Chapter Text

Chapter One –

Jason Todd was tired and just wanted this night to end. He wanted to go home, peel off his armor and collapse into his bed and not wake up for the next two weeks. That was how bone dead tired he was.

His night hadn’t started off too bad, he would even say it had been a decent start to his night. He had only had to run off one bat from his territory… and they hadn’t actually crossed the invisible line separating Jason’s territory and that of the birds and bats of Gotham this time. He knew that his family was just worried about him, that the reason they came so close to his territory, provoking him into interacting with them… it was their way of making sure that he was still there… still alive…

He had stalked his territory, protecting everyone. Keeping the children safe from the demons that wanted to use them, to harm them, to take their life from them. Watched over all of the working girls, making sure that no one hurt them, that no one forced them to do anything they didn’t want to. Kept the drunks from hurting themselves or hurting other people.

And right now Jason was roaming the warehouses that littered his territory, making sure that no new gangs had taken to them. He had cleaned his territory of most of those annoying cockroaches, he did not need more. If he found a new nest, he would make sure to destroy it before they could fester.

He narrowed his eyes as a bright flash of light escaped the window of the last warehouse of the district. And quickly made his way to it. It would seem he had unwanted guests that he had to take care of.

Jason quietly slipped through a broken window at the top of the last warehouse, balancing on the beams of the ceiling with practiced ease. He had spent many nights as not only Red Hood, but also Robin sneaking and crawling along beams as he reconned an area. This was something he could do without thinking, it was almost instinctual at this point. And he didn’t know if he should be thanking Bruce or cursing the old man’s name.

His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of 15 people, all of them wearing dark cloaks with their hoods covering their faces. Only one of them had a bone white mask in the form of an animal skull. It was hard to tell from this distance if it was an actual animal skull or not. But it was clear who they were: Cultists.

In Jason’s personal and professional opinion: Cultists were worse than gangs.

The group of cultists were standing in a circle staring intently at something that was laying in the middle of the chalk circle and lit candles that they had set up. Their leader held a silver dagger dripping with blood in their hand. Jason shifted to get a better look of the thing in the center of the circle.

His blood ran cold before it ran hot with rage.

There was a fucking child…

There was a fucking child that was bleeding…

There was a fucking child that was no older than four that was bleeding…

These fucking cultists were trying to fucking sacrifice a fucking child no older than four fucking years old! And that fucking child was bleeding on the fucking floor of a random fucking warehouse in Crime Alley. In Jason’s fucking territory! Where everyone knew to not fuck with the children. Where it was known that if you touched a fucking child then you signed your life away to Red Hood!

The last thing that Jason remembered before his vision turned green was the sound of his gun being cocked.

-.-.-.-.-.-

All Danny could feel was pain.

It was every where around him… inside him.

He wanted to scream, to cry, to plead and beg for the pain to leave him and never return. He wanted to ask what he had done to have so much pain inflicted upon him. Why did the world seem to be so angry with him? To hate him so much to allow him to be in so much pain?

He had tried to do good. Tried to help everyone. He had taken responsibility of his mistake. Had taken to making sure that no one got hurt, that no one died. He would be the only one to be hurt. He was the one to open the portal. He was the one to unleash the dead upon the living. So he had to be the one to keep everyone safe. To return the dead back to their realm. To keep the living from attacking the dead in fear. And to keep the dead from breaking the living beings and their fragile bodies.

Danny had been the one to help the dead when he had allowed Vlad to enter the realm of the dead and release Pariah Dark. He had made sure that Pariah Dark didn’t hurt anyone. Didn’t take over the world. He had been willing to sacrifice himself to put Pariah Dark back in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep so that he could never hurt anyone ever again.

Danny had given up his dreams of traveling the stars so that he could protect everyone.

And now as Danny laid on that cold metal table in his parents… in Jack and Maddie’s lab in the basement of their home. With their hands inside of him, pulling and poking and cutting… He wanted to scream, to cry, to plead and beg them to stop. He wanted to scream at them that he was alive! He wanted to cry that he was their son. Plead for them to stop hurting him. Beg for them to see that he was right there. That he was in pain. That they were hurting their son. That he wasn’t dead!

But he couldn’t.

The moment that he had begun speaking to them they had shoved a ball gag in his mouth to silence him. They refused to listen to him. They refused to see him. They refused to accept the truth in front of them.

And no one was there to save him.

Jazz had moved out and gone to her dream college in the UK. Though she called and checked up on him whenever she could, she was gone. She had left him. Left him to deal with their parents… to deal with Jack and Maddie alone. But he didn’t blame her. If he could escape from this hell, then he would.

Sam and Tucker had slowly been drifting from him since the two of them had realized that they loved each other. And Danny was happy for them. They deserved to find the happiness that they gave each other. He would never deprive them of that.

And Valarie… well she, as the Red Huntress, would be right along with his parents… with Jack and Maddie. She would help them in their pulling and poking and cutting. Help them in trying to find his core… to end him forever.

Danny could feel his core tiring at constantly hiding itself and making sure that his parents… that Jack and Maddie didn’t find it. He had grown worried, terrified, as he felt his core weakening… terrified that it would flicker into existence and that his parents… that Jack and Maddie would see it. And he had sent out a thankful thought to the universe when his parents… when Jack and Maddie had finished for the night and hastily sown him back up, not caring if his chest was fully closed or not… why should they care if the thing pretending to be their son was completely closed or not… they would just be cutting the stitches back open in the morning…

Danny had wanted to let his core relax. Wanted to change back into his human form and allow his core to rest and heal as much as it could until the morning came. But he couldn’t. The restraints holding him down to the table weren’t just keeping him from phasing out of them, but they had also locked him into his ghost form. And Danny feared that come morning, when his parents… when Jack and Maddie came back down and opened him up once more, that they would find his core and end him for good…

And as Danny laid there in the lab that was empty except for him, and the lights turned off from the lack of movement after 15 minutes, he silently cried. He cried for the loss of what he had always viewed as his loving parents. Sure, the parents that had raised him since childbirth could be very scatter brained. Sure, Jazz and Danny used to have to remind them every few weeks that they did in fact have children…

But he knew that those parents, the ones that would tuck him in and read him about the stars in the sky and all their mythos, the ones that celebrated every ‘A’ that him and Jazz got, the ones that would go out of their way to drive half way across the continent just so that their son could have the best view of the meteor shower or solar eclipse… He knew that those parents loved him and would do anything for him… would kill for him…

But he had realized that he had lost those loving parents four years ago when he stepped into that portal. He lost the loving mother that would kiss his boo-boos and make his ouchies all better… He lost the father that would gather him into his arms and hug all his worries and fears away… He lost all of that the moment his foot had caught on that loose wire… The moment his hand hit that emergency on switch… The moment his heart stopped before the ectoplasm of the now active portal brought him back to life… only wrong…

Drs. Jack and Madeline Fenton had stopped being his parents the second he had become Phantom…

Danny continued to cry. He wanted his mother to wipe away his tears and promise that nothing would harm him ever again, that she would protect him and keep all of the monsters away from him. He wanted his father to sweep into the room and scare all of the demons from the shadows that threatened to drag him into their hellscape, to wrap him into the protective cocoon that was his arms. He wanted them to tell him that he was safe, that they were there and that nothing would get past them to be able to harm him ever again.

He cried for the loss of the life that Daniel James Fenton could have had had he not been so stupid and reckless. Had he not told his friends all about the ‘failed’ portal in his basement. Had he not been so eager to impress his friends. Had he just locked the door to the basement after his parents had left their lab to rest before they brainstormed to figure out what had gone wrong. If he had just listened to his gut to just leave the portal alone…

Danny wanted to go back in time and stop himself from tripping. To stop himself from walking into the dark portal. To stop himself from slipping on that hazmat suit. To stop him and his friends from walking down the stairs towards the lab in the basement. To stop himself from telling his friends about the ‘failed’ portal…

He wanted to go back to a time where he was still normal… still fully alive…

He wanted to go back to when he was little, to when he could crawl into his parents bed after a terrible nightmare…

He wanted this to just be a terrible nightmare!

Danny gasped out a choked sob as he felt his tired core lurch as something pulled on it. He knew this pull. Had had it happen a few times since he had beaten Pariah Dark. Had learned how to ignore the pull. To deny the pull. But he couldn’t this time. Ignoring the pull, denying it, took energy… energy that he did not have.

And then the world around him changed from the darkened lab in Drs. Jack and Madeline Fenton’s basement, to a dark and scary building. And his mind was too fuzzy, he didn’t know who exactly he was, where exactly he was, what exactly he had been doing just moments before. All he knew was that he was hurt and scared and wanted his daddy… and there were scary tall people staring at him… and there was the smell of blood in the air. Danny let out a small sob as his body shifted to curl in on himself to hide as much as he could…

And then the world exploded in a flurry of loud sounds as something fell from the ceiling.

-.-.-.-.-.-

When Jason’s vision finally cleared of the violent green that had blinded him, he had found himself standing over the bloody corpse of the cultist leader with all the other cultist lying dead all around the warehouse. The leader’s bone mask (that was actually a skull of some kind of canine, the sick fucker) laid on the ground, shattered. The man’s body was already riddled with bullet holes. A small, painfilled whimper came from the tiny child that still laid curled up in the middle of the chalk circle and lit candles… and a small puddle of blood that was slowly growing…

Shit!

The kid was bleeding out!

He had to get the kid to someone that could help them!

Jason rushed over to the child and fell to his knees beside the scared and hurt child. As he reached out to grab the child, he was able to see that the child was a young boy with messy black hair and wide, scared blue eyes… and dear fucking lord the child was awake! Jason’s eyes caught sight of the too big ball gag in the boy’s mouth and he quickly ripped the thing off him, allowing the boy to actually take a breath as he quickly assessed the boy’s wound…

Green threatened to over take his vision again as he saw that ‘Y’ shaped cut on the boy’s tiny chest. A ‘Y’ cut that had been hastily sown closed in a way that clearly showed that whoever sown him shut didn’t care if the cut was closed or not… He knew what that cut was… had his own ‘Y’ shaped scar on his chest…

And the boy was awake!

The boy had his chest carved open, hastily sown back together, and was fucking awake! He hadn’t passed the fuck out from pain or even blood loss…

But, as the boy’s eyes fluttered closed and open again, Jason panicked. Knowing that if the boy fell asleep then he might not ever wake up again.

“Hey, stay with me.” Jason whispered to the boy, carefully taking the child into his arms.

“Daddy…” The boy whined and didn’t that just hit Jason in the fucking heart. This scared little baby boy just wanted his daddy, wanted his daddy to protect him and keep him safe… And whenever Jason found the fucker that stole this child from his parents they would wish that Jason had killed them when he was through with them. “Daddy… it hurts… it hurts so bad…”

“I know baby, I know.” Jason found himself whispering to the boy as he cradled the baby boy in his arms. He would be the boy’s stand in dad until they could reunite the baby boy with his father… unless Jason found out that it was the boy’s own father that gave him to the cultist… unless his parents had been part of the cultists that had done this to him…

But right now Jason had to focus on the baby boy in his arms and get him to safety… get him to someone who could properly stitch that wound shut…

His mind raced as he tried to figure out what was closer: Dr. Leslie Thompkins’ office or the Batcave? From where he was now, even if he sped as fast as he could, Leslie’s office was nearly thirty minutes away… however the Batcave was only a 15 minute drive away… 8 if he sped and ignored the lights.

The decision made; Jason quickly called his bike to where he was as he ran from the warehouse with the baby boy cradled in his arms… making sure to shoot the cultist leader a few more times as he passed the man’s body… just to make sure the fucker was actually dead…

“Red Hood to the Batcave!” Jason all but yelled into his communicator as his bike parked itself in front of him.

“Batcave to Red Hood, do you require assistance?” Alfred’s voice came through the comm as Jason threw his leg over the side of his bike and held the baby boy close to his chest as his free hand gripped the handle.

“Prep the medical bay, I have a heavily injured civilian child in need of immediate care. And get Dr. Thompkins to the cave ASAP!” Jason informed the man as he shot off on his bike towards the Batcave.

“No, Daddy… please no white coats… please… I promise to be a good boy… please don’t give me to the white coats.” The boy cried, gripping on to Jason’s jacket.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, no white coats will take you from me.” Jason whispered to the boy soothingly before turning his attention back to Alfred. “Tell Dr. Thompkins to not wear a white coat.”

“Understood, Red Hood.” Alfred told him.

“Red Hood, report.” Bruce’s worried voice cut in.

“Found some cultist in my territory trying to sacrifice a little boy that can’t be any older than four. He is in need of immediate medical attention.” Red Hood growled out, fighting back the urge to tell the old man that he was no longer one of his birds that he could order around.

“What is your ETA?” Tim suddenly asked as Jason practically laid his bike down as he turned a corner, pushing is bike to go faster than he had ever had it go before.

“Less than five minutes.” Red Hood informed the young man as the Batmobile suddenly slid around a corner in front of him and began to practically lead Jason to the Batcave, cutting a clearing for him. “Make that less than three minutes…” He updated Tim before whispering a “Thanks B…” Only to receive an acknowledging grunt from Bruce as the man continued to use the Batmobile to carve a clearing to the Batcave for Jason and the baby boy clinging to his chest.

It was in moments like this that Jason was truly reminded that the whispering voices of the pit inside his mind was wrong. That Bruce… that his father truly did love him and would do just about anything to help him…

Just not kill the Joker…

Jason ground his teeth as he tried to shove that dark voice to the back of his mind… He had heard what truly happened. Bruce had gone to kill the Joker for killing Jason… but it had been Superman that had stopped Bruce. It had been Superman that had kept Batman… kept Bruce from ending the monster that had forced the man to bury his son… forced Bruce to mourn the loss of the life Jason could have had…

Jason blinked as he flew into the Batcave seconds after the Batmobile and jumped off his bike, barely giving it time to stop. He didn’t care that the bike was still running, that the bike had slid across the cave and crashed into the back of the Batmobile. Jason quickly ripped his helmet off and threw it aside, not caring at the moment where it landed… Not when there was a child bleeding out in his arms. He ran to the medical bay where Alfred stood with his own domino mask on ready to try to stabilize the young boy until Leslie could get there. He barely blinked as the Batmobile roared once more before flying back out of the Batcave.

“No, Daddy… Please don’t let them take me… please… I promise to be a good boy… I don’t want to go with the white coats… Don’t leave me Daddy!” The boy cried, clinging onto Jason’s coat even tighter.

“Shush, sweetheart, daddy’s right here. Daddy’s not gonna go anywhere, he’s gonna stay right here next to you. I promised that no white coats were gonna take you from me, and I meant it.” Jason whispered as he finally got the boy laid down on one of the medical beds.

“Dear lord.” He heard Alfred breathe out as he not only saw the ‘Y’ carved into the young boy’s chest and the hastily done stitches, but also the fact that the boy was fucking awake and talking!

“This nice man here is gonna make the ouchies go away, and I’m gonna be right here holding your hand, protecting you.” Jason promised as the young boy tightly gripped his hand. “That’s a tight grip you got there, sweetheart.” He whispered to the boy as he began to run a soothing hand through the boy’s sweat soaked hair.

“Young Master, might I ask what your name is?” Alfred asked as he quickly began to cut at the hastily sown stitches as Damian in his Robin outfit and Tim in his Red Robin outfit quickly worked together to get everything that both Alfred and Leslie would need once the woman got there.

“D-D-Danny?” The boy whispered (it coming out as more of a question as if he couldn’t quite remember his own name) his hand squeezing Jason’s hand with every stitch cut.

“Young Master Danny, I am going to do my very best to make all your ouchies go away.” Alfred promised as he finished cutting the last stitch.

“No white coats…” Danny whined.

“No white coats.” Alfred promised as he began to properly clean and inspect the cut on Danny’s chest. Both Alfred and Jason shared a look, anger in both of their eyes, as they noticed that it wasn’t just a cut in the shape of a ‘Y’ but an actual incision. Someone had vivisected this boy before the cultists had tried to sacrifice him. Jason’s vision began to bleed green once more…

And then the Batmobile crashed into the cave and Dr. Leslie Thompkins was racing over to them, her medical bag clutched in her hands. Thankfully no white doctor's coat in sight.

“Status report.” Leslie ordered the second she entered the medical bay.

“A young child, male, three incisions on his chest, clearly malnourished and dehydrated.” Alfred informed the woman as she quickly pulled on some gloves before taking over Alfred’s spot as the man quickly and expertly went about hooking Danny up to all the machines needed to keep track of his vitals.

“Vivisected. Clearly done by someone who at least understood the process but hadn’t actually done it before.” Leslie noted as Jason shifted to give Alfred enough room to start an I.V. in Danny’s arm. Earning a small whimper from the boy as the needle entered his arm. Leslie’s eyes flew over to lock with Danny’s scared blue eyes. “He’s awake.” She said, her voice dripping with worry. “Metahuman?” She asked them.

“I don’t know. I found and rescued him from a group of cultists that were in the middle of trying to sacrifice him.” Jason explained.

“Daddy…” Danny whined as his body tried to get away from the woman.

“Shush, it’s alright, sweetheart. She’s a family friend. She’s gonna help the nice man make all your ouchies go away.” Jason whispered to the terrified boy.

“Don’t let her take me away, Daddy… please… I’ll be a good boy…” Danny cried.

“It’s alright, little one…” Leslie started.

“Danny, his name is Danny.” Jason told her.

“It’s alright, Danny, I’m not going to take you away from your daddy. The only thing I’m going to take away is all your pain and ouchies.” Leslie promised and Danny’s watery eyes looked up at Jason, into the whited out eyes of the domino mask he always wore under his Red Hood mask. And, without much thought, Jason reached up and ripped the domino mask off so that this scared little boy could see his eyes and gain all the comfort he could from Jason.

“I won’t let her take you from me.” Jason promised and Danny relaxed a little and finally stopped trying to get away from Leslie and allowed her to touch him.

“Agent A, in my bag is a sedative strong enough for a metahuman. Start with the lowest dose and then raise it slowly if needed.” Leslie ordered as Jason focused on whispering reassurance to his… to the baby boy laying on the medical bed as Leslie and Alfred focused on properly closing the boy and making sure he wasn’t in pain. Slowly, ever so painfully slowly, Alfred finally found the correct dose of the sedative that had his baby… had the baby boy relax until he was unconscious. And even then, Jason never left his side.

He had promised his baby boy that he wouldn’t leave him.

Chapter Text

Chapter Two –

Bruce sat in the chair at the Batcomputer eyes flying between the video from Jason’s camera in his helmet of the night’s events and the live footage of his little boy whispering comforting words to the hurt baby boy lying on one of the medical beds in the med bay. He had been so terrified when he had heard Jason’s terrified voice all but yelling into the communicator. He had been terrified that his baby boy had been injured to the point that he had needed their help… terrified that they would get to him too late.

And his fear spiked when Jason asked for not only the med bay to be prepped but also for Dr. Leslie Thompkins to be called in. Everyone knew that Leslie was only called to the Batcave when it was a life or death situation. And all he had been able to see in his mind’s eye was that warehouse exploding with his baby boy trapped inside… seeing himself digging out the beaten and broken body of his baby boy from the rubble of the warehouse… heard the heart wrenching scream that had ripped its way out of his mouth as he held the beaten and broken body of his son to his chest, crying, begging his son to wake up, to come back to him…

Bruce had feared that he would be forced to bury his baby boy once more…

And he knew that, this time, nothing would be stopping him from killing the monsters that had dared to steal his son from him once more…

His hands shook as he took in the sight of his precious baby boy, alive and well. He took a deep breath as Tim sat right next to him, leaning against him, as Bruce focused all his attention on the live feed from the medical bay. Damian settled on the other side of Bruce.

“The others are on their way.” Tim informed Bruce who just stiffly nodded, glad that his son knew exactly what Bruce needed. He had received quite the scare tonight. He never liked to hear that any of his children (blood… formally adopted, or not) being hurt or needing assistance. And the scare was made worse because it had been Jason’s voice over the communicator calling in.

Jason rarely, if ever, called in. The Batfamily had to practically force the man to respond over the communicators to them. Most of the time they had to rely on whispers and rumors of the going-ons in ‘Crime Alley’. And at least once a night, one of the Bat-children would be ‘assigned’ by the others to go and loiter around the edges of ‘Crime Alley’ just to catch a glimpse of Jason on the cameras hidden in the eyes of their masks and cowls to allow Bruce to know that his baby boy was still alive.

Bruce had to use the cameras in his children’s masks and cowls to check in on Jason because if Bruce himself went anywhere near ‘Crime Alley’ it was a screaming match on site on a good night, and a brawl on a bad night. And then Jason would disappear for days after a fight with Bruce. And Bruce couldn’t handle when Jason disappeared, so he resigned himself to staying away from Jason. Letting his baby boy approach him first.

Bruce’s attention was instantly on Alfred when the older man approached them as Cass’s slender arms wrapped around Bruce’s shoulders as she arrived in the cave with Duke. Duke groaned sleepily as he practically threw himself onto the floor in front of Bruce, his head resting on Bruce’s knees and fell back asleep as the man rested a hand on the older teen’s head. “Young Master Danny is resting.” Alfred informed them as Dick’s bike flew into the cave with Barbara clinging onto Dick as she sat awkwardly on the bike behind him, Steph following close behind them with Barbara’s wheelchair strapped to the back of her bike.

“How is the boy?” Bruce asked as Dick quickly parked the bike and picked Barbara up off it and held her as Steph expertly unfolded the wheelchair. Once Barbara was safely in her wheelchair, the three of them rushed over to the rest of the family as Leslie Thompkins exited the med bay and made her way to the group.

“I was worried when I noticed that, even throughout the pain Danny was suffering through, that is heart beat was normal…” Leslie explained as Dick quickly climbed over Tim and expertly folded himself into Bruce’s lap. “It turns out that his heart beat wasn’t beating normally… at least not for him. His heart was in tachycardia the whole time.” The family sucked in a breath at that.

“We were able to lower the young master’s heart rate to what we believe is his normal heart rate, or at least as close to it as his pain will allow.” Alfred explained, his face and body showing how old and tired the man truly was.

“It is clear that the young boy is a metahuman, though I cannot tell you what is power is and I won’t be able to tell you until I can give him a complete examination.” Leslie explained before releasing a heavy sigh. “However, from the clear fear that the boy showed over these ‘white coats’ and his fear of me when he heard I was a doctor, I do not feel safe to give him that examination. The boy was vivisected and I saw clear signs that he had at one point been strapped down and restrained.”

“He was experimented on?” Dick growled out, holding his legs closer to his chest in an attempt to keep himself from rushing out of the cave and finding whoever had dared to experiment on such a young child. Bruce’s free arm wrapped around his eldest son and held him close.

“I cannot say for certain that he was experimented on, but at the very least I can say that someone cut into that child with the clear intention of finding something. What that something was, I cannot tell you.” Leslie told them before looking Bruce dead in the eyes. “Whenever you find the person, or people, who cut into that little boy, I will be there to let them know exactly how I feel about that.”

“Of course.” Bruce told the woman and received a firm nod in return.

“Now, I have put the boy into a medically induced coma to give the boy’s body a chance to rest and heal. The plan is to keep him in that medically induced coma for hopefully only a week if all goes well. However, I will be visiting daily to check on him.” Leslie explained before turning to look at Alfred. “I expect that my room is still available for tonight?” She asked and the man nodded.

“Of course, would you like for me to escort you to your room?” Alfred asked slipping back into butler mode.

“I remember the way.” Leslie told the man before leaving the family. It was silent for a long moment as they all watched the live feed of Jason and the young boy he had rescued and brought to the cave. Jason had crawled into the bed with Danny, pulled the boy into his arms and had begun to gently rock and hum to the sleeping boy.

“New brother?” Cass asked quietly, earning a snort from Steph.

“It seems that Todd has beaten father this time and has claimed the boy as his son.” Damian informed everyone causing Dick to start silently laughing.

“Actually, I believe it was the other way around.” Alfred informed the family with a small smile on his face. “I believe that Young Master Danny has claimed Master Jason as his father.”

“So, no new brother?” Cass asked quietly a moment later causing everyone to laugh, with Dick laughing the loudest of them all causing Duke to snort and grunt in his sleep.

“Shush, GlowStick is trying to sleep.” Steph playfully hissed out while trying, and failing, to stifle her own laugh. Everyone took a moment to calm themselves from their laughter as Dick settled against Bruce’s chest.

“Do we know the boy’s name?” Barbara asked a few minutes later.

“All we know is that his name is Danny and that someone vivisected him before handing him over to a group of cultists to be a sacrifice.” Tim told the young woman.

“And that Todd has already taken out all of the cultists that had been in the warehouse.” Damian pointed out nodding his head to the screen that showed Jason emptying the chamber of his gun into the chest of the cultist leader, reloaded, and then emptied the chamber once more before he seemed to come out of his pit induced rage.

“I’ll begin running a scan of the boy’s facial features to see if there’s any hits.” Barbara said as she quickly pulled out her tablet.

“I shall set up a room for the young master and make sure that Master Jason’s room is ready for him to use.” Alfred informed everyone before leaving.

-.-.-.-.-.-

There were people around them…

People that they could tell did not wish to hurt them…

The pain they had been feeling before they awoke in this place was now in the back ground…

They only felt the pain once they focused on the actual pain…

They had been in pain for so long that they didn’t know how to act without the pain…

The people around them slowly left them to lay on the bed with the one that saved them…

The one that protected them…

They had called this person a name…

…Daddy…

That’s right…

That person with the red hood was their daddy…

Daddies saved their babies and kept their babies from the monsters… Daddies made sure that their babies were protected… Daddies always wrapped their babies in large and warm hugs…

But Daddy had left and now the one that protected them was holding them and singing to them softly as the other people talked about them in the other room…

Daddies protected their babies from dangers… but Mommies kept their babies safe from dangers…

This person was no longer Daddy, the red hood gone… this person had shifted into Mommy…

Mommies made sure that their babies stayed safe… Mommies made sure that their babies ouchies and booboos stayed away… Mommies always gave the best kisses and told the bestest stories…

They watched as their Mommy held them close, keeping them safe like Mommies are supposed to…

As their Mommy slowly fell asleep with them in their arms, their attention was drawn towards the others…

They left the safety of the room but they were not afraid. They knew that if the monsters returned that their Daddy would appear once more and protect them…

The Shadow helped them move… The Shadow wrapped her arms around them and carried them…

The Shadow whispered that they were safe now…

The Shadow promised that her Knights would keep them safe… That her Knights would protect them…

Her Knights would help their Daddy destroy the monsters that had hurt them… the monsters that had cut them open… the monsters that had tried to end them…

The Shadow was kind…

The Shadow reminded them of protective Daddies and Fierce Mommies…

Was the Shadow their Mommy’s Mommy? Did that make the Shadow their grandmommy? They had never had a grandmommy before… not one that they remembered… only good boys got grandmommies and granddaddies…

But they had promised their Mommy and Daddy that they would be good… So that meant that they could have a grandmommy and a granddaddy, right…?

But who was their granddaddy?

Their hollow eyes landed on the person in the center of all the others… That person gave off the same feeling their Daddy had given… The person made them feel protected from all the monsters… The person made them feel safe…

As they watched the person, reading them, they could see this person protecting their Daddy and Mommy… Keeping them safe from the monsters… Training his Daddy to be able to fight the monsters that would threaten them…

This person was their Mommy and Daddy’s Daddy… This made them their granddaddy…

But…

Who were the others…?

They watched the others… reading them… learning…

Siblings…

They were their Mommy and Daddy’s siblings…

But what did that make the siblings to them?

