Hello everyone! And welcome to a new crossover as PhantomFoxy requested this as their reward for winning second place in my art contest. As such the art for the cover belongs to them as well as the idea for this story which is a crossover where Danny ends up being adopted by either Clark Kent or Lois Lane. So sorry this took so long to write! Fair warning most of my knowledge about either character comes from Smallville so without further ado on with the show!
"Run, run, as fast as you can, can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man," little Danny Fenton sang to himself as he sat in the corner, the white cushion walls all around him. Knees pulled to his chest as he sat in his white hospital gown, the color matching both his hair and the tag around his wrist.
"Mr. Fenton," a voice suddenly spoke as the door to the room opened and in walked a bald man, yet Danny didn't respond or look up. The only indication that he had heard the man being how he ceased his singing. "Danny," the man tried again, "you want to tell me why you ended up in this room again?"
"Because I yelled," Danny murmured, his voice quiet.
"That's right and you know you're not supposed to. You caused quite a bit of damage young man," Lex Luthor chided as he crouched to the child's level.
"I'm sorry Mr. Luthor but it hurt so badly," Danny couldn't help but whine as he turned his bright green eyes on the man, the color seeming all the more brighter at the light sheen the tears gave them.
"I know, but until the tests are completed I won't be able to get you out of here, you know that," Lex soothed as he stood up.
"But you got Jazz out," Danny whined weakly.
"Danny you know that that's different, your sister finished her tests in record time and they all said the same thing. That she wasn't special like you," Lex informed the child with a small smile as he held out his hand, "now come on the next test awaits, and if you're good I'll make sure you're allowed back in your room."
"Okay," Danny spoke as he hesitantly stood up, accepting the hand offered to him as Lex led him out of the room and down the hall. The pair stopping when they came to a sterilized white lab where a metal table lay in the middle.
"Alright Danny come one, you know the drill," Luthor spoke as he released the child's hand. Danny hesitantly going over to the table as he climbed up onto, laying down as metal cuffs came out of the table to enclose around his wrists and ankles.
"Mr. Luthor," Danny cried fearfully as the cuffs bit uncomfortably into his pale flesh.
"Relax Daniel, it'll all be over soon. This is just to make sure we don't have a repeat of what happened last time," Luthor spoke as a machine descended from the ceiling, looking to the mind of a child as some sort of torture device that would rip him in two.
"Mr. Luthor!" Danny cried again, albeit louder as he struggled against the bonds holding him to the table, trying in vain to get away from the machine that continued to inch closer.
"Daniel I said calm down," Lex bit out as the child's cries were uncomfortable to him, "if you keep struggling you'll just make it harder than it has to be."
"But.." Danny protested weakly as the machine drew ever closer, close enough for the poor boy to clearly see the long syringe that approached his arm, unable to do a thing as it sunk in, the pain causing the boy to cry out as due to his struggling it had caused more pain than necessary.
"Daniel stop struggling," Lex commanded as the child had yet to learn his lesson as another syringe came into view, this one holding a strange green liquid.
"Please," Danny cried out as he knew what the needle contained and he wasn't willing to let it enter his system again. Unable to control himself Danny screamed, the scream seeming to echo around the space, knocking Lex back as the sound waves crashed into him and the machinery.
The waves only dissipating when Danny was close to exhaustion, his mouth closing as he found at some point he had ended up on the floor of the lab, with only the table he had been on intact as the machine was crushed and the walls had chunks missing. With even a hole in one of them that let in the cool air from outside.
Looking around at the destruction he had caused and Lex Luthor who was on the floor in an unconscious state Danny felt cold fear grasp him. For he knew that he would be severely punished for the damage he had caused and therefore, taking the slight opportunity that it was, Danny found himself squeezing through the hole in the wall he had caused and running, far far away from facility that had held him captive for so long.
Though despite the child's determination to escape punishment he was still only a child who soon found himself in unfamiliar territory as the sun had long since set. Illuminating his unnaturally green eyes even more as they let him see clearly despite the lack of light.
To put it simply Danny was scared, he had just run away from the one place he knew after doing one of the things he had been warned against. He wasn't supposed to leave the facility for his own safety and damaging the equipment, no matter how scary they looked, made Mr. Luther angry and got him stuck in the time-out room. And to top it all off the young boy had no idea where he was.
The only thing he did know was that he was lost and that it was dark, yet despite this the boy could see perfectly fine and as such he was able to tell when a car was on a collision course with his body as in his hurry to run Danny had ended up in the middle of the street. The car's headlights illuminating his face as the driver slammed on the brakes. Even so Danny knew the car would careen into him and so he did the only logical thing. He turned intangible, the car passing harmlessly through him before Danny let himself once more be claimed by the laws of physics.
