And there's nothing the Justice League can do to stop it.
As far as they can tell, it's magic. The magic probably relates to something Darkseid had said the last time they fought him, something about having more than one method of victory.
They don't have time to dive into it.
The Lantern Corps are going from planet to planet, pleading for anyone to accept Earth Refuges. The Justice League is working with all World Governments to make sure that people are ready for planetary evacuation.
The sun grows brighter. And hotter. And bigger.
Planets start to veer a little off course. The Earth's moon comes far close to the planet than it's supposed to.
Tsunamis are starting to happen instead of high tide. Earthquakes are becoming a norm. The increased mass and heat is ruining the delicate balance their system has, and if the Lantern Corps doesn't find a place soon, then they'll have to send everyone they can in random directions, and just hope they survive.
Then, on the morning where it's do or die, where whether or not the Lantern Corps found a place humanity would have to leave regardless, the sun...turns off.
Then it comes back on.
It looks normal.
The readings come back normal.
The planets, which had started to be pulled off course, are back in their original positions. The moon is just as far away as it's always been. In fact, the dates on their computers all read three days earlier.
Like they'd been thrown back in time.
As one, Earth realizes that it must have been the Flash that saved them. After all, that's the hero that can and will go through time if needed!
Flash is hailed as a hero, but...he didn't do this?
He asks his family.
None of them did this.
In Illinois, Danny rushes out of his parent's basement...and sees that it worked. Clockwork held up his end of the deal.
Time has been reversed by a few days, from before the moon was dragged closer. The replacement sun is functioning just fine.
As a baby Ancient, one that wasn't even fully dead yet, he'd been worried that he'd fucked it up. But no, the new sun he grew looks like it's doing fusion perfectly normally, happily chugging away in the sky.
Everything will be okay.
Now, Danny has to uphold his end of the deal.
Everything has a price. The Infinite Realms lost out on a lot of souls from what Danny just did, after all. It's only fair he offer something in return.
He has to move into the Infinite Realms, permanently, and accept his apparently earned title of High King.
The last thing he's allowed to do on Earth is to give his summoning sigil to a man named John Constantine, along with a note from Clockwork.
Or; Earth was super doomed, no way out, and Clockwork hated that. So he broke the rules. He accepted a deal with Danny, helped him make a new sun, spun time backwards, and had Danny sign a contract saying the boy would give up his life in the mortal world once it was done. That way, at least as far as the Observants are concerned, an equal price is being paid. Then, he sent the boy to Constantine. He told Danny it's because he wants the man to have his summoning sigil. It's actually because if anyone can bamboozle and loophole Danny out of this contract, it's John Fucking Constantine, and the note he told Danny to give him is asking the man to do just that.
"Jazzy-kin?"
"Here!"
"Danny-Boy?"
"Here."
"Dan the Man?"
"Ugh... here."
"Nelly-Bell?"
"Here, dad!"
Jack smiled at the sight of his children. He turned back to see Maddie shooting him a smile before calling out for all of them to get into the GMV, that they were burning sunlight. They needed to be at Gotham soon as possible. They were being sponsored by Wayne Enterprise for a project and the family decided to make it into a road trip.
A very twisted fun road trip.
-.-
"Uh... dad... Where's Danny and Dan?"
In the distance a clown laughed as he kidnapped twin teens, planning on using them as hostages.
That poor... poor... well. He had it coming.
"Can I kill him?"
"You're still on parole."
"Are you going to kill him?"
"Eh.... don't feel like it yet."
"Should we leave now or later?"
"If we leave now, he'll take another hostage. Later... mom and dad will kick his ass. He'd be lucky if Jazz gets to him first."
"You know.... I'm not in a hurry to run off yet."
"You just want to see his head on a pike."
"Don't you?"
"I mean... that's if Batman doesn't save us first."
"Ugh... Hope not."
-.-
Are.... are they his kids?
Black hair.
Blue eyes.
Very similar features.
"My boys!!!!!"