Were they their Aunties and Unckies? Did they have Aunties and Unckies? They remembered they had an Auntie once… but Auntie didn’t like them… They were not good enough for Aunties and Unckies…

A small red ball rolled over to them…

They blinked their hollow eyes at the ball before looking towards the one who had rolled it to them…

The person was one of the siblings… One of their possible Aunties…

The possible Auntie was kneeling just outside of the shadows that lingered around them from the Shadow that was standing behind them…

Waiting…

Patiently waiting…

What was this possible Auntie waiting for?

They looked back down at the ball at their feet…

Oh…

The possible Auntie wanted them to play…

But were they good enough for Aunties and Unckies? This Auntie seemed to think so…

They carefully rolled the ball back to their Auntie earning a happy smile from their Auntie…

Their core purred at making their Auntie happy… They were a good boy! They got to have Grandmommies and Granddaddies and Aunties and Unckies!

-.-.-.-.-.-

Bruce sighed as he sat at the Batcomputer reading over everything that they had been able to learn about the young child (Danny) that was laying in the med bay in a medically induced coma. It had been nearly a week since Jason had rushed Danny to the cave and in that week Bruce and the rest of his family had been able to learn very little about the poor boy. But what they had learned confirmed the fear that had been growing in the back of Bruce’s mind: The boy had more than likely been born and raised in what was, in all senses, a small cult for the purpose of being a sacrifice.

Neither Barbara or Tim could find any traces that Danny existed… no pictures, no birth certificate, no hospital records…  nothing…

It hurt Bruce’s heart to know that this child had been brought into the world just for his parents, the people that were suppose to love and protect him, to use him as a sacrifice for the cult that had got their claws into them… And, not for the first time, Bruce thanked whatever deity that not only did Jason come back to them but was also there to save this precious little boy.

Bruce leaned back in the computer chair and tilted his body to be able to look across the cave and into the med bay where Jason and Danny were. His baby boy had all but moved into the med bay to keep watch over Danny. A small part of Bruce was happy that his baby boy was home and safe, but that happy feeling also brought the feeling of guilt knowing that the suffering of a young child was the reason Jason was now home.

Jason was perched in the chair that he had claimed as his when not holding Danny while he slept, reading softly to the young boy. Jason had barely left Danny’s side in the five days that the boy had been in the cave. The only time he was ever away from Danny was when Dick was able to convince Jason to take a shower. Jason slept holding Danny close to him and ate just outside the med bay where he could keep an eye on Danny should the poor boy need him.

A small red ball rolled out of the shadows that clung just beyond the Batcomputer and lightly hit Bruce’s leg. His eye brows shot up in shock. That was another mystery that surrounded Danny.

Cass had been the first to notice it. A small child shaped shadow that hid in the shadows of the cave, never drifting too far from the med bay. Bruce and the rest of his family had been able to determine that the shadow creature had appeared with Danny and his family believed that the creature was attached to Danny, likely due to the ritual that the cultists had performed… However, Bruce got the strange feeling that the shadow creature was Danny… it hadn’t appeared until after Danny had been put into his coma…

He remembered the first time Cass had interacted with the shadow; they had been having a family meeting to figure out what they should do with Danny once the young boy had woken up. It had been unanimous that they not take the young boy from Jason, not willing to risk their tentative relationship with the man. However, the main question that everyone wanted answered was: do they let Jason take the boy to one of his safe houses (or wherever Jason lived in Crime Alley) once Danny was cleared to leave or did they try to convince Jason to stay in the manor so that they could help him care for Danny.

Bruce knew that him and everyone of his kids were hoping that they would be able to convince Jason to stay in the manor with Danny. His main argument had been so that on the small off chance that Barbara or Tim found a family member of Danny’s that had absolutely no connection to the cult that raised him and was willing to take in Danny, that Jason would have the love and support of his family to help him through the loss of losing Danny to his family… That and a small (maybe not as small as he was making it seem) part of Bruce wanted to hear the small pitter patter of the toddler as his grandson… as Danny ran around the manor…

In the middle of the discussion, Cass had silently disappeared only to reappear a few minutes later with a small red ball in her hands. Before anyone could ask her what she was planning to do with said ball, she had put her finger to her lips to silence their unasked questions. She cautiously, as if approaching a wounded animal, made her way to the darkest shadow that was in between the Batcomputer and the med bay and knelt down just outside the shadow before gently rolling the ball into the darkness.

Everyone had held their breaths waiting for anything to happen. For a long moment nothing happened, and just as Bruce (and the rest of his family) was starting to believe that Cass had been pulling a prank (though rare, she was known to pull a few pranks when no one was expecting it), the ball slowly rolled back out of the darkness as if something small and weak had rolled it back. Cass’s smile was so bright that it had nearly lit up the whole cave. Something was there in the darkness of the shadow and began to purr at her smile.

Bruce slowly got up from the chair and knelt down to take the ball in his hand. It shocked Bruce that the shadow being initiated ‘play time’ as his kids liked to call it. Usually one of them had to initiate the ‘play time’ and only when Jason was asleep. Cass, who had dubbed the small shadow being as ‘Baby’, had started keeping track of where ‘Baby’ was (as for some unknown reason only Cass could see/feel where it was) and found that when Jason was awake ‘Baby’ tended to stay in the med bay in the shadow of the bed closest to Jason and Danny. However, when Jason was asleep, ‘Baby’ would move from the med bay into the shadows just beyond the Batcomputer where one of his kids would initiate ‘play time’.

Alfred had even tried to feed ‘Baby’ a few times, leaving out some cookies for the poor dear. Only for the cookies to sit untouched. He then tried something that might be easier for it to eat and had tried to leave some apple sauce, only for it to also remain untouched. Thankfully Alfred hadn’t taken offence and had started to join in ‘play time’ whenever he found himself down in the cave while Jason slept.

Bruce carefully rolled the ball back into the darkness, occasionally checking in on Jason to see that he was still awake and reading to Danny. The ball rolled back out of the darkness with the usual sound of a purr that came from ‘Baby’ whenever one of them played with it. Bruce got this strange feeling that with ‘Baby’ playing with him while Jason was still awake was a sign that something was going to happen with Danny.

The sounds of bats chirping from within the darkness floated over the sound of ‘Baby’s purr. Bruce blinked, usually only the sound of ‘Baby’ purring was all that came from the darkness. The feeling that something was about to happen with Danny grew, and Bruce hoped that nothing bad was about to happen to Danny. Bruce rolled the ball back into the darkness… only for it to not come back as the sound of ‘Baby’s purring disappeared.+

“Danny!?” Bruce heard Jason call and he shot to his feet and ran to the med bay.

Chapter Text

Chapter Three –

Superman sighed as he ran his hand through his hair as he finished typing up the report on the mission him, Kon, and J’onn had just gotten back from almost an hour ago. It had taken the three of them almost two weeks to finish the mission (a simple rescue mission) and return back to their own solar system. It had taken nearly everything in the Kryptonian for him to sit down and write the report instead of flying straight to Gotham and, in turn, to Bruce… he had missed the man while away… But he knew from experience the fight that would happen had he not followed protocol. And Superman really didn’t want to be kicked out of the manor and back to his apartment back in Metropolis for however long it took Superman to get back on Bruce’s good side again.

He had just submitted the report when Diana made her way into the room, eyes scanning the room quickly before landing on him. And he could tell that something was worrying his friend.

“I know that you have just returned, Superman, but please tell me that Batman has contacted you recently.” Diana said and worry gripped the Kryptonian. Had something happened while he was off planet and not there to help?

“The last time I spoke with Batman was just before I left.” Superman said as he quickly pulled up his messages, checking to make sure that Bruce hadn’t tried to contact him. The last message was from Bruce, the usual message to make sure to stay vigilant and the reminder to submit his mission report before coming home. The Kryptonian looked away from his message and to his friend when she let out a deep, worried sigh. “Has something happened?”

“No one has heard from Batman in nearly a week. We have tried to call on him, but he has either not been receiving our calls or has been ignoring them.” Diana told him as she looked him deep in his eyes. “I am hoping that a difficult case has caught his attention. I do know that when a difficult case has him in its thrall that he tends to disappear until he has finished the case, however I also know that when you message him that he always answers…”

“I’ll call him.” Superman said before quickly calling Batman… but the call went unanswered with no message and the worry that had begun to fill him gripped his heart. Since the two of them had made their relationship official two years ago, Batman had made sure to keep in touch with Superman. If he was in a situation that he could not answer Superman’s call he would always send a message explaining that he couldn’t speak at the moment and would call him back when he was free. Something had happened to Bruce while Superman had been off planet!

Superman quickly turned back to the Watchtower’s computer and quickly pulled up Batman’s vitals for the two weeks that Superman had been away. Batman’s vitals for that first week were normal. However, at the start of the second week, there had been a spike in Batman’s vitals. “You said no one has seen or heard from Batman in a week?” Superman asked as he quickly used the credentials that Batman had given him to log into the system that Oracle and Red Robin had created for Batman and his family to log all their communications while in the field.

“That is correct.” Diana said as she made her way to stand beside Superman as he searched through the comms that had been logged the night that Batman’s vitals had spiked, trying to find one that lined up to the time of the spike. Praying that nothing had happened to either Bruce or the children…

“Red Hood to the Batcave!” Jason’s terrified and rage filled voice all but yelled the moment that Superman had started the recording closest in time to the vital spike. Fear flooded Superman’s body. He knew that the only time Jason ever contacted the Batcave was in dire situations… Superman sent out a silent prayer that nothing had happened to Jason… that Bruce hadn’t lost Jason yet again… he knew that if Bruce had to bury Jason again that it would break the man.

“Batcave to Red Hood,” Alfred’s voice sounded, and it was clear to Superman that the man was trying not to let his fear and worry over the fact that Jason was calling into the Batcave to show, “do you require assistance?” Superman silently begged that the answer would be no, that this was just a social call…

“Prep the medical bay,” Superman’s heart dropped… something had happened to Jason and Superman hadn’t been there for either Bruce or the rest of the children… “I have a heavily injured civilian child in need of immediate care.” Superman nearly collapsed in relief. Jason was okay, he wasn’t hurt or dying! “And get Dr. Thompkins to the cave ASAP.” Worry gripped Superman once more, knowing that Bruce and his children only called Dr. Leslie Thompkins to the cave in life or death situations. Had this young child made it? Were they still alive or had Bruce and the others had to bury yet another child? There was a small sound that had been too soft for the mic to fully pick up.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, no white coats will take you from me.” Jason reassured the child softly over the sound of his bike. Though Jason’s voice was being modified by the voice mod in his helmet, it still reminded Superman of Bruce’s voice every time he reassured a scared child that they were safe now. What were these ‘white coats’ and why was this poor child scared that they would take them away? “Tell Dr. Thompkins to not where a white coat.” Jason said, his attention back on Alfred. Anger filled Superman as he realized just exactly what or who these ‘white coats’ were: Doctors. The poor child had more than likely been experimented on by some sort of ‘Doctor’.

“Understood, Red Hood.” Alfred said.

“Red Hood, report.” Bruce’s worried voice cut in, and it was clear to Superman just from the sound of the man’s voice that he had been thrown back to that time in Ethiopia… to when the man had been running towards the warehouse that held young Jason when it exploded with the boy still inside it… to having to dig out the beaten and torn up body of his son… to having to bury the too young boy…

Superman knew that for a long time Bruce had been angry with him when he had stopped the man from killing the Joker… from stopping the grief stricken man from taking revenge on the monster that had stolen his son from him…

And a large part of Superman had regretted stopping the man from killing the Joker. Regretted not allowing Jason to have the justice that he so deserved… But at the time Superman knew that if he had allowed Bruce to break his own rule on killing that the man would have become a supervillain in his own right… not stopping with just killing the Joker… with his children following right along behind him… And Superman would have stood right beside Bruce, helping him…

“Found some cultist in my territory trying to sacrifice a little boy that can’t be any older than four. He is in need of immediate medical attention.” Jason’s voice snapped Superman out of his dark thoughts and back to the situation at hand. Oh dear lord, the injured child was no older than four! His mind pulled up the memory of when Jon was only four and how tiny and vulnerable he had been. He couldn’t imagine allowing his baby boy to be hurt let alone stolen by cultist… he had been stolen by the cultists, right? The baby boy’s parents couldn’t have been part of the cultist that was planning to sacrifice the poor dear, right?

“What is your ETA?” Tim’s voice suddenly cut in, his voice emotionless as he was clearly trying to hide his own worry and fear.

“Less than five minutes.” Jason reported. Seconds later Superman heard the tale-tell sound of the Batmobile, and he wondered what Bruce had done with the Batmobile. Had he used it to clear the way to the Batcave for Jason to help get the injured baby to the cave faster? “Make that less than three minutes… Thanks B…” Jason breathed out earning an acknowledged grunt from the man, alerting Superman that Bruce had indeed used the Batmobile to clear the way for Jason to get the baby boy to the cave faster.

And then the recording ended.

Superman tried to find any more information on what had happened that night. However there was no report or any more information, at least not that had been logged. Diana rested her hand on his shoulder, reminding the Kryptonian that she was still there.

“Go to him. I shall inform the others of what we now know. When you get the chance, please keep me updated.” She told him.

“Of course.” Superman said before he flew through the Watchtower to the Zeta-Tubes.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Jason had been reading to the young boy… to his son when the modified heart monitor that Tim had made after the discovery that Danny’s heart beat a lot slower than a normal person’s heart (so that the first machine would stop trying to give Jason a heart attack every time it claimed that Danny’s heart had stopped) began to fluctuate. “Danny!?” Jason cried as he dropped his book and flew to his son’s side just as the young boy groaned and his eyes began to flutter as if he was trying to fight the medication keeping him in his medically induced coma.

“What’s happening? Is Danny okay?” Bruce cried as he ran into the room, worry clear in his voice.

“I think he’s trying to wake up!” Jason told the man in fear and worry. It had only been five days since Leslie had put Danny in his medically induced coma and the woman had wanted to keep him in that coma for no less than a week to help him heal. Though it was clear that Danny had an enhanced healing factor, Leslie had wanted to give the boy’s body as much time to rest and heal as they could.

“Mmmm.” Danny groaned as his ice blue eyes fluttered open before closing once more and Jason ran his hand through the boy’s hair, his brain racing to figure out what to do. Does he try to up the medication keeping Danny in the coma? Does he lower the medication to help Danny come out of the coma? Does he try to calm his son down and keep him from fighting the medication? Was the medication even doing anything for his son?

“I have alerted Dr. Thompkins.” Alfred informed them as he entered the room as Jason and Bruce tried to keep Danny on the bed as the young boy began to thrash as he continued to fight the medication coursing through his veins. Jason was thankful that just last night Leslie had deemed the ‘Y’ incision on Danny’s chest had healed enough to not need the stitches any more so there was no chance for the thrashing boy to rip his stitches. “She has given me the go ahead to stop the medication since he is clearly ready to wake up. She will be arriving as soon as she can tonight to check in on him.”

“Mommy…” Danny slurred out as he continued to fight the medication as Alfred rushed over towards the I.V. stand and began to stop the medication that was intended to keep Danny in his medically induced coma. The second that Alfred had stopped the medication Danny’s ice blue eyes shot open and his eyes flew around the room taking note of everyone and everything before finally resting on Jason, his face breaking into a wide smile showing tiny fangs.

“Mommy!” The young boy chirped happily causing Jason’s eyebrows to shoot up in shock as his brain seemed to come to a sudden stop.

“I thought I was Daddy…” Was the only thing Jason could think to say earning a small snicker from Bruce and an amused smile from Alfred. Jason felt his face heat up as he glared at the man he considered a father (he would not dare to glare at Alfred in fear of earning the man’s disappointed look).

“Mommy is Mommy and Daddy is Daddy.” Danny oh so helpfully told him, his small face showing how serious he was about his statement.

“Oh, okay, good to know that I am Mommy now…” Jason muttered, he wasn’t sure how to feel about being the boy’s Mommy instead of his Daddy… but he would figure it out. He had been trained by Batman and the one thing that Batman had made sure to teach each and every one of his birds was the ability to adapt and adapt he would. If his little boy saw him as his Mommy, then Jason would be Mommy! He would be the best Mommy!

“Hello, Danny, I don’t know if you remember where you are…” Bruce started only for Danny to cut the man off.

“We’re at Mommy’s house!” Danny told Bruce proudly earning an ‘awe’ from the doorway of the med bay. A quick glance behind him alerted Jason that the rest of his family (minus Duke who was more than not out as Signal) stood.

“That’s right.” Bruce told Danny with a small smile and Danny’s chest puffed out proudly. Jason barely stopped himself from cooing at the young boy. “Do you remember what happened before your Mommy found you?” Danny gave Bruce a confused look. “It’s alright if you don’t.”

“Mommy didn’t finded me, Daddy did.” Danny told Bruce, earning a confused blink from the man.

“Your… Daddy… found you?” Bruce asked as him and Jason shared a glance, their mind racing to figure out the small puzzle that Danny had given them.

“Yup!” Danny chirped out happily. “Daddy founded me when I was hurted and scareded and protected me from the big scary monsters! Then he broughted me here where Mommy kepted me safe and helped make my ouchies and booboos not hurted so much.” Danny informed them causing Steph to coo at the adorable way that he had explained what had happened.

“If I may, Master Bruce.” Alfred cut in as he casually stepped in between Bruce and Danny to begin a quick examination of the boy, a knowing look in his eyes. Had Alfred already pieced the puzzle together? Of course the old man had, he was always one step ahead of them.

“Sorry, of course.” Bruce muttered before moving to stand at the end of the bed to give Alfred as much room as he needed. “Okay, so your Daddy brought you here to your Mommy. Do you remember the Mommy and Daddy before your new Mommy and Daddy?” Jason tensed up. He knew that they needed to know who Danny’s parents were to make sure that he didn’t have any other family, but at the same time Jason didn’t want to know. Because if he knew then he would have to give Danny back to them… Danny bowed his head.

“Danny was a bad boy and they hurted him… they cutted Danny… they pulleded and pokeded and hurted Danny…” Danny whispered his voice taking on a strange tone, as if there was another voice under his. “…They would have Ended Danny…”

“Were they apart of the scary people?” Bruce asked and Danny shook his head.

“They workeded with the white coats… they hated Danny… Danny had been a bad boy and opened the door…” Danny raised his head to look at Bruce, his once ice blue eyes had gone completely black. “Danny let the dead into the land of the living…” At that, the voice under Danny’s took over long enough before fading so that it was once again under Danny’s voice. The voice had felt like the void of space… “…But Danny hadn’t meanted to open the door… Danny had trieded to be a good boy and put everything back…”

“Your parents were the one to cut into you?” Bruce asked, his voice strained as he gripped the side of the medical bed hard enough to make his knuckles turn white as everyone else sucked in a deep breath at the realization. Danny blinked and his eyes changed back to his icy blue eyes.

“It’s otay, because Grandmommy promised that her Knights won’t let the mean people who hurted me near me anymore! Grandmommy said that her Knights were strong and brave and they keep the monsters at bay!” Danny told them before he looked at Jason. “Mommy, I is thirsty. Can I has a drinky?”

“I shall be happy to fetch you a drink, Young Master Danny.” Alfred told the boy causing Danny to look up at him in wonder. “We have water, milk, orange juice, and apple juice, I can also make you some tea if you would prefer that instead. What would you like, Young Master?” Danny suddenly got very shy and pulled the blanket that had been covering him up over his head, earning multiple coos from the family.

“Appy Juicy, peas.” Danny muttered from underneath the blanket.

“I shall go fetch you some Apple Juice, Young Master Danny.” Alfred announced before he left to retrieve the requested drink.

“You said that your grandmother spoke of her knights…” Bruce started slowly and Jason knew where his mind had taken him, his had taken him there too. Had Danny’s grandmother been part of the cult that had tried to sacrifice him? “Did she leave you with the scary monsters?” And Danny flung the blanket off of his head to glare at Bruce.

“Grandmommy would never leave me with those scary monsters! She had leded Daddy to where I was so that Daddy could save me! Grandmommy is nice and protective and fierce and loves me and everyone in her city and she helps her Knights protect everyone!” Danny cried. “You apologize to Grandmommy right now!” He told Bruce as he pointed to a dark, shadowy corner of the med bay. Bruce looked towards Jason for help.

“You heard him, apologize to his grandmother.” Jason told his father with a smirk causing the man to narrow his eyes a little at him. Jason motioned to the shadowy corner with a silent ‘well, go on then’. Bruce sighed before turning towards the shadowy corner.

“I apologize if I offended you.” Bruce said causing the others to snicker.

“Did you get it?” Someone whispered and Jason glanced at his siblings to see Tim had his phone out and recording.

“Of course!” Tim whispered back earning an embarrassed glare from Bruce.

“Grandmommy thanks you.” Danny told Bruce, turning his and Jason’s attention back towards him.

“You mentioned that she had Knights? Do you know who they are?” Jason asked and Danny beamed up at him proudly.

“Of course! Grandmommy made sure I knew who they were! There’s Batman,” when Danny said ‘Batman’ there was the sound of bats chirping underneath the name, “Nightwing,” the sound of a bird’s song (the very song that Dick used as his call sign), “Red Hood,” a different bird song (the one Jason had been given when he was Robin and still occasionally used as Red Hood), “Red Robin,” yet another bird song (the one that Tim used as his call sign), “Spoiler,” a fourth bird song (the one that Steph had claimed as hers), “Black Bat,” a different set of bat’s chirping (the call that Cass had taken for herself), “Signal,” the sound of doves cooing to each other (Duke’s call sign that he rarely got to use), “Robin,” a Robin singing (Damian’s call sign that he had modified from both Dick’s call sign and Jason’s call sign, with a little of Tim’s call sign mixed in) “And Oracle!” The sound of an owl hooting had been the sound under Barbara’s code name instead of the bird call that had once been hers while being Batgirl, a call that no one had taken up since she had to resign as Batgirl.

The Batfamily stood there in shock, not knowing what to say or how to act as they all stared at the four year old boy who had just perfectly mimicked their call signs at the same time he had spoken their hero names… as if they were one and the same.

Chapter Text

Chapter Four –

Alfred was thankful that in the five days that the Young Master had been resting, that he had been able to find the time to pull out some of Master Bruce’s old sippy cups from when he had been a young child and had been able to thoroughly clean them. He took a few moments to decide between which would be the best sippy cup for Young Master Danny’s requested drink of apple juice. Alfred allowed a small smile to appear on his face. It would sooth his old heart and mind to be able to hear the pitter patter of young feet in the manor once more.

When Miss Barbara had finally gotten tired of waiting for Master Richard to ask her to marry him she had done it herself (she had all but told Master Richard that they were now engaged and if he had any arguments then he could sit in solitary silence in the comms until he got over himself and accepted their engagement), Alfred had hoped that it wouldn’t be too much longer before the manor was blessed with the sound of a young child or two. He knew that it had devastated both Master Richard and Miss Barbara when they had learned that do to the life changing injury that the Joker had given Miss Barbara that she had lost the ability to have any children of her own. Alfred also knew that neither Miss Barbara nor Master Richard were against fostering or even adopting, however it was well known that when those two did eventually foster or adopt it would be an older child. It was a well known fact that the older the child is, the harder it was for said child to find a long term foster family or even get adopted.

Alfred moved throughout his kitchen as he quickly made something light for not only the Young Master but also the rest of his family, knowing that after the excitement of Young Master Danny waking up that they would be hungry. His smile widened as he thought of the Young Master.

It was adorable how the Young Master saw Master Jason as his mother while Master Jason’s Hero Persona was his father. Alfred wondered how long it would take the rest of his family to catch onto that fact. Even though the Young Master had already told everyone that fact, it hadn’t slipped Alfred’s attention that no one other than himself had caught on to that. The rest of his family having been either focused on how adorable the Young Master was or of the horrors that had happened to the Young Master before Master Jason had rescued him.

After placing the sippy cup full of apple juice and the platter of cucumber sandwiches cut into triangles small enough that the Young Master would easily be able to eat yet big enough that he would not choke onto a silver tray, Alfred returned back down to the Batcave. As he entered the cave, Alfred took a moment to enjoy the scene that he had been presented with.

The Young Master had somehow managed to escape not only his bed but also the med bay and had somehow gotten ahold of one of the many tiny bats that littered the cave ceiling. Miss Stephanie was ‘running’ away from the Young Master and his ‘prize’ as the Young Master chased after her while squealing and giggling. While a worried Master Jason was running after the duo while trying to catch his wayward son.

Just off to the side was Master Bruce who was giving Young Master Damian a lecture. “I do not see what the problem is, father. Young Daniel looked interested in seeing one of the bats up close. I made sure to grab the tamest one there was, it shall not harm Young Daniel.” Young Master Damian responded, clearly not understanding what he had done wrong.

Master Richard and Miss Cassandra were standing off to the side both enjoying the show. Master Richard was holding his sides as he laughed loudly, a laugh that Alfred was glad to be hearing once more (the Master rarely allowed himself to let his true laugh out). And then Master Duke drove his motorcycle into the cave, clearly having finished with his patrol. Alfred watched as the young man took in the chaos that was happening in the cave before he began to back his motorcycle back out of the cave.

Alfred made his way over to the small lounge area in the cave and sat the tray down on the table before he gently took the sippy cup full of apple juice into his hands. He made his way closer to the middle of the cave where the Young Master was chasing Miss Stephanie before kneeling down. “Young Master Danny, I have returned with your apple juice.” Alfred informed the young boy who came to a sliding stop, the bat still held gently in his hands.

“Appy juicy!” Young Master Danny chirped happily before he ran over to Alfred, who smiled at the young boy when he came to a stop just before him. And soon the Young Master had a small dilemma as he began to look from the tiny black bat in his hands toward the royal blue sippy cup that held the Wayne crest on it. It was clear that the Young Master did not wish for the bat to leave him, but he really wanted his apple juice. Alfred watched as the Young Master’s ice blue eyes practically lit up as he came up with an idea, and soon the bat found itself nestled into the Young Master’s hair.

“Awe.” Miss Stephanie and Master Richard cooed at the sight.

“Tank you grandpapa Alfie!” Young Master Danny chirped as he took the sippy cup from Alfred before running over to Master Jason and silently asked to be picked up. However, Alfred had been frozen to his spot, for when the Young Master had said his name the sound of Martha Wayne’s soft airy laugh and Thomas Wayne’s deep soothing laugh had sounded under his name… coming from the Young Master’s chest instead of his throat…

He could almost feel Martha Wayne’s arms wrapping around him in the comforting way she used to whenever she had found him in the throws of a war flash back… He could almost hear Thomas Wayne’s comforting words as the man talked him down from a flash back induced panic attack… And Alfred was hit with the longing to speak with his beloved friends once more even though he knew that they were long dead…

Would Martha and Thomas be proud of how Alfred had raised their son? Would they be proud of all the good that Master Bruce had done? Would they welcome the children that their son had taken as his own? Would they adore the family that their son had created for himself?

Alfred would like to think that they would. He liked to think that Martha and Thomas were looking down on them watching their son and his family, protecting them. He liked to believe that Martha and Thomas Wayne hadn’t left them but instead had become the family’s guardian angels… leading all of Master Bruce’s children to him when they had needed the Master the most…

And if that voice that had spoke through Young Master Danny was to be believed and the Young Master had accidently opened the door between the realm of the dead and the realm of the living… Then it was quite possible that the ‘Grandmommy’ that the Young Master had spoken of could very well be the late Martha Wayne herself.

Alfred knew very well how fierce and protective that woman could get, especially when it came to children…

-.-.-.-.-.-

Sam glared at the metal monstrosity that she could see of the Fenton home from her perch on the roof of Nasty Burger. She just knew that the Fentons had done something to Danny, yet nothing that she, Tucker, or even Jazz did or said did anything. Danny had disappeared almost three weeks ago! And no one in this god forsaken town seemed to even care! The cops and the teachers all believed that Danny had Ended himself, and those that were still searching weren’t even looking for Danny himself but his body! And the Fentons weren’t helping the accusations of Danny Ending himself!

