If I have to get parented, so do you!" Danny fenton, also freshly revealed teenager, glared right back.
"Boys." Both their attention snapped to wonder woman, still tense and warry.
"Do you two have adult supervision, at least." Batman asks, feeling slightly more drained than before, he can feel Nightwing's stare at the back of his head, coming closer.
"Do the voices count?" Danny asks, to which Billy nodded. "Yeah, do they? Zeus has strong opinions, and many kids. He probably can parent, somewhat."
They shrugged both, like they hadn't just opened another whole can of questions.
"Wait!" Danny snapped his fingers, "what about clocky? He sends us on time missions, has his own lair, and lets us hang around. That counts? Right?"
The other teen nods in agreement.
(Knowing both are black haired and blue-eyed teens, he already knows Dick will never let him live this down. Deceived by children, for YEARS.)
(So much for being the greatest detective.)
(The text he sent to Alfred is between him and his butler dad.)
"Or—"
In the end, the two agreed reluctantly to stay around for a while. The Kents, the Allens, Diana, and the Waynes have opened up their homes to house them permanently.
Much their amusement, they declared, that to make no one jealous, they'd switch homes every other week or so.
That alone smelled like chaos.
Whatever, it was Diana's first week.
(And if the house of mysteries appeared in front of them sometimes, that's also between them and a very suffering John constantine.)
He'd been taking a moment to himself, hanging out on the bleachers after school, when he'd heard the A-Listers talking about superheroes.
Specifically, they were laughing at Dash as Dash tried to convince them that Batman, and all Gotham heroes associated with him, were vampires that were a part of a coven and secretly running that city.
Wes, ever nosy, spoke up.
Wes should not have spoke up.
"Batman isn't a vampire, you idiot, he's a billionaire playing hero."
Now all of Amity Park is convinced that Bat-affiliated heroes are vampires, and they're spreading that curse-backed "knowledge" to the world via any social media outlet they can find.
Wes ignores it, at first. It isn't a big deal, just some stupid conspiracy theory.
Then news reports start popping up of people trying to attack anyone Bat-affiliated with wooden stakes, or holy water, or in some memorable stories; hollowpoint bullets they'd altered to hold holy water.
Now it's a problem.
Now he's created accounts on all social media platforms, blew his allowance on ads to spread his brand, and runs the most adamant conspiracy channels on practically everything, shouting that Batman and his associated are vampires.
Because if he says it, then no one will believe it.
He just has to spread this version of the curse far enough that it starts to undo the other one.
Naturally, with so many curses being flung around, the JLD take notice.
Early Adventure Time episodes: Ice King "kidnaps" Wire Princess, a vaguely humanoid heap of scrap with a smiley face painted on its "head" which he obviously made. Finn wants to stop him on the principle of kidnapping being bad, while Jake argues that since his "victim" is an inanimate piece of junk, no one's getting hurt and it might even quell his kidnapping thirst. After a series of shenanigans, Ice King attacks Jake, at which point Wire Princess speaks, revealing that not only was she alive, but consenting to the kidnapping as well, because of Ice King's fluffy beard. But now that she has seen him attack Jake, another fluffy thing, her heart is wavering and she must journey alone to find the true meaning of fluff. The end gag is Ice King screaming "She was alive?"