Jason’s allergic to asking for help from Batman, sure. Maybe he thinks Bruce won’t help without an agreement to follow his code, maybe he thinks Bruce will help and is afraid of that, but for whatever reason, he’s not going to ask Batman for help. But he’s also not incapable of realizing that he really, really needs help right now.
So he calls up his replacement and tells Tim that if he helps out with this one trafficking ring before they leave Gotham tonight, he’ll stop trying to kill him.
Well, Tim agrees of course, and he sees an opportunity. Not to increase his own likelihood of survival, but to bring Jason home. All he needs is a foothold, and Jason just offered it up on a golden platter.
The mission goes off without a hitch. Two days later, Tim shows up in the middle of Red Hood’s patrol with a flash drive of information. And Red Hood tells Tim that he better go away, because promising no lethal force doesn’t mean he can’t do any damage. Tim just shrugs. Jason doesn’t know it, but he’s already lost.
Two months later, Tim is sitting in one of Jason’s safehouses that he wasn’t supposed to know about, while Jason is making cookies and ranting about George Wickham. Suddenly, he freezes. It occurs to him how insane this is. Two months ago he wanted the Replacement dead, and now he’s making cookies after they teamed up to play a revenge prank on Bruce. “How did this even happen?” He asks Tim in horror.
Tim grabs a cookie, takes a bite menacingly and says: “You know the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? I’m the mouse.”
Another de-aged Danny au, but he's with Dan & Ellie & Jazz as well.
Jason has like just arrived back to Gotham, caused chaos in the underbelly due to well, 8 heads in a duffle bag, and is just starting his takeover of Crime Alley. It's going good, great even! And then he busts some sort of gang or smuggling ring run by people in white suits and there's... holy shit why do these four toddlers have Lazarus eyes?!
Is that a lab?! And Lazarus waters?! Jason might be a bit mad but he's not an asshole, he's not going to just leave these kids here to the streets. He can't just take them to the Batclan either, and as much as he begrudgingly trusts Talia, he sure as fuck doesn't trust Ras. Who knows what he'd do to four... what are they, pit-kids?
Now he's juggling his whole revenge-thing, running a criminal empire, taking over Gotham's underbelly, and being a single dad. At least the goonion seems to be down for helping, seeing as he's making Crime Alley safer...? .... Fuck he needs some proper sleep
I was just thinking about how stiles has the same vibe as Jim from treasure planet - endless curiosity, intelligence sarcasm, generally fucks around with the law - so now I’m thinking of treasure planet sterek au. Plus stiles would totally build a solar surfer if he had the chance.
So stiles being dragged down to the police station after being caught flying in a restricted zone, gets to watch as he dad hauls in a criminal for questioning. (Probably Peter) The criminal is clearly not doing to hot and in his last breath gives stiles a random sphere that he calls treasure before being dragged to the hospital.
This leads the the station being attacked, as some pirates came looking for the sphere. Stiles and his dad narrowly escape. They make it to Dr. Deaton‘s house where stiles unlocked the sphere and finds a map to Treasure planet.
Now I can’t figure out if it would be better to have enemies to lovers sterek. With Derek being one of the bad pirates who ends up joining stiles after falling in love with him
Or
Bodyguard Derek who was hired by his dad to protect stiles on his journey through space. Bodyguard Derek who slowly falls for his charge and swears to do anything to protect him, no matter the cost to himself.
Pirate stiles in space please. Also if you have never seen this movie do yourself a favour and watch it.
An idea where the JL has gotten word from Green Lantern that a planet has been destroyed. That threat is headed for Earth.
We could blame it on Darkseid despite the fact that i don’t actually know if that’s within his power set. Bad guy of your choice. Keeping it vague works too.
Danny finding out that one of his planets is gone and he’s not having it.
~~
They were short on time. Monumentally short on time. Usually everyone would look to Batman in a situation like this. It wasn’t like his numerous contingency plans were a secret. The problem was time and an overall lack of information about the coming threat. All that was clear was the fact that Earth was in danger.
Not even a normal, run of the mill danger, but the planet bleeding out of existence kind of danger. Supposedly it could happen so fast that the citizens of Earth wouldn’t even know it had happened.
