A little something based on a tumblr post (ff doesn't let me link to the post) about danny becoming a guard at arkham and I couldn't resist writing something about it.

The first thing Danny said when Jazz expressed her interest in interning at Arkham was:

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?"

To which she answered:

"It is said that you have to be a bit crazy to work in Arkham, soooo…"

Danny had to agree that her response was quick and true, but still he didn't like her going to that madhouse and probably die because, I dunno, Joker woke up wrong or she tried to psychoanalyze the Riddler. He said this to her through the phone, hoping that she could imagine him pacing up and down the apartment.

"The security there is top notch, Danny, and the bat-fam is always one call away."

"You know as well as I do that's bullshit. The guards are human, some of those crazies are not."

"That term is very harmful, Daniel," she used her mom voice.

"Sorry. But you see what I mean, right? If anything happens I won't be there to save you. Not in time, at least." He could try and measure how long it would take to fly from his apartment to Arkham, just in case.

There was a long silence. He heard his sister breathe in, breathe out, like she was mentally preparing herself to say something.

"I… I heard, from other interns I talked to, that guard positions are always open. And that it's super easy to get in."

"Jazz. Are you-"

"Don't. I know you. Don't think I'll ever forget the 'visits' when I started college."

Danny looked down and stopped pacing. Maybe he was a bit overprotective of his sister. Maybe he freaked out for weeks after she moved to her dorm, complaining about how long it took him to fly there.

He regretted nothing.

"Gotham is too far from Amity. I prefer cutting the chase and having you with me in Arkham than dealing with a helicopter little brother on the reg."

He swallowed the knot in his throat. "Is this your sisterly way of telling me that I should get a job?"

"I gave up after you were fired from the Nasty Burger. Nasty Burger, Danny! Not even Val was fired, and she had another job and the Red Huntress business!"

"I know…"

Jazz sighed. "I'm going to nap a bit and then finish packing things up here. I'll text you the site where you can apply for the guard job."

"Thanks, Jazzy."

"Don't call me that. Love you."

"Love you."

Applying for the guard job at Arkham was surprisingly easy. They didn't ask for good grades, only a highschool diploma. They asked if you could solve problems quickly and efficiently - easy peasy, he was Phantom and he had been in the hero business long enough. Also they required no criminal records or whatsoever.

Fortunately for him, Daniel Fenton was as clean as he could be.

He passed the initial online interviews and finally was asked to do a physical ability test on site. Once upon a time he would have considered enhancing his human side cheating (and he did not cheat); but after moving out from his parents' house and being adopted under Sam and Tucker's wings, he felt more and more comfortable with his ghost side bleeding into the human side. What was Phantom, if not an identity he used to justify a duality that wasn't there? Daniel Fenton died in the portal and became something else, but it never was about two sides or two faces - he wasn't human or ghost, he was both.

Somewhere along the way he stopped even changing to his ghost form to fight low level ghosts. He could access enough of his abilities with his human body; and it helped when he mastered The glare (Sam trademarked it) and the ability to project an aura of fear to scare troublemakers back into the Ghost Zone.

"You got the job, kid," the giant of a man sitting before him said with a slightly confused frown.

"I'm not a kid. I'll be 24 next month."

The other man looked up from his papers, probably the physical test results, and looked up and down the scrawny form of Danny. Instead of feeling insulted, he just laughed.

"I'm tougher than I look, uh, um, sir."

The other man looked like he wanted to say something else, but gave up and shrugged. Danny guessed that he was probably expecting him to last very little.

"You start on monday."

A few months into his new job Danny got the feeling that he found his calling. It was stimulating enough that he didn't feel like dying all over again from boredom, and believe me, breaking fights between inmates was very entertaining; but also serious enough that he could satiate his obsession even so far from Amity.

He had been worried a bit about this issue, promising himself that he would fly back on weekends and give a hand to his B-team (a name they didn't like but he still referred to them like that); but with time the inmates of Arkham, weird enough, became part of his 'people' per say.

It was a little bit like with ghosts - encounter, banter, beat up, return to the cell. The familiarity of the motions made the adaptation smooth and soon he felt comfortable enough to stop pretending to be human in the prison.