Middle Adventure Time episode: Raggedy Princess' kingdom is being attacked, and the assailant is revealed to be none other than Wire Princess, whose quest for fluff has turned destructive. PB appears excessively distraught by this, and it's revealed that she created Wire and Raggedy Princess (then known as cloth princess) in a recreation of the monkey experiment to best gauge her approach to ruling, in the early days of the Candy Kingdom. However, when the Wire Princess AI realized the candy people were more driven to Cloth Princess' caring nature, it logically concluded the only biological need of candy people is "fluff", and so tried her best to imitate Cloth's behavior, while Cloth Princess' deeply ingrained love for her citizens caused her to attempt to physically care for them. Declaring the experiment a failure, PB mind-wiped them both, gave Cloth Princess a new kingdom and name, and put WP in sleep mode, as well as left her in Ice King's junk pile. Jake, who has been listening, says "PB, that's messed up, man". Although they deliberate whether to reboot her again, she ends up being smashed by a gumball guardian or something. While everyone staress in shock, Raggedy Princess says "That's messed up, man. Also I didn't have time to say this earlier but I'm fine with either Raggedy Princess or Cloth Princess. So, um, yeah. Anyway, I'm going to call the cleanup crew"
Late Adventure Time episode: A strange techno-magical maze appears out of the blue in the Ice Kingdom. Finn and Jake explore it and find imagery of both softness and some sort of pre-apocalypse university, ultimately discovering it was created by Magic Woman/Betty mind-melding with Wire Princes, who was trying to reverse engineer an AI with love magic infused through Simon or whatever. She inadvertently mind-melded then, accidentally creating the semi-physical maze with her magic powers, and in turn realized that WP was, in fact, not only functional and aware this whole time, but she also had a slowed down perception of time. Finn and Jake sever the link after fighting some techno-nightmares. Magic Woman, despite only having been mind-melded for a day, has experienced a whole year, and appears distraught. But this is only momentary, as she declares that her accelerated madness means that her magic will grow exponentially stronger, and runs off appearing to have a plan. Finn and Jake are worried about Wire Princess going haywire (the pun is pointed out), but she clarifies (her voicebox is working now, but not much else) that actually, since she didn't have or understand emotions for most of her aware existence, she was just fine then. She then goes on a beautiful monologue about how, since she's now bonded to one, she finally, truly understands emotional beings and their complex needs. She renames herself "wire knight", and downloads her consciousnesses onto Finn's arm. A later episode has BMO and Wire Knight debating the trolley problem
An idea came to me reading a fic where Danny was a kryptonian. What if Amity Park instead of being a city in the USA on Earth was once a city on Krypton (in what would be a kryptonian version of early 21st century or at least about 100 years before the planet blew up). Basically almost everything that happened in cannon DP happened and everything is mostly the same but with a more alien then earth tone to it.
After Phantom Planet Danny's parents except him being part ghost, the government overturn the Ecto Acts, and he able to finish high school and goes on to college after which he is happily welcomed to for work for KASA (Krypton Aeronautics and Space Administration). He becomes an Astronautical engineer. Danny is in his early thirties when he is testing out a new experimental space ship engine for KASA. While doing a flight test Danny's ship losses signal and no one can find it (kind of what happened in the show Farscape).
100s of years go by Krypton explodes baby Kal-El is sent to Earth where he grows up to be Superman. The JL suddenly get a signal/warning about some alien tech on the edge of the solar system. They send one of the Green Lanterns to take a look, where they report a spaceship dead in space. They don't expect any life forms but surprise because of his ghost half Danny was in a sort of suspended animation. He is brought back and wakes up in the Watch Tower.
Just Random ideas...
Kryptonite is the crystalized form of ectoplasm because of this Danny is not effected by it.
Danny's kryptonian name is Daniel Fen-Ton
The phantom zone projector was originally called the Fen-Ton zone projector or is was based off a Fen-Ton gadget.
Years after Danny disappears Krypton starts turning on ghost again, so the town of Amity, which now has a symbiotic relationship with ghost, vote to pull the whole town into the Ghost Zone. So it is not blown up like the rest of the planet though Danny does not know this in the beginning.
Danny has an easier time learning to use Earth technology then he does the Kryptonian technology in Superman's Fortress.
Danny also has slightly easier time when getting the regular Kryptonian power set due to the yellow sun because he went through something similar when getting his ghost powers.
Danny adopts Connor almost immediately. Maybe during Danny's time there was laws about cloning and clone rights on Krypton. Also while Connor is not a replacement he sort of fills in the void of losing Ellie.
While Superman has no idea who Danny is, Kara/Supergirl has a faint idea because he was briefly mentioned in her Krytonian History class. Also she is happy to have someone who can natively speak the kyrptonian language even if it has older vocabulary. Don't get her wrong its great to speak it with Kal-El but he learned it later in life.
Holly char this is amazing!