“There’s always begging an Ancient for help.” Constantine muttered, lighting another cigarette. As many members of the League as possible had gathered but brainstorming could only get them so far.
Multiple gazes snapped to him but it was Wonder Woman who spoke first. “You think petitioning the gods would be a wise course of action?”
“Could be the only course of action.” Flash muttered though no one looked happy about it.
“Nah, it’s a much crazier idea than that.” Constantine said flatly. “We’re not talking about any of those old hats we’re used to dealing with. I mean an Ancient. Their powers are next level stuff. Above the gods on the totem pole, if you will.”
Batman’s eyes narrowed. “You want to bring in a complete unknown.”
“I want the planet to fucking be in the same spot tomorrow, mate.” Constantine snapped back. They were out of time but he evidently had more practice at being reckless then the rest of the League. “Heard tales of a new baby Ancient. A likable kid that has many of the heavy hitters doting on `em. Word is the baby Ancient is rather agreeable. Makes deals. Likes to explore. That kind of thing.”
“Baby Ancient.” Superman repeated, clearly hearing the oxymoron in that title. “How does that work?”
“Well they gotta come from somewhere, don’t they?” Constantine shrugged. He didn’t know and he wasn’t going to ask.
“I’ve heard the same rumors.” Zatanna heaved a sigh, adding credence to Constantine’s claims. “Even if they can’t do anything themself, they might have enough pull with one of the other Ancients that can.”
Flash clucked his tongue. “We literally have everything to lose if we don’t do something. If no one else has any other ideas then we need to give it a shot.”
“How long do you need to prepare?” Batman asked, his frown obvious. He never fully liked ideas that he didn’t have a hand in.
Constantine sat up straighter, taking a pull from his cigarette and already looking exhausted. “Gimme an hour.”
“I’ll help.” Zatanna said, already standing.
“Forty minutes then.”
~
The light of the summoning circle was hard to look at. It was like a mini supernova right in front of them. The colors would have been amazing to look at if anyone could have opened their eyes to see it.
When it dimmed, leaving only a toxic looking green glow around the circle, a young boy floated in the center. His hair was white and flowed even in the tightly air controlled Watch tower. The freckles across his face seemed to glow just like his green eyes.
He was cute, and couldn't have been more than fifteen. He wore a skintight black suit, calf high white boots, and had a strange looking thermos hanging off his belt. So this was a baby Ancient. He looked utterly perplexed.
“Um…” He blinked, taking in every member of the Justice League slowly.
“Welcome to the Justice League Watch Tower.” Wonder Woman said, ever the diplomat. “We apologize for summoning you on such short notice.”
“Oh. Okay.” He was still blinking owlishly before his eyes locked onto one of the windows that currently had a vast view of space. The boy all but purred at the sight. “You can call me Phantom. What do you want?”
“You’re the new Ancient?” Constantine asked without as much tacked.
Phantom sighed, shifting to sit even as he floated. “So they tell me. I didn’t know there was going to be a superhero test.”
“We summoned you to request assistance if you are able to give it.” Batman said, taking over. “A threat is coming to destroy the Earth and we don’t have much time. Is there something in particular you would want in payment?”
“Besides souls.” Constantine muttered which subtly alarmed everyone within earshot.
“Destroy…Earth?” Phantom repeated slowly, head tilting. It was slowly occurring to everyone that maybe a baby Ancient really was too young to deal with something like this. “Why?”
Green Lantern sighed, arms crossed. “I’m likely the cause. Earth is the home base for Lanterns in this sector. The previous planet destroyed was also a home base.”
Phantom’s eyes jerked up, his full attention on Green Lantern. “Previous planet destroyed? Where?” He paused, “And when? I have been feeling a little off.”
No one knew quite what to make of the strange comment, but Lantern continued anyway. “A planet in the neighboring sector, 2813. It has been eight days, and before long, that threat will be here.”
“Is it possible you know of a way to prevent the destruction of Earth?” Wonder Woman asked, but Phantom seemed distracted.
He removed his gloves and was looking at the back of his hands. When that didn’t seem to tell him what he wanted, he tugged on his sleeve, making the fabric go invisible in small sections so he could easily look at his skin beneath it without the cumbersome task of rolling his sleeves up.
