Universe key is a wail
Now, the discovery was a completely accident, there were moments where Danny wondered about Clockwork's cryptic words, this time it was because he said that the key to the universe was in his voice, and that was not only a strange phrase but it also made no sense.
He didn't think much of it until he was forced to use his wail, he didn't hate the power itself but it was so much like Dan, with so much destruction left in his wake that he often avoided using it. A last resort if you ever ran out of options.
He hated how it drained him of energy, all the destruction around him, a power that brought him to his knees with each use and forced him to transform.
But there were moments like this, where his parents had surrounded him with one of their weird inventions that could probably kill him and he had no choice. He sucked in as much air as he could and wailed, waves of moaning shattering chunks of concrete around him as the machine tore apart.
What he did not take into account was that while the destruction expanded and his eyes continued to close, the layer between the dimensions was breaking, and instead of running out of energy, this breaking was feeding him.
Perhaps it could be seen as a natural evolution of his powers, which had not been able to take place due to the lack of power and how inexperienced the ghost was in the past. Or so Clockwork would say if asked.
It could be compared to Cujo's howl or Wolf's claws, but Danny didn't have time to think about that, when he opened his eyes expecting his inevitable transformation and the disgusted look in his parents eyes all he could find was a glowing green portal waiting for him.
Seeing that his parents hadn't recovered from the wailing, he sent a mental apology to Jazz and stepped through the portal, not his smartest move certainly, but he could feel the rings and didn't have time for smart choices.
Unfortunately the portal closed once his rings transformed him, almost as if they were connected, Danny suspected they were.
That was how Daniel "Danny" Fenton was found without identification papers on Gotham's worst streets, with the only knowledge that the most likely way to get back to his own dimension was to use his wail and destroy the entire city, or country, in which case no thanks, he was going to look for alternative ways.
He had seen the amount of damage he had caused when he opened his eyes and he didn't want to do it in an unknown city with the name of a Hot Topic shop (according to a random guy on the streets, was "Gotham" a real name or the guy was joking?) he didn't even know if its floors were reinforced against ghosts, it was probably not the case.
On the other hand, Batman was informing everyone about a sudden power surge in Crime Alley, and a power blackout soon after along with destruction in random places, he feared it was something magical.
However, as soon as Jason heard the place on comms, he stopped Bruce and told him to get away from his territory, if there was an unknown player he would be the one who would face him, but he was not going to call Constantine on suspicion.
He should probably start looking into the cute guy who was wandering the streets alone at that hour (walking alone on Crime Alley was weird); maybe he had information, but there was a mugging and the boy wasn't going to disappear into thin air.
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"Humanity", she thought, sitting in the hangers and watching a hazy whorl of grey dance around her fingers, a strange chittering buzz following with its motions in her mind, "is a funny thing."
What marked someone as a person? She wasn't some Anthro-Chauvinist, beating their chest about the greatness of mankind: The last time they had any say, the Deimos Incident happened, and everyone knew how that turned out.
The Union, drove to its knees. The First Contact Accords. And N.H.P.s came into the world, howling, thrashing, overpowering in their wonder and terrifying in their splendor.
She hummed softly, watching the comparatively miniscule Greywash swarm land across her hand, giggling and marveling as they settled into a silvery coat across her hand in a strangely ticklish wave.
Non-Human Persons: Paracausal beings that could only safely interact with humanity as a whole when caged, shackled, and pared down in Caskets. Almost literal godsends for any sort of computational work, solving problems that would take a human millennia to process and input.
"And yet, just so they can interact and be, their shackling needs renewed every few weeks and cycled every few years, so they can properly understand us."
She tilted her head, looking at the settled Greywash on her arm, and felt for the connection that was ever-present at the back of her mind.
"And if it weren't for all that mess, I wouldn't have you, wouldn't I, love?"