How many people will have a stroke when they see Danny casually pick up a piece of kryptonite? Batman? His normal Kryptonian contingency plan won't work. Luthor? There's a version of superman IMMUNE to Kryptonite. Clark? What the hell do you mean you can touch kryptonite
I think after Danny explains everything about his past and species so many people are going to just...give up. Hahaha a stronger version of superman who isn't effected by kryptonite, goodbye world
Connor will be ecstatic, Danny will do ALL the dad stuff, teaching him their language, proper training, engineering lessons and you bet he's going to use jazz's psychiatrist stuff on this kid
Danny's probably going to get mega-depressed, all his hard work breaking the racism against ghosts only for that to come back a few years after he left? And he can't even fix it again because their world went bye-bye
Also- here me out
Co-pilot Valerie
I was watching a ghost hunter show where the ‘ghost’ could only use the machine to say pre-recorded words. And I had an idea. We know that technology can’t always work with ectoplasm. So what if ghost speak couldn’t be heard over the phone? And to call for help, the Amity Parkers had to get creative to get ahold of the Justice League when the GIW declares all out war on all the ghosts and liminal in town.
“Hello, you have reached the Justice League emergency hotline. What is the nature of your emergency?”
“Hello, hello. Emergency, hello. Justice League.” A distorted male voice answered back.
“Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me? what is the nature of your emergency?” Green Lantern asked again.
“I can hear you, emergency. Hello Justice League. Hello emergency.”
“Do you need help? Can you hear me?”
“Help. Help. Can you hear me? Help.” The voice distorted again to something like static.
“Prank calls aren’t funny kid. This is an emergency line.” With an exasperated sigh, Green Lantern hung up.
“What was that about?”
“It’s just a prank call. Some kid using a voice mod thing.”
“Really? That’s annoying.”
“I know. But it’s not that unusual. Kids don’t have anything better to do during the summer.”
“I guess. What are you doing on hotline duty? You’re not scheduled for refresher training for another few months, right?”
“Food fight in the cafeteria. Batman added everyone involved to additional monitor or dispatch duty twice a week for the next month.”
“Yikes. Hate to be you. Who else got caught?”
“Flash, Plasticman, Vigilante, and Shining Knight.”
Zatanna raised an eyebrow. “Can’t imagine Sir Justin getting involved in a food fight.”
Hal shrugged with a good-humored smirk, “Vig took a salad bowl to the head, Sir Justin jumped in to cover his retreat. Right in time for Bats to break up the fun.”
Zatanna giggled, “Poor Sir Justin.”
“Poor Sir Justin?” Hal Jorden gasped dramatically, “What about me? I was just an innocent bystander.”
“I’m sure you were.”
“What are you doing here anyway?”
“Unlike you. I’m just here for one shift for refresher dispatch training.”
“Good for you. Well, have at it. The active-duty roster is on the big screen with who's suited up and available.”
Zatanna looked up at the large monitor with pinging dots in various locations around the world. “Alright. A bit better than the old system of scrolling for available heroes and asking where they are.”
“Yeah, Cyborg linked everyone’s com into the system so we can tell who is where, when their com is active.”
“Sounds good. Alright, Let’s do this.” Zatanna put headset on and clicked ‘available operator’ on the screen. Immediately her phone rang. “Hello, this is the Justice League Emergency Hotline. What is the nature of your emergency?”
“Emergency. Hello, Justice League. Emergency.” A female voice came through her headset. The connection was very poor. Interference and static came through.
“Can you hear me? This is the Justice League emergency Hotline. Do you need help?” Zatanna looked over at Hal. He was fiddling with his headset cord. He looked up at her and she gestured her head to the screen. It was the same number as his prank call.
“Hear me? Help. Justice League. Emergency Help.” The feminine voice sounded vaguely familiar. Zatanna ignored it to confront the prankster.
“Kid, this isn’t a joke. This is a serious line for actual emergencies. You can’t keep calling. I’m going to hang up now. Please don’t call back.”
“Isn’t a Joke. This isn’t a Joke. Please don’t. Hang up now. Actual Emergencies. Keep calling. Hotline. Justice League. Help. For actual emergencies.” The static under the female voice sharpened. Zatanna paused. Her finger was just hovering over the button to end the call when something stopped her. The tone of voice was sharp. Irritated. Also, strangely familiar. After a second it dawned on her. Hal was still looking at her, so she waved him over to listen into the call. Once he was listening with his own muted headset, she asked “Are you…? Are you repeating what I’m saying?”