He was covered in glowing freckles, just like on his face, but one by one the League members took notice of the way they moved. Phantom would twist his arm one way and then another and each set of freckles would be replaced by a completely new set of glowing little spots. When that didn’t show him what he wanted, he kept looking, checking both arms first before moving down his chest slowly.
The League could do nothing but watch the strangeness before them as their follow up questions went ignored.
When he got to a spot under his ribs, Phantom screeched. “It’s gone!”
“Phantom…?”
Phantom looked out the Watch Tower window, his face morphing into one of fury. His eyes shined brightly and whatever he was looking for, he clearly found.
“T̢̜̞̮ͭ̓ͫͦh̨̻̼͓͓̜ͭ̈͆ȃ̴̩ͅtͯ̚͏͇̮̖̙ ̡̭͎̝̟͇͙̏ͣ̑͛m̵̭͉͈̳̟͎͈̲̋̋o͈̮̫͓̪͔͐͠t͉̬̉͒̈́ͪ͠h͉̠̭͓̞͎̺͓ͥͥ͘e̅͗̔̿҉̞̪̺̮̗̜r͙̪̼͈̐̉͞ ̫̥̳̿̾͒͑͞f͔̟͈͍ͯ̊̏́ù̶̯̬̫͈͕c̲ͣ̓̿͠ͅk̦̘̖̭͕͉̹̥̈̍̈́ͤ͘e͚̬͗͡ͅr̛̤̩̺͂̃̇̉ͅ.”
To say the Justice League was surprised by the shift in the boys tone was an understatement.
“Yeah, i’ll stop your threat.” Phantom growled, easily leaving the summoning circle. He shifted right through the wall and directly into space without a care.
Silence filled the room, no one entirely sure what they’d done by summoning a baby Ancient. “So that happened.” Flash commented. “Are we still planning for doomsday?”
“We’ll see…” Constantine muttered. “Though if that kid gets hurt, might be bad for the universe.”
“Not what we wanted to hear, John.” Wonder Woman said, looking out the window. Nothing looked unusual to her.
~
In an hour's time, Phantom returned just as distracted as he’d been when he’d left. He remained seated in the air as he held what looked like a cracked marble in his hands. It was surrounded by a mist, and inside sparked with many different colors.
Phantom seemed to be sealing the crack, a smile on his face.
Batman was the one to approach, and if he was anxious it was hard to tell. “Phantom.” He greeted cautiously. “You’re back.”
“Uh huh.” Phantom said, eyes glittering happily at the marble. “I got rid of your problem. Earth is safe.”
“Got…rid of.” Batman repeated slowly, a tinge of disbelief in his voice.
“So we’re good?” Flash asked. “Good work, kid.”
“Yeah, he deserved it.” Phantom said, finally cradling the smooth marble in his palm.
Constantine was still smoking, but his eyes were narrowed. “Do i wanna know what you’re doin’?”
Phantom beamed. “I got my planet back! It was a little broken but i fixed it.”
“Your planet?” Green Lantern repeated, adrenaline hitting him. “The destroyed planet!?”
“Yep.” Phantom looked pleased with himself. “Now i just gotta set it back in time eight days to get everyone back on track and i can put it back where it belongs.”
“Put it…back.” Batman seemed to have trouble with the skill set of one teenager.”
It was Superman who slid closer with a disarmingly charming smile. “May i ask what kind of Ancient you are. I admit i don’t know much about them.”
Phantom perked up. “I’m the Ancient of Space!” He ignored Constantine’s groan from across the room. “I’m really glad you guys called me about this! It would have taken me a while to find a planet destroyed out of the natural timeline.”
“And you have time abilities?” Wonder Woman asked softly. Time and Space was a heady combination.
“Nope! But Clockwork does.” Phantom said. “He’ll do it for me.”
“Will he?” The Flash stared.
