Chapter Text
They changed locations to the basement, Damian had to admit he was slightly impressed by the array of technology these people had in it-not all were a famous billionaire with a knack for going out at night, after all- specially since a lot of them looked like futuristic cooking supplies, neon green glowing cooking supplies, that explained the fact that food came to life.
Talking about that little incident, Mrs. Fenton had offered him some sausages, again, he had to explain that he was vegetarian, and that Danny had already offered them in his sleepy state. Mrs. Fenton nodded in understanding while Danny flushed furiously at having forgotten his dietary restrictions.
The transition way down had been without incident, more so when the Fenton’s noted he wasn't resisting or opposing it at all. Danny for his part, seemed squeamish and kept glancing towards what he assumed to be The Portal, as if it would suddenly open and vacuum them all inside.
And maybe it would, Damian didn't know.
"Welcome to Fenton's Lab!" Mr. Fenton beamed, rushing ahead to retrieve something.
"It seems you…. are quite the '' was that a soup thermos? Seriously he needs to make these people read about the risks of cross contamination in labs "…. ingenious inventors"
Mrs. Fenton pushed aside some blueprints and metal scraps from one of the worktables, some things landed on the floor with a heavy thud, the woman was stronger than she seemed.
"Oh, yes, one has to make do with what we have over here" she replied cheerfully, her mood seemed to improve now that they were in her element.
"Why are they green?"
The woman seemed to open a little bit more, less wary, more exited. Apparently talking about their inventions was a way to put him in their good books "We use ectoplasm as a power source, is an almost endless source of energy"
Damian's eyebrows raised subtly "Is it?"
"Yeah, quite clean too. We once tried to get founds through that, but Lex Corp found our research 'completely nuts', the man didn't even let us explain!"
The mention of Lex Corp made him tense up, that man was always up to no good. It was a blessing in disguise that Luthor dismissed the scientists, and more so if he didn't steal their research, Damian didn't want to imagine any of Luthor's machinations with an almost endless source of energy.
Danny sent him a questioning glance, which he dismissed with a wave of a hand, he would explain later.
"I think that's because you broke into his hotel room that one time he was in Chicago" mumbled Jasmine, with an exasperated sigh, Mrs. Fenton seemed to pay her daughter's comment no mind.
"... right now, part of our investigation is funded by Vlad Co, a friend's company"
"As in…Vladimir Masters?"
The eccentric man? The same man that gave his father a bad vibe and that had some very strange deals in their records. It had raised alarms in his father database long ago, amassing fortune and companies as if they were collectibles. He was on their millionaire watch list for strange behavior.
One meeting receiving a rotund negative, the next the whole conseil agreeing to sell him the company for half the price. Almost as if they had been…. possessed…
"Oh, you know him?"
It appeared he had to talk to Danny about some things, and judging by his twin's frown he also had something to tell him about the man "Father has mentioned him once or twice"
"That's our Vladie!" Mr. Fenton announced, bringing with him a strange machine that consisted of a huge pole with something circular on top "always knew he would get places"
Was that supposed to be a dreamcatcher?
"I present to you the Fenton Ghost Catcher!" For some reason Danny scooted subtly away from him, Damian would have to ask if these inventions worked and if they were a risk for his little brother, later. "This will let us know if you are being possessed by a ghost or not"
*-*
Danny wasn’t comfortable around the Fenton Ghost Catcher after the whole ‘have to work with himself to defeat Sulker’ fiasco. But from all his parent’s inventions, it certainly was the less invasive one. He was glad they were keeping their word on that front.
“Am I supposed to…sleep?” Damian questioned with a judgmental eyebrow, eyeing disapprovingly the worktable his mom had just cleaned up. Despite his previous protest about these ‘test’ Danny couldn’t help to burst out laughing.