Sam curled in on herself as she allowed all her frustration, worry, and fear for her friend to roll down her cheeks in the form of tears. She missed her friend and just wanted to know that he was safe. She wouldn’t even be mad if he told her that he ran away and never wanted to come back, she wouldn’t even blame him for that. Hell, if she ever found out where he had run off too she was sure that both her and Tucker would pack up their things and run off to be with him. They were a trio, they couldn’t be without their Danny!

Sam wasn’t dumb, far from it. She had noticed Danny pulling away from not only her and Tucker, but also Jazz. It had hurt them all, but they had just figured that he was getting used to not only Jazz being away for college but Sam and Tucker starting a relationship. They had all thought that Danny just needed the time to adjust and then everything would go back to normal. Sam knew that Danny didn’t necessarily do well with change and needed time to adjust and accept it. Hell, it had taken the boy almost a year to fully adjust to the fact that he had half died and gained a ghostly persona, and even longer to accept that his ghostly persona was now his hero persona…

But then he disappeared…

It wouldn’t have normally worried Sam so much, Danny tended to wander off sometimes, especially when his mind was full… But he had missed the astronomy lesson that she knew he had been looking forward to. Danny wouldn’t miss anything having to do with the stars and space he loved so much.

After school she had rushed over to Danny’s home with Tucker right alongside her. However, Mrs. Fenton had claimed that Danny was sick. That he had come down with something. But that couldn’t be true because Danny rarely ever got sick anymore since half-dying… She knew then that the woman had done something to her friend.

But no one other than Tucker and Jazz had believed her…

But when her and Tucker had broken into the house and searched for Danny fearing that the Fentons were holding him hostage in that damn lab, there had been no sign of Danny ever being there!

And now the town was preparing a funeral for her friend that she knew was still alive! She could feel that he was alive. But no one but Tucker and Jazz believed her…

Sam’s glare darkened as she shot up, fists clenching.

This was all the Fentons fault! They had done something to her friend, her Danny, her boy! They would pay, she would make sure that they would. The Fentons and the GIW! She didn’t know exactly what she was going to do to them, but she knew that she was going to make them wish that they had never dared to touch her friend!

Sam allowed her instincts to walk her to the edge of the building as her mind raced to come up with a plan to ruin not only the Fentons but also the GIW. She took a step off the building and allowed her beloved plants to catch her and carry her to the ground, ignoring all the freaked out looks that she was now receiving from the towns people around her.

“Someone in Gotham has been trying to run a facial recognition on a child that looks like Danny.” Tucker told her softly as he fell in line with her as she stalked the town while he continuously tapped at his modified PDA.

“Then once the Fentons and the GIW have been delt with, we’ll go to Gotham and get our boy back.” Sam practically growled out.

“What’s the plan?” Tucker asked as he easily used his body to hide her away from the white vans that were rushing passed them toward the Nasty Burger that had been overrun by her plants.

“The town so desperately wants a funeral, then we’ll give them not one but two.” Sam told him as she began to lead Tucker towards the Fentons’ home.

“The Fentons aren’t home, they haven’t been home for almost two weeks.” Tucker calmly informed her earning a glare from the pissed off young woman.

“Then where are they!?” She demanded as Tucker quickly pulled her into an alley and used his body to, once again, block her from the GIW as five agents ran passed them. He tapped at his PDA for a few seconds before she heard the sound of something exploding in the distance.

“Confirmed ghost attack in sector 3!” The agents yelled as they turned and bolted in the direction of the shopping district. Tucker watched them go with a dark and dangerous look in his eyes that Sam loved.

“I haven’t been able to find them yet, been a bit preoccupied with searching for Danny, making sure that I was ready for when you went super villain, making sure that our new identities were ready for whenever we found Danny, and making sure that Jazz was not only kept updated but was ready to transfer to online classes so that she could be able to live with us once we got Danny back.” Tucker informed her as he shifted to keep her out of sight as more white vans filled with agents passed them as even more explosions happened through out the town.

“You rigged the town with explosives?” Sam whispered.

“I couldn’t let you have all the fun. It’ll draw the Fentons out of whatever hole they hid in so that you can get your revenge and I get to give the GIW the run around. And, if we’re lucky, all the commotion and nonghostly explosions will break through the media blackout the GIW put around Amity Park and get the attention of the Justice League. If anyone is going to believe us about Danny, it will be them.” Tucker told her.

“And if they don’t believe us?” Sam asked and Tucker gave her a blood thirsty smirk.

“Well, then I say that we pull a Dan and get rid of them and anyone else that stands between us and our boy.”

-.-.-.-.-.-

Jason closed his eyes as Danny squealed and happily slapped his hands into his bathwater, splashing Jason. It had been a few days since Danny had woken up and Jason was still trying to adjust to life with his son. At the moment him and Danny were staying at the manor until everyone was sure that Danny was fully healed from not only his vivisection but whatever else his parents and the ‘white coats’ had done to him before handing him over to the cult. Jason still wasn’t fully convinced that Danny’s parents and these ‘white coats’ hadn’t been working with the cult… but there was no more members of the cult to even question, all the members having been in the warehouse that night…

“Mommy, watch! Watch, Mommy!” Danny chirp happily before he scooped up some of the bathwater into his tiny hands before bringing it to his mouth. Jason, fearful that his son was about to put the soapy water in his mouth, reached out to stop his son only to freeze when Danny blew with an icy breath and froze the bathwater in his hands. “I remembereded I could do this! I dremted that Frosty showded me how to do it!”

“Frosty taught you that, huh, little one?” Jason asked breathing a sigh of relief, looking out of the bathroom and into his son’s playroom. Alfred had not only prepared a bedroom for Danny that sat across the hall from Jason’s own room but was also connected to a playroom (that was slowly filling up with toys from his ‘Unckies and Aunties and Granddaddy Bruce and Grandpapa Alfie’) via a jack and jill bathroom. Jason caught sight of the white polar bear that had been named ‘Frosty’ that sat in it’s designated chair at the small children’s table that Danny proudly called his ‘council table’.

In Danny’s ‘council’ there was Frosty the polar bear plushie that was the leader of the frozen lands and Phantom’s healer. Princess Dorathea a powder blue dragon plushie (that had glitter that got everywhere) and she watched over the manor, making sure that her brother Prince Aragon (a dark purple dragon plushie that seemed to live in the laundry basket cage Danny had put it in the second he saw the plushie) didn’t destroy the manor. Pandora the Greek Goddess was a repurposed Wonder Woman doll that was dressed more Greek than Amazonian and she drifted between sitting on Aragon’s ‘cage’ and sitting on the toy box that Danny called ‘Boxy the Toy box’, her main job was the protector of the toy box. Ghosty the little ghost plushie that Danny had Jason tape a small book to was the keeper of the council’s records.

And then there was Phantom. The little white cat plushie that Danny had acquired one day. No one knew where he had gotten it or who had given it to him. It was the first plushie that Danny had gotten and had just appeared in his bed the morning after Leslie Thompkins had given the family the okay to let Danny (officially) leave the med bay. Danny carried the plushie everywhere, even now that plushie sat on its chair beside the bathtub. Danny said that Phantoms council job was to be the keeper of his secrets…

Jason couldn’t help but wonder what secrets that plushie was already keeping after two days…

“Yeah! Frosty had to help me and Phantom learned how to use the cold to save Sammy!” Danny informed Jason, pulling the man’s attention away from the cat plushie and back to his son.

“Is that so?” Jason asked as he gently tilted his son’s head back so that he could wet it down, his mind also trying to recall which toy had been named ‘Sammy’ “Who is Sammy?”

“Sammy is Sammy! She is tied with Tuck-Tuck for being Phantom’s bestest friend! She can be mean with her words, but she is nice! She likes plants and animals and she eats grass like Unckie Dami!” Danny told him happily and Jason had to keep himself from laughing at the image of Damian taking a spoonful of grass from the yard. Ever since they had explained to Danny that Damian didn’t eat meat, Danny was insistent that his Unckie Dami ate nothing but grass.

“And who is Tuck-Tuck?” Jason asked.

“Tuck-Tuck is Tuck-Tuck! He and Sammy fight a lot but Phantom knows that they care very much for each other. No one is allowed to harm Tuck-Tuck’s Sammy!” Danny looked up at Jason and waved him closer, Jason leant down to allow his son to whisper in his ear. “Phantom once saw Tuck-Tuck kiss Sammy on the mouth like Unckie Dicky kisses Auntie Barbie.” Jason froze, his son was already having his toys kiss after witnessing Dick and Barbara kissing! Oh, he was going to be having words with those two!

“So, why did you and Phantom have to save Sammy?” Jason quickly asked, hoping to turn the subject away from kissing.

“Sammy had been under the control of a mean Ancient. Undergrowth had stolen Sammy away and forced Sammy to make everything covered with angy flowers and spiky vines! Undergrowth had even made Sammy tie up Tuck-Tuck so that he couldn’t save her!” Danny told him, an angry and upset look on his little face as Jason started to wash his hair.

“Oh no!” Jason gasped out.

“So me and Phantom had to save her and everybody! But we had to figure out how to do so with out Sammy being hurted. But then, as we was fighting Undergrowth Sammy, Phantom’s body started to freezed!”

“No!” Jason cried, trying to hide his smile at how wild his son’s imagination was. It was clear that at some point Danny had heard about Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze while with the cult, so it at least pointed to the fact the cult was Gotham based.

“Yes!” Danny cried back in response, his hands hitting the bathwater again as Jason tilted his head back once more and began to rinse his son’s hair. “So me and Phantom had to runned away and hideded in the ghosty zone! Where we met Frosty! And learneded how to use the cold that was freezing Phantom. Did you know that plants don’t like the cold?”

“Most plants don’t like the cold, but there are a few that thrive in the cold.” Jason told him and Danny blinked up at him for a minute before he continued his tale.

“Well, the plants that Undergrowth Sammy useded didn’t thr.. thri… drived in the cold.” Danny told him and Jason couldn’t stop the small chuckle as his son stumbled over the word ‘thrive’.

“Thrive, sweety.” Jason corrected as he began to put conditioner in his son’s hair.

“Yeah, that word, tank you Mommy! The plants quickly ran from the cold and me and Phantom were able to save everyone that Undergrowth Sammy had tieded up and was even able to talk to Undergrowth.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jason asked and Danny nodded his head just as Jason started to rinse his hair of the conditioner causing Danny to sputter and cough. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry!” Jason cried as he quickly set the cup he had been using to scoop up the water down and began to wipe Danny’s face clean of water. “There we go, all better.” He soothed as Danny finally caught his breath.

“Sorry.” Danny muttered sadly as Jason finished rinsing his hair of conditioner.

“Oh, Danny, sweety, it wasn’t your fault. I should have made sure that I had a better hold on you.” Jason said as he quickly grabbed the towel he had laid out earlier and used it to pick Danny up out of the bathtub, after pulling the plug to let the tub drain. “It was an accident and now we both learned something from it.” He told his son as he carried the boy into his bedroom, making sure to grab Phantom the cat plushie as he did so. “So you and Phantom talked to Undergrowth? How did that go?” Danny beamed up at him as Jason sat his son on the toddler bed that Alfred had ordered and forced him, Dick, and Tim to put together while Alfred, Bruce and Barbara had gone to buy Danny some clothes that would actually fit him as Steph, Cass, Duke, and Damian had been left to watch and entertain Danny.

“Undergrowth was sorry. He may have been a meany head, but he’s not that much of a meany head. He only did what he did because someone had wokeded him up from his nappy!” Danny told him as Jason quickly picked out a Nightwing onesie (Danny’s Red Hood onesie already in the wash).

“How rude!” Jason said as he made his way back over to his son, smiling at the adorable boy who was watching him with wide, innocent ice blue eyes from the towel burrito that Jason had made him.

“So rude!” Danny repeated back nodding sagely.

“Right, lets get you in your onesie, then get your hair and teeth brushed and to bed.” Jason told his son.

“But what about Clocky! I haven’t tolded Clocky about my day! And I can’t go to beddy-bye without telling Clocky goodnight! He would cry!” Danny told him in outrage. Jason had nearly forgotten that Danny had named the Grandfather clock that hid the entrance to the Batcave in Bruce’s office ‘Clockwork’ nicknamed ‘Clocky’.

When Jason and the rest of his family had left the Batcave and into Bruce’s office, Danny had squealed happily at seeing the large grandfather clock and had squirmed in Jason’s arms until he had sat Danny down. The boy then ran over to the clock and gave it a hug and began babbling to the clock. The bat family didn’t know what to do as the young four year old told the old grandfather clock about how much he loved it and was so happy to see it! It had taken almost two hours to get Danny to leave the clock with promises that he could visit it whenever he wanted.

“You’re right, how rude of me to have forgotten.” Jason said as he quickly dried his son and dressed him. After making sure Danny’s hair and teeth were brushed, Jason carried the excited and babbling child into Bruce’s office where they found the man reading over a Justice League report.

“Ah, come to say goodnight to Clockwork?” Bruce asked taking off his reading glasses to look at them.

“It’s become apart of his nightly routine.” Jason told the man as he sat the squirming Danny on the ground and watched as his son made his way over to the grandfather clock. However, once Danny had gotten within three feet of the clock, it suddenly started moving to the side. Jason and Bruce glanced at each other, it was too soon for anyone to have come back from patrol, the others had only been out for less than an hour. Danny, not having expected his dear clock friend to move, let out a shocked scream before disappearing.

“DANNY!” Both Jason and Bruce cried just as Superman stepped out of the entry way that the Grandfather clock stood protectively in front of.

Chapter Text

Chapter Five –

The second that Danny had disappeared everyone in the room seemed to freeze. Jason allowed his eyes to scan the room for any sign of his missing son. Ears straining to hear the pitter-patter of his son’s feet on the hard wood of the office floor over his own pounding heart. Over the two days that his son had been awake, the young boy had shown that he had more abilities than just his enhanced healing. Danny had shown that he could density shift like J’onn by not only phasing out of the wires connecting him to all the machines keeping watch of his vitals, but also through the medical bed and the walls of the med bay when he had caught sight of the giant T-rex…

Now with the knowledge that his son could also turn himself invisible…

Jason just hoped that his son didn’t have enough control over his abilities to use two at the same time.

“Why do you smell of the stars?” Jason heard his son’s voice and nearly gave himself whiplash in his haste to locate the boy. His heart nearly stopped when he caught sight of his son sitting on top of the grandfather clock… how had his son gotten on top of the large grandfather clock? Could his son teleport as well? Or could he fly?

“I’m sorry?” Superman asked looking up at the boy with confusion written all over his face.

Danny was crouched on top of the grandfather clock, barely shifting as it began to move back into place to hide the entrance to the cave, Phantom the cat plushie held tight to his chest while his ice blue eyes stared down at the shocked and very confused Kryptonian. Jason watched as his son’s nose twitched and his eyes narrowed. “You smell of the stars… but also of the earth and rain and animals…” Danny’s nose wrinkled a second before he was staring innocently at the man. “Did you play in Unckie Dami’s barn… we’re not supposeded to do that without Unckie Dami there…”

“Bruce…?” Superman asked glancing away from the young child staring down at him from atop the grandfather clock. Bruce, who had been half way off his chair the second Danny had disappeared nearly collapsed back into the chair with a heavy sigh that was filled with worry and fear and relief. Jason didn’t blame the man as he released his own sigh as he quickly made his way over to the grandfather clock, making sure to use his shoulder to roughly push the Kryptonian away from the clock and therefor his son.

Jason had mixed feelings around Superman…

He was fine with Clark Kent, got along well with the man that Bruce shared his bed with… whatever made his father happy. And it was quite clear that the man made Bruce extremely happy and relaxed to the point that when Clark was in the manor Bruce was found more often then not cuddling to the man when not on patrol.

However… Superman was a different story…

Logically Jason knew that Clark Kent was Superman… But in his mind Clark Kent was the nice country boy from Kansas that was kind, charming, and full of midwestern hospitality. Clark Kent would give you the shirt off his back just because you were cold and needed it and wouldn’t accept anything in return for it. Clark Kent was the sweetheart that could sweep a pissed off Bruce Wayne into his arms and calm him with just a few kisses…

But Superman was the fucking asshole that stopped Batman, his father, from killing the fucking psycho that tortured and blew him up! Superman was the reason that the Joker was still alive! Superman denied Jason the justice, the vengeance, he craved.

Jason was angry (bordering on hating) with Superman…

Jason loved Clark Kent as the stepdad he was becoming… even if Bruce and Clark weren’t married… yet

It made Jason’s head hurt…

“Come here ya little munchkin, you gave Mommy and Granddaddy quite the scare.” Jason muttered as he reached up and gently took his son off the top of the Grandfather clock and held him close. He watched as his son’s bright ice blue eyes flew between him and the Kryptonian for a long minute. Danny’s eyes suddenly darkened as his pupils became slits, his lips curling up to show Superman his fangs and a long, low hiss from his son was Jason’s only warning to tighten his arms around the four-year-old before he tried to launch himself at the alien. “Danny! What’s gotten into you?” Jason asked as he quickly backed away from Superman as his son tried to swipe at the Kryptonian with his suddenly very claw like hands.

Luckily the farther Jason got away from Superman, the less hostile his son became…

Could Danny feel his anger (and growing hatred) for the Kryptonian and was reacting to it?

“Jason, I think you should try and put Danny to bed while I talk with Superman–” Bruce started only to get cut off by a whine from Danny.

“But Clocky!” Danny cried tears in his eyes as he reached a hand out towards the grandfather clock while also glaring at Superman that was still standing, frozen in confusion, by the grandfather clock.

“Bruce, you and I both know that Danny is not going to allow anyone to put him to bed without him being allowed to tell Clocky all about his day before wishing the clock goodnight.” Jason told the man, his voice strained. At the moment there were only two actions to take: knock his son out with medicine (that may or may not work) or find a way to get Superman away from the clock without blocking him and his son in. Bruce sighed as he ran a hand through his hair as his brain raced.

“Right, Superman, walk around behind me, like that, to the other side of the room.” Bruce directed.

Both Superman and Jason quickly caught onto what Bruce was doing and Superman quickly made his way to stand on the other side of the desk so that Bruce was in between him and the grandfather clock as Jason quickly carried his son to the spot Superman had once occupied. While Danny seemed to instinctively keep the Kryptonian in his sights, growling and hissing whenever Jason or Bruce accidentally blocked him from seeing Superman.

Once Jason had been able to find a place where Danny could keep Superman in his sights while also being able to give most of his attention to Clocky the Grandfather clock, he sat his son down and relaxed once the boy began to babble about his day to the clock. His relaxing allowed Bruce to relax, which in turn allowed Superman to relax… which had the unexpected reaction to allowing Danny to fully relax.

“Righ’, everyone good? Got all yur fingers and toes?” Jason asked in a joking tone as Superman slumped on the couch he now found himself on with his head in his hands, earning a small smile from Bruce who (thanks to Jason’s new spot) he could see had pulled up Danny’s file and had begun adding the new abilities that Danny had shown them in the span of a few minutes. “Ah, right, might want to throw in cryokinesis or at least ice breath.” This earned Jason a raised eyebrow from the old man. “Showed it off during bath time.”

“…and then Unckie Dicky bent himself in half, backwards!” Jason caught his son excitedly telling the Grandfather clock as Superman raised his head… looking more like Clark Kent then Superman at the moment.

“May I ask who the little one is, and why his heart sounds so close to stopping?” Superman… no, Clark asked looking between Bruce and Jason with such a lost puppy look.

“His name is Danny, Red Hood found and rescued him. We are looking after the young boy until his family can be located and he can be returned.” Bruce explained in full Batman mode.

It suddenly got way too silent in the room as it took Jason’s mind a long second to realize that Danny had stopped talking to Clocky. Jason’s head snapped down to Danny to find him clutching Phantom the cat plushie while staring up at Bruce with wide, tear filled eyes. The second Jason moved to grab his son was the same second his son shot to his feet and bolted over to Bruce and slammed into the man’s legs, wrapping his arms around them as much as his tiny arms could.

“Please don’t sended me away, Granddaddy! Is be a good boy! Is won’t hiss and attack the star man again! Is promise! Is sorry! Please don’t sended me away!” Danny cried loudly causing Jason’s heart to clench. No one wanted to send Danny away! Jason was sure that everyone (including himself) wanted to wrap the young boy up and hide him away from the world so that no one could ever steal him from them.

However, legally they had no custody over Danny. Legally, Red Hood could be charged with kidnapping Danny, should Danny’s real family choose to go after him. Legally, the Waynes could be accused of holding Danny hostage.

Though Barbara and Tim were quickly creating a paper trail that Danny existed so that Jason could legally adopt Danny in the (very likely) case that Danny no longer had any living relatives. There was always that small possibility that Danny did still have some family left. A family that may or may not know that the boy existed… A family that would take Danny away from not only Jason but the rest of his family…

“Oh, baby boy, Granddaddy isn’t going to send you away.” Bruce breathe out as he quickly pulled the crying toddler into his lap and hugged him tight. “We just want to make sure that no one is looking for you to take you from us.”

“No one is looking, Jazzy lefted to go to big girl school and Sammy and Tuck-Tuck have each other and Dani has faded…” Danny told them sadly as he tried to clean his face of his tears and snot. Jason watched fondly as Bruce quickly grabbed a tissue and held it to the toddler’s nose.

“Blow for Granddaddy.” Bruce told the boy who took a deep breath before blowing into the tissue. “Danny, sweety, who is Jazzy?” He carefully asked as he took a clean tissue and began to wipe Danny’s face of tears.

“Jazzy is my big sissy! She’s the bestest big sissy! But she had to leaved to go to big girl school across the ocean.” Danny explained proudly and Jason’s heart dropped. Danny had an older sister that had escaped the cult to go to college in the UK… Did this older sister know about Danny or had Danny only been told about this sister? Was she actually related to Danny by blood or had the cult called each member brother and sister?

“Wha…” Jason started, his voice cracking a little causing him to stop and cough to try and cover up the crack. “What did you mean when you said that you faded?” He asked, forcing himself to not think about this older sister that could possibly take Danny from him.

“Not me, Danny, but ‘Dani with an I’ Dani.” Danny told him with a laugh.

“And who’s ‘Dani with an I’?” Bruce asked.

“My mirror sister. She was very ill. Me and Jazzy and Sammy and Tuck-Tuck tried to help her, but she grew weaker and weaker and weaker until she closed her eyes and faded. I helded her till the very end.” Danny told them sadly with a sniffle as a few more tears fell from his eyes. Bruce and Jason shared a heart breaking look.

“Oh.” Clark breathed out as it sank in that Danny had had a twin sister that had passed away in his arms… had there been other people around when the young girl had passed or had Danny held his dead twin in his arms until someone had come…

Jason was also learning that Sammy and Tuck-Tuck were actual people and not figments of his wild imagination…

Were Sammy and Tuck-Tuck also children like Danny, or were they people that had been assigned to watch over Danny and his twin? What had happened to them? Had they been in that warehouse that night…? Had they gotten out like this Jazzy?

So many questions were spiraling in Jason’s head and all he could do was make his way over to his son and father, fall to his knees and rest his head on his father’s lap like he used to whenever he had had a nightmare as a child. His son had suffered so much at the hands of this cult and there was nothing he could do to help him! Jason hadn’t gotten to Danny or his twin in time to save him or her from the trauma of her dying and Danny holding her as she passed! He let out a silent sob as he felt his father’s fingers run through his hair soothingly.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Roy growled as he glared at his phone while pacing the warehouse that Red Hood and his men claimed as theirs. He could feel the weary eyes of Red Hood’s underlings as well as the worried eyes of Red Hood’s most trusted generals. It wasn’t often that Roy as Arsenal showed up in front of Red Hood’s men without Red Hood next to him. And the few times that he had done so usually meant that Red Hood was down and out of commission… However, Roy usually knew if Red Hood… if Jason was injured to the point that he couldn’t go out as Red Hood…

But that wasn’t the case at the moment…

Roy hadn’t heard from Jason in a week!

Hell, no one in Crime Alley or Gotham had seen Red Hood in a week!

Normally Roy wouldn’t worry when Jason went quiet, but his boyfriend usually gave him a heads up that he was about to go dark!

Not this fucking time!

“Answer the fucking phone you fucking asshole!” Roy growled as he, once again, tried to call Jason. He had tried calling every burner phone that Roy knew Jason had, he had tried calling every safe house he knew about (even breaking into them to see if he was hiding out in any of them), he had even broken into Jason’s apartment… (was it breaking into if he had a key to the apartment?) But there was nothing! Not even a cryptic message or voice mail! No email with a hidden message in it! Nothing!

The last time anyone had seen Red Hood he had been speeding through Crime Alley towards Gotham… towards the Batcave…

And Roy had it on good authority that the Batmobile had been seen racing from the Batcave and towards Leslie Thompkins’ office…

Something had happened to Jason that he needed to get to the Batcave… something that he needed Dr. Leslie Thompkins for… something that caused him to go dark for a week…

“Fuck it.” Roy growl before storming through the warehouse and towards one of the spare motorcycles that Jason kept just in case his main one was too damaged to drive. He was not staying in this fucking warehouse to wait for Jason to get in contact with them. He had an idea where the man was and he was going to search for him. First the Wayne Manor, then the Batcave, and then the Watchtower… and if he didn’t find Jason in any of those places then he would tear Gotham apart to find his man. “Keep watch over Crime Alley, I’m going to search for him. When I find that asshole I’ll drag his ass back so he can tell us what the fuck is going on.” He told Red Hood’s men before he started the motorcycle.

Roy hoped to high heaven’s that nothing bad had happened to Jason… He really didn’t want to have to explain to Lian what had happened to her second Daddy and why Roy was burning the world to the ground…

-.-.-.-.-.-

Jason’s mind snapped to consciousness when he heard the sound of his window sliding open and then closed. Making sure to look as if he were still asleep, Jason turned over on his side and slid his hand under his pillow where he had hidden a spare knife that he had taken from Damian. Normally he would have hid a gun under his pillow, but he didn’t want his son to find the gun…

After his breakdown in Bruce’s office over finding out that his son had lost his twin sister, he had practically cried himself to sleep as Bruce and his son had tried to comfort him. He felt embarrassed over the fact that his four-year-old son had had to comfort him.

“It’s otay, Mommy, Dani is watching over us. And we’ll see her once we fade to our final death.” His little boy had told him while petting his hair. Those words had caused Jason to hug Danny to him, promising his son that he wouldn’t allow anything to take him away, promising that his son’s ‘final death’ wouldn’t be for a very long time. After having calmed down enough, Jason had allowed his son to finish telling Clocky the Grandfather clock about his day and tell the clock good night while he stayed cuddled up to his own father, soaking up the warmth and comfort the man was giving him while purposefully ignoring the alien that was still in the room.

After that, Bruce had called Alfred to make sure that Jason had made it to his bed while the old man put a very chatty Danny to bed. The last Jason had heard before Alfred had led him into his own room was his son demanding his Granddaddy to read him the story of the Constellation of Draco...

Jason forced his body to remain relaxed even as his hand gripped the hilt of the knife under his bed. His ears listening to the sound of someone’s soft footsteps while trying to figure out which idiot had a death wish. It was clear that it wasn’t any of his siblings, the footsteps were too loud to have been them.

“I know you’re awake, asshole.” Roy whispered angrily and Jason’s eyes snapped open to see his boyfriend dressed in his vigilante outfit glaring down at him, hands on his hips.

“What are you doing here?” Jason asked, releasing the knife as he sat up.

“I think that’s my question, Jason! You’ve been MIA for a week with no word to anyone!” Roy hissed at him as he felt the man’s eyes scan him, looking for any injuries. “Last anyone saw you, you were racing towards the Batcave and then the Batmobile was seen racing towards Leslie Thompkins’ office!” Roy had moved so that he was now kneeling on the bed, his hands running along Jason’s body searching for any injuries that his eyes couldn’t see.

