Chapter Text
"We're-we're just worried about you Danny,"
The words bounced around his head, on a never-ending loop. Of course, they were worried, who wouldn't be? All his parents knew was that he had been caught in the ghost fight and ended up with a broken back, all Jazz, Tucker, and Sam knew was that something went really wrong during the fight. He didn't tell any of them that he had intended to have gotten caught, that had intended to be broken over Pariah Dark's knee while sucking him up into a Fenton Thermos. It was the only way he would have gotten through his defenses otherwise.
Everyone was already upset enough about the situation, he didn't see the need to tell them that it could have been so much worse. As it was, it was still a rarity for an hour to pass before someone checked in on him, if he was in pain or if he needed anything, even after all of the months that had passed since.
Half of the town had been raised to the ground and the school wasn't spared. Learning turned to remote and once the distractions of the school building and the more flexible schedule were established, Danny flourished. Taking every class he could and getting special permission to take extra classes. It certainly was a surprise to his teachers, even leading the principal to come to his house with a stack of tests in different subject areas and make him take them to prove he wasn't somehow cheating. (He wasn't, it was just the fact that if a ghost decided to interrupt class he could pause the prerecorded videos and start them once he was back.)
It was a surprise for everyone when he secretly applied for an internship at Wayne Enterprises and an even bigger surprise when he was actually accepted. Now the only problem was that he most definitely didn't live in Gotham and that was where his internship was offered.
"I'm going a few states away, not the moon," No, never the moon. Not now. Danny thought bitterly.
"But-but how will you get around!?" Jazz asks, voice near frantic.
"Probably with the wheelchair I'm sitting in. Guy's, you do know that I'm not actually going to stay here for the rest of my life, right? Amity might be a great place, and I will always love you guys, but just because I'm in this chair now doesn't mean I need to be stuck in this house,"
It was a concept his friends and family were struggling to accept. Once it became obvious that he was going to be permanently injured, they seemed to think that he was suddenly inferior or crippled. He wasn't! He felt like they suddenly saw him as weak and while his parents and Jazz hated that he was somehow caught up in ghost fights, they seemed downright terrified of him even leaving the house.
"Well, yes, but I thought that would have changed, now that you can't exactly...do what you planned on doing," Maddie tries to put as gently as she can manage and feels like she still screwed it up with the way Danny's face twisted.
"You can say it, Mom. I'm not going to be an astronaut, but that doesn't mean I can't be anything! Dr. Yang has tried to tell you all, but you won't listen! I'm not-not incapable because of this chair, I still have my mind and my hands, and apparently, Wayne Industries think that they are enough. I was stuck in that mindset for so long, I pitied myself so much, and I'm just starting to see that I don't need fully functioning legs to still be a person! I don't need any of you bringing me back there. I'm leaving today. The car service Wayne Enterprises is sending is going to be here in a few hours, I have some last minute packing to do,"
While Danny couldn't exactly storm away, he gripped the wheels of his chair and swung himself away from the breakfast table, making his way over to the new lift installed in the stairs. While his parents weren't great at accepting his second bid for freedom, they were at least still good at making great inventions from random crap around the house. Danny wouldn't have known what to do if he suddenly couldn't get up the stairs to his room, currently the only place he could actually freely move around anymore.
Phantom died the day of the last fight, the whole town had seen him fade away, in actuality, Danny had barely managed to turn himself invisible and half bury himself in some rubble before truly passing out and losing all memories after that. The next memory he has is of waking up in a hospital and being told he had an incomplete spinal cord injury.
He was so hyped up on painkillers and the shock that it took a few days for it to truly sink in, some insane hope tried to tell him it was just swelling as one of the doctors had suggested. After it had, and not just for him, everyone kind of spiraled, in their own way.
Maddie and Jack descended into the lab, Jack intent on making some sort of walking suit and Maddie convinced she could find a biological way to regenerate the damage done to Danny's spine. Jazz dove into research, looking for ways of protecting and helping Danny's mind deal with the new situation. Tucker seemed to think that he could distract Danny with video games and memes. Sam brought new smoothie concoctions every day, convinced she could heal him that way.
And Danny? Well, he went ghost. When he locked himself in his room once being discharged, he changed, even if he knew the consequences. Pain radiated from the still-damaged spine and when he finally went back to being human, his muscles locked in spasms and ached. His vision was blurry and every sense felt like it was assaulting him. It was always a shock to return to being human, but it was so much worse. Still, he continued to change, even knowing the pain he was setting himself up for was terrifying. Those few minutes of freedom were what Danny had lived for months. Where he could move where he wanted to, where he could almost pretend the fight never happened.
And then Jazz convinced him to see Dr. Yang. He already had bad experiences with mental health professionals, the high school "counselor" being enough of a traumatic experience, thank you very much. But the pleading look in Jazz's eyes made him cave and by ghosts was he thankful for that.
