Project Lazarus: File 0
(DP x DC — Suspense / Mystery / Drama)
It started with an email.
No sender. No subject. No traceable IP.
Just a single attachment labeled:
PROJECT_LAZARUS_FILE_0.EXE
Tim Drake opened it. Because of course he did.
It didn’t launch code. It played a heartbeat.
Then a voice — faint, static-distorted:
“You shouldn’t have found this, Timothy.”
The sound cut out, replaced by a string of coordinates. Arctic Circle.
Jason leaned over his shoulder. “If that’s not a trap, I’ll eat my helmet.”
Bruce just frowned. “Prep the jet.”
❄️ The Ice Station
The coordinates led to a buried research base under the ice — all power dead except for one humming generator.
Cass signed: Bad energy.
They found a single room sealed behind reinforced glass.
Inside: a containment tube glowing faint green.
Inside that — a boy, pale, white-haired, motionless.
His vitals flickered between alive and null.
Tim ran a scan. “He’s emitting… ectoplasmic energy. Like a Lazarus signature, but—cleaner.”
Jason: “Please tell me we didn’t just find another Pit zombie.”
Then the monitors came online.
Lines of data scrolled faster than even Tim could read. The code rearranged itself into text:
PROJECT LAZARUS: STAGE ONE SUCCESSFUL.
HOST CELL: BRUCE WAYNE. DONOR ENTITY: DANNY FENTON.
Silence.
Cass stared at Bruce. Damian’s hand went to his sword. Jason swore softly.
“Clone?” Tim whispered. “No… donor? What—”
The boy in the tube opened his eyes.
Green light flooded the room. The glass shattered outward in a burst of frost.
He stepped forward, barefoot on the ice, breath shimmering like fog.
“Danny Fenton,” he said quietly. “And Bruce Wayne was never supposed to wake up.”
⚡ The Truth
Danny explained it as the ceiling lights flickered.
Years ago, Ra’s al Ghul had tried to improve his resurrection process — fusing ghost core energy into the Lazarus formula.
He’d needed a stable host. Someone already on the brink of death, but with a will strong enough to anchor both realms.
“He chose you,” Danny said, looking at Bruce. “You died. And he used a fragment of my DNA to bring you back.”
Bruce’s jaw tightened. “So I’m—”
“Alive,” Danny said. “But… not entirely human. You carry both halves now. The living… and the dead.”
Jason muttered, “Explains the attitude.”
The floor rumbled. Tim shouted over the noise:
“Uh, guys? The computers just activated something called Stage Two!”
💀 Stage Two
The ice split. Green light poured from beneath their feet.
And from the depths, something rose.
It wasn’t human. It wasn’t even physical.
A swirling mass of black-green energy, howling in voices that sounded like a thousand broken souls.
“THE PIT REMEMBERS.”
Danny went still. “It’s awake. It’s angry.”
Bruce’s batarangs were useless — they passed right through. Jason’s bullets froze midair. The air itself turned to mist.
The entity reached toward Bruce. “You are mine. Your soul was marked. You were stolen.”
Danny shoved Bruce aside and raised a glowing hand. “Then take it from me instead.”
Light exploded. The ghost king’s aura flared — a crown of fire and frost.
“You want your power back? Fine. Take it.”
The two forces collided — Lazarus corruption versus pure ecto-energy.
For a second, it looked like the whole world would split apart.
Then Danny screamed.
And everything went white.
🌫️ The Aftermath
When Bruce woke, the base was silent.
The containment tubes were cracked, the monitors shattered.
Cass, Tim, Jason, Damian — all alive.
No sign of Danny.
But the Pit energy was gone.
Completely.
Where once the air reeked of corruption, there was only stillness — and faint frost on the ground in the shape of a handprint.
Tim whispered, “He purified it.”
Jason frowned. “At what cost?”
Bruce didn’t answer.
He just walked to the window overlooking the endless white horizon.
For a moment, he thought he saw a flicker of light in the snow — a figure, floating, smiling faintly.
“Take care of them, Bruce,” Danny’s voice echoed. “You were never my mistake. Just my second chance.”
Then he was gone.
Bruce stood there for a long time.
Then he whispered, almost to himself:
“Thank you, Danny.”
🕯️ Epilogue
Weeks later, back in Gotham, a new file appeared on the Batcomputer.
No sender. No trace. Just a note:
PROJECT LAZARUS: TERMINATED.
FILE CREATED BY: D.F.
And beneath that line—
a single image.
Bruce standing in the Batcave, smiling faintly.
A faint glow behind him forming the outline of a boy with white hair.
💚 End.
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