Phantom didn’t seem to notice the incredulous looks. As far as he was concerned, everyone was simply taking his explanations in stride. Tilting his head back his eyes shimmered with power. “Clockwork!” he called, voice reverberating oddly. No one missed Zatanna paling or Constantine cursing. No one had time to ask either before a tear appeared just to the right of Phantom. It split the very air apart in a green haze before a portal opened and a man floated out. Wrapped in a purple cloak, the man floated like Phantom did but had a ghostly tail instead of legs and off putting red eyes.
He had a staff donned with clock gears and mechanisms that ticked in an unsettling way. No one needed an explanation, which was good because Constantine wasn’t going to give one.
This was the Ancient of Time. They had two Ancients in the Watch Tower.
Phantom didn’t seem bothered and held out his marble with a smile. “Fix!” he asked cheerfully.
Clockwork turned from what appeared to be an adult man to an elderly man in the blink of an eye. “You know time is sensitive, Phantom. Not everything can be changed on a whim."
Phantom’s smile lessened. He looked back and forth from Clockwork to the marble and back to Clockwork again. “I’ll cry. Swear to the Ancients, i’ll start crying.”
The elderly Clockwork shifted back into the form of a young man. “Do you think tears will alter the timeline?”
Batman smiled, almost. He knew a mischievous teen trying to get his way when he saw one. That theory proved correct when Phantom honestly did begin to sniffle, eyes becoming damp.
“An asshole destroyed a piece of me.” Phantom said, lips wobbling. “I felt it. I didn’t feel good.”
Clockwork’s form shifted again, this time into the form of a young child. He heaved a sigh, “If you start weeping you’ll summon the others.”
Phantom nearly whimpered, holding out the marble still. Every member of the Justice League watched with bated breath.
Clockwork crossed his arms. “How far back do you want it?”
“Yay!” Phantom beamed immediately, impressing upon how young he must have been. “Eight days! Actually, maybe nine. That might be better for them. I’m sure the…Green Lantern…people… can explain that they lost little more than a week in order to be brought back. That’ll be fine, right?”
Green Lantern was too stunned by the question to answer but it was fine since it seemed to be rhetorical coming from the young Ancient.
Clockwork turned back into an adult and held his staff out over the marble Phantom held. There was no discernible change other than the hands on the staff’s clock face moving. Phantom was nearly bouncing in place which was interesting to see considering his feet weren’t on the floor.
“Thank you, Clockwork!” Phantom said, looking delighted and completely missing the way Clockwork just sighed fondly.
“Hurry along home before the yeti’s start to look for you.” Clockwork said in a fairly familiar tone.
“Yes, yes.” Phantom said distractedly, tossing the marble up in the air where it disappeared. He tugged at his black suit right over his ribs and did the same invisibility trick again. He shifted twice until he found the patch of skin that held the group of freckles he wanted.
No one was close enough to see for themselves, but Phantom crowed happily. “Good! It’s back where it’s supposed to be!”
“It’s back?” Batman asked, a hint in his voice saying he had a hundred more questions.
“Yep.” Phantom said. “It’s really annoying to me when someone destroys one of my stars or planets before their natural life cycles have worn out.”
“Is that a map of the galaxy on your skin?” Wonder Woman asked, charmed by the constellation of freckles across his nose and under his pointed ears.
“No.” Phantom said. “It’s a map of every universe on my skin. They overlap so sometimes i gotta hunt for the one i want a little.”
“Every…” Superman sounded like he had the wind knocked out of him.
“Come, Your Majesty.” Clockwork said, opening a shockingly green portal with his staff. “You’ve had your fun.”
“Okay, okay.” Phantom mumbled.
“Majesty?” Zatanna whispered, confusion coloring her tone.
Phantom whipped back around to look at her with a sheepish grin. “Ah, yeah. I’m the King of the infinite Realm. Let me know if anyone else messes with one of my planets! Bye now.”
The Ancients departed and Constantine started wheezing.
“I take it no one knew the baby Ancient was a king?” Flash asked, a very startled silence taking over the Watch Tower.
~~
I know i originally said that the planet had been destroyed but that somehow turned into it being eaten or absorbed or something so Danny got it back.
I really just wanted Danny to find a missing planet on his skin and freaking out over it.