While the rest of the people around him seemed to continue spiraling, Dr. Yang became his anchor point. While everyone else spun out, he finally accepted the fact that he was in the wheelchair and it was most likely going to stay that way. It was actually Dr. Yang that lead him into thinking that a break might be a good thing for him.
What was more of a surprise was that he actually got the internship. The small theoretical generator schematics he sent in must have impressed at least someone because next thing he knew he had a fully paid for travel invitation to Wayne Enterprises, courtesy of one Lucius Fox.
While it took weeks for him to decide to actually apply, he was packing within an hour of getting the news. It...did not go well when Maddie found the letter before he grabbed it. Shock, anger, and overwhelming coddling followed, as if they felt like they didn't do enough for him. It was maddening and while he knew they did it because they cared, he was about to snap if someone brought him one more cup of calming tea.
Over the past week or so, a steady pile of bags was building up next to the door, an ominous sign that the ever-approaching date of his departure. While his family and friends see it as ominous, Danny saw it as a sign that his independence was fast approaching.
And then it was finally there and they were doing their best to convince Danny to actually stay. It was infuriating that way they brought up the things they thought he wouldn't be able to do as if someone's doubt ever stopped him before.
Slinging the last two bags onto him, one on his lap and the other thrown over his shoulder, he makes his way back down the steps as fast as the lift will take him. Danny can practically feel his patience thinning as he spots his parents and Jazz waiting at the bottom of the stairs, and without his bags.
"What happened to my bags?" Danny asks, looking at what he could from his spot on the still descending platform.
"The car service is here early, they loaded your bags already," Jazz says and Danny's eyes narrow on the duffle bag thrown over her shoulder.
"Not all of them," Danny points out, frowning. That wasn't one of the bags he had packed.
"We figured you wouldn't want them seeing this. I don't know Wayne Enterprises' opinion on home brought inventions, especially weapons, you want to be ready for those spooks," Jack says, trying to force an air of cheer into his voice.
Danny, well Danny couldn't say it made everything better, and he really didn't like the fact that Jack and Maddie still seemed hellbent on hating ghosts, but it settled something inside him. They supported him and his desire for a break, even if they had been hesitant at first.
"Thank you," Danny says, taking the bag and slinging it over to hook onto the back of his chair.
"Now, we know you'll be busy, but try to call once in a while? I'm sure that if you introduce some of our inventions to Bruce then he'll take interest," Jack says, chest puffing up in pride.
And there it was, Danny thought bitterly. There was always an angle with his parents, always something they wanted, what they were driven towards. And they really didn't care who was in their way. The town, public and private property, or their own kids. Danny's eyes flicker towards Jazz and take note of the small scowl there, somehow feeling better that she was just as annoyed with his parents as he was.
"Sure, I'll call when I get settled," Danny says, forcing his way to the door and out, letting himself pick up speed on the ramp for the hell of it.
With one last wave goodbye, he rolls himself up to the van and the man standing besides it. He was not what Danny was expecting, at all. He expected someone his own age, dressed in a basic polo uniform and utterly done with his job. What he got was a posh, older gentleman. Dressed in a nice pair of slacks and white button down shirt, tie neatly tied.
"Hello Mr. Fenton, my name is Alfred Pennyworth. Would you like assistence getting situated or would you prefer to do it yourself?"
Danny blinks at the mans words. It wasn't often that someone suggested he could do something for himself, at least after the wheelchair became a part of his life. It wasn't often someone thought, or at least expressed the fact that they thought he seemed capable of getting himself what he needed.
"I can do it, but thank you for the offer. This whole thing in really unnecessary, I could have taken the train like planned," Danny says and watches as the door slides open and the ramp comes down.
"The rail company the tickets were too are known for being ableist and non-accomidating for their disabled passengers. Besides, Mr. Wayne understands the struggle of traveling with someone who uses a wheelchair. No, this was much simpler and acceptable. Now, since it is a few hour's ride, I took the liberty of packaging some light travel food, I do hope you enjoy it," Alfred says and Danny pauses briefly when he gets up in the van to look at the truly massive cooler that seemed packed into the back of the vehicle.
"That wasn't necessary," Danny finds himself saying while strapping himself in.
"Nonsense, I know a few boys around your age and am aware of their appetites. There are also a few options for drinks so please help yourself. Now, if you are secured, we can set off," Alfred seems to ask and Danny nods after testing the restraints, pleased that they seem ten times more secure than the rushed ones installed into the GAV.
"Sure, and um, thank you Mr. Pennyworth, all of this really wasn't necessary," Danny says, but still opens the cooler, finding a variety of labeled sandwiches, cold drinks, and other types of snacks. His eyes stray towards the thermos and finds coffee when he cracks it open, smiling.
"It is no trouble, Mr. Fenton," Alfred says and Danny is too preoccupied with the food to argue and its for the best, no one had yet to win an argument against Alfred Pennyworth, not even the great Bruce Wayne.