“Repeating. Help. Isn’t a Joke. What I’m saying. Emergency. Help. Hello. Help. Emergency.”
Zatanna finally recognized the voice. “Is that my voice? Are you repeating with my voice?”
“Repeating. Voice. You. Emergency. Help. Isn’t a Joke. Help. Justice League. Don’t. Hang Up.”
“You’re using my voice to talk back to me? My words. And…You can only repeat what you hear… is that right?” Zatanna shared a glance with a horrified Hal. Him, just realizing he had hung up on an actual emergency. Not a kid playing a joke.
Zatanna’s own voice echoed staticky in her ear. “Right. Right. Can repeat. Only. Talk back. Using voice. Help. Emergency help.”
“Are you in danger?” She looked over at Hal who was typing on his own computer to trace the call origin. He looked back at her and shook his head. Weirdly, they can’t find where the signal is coming from.
“Danger. Emergency. Help Justice League. Help. In danger”
“I understand. I’m going to ask you where you are. Do you understand?” Zatanna was going to have to narrow this down. She pulled up a world map onto her screen.
“Understand. Help. Emergency.” The static in the voice softened slightly. Like relief.
“OK, we need to know where you are. What continent are you on? Asia? Africa? Australia? Europe? North America? South America?”
“North America. Help. Emergency.”
Zatanna clicked on the screen to enlarge the North American Continent. “OK, you’re in North America. Are you in Canada or America?”
“America. Help.”
Another click of the mouse to focus on the USA. “OK are you in the North, Northeast, Southeast, West, Southwest, or Midwest?”
“Midwest. Midwest. Help emergency. Help. America. Midwest.”
“OK I’m going to ask your state now. Do you know it?” Zatanna clicked on the Midwest region of the map to enlarge it more. Hal was standing up now. Anticipation making his body glow faintly green. He was texting something on his phone, but Zatanna ignored it to focus on her own echoing voice on the other end of the line.
“Know it. know it.” Her voice repeated back, “Ask.”
“Are you in North Dakota? Are you in Minnesota? Are you in South Dakota? Are you in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan-“
The voice interrupted her. “Illinois. Illinois, Midwest America, Illinois. Help. Emergency. Justice League Help.”
“Do you know where in Illinois you are?”
“Yes, yes. Where Illinois. Emergency. Ask.”
Zatanna enlarged the map of the state infront of her. The closest hero was in Detroit Michigan and they didn’t’ have any abilities to help them get to Illinois quickly. She gestured to Hal to look at the screen. He nodded his understanding. “Do you know where in the state you are? what region or what county?
“County. Know. County.”
“OK I’m going to name a few counties. Tell me yes or no if you are there, okay?”
“Yes, yes. Tell me.”
Zatanna listed off the counties on the map. Her tongue slightly tangling over the midwestern words. “OK, Joe Durres, Steffensen, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Lake, Cook, Dupage, Kane, Dekalb, Ogle, Carroll, Whiteside, Lee-“
The voice interrupted again. “ Lake. County.”
“OK you’re in Lake County. is that right?” Zatanna clicked over the county and enlarged the map.
“Right. Right, help. Emergency. In Lake County.”
“OK I’m going to name off some cities in Lake County. Are you in a city? yes or no”
“City no. name cities. Yes.”
Zatanna paused for a second. “Do you mean you are not in a city, but you can name the closest one to you? yes or no?”
“Yes. Name. Closet one. Name. Closest. City. Emergency.”
“Okay. I understand. Are you in Gurney? are you in Libertyville, Grayslake, round lake, or round lake beach? Are you in Lake Forest, Zion, Vernon Hills, Highland Park, or north Chicago-“
The voice cut her off again. “Park.”
“Are you in Highland Park?”
“No. Park. In Park. Park. Park. Park. Emergency. In Park.” The tone of the voice did’t change but the words came faster, almost overlapping over themselves.
“OK calm down. Let me understand. Are you in a park or in a place called park?”
“In a place called Park. Help emergency. In place called park.”
Zatanna scanned the list of Illinois cities called ‘Park’ in the county. “OK are you in Round Lake Park or Beach Park, Deerfield Park, Park City, or Deer Park.”
“No. Place called Park. No city. place called park.”
“So you’re in a place called Park but it’s not a city is that right?”