“I’m fine, Roy.” Jason breathed out, allowing the man to push him down on the bed. He bit back a moan as his body reacted to his boyfriend’s hands on his body. “She wasn’t called to the cave for me.”

“Then who? And why did you go dark without warning?” Roy demanded as he continued checking his body for injuries, the man knowing from experience that Jason never told the truth about his injuries.

“A little boy…” Jason breathed out, trying (and failing) to stop his hips from thrusting up as Roy’s very talented fingers ghosted over his hip bones. He knew that Roy wasn’t purposely trying to turn him on, but it had been almost three weeks since the two of them had been able to find a chance to be intimate with each other. “…found him injured and in need of immediate medical attention… Batcave was the closest… God damn it Roy…” His moan was the only warning his boyfriend had before Jason grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled him down to kiss him.

“Jason…” Roy growled warningly against his lips.

“I’m fine, I swear.” Jason told him once the man pulled away from the kiss.

“If you’re as fine as you say, then why did you go dark?” Roy asked him as he allowed his body to settle on top of Jason as he opened his legs a little to allow his boyfriend to settle in between his legs… right where he belonged…

“Was taking care of the boy…” Jason told him as he began to remove Roy’s armor so that his boyfriend could be more comfortable.

“And you didn’t let any one know… didn’t let me know?” Roy asked allowing the worry, fear, and hurt he had been feeling to show in not only his voice but his eyes and face. Jason froze as he allowed his mind to look at everything from Roy’s angle… to put himself in Roy’s shoes…

The last anyone had seen him had been racing towards the Batcave… a place every one of his men knew that he avoided if he could help it… a place that he’d only go if it was a life or death situation…

The Batmobile had been seen racing from the Batcave towards Leslie Thompkins’ office… someone that was rumored to help the Bats… someone they trusted to keep them alive…

And then he went dark… no words… nothing to let anyone know that he was still alive…

“Oh Roy… I’m so sorry…” Jason breathed out pulling the man into a tight hug. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking… I guess you could say that I got baby brain…”

“The boy… how is he… is he…?” Roy asked as he allowed himself to nuzzle into Jason’s shoulder, taking in his warmth and the scent of his body wash, to let him know that Jason was there.

“He’s fine. Leslie had to put him in a medically induced coma for a little while, but he’s alive. He’s been running around the manor for the last two days laughing and playing and just making everyone’s lives so much brighter… you should see Bruce with him…” Jason told Roy earning a small chuckle from the man.

“If he’s anything like Oliver was with Lian… then this boy has made the old man into putty…” Roy said as Jason continued in taking Roy’s ‘Arsenal’ suit off, with the man helping Jason.

“Oh, it’s not just Bruce that he has made into putty… Alfred gave the boy one of his precious laundry baskets to play with after getting blasted with his puppy dog eyes… those things are lethal man.” Jason told him with a hint of laughter in his voice causing Roy to laugh.

“Aren’t all kid’s puppy dog eyes lethal? Lian had Oliver practically buying out the toy store.” Roy told him as Jason helped him slip out of his pants before quickly settling himself back in between Jason’s legs.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Wayne Enterprise has many stores that hold baby clothes and toys under their name now.” Jason let out an airy laugh that turned into a moan as Roy began to leave open mouth kisses along his neck. It really had been too long since he had Roy inside him…

“How old is he? What’s the little guy’s name?” Roy asked.

“His name is Danny and we believe he’s four…” Jason told him as he began to rock his hips up against Roy’s in search of friction. “Please don’t have me talk about my son while you’re making me so fucking horny…” Jason felt Roy smirk against his skin as the man began to rock against him, giving him the desired friction he needed. Jason knew that Roy’s smirk meant that the man was up to something, but with how fucking good it felt to have his boyfriend not only between his legs but also grinding against him was making his mind a little more than fuzzy at the moment.

“So, you’re the sibling that’s inherited Bruce’s adoption kink.” Roy whispered against his skin and Jason had half a mind to push his boyfriend off of him and onto the hard floor… if only he wasn’t rocking his hips in that way that Roy knew drove him crazy.

“Shut up, Daddy, or you won’t–” Jason’s words were cut off with a loud moan as his eyes nearly rolled to the back of his head as Roy grabbed his legs and manhandled him so that one of his legs was now around Roy’s shoulder and the other was held in a tight grip as Roy slammed his mouth on to his and forced his tongue into Jason’s mouth to play with his tongue. Jason knew that Roy loved when he called him ‘Daddy’ in bed. “Fuck, Daddy… please…”

“I’m not the only ‘Daddy’ in bed any more…” Roy growled against his lips as he continued rocking his hips against Jason’s in that delicious way.

“I’m Mommy, actually…” Jason breathed out. Roy’s hips stilled for a second (and Jason would never admit that he might have whined at that) before he started grinding against Jason harder and faster.

“Fuck, that’s hot…” Roy groaned.

“You know what’ll be hotter?” Jason moaned out.

“What, baby? Tell Daddy what you want?” Roy told him.

“You inside me, Daddy.”

Chapter Text

Dear Readers,

I apologize that this is not the anticipated next chapter for Face My Fears, hopefully that will be done and ready to post within the next few days. However, this is an open letter to everyone of you, but mainly to one reader. I am not trying to call this person out or trying to bully this reader, I found that though their comment was very polite it did still leave me with a slightly bad taste in my mouth. However, this is not me trying to have anyone attack this person, I am hoping that we are all mature people and will understand that people have different views and opinions on certain matters, this is not about their opinions or views versus mine, this is me hoping to clear something up.

The last scene of this chapter was a bit spicy and a scene between two consenting adult males. I understand that there are people that do not wish to read about two men getting intimate with each other. I also understand that I did not give any tags about sex in this story, and that is because I do not plan to write any actual sex scenes. The scene between Jason and Roy was not an actual sex scene it was just a scene between boyfriends that got a bit heated. I understand that I did not specifically say that both of them still had some form of clothes on separating them because I wanted to leave some of the scene up to the imagination of the reader. However, I see that I should have at least hinted that they still had some clothes on at the end of that scene: Jason still had on his sleep pants and Roy had on his undershirt and boxers (if the clothes stayed on after the end of the scene or not is not important 😈😉).

The main point that I wish to point out is that in the relationship tags it specifically states that there are four male/male relationships in this story: Roy Harper/Jason Todd; Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne; Tim Drake/Kon-El (Conner Kent); and Jon Kent/Damian Wayne. I specifically chose these male/male couples to have in this story and its sequel for a reason: They are each in separate stages of male/male relationship for Danny to learn from.

Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne is the couple that have been together the longest and are considered the married couple. It allows Danny to see that Male/Male relationships can also end in marriage when you find the right person just like any other relationship.

Roy Harper and Jason Todd is the young adult couple that have just gotten out of their honey moon phase of the relationship but they clearly still have a healthy attraction to each other and are not afraid to show it. It shows Danny that leaving the honey moon phase of the relationship isn't a bad thing and once you find the right person can actually strengthen the relationship.

Jon Kent and Damian Wayne is the fresh couple that just got together and are also learning about themselves. They are the awkward couple that are clearly still in the honey moon phase of their relationship, but they are also clearly in their first ever relationship and aren't quite sure of themselves. It will allow Danny to feel safe to explore and find who he is and grow as a person.

Then there is Tim Drake and Kon-El; they are the couple that don't seem to show their feelings for partner that the other couples do. They are the couple that can go long period of time without seeing or talking to each other and be safe in the knowledge that their relationship is still as solid as it was when they last talked. They are the couple that just being in the same room is enough, that they could each spend hours doing their own thing not talking and it would be the best damn date night that they had. It shows Danny that not every relationship is the same and as long as him and his partner(s) are happy and on the same page then it is okay.

Now, the only relationships that will have spicy scenes shown or mentioned will be Roy Harper/Jason Todd, Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne, Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, and one other couple (Female/Female) that will be coming in later. I chose these four to have spicy scenes because they are couples that are above the legal age of consent. Tim and Kon-El won't be having a spicy scene mainly because in my story both Tim and Kon-El will be Asexual. And the 'spiciest' that Jon and Damian will ever get is a quick kiss on the lips as they are only pre-teens...

Now that my main point has been made I do have a question for this certain commenter that, if they choose to continue reading despite that scene from the previous chapter, they will know who they are. Was the discomfort from the scene because it was two males in the position I put them in or because it was just a little too spicy for your comfort? I am not asking to be accusatory or trying to call you out, I believe you when you said that you had nothing against gays. However, I am curious. 

Would that last scene have been okay if Jason had been a female? Would it have bothered you less if it was a Female/Male in that situation with the female in Jason's position? Would it have been okay if Jason and Roy had both been female? Or was it not the sex of the characters in the scene but the fact that scene was sexual in nature? 

Once again, I am not trying to accuse you of anything. I am just trying to figure out what exactly was it about that scene that made you uncomfortable. I made sure to put this story in the 'Mature' category to allow me the freedom to add in a spicy scene (without getting too explicit) that is needed for a future scene. Once again, I apologize that the scene offended you, but I stand by my words that if reading about two males in a consensual relationship offended you then this story and it's sequel is not for you.

Sincerely,

MysticRose1992

(Myari Rose)  

Chapter Text

Chapter Six –

Bruce’s eyes snapped open at the sound of a young boy yelling “Get off my Mommy!” and shot to his feet, grabbing his robe as he flew out of his room. He easily dodged his children as he made his way to the still yelling child and nearly broke the door to Jason’s room in his haste to get it open. There he found a very angry four-year-old being held in the arms of a very naked Jason, yelling as he held his precious cat plushie to his chest, tears rolling down his cheeks as he glared at the red head that had clearly been pushed off Jason in his haste to get to his son.

Bruce sighed as he rested against the door frame as his mind took in that no one was hurt, bleeding, or in the process of dying. That everyone was safe. That his children were safe.

Once the adrenaline had left his body, Bruce took in the scene once more with a clear head. It was clear that at some point in the night, Roy had come to the manor and had more than likely snuck in. Alfred had not informed Bruce of their guest which the man definitely would have had he let the man in to the manor. He made the mental note to check the security for any signs of tampering.

Bruce allowed his eyes to scan not only his son but also Roy, checking for any signs of injury and finally registered the lack of clothes on both of the men. He felt his eye twitch. This was not the best way to learn that his baby boy was in a relationship with an older man…

He added another mental note to call Oliver and let the man know that he did not appreciate the man’s son corrupting his innocent baby boy.

“Shush, baby, it’s okay. See, Mommy’s fine.” Jason whispered as he tried to sooth his angry son.

“Gah! My eyes!” Bruce heard Duke cry and looked over his shoulder to see the poor boy covering his eyes.

“Why are you and Harper unclothed, Todd?” Damian asked before Tim suddenly covered the young pre-teen’s eyes. Bruce had to bite back a laugh when Dick suddenly slammed his hand over Tim’s eyes (earning an annoyed huff from the teenager) and nearly choked out a laugh when Cass suddenly covered Dick’s eyes while she covered her own eyes with a playful smile. Steph gave a wolf whistle as she poked her head around the door frame, a smirk on her face.

“Well hi there, Roy, good morning to you too. What’s for breakfast? Sausage?” Steph teased causing the poor man to blush while he hurried to cover himself with a blanket all while glaring at her.

“I’ve got this. You go on down to breakfast. I’m sure Alfred already has it done.” Bruce shoo-ed the others away as he made his way into the room, closing the door as he went.

“Drake, I have seen a naked body before, the League made sure–” Bruce over heard Damian complain as he followed his brother’s down to breakfast. That caused him to pause. What had the League of Shadows taught his youngest about how the bodies worked? While training to be Batman, Bruce had studied under Ra’s Al Ghul and had many lessons on the body and the anatomy of bodies… Not all of which were in ways to kill (Bruce had to fight back the sudden nausea that came with the flashbacks of Ra’s personally teaching him)…

Which lesson was his youngest referring to… Bruce prayed that it was one of the many lessons on the multiple ways one could kill a person. He would have to pull Damian aside and talk to him to see what lessons on the body Ra’s had given his youngest son…

“I’ll tell you what I told Clark last night, Roy. I do not mind you showing up at the manor when you alert me beforehand. But it was nice that you came to check in on your friend.” Bruce told the man as he made his way over to his son and grandson. “Did the mean old arrow man scare you, Danny, it’s okay, granddaddy is here to keep you and your Mommy safe from the mean old arrow man.” He told him as he carefully took Danny (who had thankfully stopped yelling) in his arms, allowing Jason to finally get dressed.

“He hurted Mommy! Mommy was in pain!” Danny told him as more tears fell from his innocent ice blue eyes. Bruce looked over at Roy with a raised eye brow as the younger man blushed a deep red while avoiding looking him in the eyes.

“I wasn’t hurting Jason… not necessarily…” Roy told him earning not only a dark warning look from Bruce but a balled up shirt thrown at him from Jason’s bathroom.

“Bruce doesn’t need to know what we get to in our bed!” Jason hissed as he stormed out of the bathroom finally clothed in his normal sleep pants along with an old wonder woman tank. The dark look Bruce was giving Roy turned into a glare. He would need to pull Jason aside and make sure that this ‘relationship’ with Roy was consensual.

“I don’t know, if my grandson thinks you were being hurt I might have to.” Bruce threatened, he didn’t actually want to know what his son and his son’s boyfriend did in bed… But he had to know that his innocent baby boy wasn’t being taken advantage of.

“I’ll tell you but only if you tell me everything you and Clark get up to!” Jason threatened right back knowing that Bruce held what happened between him and Clark in the bedroom tight to his chest… no one need know how Clark knew just how to manhandle him just right… or how the man could easily pin him to the wall…

“You wouldn’t be able to handle knowing everything Clark does to me, how he knows how to make me sing…” Bruce told him, smirking when his son slapped his hands to his ears.

“Fuck, Bruce! I do not need to hear how you bottom for Superman!” Jason growled out, glaring at him.

“Fuck!” Danny cried out happily as he reached out for Jason, who happily took him into his arms.

“Danny, that’s a grown-up word, only grown-ups say that word.” Jason told his son.

“I sorry Mommy.” Danny said sadly before suddenly hissing loudly as he lashed out and used Phantom the cat plushie to hit Roy who had silently made his way over to them while trying to gather his discarded vigilante outfit. “Stay away from my Mommy!” He growled baring his fangs at Roy.

“Danny, sweety, we don’t hit people.” Jason tried to tell his son, but Danny was too busy hissing and growling at Roy while looking only seconds from throwing his precious plushie at the man.

“Roy, go, leave the room, now!” Bruce ordered; the younger man didn’t need to be told twice. He caught the pair of sleep pants that Bruce quickly tossed at him as he left the room. Danny collapsed into Jason’s hold the second that Roy had shut the door and cried as he hugged Jason’s neck.

“Danny, sweety, it’s okay. I’m not hurt.” Jason told Danny as he rubbed the young boy’s back soothingly.

“He had you pinneded. He was gonna cutted you open! He was gonna pulleded your insides out! He was gonna pokeded your insides! He was gonna finded your core and Ended you!” Danny cried as he clung to Jason, his tiny body shaking in fear. Bruce clenched his jaw as he barely fought the urge to hunt down these ‘white coats’ that had clearly tortured the poor boy before giving him over to cultists.

After putting Danny to bed last night, and after sending Clark back to his apartment in Metropolis (he was not in the mood to deal with Clark and the way the man made him feel soft at the moment) he had headed down to the cave. Danny had given them a few more clues about his life before them. He had an older sister that had escaped to the UK for college, now if this older sister was blood related or not was to be determined. There was a Sammy and a Tuck-Tuck. And even Dani, his twin that died in his arms…

It wasn’t very much to go on, and a normal person wouldn’t be able to do anything with what little they had been given… but Bruce wasn’t just anyone! He was the Bat! He had found many people on less. He would find out whoever this Jazzy was, he would locate this Sammy, he would question this Tuck-Tuck…

…And he would give Dani a grave that Danny and the rest of his family could visit and properly grieve at…

And he would hunt down whoever these ‘White Coats’ were and make them wish they had never existed.

But first, he and Jason needed to talk about getting Danny some help with the trauma that he had endured at the hands of not only the ‘White Coats’ but also the cultists.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Breakfast was a tense affair.

Danny had refused to allow Roy to sit any where near Jason, even after Jason and Bruce had explained to Danny that Roy wasn’t hurting Jason. That, yes, Roy had technically had Jason pinned to the bed by his wrist with one hand and the other tracing his autopsy scar, but it was consensual. That Roy wasn’t hurting Jason, wasn’t even planning to hurt Jason (not that he didn’t like a little pain with his pleasure).

Jason sighed when his son hissed and bared his fangs at Roy (who was sitting across from them so that Danny could keep an eye on the ‘mean old arrow man who wanted to hurt his Mommy’) when the man reached across the table to grab some more toast. “It’s alright, sweety.” Jason whispered to Danny while nudging the bowl of untouched cut up fruit in front of his son trying to urge his son to eat.

“Jason, I think – FUCK!” Roy started only to cry out in pain when he was suddenly hit with the (hopefully empty) sippy cup that had once been sitting in front of his son. The hit of the metal sippy cup (along with not having expected the hit) had the older male fall from his seat and hit the ground painfully. Jason and his family blinked, no one having seen Danny even throw the sippy cup.

“Daniel Thomas Todd-Wayne! We do not throw our sippy cups at people!” Jason reprimanded, not even realizing that he had unintentionally called him by the name that he had wanted to give the boy when he officially adopted him.

“We do if the person is a mean old arrow man!” Danny snapped back at him and Jason blinked in shock. Over the two days that his son had been awake, Danny had never once snapped back… but then again the boy had never done anything to earn a full name reprimand… Jason didn’t know rather to be proud of the sass his son had or annoyed at the attitude his son was giving him.

“Now, Young Master Danny,” Alfred said as he appeared in the room with a fresh sippy cup for Danny, “Mister Roy is our guest and the Wayne family are known for their hospitality. A good host does not throw their drinks at their guests.” The old man calmly, yet firmly, told the annoyed four-year-old with the grace and the expertise of a man that had raised a stubborn Wayne.

“Make him not our guest!” Danny told Alfred with a pout.

“We cannot kick our guest out without cause, Young Master.” Alfred told him with a knowing smirk as Roy finally started to get up off the floor, the shock of being nailed in the forehead by a metal sippy cup thrown by a four-year-old having had him lay on the ground for a little while to question his life choices.

“But I has a cause!” Danny cried as he glared at the red headed man, and Jason knew that everyone of his family members had leaned forward, eager to hear what the four-year-old would say was his cause.

“Oh, and pray tell, Young Master, what is your cause for kicking out our guest?” Alfred asked as he walked around the table to pick up the metal sippy cup.

“I hate him!” Danny said his little face scrunched up so seriously that Jason couldn’t help but laugh. His son could be so adorable some times.

“That’s quite the arm he has.” Roy muttered as he finally made it back to his seat. Suddenly the untouched bowl of cut up fruit went flying, and in his attempt to duck out of the way, Roy actually ended up in the perfect position to getting nailed in the face by the bowl… as if Danny had predicted which way Roy would have tried to dodge…

“Danny…” Jason started, a warning in his tone.

“It wasn’t a sippy cup!” Danny told him, throwing his arms in the air, and Jason had to sigh because his son had him there.

“We don’t throw things at people.” Jason told his son earning a pout along with a small glare. “Don’t you glare at me, young man.” Danny glared at him more, pouting even more. “You’re on the way to a time out, Danny.”

“I hate you, Mommy! You likeded the mean old arrow man more than me!” Danny cried and, before Jason could react, the small toddler had phased through his booster seat and the chair it was on and ran under the table at Roy. “Go away! You is not wanted here! You stoleded my Mommy from me!” Danny yelled as he began hitting, biting, and scratching at Roy.

“Danny!” Everyone cried as they jumped up and hurried over to the pissed off four-year-old metahuman that was attacking Roy. It was a long, hurried couple of minutes as everyone tried to get ahold of Danny, only for the pissed off toddler to constantly phase out of the hands of anyone who got ahold of him.

Finally, Bruce was able to get ahold of Danny and pulled the young boy into his arms, which caused a loud, piercing screech to erupt out of the boy’s mouth that seemed to cause the whole manor to shake dangerously. As Jason (along with everyone but Bruce, who was still holding Danny) covered his ears, he heard the sound of something large and heavy crashing to the floor in the other room.

Thankfully as quick as the sound had come, it had stopped.

His bat training instantly took over as Jason’s mind raced to calculate any and all damage done to him and his surroundings. His ears were ringing and his head hurt to the point that he felt as if he was concussed and he was seeing a faint after image. His body swayed as his legs fought to keep from bucking under him, whatever his son had done having zapped him of his energy.

Every glass on the table had shattered due to the screech. Thankfully the reinforced glass of the windows had held, that would have been a bitch and a half to get replaced. The loud crash had been the chandelier in the foyer crashing (and shattering) on the ground, it would need to be replaced… again. Thankfully the chandelier in the dining room was still holding strong, though it was swaying quite dangerously.

Roy had multiple bruises, bite marks, and claw marks all along his arms. He had, thankfully, thrown his arms up to protect anything vital from getting attacked. Years of vigilante work having allowed him to know exactly how to protect his body. With just the quick look, Jason could tell that none of the wounds on Roy were too deep and none of them would need any stitches.

“What was that?” Steph asked, probably a little louder than she would have but Jason gave her some leeway for the fact that he was sure her ears were also ringing.

“Sonic attack.” Bruce grunted out as he held Danny tighter to him as the boy had gone limp. His tiny body was shaking and Jason couldn’t tell if it was because of over exertion or because he was crying.

“Oh, Danny.” Jason whispered as he made his way over to his son and took him in his arms.

“Sorry. So sorry. Didn’t mean too. Sorry. Don’t hate me. Don’t sended me away. So sorry. I’ll be a good boy. Sorry. Don’t leave me.” He was muttering while crying and Jason’s heart clinched. His son was terrified of Jason abandoning him.

“Oh, baby. It’s alright. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I don’t hate you. I know you didn’t mean to. It’s alright.” Jason whispered into his son’s hair as he held his traumatized son while he cried himself to sleep. He would need to look into getting his son some help with over coming everything that he had gone through.

-.-.-.-.-.-

“How’s Danny.” Was the first thing Roy asked him the moment he walked into the med bay.

“He’s… I want to say he’s fine but that would be a lie, but he’s resting.” Jason sighed out as he looked over his boyfriend, the bites and claw marks having been expertly cleaned and wrapped by Alfred. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, I’m more worried about Danny. That was not a normal reaction, what the hell was his life before you found him? How did you find him?” Roy asked reaching out to Jason who allowed the older man to pull him into a hug.

“I don’t fully know his story, and I’m not sure if he can even properly explain what happened to him before I got to him.” Jason started as he rested his forehead on Roy’s shoulder, taking in the warmth and comfort that his boyfriend was giving him, the man clearly having realized that this was going to be a difficult explanation. “I stumbled upon a group of cultists in the warehouse district just off of Gotham proper… they were in the middle of sacrificing Danny.”

“Those fuckers.” Roy growled out, his arms tightening around Jason for a few seconds. It was clear that Roy was imagining Lian having been the one being sacrificed instead of Danny.

“They’re all dead, the pit made sure of it.” Jason growled out.

“Good.” Roy told him.

“After I took care of the lot of them, I was able to get a good look at the poor baby… Roy, some sick fuckers had vivisected him!” Jason told him.

“And they’re still alive?” Roy asked him and Jason pulled away from the man to pace the room. His body was tense and ready to strike at something… but he could tell that this anger and rage that he was feeling wasn’t from the pit inside him but from himself…

“We’re not sure who exactly it was. We’re not sure if they were part of the cultists that had him or if someone else had him before giving him over to the cultists… and we can’t exactly ask the cultists because the pit didn’t leave anyone alive… and the only time we tried to ask Danny, all he said was that his parents had done it and that they worked with the ‘White Coats’.” Jason told him.

“And do we know who these ‘White Coats’ are?” Roy asked, never taking his eyes off of him.

“No. We’re trying to look into them, but there isn’t much to go off of. What we’ve been able to piece together is that the ‘White Coats’ are some kind of Doctors or are playing Doctor. Danny had parents that worked with these 'doctors' and were the ones that cut Danny open. And then Danny ended up with the cultists. We don’t know how long he had been with the cultist.

“But we also know that he has someone that he calls ‘Jazzy’ and that she is his ‘sissy’, we don’t know if she was part of the cultists or not, what we do know is that she is now somewhere in the UK going to ‘big girl school’ which we have translated as she has gone off to college. Then not to mention ‘Sammy and Tuck-Tuck’!” Jason cried, running his hands through his hair.

“Sammy and Tuck-Tuck?” Roy asked.

“We don’t know who they are. We don’t know how old they are. We don’t know if they were apart of the cultists or the ‘White Coats’. We don’t even know if that is their real names!” Jason cried out. “Danny first told me about Sammy and Tuck-Tuck last night during bath time! But I thought they were part of his imagination because he was telling me how him and Phantom the cat plushie had to save them from someone he called Undergrowth.” Jason’s mind began to race.

If this Sammy and Tuck-Tuck were the same as the ones from the story then did that make Undergrowth real? Was Frosty the Polar Bear named after someone who could actually manipulate ice? And what about Pandora? Princess Dorathea and her brother Prince Aragon, where they real? What of Ghosty and Clockwork? And who was Phantom the cat plushie named after?

“Jason, come here.” Roy called to him softly and Jason walked over to him and allowed the man to pull him into a tight, calming hug. The two sat there as Jason silently cried while Roy hugged and rocked him.

“He had a twin.” Jason whispered into Roy’s shoulder. “A twin sister that died in his arms…” He felt Roy suck in a breath as he held him tighter. The silence around them was tense as neither of them knew what to say. Jason jolted in surprise when something lightly hit his leg. He looked down to find the red ball that he had noticed his family recently start playing with. He had meant to ask them about their sudden interest with this ball, but with everything that had happened since Danny had woken up, he hadn’t found the time. Jason quickly looked around him and Roy hoping to spot which sibling had rolled the ball to him.

But there was no one.

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven –

Roy felt the eyes on him minutes before he saw him. The young boy was staring at him with wide, cautious eyes. Peaking around the door frame, watching him, trying to gage his emotions, to see if it was safe. Roy allowed his body to remain loose, tried to give off the feeling of ‘calm’. He didn’t want to spook the poor boy again; he had learned his lesson the last time (even if he hadn’t meant to spook him).

It had been a few days since his first disastrous meeting with Danny. Both Jason and Roy had agreed to give Danny some time to relax. To allow Jason and Bruce to try and get it through to Danny that Roy wasn’t there to hurt Jason or even steal the man away from the boy. Roy understood that as his son, that Danny would always come first for Jason, and Roy wouldn’t have it any other way. It was the same for Lian and him, and he knew that Jason also understood that.

However, Jason had reached out to Roy, explaining that Danny wanted to talk to him in person. Roy expected that the young boy needed to hear from Roy himself that he wasn’t going to hurt his Mommy or steal him away… Lian had needed the same thing from Jason after the first time she had met him as ‘Daddy’s special friend’.

Danny let out a small, fearful chirp when he noticed that Roy had spotted him and hid behind the door frame. Roy stayed sitting on the couch in the family room, Jason across from him and Cass sitting in the window ‘reading’. He would allow Danny all the time he needed to work up the courage to approach him, it would allow the young boy to feel as if he was in control of the situation.

It was just him, Jason, Danny, Cass, and Alfred in the manor at the moment. Duke was out patrolling as Signal. Steph claimed she had classes (lord knew if that was true or not but it wasn’t his business anyway). Tim was at the office mitigating a potential disaster in the making. Dick was actually at GCPD doing the job he had transferred over from Blüdhaven to do after his engagement with Barbara, who was at her job in the library. Damian was at school. And Superman had taken Batman to the Watchtower for an emergency meeting.