Jazz always told him to be careful with that around non-amity parkers. People from their hometown were used to seeing weird stuff and brushing it off as a 'ghost thing', but here, in Gotham, shining green eyes and sharp fangs was not going to be overlooked. And if people noticed, they would talk. And eventually reach the Bat's ears.

Not good.

"And then I told that guy to mind his own business and he hit me! Can you believe it?" Danny came back to reality, nodding along. "Red defended my honor, because she's amazing like that, but still we ended up here anyway."

"Totally uncool." He said.

"I know right?"

Danny sighed and checked his watch, knowing he had to move on with his patrol. "Hey, Harley, good talk. Do you mind if we continue after I finish my rounds?"

"Sure thing sweetcheeks," she blew a kiss. "I will be here waiting."

"You better." His glare wasn't The glare, but she still stuck her tongue at him and jumped down from the perch she had been swinging from.

He smiled from the other side of the bars, knowing that the other guard watching him from the reinforced door was one heartbeat away from a panic attack. No other guard dared approach Harley, with a good reason. The CAUTION tape on the floor indicating the minimum safe distance was also because of a good reason.

But Danny? Danny could go wherever he wanted.

Weird enough he felt at home in Arkham. Which shouldn't be something positive, he was aware, but the inmates reminded him so much of his usual ghost villains that he inevitably formed a bond with them. He also guesses that the fact that he was already dead deleted the fear factor - these mortals didn't even know that ghosts were a thing and couldn't dream of harming him in a way that matters.

Also, maybe, because he soon found out he was higher in the food chain than any of these people. So far no one emitted a predatory aura stronger than his, and he checked. Not even Killer Croc, not even Bane. The clown dude, Joker, he still hasn't met (he had been told it was a matter of time, if he survived until then), but as far as he knew, that dude was only human and in theory he couldn't harm him.

(Anyway, he hated clowns. After Freakshow he hoped to never meet one, but the Joker was, like, the main villain in this place so yay, his bad luck strikes again!)

"Good night, Mr Fenton," a voice called for him. He turned, finding Edward Nygma in his prison clothes cross legged on the bed. He looked bored. "I heard funny things from behind the walls today."

"Yeah? Like what?" He walked closer. The other guard he was doing rounds with stepped away from the cell, one hand on the radio, ready to call for backup. Danny rolled his eyes.

"No information is free, Mr Fenton."

"What would be the price, then?"

"Give me a riddle."

Danny's eyebrows went up. "But don't you know a ton of those? What could I offer that you don't have?"

Riddler stood from his bed and walked towards the bars. "You are odd. That makes you interesting. Some new, something different." He pointed at Danny's feet. "For starters, I think sneakers aren't part of the regulated guard uniform."

Danny also looked down. "I love my shoes. What's the problem?"

He left out that the shoes were ghost proof and wore them in case he had to fight a ghost (unlikely, but paranoia so far kept him, well, not alive, but on top of the game).

"Odd." Riddle said the word like it was a compliment. "I'm still waiting."

"Hmmm…" He thought for a moment. "I have no life but I can die. What am I?"

Nygma rolled his eyes. "A battery. You really suck–"

"Nope! A ghost!"

Riddler blinked. Danny blinked. The answer was a battery but he didn't know any good riddles. He was more of a puny guy.

"Did you hear about the Italian chef that died?"

"I don't know if that-"

"He pastaway!"

Nygma breathed in. Breathed out.

"You are cute. I'll let you pass only because the death puns are funny." He sighed. "Okay, I heard there was a break out planned for tonight."

That erased Danny's smirk from his face. His eyes glowed for a moment with a green tint, but Edward thought it was a trick from the fluorescents.

"Is that so?" He tilted his head.

"The North block, I heard."

"When?"

Before the Riddler could answer, the lights went down. The guard behind Danny shouted something about the radio not working. An EMP? The man's heartbeat started picking up as he reached for the flashlight, turning it on and blinding Danny for a moment there.

"Huh? Your eyes…" The guard shook his head. "I'll go to the Central room, stay put."

Danny waited a few minutes, letting the darkness wash over him and the other inmates, who noticed what was going on and started cheering.

"So?" Nygma said. Danny turned, and could see perfectly well how the man tried to look towards his eyes, but was missing the spot by a mile. "Are you going to do something?"

