[Third person POV]
The Man-Bat let out one final, bone-chilling screech before it began flapping its enormous, leathery wings. With a few powerful beats, it surged into the sky, rapidly closing the distance between itself and Danny. Its beady eyes locked onto him with primal fury as it dove in for another savage tackle.
But Danny was ready.
Without flinching, Danny phased through the creature, his body slipping into a ghostly state just as the monstrous bat tried to ram into him. He reappeared behind it, a glowing green chain of ectoplasma forming in his hand with a crackling hiss. With a sharp swing of his arm, the chain lashed out and wrapped around the creature's leg mid-flight.
"Gotcha," Danny muttered.
Using the chain like a tether, Danny began spinning with incredible speed, his body becoming a green-tinted blur in the air. The wind howled around them as he whipped the Man-Bat in a circle, building momentum, until—finally—he let go. The creature was launched like a missile, crashing violently into a nearby billboard with a metallic clang, the entire sign groaning under the impact.
Danny didn't let up. He immediately flew after it, fist outstretched like a missile of his own. The two collided mid-air once more, claws against knuckles, before tumbling through the air in a chaotic dance of violence. They crashed down hard onto the rooftop of an old, abandoned building, the impact sending a shockwave across the rusted beams and shattered glass.
"Listen to me, Kirk! I know who you are!" Danny shouted, now pinning the beast down. He planted his forearm firmly across its thick, muscular neck, trying to keep it from escaping again. "But I don't know how to help you—not yet!"
Kirk responded with a guttural screech that echoed through the city skyline. The creature thrashed violently, snapping its jaws just inches from Danny's face. Its fangs were yellowed and cracked, dripping with saliva. Though its wings were rendered useless, pinned tightly beneath Danny's knees, its body still writhed with furious strength.
'Damn it… What do I do?!' Danny thought, his mind racing. 'I'm not Batman. I don't have an antidote, or some miracle cure locked away in a cave somewhere. I'm just me…'
He remembered the stories: Kirk Langstrom—a brilliant scientist who'd experimented on himself with bat DNA, only to curse himself into becoming a feral monstrosity of the night. Now that very creature was beneath him, suffering, afraid, and lashing out.
As Danny hesitated—unwilling to use his full strength for fear of hurting Kirk too badly—the Man-Bat bucked with a sudden, desperate surge. It planted its clawed feet against the ground and shoved upward with monstrous force. Danny didn't react in time.
They crashed through the rooftop together.
The floor gave out beneath them in a thunderous explosion of concrete and wood. They plunged downward, slamming through one level, then another, and another—each floor cracking and shattering like paper until they finally hit the ground floor of the crumbling structure with a deafening boom.
Danny gasped as the impact rattled through his spine. He barely had time to recover before the Man-Bat loomed above him, claws raised. With a roar, it slashed downward toward his face—but Danny caught its arms just in time.
Black claws hovered inches from his skin, trembling with tension. The creature bared its fangs and released another unearthly shriek directly into Danny's face.
"Alright, alright! I get it!" Danny growled, grimacing as the stench of its breath filled his nose. "You're hungry, you're angry, and you wanna tear me apart. Yeah, I got the memo!"
With a grunt, Danny raised both legs and planted them firmly on Man-Bat's chest. He kicked with all his strength, launching the beast back into the air. It rose through the broken layers of the building, ascending toward the roof through the holes they had just made, bathed in the rays of light pouring through.
Danny didn't waste time. His hands ignited with green ectoplasmic energy, and he began blasting shot after shot upwards. Each blast struck the Man-Bat midair, lifting it higher. Smoke rose from its wings as it flailed helplessly.
Danny floated back to his feet, hands now pulled to his sides as he began charging something more powerful. A swirling orb of green light formed between his palms, growing in size and intensity, casting his face in a bright glow. Sparks of pure ectoplasma danced between his fingers.
"Let's end this," he muttered.
With a fierce cry, Danny lifted the glowing sphere over his head. Just then, Man-Bat came crashing back down through the light-filled holes, tumbling helplessly with its back exposed.
Danny released the beam.
A colossal blast of neon green energy erupted from his hands, engulfing Kirk in a blinding torrent. The Man-Bat screamed—a mix of pain and confusion—as the force blasted him skyward, out through the rooftop and into the open air.