Danny peaked at him once more, his white cat plushie held to his chest. Roy spotted the bright red Red Hood bandage wrapped around the plushie’s tail and wondered if the boy would allow him to ask how his friend had gotten his boo-boo. The two locked eyes and Roy sent him a soft smile. Danny shifted a little, his arms tightening around the cat plushie a little more.

Roy allowed his mind to wander. What other toys did Danny have? How big had his collection gotten? How many puzzle books and toys did he have? Would he accept a toy from Roy as an apology for scaring him? Was he lonely with out other children to play with? Would he want to meet Lian? Would the two like each other? What kind of games would the two play? Would Danny let him join in their games?

Danny’s cute and awkward toddler shuffle into the room drew Roy’s attention back to the young boy. One of his arms had dropped from the cat plushie to allow the hand to grip the bottom of his Batman shirt (with a small bathood included with Bat ears and everything!). “You’re not gonna hurted Mommy, right? Mommy and Granddaddy said you wouldn’t.” Danny asked, his voice small and vulnerable and Roy had to fight the urge to pull the scared baby boy into his arms, he hadn’t earned the privilege from the boy yet.

“I would rather hurt myself than hurt your Mommy. I love your Mommy.” Roy told Danny causing Jason’s face to heat up while earning a smile from Cass.

“And you promise you won’t stolded him away from me?” Danny asked, blinking innocently up at him as he shuffled closer. It was clear that Danny wanted to trust Roy but couldn’t quite allow himself to just yet.

“You’re Mommy belongs with you. Anyone who would dare to say otherwise doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as the two of you.” Roy told the boy earning a warning hiss from Jason and a pleased nod from Cass. Danny locked eyes with Roy. His ice blue eyes seemed to look straight into his very soul, reading all of his fears and secrets and seeing everything he held dear to him. The few minutes that their eyes were locked together felt like a dozen life times for the man before Danny blinked, allowing Roy to finally breathe again.

“Wanna meet my council?” Danny asked and Roy smiled.

“I would be honored to meet them.” Roy told him and Danny nodded to himself before making his way over to Roy and held up his arms, silently demanding the man to hold him.

“I tolded them about you. They demanded to meet you before they alloweded you to continue to be with Mommy.” Danny explained as Roy stood up and took the boy into his arms.

“But of course. Only the best can be with your Mommy.” Roy told Danny seriously as the very red faced Jason led them out of the room and up towards Danny’s playroom, with Cass following silently behind them.

“Only the bestest.” Danny agreed.

“And if I don’t meet your council’s approval?” Roy asked.

“Then we would have to get rid of you and feeded your body to Sammy’s flowers.” Danny told him seriously and Roy felt deep down that this little boy would absolutely be able to not only take him out but make sure that no one ever found his body. Roy didn’t know if he should feel scared or proud.

“Well, then I certainly hope I gain their approval, I wouldn’t want Lian to lose me.” Roy said, half joking. There was a small part of him that hoped that mentioning his daughter would spare him. Danny narrowed his eyes at him.

“Who is Lian?” Danny asked suspiciously.

“My daughter.” Roy told him and Danny’s eyes shot open in shock.

“You has a daughter!?” Danny asked, his voice echoing loudly in the hallway.

“I do, she’s six and just a ball of energy. If I pass your council’s inspection I hope to introduce the two of you, if you would like that.” Roy told Danny as they came to a stop just outside of what he presumed was Danny’s playroom.

“If you telled them about Lian, they should not be angry with you.” Danny told him seriously before wiggling, demanding to be sat down. Roy quickly sat the boy on the ground and watched as he hurriedly made his way over to the door and opened it (having to stand on his tiptoes to be able to reach the door handle).

The door opened to show a room filled with all kinds of toys. One of the walls had what looked to be a mid-evil castle painted on it, in front of the castle sat a lone upside down laundry basket with a dark purple dragon inside the make shift cage. The wall across from the main door held the mural of a Greek Temple and in front of the mural sat a toybox that was painted a dark grayish purple with the trims and etchings painted a silvery gold, an ice blue jewel had been molded  onto the lid. The toybox looked both enticing and haunting and had clearly been painted by Damian and practically screamed ‘Pandora’s Box’. Across from the painting of the mid-evil castle was a floor to ceiling mural of an ancient looking library (with some children bookshelves filled to the brim with books in front of it). The ceiling was painted to look like space, the light was made to look like the sun and Damian had painted as many constellations as he could in a spiral around the light.

“Please shut the door, Auntie Cass.” Danny said as he made his way over to a small children’s table and took his seat at the head of the table after sitting Phantom the Cat Plushie in the chair to his right. On the other side of Phantom the Cat Plushie sat a white polar bear plushie, next to the polar bear plushie sat an obviously repurposed Wonder Woman doll made to look more Greek than Amazonian. There was an empty chair next to the Wonder Woman doll, but in the chair next to the empty chair sat a small green ghost plushie that had a small book taped to it’s hands. And in the seat next to the ghost, on the other side of Danny, sat a sparkly powder blue dragon.

At the sound of the door closing, Roy looked behind him and couldn’t stop himself from freezing. The wall in which held the main door had been painted to be a frozen tundra, even the door had been painted to blend into the frozen tundra, hiding the exit for anyone who didn’t know what to look for. Cass stood on one side of the hidden door, hands folded neatly in front of her, her face held in a serious look (however her eyes shining in amusement softened the look quite a bit). Jason stood on the other side of the hidden door, he was clearly very amused and willing to see how far Roy would allow his son to take his playtime.

When Roy looked back at Danny, his mind stumbled a bit and he couldn’t help himself but wonder if Jason had actually given birth to this boy (stranger things had happened in his life). For the boy was sitting at the table with his hands steepled in front of his mouth as he stared Roy down. He reminded Roy so much of Jason when he, as Red Hood, stared down one of his men just before he interrogated him.

“Please, Mr. Arrow man, sir, have a seat. We have much to discuss.” Danny said and as Roy took the offered seat, and tried to get as comfy as he could on the child sized chair, he wondered what exactly he was about to get himself into.

-.-.-.-.-.-

It had taken longer than she had wanted, longer than she had originally planned for. She had hoped to have finished her preparations before they had started their attack. They didn’t have to tell her that they were going to attack Drs. Jack and Madeline Fenton and the GIW, she had planned for it.

Jazz knew that Tucker would have been the first of the two to realize what had happened, to register the situation that they now found themselves in. And then he would silently get to work to prepare. Tucker would have prepared for multiple scenarios as he calculated which one would be the most likely one they would end up at. He would take every clue, every sign, every warning and plan for it. He would make sure that whatever role everyone naturally fell into had everything they needed.

And then, once he was fully prepared, he would sit and wait until he was given his cue to begin. Before Danny had started to drift from them, Tucker would take his cues from their unofficial leader, but once Danny started drifting from them he started looking towards Sam for his cues. And Sam was happy to give him the cues, to take the role of leader, even if only temporarily.

It would be Sam who led the direction that the rest of them would go. It would be Sam’s decision on how they acted. It would be Sam that decided how they went about finding Danny.

However, they had to wait until Sam’s frazzled mind finally registered what was going on, finally realizing why neither Tucker or Jazz had acted yet. Sam, though she had easily slid into the role of leader, had always expected to give the role back to Danny once he had taken all the time he needed to get used to the new normal… But now with Danny missing, Sam had shut down for a while. She had panicked and hid and brooded.

Jazz knew that in Sam’s mind she wasn’t supposed to be the permanent leader of their rag-tag team. That she was supposed to be Danny’s right-hand woman, to be the pillar he needed whenever he stumbled. She was supposed to only step in to Danny’s role whenever Danny became overwhelmed and couldn’t be the leader they needed. But now that Danny was missing and hidden from them for the unforeseeable future, Sam would have to step up and be their leader for however long it took to find their missing boy.

And as Tucker prepared and planned for every scenario that Sam could end up choosing, and Sam mentally coming to terms with what was happening and deciding how to act, Jazz prepared in her own way. While Tucker was their ‘Person in the chair’ with his quick mind and even quicker fingers that glided and flew over his keyboard, planning and plotting on how to make sure their team had everything they needed for their initial attack, and any back up plans they would need to succeed. Jazz was the one that moved in the shadows. Made sure that their team was taken care of and provided for outside of combat.

She had quickly learned that the right words in the correct phrasing could often get any information she needed out of a person. Just the right social pressure had even the toughest nut crack open enough to slip her claws into them. But her work wasn’t often quick. She had to learn about her targets, learn what words and phrases she needed to use, how much social pressure she needed… it was a delicate job.

One that she usually loved to do, when she had the time and didn’t have to rush.

Jazz didn’t blame Tucker and Sam for not warning her that they would be starting their attack, but it would have been nice. How could she keep them safe from any backlash of their actions if she didn’t know when or how they were going to strike? But she was ready now, she could soften the blow and protect both Sam and Tucker from harsher punishment… because after what the two teens had chosen as their action to get the attention they needed there would be punishment for the two of them, but at least she could soften the punishment.

Jazz allowed herself to feel the fear, worry, and terror as she called up the number that had taken her too long to hunt down. She would need her real emotions for this call. Nothing but real emotions would get these people to actually act.

“Thank you for calling the Justice League helpline, what is your emergency?” A kind and caring voice asked. It was female and gave off so much fierce protection and kind safety. Jazz could definitely work with that. She allowed herself to sit in her emotions for a few seconds, allowing her breathing to come out in short, panicked breaths before she reigned it in just enough to actually talk.

“I… please… help them… help us…” Jazz breathed out as she felt the tears she had been holding back for so long finally fall. It felt good to finally allow her feelings out. After she had learned about her brother going missing and her parents her DNA doners being the cause of his disappearance and fanning the idea that he was dead… well she had locked up her emotions to focus on what she needed to do to help keep Tucker and Sam safe and where she knew where they were… she couldn’t lose them as well. And now it was finally time to allow herself to feel everything.

“Okay, sweety, I need you to breathe for me.” The woman told her softly. “Follow my breathing.” The woman slowly took in a breath for four counts and Jazz let herself copy the woman. They held their breath for seven counts before exhaling for eight. The woman had her do that a few more times. “That’s it, sweety. Now, can you tell me what is happening?”

“They didn’t… It was… They didn’t know what else to do. Please, they’re just scared and no one was listening and he’s missing and he’s usually the one to help keep them grounded… please they’re just kids…” Jazz allowed herself to gush out, needing the woman to understand the how dire the situation is.

“It’s okay. Just tell me what happened so that we can send the proper help for you. Is any one hurt?” The woman asked and Jazz caught the sound of keys clacking. The woman was trying to locate her location, but thanks to Tucker Jazz knew that it wouldn’t be easy for the woman. Jazz looked across the distance that was between her rental car and the town that she had grown up in.

Once she had everything ready, she had informed not only her teachers but the dean of her university that she had to leave because of a family emergency and that she didn’t know when she would be able to return. Thankfully (with the help of Tucker), they had been able to quickly set her up for remote learning. So she was able to pack up her small dorm room, ignoring the smug look from her bitchy roommate thinking that she had run Jazz off (as if that was ever possible), and quickly made her way back home.

“There are a lot of people hurt… but they were just defending themselves!” Jazz cried out as she watched one of the vines that was under Sam’s control snatch up one of the many annoying white rodents that called themselves the Ghost Investigation Ward and throw them into a half collapsed building.

“Can you tell me what is going on? How are they hurt? Who is hurting them? How many people are hurt?” The woman asked, her voice becoming a little frantic in her need to help, and Jazz knew she had her. She allowed a small smirk onto her face before she forced it to drop, she would enjoy her victory after her job was complete.

“My pare–” Jazz’s throat seized as she tried to call Jack and Madeline her parents, they had stopped being her parents the moment they attacked her baby brother, but she needed the woman to know, to understand, the horror of what had happened. “My parents,” She finally choked out after a long second of forcing her body back under her control, “are scientist, top of their field. They’ve been the top of their field since long before I was born, they’ve written papers for their field, done many experiments.” The woman was silent, seeming to understand that before Jazz could tell her exactly what was happening now that she needed to explain what had happened in the past.

“My whole life I watched as they worked, continuously learning more about their field, striving to go farther… to go where no one has ever thought possible… They made plans, built machines to help them reach their goals. They never stopped striving and pushing farther into their field, even after my baby brother was born.” Her voice cracked when she mentioned her brother. “He was so innocent; he didn’t deserve what happened to him…” She found herself saying.

“What happened to him?” The woman asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“About four years ago, my parents finally made a breakthrough on their goal of learning more about their field… but Danny had to sacrifice a large part of himself… they took away his innocence… they showed him what death felt and tasted like… He was never the same but he had me and the others… we were his true family… his fraid…” The woman sucked in a breath at that, that was an interesting reaction and let Jazz know that she understood what that word meant. Jazz filed that away to dissect later, to find out if that was a good thing or not. Either way, she would plan for both scenarios.

“Everything was… well it wasn’t fine, but we had everything under control. We could take care of anything that happened. We protected the town from everything my parents unleashed and made sure everyone got back to where they belonged.” Jazz informed the woman.

“For four years?” The woman breathed out and Jazz knew what she was thinking (you sound young, how old were you when you first began to protect this town? How old was your brother? How old were the others?). “Why did you not call for help?”

“We tried, when everything first happened, but no one answered our calls. So we protected ourselves.” Jazz told the woman, earning a sucked in breath from the woman. “But then my baby brother disappeared, he was our rock in this raging ocean, he was the one with the power to keep everyone calm and safe… but they took him and we don’t know where he is or if he’s safe. We just want him back, to know that he’s safe.”

“Who took your brother?” The woman asked.

“My parents.” She growled out. “They took him and hid him away and refuse to give him back. For years since they stole his innocence from him, they threatened to tear him apart molecule by molecule, to see how his powers work. And they crept in and stole him from us when we weren’t around to protect him, to keep him safe the same way he does for us. Our town won’t help us, the police won’t help us, hell the government won’t give us the time of day! They don’t recognize Danny as human! As sapient or even sentient! Because of the law that was allowed to pass three years ago my baby brother has less rights than a fucking ameba! Because of that law, my parents have the right to lock him up and experiment on him!”

“That–That can’t be possible… surely we would have known…” The woman gasped out.

“Look it up: The Anti-Ecto Acts. It states that any being that creates and/or needs ecto to survive has been deemed non sentient and if come across are to be captured and handed over to the Ghost Investigation Ward for experimentation and extermination. Because of what my parents did, my brother is considered an ecto entity, I am considered highly ecto-contaminated bordering on being an ecto entity myself, and our friends are ecto-contaminated from all the time spent around us and our house without protective gear.” An explosion that she knew Tucker had rigged to go off caused a bunch of people in white to fly into the air, not all of the agents had all of their limbs attached.

“Please tell me how we can help you.” The woman nearly begged having clearly heard the explosion.

“We just want Danny back. No one believes us when we tell them that we know he is still alive, they refuse to help us find him. The only thing we need from you is your cooperation. Help us find Danny, help us reunite with him and I will stop them.”

“And if we refuse?” A new voice asked. This one a male with a deep, gravely voice that demanded attention, called for authority over the person listening. Jazz instantly knew who had taken over the call, had planned for it and allowed a wide smile to break across her face and looked up at the sky, practically feeling the man watching her from the perceived safety of the Watchtower floating in space.

“You’re a smart man, Batman, I’m sure you can figure out what will happen.” Jazz told the man and could practically taste the frustration coming off the man through the phone.

“Who are you?” Batman demanded and Jazz laughed, loud and frantic.

“I am Jasmine, fraid member of the Ghost King and with the full might of all the Denizens of the Infinite Realms I will be your nightmare should you refuse to help bring my brother back to me. Me, Tucker, and Sam are not afraid to burn the world to the ground to get Danny back. You have three days to give us your answer, if we do not hear from you or any other member of the Justice League within those three days we will take your silence as refusal.” Jazz told the man before turning off her phone and dropping it on the ground. She quickly got into her car and finished driving to Amity Park.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight –

Bruce sighed as he held his head in his hands. If what he had found was true, then he had failed not only a whole town of people, but four teenagers. After his encounter with the young woman calling herself Jasmine and claiming to be a fraid member of the Ghost King, Bruce had a lot to research. He glanced back up and looked at the pictures in front of him on the screens of the batcomputer. He stared at the bright, ice blue eyes that were so similar to the eyes of the young boy who had recently come into his life and yet so different.

For nearly a week, his family had been trying to figure out who Danny was but hadn’t made a single dent in the mystery that was their Danny… at least not until Jasmine Fenton had called into the Justice League helpline.

After Jasmine had issued her warning (her challenge) Bruce had instantly gotten to work. He had searched for the Ghost Investigation Ward. He hadn’t found much about them other than they were a small branch of the government that was created as a sister branch of the government agency that used to be Area 51 before the fact that aliens existed became common knowledge. They hadn’t had much money to do anything, at least up until three years ago. Anything other than that had been hidden behind multiple firewalls that he had Tim and Barbara working to get through.

Bruce had then turned his attention to finding out what the Anti-Ecto Acts were all about… That had led him to a break through on the mystery that was their Danny… It wasn’t the acts themselves that had led him to the breakthrough, but the acts did lead him to the scientists that wrote the papers that led to the acts being created in the first place.

Drs. Jackson and Madeline Fenton were the top scientists of their field of study: Ecto-science. Up until four years ago they were no named scientists that were thought to be a little on the nutty side. There were plenty of videos of the two of them yelling about ghost and calling any ‘unknown’ reaction the cause of said ghost. And had Bruce not worked with Deadman and seen everything he had he would have sided with everyone in calling them a little insane and would have felt for the two children the scientists had. However, he knew better and was able to see the clues that Jasmine had clearly left for him to find.

Drs. Jackson and Madeline Fenton had two beautiful children: Jasmine Stella Fenton and Daniel James Fenton.

Jasmine, otherwise known as Jazz, was a brilliant students and was always the top of her class since she was enrolled into school. She tutored her fellow students and was even the valedictorian of her graduating class from Casper High School in Amity Park, Illinois. She was two years older than her younger brother Daniel.

Daniel, otherwise known as Danny, though not a straight ‘A’ student like his older sister was brilliant in his own ways. He excelled in science and math. He always won any science or math competition he was entered in. He was top pick for any science and math summer camps, though he seemed to favor space camp and made it quite clear that he wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up… at least up until four years ago.

Four years ago Drs. Jackson and Madeline Fenton made a break through in their field and created a portal… a portal that didn’t work until their young, brilliant son had helped them figure out what had gone wrong. Four years ago, Daniel had stepped into his parents lab and helped them start their portal. Four years ago the town of Amity Park, Illinois was introduced to the ecto-entities that people called ‘Ghosts’. Four years ago a young ghost, that looked scarily like the color swapped version of Daniel, appeared in Amity Park to keep both Ecto-entities and Humans from hurting each other.

“There is always a price to be paid when opening a portal, Batman.” Raven had once explained to him when he had questioned her and Constantine about all the items they had claimed they needed to open a temporary portal to speak with the soul of a murdered victim. They had needed blood to open a temporary portal, however the Drs. Jackson and Madeline Fenton claim that their portal was a permanent portal.

What price had the Drs. Jackson and Madeline Fenton paid to have their portal be permanently open?

As Bruce allowed his eyes to land on the picture of the smiling 17 year old boy with haunted ice blue eyes he knew the answer. Jasmine had told them the answer:

“… but Danny had to sacrifice a large part of himself… they took away his innocence… they showed him what death felt and tasted like…”

Bruce clenched his fists. How could parents do such a thing to their own child? How could Bruce… how could Batman not have known? He had sworn when he started up the Justice League that he would not allow another child to suffer… and yet he had failed not one, not two, but four children along with their whole town.

Bruce glanced at the other two teenagers in the picture with Daniel: Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley.

Samantha ‘Sam’ Manson was the only daughter of Jeremy and Pamela Manson. He remembered meeting the spirited young woman at one of the many Gala’s he threw as Brucie Wayne. He had enjoyed the debate that they had gotten into about the best way to help heal the earth and what should be done to the companies that constantly polluted the earth with their toxins. He also remembered making a mental note to introduce the young woman to Pamela Isley one of these days. Samantha had met and befriended Daniel when the Manson family moved to Amity Park when Samantha was still in middle school.

Tucker Foley was the only son of Maurice and Angela Foley. There wasn’t much about Tucker, except that he excelled at programing, and Bruce was pretty confident in his theory that Tucker was the ‘one-in-the-chair’ for the young ghost protecting Amity Park. Maurice and Angela had moved to Amity Park for a quiet life when they found out that they were expecting their son. Tucker had met Daniel in kindergarten and had become best friends.

Bruce’s eyes trailed from the picture of the three friends to the blurry picture of the ghost that protected Amity Park. It had taken Bruce the better part of the night to cobble together a simi clear picture of the ghost. He had to take the multiple pictures and stills from videos to create the image but he was positive that he had captured the ghost’s likeness. Danny Phantom, the ghost that protected Amity Park, was clearly Daniel ‘Danny’ Fenton. How no one outside of his little group realized that Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom was beyond Bruce… unless there was something else keeping people from realizing it.

“Old man,” Jason called out as he walked into the cave, “You’ve been down in this cave all day, Danny’s scared that you’ve been eaten… what are you researching?” Bruce glanced over his shoulder to his son who’s own eyes were now flicking between the photo of Daniel Fenton and the recent photo that Tim had taken of Danny and Damian curled up to each other as they slept in the movie room.

“I’m not certain, but I may have found Danny’s family.” Bruce told his son watching the man who was now fighting from showing his distress at the news.

“Who –” Jason started, his voice cracking causing him to ball his fist up as he began to glare at the screen. Bruce knew that Jason was scared to lose the boy that he now saw as his own son, that he was fighting the urge to deny what was clearly in front of him.

“This young man’s name is Daniel Fenton, he is missing and has been for a while now. His older sister Jasmine called into the Justice League helpline to report him missing.” Bruce began to explain before pulling up the call log from the call and played it for his son.

“How can we be sure that this isn’t a lie, that this Jasmine person is who she says she is? How is our Danny connected to her brother? Daniel is clearly a lot older than our Danny. Are we… is he…?” Jason cut off his questions.

“A clone?” Bruce finished before turning back to the batcomputer. “I don’t know. There are still so many questions that need to be answered, and the one person who has those answers is Jasmine.”

“Then I’ll go get us those answers.” Jason growled out and turned to storm over to the locker room.

“No.” Bruce told him causing the man to stop. “No, I need you here to help me get some DNA from our Danny. We’re going to need it to put it up against Daniel’s and Jasmine’s…”

“You don’t think he’s a clone.” Jason muttered.

“No, I do not.” Bruce grunted out. “Danny admitted that he had a twin sister, if Danny was a clone then his ‘twin’ would be a brother… clones don’t normally change gender unless their DNA had been mess with to purposely change the gender.”

“You think the Drs. Jackson and Madeline Fenton –” Jason started before silently motioning towards the picture of Daniel.

“I don’t know, however, I wouldn’t put it past them. From everything I have been able to learn about the Drs. is that they would do anything to further their research. They allowed their 13 year old son to help them figure out how to open their portal, whose to say that opening the portal didn’t change the young teenager. And whose to say that once Drs. Jackson and Madeline Fenton realized that their son had been changed that they didn’t do something to their son that created our Danny and his twin sister Dani-with-an-I.” Bruce explained. “There is more than one way for someone to lose their innocence.”

“I’m gonna kill them.” Jason growled out and Bruce just grunted. “She gave us three days to answer, and you’ve already waisted one researching. What’s your answer, Bruce?”

“Obviously we’re going to help her find her missing brother.” Bruce told him.

“In exchange for answers.” Jason finished.

“Obviously.” Bruce grunted out as Jason made his way back over to him and the batcomputer and leaned against the back of the chair.

“So, if me and you are gonna be here with Danny, who are you gonna send out?” Jason asked.

“Tim and Barbara are helping me research the Ghost Investigation Ward, Damian is too young to be sent out on a mission so far from Gotham alone, Dick doesn’t have enough PTO with the GCPD even with Jim able to excuse so many of his absences he wouldn’t be able to with this, Duke and Steph have classes–”

“Not that Steph actually goes to class.” Jason laughed out.

“Which only leaves–”

“Me.” Cass whispered from her spot next to Jason causing the young man to jolt in surprise.

“Jesus, Cass, wear a bell!” Jason cried out clutching his heart as he glared playfully at his sister who just smirked and held up her wrist to show that she had a bell tied to it. “Show off.” Jason grumbled causing Bruce to smile at his children.

“Mission?” Cass asked turning her attention back to the Batcomputer.

“You only need to make contact with Jasmine, do not engage with anyone else. We do not know who can be trusted.” Bruce explained to Cass sending the mission file to the young woman.

“Understood. Leave now?” She asked.

“Whenever you are ready.” Bruce told her and she nodded before silently making her way to the locker room before pausing and looking over her shoulder at the two of them with an amused look.

“Danny’s on a rescue mission.” She told them before continuing towards the locker room. Jason and Bruce shared a confused look. Who was Danny rescuing? What had happened while they were down in the cave?

-.-.-.-.-

Danny knew that it wasn’t good to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, Jazzy had told him so many times before. However, is it eavesdropping if he had been in the room first and the people hadn’t noticed him? Him and Grandma Martha had been playing hide and seek with Grandpappy Thomas as they waited for Mama to go check on Grandfather Bruce and he had hidden in one of the many sitting rooms when Auntie Stephie and Unckie Dicky had come into the room talking and laughing.

Danny didn’t really understand what they were talking about but what he did understand was when Auntie Stephie told Unckie Dicky “…that boy is trapped in the closet…” and knew that he had to find whoever was trapped in the closet and help them. Now he just had to find out which closet this poor person was trapped in. Danny had quickly made his way out of the sitting room and located Grandpapa Alfie. He knew his Grandpapa Alfie would be able to help him locate which closet the person was trapped in.

Another thing Danny didn’t truly understand was how that person got trapped in the closet, but it didn’t really matter so long as Danny was able to find and help them out of the closet. But Danny did wonder who the person trapped in the closet was. He couldn’t remember who his Auntie Stephie and his Unckie Dicky had been talking about, they had said a lot of names that Danny didn’t know like Jim, Harvey, Charlie, and Duke had been a few names they had said. So he didn’t know which name belonged to the person trapped in the closet.

Now him and his Grandpapa Alfie were dutifully searching each and every closet in the manor, and there was a lot! How his Grandpapa Alfie knew where every closet was amazed Danny, he didn’t know if he could remember where all these closets were. He would surely miss a closet if he were to search alone, and then that person would forever be trapped in the closet! Not only that, but Danny was sure he would get lost in the manor himself and then his Mama would be scared and worried. He was glad he had went to his Grandpapa Alfie to help him search.

“What are you two up to?” His Unckie Dicky asked as him and Grandpapa Alfie made their way into the sitting room him and Auntie Stephie were still sitting in.

“The Young Master and I are searching for the person trapped in the closet.” Grandpapa Alfie told the two with a small smile on his face. Auntie Stephie and Unckie Dicky looked at each other in confusion.

“There’s someone trapped in the manor closet? How did they get there? Who are they?” Unckie Dicky asked as he stood up in concern.

“I hearded you and Auntie Stephie talking about the person trapped in the closet.” Danny informed the two as Grandpapa Alfie moved over to the small hidden closet that sat just inside the room.

“You heard us talking about it?” Unckie Dicky asked before he covered his mouth with a small laugh.

“Oh my god.” Auntie Stephie laughed out, a wide smile on her face. “Well, if there’s someone trapped in one of the many closets in the manor than you’re going to need help searching for them.” She said pulling out her phone and messaging someone.

“Me and Grandpapa Alfie are searching this floor, you and Unckie Dicky can search the third floor and then we can meet to search the second floor together!” Danny told them happily, now that there was more of them the person trapped in the closet was sure to be found!

