Chapter Text
The first thing Danny felt was wrongness.
A deep, clawing wrongness that sank into his bones, cold and unnatural.
One second, he was in his room, sprawled across his bed, not doing his homework. The next,
The air vanished from his lungs.
Light seared his vision. The world twisted, and suddenly,
He wasn’t home.
His breath hitched. His core flared hot, instincts screaming at him to run, but the second he tried to move,
Agony.
White-hot, searing agony.
It tore through him everywhere at once. His nerves caught fire, his core spasmed, his entire body locked.
He hit the ground hard. Knees slamming against the floor, arms trembling as he braced himself. He sucked in a shuddering breath, forcing himself to think past the pain.
What.
A summoning circle.
A containment circle.
Danny’s stomach twisted.
He was in a cold, sterile box, reinforced metal walls, smooth floors carved with glowing sigils. Overhead lights flickered faintly, casting long, too-sharp shadows. The air smelled of ozone, heavy with power.
And surrounding him, watching him with hard, calculating eyes, stood the Justice League.
Danny’s breath came shallow and fast.
Superman. Batman. Wonder Woman. A handful of others he barely processed.
Their stances were rigid. Their eyes sharp. Their weapons drawn.
This wasn’t a mistake.
This wasn’t a misunderstanding.
Danny wasn’t just summoned.
He was captured.
His throat went dry. His fingers dug into the cold metal floor.
No.
No.
Not again.
The lights felt brighter now, too bright, the walls too close. The circle around him glowed, pressing in on all sides. The memory of metal walls, of glass cages and white-coated scientists, of scalpel-sharp smiles and whispers of cut it open it’s not human tear it apart see what makes it tick.
Danny clenched his teeth.
He wasn’t there.
He was here.
And he was not going back.
Not to them.
Not to anyone.
But before he could move, Batman took a step forward.
“State your name and purpose.” His voice was sharp, void of warmth.
Danny blinked at him. His fingers twitched. “You’re joking, right?”
Batman’s glare hardened.
Wonder Woman’s grip on her lasso was white-knuckled. Superman’s stance was tense.
“You are an unknown entity,” she said coolly. “Your presence in the supernatural sphere has grown alarmingly vast. You wield extreme amounts of power, yet you remain unaccounted for.”
Danny stared. Then he snorted. “Yeah, that’s kind of on purpose.”
“You have no right to exist,” Batman said.
Danny’s breath caught.
His core froze.
The words sank into him, deep and sharp like a blade.
No right to exist.
Unnatural.
An anomaly.
Something to be contained.
Something to be destroyed.
Danny’s fingers curled into fists.
“You have no jurisdiction over the dead,” he said, voice low and cold. “No say in what belongs.”
Batman’s eyes narrowed. “We need to know how to neutralize you.”
Danny stopped breathing.
His vision swam.
Memories, chains, scalpels, screaming—
His hands trembled. His core roared.
Pain curled in his chest, rage twisting through his ribs, sharp and burning and endless.
Then Danny moved.
His hand shot forward, reaching past the glowing edge of the circle.
Agony.
A shockwave of pain exploded through him, every nerve igniting at once. His back arched violently, a strangled cry tearing from his throat. He ripped his arm back, gasping, muscles locking tight.
Danny shook.
His breath came in shallow, shuddering bursts. The pain still burned, crawling under his skin like fire.
The circle wasn’t just a cage.
It was a weapon.
Danny’s chest heaved.
His heart pounded, each beat a dull roar in his ears.
“You—” He sucked in a breath. His fingers trembled. He lifted his head.
His eyes glowed.
Superman tensed. Batman’s cape shifted. The League stiffened.
Danny exhaled slowly.
Then he smiled.
“You have no idea what you just did,” he whispered.
A pulse of cold power rolled off him, slow and steady like the pull of an oncoming storm. The room dimmed. Shadows grew long. The air dropped thirty degrees.
He tilted his head.
“Did you know,” he murmured, “that my first priority as Ghost King was to ensure that all superheroes had a place in my domain?” His gaze flicked to Superman. “Kal-El, Last Son of Krypton. A lost spirit bound in living flesh. Even now, your people’s ghosts whisper through the void.”
Superman stiffened.
Danny turned to Wonder Woman. “Princess Diana of Themyscira. Your gods have a claim to your soul, but make no mistake, you will still cross my realm before you reach them.”
His gaze slid to Batman. “And you—”
Batman held his ground.
Danny smiled wider.
“Don’t you ever want to see Jason again?”
A flicker.
The smallest, tiniest flicker in Batman’s expression.
Danny’s grin turned razor-sharp.
“Because I can see him, you know,” he whispered. “His soul clings to his body, but he is still dead. Still mine.”
The room went silent.
Danny tilted his head, shadows curling around him. “You thought you could chain a king of the dead? Thought you could command what you don’t understand?”
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“You are enemies of the dead now. Enemies of my domain.”
A pulse of power.
The shadows lurched.
The lights flickered.
Danny met their eyes, voice cold as a grave.
“For this, you will never find peace in death.”