At Damian’s glare he tried to reign himself, least he ended up with a hit to his head. “Sorry Dami, it’s, that was just a too funny mental image”
Even his mom seemed to take it with humor, judging by the little smile on her face “You just have to sit on the table and let us do the rest”
Danny could see how Damian was weirded out about the whole ordeal, but after a beat his older brother subtly shrugged and hopped on the table.
His dad beamed at him and walker closer with the invention still in hand “This net here is supposed to work as a filter, I repaired It after it somehow got destroyed”
Well, that explained that, Danny thought resentfully.
"Is supposed to split the ghost from its host without damaging the human" "just, don't move"
To his relief the Fenton Ghost catcher passed through Damian without incident, which was good because he didn't know how much of a ghost -undead person- his brother was or if he would have been affected by the artifact at all.
Damian had been very dumb for doing the test without knowing that first, but Danny would reproach him, later.
"See! A human 100%!" Danny announced cheerly, making jazz hands.
His mom seemed amused at his antics, nodding at the statement "We'll take it, for now…I'll call this Alfred person and let him know you are safe, honey"
Danny had to push Damian a little bit for him to react, apparently the Fenton's were a whole other concept of strange for him. Joy, now Danny would have someone to share the first hand embarrassment with.
"Thanks?"
His mom patted Damian on the head with a small smile, and Danny had to wonder if it was mom's special power to not have her hand chopped off at the action "You can go up now" His mom put away her goggles giving Danny a mock stern glare "Danny, show Damian around town"
"But first, where are you staying Champ? We can go retrieve your things!" His dad practically screamed, clearly excited with the news "I'm sure Danny wouldn't mind sharing his room with you"
Damian seemed perplexed, as if he was expecting more. Danny suspected that with a man like B-man, famously known for his paranoia, he had expected more fanfare.
Danny was just glad that despite his parent's genius they hadn't thought about a DNA test machine because he didn't know how his DNA had been affected by the ectoplasm -and frankly he didn't want to know.
He took his still in mobile brother's hand and with a wave behind his head he took him upstairs, his dad trailing behind them with a huge smile.
-
Damian didn't really know what to think now, yes, he had been expecting skepticism, and tests, but he had expected…more.
Maybe it was the part of him raised at an assassin's base, where you had to keep your guard up at any given moment least you were perceived as weak; or the years he had passed under his father's tutelage, a man so paranoid that has immediately requested a DNA test as soon as they met.
But with the Fenton's, apparently proving he wasn't a ghost was all they needed to accept him. No matter how cliche his explanation sounded.
It felt weird, and Danny kept glancing at him between worry and amused.
DeBut the worry may be because Mr. Fenton drove like -the clearly modified- SUV was the bat-tank. How did this man even have a license?
"Here is okay Mr. Fenton!" He did not scream, but it was a near thing.
The tires screeched and they skidded, with accuracy enough to park themselves between two cars. Damian excited the car, trying to look impassive. Danny snickering behind him, something he ignored in favor of going straight to the hotel’s main entrance.
"Take your time kids!" Mr. Fenton announced, voice booming in the now empty street. Damian assumed that any sane person would have seek refuge at the man's antics.
Danny screamed something back and both entered the reception, the lady behind the reception gave them a weird look, but once Damian showed his room key up, she went back to focus on her computer, letting them pass towards the elevators.
"How was your first Fenton-ride?" Danny commented with a huge grin on his face.
"He drives like Todd" Damian deadpanned, which was an unfair statement, every Gotham vigilante drove like mad people, but Todd was the one who did it more often, even in civilian form.
Apparently, being legally dead let him break all driving lessons in anonymity.
Danny only cackled, making Damian roll his eyes, barely containing a fond smile.
It was good to have him back.
~*-*~
Tim stared at his tablet, barely blinking, they had retreated to Gotham, despite Bruce’s protests, but he and all his siblings had agreed that the kids needed some space and had practically manhandled the man towards the bat plane, a combined effort between Cass’s puppy eyes and Jason’s threats.