“I’ll check the cave.” Auntie Cass told them with a nod.

“Of course, and while you are down there, do inform Master Bruce and Master Jason the situation.” Grandpapa Alfie told Auntie Cass who nodded with a small smile. “Right, Young Master, this closet was empty, shall we head to the next closet?” Grandpapa Alfie asked, holding out his hand for Danny to take.

“Yes!” Danny said, tightening his hold on Phantom. He was gonna help this person, just like his family helps Gotham.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Steph barely held in her laugh until Danny and Alfred were out of earshot, but the second she knew that the young boy wouldn’t be able to hear her she collapsed as she laughed. She heard Dick snicker as he fought off his own laugh. “Oh, my god. Can he be any more adorable!” Stephanie cried as Dick finally lost the fight and burst out laughing.

“No, but this is a problem.” Dick choked out and Steph, who was trying to catch her breath, looked up at him from her spot on the ground.

“How is this a problem? This is adorable! We need to make sure that either Tim or Barb get’s as much video of him and Alfred checking the closets!” Steph told him.

“No, but think about it. How sad will the baby be if he doesn’t find anyone in the closets?” Dick pointed out and Steph instantly sobered up and shot up, crossing her legs, she was instantly in thinking mode. She couldn’t have the adorable baby sad when he didn’t rescue the person in the closet, he looked so happy at the idea of saving the person.

“So, we just need to stick someone in a closet that neither him nor Alfred has already checked.” Steph told Dick who perched himself on the edge of the couch, twisting himself like a pretzel in the way only he could. And no matter what Dick or Bruce said, she was positive that Dick didn’t have any bones, it was the only explanation as to why the man could bend in ways no human was supposed to… She even asked Barbara if Dick used his flexibility in bed… for research…

“But it can’t be anyone that Danny has already seen today.” Dick added and Steph nodded.

“Right, so he’s seen me, you, Alfred, Cass, Jason, and Bruce.” Steph noted out. “That just leaves Tim, Barbara, Duke and Damian.”

“I remember you clearly stating that the person in the closet was male.” Dick told her with a smirk and Steph rolled her eyes.

“Okay, so that leaves Tim, Duke, and Damian.” Steph corrected. “I know that by now Damian’s school got out so he should be on his way home, but where is Timmy and Duke?”

“Tim’s at the library helping Barb with something for B. Duke had class today which is why you had to cover patrol for him.” Dick informed her and Steph nodded before looking at him in shock.

“Wait, you mean Duke actually goes to class?” She asked.

“Not everyone is you, Brown.” Damian said, alerting her to the fact that he was home.

“Hey, Damian.” Steph started.

“Whatever prank you and Richard are planning, leave me out of it Brown.” Damian growled glaring at her.

“It’s not a prank, I swear.” Steph told him innocently.

“The last time you told me that, Brown, you had me help you start a family prank war.” Damian told her and the two stared at each other for a long second. In the blink of an eye Steph shot off the ground and launched herself at Damian who dropped into a back bend that sent the young woman flying over him. However, though she missed her original target, Duke had entered the room and soon found himself with an arm full of Steph. The two of them blinked in surprised shock and, before Duke could drop her, Steph used her Bat training to wrap around him.

“Thanks for volunteering, Duke!” Steph cried out happily.

“I didn’t volunteer for anything! I’m not helping you start the next family prank war!” Duke cried out as he fought to get Steph off of him.

“Quick! Find a closet that neither Danny nor Alfred has searched!” Steph ordered Dick who laughed while saluting her before he quickly bounded away as Steph quickly latched on to Duke in a way that the young man would not be able to get her off of him without help.

“What are you and Richard up to? You better not be planning to prank Daniel or Pennyworth. You know the rules about pranking Pennyworth and I will not suffer for you breaking them.” Damian told her while glaring at her.

“It isn’t a prank. Do you seriously think that Dick would prank both Danny and Alfred and risk not only angering Alfred but also Jason? You know how much Dick loves Alfred’s cookies, and we just got Jason back he’s not gonna risk angering the ‘little wing’ and lose the rights to be Danny’s Uncle.” Steph told them.

“With how much blackmail both you and Gordon have on Richard, I would not put it past the two of you to blackmail him into pranking Daniel and Alfred.” Damian grumbled.

“Well, as I keep telling you, this isn’t a prank. Danny misunderstood me when I was telling Dick that clearly his new partner in GCPD was part of the LaGitaBiTaQua…”

“The what?” Duke asked and Steph looked at him unimpressed.

“The LGBTQ.” Steph told him and the young man sighed in exasperation.

“Why can’t you just say it normally.” Duke grumbled and shifted as Steph settled onto his shoulders.

“Because normal is boring and I am never boring.” Steph told him happily, earning another sigh. “Anyway, I told Dick that his partner was clearly trapped in the closet–”

“And Daniel over heard and now believes that there is someone trapped within one of the closets in the manor.” Damian finished having realized where she was going.

“Yes!” Steph cried out slapping Duke’s head lightly earning a slap to the leg from the young man. “At first we were just geeking out at how adorable Danny looked, he was so excited to rescue whoever was trapped in the closet before we realized that there wasn’t someone physically trapped in the closet. So, we realized that we had to find a guy that we could shove in the closet for Danny to find and rescue. And Duke here volunteered.”

“I told you I didn’t volunteer.” Duke muttered, though Steph could hear the smile.

“Shush, glowstick, the adults are talking.” Steph joked and a second later she found herself being thrown off Duke and onto the couch. “Rude.”

“I’ve found a good closet, just far enough into the manor that it wouldn’t be too weird that Duke trapped himself in the closet but also close enough to where Danny and Alfred are that he won’t have to wait too long for his rescue.” Dick announced as he bounced back into the room.

“Why am I the one trapped in the closet? Damian is the one who is still clearly in the closet here!” Duke argued.

“You are misinformed, Thomas, as Jon and I have our first date this weekend.” Damian announced and there was a pause as everyone registered what Damian had just said before anyone reacted.

“Dami that’s amazing? Who asked who? Where are you going for your date?” Dick practically squealed and the tips of Damian’s ears turned red.

“It does not matter who asked who, we have come to the consensus that we share mutual feelings for each other and will not allow our father’s relationship to define ours. And as if I will inform any of you where me and Jon will be going, I do not wish to share this date with the whole family.” Damian growled out glaring into Dick’s eyes. “And anyway, do we not need to hurry and shove Thomas into the closet for Daniel to rescue him?”

“Right, fine, sure, whatever, I’ll be the damsel in distress in the closet.” Duke playfully growled out before silently motioning for Dick to show him the way. Steph giggled as she flung herself up off the couch and followed after Duke and Dick beside Damian.

“Congrats, brat, I’m happy for you.” Steph told Damian, earning an embarrassed grunt from the preteen. It didn’t take the group too long before they entered an unused room just off the family wing and Dick opened the closet door with a flourish that only someone who had grown up on stage (or in a circus) could.

“You’re chariot, my damsel in distress.” Dick told Duke with a smirk.

“Oh, such a fucking gentleman, no wonder Barbara got tired of waiting for you to put a ring on her finger and did it for you.” Duke told Dick with an innocent smile as he walked into the closet.

“It was so romantic the way she informed me that we were now engaged. Everything I always wanted.” Dick joked wiping an imaginary tear from his eye.

“Didn’t she just text you the picture of the ring on her finger with text that read ‘Thanks for the ring, dick’?” Steph asked.

“And I don’t think she was calling you by name in that text either.” Duke said as he leaned against the back wall of the closet.

“I am still confused. In this culture, if the one doing the asking gives their partner the engagement ring, then should Richard not be the one with the ring instead of Barbara?” Damian asked and Dick sighed and looked at his left hand wistfully.

“You know, I did ask her if she got me a ring as well, but she said that if I wanted a ring that badly then I had to buy it myself like she did.” Dick told them, causing Steph and Duke to laugh and Damian just looked even more confused. Steph’s phone beeped with a message from Barbara.

“Barb says that Danny and Alfred are on their way to the second floor, we best get into position so that Danny doesn’t suspect anything.” Steph announced. “Just hold on, Duke, Danny’s on his way to rescue you.”

“Can’t wait.” Duke said with a smile as Dick carefully shut the closet door and then the three remaining siblings quickly and quietly exited the room and scattered to look as if they were searching the other rooms before they met up with Danny, Alfred, Bruce, and Jason.

“Did you find them?” Danny asked urgently and Steph instantly fell into the role of worried civilian.

“No! I even called in Damian to help look.” Steph told him and Danny looked at Damian with wide, innocent eyes.

“We have so many people searching, how can they still be trapped?” Danny asked holding Phantom the cat plushie to his chest.

“Do not worry, Daniel, we will help you find and rescue this person.” Damian told Danny, quickly walking up to the boy and took his free hand.

“I hope we finded the person soon, it is getting late and I’m sure that their parents are worried.” Danny told them as the group casually led Danny to the room in which held the closet that Duke was ‘trapped’ in.

“I’m positive that we will find them, Young Master.” Alfred told Danny, a knowing look in his eyes, Danny silently nodded as Damian led the boy to the closet. Danny let go of Damian’s hand to be able to open the closet, having to stand on his tippy toes to do so.

“Oh, thank goodness you found me. I took a wrong turn and wound up trapped in this closet.” Duke said as Danny opened the door. And the smile that appeared on the boy’s face was worth shoving someone in the closet.

“Lookie! It was Unckie Duke! Unckie Duke was trapped in the closet! I helped Unckie Duke out of the closet!” Danny cried as he pulled Duke out of the closet. Steph looked around and saw everyone smiling at how adorable Danny was as Duke picked him up and hugged him as ‘thanks’.

“You sure did, buddy.” Jason said, his eyes suspiciously wet. “Now, why don’t you come here and we’ll go help your Grandpapa Alfie make the best dinner while Duke and everyone relaxes after such an eventful day.” Steph’s heart dropped as she realized that whatever Jason and Bruce had been talking about in the cave had been about Danny’s family. Had they been found? How much longer did they have with Danny? Steph’s eyes snapped over to Bruce and noticed that she hadn’t been the only one to realize what she had just realized.

“B, what–?” Dick started only to be stopped by Bruce motioning for them to follow him into his office. Once the door to the office was shut and it was clear that Danny wouldn’t be able to over hear them, Bruce began as they all crowded around his desk chair to be able to see the laptop.

“We may have found Danny’s family.” He pulled up an obviously cropped picture of a young 17 year old man with messy black hair, ice blue eyes, and deathly pale skin. And he looked remarkably like Danny, almost as if someone had Danny and aged him up. “This is Daniel Fenton and he goes by Danny, he is 17 years old and has been the sole protecter of a small town in Illinois for four years.” He pulled up a second picture, this one looking to be a blurry picture of Daniel except his hair was now ghost white and his ice blue eyes a bright Lazarus green. “He goes by Phantom as his hero persona, the full name is Danny Phantom. Yet, somehow no one outside of his small team seems to have realized that Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom.”

“How?” Duke asked.

“That, we do not know. It could be an ability he has or it could be that the towns people are simply in denial seeing as Danny Phantom is a ghost.” Bruce informed them and everyone sucked in a breath, a child had died and became a ghost in order to protect their town. “But he has gone missing. His older sister,” Bruce pulled up a picture of a beautiful young woman with auburn hair similar to Barbara and intelligent teal eyes, “Jasmine Fenton, who goes by Jazz, called the Justice League helpline to get our attention on the matter as no one else seems to care that he is missing. There is more, however I will debrief you all after Danny is put to bed tonight.”

“Who else is on his team?” Duke asked and Bruce quickly pulled up the uncropped picture of Fenton to show him with two other teenagers, an African American male and a goth girl.

“Tucker Foley and Samantha Manson, though she prefers to be called Sam.”

“Jazzy, Tuck-Tuck, and Sammy.” Dick whispered.

“Is our Danny a clone of their Danny?” Steph asked.

“I do not believe so, however the possibility that him and his twin are clones of this Danny is still there.”

“Dani-with-an-I being an unstable clone… dissolving in Danny’s arms and him not realizing that she wasn’t sick… It would also make sense as to why they were both named Danny if they were just clones of–” Dick said motioning to the picture of Fenton.

“Yet Father does not believe that they were clones of Fenton.” Damian pointed out.

“Changing the gender of the person you are cloning is not easy to do without specific equipment, and the specs that I was able to find of their lab showed that they would not have the room for the equipment. Nor would they have the money or the ability to have access to said equipment until recently…” Bruce started only to stop.

“When did Jasmine say that her brother went missing?” Steph asked, catching the thought that Bruce just had. They weren’t strangers to someone cloning someone else and accelerating their growth.

“She didn’t say, but it was recently.” Bruce grunted out.

“It would explain why Danny has memories of ‘Sammy’, ‘Tuck-Tuck’ and ‘Jazzy’.” Dick muttered.

“And Phantom.” Damian pointed out and everyone froze as they all just realized that Phantom the cat plushie was clearly named after Danny Phantom.

“His young four year old brain probably can’t recognize that the Danny Phantom in his implanted memories are of him… or well his template… and he’s manifesting it as a separate person…” Duke muttered.

“Does that mean all his other named plushies are named after other people from his template’s memories?” Steph asked wondering what or who Danny Fenton had met named ‘Frostbite’.

Chapter Text

Chapter Nine –

Cassandra stood just outside the outer barrier that now surrounded the town of Amity Park, her eyes narrowed. There had been nothing about these three new barriers around Amity Park in the mission info that Bruce had sent her. This was a new development, but nothing that she couldn’t handle.

She was glad that she was chosen to be the one sent to Amity Park, she had her own questions to ask these three. The main questions she wanted answered: How did a 17 year old get de-aged to a 4 year old, and was this a permanent thing or only temporary?

She walked along the edge of the barrier, looking for any week points that she could use to slip in. If Jazzy, or Sammy, or Tuck-Tuck had put up the barriers to protect the town, then she didn’t want to break them down and hurt them. She didn’t want Danny to be angry with her that she hurt his sister and his friends. If there wasn’t any weaknesses then she would just walk the parameter until one of the teens watching her finally approached her.

Oh, she knew they were watching her. And she knew that they knew she knew.

This was a game now.

Would she find a way in? Or would she out wait them and have them come to her? What would crack first?

As Cass walked, she picked up some small rocks and occasionally, and strategically, tossed them at the barrier. She was in no hurry. If Jazzy was as smart as Cass knew she was, then the young woman would know why she was there. She hummed a small tune that she had heard Danny humming while deep in thought as he colored. Something about the tune caused the barrier to waver enough for her to slip through.

Cass carefully strolled between the first barrier and the second barrier, careful to make sure no part of her hit either barrier. She didn’t know what these barriers were made of or how it would affect her. And just like she was going to be careful to not harm Jazzy, Sammy, or Tuck-Tuck she was going to be careful to not harm herself, Danny would be sad if she were to get hurt.

It didn’t take Cass very much longer to find a small weakness in the second barrier and quickly crawled through the weakness. Now, she hummed and twirled in between the second barrier and the third barrier.

She wondered if Jason would allow her to teach Danny some dances, she was sure that the young boy would enjoy dancing, and she knew that Dick was planning on teaching Danny how to cartwheel and flip. Cass was already positive that Alfred was preparing some child friendly recipes for Danny to help him with, and Tim was creating Danny his own personalized building blocks along with a child friendly building station (and some cameras to play with). Damian was already showing Danny how to properly take care of animals and was teaching Danny how to draw and paint. Steph was already gathering some supplies to teach Danny how to make his very own glitter bombs, and Barbara was almost finished with her program to help teach Danny the joys of programing. Duke enjoyed spending time with Danny as the two of them did homework in the library (well Duke did homework while Danny practiced his writing), and Bruce was enjoying life as a grandfather.

The family already loved Danny so much and Cass hoped that Jazzy and Sammy and Tuck-Tuck weren’t going to try to force Danny away from them. She really didn’t think Danny would like it if both of his families were warring with each other. If all went well here, Cass hoped that the Wayne family would be gaining three new members.

Cass spotted Jazzy coming her way long before the young woman actually got to her.

“You’re moves are quite beautiful, deadly but beautiful.” Jazzy told her, her tone was light and airy, but her body was tense and scared (though Cass could tell she was trying to make herself look more confident than she actually was).

‘Thank you.’ Cass signed coming to stand in front of Jazzy with the barrier separating them.

“Oh, are you hearing impaired?” Jazz asked, signing as she spoke. Cass smiled, even though her mask hid it, that was very thoughtful of the young woman.

“No.” Cass spoke. ‘Speaking is hard some times.’ She signed.

“Understandable.” Jazz said, continuing to sign as she spoke though, “There are some ecto-entities that have a hard time speaking our language.” Cass hummed at that, it was not her place to speak about things she didn’t know and therefore had no response to the young woman. “I presume you are here with Batman’s answer.”

“Yes.” Cass said. ‘He is looking into your missing brother. He believes you when you say that he is still alive and is somewhere out there. However, he does have questions for you and your teammates. Are you willing to lower your barriers and come with me willingly or are you going to force me to fight all three of you?’ Jazzy looked shocked when Cass pointed out where the other two were hiding, so, only the male knew Cass had spotted all of them then.

“Of course, I don’t know why I expected anything less from someone trained by Batman?” Jazz muttered running her hand through her already slightly frazzled hair.

‘It is alright to doubt. We failed your expectations once before, why would we not do so again?’ Cass signed and Jazzy sighed, her body tensing for a half second in both anger and regret before relaxing again.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that it was my expectations that you failed. To be honest, I don’t know if I ever really had expectations for the Justice League, let alone Batman. However, Danny had high expectations of the Justice League, and even higher expectations for Batman. He tried to emulate how Batman ran his teams with how he ran us, but with his own flair of course.” Jazzy told her.

“Of course.” Cass told her, giving the young woman a soft, understanding smile.

“Danny always believed that Batman would find us and help us. That Batman would be the one to save him, that if he just held on a little longer that Batman would show.” Jazzy told her, her eyes tearing up and gave a wet laugh. “Even after four years, Danny still believed in Batman.”

‘Is Batman his favorite hero?’ Cass asked and Jazzy shook her head.

“No. Not even in the top five, or at least that’s what he claims, but if you ask me, Batman is in his own category.” Jazzy told her and Cass let out a laugh.

‘You’re answer?’ Cass asked and Jazzy gave her a shocked look. ‘Did you really think trying to guilt trip me would distract me?’ Jazzy narrowed her eyes at her. ‘I’m not that easy to trick or distract, my dear.’ Cass grabbed the vine that had been slowly trying to wrap itself around her legs and unwound it, careful to not hurt the plant. “No fighting.”

“You think we’re just going to believe that Batman and the Justice League will allow us to walk freely, after what we did?” Sammy asked, her plants carrying her from her hiding spot.

“You hurt people.” Cass told her, Sammy’s body was tense and ready to fight. Both Jazzy and Tuck-Tuck were occasionally glancing at the teenager, waiting. It was like how, when in the field, her and her siblings would look towards Batman for their cue to begin their attack. Sammy was the leader at the moment, what Sammy said and did told the others how to act.

“They hurt Danny!” Sammy hissed out. She was angry, but under the anger was fear, she was afraid for her friend.

“Yes.” Cass agreed and Sammy bristled, she wasn’t expecting Cass to actually be on their side, she had been expecting for Cass to come in swinging and to not truly listen to them. ‘You are scared. You’re friend disappeared, no one was listening or seemed to care. You don’t know where he is, but you know he is still alive, yet no one that could help was helping. So, you did the only thing that you could do, you lashed out hoping to get our attention. You have it, we are here and Batman wants to help.’

“Oh, just because you’re finally here means everything’s a-okay now, right? Where were you four years ago? Where were you when we needed you the most? Where were you when our town was sucked into the Infinite Realms and Danny nearly died protecting everyone? Where were you when the Guys In White came in and began hunting Danny? Where were you when the government made it illegal to be an ecto-entity or highly ecto-contaminated?!” By the end of Sammy’s rant she was screaming and crying. “Danny believed in you! Danny trusted that you guys would be there to save him! Where were you when his parents stole him away from us?”

‘We have no excuse. We failed you. We cannot change what happened in the past, the only thing we can do is try to make amends and find out what happened to Danny.’ Cass signed to them as Jazzy took the crying teen into her arms.

“What’s gonna happen to me and Sam? The Justice League isn’t gonna just let us go after what we did, what we still plan on doing. Drs. Jack and Maddie are still out there, and they need to be punished for what they did to our friend, their son.” Tuck-Tuck growled out, it wasn’t hard to see that he wanted the Drs. dead.

‘You will be held on the Watchtower. The Justice League will investigate what happened and at the end of the investigation will take you to court. I will not lie to you, the U.S. will likely try to try you as adults, however, depending on how you cooperate with the investigation and since you Tucker are still only 16, the Justice League will fight to have you tried as minors.’ Cass told them and Jazzy laughed at her.

“Yeah, that would be if they were ‘normal’ humans, but as you are clearly well aware of, they aren’t normal humans. They’re highly ecto-contaminated humans. The second you try and take them to court, they will have to undergo the usual scanning process which now includes ecto-contamination level scans. With how high Sam and Tucker are contaminated with ecto, the government will be forced to hand them over to the Ghost Investigation Ward who will flag them as hostile and take them away for extermination.” Jazzy informed her with a smirk. “The only way you’d be able to take Sam and Tucker to court is if you get rid of not only the GIW but also the Anti-Ecto Acts.”

It was suddenly very clear to Cass why Jazzy had allowed Sammy and Tuck-Tuck to continue attacking the Ghost Investigation Ward and the town, even after she came back from the UK. She was allowing Sammy and Tuck-Tuck to rack up on charges so that the Justice League would be forced to take the two to court. Jazzy had done her research.

“Two birds, one stone.” Cass said with a laugh.

“What better way to get the Justice League to go after the Acts than to have two highly ecto-contaminated teenagers that they have to take to court or be accused of protecting criminals?” Jazzy told her with her own laugh.

“So you will come?” Cass asked.

“That was always part of the plan.” Tuck-Tuck told her before pulling out his PDA and lowered the barrier.

-.-.-.-.-

Constantine sighed and ran one of his hands down his face while the other one began to search for his flask that he knew he had somewhere on him. How the hell had he gotten into this mess? He hadn’t been sticking his nose into places it definitely shouldn’t be, he hadn’t been summoned by the Justice League to fix whatever bloody mess they had gotten themselves into, nor had Raven or Zatanna forced him to help them with some shite. In fact, when this all started, he had been sleeping (alone) in his bed getting some actual sleep for once.

And then the universe had shifted.

Something powerful had woken up, reached out, and just nudged the universe slightly to the left. Every magic user and occultist had felt the shift. For almost a week since the shifting of the universe nothing happened, until hell was released on one unsuspecting town in the middle of bumfuck Illinois. When he had dragged his arse to the town to try to figure out what the hell was going on and what pissed off creature was destroying the town and why that town specifically he had been summoned.

Not like with the Justice League where they called for him until they got Batman to growl at him to show up. No, actually bloody fucking summoned. Like one second he was driving the rental car he had rented down the road surrounded by farm land and then the next he was on his arse in front of a whole bloody counsel of Denizens of the Infinite Realms… in the bloody fucking Infinite Realms. He was lucky to leave that meeting with the rest of his soul intact.

They had ordered him to search for their missing King… how someone had lost a being powerful enough to have the entirety of the bloody fucking Infinite Realms to bow down to them was bloody fucking terrifying. He hadn’t been able to find out much about the new High King Phantom other than they were apparently a bloody fucking baby ghost that had defeated the old High King in single combat… and that was just bloody terrifying to even think about… the kid had only been less than two years dead when they accomplished that.

And that had been two years ago, no telling how powerful they were now…

And they were missing…

High King Phantom’s court was on the verge of declaring their universe as hostile and an enemy that needed to be taken out if their King was not returned. And though Constantine constantly complained about his life, he didn’t fancy dying. So he had to agree to look for this baby ghost king… that and they had somehow gotten all of the pieces of his soul that he had sold away so he couldn’t refuse their demand.

So, for the last few days he had been searching for any clue as to where High King Phantom could possibly be…

The only thing Constantine was certain of (other than the total annihilation of their universe should the King not be found and reunited with his counsel soon) was that that small town in the middle of bumfuck Illinois had something to do with the disappearing Ghost King. However, by the time Constantine had made his way back to that town (and found his rental car, dead and out of gas in the middle of the road) there was not one but three different barriers around the town… barriers that he needed help getting passed.

Which led him to where he was now: In the Watchtower listening to the main members (besides Batman who was suspiciously no where to be seen) arguing over what to do about that very town in the middle of bumfuck Illinois (which apparently was named Amity Park).

“There is a young boy missing, we need to search for him!” Superman argued slamming his hand down on the meeting table as Constantine finally found his flask.

“If what this young woman said was true. We cannot be sure anything she told us was true.” Flash argued back looking torn.

“I have looked into this Agency that the young worrier told us about, the Ghost Investigation Ward does in fact exist.” Wonder Woman announced with a heavy sigh as Constantine nearly choked on his whisky.

“The what investigation ward?” Constantine asked out once he had gotten air back into his lungs again.

“The Ghost Investigation Ward.” Wonder Woman told him as she pulled up the research she had been able to do. “I could not find much about them, I tried to ask Oracle to help me look into this group as everything important about this agency is locked behind multiple firewalls. However, Oracle and Batman are unreachable once more. But the Ghost Investigation Ward does exist and has existed since Area 51.”

“Okay, so this small, obscure government agency does exist, that doesn’t mean that the Act that she mentioned exist!” Green Arrow argued back, looking pale. His fists sat on the meeting table balled up as he glared at his fist.

“I looked into them, and the Anti-Ecto Acts do in fact exist as well…” Superman told them and Constantine, who had just taken another drink from his flask, spat out the precious mind numbing liquid out of his mouth.

“The bloody what?” He yelled shooting up from his seat.

“The Anti-Ecto Acts.” Superman repeated as he quickly pulled up his research into the acts. “Miss Jasmine was correct, these acts do state that any being that creates and/or needs ecto to survive has been deemed non sentient and are to be handed over to the Ghost Investigation Ward for, and I quote,” Superman highlighted and read a part of the act near the bottom of the document, “‘…for research of their being to understand how they came to be and are. Should the Investigation team deem the being to be hostile then the Investigation team is within their rights to eliminate the ecto-entity…’ end quote.” Superman finished before looking around the room at everyone present.

“How the bloody hell did this get passed?” Constantine asked collapsing back into his seat, they were all going to bloody die!

“It was pushed through when Lex was in office and slipped in along with a few more acts, the other acts were all about ‘green energy’ and helping farmers. The beginning of the Anti-Ecto Act document was clearly trying to mimic the acts on green energy, stating that Ectoplasm Crystals were a safe and reusable resource that could be used to power everything on earth for eons. However, Ectoplasmic Crystals were hard to come by naturally and could be found in or around Ecto-entities. The more powerful the Ecto-entity the more Ectoplasmic Crystals could be found…” Superman explained, showing them the part of the passage he was talking about.

“Oh bloody hell, do not tell me that who ever wrote this bloody act was talking about Cores.” Constantine groaned, running his hands down his face.

“Cores?” Wonder Woman asked and Constantine sighed while throwing his head back. Those that truly knew about ecto-entities knew about Cores and it was an unspoken rule that you not talk about Cores… however Constantine knew that if he was to save the entire universe he would have to explain to the main members of the Justice League (minus Batman) about Cores.

“Bloody hell.” Constantine groaned before sitting up and looked at everyone in the room. “What I’m about to tell you does not leave this room, is that understood.”

“If it’s important than Batman–” Superman started only for Constantine to interrupt him.