The halfa smiled despite knowing that the inmate couldn't see him. "Of course. I'd recommend you stay right in your cell, mister."

"And if I try to escape in the confusion?" The bravery was only for show, Danny could hear Riddler's heartbeat picking up under the soft glow of his eyes. Sam had told him it was creepy finding him in the kitchen at three in the morning, sitting in the dark, eyes reflecting light like an overgrown cat.

"You have the choice. But that would be a bad choice for you."

He didn't bother changing forms, not that he could actually hide anywhere secluded enough and not alert anyone with the shiny rings of light. Daniel Fenton in his guard uniform walked the hallways of the Asylum quietly recommending the agitated inmates to keep quiet.

They listened.

Maybe it was how no one heard or saw him come until he touched them on the shoulder.

Now in the North Block he focused for a moment, noticing where the quickest heartbeats were located. Shouts from guards and some gunshots broke the murmur of the nervous darkness around him.

Someone had died. He knew.

But at least he found where they were - the hunt was on.

Gravity could barely hold him as he ran towards where the soul left this realm, his sneakers not making any noise as they hit the concrete, brain working with all the extra information from his heightened senses in the dark.

He found them.

They were four, the usual thugs, big broad men with guns and laughing and cackling at their last kill and what they would do after they got out of Arkham.

Down the hallway he could see the body of one of his colleagues - dead. His name was Carlos. He had a daughter. His husband was preparing a birthday party for him but it was supposed to be a secret. Carlos was dead.

"Where do you think you are going?" He said, letting his aura expand, eyes fixed on who looked to be the leader. "I suggest you go back to your cells."

"Wha-"

"It's the kid!"

"When did he-?"

"Go back to your cells." Danny said again, not blinking even when they pointed their flashlights at him. His breathing was controlled, not letting rage consume him and do what he really wanted to do - which was pummel these criminals until they couldn't eat solid food for months. It would be unprofessional.

"Or what, kiddo?" The leader said mockingly.

Danny hummed. "Or I'll have to escort you back by force."

He widened his stance, his mouth curving slightly up when the henchman at the back flinched.

"Fat chance, shortie, we are getting out of this place tonight."

"You can do that. But I will find you and I will drag you back."

The leader laughed and pointed his gun at the guard. "We don't fear the Bat. Why the hell would we fear you?"

He opened fire, his henchmen took that as a signal and opened fire as well, not caring about if they hit the other cells or another person. They fired until the clips were emptied, and then they waited for the smoke and debris to settle and check that the guard was dead.

Danny clicked his tongue from behind them.

They turned, for a moment noticing the glowing green eyes on the guard's face. Weren't they blue a moment ago?

Danny's smile was predatory, from ear to ear, teeth unnaturally white and suspiciously sharp. "That was a bad choice." He tilted his head, but the rest of his body was eerily still. "You should have gone back to your cell."

The would-be-escapees screamed, throwing their guns away and turning to run. Danny was there again, green eyes looking down at them with barely reigned in fury.

"No running in the hallways." Was the last thing they heard before everything went black.

Danny blinked when the lights came back on, ignoring the uncomfortable switch from night vision to his normal human eyes.

"Rowdy night?" Harley looked up from her book with a knowing smile. She probably knew by now what had happened, it took ages to calm down everyone and restore order in the whole prison.

Danny sighed deeply, letting his body slide down the bars of his new friend's cell. She reminded him so much of Ember, or at least, the Ember he got to know after she stopped trying to take over the world.

"Mondays, am I right?"

The inmate snickered, approaching him to sneak a hand through the bars and pat his head. "There, there."

"Is it always so tiring around here?" Danny tilted his head, angling it to see Harley's face when she smiled.

"Sometimes it is funnier. Sometimes the Joker is here and everyone is tense." Her mouth curved down a little when she said his name. "But something tells me with you around here things are going to change."

Danny hummed in response, letting the pats calm him down a little. A colleague had died and he thought, because that's how he was, that it was his fault. He could have prevented that if he had been more aware, if he had heard about the escape sooner. He had let his guard down, relaxed, thinking that Phantom wasn't needed anymore.

He couldn't have that in his new haunt. Things were going to change, and maybe this time Danny Fenton could make a difference.