That didn’t stop him from checking the cameras they placed in Damian’s hotel room, thought.
Deep down he knew that the demon brat was more than capable of defending himself -if all the assassination attempts on Tim’s person were any indication- but Dick’s worried face and Bruce’s grunts made him guilty enough to check on the brat without anyone asking him to. He had been watching them ever since they departed from Illinois, but so far there hadn’t been any indication that Damian had returned.
Which made him think that maybe the brat wasn’t stupid and knew they had rigged his room as soon as they set foot in Amity, but whatever, he would check the cameras a little bit more and then call it a day. They still had patrol and he hadn’t sleep enough -shocking, he knew.
Just when he was about to shut down his tablet, he saw something strange, there was Damian entering the room, but the footage seemed to be corrupted, it cut in some frames and then resumed in others, like a low budget horror movie, except it was almost noon and there was light.
It must be Phantom’s doing then, Bruce was still at the Bat computer trying to salvage their bodycam records.
“Hey brat” Tim said into a microphone feature, he had been the one with the idea of placing two ways speakers on the room, pretty sure Damian would not pick his phone the rest of his stay. Now surer after the fight he apparently had with Bruce, or so Dick said.
The teen on the camera footage rounded around, eyes searching, zeroing into one of the cameras with an impressive scowl. “Drake”
“You were not kidding; this place is full of bugs” Tim couldn’t see the source of the other voice, but it was so like Damian’s that he had to assume it was Phantom’s, or rather Danyal’s as Bruce had taken to address the teenage hero -letting the undead part out, for the moment, Tim would come back to think about that, later.
“Hello to you too Danyal”
“I prefer Danny, thanks” The voice replied, annoyed.
“What do you want Drake? I already reported to Alfred of my status” Oh, geez, Dick’s assumptions had been on point, Damian was at the stage where he would rather die than talk to anyone of them, Alfred being the only exception.
“Letting you know we will try to calm down B as much as we can, but he would lose his mind if you’re not back by Friday, Saturday at the latest” Tim had to suppress a flinch when a pair of Lazarus green eyes suddenly appeared occupying his whole screen, Danny had decided to turn visible it seemed.
“Nuh-uh, he’s staying here, I haven’t seen him in years!” It was quite bizarre to hear Damian’s voice whine, but Danny seemed more expressive than the demon brat. The green eyes faded from his screen, Danny reappearing floating gently at Damian’s side, half hugging the brat “Besides, not sure I’m comfortable meeting the man that screamed at my little brother”
“You are the younger one” Grumbled Damian, trying to shove his brother away -and wow, they were, in fact, brothers, blood brothers, Tim’s mind supplied. “By one minute”
“Shh, they don’t know that”
Damian managed to free himself from the hold and turned to give the camera a judgmental raised eyebrow, which was quite common, the brat seemed to think everyone else was stupid. “Tell father we’ll consult with someone more knowledgeable if Danny can attend to his summons”
“Pfft, summon” The glowing teen snickered, and Tim was getting wish plash, was that a smile on Damian’s face?
Putting that aside, Tim frowned “Why wouldn’t he?”
This time the one to look at the camera as if the person at the other side was stupid -which, ouch- was Danny “As far as I know, Ghosts get attached to the places they died” Right “So, I’m not sure if I can leave Amity”
((Danny in fact, could leave Amity whenever he wanted, even in ghost form, he had died in the expanse of the Infinity Realms after all, which expanded far beyond human comprehension, not that he was privy to that information.
Besides, it was a good excuse, one that made people uncomfortable))
“Right”
“I’ll send my report later, tell father to wait till then” Damian turned around, impassive, luggage in hand, Danyal gave the camera a wave before disappearing from the visible spectrum.
Well, Tim was glad that he wasn’t going to be the one to explain all that to Bruce. He headed to his room, faceplanting on his bed.
It was weird, but he was glad Damian seemed happy-er.