“I’ll tell the Bat the next time I see him. I do not need any part of what I am about to inform you to get lost in the mix.” Constantine growled out, it wasn’t often that he used his serious voice with the members of the Justice League, but when he did they had all learned to listen to him.

“Right, ecto-entities, otherwise known as ghost, are made up of a substance called Ectoplasm and they use that Ectoplasm to form their bodies. However, their bodies are not their true forms, their true forms are what they call their ‘Cores’. A ‘Core’ is essentially the ecto-entity’s heart, brain, and important organs, it even filters out the ambient ecto in our air for them to use whenever they find themselves in our plane of existence.” Constantine started.

“Ambient ecto?” Flash asked both intrigued and disturbed.

“Yes, ambient ecto, it’s bloody every where and not harmful to humans in small doses.” Constantine told him.

“‘Not harmful to humans in small doses’? Does that mean it is harmful in large doses?” Green Lantern asked.

“Ectoplasm in its natural state is radioactive and has been known to mutate human genes. Humans who have been mutated by Ectoplasm are called ‘Ecto-contaminated’ and have shown that they are more ghost-like than normal humans. The more ecto-contaminated the human is, the more ghost-like they are, I’ve even seen a high ecto-contaminated human that can change between his human form and a form he calls his ‘ghost form’.” Constantine explained, “He was a bloody arse-hole, that Plasmius. He tried to call himself a ‘Halfa’ but he was clearly only a highly ecto-contaminated human.”

“Whoa, hold up, what the hell is a ‘Halfa’?” Flash asked.

“A half human half ghost. I’ve only heard of one true Halfa that exist, Halfas are rare and no one knows how they come about. There are many theories: an ecto-contaminated human and an ecto-entity coming together to create them; an already highly ecto-contaminated human coming into contact with pure ectoplasm…” Constantine sighed.

“Wait, a human can actually have sex with a ghost?” Flash asked.

“Have you ever met this ‘Halfa’?” Wonder Woman asked.

“I’ve never met the Halfa, I’ve only ever heard whispered stories about their deeds. From everything I’ve heard, they are a protector spirit and the bridge between life and death.” Constantine told Wonder Woman before turning his attention to Flash. “From everything we know about ecto-entities, they do not reproduce the same way we humans do. When ecto-entities decide to create a child, they combine their energies to form a new core that is then hosted in one of the ecto-entities until it is stable enough to form their own bodies to protect their core.”

“Can an ecto-entity or an ecto-contaminated human be cloned?” Batman suddenly asked from the door of the meeting room causing Constantine’s heart to jump into his throat.

“Bloody hell, Bats, wear a bell!” Constantine yelled clutching his chest as Batman reached down towards his utility belt and flicked a small bell tied to the belt, causing it to ring.

“Did your bell just ring, Batman?” Oracle’s AI voice came through the speakers in the room alerting everyone that the AI was back online.

“I rang it.” Batman grunted out and Oracle hummed.

“It does not count then.” The AI announced a few seconds later and Batman grunted out in response.

“Constantine, can an ecto-entity or a highly ecto-contaminated human be cloned?” Batman growled out.

“Not successfully, ecto-entities don’t have DNA like we do and an ecto-contaminated human’s DNA is not stable enough for normal cloning.” Constantine explained earning a grunt from the Batman as the man swept into the room.

“Nice of you to join us, Spooks.” Green Lantern greeted, earning a glare from the man (or at least Constantine was sure it was a glare, hard to tell with the white lenses of his cowl).

“While you were deciding what to do about Miss Jasmine Fenton, I was looking into her and her group.” Batman growled out before pulling up four files.

“You are going to help them.” The Martian Manhunter stated. “Was it not you that stated that as the protectors of earth, that we do not give into the demands of our villains?”

“We don’t give into the demands of our villains, however they are not villains, they are just scared kids lashing out.” Batman informed them before enlarging the first file to show the school picture of a young woman with long auburn hair and teal eyes. “This is Jasmine Stella Fenton, she turned 20 this year, she was accepted into Oxford with a full ride scholarship for Psychology, she was valedictorian for her graduating class and has a 4.0 GPA. Her dream job is to help understand the minds of the criminally insane and help them reform. Since she was 12 years old, she had volunteered as a tutor to help her fellow students. She has never hurt or attacked anyone without reason.”

“What are you doing, Batman?” Green Arrow asked as Batman pulled up the next file, this one was of a teenage girl with shoulder length black hair and purple eyes.

“This is Samantha Lillian Manson, she is the only daughter of the Manson family and recently celebrated her 17^th birthday this October. She calls herself an ‘Ultra-recyclo Vegetarian’, though I believe that is just an inside joke in the friend group and she is in fact just vegan. She cares a lot about the earth and has participated and even started a few protest against companies that pollute the earth. Her dream job is to run a flower shop with her best friend as her boyfriend runs their online shop. She, like Jasmine, would never hurt or attack anyone without reason, though she would verbally annihilate anyone.” Batman informed them.

“Are you trying to put a face to their name?” Green Lantern asked as Batman pulled up the third file, this one of a teenage African American boy.

“This is Tucker Julius Foley, the only son of Maurice and Angela Foley and he will be turning 17 in December. He loves to program, has created many different games for him and his friends to play. He has been known to help the police force of his town with their programing issues. He loves to eat anything with meat and is constantly arguing with his girlfriend over the fact that he refuses to eat vegetables, though it is clear that he is refusing to eat them out of joking stubbornness to annoy his girlfriend. He is known as the lovable geek and hates gym class. His dream school is MIT and his dream job is to run a programing shop while maintaining his girlfriend’s online shop for her flower store. He is mild mannered and would never hurt or attack anyone without reason.” Batman informed them.

“Okay, if that’s true, then why did they suddenly attack not only their town but also the Ghost Investigation Ward?” Flash asked as Batman pulled up the last file, this one held two photos: One of a teenage boy with short, messy black hair and haunting Ice blue eyes, the other one looked to be a color swapped version of the boy with messy ghostly white hair and bright, glowing green eyes.

“This is Daniel James Fenton, he turned 17 this February and he is the younger brother to Jasmine Fenton. He has a brilliant mind for math and science, he grew up helping his parents in their lab and helping them build their inventions. He always slept through his English class, hated gym class, and was always constantly bullied by the jocks in the school. However, despite that, he would always be willing to help any of them out of danger. His dream job was to one day be an astronaut and travel the stars.” Batman continued as if Flash had never interrupted him.

“Batman–” Superman started only to receive a look from Batman causing the man to snap his mouth shut.

“Four years ago Jasmine and Daniel’s parents finished building their life long project that was meant to help further their research. Daniel had just turned 13 and had gone down into his parents lab to help them turn on the project. Four years ago the small town of Amity Park, Illinois was introduced to the ecto-entities known as ghosts. Four years ago, a young newly made ghost began to protect not only the humans of Amity Park, but also the ecto-entities that came out of the newly opened portal in the lab of Drs. Jackson and Madeline Fenton.” Batman growled out and everyone in the room paled at the news as Batman suddenly pulled up two satellite pictures of the same area. In one picture there was the small town of Amity Park clearly seen, in the other the town was nowhere to be seen.

“Three years ago a small government agency reactivated and wiped the town off the map. They made it so that no one could be able to find the town, no calls to or from the town could go through with out permission. No news about what goes on in the town can escape. Three years ago a town was hidden from everyone and no one ever noticed, we never noticed.” Batman growled out. “We failed not only this town but the teenagers that rose up to protect the town in our stead.” Batman pulled up Daniel’s file once more. “Four years ago, a young teenager entered his parents lab as a normal teenager but left it with the ability to change between his human form and his ghost form.”

“The Halfa…” Constantine whispered as his heart dropped at the thought of what the young teenager had gone through. “I’ve heard of the Fentons, their name has been whispered like a curse through out the Infinite Realms. They were some how able to open a permanent portal to the Infinite Realms and then began hunting the Denizens. The only thing that had kept the Denizens of the Infinite Realms from declaring war on the Fentons and the rest of us humans was the Halfa that risked their lives to save the Denizens from the Drs.”

“So, they turned their own son into a Halfa? How? I thought you said no one knew how a Halfa was created?” Flash asked.

“If his parents were studying ecto his whole life, and he’d been around the substance since he was young, like I suspect, then it is quite possible that when they opened the portal to the Infinite Realms, which by the way is made purely of pure Ectoplasm, that amount of ecto enriched energy was bound to change him into a true halfa…” Constantine said with a heavy sigh.

“Daniel is the one that Jasmine called about, her missing brother.” Wonder Woman breathed.

“And his group has tried to get everyone to try to listen to them, but no one would. So the two still in the town with no way to get ahold of us, did the only thing they could think of and lashed out. They must believe that the Drs. turned Daniel over to the Ghost Investigation Ward and are terrified of them eliminating their friend. Jasmine, who was outside of the black out used that opportunity to finally get ahold of us once she realized her brother was missing.” Superman pieced together.

“Oh bloody hell, not only is the bloody Ghost King missing, but so is the one person keeping all of the Denizens of the Infinite Realms from declaring war on us.” Constantine groaned.

“Okay, that’s like the tenth time you’ve mentioned the ‘Infinite Realms’ what are the Infinite Realms?” Green Arrow demanded.

“The Infinite Realms is the realms in between Realms. It is everywhere and it is nowhere.  It is where every religion is born. It is where Time itself lives, where what we humans call god fear to tread. The beings of the Infinite Realms are unfathomably powerful and we are lucky that they haven’t already decided to squash us!” Constantine informed them all.

“And they have a King? Who has gone missing?” Aquaman asked, speaking for the first time since the meeting started. “How did you come across this information?”

“I was summoned by the High King’s counsel and demanded to search for their King. They told me that they were giving humanity the chance to prove themselves, we are to find their King and return them or they will declare us as an enemy. And trust me, we do not want to be declared an enemy of the entire Infinity Realms.” Constantine alerted them.

“How long were we given?” Batman asked.

“Yeah, see, that’s the thing about the Infinite Realms, Bats, time like we know it as doesn’t exists there. The Ancient of Time lives in the Infinite Realms, but the Infinite Realms does not bend to Time’s rules. The only one that the Infinite Realms listens to is High King Phantom themselves.”

“High King Phantom?” Batman asked.

“What is it, Batman?” Wonder Woman asked.

“Daniel’s hero name is Phantom.” Batman informed everyone who fell silent.

“So… The missing brother that Jasmine and her friends are looking for is a Halfa that goes by the call name ‘Phantom’ and the missing Ghost King’s name is Phantom… are they like the same person?” Flash asked. “And isn’t he like a ghost… can’t we just… I don’t know… summon him to us?”

“You want us to summon the bloody Ghost King?!” Constantine nearly yelled. “Do you know what you’re asking! He’s the bloody Ghost King! You do not just casually summon the bloody Ghost King!”

“But he can be summoned, right?” Batman asked.

“Well, yeah, any Denizen of the Infinite Realms can be summoned if you have the right summoning circle and the correct offering for them.” Constantine said with a sigh. “But High King Phantom hasn’t been King very long, at most two years, and even then they’re only four years dead its not very likely that they have their own summoning circle yet. And who knows what offerings the kid would want, its not likely that they’ll appreciate blood offerings like their predecessor especially if they’re a bloody protector spirit.”

“I’m sorry, but why do we want to summon this being again?” Green Arrow asked.

“I believe the idea is to summon the being so that they are no longer missing.” The Martian Manhunter informed the man.

“Two birds, one stone!” Green Lantern cried out before high fiving Flash.

“That is if we can summon him.” Wonder Woman pointed out.

“If Phantom is the new High King of the Infinite Realms, then could we use the old High King’s summoning circle and piggy back off of it using offerings that Phantom would appreciate rather than what the old High King wants? And what happened to the old High King? Are they still around? How does one become the High King of the Infinite Realms?” Superman asked.

“High King Phantom defeated the old High King, Pariah Dark, in single combat before sealing him back into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. As long as Pariah Dark is in the Sarcophagus no one will be able to summon him.” Constantine sighed. “Bloody hell, I cannot believe I’m even considering this. We’ll piggy back off Pariah Dark’s old High King summoning circle, but we still need offerings for High King Phantom.”

“Space.” A female voice announced from the door startling everyone but Batman.

“Black Bat, welcome back, I presume it went as expected?” Batman asked earning confused looks from everyone else. The woman, Black Bat, only silently nodded her head.

“Separated. Waiting.” She informed Batman before turning her attention to Constantine. “Phantom loves space.”

“What?” Constantine asked.

“Phantom loves space.” Black Bat repeated before turning and leaving the room. Constantine looked at the others, lost.

“What? Are we supposed to offer the entirety of fucking space to this kid?” Green Arrow asked.

“I do not think we have to be literal with it. Maybe if we surround the summoning circle with space themed offerings?” Wonder Woman suggested.

“I could fly out and get a piece of the Moon to offer him.” Superman offered and Batman nodded.

“Here is the plan, I will go speak with Jasmine, Wonder Woman, if you would speak with Samantha before placing her in a cell–” Batman began.

“Whoa, I thought we were helping them?” Flash asked clearly confused.

“We will be helping them find their missing teammate, however, that still does not change the fact that, while lashing out for attention, Samantha and Tucker took the lives of many people and hurt even more. Yes, they are scared teenagers, but that does not excuse everything they did.” Batman explained and Flash looked relieved.

“Should I speak with Tucker, then?” Superman asked.

“If you would, and then place him in his own cell close enough that they’re able to speak and see each other, but not close enough that they can work together to break out.” Batman said before looking out at everyone in the room. “Anything else before we end the meeting?”

“Yeah, I’m not gonna be able to summon the Ghost King alone, my magic won’t nearly be enough. We’re gonna have to call in every magic users for this, Bats.” Constantine informed the man who just grunted in thought.

“Raven should be finishing up her mission, along with Zatanna. Captain Marvel has been on standby with the others. I’ll send out the notice and it should take a few days for everyone to arrive.” Batman said with a nod. “If nothing else, then this meeting is adjourned.” No one argued with him and before long the big three were sweeping out of the room. As everyone else slowly made their way out of the room, Constantine allowed his head to fall to the table. They might just be able to survive this… maybe…

Chapter Text

Chapter Ten –

Barbara couldn’t help the smile that found its way onto her face when Dick and Jason walked into the library, their civilian ‘disguises’ on with an excited Danny in his very own ‘disguise’. Her and Tim had been able to finish making papers for Danny, papers that showed that Jason was his parent, papers that hinted at that when Jason had ‘lost his memories’ he had been taken in by a family that had a young daughter around Jason’s age at the time… a daughter that had a weak heart and loved the child that Jason hadn’t known about until it was too late to help the mother…

The girl’s parents blamed Jason and Danny for their daughter’s passing and tried to use Danny to blackmail the Waynes into paying for their new life. Which was how Jason learned that he was now the father of a four year old. The girl’s parents got their money along with papers that state that they could no longer try and contact either Jason or Danny (when he got old enough) or any other member of the Wayne family, if they did then the Waynes would own them…

Or at least that was the story as to how Daniel Thomas Todd-Wayne came to be with the Waynes and why his other family members had nothing to do with the adorable boy.

And now that Danny officially existed, the rest of the batfamily had been slowly talking Jason into taking Danny outside of the Manor to expand the boy’s world. Barbara understood the want to bundle the young boy up and hide him away so that nothing bad could ever happen to him again, she had felt that same want after the Joker had attacked her. She had spent the months of hospital visits and physical rehab warring with the want to hide herself away so that no one could ever use her to hurt her family ever again, and the absolute need to show the crazed clown that he didn’t scare her and that he had no control over her.

When the news that the damage to her spine was permanent and that she would never walk again (at least not without either magic or a miracle) finally sank in, Barbara was angry. She was angry at herself for not checking the security cameras before opening the door, she was angry that her father hadn’t been there when she needed him, she was angry that she wasn’t attacked because she was Batgirl, she was angry that Batman hadn’t done more to the Joker for attacking her… She had been so angry at the world… But she knew that nothing could change the past and channeled her anger into helping Batman make sure that nothing like what happened to her could ever happen in Gotham again.

“Auntie Barbie!” Danny cried happily and let go of his father’s hand and ran to her. His smile was so bright and happy, and Barbara was so thankful that she hadn’t died that night, sure her heart had stopped multiple times, but she was too stubborn to allow death to keep her. She laughed and hugged Danny before pulling back to look at the ‘disguises’ that the three were wearing.

Dick was wearing one of his usual bad wigs (this one a strawberry blond with fairy tensile through out it) with his Nightwing baseball cap on it. He had on the sunglasses that she had gotten him for his birthday a few years ago and was wearing a dark face mask (they had to get nonsurgical looking face mask because Danny freaked out when they pulled out the normal face masks). He was wearing the ‘casual’ jacket that she had stolen from her father a few years ago, an old band t-shirt that he had stolen from Bruce when he first left to be with the original Teen Titans, and the new jeans that they had picked up a few weeks ago. Nothing unusual.

Jason was wearing the trucker hat that she had seen Roy wearing up until a few months ago when it ‘mysteriously’ disappeared, it would seem that Jason had found it. He was also wearing sunglasses, a pair that had once been Bruce’s but no one commented on it knowing that Jason would deny them being Bruce’s (and Bruce was just happy that his son loved him enough to want something of his with him), and a face mask himself. He was wearing one of Roy’s old shirts underneath his worn leather jacket, and old oil stained jeans. Again, nothing unusual.

It was Danny’s ‘disguise’ that had Barbara fighting back a laugh. It was clear that the young toddler had dressed himself for their outing. He had wanted to be like his Unckie Dicky and was wearing his own wig, this one bright bubblegum pink with it’s hair pulled into neat pig tails (curtesy of one Alfred Pennyworth she was sure) and tied with Red Hood hair bows. There was also a silver, plastic child sized crown sitting neatly on the boy’s head. He had borrowed one of Steph’s sunglasses (and she knew they were Steph’s because it was highlighter yellow and too big for Danny’s small face, plus she had seen the girl wearing them just yesterday). His face mask was of a cat. He was wearing a pretty and sparkly light blue princess dress over his paint stained jeans. And he just looked absolutely adorable.

“Well hello there, I didn’t realize we would be having royalty at the library today.” Barbara laughed out and made to look as if she was curtsying causing Danny to giggle. “How may I help you my prince?”

“I’m not a prince today, today I am a Queen, Auntie Stephie said so.” Danny told her seriously.

“Of course, how rude of me to not realize that.” Barbara told him as the young boy climbed up into her lap and gave her head a pat.

“It’s otay, I forgive you.” Danny told her before situating himself in her lap so that they were both comfortable. Barbara wheeled her chair around and began to lead the others deeper into the library, closer to where she usually hid herself whenever she had to be Oracle during the day. Though she knew that they hadn’t come here on official batbusiness, they would never bring Danny with them during batbusiness, she also knew that Jason didn’t want the press to learn about Danny just yet. The best way to keep the press from seeing Danny while he was out was to hide him in a place that the vultures couldn’t see him.

“So, what adventure was our Queen and his trusty knights on today?” Barbara asked as they easily slipped passed bookshelves. She caught the look one of her employees was sending the little boy in her lap. It was clear from the look Karen (and yes, sadly that was her actual name) was giving Danny that she didn’t approve of the young boy wearing such ‘girly’ thing. “Do you have a problem, Karen? Is there something I can help you with?”

“A young boy shouldn’t be forced to wear things that are clearly for girls, he might get confused. I understand that, as the boy’s father,” Karen started, looking at Jason, “you’re clearly not used to watching your son as your wife is the one that mainly takes care of him. But boy’s aren’t suppose to be wearing dresses, they’re for girls. How do you think his sister would feel to see her brother in her dress and crown? What would his mother say?” Barbara, without having to look at him, knew that Jason had his proverbial hackles up, ready to rip the older woman a new one.

“I picked out my dress myself? Don’t I look pretty?” Danny asked as he slipped out of Barbara’s lap and gave a little twirl.

“Boy’s aren’t supposed to be ‘pretty’, little one, they’re supposed to be ‘handsome’.” Karen told Danny, and Barbara could practically hear Jason’s teeth being ground as Dick took a step forward towards Danny and Karen.

“Says who?” Danny asked before either Jason or Dick could say anything to the woman.

“Excuse me?” Karen asked, obviously not expecting Danny to question her.

“Who says that boy’s aren’t supposed to be ‘pretty’? I’m a boy, and I’m pretty. Unckie Dicky is a boy and he can be very pretty. Momma,” Danny pointed at Jason, “is a boy and he’s very pretty, Papa Roy says so. Unckie Dami is a boy and he’s pretty, his friend Jon thinks so too. Unckie Duke is a boy and he’s pretty. Just because someone is a boy doesn’t mean they can’t be pretty.” Danny told Karen who’s face had gone from red to white then back to red.

“Did you just call that man your mother?” Karen nearly screeched in outrage.

“When inside, we’re supposed to use our inside voices.” Danny told Karen and Barbara couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped her.

“Men cannot be mothers!” Karen screeched at Danny who winced at her loud voice before looking at the woman with such an unimpressed look that she just knew that Damian had been training him to look like that.

“Says who?” Danny asked.

“Says God!” Karen told him.

“Which one?” Danny asked causing Karen to sputter in shock.

“What do you mean ‘which one’? Obviously the only God there is!” Karen screeched like a banshee causing Danny to cover his ears.

“Inside voices. We’re not supposed to yell in the library, you could get put in time-out for yelling in the library. I did that once, and Grandpa Alfie didn’t let me have any cookies.” Danny told her and Karen looked at a loss for words.

“I’m an adult, adults don’t have ‘time-outs’, young man.” Karen told Danny.

“Adults do too have time-outs, it’s where Batman puts all the bad people.” Danny told her and Barbara heard Dick let out a cough to hide his laugh.

“Jail is not adult time-out!” Karen told Danny who shook his head at the woman.

“It is too adult time-out, why else would people not want to go there? I know I don’t want to go to time-out. You get caught doing something you’re not supposed to, then you go to time-out. You keep getting caught doing what you’re not supposed to, you get a longer time in time-out. You leave time-out before you’re supposed to, your time-out time gets longer.” Danny explained and, well, he wasn’t wrong.

“That’s not… look kid, I’m an adult, you’re not supposed to question or talk back to adults.” Karen growled out and Danny looked confused.

“But how am I supposed to learn anything if I can’t ask adults questions? How are we supposed to hold a conversation if I can’t talk back?” Danny asked and Jason snorted, causing Barbara to smile.

“Kids are supposed to be seen and not heard!” Karen screeched, once again causing Danny to wince from the noise as his ears (that were elf-like) twitched. And, not for the first time, Barbara wondered if Danny had enhanced hearing.

“If you wanted a kid to just sit there and not talk, why don’t you just buy a doll?” Danny asked and Karen’s face went bright red a second before she lifted her hand up to strike Danny who realized what was happening and closed his eyes and braced for the hit… as if he was used to being hit. However, before Karen could even swing her hand down, Jason had rushed forward and grabbed her wrist.

“You hit my son, and you will regret ever being born.” Jason growled at her.

“Ow! You’re hurting me! Help! Assault!” Karen yelled, trying to gain as much attention as she could, unfortunately for the woman it was in the middle of the weekday when the library didn’t have much foot traffic. Jason lightly pushed the older woman away from him and Danny, causing the woman to stumble backwards. Barbara watched as the woman ‘fell’ to the ground and clutched the wrist that Jason had grabbed. “You brute! You broke my wrist! I’ll sue you!”

“Yeah, good luck with that, lady.” Jason told her as he picked up Danny who was trying not to show that he was now crying. “It’s okay, baby, Mommy’s here and the mean old lady can’t harm you.”

“You can speak with our lawyer.” Dick informed the woman as he handed Karen a business card that held the information to the Wayne’s personal lawyer. Barbara watched as Karen’s face turned ashen as she read the business card, it was clear that it hadn’t registered in the woman’s mind just exactly who she had been talking to. Most people knew that Bruce Wayne had bought the library many years ago and had just recently handed over owner ship of the library to Barbara. It was common knowledge that Barbara was in a relationship with Dick Grayson. However, most people tended to forget that the Dick Grayson that wore old band t-shirts and the Dick Grayson that Brucie Wayne adopted years ago were, in fact, one and the same.

“Oh, Karen, seeing as you’re wrist is ‘broken’ you can have the rest of the day off, in fact, you don’t ever have to worry about coming back.” Barbara told her with a tight smile as Jason carried the silently crying child away to try and calm him.

“You’re firing me!?” Karen asked, shooting to her feet.

“Yep.” Barbara told the woman.

“You can’t fire me because my writs is broken!” Karen told her, looking smug as if she had cornered Barbara.

“Oh, I’m not firing you because you broke your wrist, I’m firing you because you went to strike a child on the premises. As you are well aware, we take the safety of the people who come to our establishment very seriously, especially when it comes to children.” Barbara told her, glaring at the woman. She had disliked the woman from the very moment that she had met her, however, Karen had been here before Barbara had been given ownership of the library and hadn’t been caught doing anything fire worthy, until today. “I have every right to fire an employee who is suspected in harming anyone on the premises, outside of self-defense. And, unless you are going to claim that a four year old toddler was attacking you, you had no reason to strike at Danny like you just did.”

“His brute of a father–” Karen started.

“Did not attack you. He only stopped you from hitting his child, and the recording will show that.” Barbara said pointing up at one of the many security cameras that she had installed the moment she had been given ownership of the library.

Bruce had installed an adequate amount of security cameras when he had originally taken ownership of the library all those years ago, but Barbara had noticed a ton of blind spots with the amount of security cameras they had had and installed more to cover every blind spot once she had ownership. Everyone had been informed of the new security cameras, especially the employees. Some people had argued that the amount of security cameras that the library now had was excessive especially since there was only books in the library. But Barbara ignored them knowing that it wasn’t just the books that needed to be protected in the library.

“I’m sure you can find your way out, and please don’t steal any of the library’s equipment on your way out.” Barbara told the woman who looked on the verge of having a meltdown before turning her wheelchair around and went off to search for Jason and her little nephew. She needed to make sure that they were both okay. Jason hadn’t had an episode in half a year (they were not counting the episode he had when finding Danny because that was excusable) and she hoped that Karen hadn’t set him off by trying to hit Danny. She also wanted to make sure that Danny knew that he did nothing wrong, that Karen lashing out and trying to hit him had nothing to do with him and everything to do with the woman.

“Why isn’t Pluto a planet anymore? Did it get in trouble? Is it in time-out?” She heard Danny’s voice coming from the child section of the library and quickly made her way there. She found herself smiling when she caught sight of Jason practically laying on one of the many beanbag chairs scattered throughout the child section as Danny sat with a picture book of the solar system in front of him.

“I dunno, hadn’t realized that Pluto had lost it’s planet status until ya told me.” Jason said as Danny looked at the picture book in thought.

“Who decided that Pluto wasn’t a planet? What did Pluto ever do to them?” Danny asked looking up and over at her and Dick as they made their way over to the two. Dick quickly sat down next to Danny and folded his legs into a pretzel.

“The scientist studying space decided that, buddy.” Dick told Danny who pouted.

“Well then those scientists are stupid.” Danny said.

“Danny, we don’t call people stupid.” Jason told him who just huffed.

“But what if they are really, really stupid like the kids at Unckie Dami and Jon’s school?” Danny asked.

“We still don’t call people stupid.” Jason told his son who looked at him.

“But Unckie Dami calls people stupid all the time!” Danny argued.

“And he get’s in trouble every time he is caught doing so, doesn’t he?” Jason asked and Danny sighed while nodding.

“Nu, mi diros ĝin en lingvo, kiun ili tiam ne povas kompreni. {Well, I’ll say it in a language they can't understand then.}” Danny said in a language that Barbara wasn’t exactly fluent in but recognized.

“Danny… did you… was that… how do you know Esperanto?” Jason asked and Danny just looked at him, blinking owlishly before shrugging.

