He’s basically a walking, talking horror story powered entirely by nonsense.
And Gotham absolutely does not know how to handle him.
The first real sign of trouble comes when Danny walks into a supermarket for snacks. Nothing fancy. Just chips, soda, and maybe some chocolate milk because he is chronically 16 at heart.
Clockwork pings him the moment he’s in line.
“Tell the man with the blue cap, ‘I hope you apologized for the banana.’”
Danny glances around. There are at least four blue caps. Whatever. He shrugs and fires.
“I hope you apologized for the banana,” he says to the closest one.
Instant catastrophe.
The man drops his gum. His wife gasps. A toddler starts laughing like they’ve just heard the funniest joke in the world. A teenager in aisle four screams, “I KNEW IT!”
Danny grabs his snacks and leaves.
Outside, a Crime Alley rogue who’s been watching him nervously mutters, “Nope. No. Not getting involved with that kid. I don’t do prophecy bullshit.”
Danny’s just vibing with his chocolate milk.
His legend spreads fast.
Someone posts on Gotham forums: “White-haired meta sees into your soul. Avoid eye contact.”
Another responds: “He told me ‘She forgave you, you should move on.’ I HAVEN’T TOLD ANYONE ABOUT THAT.”
A third: “He said ‘two left turns’ and I found my lost dog. I’m scared.”
Clockwork is thrilled.
Danny is confused.
Bruce Wayne is concerned.
Then comes the incident.
Danny meets Nightwing.
It’s accidental. He’s floating on a fire escape, eating fries, minding his business. Nightwing lands nearby, clearly mid-patrol.
Danny waves. “Sup.”
Nightwing waves back.
Clockwork texts.
“Say: ‘You should stop avoiding Blüdhaven’s pier on Tuesdays.’”
Danny, still chewing a fry: “You should stop avoiding Blüdhaven’s pier on Tuesdays.”
Nightwing freezes like someone hit pause on reality.
Danny’s like, “…you good?”
Nightwing stares at him with fear, awe, and at least thirteen bad decisions behind his eyes. “How did you know? Nobody knows. Nobody was there. Not even Batman knows.”
Danny blinks. “Should… should I not have said that?”
Nightwing, whispering: “Is this about the giraffe?”
Danny: “The WHAT?”
Nightwing: “Oh god he knows about the giraffe.”
Danny: “…there was a giraffe?”
Nightwing swings away at the speed of shame, vowing to never return.
Danny finishes his fries.
The second incident is worse.
Danny runs into Red Robin at a library. Tim Drake is exhausted, holding three coffee cups and zero will to live.
Clockwork texts.
“Tell him: ‘The answer is behind the green file.’”
Danny has no context, so he says it.
Red Robin drops all three cups.
“WHICH GREEN FILE?”
Danny jumps. “Uh—the green one?”
“THERE ARE SEVENTEEN GREEN FILES.”
“Oh. Uh… the left one?”
“THERE ARE NINE LEFT ONES.”
Danny panics. “THE ROUND ONE????”
Tim has never been more afraid in his entire life.
By week three, Danny walks into any room and people start confessing.
Not to him.
To the air.
To God.
To whatever cosmic entity Danny apparently represents.
A GCPD officer: “I never meant to steal the donuts in 2011.”
A random Gothamite: “Okay YES I lied about having a peanut allergy but I just didn’t want to eat your cooking—PLEASE DON’T LOOK AT ME.”
A criminal: “Fine I DID take the goldfish! I DON’T EVEN LIKE FISH.”
Danny just wants boba.
Things escalate.
The Justice League hears rumors.
Superman visits Gotham, curious. He finds Danny on a rooftop, elbows deep in a bag of pretzels.
“Hello,” Superman says gently. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Clockwork texts.
Danny reads it.
He looks Superman dead in the eye.
“I forgive you.”
Superman, who absolutely does not know what he needs forgiveness for, nearly passes out mid-air.
Batman tries confronting him.
He appears behind Danny on a rooftop, all dramatic cape and dark brooding energy.
“We need to talk,” Batman says.
Danny smiles. “Oh! Sure.”
Clockwork texts: “Say: ‘I’m proud of you. She would be too.’”
Danny hesitates. “Uh… okay… weird one but…”
He repeats it.
Batman steps back like Danny just slapped him with emotional trauma wrapped in a riddle.
Batman: “…who sent you.”
Danny: “Huh?”
Batman: “WHO SENT YOU.”
Danny: “I’m literally just hanging out—”
Batman: “WHY DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HER.”
Danny: “About who???”
Batman vanishes into the shadows so fast he leaves emotional turbulence in the air.
Danny is left squinting at his phone.
Clockwork sends a >:) emoji.
Danny flips him off.
Things only get worse from there.
Danny sits on a bench eating a croissant. A villain running from the Batmobile sprints past.
Danny, chewing: “Stop using your left pocket. It’s compromised.”
The villain screams and throws their left pocket contents into the river.