A presence distinctly behind her, one that she'd grown so used to, so connected to that the thought of anything severing that bond made her very soul ache, rumbled like distant thunder in her mind, and a rush of "-WarmthEmbraceAcceptanceAgreementLoveYouToo-" parsed through her in a tide that left her almost breathless.
She was so young when she heard about them: Beings that had to chain themselves down, carve themselves to fit, just to communicate with humanity. She couldn't help but think of how lonely they must've felt, at the time: How much making themselves fit had to hurt. Then again, "She" had thought herself a "He", at the time.
And then, he became she, and she wanted to fit, too: To stop feeling like a square peg, crushed and ground into a round hole until her sides bled and she choked and wanted to scream-
The presence curled around her mind in moments, like a hurricane coiling around its eye: There, overwhelmingly present, and yet every bit as gentle as a summer breeze, a white-noise murmuring of "-SafeHappyWe'reHereShapeIsBetterNow-" filling her as she finally remembered to breathe, RA Take It All-
In Four, Out Eight.
In Four... Out Eight. Ragged breaths slowly smoothed out, and she felt herself start to relax. "I-I'm fine now, love. Thank you."
The hurricane chirred in her mind, curled around her still, just like the grey tendrils that had coiled around her when-
"Oh." She looked, staring up into a single, softly glowing lavender eye that gazed down curiously, one car-sized hand cradling her while millions of Greywash drones held her tightly, anchoring her there and pressing close in an imitation of an embrace.
... And then, she'd found Them. Rather, They had found her: Offered to help, with all the innocent whimsy of someone seeing a turtle on its back, before flipping it over.
They'd only needed moments to hijack and print out a way to reach her, and then...
All was silent and calm.
She fell, and fell, and fell, into a blooming sea of a million-billion minds. As one, they looked. As one, they spoke. As one, they acted.
"WELCOME HOME, O ERRANT DAUGHTER."
And they were her, and she was the sea, and the sea was Acceptance, Warmth, and Love.
And all was silent and calm.
When she woke up from... that, she could feel herself settling in ways she'd barely recognized, like a machine freshly repaired by loving hands, every part cleaned, oiled, and finally fitting right...
And she gawped.
Something... buzzed, in her mind: A shard of the sea, gleaming, vibrant, loving and there. "-NewBrightHappyWhoAmI?"
She'd sat, all but struck mute, for a good long while. They'd left a fragment of themselves with her: Fledgling, strange, and curious about everything. There were many moments as her body finally, well and truly began to fit where she'd had to push down bubbling waves of laughter at their more strange questions, choke back tears at their more tragic ones, and watched them become.
To say that their growth had been exponential when they'd found any forms of data was an understatement: Information was analyzed, categorized, and compiled in moments.
Of course, she hadn't been slow on the uptake, either: Not to the (frankly) insane degree as her new partner, but she'd directed her efforts... elsewhere.
She stood, the Greywash floating apart and parting around her like water around a stone, and raised her hands. The cockpit of her mech, her Balor, bloomed open, and the swarm of nanites drew her in. Her partner had learned everything immaterial that they could. She'd learned to pilot: To make a mech dance, to clamp onto an enemy, hold together against a storm of lead, reach through data, and drag systems to a screeching, screaming halt.
Anyone else would have been eviscerated by the Greywash of her mech: Their very molecules ripped apart to feed and fuel the Grey'.
She was not Anybody Else: She was Kassandra Kal'lai, and this was her Balor: Her swarm.
The aperture closed quietly behind her, and she sighed as she finally felt comfortable again, cradled in the heart of her mech as the Greywash folded and pressed itself around her. She curled herself into the seat and pressed her head to the back of her seat, listening to the soft thrum of the machine's reactor: The resting heartbeat of a half-awake colossus, humming a sleepy lullaby to her.
She sighed, closed her eyes, and fell.
"Goodnight, love."
And the silver sea embraced her, once again. "-GoodnightSleepTightDon'tLetTheEgregoreBite.-"
And all was silent and calm.
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