“ Right. Place call park. Emergency. not city. Help.”
“OK, let's go down the list. Brook Park, Mill Park, Park Barrington, River Park, Park Township, VernonPark Hills, West Keegan Park, West Deerfield Park, Amity Park, Wheeling Park-“
“Amity. Amity Park. Emergency in Amity Park. Emergency in Amity Park. emergency help help emergency.”
“OK you're an Amity Park. Is that right?”
“Right. Right. In Amity Park”
Zatanna nodded to Hal who was still texting on his phone. He nodded back to her.
“OK, I know where you are now. Now we need to know what kind of emergency is it a natural disaster? is it a villain? is it an alien?”
“Villain. Emergency. villain villain villain.” The words came fast. Static was almost overwhelming.
“OK, calm down. I'm right here. Does the villain have powers or not.”
“Villian have. No. Powers. I'm here. Powers. Help. Natural- powers. Help. I'm. kind of. Natural. Help. Powers. We. Need help. OK?”
Zatanna paused. The sentences didn’t make sense. The villain did not have powers? But the caller said “I’m. Kind of. Natural.” She shared a look to Hal. Hal typed on his computer and a message appeared on her screen.
“I txted Flash. He can be there, but he needs to know what kind of situation he’s running into.” Zatanna read the message and nodded.
“OK. You need to give me more information. There are villains but they don’t have powers? Can you tell me what kind of natural powers you mean? Are they metagene powers? Are they magic? Are there weapons?”
“Magic. Weapons. Powers magic. I. powers. magic. Help. Can you help. Me?”
Zatanna felt a rush of fear. Magic powers. ‘Villains no powers. Weapons’ must mean that the villains don’t have any powers, but they have weapons that can affect the magic user who is calling. She looked over at Hal. He nodded. “Okay. I have magic too. I am going to Amity Park to help you. Can you tell me how many villains there are? Are there more than five or less than five?
“More than five. Villains. I have magic too. Villains. Weapons. more than we. I am going too. yes. Yes going. Help.”
So, the caller definitely needed magic backup. Zatanna gestured to Hal who began to send an all-notice message to any Magic using League hero. “Are the villains after your powers? is that right? the villains are attacking you for your powers?”
“Right. Right villains attacking for powers. Help emergency. More than me. Powers. Villains attacking. We need help. Amity park. Needs help.”
Zatanna froze. ‘We need help.’ More than me…powers. We need help. Oh god. “Is there more than one of you with magic? There’s a group of you with powers that the villains are attacking?” Zatanna asked. A group of magic users fighting villains? Maybe sending more magic users isn’t the best idea. They might need some heavy hitters for this.
“Group. with powers. Magic. Amity Park. Magic. Villains attacking. Disaster. Emergency help. Villains have. More than one of you. Of you. We. villains have. More than one. Of We.”
It took Zatanna only a second. By now she was standing up out of her chair. “Do The villains have hostages? With magic powers? How many?”
Hal had linked in the call with multiple coms. On the large monitor Zatanna could see multiple heroes dots shift slightly. All in the direction of Illinois. She was grateful to see Wonder Woman, Flash, and Captain Marvel all headed in that direction. “We’ve got hero’s coming your way. They will be there soon to help you and rescue the hostages.”
“Many hostages. Many magic in Amity Park. Weapons. Villains have. Weapons. We have. Magic. Villains have Hostages. Villains have. Soon. Powers. We need help. Heroes coming. Justice league. Help. Not villains. We not. Villains. Help we.”
Zatanna felt sick as she understood that message. ‘The villains have hostages and weapons. The caller and the others have powers. But then… villains have…soon…powers. Did that mean that the villains were taking powers away from whoever was calling? She paused at that last sentence. “You’re not the villains. what do you mean by that?
“We. Not. the Villains. Villains have hostages. Villains have weapons. Isn’t a joke. Isn’t. Isn’t Right. We. Not Villains. We Natural. We not weapons. We not villains. Help. Rescue hostages. Rescue. Me. Help Me. Help we have Powers. Help.”
“You’re not the villains, I know. You say you are natural. Do you mean that when the heroes get there, they might think you are the villains and get confused?” Zatanna knew that multiple heroes were silently listening to the call.