The Batmobile stops.
Batman stares.
Danny waves with the croissant.
Batman speeds away.
Red Hood is next.
He finds Danny floating above Crime Alley.
Jason: “Hey, kid. You uh… you seeing things again today?”
Danny: “Not really. Kinda hungry. You know a good pizza place?”
Clockwork texts.
Danny reads it.
Danny whispers, horrified: “…no… oh no dude… please… not this one—”
Jason: “What?”
Danny sighs like he’s hurting both of them.
“…the ring is in the shoebox.”
Jason drops his gun and stares into the void.
Jason: “No. No. NO. The universe is not doing this to me today.”
Danny: “I don’t even know what shoebox means!”
Jason: “HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE RING.”
Danny: “WHAT RING??? WHY DO YOU PEOPLE KEEP ASSUMING I KNOW THINGS???”
Jason storms off muttering curses.
Danny calls Clockwork a menace.
Clockwork sends a heart emoji.
Even Alfred starts reacting.
Danny visits the Manor.
Alfred greets him politely.
Danny: “Hi Alfred!”
Clockwork: “Say nothing. Just stare. For 4 seconds.”
Danny: “…are you serious right now—”
Clockwork: “Do it.”
Danny sighs and stares.
1…
2…
3…
4…
Alfred’s eye twitches.
Alfred: “…master Daniel… please… not at the dinner table.”
Danny: “WHAT DID I DO???”
The entire Batfamily stares at him like he just exposed a generational secret.
Danny eats a biscuit in defensive confusion.
By now, Gotham has accepted three truths:
-
Batman works with gods.
-
One of those gods is a teenage boy.
-
The boy is terrifying because he knows things no one should know.
Danny knows literally none of these things.
Then it escalates into FULL chaos during patrol.
Danny floats alongside Robin (Damian). Damian pretends not to like him but trails after him like an angry kitten.
Clockwork sends a text.
Danny groans.
Clockwork: “Tell him: ‘Put the knife back.’”
Danny: “Hey Damian… uh… put the knife back.”
Damian goes rigid.
Damian: “How did you—”
Danny: “Dude, why do you ALWAYS have a knife?”
Damian slowly withdraws a VERY specific, VERY recognizable dagger from his cloak.
Damian: “…fine.”
He puts it back in a ventilation grate.
Danny: “WHY WAS IT IN THERE???”
Robin: “You ask too many questions.”
Danny: “BRO I DIDN’T ASK ANY!!!”
Danny becomes Gotham’s urban legend.
Some say he sees time.
Some say he sees guilt.
Some say he sees the embarrassing things you did in elementary school and can weaponize them instantly.
Only one of these is true.
It’s the last one.
Clockwork absolutely sends Danny phrases like:
“You should’ve never taken the blue crayon.”
“Tell your brother you ate the last cookie.”
“Stop lying about the hamster.”
“You weren’t supposed to open the drawer.”
And every time Danny repeats them, someone screams, cries, or confesses.
Danny is just waiting for one normal day.
He won’t get one.
One night, Harley Quinn sees him sitting on a rooftop.
She asks, “Hey kid, whatcha doin’?”
Clockwork texts.
Danny sighs.
“Tell Ivy she was right about the mushrooms.”
Harley drops her mallet.
“Ohhhhh she KNEW IT! She KNEW she didn’t imagine that part! Oh this is gonna be FUN.”
Harley runs off cackling.
Danny curses Clockwork.
Clockwork sends a sticker of a laughing cat.
At this point even the villains are afraid.
Two-face: “I don’t deal with prophecy children.”
Penguin: “Nope. No seers. I’m out.”
Scarecrow: “He said ‘the fear toxin wasn’t your worst idea’ and I haven’t slept in three days.”
Riddler: “He KNOWS the answers before I even ASK them.”
Bane: “He told me to hydrate.”
Danny: “I WAS JUST BEING NICE, BRO.”
Eventually, Oracle messages him privately.
“Please stop terrifying my brothers. They’ve stopped sleeping.”
Danny: “I’m not doing it on purpose!!!”
Clockwork sends another message at the same time.
Danny reads it.
Danny sighs.
Oracle: “What now?”
Danny: “Uh… apparently… you should check the third drawer.”
Oracle: “What’s in the third drawer?”
Danny: “…I don’t know.”
Oracle opens the drawer.
Screams.
Logically, she shouldn’t know Danny had anything to do with what she found.
Emotionally?
She absolutely blames him.
Danny thinks maybe it’ll calm down eventually.
It does not.
Not even a little.
Every week Clockwork sends more phrases. More chaos. More unintended psychological warfare.
At this point Danny knows the truth:
He isn’t Gotham’s newest hero.
He isn’t Gotham’s newest meta.
He isn’t even Gotham’s newest ghost.
He is Gotham’s newest omen.
And the city trembles every time he opens his mouth.
All because Clockwork thinks this is funny.
And honestly?
Danny kinda does too.
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