Feel free to take this idea, though i’m sure something like it exists already. ^__^
Master List
My love letter to a fic that stole my heart!
Some choppy moments from a scene that had me grinning ear to ear the whole way though! I absolutely loved every moment of this story and highly recommend it 💕💕
Summary:
Does anyone know Lance is in love with Keith? Of course not. And Lance would very much like to keep it that way, thank you! Keith already doesn't want anything to do with him ever since coming back from that space whale; the last thing Lance needs on top of his crumbling self-worth and shaky standing in the team is a rejection that shatters his heart in pieces, too. But now, Lance got himself in a bit of a pickle. Which is fine, because Lance has a plan to get out of it! A wonderful, brilliant, masterful, completely fool-proof plan. His team won't look at him like he's more incompetent than they already do, he won't have to spend the rest of his life trapped on some alien planet, and Keith will never find out just how head over heels he is for him. It's a win-win-win situation. Of course, with Keith, things are never quite so simple, and Lance's plan soon causes a domino effect that changes the entire course of his life. Or: Maybe Lance should have been a little more specific when he said he'd do anything to get home. Because now... "You must bestow a kiss on the one your soul most desires." ...Fuck.
Switch to light mode or Classic Blue to get the full transparency effect!
[Image ID: A four page comic that starts with Danny Fenton standing in front of a whiteboard holding up a white cat. “Question: Do ghosts purr?”
Tucker: “Danny when was the last time you slept?” Danny: “Irrelevant.”
Danny info-dumps: “The answer is yes, but also no. Technically, all beings that possess a core are constantly "purring”, a.k.a. Core Vibrations. Core Vibrations are a nonverbal, emotion-based communication system between Ghosts, similar to how some living species use pheromones to communicate. The exact tone of each ghost is different the same way people’s voices are different. Humans can only hear these vibrations when the frequency passes through their audible range (20Hz - 20KHz), hence the ‘purring’ sound. When the range dips into infrasound (16 - 20Hz) it can cause feelings of fear and unease in humans that they often associate with ghosts and the supernatural. Also known as the ‘Heebie Jeebies.’”
Danny, wiping off the whiteboard: “Any questions before we move on?“
Danny’s audience consists of Wes Weston, Tucker Foley, Sam Manson, Danny’s clone Ellie, and Dash Baxter in a classroom. Wes is seated at a desk at the front taking notes. Tucker is sitting on Sam’s lap playing on a Switch, Ellie is sitting on a desk behind them. Dash is asleep at the back of the room.
Ellie, now holding the cat: “Is this Vlad’s first cat!?” Wes: "Could you tone down the floating eyes before the next part? They’re kinda distracting.” Danny: “What eyes?” Wes: “Please stop gaslighting me.”
A transparency trick on the last page reveals dark shadows and eyes all around Danny when viewed in dark mode. /.End ID]
An Extended Image ID is available under the read more because it’s over 1k. Side by side light and dark mode versions of the transparency trick is also available under the cut.
Keep reading
Constantine was freaking out in the watchtower meeting room. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner that your kids are dating a Denizen of the Infinite Realms?!”
“What is a Denizen of the Infinite Realms?” “Do you mean Ellie? She’s a sweet girl.” Both Batman and Superman spoke at the same time.
“Ellie? Is that her name or her Name?” Constantine asked, leaning forward.
“That…you just said the same thing twice.” Flash said in confusion.
“No. A name is what you call someone. In the Infinite Realms spirits Name is significant. It has Power.”
“That reminds me of my grandma’s old stories about fairies and Fae folk.” Green Lantern leaned back in his seat. “All that ‘giving your true name’ stuff
“Your grandma told you stories about fairies?” Flash raised an eyebrow.
“She was a hippy.” He shrugged. His cheeks just faintly pink.
“Are these beings Fae?” Flash turned back to Constantine.
“They are both Fae and Spirits. Sorta. The word is interchangeable depending on the specific being you are referring to.” Zatanna said. “For example, Banshees are a type of fae that originate from spirits or ghosts. Banshees can be apart of the Infinite Realms. The Realms are the bridge between our reality and any ‘fae realm’ that exists.” John looked exhausted, despite his leg bouncing agitatedly under the table.
