Chapter Text
His chest heaved as he tried to get oxygen into his lungs as he used up all his energy to get back to Fenton Works before his parents did. He needed to pack, and quickly.
His parents had found out he was Phantom, and it wasn’t his decision. They saw him transform after he thought he’d outrun them and ducked into an alley to transform back so he could slip by their trackers. If they saw him as Fenton then it wouldn’t take much to explain that either he happened to be in the area or that their equipment was malfunctioning since they already thought it malfunctioned every time it picked up Danny in human form. Unfortunately, his parents followed his ecto-signature to the alley and made it there in time to see his transformation. He’d seen a reality where his parents accepted his ghost half, he’d hoped they would this time too.
He’d been wrong.
They immediately thought he’d killed their son and was impersonating him, that he wasn’t human at all and was masquerading as a human to get close to them and to be cruel by tricking them. They hadn’t listened to anything he tried to say, and that’s when the ecto-guns had been aimed at him and started firing. He’d quickly transformed back into Phantom and took off, turning invisible as he did so and turning intangible to go through as many buildings and structures as possible to try and throw them off his trail. He even turned human a few times to make his ecto-signature disappear and reappear somewhere entirely different.
The group chat had been texted. Tucker had a program that would allow him to hack into his parents' trackers and plant his ecto-signature somewhere it wasn’t, allowing Danny enough time to get back to his room and grab what he needed. Jazz was helping keep their parents away as long as possible, Valerie was making sure Vlad didn’t catch wind of anything happening until Danny had left Amity. Sam was waiting at her window to give Danny money (that he still didn’t want to take but Sam would hunt him down and kill him all the way if he didn’t) to help him leave town.
He finally got back to Fenton Works and immediately rushed up to his room. He grabbed his go-bag, already full of necessities. He went down to the lab and opened a pocket dimension of his and started stuffing certain weapons and their blueprints in there, destroying other inventions and blueprints that were too dangerous to keep existing. And the destruction of a lot of these would slow his parents down. He grabbed photos with his friends and sister, small mementos, his laptop and phone (Tucker modified so they couldn’t be traced or hacked), and the legal documents he had. This included fake documents for him so he could get away without people knowing who he is and how old he is. He couldn’t exactly get an apartment or anything if people knew he’s only 15. With his parents still not back, he flew invisibly to Sam’s, reappearing in front of her window. She handed him a bag with the cash she’d gotten for him. He promised to message the group chat once he was out of the state, though he still didn’t know where exactly he was going to go just yet. There were a couple different cities he could choose from that all had a good level of ambient ectoplasm for him to survive off of, but he’d figure it out. They looked at one another for another few moments before he left.
Once he was outside the city, he transformed back into Fenton and put on the backpack he had, putting some of the cash inside it and then putting the rest in his pocket dimension. Before he did anything else, he needed to get to the Ghost Zone for a bit. He’d shut down the portal at Fenton Works (and took a few key parts so his parents couldn’t get it working again - at least not right away), but he’d learned how to make his own portals as part of his increased power since learning he’d won the crown from Pariah Dark when he defeated him.
He hadn’t been king long, but long enough that he was able to give an order to the ghosts to not attack during certain days or hours so he’d been steadily doing better in school. So much better that he wasn’t put in summer school like he was originally going to be. With what a lot of their obsessions were, keeping them from attacking or coming to Amity while he was there was nearly impossible and he didn’t want to cause issues with their cores, so they’d made somewhat of a schedule (not that it was followed all the time but it was followed enough for him to be doing better academically and socially).
Opening a portal, Danny stepped through and into Clockwork’s tower. Clockwork and Frostbite had both become Danny’s pseudo ghost parents and Clockwork was his closest advisor while Frostbite had become his primary doctor. He couldn’t really go to a human one since half of him was no longer human and he didn’t know what would appear in any tests they’d do.
Clockwork didn’t look away from his many screens as he heard the portal open, likely knowing exactly who it was and why they were here. Danny closed the portal after him, making sure nobody else could follow him. While he had faith in his friends and sister keeping his parents away for long enough, there was always the chance they’d figure out what was going on. Or at least his mom could.
“Hello Daniel,” Clockwork said, finally turning to face him. “Here to order all ghosts to steer clear of Amity. A wise choice.”
“Thanks,” Danny said, transforming into Phantom and using his core to send a command throughout the Ghost Zone that Amity Park was no longer safe for any ghosts, the Fenton Portal was shut down, and everybody was to stay clear of both the Fentons and the GIW until Danny said it was safe. And if they needed to go to Earth for their obsessions, to let him know so he could swoop in if something went wrong and they ended up in danger. He then looked back at Clockwork.