"Who's out there?" the driver suddenly called as the man stepped out of his vehicle. Danny getting a clear look at him as he stared at the man's tousled brown hair, making no move to hide as the man stopped walking once Danny was in his line of sight.
"Are you okay?" the man asked, shocking Danny as it was the first time someone had asked him that since the accident. So shocked was the child that he didn't respond, causing the man to fear he had hurt the kid and step closer. Causing Danny to flinch once his brain caught up and he realized how close the man had gotten. "Hey it's okay," the man spoke soothingly as he held up his hands to show he meant no harm, "I'm not going to hurt you. My name's Clark, Clark Kent, and you?"
"Danny," was the child's response, having been groomed to respond when asked a question as he stared up at Clark, his green eyes seeming to look straight through the older man's blue ones as Danny could read the confusion that lingered in them.
"Are you lost?" Clark found himself asking as a quick scan with his X-ray vision showed that there weren't any injuries on the boy, as well as leaving questions as Clark had been so sure that the boy had been right in front of the car when it had turned that corner.
"Yes," Danny answered, his voice quivering as he thought of what would await him once he made it back to the institute he came from.
"Okay then how about you tell me where you need to go and I'll help you get there?" Clark suggested, his eyes never leaving Danny as he felt an urge to protect the boy for whatever reason. Possibly due to the mysteries that already surrounded the boy despite their brief meeting as the child's eyes were nothing close to normal and his hair was so white it seemed to glow in the darkness.
"No," Danny suddenly spoke, breaking Clark out of his musing as his voice hitched, "I can't go back, they'll be mad at me. I can't go back."
"Woah, woah, woah," Clark soothed as he placed his hands on the child's shoulders, "it's okay just breath, it's okay. You don't have to go back alright? How about I take you back to my house and you see if you're ready to tell me where you're from in the morning alright?" Clark's quick-thinking him earning him results as the Danny managed to even out his breathing. Getting control of himself as he took deep breaths.
"O-okay," Danny spoke, giving a shaky nod as he felt a pull with the man he had only just met. Somehow feeling as though he'd be safe with him as he let himself be led to Clark's car, feeling himself being placed in the passenger's seat and buckled up before it fully registered what was happening.
But by then Danny's mind had been made up, he couldn't go back to the institute or he risked being the cause of Mr. Luthor's wrath. And if he couldn't go back he had nowhere else to go, his only home had been destroyed and his new home was no longer safe for him, if it had ever been in the first place. The only option Danny had left was to go with this stranger he had only met whose name felt like a reassurance and eyes held depth, It was also the only option Danny was willing to rely his safety on, for while Mr. Luthor had a tendency to get angry so far all Clark had done was reassure and comfort him. A sign that maybe his mother had been wrong about new people, maybe it was the people you already knew who shouldn't be trusted.
By the time Clark pulled the car up to the farm-house he and Lois called home he was fully prepared to get more than a name from the strange child who occupied his passenger seat. Unfortunately for Clark his plan fell through for when he turned to speak to Danny he was greeted with the sight of a sleeping child, the sight causing a small smile to creep onto his face.
Deciding it would probably be better to let the boy sleep Clark simply picked the child up and carried him inside, glad that he had stayed behind at the daily planet instead of Lois as that meant she was probably asleep by now. Something Clark was hoping for as he would prefer trying to explain to her why he was bringing a strange child into their home after a good night's rest. Wordlessly Clark carried Danny inside, setting the child in the spare bedroom before joining Lois in the other one. Easily falling asleep as tomorrow would bring some changes into the Kent household.
Danny hated sleeping, he truly did, for while he knew he needed sleep he also knew that whenever he did fall asleep most of the time he ended up getting a nightmare. Tonight was no different as he stared up at the building that had once been his home, a long time ago.
He knew he was dreaming, for there was no other explanation, the building was destroyed. And his parents along with it, yet despite knowing this Danny also knew that no matter how hard he tried he could never wake up from his dream until they ran their course. He assumed it was due to Mr. Luthor wanting to scan his brain waves while he slept and that couldn't be done if there wasn't enough time to scan him before he woke up.
In any case Danny walked towards the old building, walking up the steps and into the living room where it became distorted to offer him two choices. Upstairs, or down, going upstairs usually ended with a memory of his time with Mr. Luthor. Not a truly pleasant experience after being taken to the institute but not all the memories were bad. While going downstairs would always end with the same memory.