“Can we refocus?” Wonder Woman interrupted. “Constantine. What are the Infinite Realms?”
“It’s the glue that both connects and divides the different plans of reality.”
“You’re talking multiverse.” Green Lantern said looking more alert.
“Not just the Multiverse, mate. Everything and Everyone who dies in Any planet, galaxy, or Universe must pass through the Infinite Realms to reach their afterlife. Which all exist under the command of the Ancient High King.”
“Hades?” Wonder Woman asked.
“Saint Peter?” Green Lantern asked.
“Or the Devil?” Flash guessed.
Constantine shook his head again. “No. All of those beings hold Dominion over a single kind of afterlife. Think of them like Lords to a King.”
“Who is the High King?” Batman had his hands posed to record the information on a monitor.
“Well, it used to be The Tyrant King. Pariah Dark, The Imperator of Fear. The Father of Despair. The Great Conqueror of the Dead, Undying, and Never Born. During the height of his rule there was a gathering of Seven Ancients who with all of their power were only able to bind him to sleep. A sleep that lasted for centuries. Unfortunately, he woke up and began to take vengeance on the whole realm. Until another spirit rose up to challenge him. A single Ancient who defeated Pariah Dark in single combat and with his victory, claimed the Throne of the Infinite Realms.” Constantine said all of this in a bored tone. Like he was retelling the drama of a soap opera he watched a hundred times.
“So the Last King was a Tyrant. What about the new guy?” Superman asked curiously.
“All I know are his Epitaphs. The Great Ancient of Balance. The Patriarch of the Wilds. Eminence of Justice. The High King Phantom.” Constantine gruffed.
“When did the transfer of power happen?” Batman asked.
“Time isn’t the same between here and the Infinite. To us it was less than five years ago. In the Infinite it could have been centuries or even millennia ago.” Zatanna shrugged. “Don’t get too strung up on timelines. The Infinite Realm exists outside of typical timelines.”
Superman shrugged. “Well, Ellie wants us to meet her parents. And Three Denizens of the Infinite Realms want to meet Robin and Superboy. Along with Batman and Superman.”
“Four.” Batman corrected.
Green Lantern looked confused. “Four?”
“Yeah. Ellie, her Dad, her Mom, and her Pops.” Superman nodded as he remembered the specifics of what Superboy had said.
Flash took a sip of a mango smoothie he hadn’t had a second ago. “Are her parents divorced?” He asked around the straw.
Green Lantern smirked nonchalantly. “‘Can spirits divorce?’ Sounds like a joke start up.”
Superman shrugged nonchalantly, “They’re a polycule. She’s got two dads and a mom according to the boys.”
“Oh.”
Constantine flicked open his pack of smokes and put one between his lips. Leaving it unlit at Batman’s glare, “Don’t expect a traditional relationship dynamic from the Infinite Realms, Mate.”
Batman tapped relentlessly on, “What are the Denizens of the Infinite Realms like?”
Zatanna hesitated, “They are...It’s hard to explain. They are emotions, obsessions, ideals, even aspects of reality given physical form. Like…gods who don’t need worship to increase their power and influence. Some are technically ghosts; the reflected personalities of former mortals from different realities, but that’s more irregular than what you might expect.” She winced at the withering stare she felt coming from Batman at her vague explanation.
Wonder Woman turned to Superman “So, what about Ellie? What kind of girl is she?”
Constantine spoke up before Superman could start, “More importantly, what kind of spirit is she?”
“Superboy said she was something called a Mirror-Born but he didn’t know what that meant.” Superman admitted. “I didn’t know either when he asked me.”
“A mirror-born? What is that?” Zatanna looked over at Constantine in confusion.
The British man shook his head, “I have no bloody idea, love. I’ve never heard of the phrase. But spirits and Others tend to be a mix of extremely literal and annoying obtuse with their terminology.” Constantine chewed on the unlit cigarette in his mouth thoughtfully. “Mirror…mirror…a reflection… A likeness. An afterimage maybe?” Constantine began to mutter to himself as he scribbled on a scrap of paper from his coat. “I’ll look up some things at the house later. Maybe see what I can dig up.”