“We not the villains. Heroes might think. Powers. Are the. Weapons. We Amity Park. We need help. Justice league get here. Rescue Hostages.”
Hal messaged her again on her screen. Zatanna read off the message.
“We’ve alerted the Illinois National Guard as well. They’ll be there soon to help.”
“No. No. No. National Guard. No help. Villains. Guard villains. Help we. Help Amity Park.”
Zatanna looked confused. “What? No the national guard is coming there to help.”
“National Guard. The.Villains. They guard. The villains. No help. They’ll. Weapon. Amity Park. Powers. Justice League Rescue Amity Park. Help. Help. Help.” The static became so prevalent that Zatanna had to fight the impulse to rip the headset off. She tried to decipher the words.
“Okay. Okay we’ll help you. But we need to be able to find you. Are you in a house or a building? Can you get to a rooftop?”
“Building Rooftop. Heroes Find Me.”
“How can we find you? Can you wave a flag or give us a sign. Are you a woman or a man? What do you look like.”
There was a long pause. “I can. Wave. Kid. Kid. Woman. Kid woman.”
Zatanna wondered for a long moment where the word ‘kid’ came from before remembering when she first accused the caller of prank calling. She said ‘Kid, this isn’t a joke.’ The she felt bile flood her throat as she understood what they meant. “Are…are you a child?”
Zatanna’s own voice answered back. “Child. Kid. Woman child. Rooftop. Help Justice League. Find. Me. Help Hostages. Help. Amity Park.”
Flashes voice came over the com line. Muted from the call but clear in Zatanna’s other ear. “Oh my god. I’m here. It’s a war zone. There’s…We’re going to need back up. Medical units. There are tanks and fires everywhere. There’s been some kind of artillery shot at different buildings. It’s a war zone.”
There was a silent horrified moment as all the heroes listening absorbed the information. “I think I see our caller. It’s a little girl. Maybe eight or ten. White hair. She’s floating. She’s on the library roof with a giant phone. I think she sees me.”
In Zatanna’s other ear her own voice repeated. “Heroes find me. Rooftop. Help.”
“The man in red is called Flash. He’s there to help.”
“He’s there. Man In Red. Help. Flash. Find me.”
“I’m on my way too. Just stay with Flash and tell him what you need, okay sweetie?” Zatanna’s voice was infinitely softer now that she knew it was a child on the phone.
“Okay. Stay with Flash. Help. On. You. Way.”
The line shut off and Zatanna flinch at the sudden silence in her ear. She glanced over at Hal. “I’m going to Zeta down to Amity.”
“I’m right behind you. Flash said a war zone. I…I need to be there.”
Zatanna nodded at his guilty expression. “Right. Let’s hurry and get to Amity Park.”
The first time she remembers seeing him, is when she is guiding the soul of Dr. Jazzmine Fenton. The world renowned author and psychologist.
Jazz had lived a long life, it only been a few days after her 87th birthday. She had passed gently in her sleep.
Death of the Endless was used to the people she guided having some questions or confusion.
Jazz was a rare one. She was quiet. Just giving Death an understanding nod and her arm.
At the end of their journey, before Jazz entered the Sunless lands. She stopped.
Turning to lock eyes with Death, the woman spoke.
"HELP HIM".
There was weight behind her words, this wasn't a request.
Before Death could answer, Jazz had turned and entered the sunless lands.
It was the heavy weight of the womans words that had Death returning to where she had collected the soul of Jazzmine Fenton.
There she met him.
Sitting next to the cooling body, holding her hand as tears silently ran down his cheeks.
He couldn't be more than 14. His sickly pale skin and fluffy black hair reminded her fondly of her brother.
To her surprise, the boy turned to look at her. Could see her.
The heavy sharp look behind his eyes reminded her of Dream as well.
"She's gone". He spoke quietly.
It wasn't a question, she nodded anyway.
He looked back at the body, gently placing the hand he held back on the bed. Standing up, he kissed her forehead and stepped away.
"Can you take me too?" Barely a whisper.
Her confusion continued. She shook her head. " it's not your time." She replied gently, laying a hand on his shoulder only to startle back as she felt his soul. He was dead.
The surprise must have shown on her face as the boy let out a defeated sigh. As more tears filled his eyes.