“Haven’t decided where to go yet?” Clockwork asked, looking at Danny with a knowing and cryptic smirk. Like always.
“I have a few ideas of places that have enough ambient ectoplasm, but I haven’t figured out which place to go. I wish I knew literally anything about my birth parents, but I don’t,” Danny said. His parents had told him a few years ago that he was adopted, but they didn’t know anything about where he was born or who his birth parents were. They said he’d been left at an orphanage before they adopted him, meaning nobody met or saw either of his parents.
“You’ll find your family in Gotham.”
“What?” Danny said, looking at Clockwork a bit shocked. “Are you telling me my birth parents are in Gotham?”
Clockwork simply nodded.
“Who are they?”
“That, you’ll have to figure out on your own.”
Danny nodded, figuring Clockwork may say that. He couldn’t reveal too much or he’d alter the timeline too much. And then those glowing eyeballs would be all pissy and complain to Danny about it. And then they’d get pissy cause Danny wouldn’t do anything about it.
“Thanks Clockwork. I’ll come back to the Realms soon,” he said as he transformed back into Fenton and opened a portal just outside the city limits of Gotham. Because there was so much ambient ectoplasm, he knew the portal wouldn’t register enough to alert the GIW or the Fentons. He looked up at the gray, cloudy sky (hopefully it would clear up at night so he could stargaze), took a deep breath (Ancients, that air smelled foul ), and made his way into the city.
His first stop was somewhere he’d be able to look up places to live. He had money enough to get an apartment, but he’d have to get one that wasn’t too expensive and then get a job to pay for things after that. While he had some money from Sam (and technically all that money from Pariah’s Keep which was now his), he didn’t want to have to rely on that and have people question where he was getting his money. He didn’t want to make himself stand out. Not when the Fentons knew his secret and would be searching for him so they could vivisect and experiment on him.
Once he was a good distance into the city, he saw a library. While he didn’t really go to libraries much (not like Amity really had one this big), he knew that he’d be able to look through apartment listings on the computers there. Or at least open his laptop at one of the tables there and start searching. Maybe he could also look up job openings that he could apply for. Then there was also the fact that he needed to look into getting back to school. Which is where his fake identity from Tucker was going to come in handy. Especially because it included fake grades which were loads better than his actual grades from Casper High. He’d look into the school situation after he got a place to live and a job. It wasn’t like it was the middle of the school year. The only good thing about this happening is that all of it happened during the summer so he didn’t have to worry about missing part of the year and falling behind.
He walked into the library, looking around as he did so. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a girl who reminded him a bit of Jazz, but that was mostly the red hair and the general vibes she was giving off as she sat behind the librarian desk. Jazz once worked part-time at the small library in Amity during one summer to get some money. Scratch that, the first thing he was going to do once he sat down was take out his phone and message the group chat.
He found an unoccupied small table and sat down, putting his bag on his lap as he took out his phone first. He knew better than to take his laptop out before he was going to be using it. He didn’t want to out himself as a halfa so soon after getting to Gotham.
Ghostbusters - 5 Members
Wanted Dead or Alive:
Am safe. In Gotham.
Poison Ivy Stan:
You chose Gotham?
Technopath:
What made you decide on Gotham?
I mean, it’s got enough ambient ecto, but it’s also, like, crime ridden
Wanted Dead or Alive:
So, Clockwork actually told me something without being overly cryptic
Remember how I’m adopted?
Well, turns out my bio parents live here?
Seeing Red:
Oh shit, for real?
Wanted Dead or Alive:
Yeah
Imma try and see if I can find them
Even if they don’t wanna interact with me, it’ll be nice to at least know
Poison Ivy Stan:
I hope they want you in their lives
You deserve a nice family that’ll accept you
And if they don’t, I’ll gladly come to Gotham and kick their asses
Technopath:
I’ll help
Wanted Dead or Alive:
Thanks guys.
So, how’re things in Amity?
I know it hasn’t been that long since I left, but what’s happened so far?
Seeing Red:
The Fruitloop doesn’t know anything yet
At least, I don’t think he does
Idk I left his office as fast as I possibly could
He gives me the ick so much
Wanted Dead or Alive:
Valid
He gives everyone the ick
Except dad
But whatever
Psyched:
So, mom and dad are still trying to find your signature.
They haven’t quite figured out that you’re not here anymore.
Did you do everything you needed to?