Wonder Woman then took the lead. “In the meantime, let us discuss the logistics of meeting with these Infinite Realm Denizens.”
Zatanna took over the meeting. “Thankfully, the barrier dividing us from the Infinite Realm is hard to transverse. Natural portals are the main way they come over. Natural portals are random and dissipate quickly. Some can track and anticipate the portals appearance and cross over temporarily.”
“This ‘Ellie’ is probably a weaker but clever spirit who figured out how to access this world with some degree of certainty.” Constantine flicked the chewed up cigarette away and pulled out a new one. “But don’t underestimate her. ‘Weaker’ does not mean weak. Infinite Realms beings thrive on battle. Fighting is their main form of communication.”
“Fighting?” Batman grunted, fingers pausing in their typing.
“Everything from play fighting, friendly sparing, to actual ‘trying to end your existence’ fighting. These beings love fighting so much it’s practically coded into them.” Zatanna shrugged. “It’s as common to them as shaking hands is to us.”
“So, her parents will likely want to spar. To gauge Robin and Superboys’ worthiness for their child.” Constantine sighed. “Like a Fae version of the shovel talk. Heads or tails on if they actually try to bury them though.”
“Probably best to have the meeting here on the Watchtower or somewhere similarly isolated than on earth. Safer.” Superman glanced out of the watchtower windows. “Probably not here though.”
Wonder Woman nodded, “Noted. Should there be others included in the meeting?”
“Yes. I’d say so. Obviously, the boy, Superman, and Batman. Constantine and myself.” Zatanna listed out the individuals, counting on her fingers.
“Pass.” Constantine grunted.
Zatanna glared up at him. “No passing. If we need to restrain them, both of us might be needed. Should we invite Captain Marvel too?”
The Laughing Magician pulled out another cigarette.
Damian running away to forge his own path when he realizes he can never go back to being an Al Ghul but the pressure of being a Bat is too much. He leaves no traces of himself and travels around the world going on adventures and finding out about himself. Maybe nobody figures out who he is.
Eventually he meets Danny and they fall in love and even have a baby (how they aquire said baby is up to interpretation; like they either got cloned again, actually had one the natural way or maybe took one in). Damian decides he wants to focus on family than the mission (he won't turn out anything like Bruce) and takes a step back from his path that he created on his own to stay and be present with Danny and the baby.
Danny is happy if Damian is happy but knows he still has his duties as King of the Infinite Realms and spends as much time with his family as he can.
Danny tells just about his whole family and friends; Jazz first, who takes the little bundle in her arms and stares absolutely mystified. Sam and Tucker, who comment jokingly on how fast they're moving (Damian and Danny have been together for like, a year or so).
The Fentons are absolutely delighted, they always did like Damian ("such a polite boy he is, Danny."), and are happy to be grandparents.
Damian does not mention a family member he wants to introduce the baby to.
While he does step back from his old life, that doesn't mean he's done. He has to wrap up some loose ends first and, unexpectedly, takes the baby with him after an agreement with Danny. He can't run the Infinite Realms alone and watch the baby, so Damian takes the baby with him.
He finds himself in Gotham, secretly hoping he runs into Richard as to show him his baby, maybe reveal himself but runs into Jason, full Red Hood attire with his guns out and everything.
"Nobody's heard from you in a while. Figured you were taking a break." Jason says casually, hands resting on the gun as he talks.
"You'd be correct. I have important matters to attend to, and I'm here to wrap up some loose ends." Damian says, his cape bellowing in the wind. He has his baby hidden in the cape and in his arms.
"Yeah? Alright, whatever you got in Gotham won't trace back to you, if you tell me why you're leaving." Red Hood asks, voice modulated from his helmet.
Damian narrows his eyes, and, without breaking eye contact, opens his cape. He reveals a baby, a dark haired girl, who sleepily yawns and opens her eyes, revealing emerald green eyes.
He watches as Jason freezes, hands twitching on his guns and wonders if he made the right call.