His body landed sprawled across the rooftop's edge, steam rising from his singed fur. He twitched weakly, letting out pitiful, ragged screeches—more animal than man.
Danny floated up after him, his chest rising and falling as he caught his breath. He scratched the back of his head and hovered just above the ruined hole in the rooftop.
He looked ahead.
The Man-Bat was on its feet again—barely. It limped toward the ledge, dragging one wing behind it. With a weak leap, it flapped into the air, swaying mid-flight, its movements erratic and sluggish.
"Hey! Get back here! We're not done!" Danny shouted, taking off after it.
The Man-Bat turned its head, eyes wide with panic, and cried out in terror. It flapped harder, desperately trying to escape the relentless ghost chasing him.
Then—without warning—sound itself ruptured through the air.
Waves of visible sound energy ripped through the air, surging forward in a devastating rhythm. The force slammed into the Man-Bat from the side, rattling his bones and sending him spinning uncontrollably, limbs flailing.
The Man-Bat crashed to the ground with a heavy thud, skidding across the rooftop of a massive parking structure. His wings sprawled wide, his limbs twitching once before falling still. Smoke rose from his scorched fur, and for a moment, the only sound was the soft hum of wind brushing over the rooftop.
Danny hovered in place, blinking in confusion and looking around for the source of the attack that had brought the creature down. That screeching wave hadn't come from him.
A flicker of blue flame danced into view.
Floating in the air, just a few dozen feet away, was a girl with bright, blazing blue hair that seemed to shimmer like fire. In her hands was a sleek, glowing electric guitar, still humming faintly with the last echo of its power. With practiced ease, she slung it over her shoulder and struck a confident pose, one hand planted on her hip and a teasing smirk curling on her lips.
"Yo, Phantom," she called out, cocking an eyebrow. "Hope you don't mind me crashing your solo."
Danny blinked again, genuinely stunned. "…Ember?"
"In the ectoplasmic flesh," she said with a wink and a finger snap, her smirk deepening. "The one and only. Remember my name."
Danny groaned and ran a hand down his face. "God, you are so corny."
"Oh, shut it," Ember huffed, a faint blush rising to her pale cheeks. "I'm building a brand here, okay?"
She floated backwards in the air with a lazy grace, folding her arms and crossing one leg over the other. Her guitar rested diagonally across her back like a sword. Her expression shifted from smug to curious as she looked around at the city skyline.
"Anyway… what the hell happened to this place?" she muttered. "Looks like it got dragged through a haunted garbage disposal."
Danny perked up at that, eyes widening with realization. "Wait—you remember what Gotham is supposed to look like?!"
"Huh? Yeah? Why wouldn't I?" Ember replied, giving him a confused tilt of her head.
Danny let out a breath, part relief, part frustration. "Desiree."
"Ah," Ember said knowingly, snapping her fingers again. "That explains it."
"But how can you remember?" Danny asked, hovering closer to her. "Everyone else's memories got scrambled when she did her whole spell. The practically everyone forgotten what it used to be."
Ember shrugged casually, like it was the simplest thing in the world. "If I had to guess? Desiree was only rewriting your reality—your mortal plane. But the Ghost Zone? It's a whole different dimension. A kind of… mirrored world. Opposite and adjacent. Whatever she did here? Didn't touch the Zone."
Danny frowned thoughtfully, nodding slowly. "That… actually makes sense."
Ember gave him a triumphant grin. "Of course it does. I'm brilliant."
Just as Danny opened his mouth to respond, Ember's expression shifted again—this time to one of alarm. She pointed past him.
"Speaking of senses—your little bat buddy's on the move again."
"What?" Danny turned around sharply.
Sure enough, the Man-Bat had stirred. Somehow, despite everything, it had managed to drag itself off the rooftop and into the air once more. Its flight was weak and unsteady, its wings flapping unevenly, but it was gaining altitude, trying to escape into the night.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Danny groaned in exasperation. "How is this thing still flying?!"
He blasted forward, ectoplasmic energy trailing behind him like comet fire.
Ember grinned, flipping her guitar back into her hands. "Time to crank it up."
With a twirl, she tossed the instrument into the air in front of her and climbed on top of it. The head of the guitar roared with sonic propulsion, blasting her forward in a blaze of blue flame and sound as she shot off after Danny.
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