Wanted Dead or Alive:
Yea
Portal off and missing pieces
Some inventions and blueprints in my pocket dimension and other destroyed
Got clothes and pictures and other stuff I wanted
Have my phone and laptop and both real and fake docs
Made order to the Zone to not go to Amity rn
And Sam’s money that she threatened me into taking :(
Psyched:
Good. I’m glad you’re safe.
And did Clockwork give you any other clues about your birth parents?
Wanted Dead or Alive:
HA!
Hell no
Said itd alter the timeline too much or smthn
Am currently in the library looking into an apartment
I’ll text you guys later
Poison Ivy Stan:
We’ll keep you updated on everything going on here
Stay safe
Technopath:
I’ll also be monitoring the Idiots in White to see if they pick up on anything
And you better still make the Doom raid this weekend
Seeing Red:
Without all the ghosts coming through I’ll help Jazz keep an eye on the Fentons
I can do it from the sky when Jazz can’t from the ground
Psyched:
And I’ll try and make sure they can’t find you as long as I can.
Miss you, and if you don’t text us again soon, I will hunt you down.
Danny chuckled to himself before putting his phone away and taking out his laptop. He opened it and saw it was charged enough and then connected to the wifi. It didn’t take long to start looking up available housing in the area. There were some areas that were just too expensive, especially if Danny was gonna have an entry level job so it didn’t seem like he was paying for everything by having an illegal job. He wanted to not be noticed by the cops or the Bats. Especially if he interacted with the Bats at all as Phantom. They’re detectives, and would probably be able to piece things together. Having the Furry Brigade rain down on him would definitely cause him to be noticed, possibly alert the Fentons and GIW, and cause him to move to another city. He didn’t want any of those three to happen, much less all of them.
He also wasn’t sure what their stance on the Anti-Ecto Acts was since they’d been allowed to pass and the Bats were part of/affiliated with the Justice League. Surely the Justice League knew about the acts and allowed them to pass because they agreed with them. They’d never answered any of his or his friends’ calls back when they first had ghost attacks and when Pariah Dark had invaded. Hence why Danny had been left to do the majority of the fighting alone since he was way more durable than any of the human ghost fighters/hunters. Even if he also got shot at. At least Val had stopped once he told her the truth. She even helped him both before and after a somewhat schedule had been made for the ghosts to attack and get their fill of both social fighting and fulfilling their Obsessions.
As he looked through available housing, he noticed that there were places that were a lot cheaper. He decided to look up the area these places were in and found out it was commonly called Crime Alley. While that would be dangerous to most people (aka normal people), Danny’s more ghostly attributes made it a lot harder to hurt him or kill him by normal human standards. He could easily survive in a place called Crime Alley. And it looked like there were a few places within walking distance that were currently hiring. He looked at the places available and decided on his first couple of choices before applying to jobs near both of them. After he finished that, he packed away his laptop and got up to leave. He wanted to get to those apartment buildings before it got dark to see if he could start renting one so he at least had an apartment to sleep in (or open a portal to the Realms if he wanted to sleep there instead).
~~~~
Danny actually had good luck for once in his half-life: the first place had an apartment he could start renting immediately. He paid in some of the cash from Sam and was given the key to his apartment. There wasn’t any furniture yet, but that was something Danny could fix pretty easily. Tucker had made him a credit card account under his new (fake) name before he left, which Danny hadn’t used just yet since he wanted to have a job lined up before spending too much. The most he was going to order online at the moment was a mattress. He had some pillows and blankets in his pocket dimension that had been gifts from friends that he wasn’t going to part with. No way in Hell was he giving up his fleece NASA blanket.
He placed the order and paid for same-day delivery. He’d like to have the mattress here to sleep on for at least tonight. While he could sleep in his castle in the Realms, opening a portal right now when he was supposed to be laying low wasn’t what he wanted to do. He’d need to figure out a schedule once he was more settled so that he could take care of his royal duties and continue his training with Clockwork. While he was technically already king by right of conquest, he still had training with Clockwork to learn more about his new role before he was able to officially have a coronation. Though he was already recognized as king by the other ghosts and the Realms, hence the need to take care of royal duties and paperwork. So much paperwork.
He just hoped the ambient ecto in Gotham would help cover any portals he made just like in Amity. It would make it a lot easier for him to stay hidden from the Fentons and the GIW.
Once his mattress was delivered, he collected it (before it could be stolen) and set it up in his new bedroom. He briefly opened his pocket dimension and pulled out his pillows and blankets to make it comfortable to sleep on. He needed sleep. Hopefully he’d hear back from at least one of those jobs tomorrow and he knew he’d have some more planning he needed to do, but for now he was gonna focus on getting some sleep and leave all of those issues for Tomorrow Danny to deal with.