"Then when, it's been decades."
Gathering herself, she put both her hands back on his shoulders, looking down at the dead child. She didn't understand herself. The boy was one of hers, yet she hadn't given him her gift, and she couldn't guide him. There was no path for him to be guided down.
Softly she rubbed the boys shoulders and gently smiled before replying.
" I don't know," she paused, "but we'll figure it out".
She took the boys hand as she led him away from the room.
Time to cash in on the favour Dream owed her. She had a feeling her brother and his immortal lover will have a positive affect on the sad young boy, while she figures out why the boy is stuck.
Part 1??
Danny had awful parents that didn’t care about him at all, little did he know he wasn’t even biology their son. When he gets into a fight with Vlad and Desiree everything changes when Vlad wishes Danny wasn’t Jacks son. Desiree tries to grant the wish but then grins maliciously when both Danny and Vlad look at each other confused. Danny who wanted to get a leg up on Vlad makes a wish,
“I wish my biological parents were here!”
At this point summon anyone from DC, I’d do Bruce and Talia again just because I like torturing Bruce with hidden child Danny. Talia totally hide Damian’s baby brother from him and Damian is going to be livid when he finds out. Whoops Danny was a ghost when he meets his birth parents.
The street kids of Gotham were acting off. Which wasn't saying much considering they were always acting suspicious but for the last few weeks the kids had been acting different somehow. They were a little too organized. Jason finally decided to look into it and found that the street kids really had organized under one leader. Which was concerning to say the least. Jason figured their leader was some asshole who was about to forfeit his rights to knee caps but instead he found it was some spooky teen from out of town. It was still suspicious but he figured as long as the kid wasn't causing any trouble he'd leave things be. For now.
Danny decides to take a year after high school to travel like Ellie, except instead of earth he packs a speeder he himself updated and leaves earth.
On his adventures in space he finds out earth wasn't the only planet out there with life and how common deep space travel is for those other species.
On his first trip to a space port he meets an alien with a green ring that makes constructs of emotion and works essentially as a peace keeper among the stars.
Out in the isolated expanse of void between planets he meets another lone traveler, a small alien who resembles a starfish by the name of Jarro.
He find a planet that is ALIVE in a way he never knew planets could be and spends a bit of his time sharing stories with them before moving on.
All around he is glad he took this trip and regrets he promised to return to earth so soon. He stops once again at another space port to get directions to Earth, giving his thanks before flying back into the void this time in the direction of home.
When he arrives things are different then he remembers, there are satelites far bigger and more advanced then he has ever seen surrounding the planet. Beneath the clouds the continents don't look quite right, like they have a subtly different shape then he remembered.
He shakes his head, he's been gone a year he probably just forgot what the continents looked like. Heck with all the aliens and the advancements he's seen out in the universe it wouldn't be hard to believe there has been some contact while he has been gone and the satelites were alien made!
When he gets down to the surface where Amity should be all that he finds is endless emptiness of undeveloped land, Danny takes back to the sky assuming he landed in the wrong place and flies around to find something familiar.
But there isn't anything familiar, Amity park is gone and after hours of panicked flying he finds himself no longer alone in the air. Surprised he takes a fighting pose which the figure follows suit, the man looked human and wore a skin tight suit like Danny. Only instead of black and white, it was red and blue.
The man introduces himself as Superman as if Danny should recognize him and at this point he is feeling a lot less sure he has the right planet…
"Thank you."
Whatever thoughts Constantine had before come to a screeching halt. He slowly turns around, praying he's misheard, but, unfortunately, no. He heard that right.
The black-haired kid - he looks like a kid, but, really, he is not, and he is not even human to begin with - is smiling at Nightwing, who just laughs and ruffles the boy's hair.
"Don't worry about it, it's nothing," the moronic eldest batkid says, like it's not a big deal, and Constantine just... can't. He is not dealing with this right now. He needs a drink.
And then it happens again. Not with the Nightwing, though. This time, it's Black Bat. Now, in all honesty, Constantine is not so sure about her being human either, what with her appearing out of goddamn aether and being silent as a ghost, but the point still stands. The new addition to Bat's menagerie of children, the fae boy, the changeling who insists he is Robin's brother, thanks her.