It was the machine his parents worked so hard on, and as a small child who was a bit too curious for his own good he wanted to explore. It had looked so cool to him the way it reminded him of something out of the sci-fi movies he enjoyed so much and he had only planned to take a quick peek inside to avoid getting caught. But seeing all of the wires had been too tempting for the young Danny Fenton to not investigate but unfortunately for him as he tried to walk inside he tripped. His hand falling on a button that really should have been higher up to avoid his reach, and then came the pain.
Unimaginable pain as Danny felt as though he was both burning and freezing all at once. And unable to do anything else he screamed,he screamed from the pain and he screamed even more when he recovered enough to notice the wires had started a fire in his parents lab. Before he could do anything, and really what could he do for someone so young? The fire had spread, growing and feeding on anything it could grab until it reached the table of chemicals he had always been told never to result was an explosion, one that ripped through the entire house.
It was a miracle Danny had survived the doctors had said, although they stated that his not white hair and green eyes must be a side effect of the chemicals in the lab, for his parents did not. They were consumed by the flames and it was only by luck that Jazz had been at her friend's house for a sleepover.
The dream, though nightmare would be more accurate, then covered the next few days in a blur. The day where he was released from the hospital into the hands of an old friend of the family who Danny did not recognize as he had been too young to remember the one time he had met the man. Being taken to his house and reunited with Jazz for a few days before his unique attributes began to surface.
Mr. Luthor had been so kind to them when they arrived that when he said he could help Danny discover why he was suddenly sinking through the floor he was inclined to believe him. And so Danny was moved to, the institute, as Mr. Luthor called it, and Bell Rev to anyone else. At first they did help, Danny learned control but once he did things changed.
They wanted to run more tests on his condition and so his one request of getting to go home to Jazz kept being refused again and again until eventually Danny stopped asking. The weeks spent there became painful and visits from Mr. Luthor became less and less frequent, it was a wonder they hadn't stopped completely yet.
And that was always how the nightmare ended, with Danny being tested on by faceless people in lab coats, waking up in a cold sweat as he knew screaming would get him into trouble, and therefore screaming after a nightmare was a trait Danny quickly lost to avoid more pain.
This night was no different as the choices lay before him, up or down. And, with the hope that he's be presented with a good memory rather than a bad one Danny walked upstairs.
His hope payed off as Danny found himself reliving one of the few good memories he had in the Luthor mansion. He had been playing like he always did, this time with a basketball as he merrily bounced it door the mansion's corridors. Following the ball when it slipped from his hands and bounced into a nearby room, where it came to a stop against a piano.
Curious about the instrument Danny ignored his basketball in favor of inspecting it as he hesitantly touched one of the white keys and was surprised by the sound it made. Spurred on by the noise Danny began hitting each one, marveling at all of the different noises it made.
"Having fun there?" Lex questioned with a smile as he looked at the young boy.
"Sorry Mr. Luthor," Danny spoke, having the grace to look sheepish as he stepped away from the keys.
"It's quite alright Danny, no harm done," Lex waved the child off as he took a seat at the piano stool, "do you know what this is?"
"No sir," Danny responded meekly.
"Danny, just call me Lex," Lex suggested with a smile, "and for your information this is called piano."
"A piano," Danny echoed as he touched a key, smiling at the sound.
"Yes, musicians use the keys to play all sorts of wonderful music," Lex informed.
"Can you show me?" Danny questioned, wanting to do more than just press random keys.
"Of course, I'll demonstrate a piece and then I'll teach you okay?" Lex questioned and at Danny's nod he smiled. Danny sitting next to him on the stool as Lex began to play a melody. The sound having a calming effect on the child and before Lex could even begin to teach Danny how to play the piece himself the child had fallen asleep. Blissfully succumbing to his dreams as he had felt safe in the side of his new guardian.
The memory was a nice change for the Fenton boy as he woke up as his memory ended. Feeling refreshed and happy as opposed to the feeling of sadness which was what he usually experience after sleeping.
There was also another emotion Danny felt when he woke up, one of confusion as he looked around the room he was in that was clearly not his room in the institute. His confusion only growing as he took notice of the bed he lay in and it took a moment for him to remember the events of last night.
The machine, the screaming, and then the running. He remembered Clark and going with him but Danny did not remember the room and assumed that Clark had brought him here. Not knowing what the rules were in the new place Danny resolved to wait. It was better in his opinion to wait rather than risk doing something wrong by leaving the room he had been placed in so that's what he did. He waited.
Alright well. I'm not going to lie I was making this up as I went along and I have no idea why I thought/wrote the things I did. In any case I hope you enjoyed it, whatever this was and that's it for this chapter. If you have any questions about this fic, I know I do and I'm the one that wrote it, just leave a review and I'll answer them next chapter.