It's quick and easy, just like a human would say it, and Black Bat just nods back at him, but Constantine knows what it means. He knows the weight of fae gratitude.
The big question is, do the Bats know it?
He promises himself to address this issue later with the Big Bat himself. But every time he encounters the man, he just forgets to bring it up. Constantine strongly suspects it's not his bad memory at fault here, but a certain fae. Not that he is going to outright go and blame the damned creature, of course, Constantine values his life, mind, and consciousness. Also, he is very aware of the consequences of talking to the fae, unlike the furry brigade.
Alas, he can't forget something if he witnesses with his own eyes. So the next time he is in the Batcave, he makes it a point to wait until the same thing eventually happens. And, score for Constantine, it does.
"Thank you," the kid - again, not a kid, not a human, but whatever - tells Red Robin, and Constantine immediately snaps his head to him, pointing a finger at the smiling fae.
"I mean no disrespect, but what are you doing?"
The kid - Danny, as he insists to be called, although Constantine knows better than to call a fae by any name - tilts his head to the side. He looks confused, but there's a sly glint to his blue eyes. Oh, the fucker knows exactly what he means. He just doesn't want to admit to it.
"What do you mean?" It's not him, but Red Robin asking, and Constantine turns to look him in the eyes. Mask. Whatever.
"He is thanking-" a terrible thought crosses Constantine's mind, and he stares at Red Robin with horror, "Oh, don't tell me you were all thanking him and apologizing to him like he is a human being."
"I don't see how this is your business," Red Robin scolds, and his eyes narrow. Constantine can't see his actual eyes through the mask, but he knows the Bats well enough to know the kid looks as deadpan as he can.
"You can't do that!" He reaches down to the pocket where he keeps his cigarettes, but stops halfway. Right, no smoking in the Batcave. Wait, he never obeyed that rule! Constantine turns to glare at the fae boy. Danny appears as innocent as a newborn baby. Little bastard.
"Quit making a scene," comes another voice, and this one John recognizes, turning to look at little Robin. Now that he thinks about it, the demonic child claimed the fae as his brother, and he definitely should know how to talk to fae!
"Why didn't you tell them about the rules?!" He asks Robin, and the kid doesn't even bat an eye at him.
"You will not accuse me of incompetence in front of my brother," Robin huffs, not stepping closer and keeping one hand on his hip, "I did."
"You-"
"Okay, how about you calm down?" Danny interjects, and John is positive this is the first time he's heard the boy say anything other than 'thank you'. He turns to the fae, facing him, and, oh, Jesus, those are not human eyes. Or teeth. Or face. Holy fuck how do Bats live with this, it's like uncanny valley but hundreds times worse.
"If I tell you I use it for easier access, will you leave it be?" The fae tilts his head again, and this time it is not in confusion, but in the eerie manner of how all very much not human beings do it. Constantine swallows, but doesn't back down.
"Access to what, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Transportation," Danny provides. This does not explain shit and he knows it. Red Robin groans and rolls his eyes.
"We use it to summon Danny if we need him. It's faster than calling or texting."
Constantine freezes.
These fucking kids. Are using the fae debts. To summon him. Because they don't like texting.
Do they know that they can literally ask a fae to destroy a small country to fulfill a debt like that? It's not just a small favor, it's a gratitude. Fae take their gratitude very seriously. They value it. A lot.
Actually, you know what, no. John is not going to be explaining that part to them because God knows the batkids are all batshit crazy and this is an opportunity he is not willing to give them.
So he just nods stiffly, turns around, and heads to the zeta tube.
"Thank you for caring about my family," he hears a voice behind him, full of mischief and joy. Constantine feels the weight of the newly acquired debt, or better call it a favor, bind itself to his soul, and, great, he now has the power to part the sea like Moses, but only once.
He needs a drink. No, correction, he needs a whole bar to himself.
Wait, that's an idea.
"Get me a bottle of good bourbon, and we're even," he throws around his shoulder, stepping into a zeta tube.
When he steps out of it, there's an unlabeled bottle in his hand. John sighs and opens it, foregoing the glass or cup and drinking straight from the neck.
...It's good bourbon.
Inspired by @blackfoxsposts
| <-prev | next? |