“Dunno, just do.” Danny said before turning his attention back to the picture book. Barbara opened her mouth to ask how much Esperanto he knew when her alarm system went off, someone was trying to hack into her system! She silently cursed and as quickly as she could, rolled herself to the computer she used as Oracle while at the library. She saw a familiar looking symbol and knew who was trying to hack into her system… well she didn’t exactly know the person, but this wasn’t the first time they had tried to hack her.

Since she had tried to use facial recognition to try and figure out who Danny was, this person had been trying to break into her system. She hadn’t alerted anyone about the person, because she had been able to keep the person out of her system. However, she was beginning to get annoyed with the person. Every time she had been able to stop the person, they came back harder to get rid of… she might have to inform Bruce if this went on any longer.

She quickly went about beefing up her cyber protection, while also trying to counter hack the person like she always did. And found herself in what appeared to be a virtual labyrinth once again. She knew that whoever was trying to hack into her system was at the center of the labyrinth, however no matter what she did she could never find her way to the center.

“Oh, I know this game! Tuck-Tuck used to have Phantom play this game all the time.” Danny said before climbing into her lap as Jason tried to stop him.

“Danny, your Auntie Barbie has to concentrate, maybe you should–”

“There’s a secret entrance there!” Danny cried pointing at the screen, however all Barbara saw was a brick wall.

“Where?” Barbara asked trying to see what Danny was seeing. If this Tuck-Tuck person had forced Phantom into ‘playing’ this ‘game’, and Phantom was Danny’s template, and Danny had his template’s memories then she didn’t doubt that there was some clue that Danny remembered from Phantom.

“There, can’t you see the green glowing eye?” Danny said pointing at something that Barbara couldn’t see. “Tuck-Tuck always told Phantom to ‘follow the eyes’ whenever he found himself in the labyrinth game.”

“I’m not seeing any eyes, Danny.” Barbara told the young boy.

“Then I’ll point them out to you, Auntie Barbie.” Danny told her and Barbara nodded before walking up to the virtual wall. “And now we knock.” Before anyone could ask how they were to knock, Danny reached out and literally knocked on the screen and Barbara had to stop herself from screaming when a glowing green eye appeared on the screen.

“Which is better: Sam or Tucker?” A mechanical voice asked and Danny giggled.

“Trick question, they are the same!” Danny answered and the eye disappeared along with the wall. The group found themselves deeper in the labyrinth.

“Okay, my Queen, direct me to the next eye.” Barbara told Danny, who nodded and watched the screen with such intensity that Barbara couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t long until Danny located another hidden eye, and once they were in front of the wall, Danny knocked on the screen once more.

“To have humanity, one must have what?” The mechanical voice asked and Danny looked serious.

“Family, to remind them they are still alive and human.” Danny told the eye and it disappeared in a blink before they were transported to a deeper part of the labyrinth. Barbara felt the grip that Dick had on the back of her wheelchair tighten at Danny’s answer. She filed away both the question and the answer to question Danny later, she had a feeling that a lot of these questions and answers were going to reveal a lot about Danny’s template.

They continued traversing the labyrinth.

“The one at fault for Dani’s End was who?” The mechanical voice asked once Danny had knocked on the screen after they had found the next hidden eye. Everyone sucked in a breath at the mention of their Danny’s dead twin as Danny himself tensed. The young boy opened his mouth a few times before he was able to speak.

“…Phantom…” The young boy whispered, Barbara went to comfort the young boy when the whole screen flashed red.

“Speak only the truth, and you may enter, Phantom.” The mechanical voice told it.

“Phantom is the reason Dani faded!” Danny cried at the computer only to have the screen flash red, Danny bared his sharp teeth at the screen as he growled.

“Speak only the truth, and you may enter, Phantom.” The mechanical voice repeated.

“Phantom Ended Dani! Phantom wasn’t strong enough to save her! Phantom wasn’t fast enough to protect her! Phantom wasn’t smart enough to figure out how to keep her from fading! It’s Phantom’s fault!” Danny all but yelled only to have the screen flash red again.

“Speak only the truth, and you may enter, Phantom.” The mechanical voice repeated.

“I am!” Danny cried.

“Speak only the truth, and you may enter, Phantom.” The mechanical voice repeated.

“No one is at fault.” Danny whispered glaring down at his balled up fists in his lap, tears in his eyes. It was clear that Danny didn’t believe that answer. However, the eye disappeared and they were in a deeper part of the labyrinth.

“Do you want to continue playing?” Barbara asked Danny who took a second to gather himself before nodding.

“Tuck-Tuck always gave Phantom the bestest reward for clearing the labyrinth.” Danny whispered as he wiped his eyes.

“Here, blow your nose, baby.” Jason said as he held a tissue to Danny’s nose and let him blow it. “You don’t have to force yourself to continue playing if you don’t want to, I’m sure your Auntie Barbie can find a way to spot the hidden eyes if you want to stop. No one will be mad or angry at you if you stop.”

“I want to continue, please Mommy.” Danny said and Jason looked conflicted. “We’re almost at the end, the hardest questions were always at the end.”

“I – I guess, but if it gets too hard to answer, you can always stop, okay? No one is gonna be mad if you stop, okay?” Jason told Danny, wanting to make sure the little boy knew he could stop at any moment.

“I know.” Danny whispered, and Barbara wondered if he actually believed that. Had his template ever been told he could stop or take a break long enough to rest while protecting Amity? Did Danny’s template believe that he could simply stop and no one would be angry with him? Did he have people that would force him to rest like they did?

“Whenever you’re ready, my Queen.” Barbara told the boy softly. Danny nodded before looking back at the screen and slowly Barbara continued along the path, allowing Danny to look at every wall.

“There.” Danny pointed at an empty wall.

“Do you hate us for not being there when Dani faded?” The mechanical voice asked and Danny sucked in a breath.

“I could never hate you guys.” Danny said, his voice suddenly sounding much older than a four year old’s should. Barbara gasped, as for a split second, there was a 17 year old instead of a four year old in her lap. The eye hadn’t disappeared yet, however the screen hadn’t flashed red.

“Was Dani’s End the true reason you began distancing from us?” A male voice asked in a whisper, however, before Danny could answer the eye disappeared in a blink and they were in a deeper part of the labyrinth.

“We miss you…” The male voice began to whisper as they traversed the labyrinth. “I’m sorry we weren’t there when Dani faded… Please don’t leave us as well… We didn’t mean to leave you when you needed us the most… Had we known, you know that Sam would have never gone to that gala, I would have stayed home, and Jazz would have rescheduled the campus tour… Please don’t hate us… We need you, Danny… I’m so sorry… Please don’t shut us out again… You’re our humanity just as much as we’re yours…”

By the time they found the hidden eye, Danny was silently crying. When Danny knocked on the screen and the eye appeared, there was no question. “I’m home.” Danny told the eye.

“Danny!” The male voice cried as the eye opened to a dome filled with screens, floating in the middle of the dome was an African American teenager in what looked to be the garb of a Pharaoh. “Where are you Danny? What happened? Why can’t I see you clearly?” The teenager asked floating closer to the screen as his glowing golden eyes narrowed as if trying to see them better.

“Tuck-Tuck!” Danny cried happily.

“What was that, Danny? I can’t hear you? Where are you? There’s something stopping me from fully connecting to where you are, I think there’s a ghost blocking me? You’re clearly not with the GIW if there’s a ghost actively blocking me, where are you? Are you safe?” The teen, Tuck-Tuck otherwise known as Tucker, asked as he tried to reach out towards them only to be stopped.

“That must be Grandmommy, she said she’d help her knights protect me from the bad people. I’m sure if I let her know that you’re not a bad person that she’ll let you talk with me.” Danny said.

“What was that? I could see that you were saying something, but I can’t hear you. I can barely see you! Yes or no questions, shake and nod your head: Are you safe?” Tucker asked and Danny made sure to nod his head in a way that would come across to the teen who sighed in relief. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m not hurt.” Danny said while shaking his head.

“I’m going to trust that you’re not lying on that one, Danny. When we find you and I find out that you lied about being hurt, I’m gonna sick Jazz and Sam on you.” Tucker threatened playfully and Danny laughed. Barbara looked up to share a look with Dick and Jason, they would be letting Bruce know that they had some how made contact with Tucker Foley and that the boy had the ability to push his consciousness into the web. Her movement seemed to catch Tucker’s attention as he froze and narrowed his eyes at them. “Are you alone?”

“No.” Danny shook his head. “I’m with my Mommy and Unckie Dicky and Auntie Barbie.”

“I couldn’t hear what you said, but I saw that you shook your head no. Are they friendlies?” Tucker asked.

“Of course.” Danny said nodding his head.

“And they’re not tricking you?” Tucker asked and Barbara couldn’t help but take offence at that before wondering how many times Danny’s template had been tricked into believing that someone was an ally only to be stabbed in the back. Enough that it seemed fair to question it or not.

“They’re not tricking me!” Danny cried in offence for them as he shook his head as hard as he could.

“Okay, okay, just making sure man. If you trust them, then I’ll trust them.” Barbara heard the clear ‘until they try to stab us in the back’ that the teen hadn’t said and felt her heart go out to Danny’s template and his group. No kid should have to question if someone, especially and adult, was on their side or not. Suddenly the screen flickered and the teen sighed. “Shit, I’m running out of energy to hold the connection… stay safe until we can find you!” And suddenly they were looking at her desk top background: a picture of the whole batfamily (before they got Danny and after Jason had come back to them).

“So, that just happened.” Dick breathed out causing Barbara to chuckle.

“Was that Tuck-Tuck? How was he able to communicate through the screen?” Jason asked.

“Tuck-Tuck has the special power to see and speak through the interweb! As long as he has a connection he can project himself through the web, he doesn’t even need anything to help him! As long as the place he’s in has internet he can project himself into the web. Phantom saw him do it once when the Fruitloop trapped the both of them in a room naked.” Danny explained excitedly and Barbara made the mental note to inform Bruce of Tucker’s ability so that he could be prepared for when they held Sam and Tucker in the Watchtower.

“Why naked?” Dick asked.

“Because Tuck-Tuck always carried his PDA and backups hidden in not only his own clothes but also Phantom’s clothes. So to make sure they couldn’t escape, the Fruitloop stripped them. Jokes on him, Tuck-Tuck was able to use his power to help them escape.” Danny told them and everyone shared a look at that. This kid could be dangerous in the wrong hands.

-.-.-.-.-

Tucker jolted up with a deep breath as his consciousness slammed back into his mind, he groaned as he slumped against the table in the interrogation room that Black Bat had led him too. As he waited for whoever was going to come and question him, he had decided to try and get into the system of the person who had tried to search for Danny via his child picture. His initial theory was the Fentons. He had presumed that Danny had somehow escaped wherever the Fentons and the GIW were keeping him and they were trying to find him, however, they didn’t want to alert anyone that they were looking for Danny so they used an old baby photo of him.

However… he wasn’t so sure now.

The only way Danny could have gotten into his labyrinth was if he counter hacked him while he was hacking into the system. Which meant that who ever had been searching for Danny had Danny with them… so why would they be searching for him… unless they had been trying to figure out who he was.

Did that mean that Danny didn’t have his memories? But then how could he have answered the questions that were specifically made for Danny. Tucker had made it so that only someone with enough ectoplasm in their system to be considered highly ecto-contaminated or higher could see the hidden path. And whenever the person knocked, their ecto-signature was read and questions specific to them would be asked. So, unless the person had somehow been able to trick his system into believing that Danny was knocking, only Danny could have answered those questions… and how could he have correctly answered the questions if he didn’t have his memories…

And why use a baby picture of Danny to search for him? Why not just take a picture of his face and use that? And how did they even get a baby picture of Danny in the first place? There weren’t many pictures of Danny as a baby, and the very few that existed was tucked away in Jazz’s room in Danny’s Castle in the Infinite Realm. Only a trusted ghost could have been allowed into Jazz’s room…

The door to the interrogation room slid open and Superman floated in with a soft smile. Tucker just stared at him tiredly. Ancients, he either needed a nap or food… like now!

“Good evening, I’m Superman, would it be alright if I asked you a few questions?” Superman asked. However, before Tucker could inform the alien that he had used too much of his energy and that he needed food to continue to stay awake, his body decided that he had taken too long and shut down.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eleven –

When Diana entered the interrogation room that held the young worrier, Samantha Manson, she expected her to be tense and ready for a fight, even if it would (hopefully only) be a verbal fight. She was not expecting to see the young woman relaxing in her chair muttering to a flower that seemed to be alive. Samantha glanced at Diana for a split second, acknowledging her, before turning her attention back to the flower wrapped around her hand.

“Good evening, Miss Samantha Manson–” Diana started as she quickly made her way to the only other chair in the room.

“Clearly you haven’t done enough research.” Diana caught Samantha muttering at the flower.

“Sorry?” Diana asked as she got settled in the chair.

“My preferred name is Sam, but I wouldn’t expect you to actually care about that.” Sam told her, giving her a tight smile.

“Why do you say that?” Diana asked.

“You didn’t care enough about us in Amity Park, you didn’t care enough to actually research us like we did you, so why would you even care to know what my preferred name is.” Sam told her.

“We didn’t know about Amity Park…” Diana started only to receive an annoyed and disbelieving look from the teen.

“You have a powerful surveillance satellite in space. You know everything or just about everything that happens on earth and in the rest of the universe. So, how does one town go unnoticed by the very people who have sworn to protect everyone? Or do you only protect people from alien invasion and ‘human’ villains? But that can’t be it, because our villains were humans. But then again, our human villains were part of the government, and, other than Bruce Wayne, the government pays you. So of course you’re not going to step in and stop the government agency attacking us because your masters wouldn’t like it.” Sam growled out.

“We do not take orders from the government.” Diana told her calmly causing the teen to scoff and look away with a glare. “Yes, we are forced to work with every government so that the villains we capture can get the punishment they deserve. However, we never purposefully look the other way when the government and their agencies are overstepping their boundaries.” Diana leaned forward so that she could look the teen in the eyes. “I sincerely apologize for not realizing what was happening to you, your team, and your town. We got complacent and we never noticed when your town became hidden to us. Had we been doing what we had sworn, we should have immediately noticed. I will not give you any excuse, the fault of everything you, your team, and your town had to face is on us.”

“Your words are pretty; I’ll give you that. But we’ve been taught to never just rely on pretty words.” Sam told her and Diana nodded.

“Actions do indeed speak louder than hollow words. And right now, our actions, or inactions, have told you that you cannot count on us. I will not ask that you give us another chance to prove ourselves to you, I am telling you that we will show you that we will earn your trust that we lost.” Diana swore. Sam seemed to pause, running over the words Diana had spoken to her, trying to find something to tear apart when the door flew open and Superman rushed in looking disheveled and very worried.

“Tucker Foley has collapsed; is there any medical issue we should know about? Does he have any allergies?” He asked. Diana’s heart dropped and she wondered how much this would have put them back in gaining the trust of the teens.

“That idiot.” Sam muttered. “‘Oh, don’t worry Sam, I can easily create and hold up three barriers around the town.’” Diana and Superman shared a look as Sam sighed. “What was the idiot doing before he collapsed?” Superman looked lost and Sam sighed once more. “Did he appear to be sleeping? Was he in the middle of talking to you? What was he doing?” She asked slowly.

“He appeared to have just awoke when I entered the room. I had just introduced myself and he collapsed. He’s been taken to the medical wing, but the doctors need to know if this is a reoccurring medical condition and if he has any allergies.” Superman explained causing Sam to sigh again.

“That idiot. He over used his powers.” Sam muttered before giving Superman her full attention. “This isn’t a medical condition, however if anyone of us over use our powers without refilling our energy we will pass out. Unlike Phantom, we don’t have the ability to constantly replenish our energy by absorbing the ambient ecto. The best thing to do is allow him to rest, he’ll be up in a few hours.” Sam explained.

“I’ll inform the doctors.” Superman said before flying out of the room.

“You mentioned that your team has powers, would you be willing to elaborate on what they are?” Diana asked and Sam looked away from her. Diana gave her the time to decide if she were going to answer or not.

“How much do you know about ecto-entities and ecto-contaminated entities?” Sam asked quietly.

“Not much I am afraid. It wasn’t until just recently that we were able to confirm that the Ghost Investigation Ward and the Anti-Ecto Act even exists.” Diana admitted and Sam nodded with a deep sigh.

“Jazz expected that the main Justice League members didn’t know a lot about ecto-entities and ecto-contaminated entities.” Sam muttered as she rolled her neck before she gave her full attention to Diana. “Guess we’re starting from the beginning. Do you believe in ghosts?”

“I believe there are beings that call themselves ghost. However, the ‘ghosts’ that I am used to are not of the physical variety, they are stories and whispers of time long past. They are the warnings of our ancestors.” Diana told her and Sam nodded.

“Pandora would like you.” Sam told her. “Right, well, ghost do exist, however they prefer the term ‘Ecto-entity’. There are many different ecto-entities, and there is also a very thin line between ecto-entity and ecto-contaminated entity. The ‘lowest’ level, if you will, are beings known as ‘Liminals’. Liminals are humans that are death touched; this means that they have had an encounter with death. This could mean that they’re heart had stopped beating before it was restarted or they had a near death experience. Most people are Liminal without knowing, however they will still register if tested for ecto-contamination, just very low on the register. However, if a Liminal person was to spend time around an ecto-entity, a highly ecto-contaminated person, or in a place with an unusual amount of ecto energy they will gain more ecto-contamination and may start to notice changes.”

“Such as?” Diana asked.

“They may find that it is easier to see in the dark. Their nails may look more claw like.” Sam showed Diana her nails that did appear more like claws than actual nails. “Their canines may become sharper, or they may get fangs, some may even get both.” At the end of her sentence Sam smiled to show that she had fangs. “Their ears may become more pointed and elf like, and they may gain enhanced hearing.” Sam tilted her head and moved her hair to show her slightly pointed ear that had a handcrafted full-ear silver cuff with two black roses on them. “Some people may find that, when emotional, their eyes glow.” As Sam explained that her eyes began to lightly glow unnaturally. “Some people might find that they are stronger, faster, or that their stamina seemed to have increased. Some may noticed that they heal faster than normal.” Sam leaned back with a smirk. “Basically, a Liminal person could be mistaken for a metahuman.

“The next step up from a Liminal would be a Revenant. A Revenant is a person who has died and their anger and need for revenge brought them back. Some humans may call them ‘Zombies’ however, the Revenant is still a living person. An ecto-contaminated living person. Revenants aren’t as wide spread as Liminals, but they’re not rare. There’s a Revenant that is talked about highly in the Infinite Realms: Red Hood. He avenges the ecto-entities by actually killing the people who killed the ecto-entities. High King Phantom had been in talks with his mentor about making Red Hood his Knight when Red Hood passed back over to the Infinite Realms.”

“High King Phantom has heard of Red Hood?” Diana asked. “He doesn’t mind that he is a known Crime Lord and killer?” At that Sam laughed.

“What’s High King Phantom care what a person does in their territory while they are alive, as long as they don’t pose a threat to his people or fraid or hurt innocent people in front of him then it has nothing to do with him. All living beings will eventually die and will fall under High King Phantom’s jurisdiction, technically anyone Liminal are considered as part of his people, however, most Liminals do not realize they are his people and therefore won’t recognize him as their King. He’s not the kind of person to force someone to recognize him as their King.” Sam told her.

“Do Revenants and other Ecto-entities recognize him as their King?” Diana asked and Sam nodded.

“Any being with a Core or Proto-Core will instantly recognize High King Phantom as their King, though they may not realize it, most Revenants don’t consciously realize that High King Phantom is their King, however they will still respond as if they do.” It was clear that Sam could tell that Diana was not understanding what she was saying as she sighed. “It’s complicated. All ecto-entities and their Cores will recognize High King Phantom as their King and therefore will understand the urge to not only listen to High King Phantom but also protect him. Revenants have a Proto-Core that will instantly recognize High King Phantom as their King, however as they are still alive, their living brain will not be able to understand the urge to not only listen to High King Phantom but also protect him, so their mind will come up with excuses as to why they follow his orders or have the desire to protect him. Liminals do not have a Core or Proto-Core and therefore will not recognize High King Phantom as their King.” Sam explained.

“That does seem quite complicated.” Diana told the teen and Sam sighed.

“You have no idea.” She muttered. “Right, above Revenants are the blob ghosts. They are exactly as the name states. They have no actual shape and are just sentient blobs of ectoplasm. Most ecto-entities see the blob ghosts as pets; some see them as pests. They can’t really talk, can barely communicate. They can’t really hurt anyone. And they are easily startled. But they can be used as emergency energy by simply eating them. Phantom has had to do it a few times, though he always feels guilty afterwards. They don’t have a core themselves.

“From there we go to what humans would consider ‘ghost’. These are the spirits of anyone who has died. Most of these ecto-entities tend to stick to either their religion’s haunt or their own haunt within the Infinite Realms.” Sam went to continue explaining, however, Diana held up her hand to politely interrupt her.

“I do apologize for interrupting you, but what do you mean ‘their religion’s haunt’?”

“Hell or heaven for those of the Christian faith, Valhalla for the Nordic faith... whatever their faith believes the dead go they have a section of the Infinite Realms sectioned off for them, that is their religion’s haunt.” Sam explained.

“And those without a faith get their own haunt in these Infinite Realms?” Diana asked and Sam nodded.

“Though, not all of these ecto-entities stay in the Infinite Realms and like to visit other dimensions. This dimension used to not see a lot of visitors from the Infinite Realms because it rarely had natural portals open long enough for an ecto-entity that could not create portals themselves to feel comfortable visiting. That is until the Fentons,” Sam said the name with such venom that Diana wondered if the teen had just spat out a curse on the Doctors, “created their portal.”

“The portal that created Phantom.” Diana said in understanding.

“Oh, so at least there is someone on this satellite that can do research. It was Batman, wasn’t it?” Sam taunted, though Diana refused to react to the taunt. “Yes, the portal that killed my friend before bringing him back to life… over and over and over in an infinite loop until it finally spat him out as Phantom. I watched it kill him. I was the reason he had even gone into that unopen portal… I killed one of the men I love… and I will not let some power hungry government agency take him from me. If Jazz and Tucker weren’t so fucking positive that we will be able to find Danny faster with your help, I’d pull a Dan and wipe you off every single universe you exist in.”

“Threats are not necessary–” Diana started.

“Oh, that wasn’t a threat, that was a promise.” Sam told her smiling innocently. “Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to attack you, unless you attack me or mine. I’ll cooperate, but I’m not going to roll over and show you my belly. I am a fraid member of High King Phantom and Phantom’s right hand woman for a reason.” There was a long, tense silence that followed as Diana tried to figure out what to say to the young warrior in front of her as Sam seemed to take a moment to collect herself.

“Right, back to the lesson.” Sam told her. “Above the ‘Spirits’ are the Neverborns. Neverborns are as the name suggests, they were never born meaning they were never ‘alive’ in the sense that mortals were. It’s hard to explain what a Neverborn truly is, the best way to describe them is a being born from beliefs. The Fright Knight is a Neverborn, before they were made a Knight by the old High King, they were known as the Spirit of Halloween. Pandora is technically a Neverborn, however she is not considered a Neverborn, she is considered an Ancient.” Sam held up her hand to stop Diana’s question before she could actually ask it. “We will get to what an Ancient is soon. Now, back to Neverborns, they are only as powerful as the people who believe in them and can Fade if enough people in enough dimensions stop believing in the thing that gave them life. Going back to Fright Knight, should people stop believing in or celebrating Halloween, then they would cease to exist.” Sam explained.

“Above Neverborns are the Ancients. Ancients are essentially actual Gods, not the make believe Gods that were only created after a religion was born, but the very beings stories and religions formed around.” Sam told her before smirking at her. “You’ve heard of one such God, he went by many names, my team knows him as Clockwork but the name you would be most familiar with is Kronos.” Diana’s heart dropped at the name. “Ancients are beings that, usually, are formed from universal facts that are in every dimensions: Time, Space, Nature, Death, Weather, Sleep. However, there are some outliers that started as Neverborns and elevated themselves to be an Ancient like Pandora and Frostbite. It’s not entirely clear how one gets elevated to Ancient status, not even Clockwork knows. The only one who seems to know is the Infinite Realm itself.

“Which leads us back to the list, above the Ancients is the Infinite Realm itself. For the longest time, me and my team didn’t even realize that the Infinite Realm was alive. Though, looking back there were so many clues. But once Phantom took the title of High King for himself, it was then that we learned that the Infinite Realm was alive and had been waiting for the day its chosen king would claim his spot. The Infinite Realm had chosen Phantom to be its High King long before Phantom had been created. It had been trying to create Phantom in at least one of its many connecting dimensions; however the conditions were never quite right until this one.” Sam explained with a sad smile.

“And then above everything,” Sam continued, not allowing Diana to ask any questions on what she meant by that, “is the High King himself. Everything listens to the High King.”

“Is that not dangerous, could the High King not abuse his power?” Diana asked and Sam laughed.

“Oh, it’s very dangerous, there have been plenty of High Kings and Queens that have abused their power. The last one before Phantom was a tyrant known as Pariah Dark. He hungered for power and easily over threw his predecessor before ruling the Infinite Realm for hundreds of centuries, slaughtering all who angered him or complained about him. When he got word that a Halfa would be his downfall, he had all the halfas that existed (which wasn’t much) brought to him so that he could personally crush their cores and slaughter their human side. It wasn’t until the Ancients got fed up and finally banded together to create the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep where they fought together to force him into it. Pariah Dark stayed in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep for a couple of centuries, allowing Phantom to ‘safely’ be born.” Sam explained, making sure to point out that Phantom’s ‘birth’ was anything but safe.

“How did Pariah Dark escape the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, if I may ask?” Diana asked and Sam glared off to the side. It was unclear to Diana if Sam was annoyed at her or whatever had happened to release Pariah Dark.

“There was another ‘halfa’, or so he claims but none of the other ghosts agree that he’s a true halfa like Phantom. Anyway, this ‘halfa’ goes by Plasmius in his ghost form but he’s also known as Vlad Masters.” Diana made sure to remember that name to inform Batman. “He is obsessed with Phantom, and not just as Phantom, it’s fucking sick and if I ever see that man again and find out that he’s touched Danny again I’m cutting his dick off and shoving it down his throat to fucking choke on!” Sam growled out.

“We will definitely be looking into Vlad Masters.” Diana swore to the young warrior.

“I wouldn’t go near that man without a way to combat overshadowing if I were you.” Sam told her.

“Overshadowing?” Diana asked.

“It’s a basic skill that any ecto-entity has, but it’s mostly known as possession. And the Fruitloop is not afraid to overshadow people. It’s how he got his money.” Sam explained.

“Fruitloop?” Diana asked and Sam laughed humorously.

“It’s our name for Vlad, you can call him that too, it’ll let him know who sent you.” Sam told her with a dark smirk. “But anyway, in a scheme to gain more power over Phantom to be able to overpower Phantom and do who knows what, Vlad found the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep and opened it in order to steal Pariah Dark’s crown and ring. It was stated that wearing both the crown and ring would boost an ecto-entity’s power. However, by opening the Sarcophagus it woke Pariah Dark and allowed the tyrant to escape. Angry that his crown and ring had been stolen, Pariah Dark called forth his Fright Knight and ordered the Knight to find the one responsible.

“Now Vlad realized he had fucked up and hid the crown and ring in our town. Don’t know why, maybe he believed that Pariah Dark wouldn’t be able to come to our realm? I don’t know how that Fruitloop’s brain works. Whatever his reason, it caused Pariah Dark to pull our town into the Infinite Realm. Phantom, realizing the danger we were all in, rallied up all the ghost that had once been his rogues along with all the Ancients he could and had them help him fight Pariah Dark. We fought the tyrant’s army as Phantom fought Pariah Dark one on one. Phantom nearly died, but he managed to defeat Pariah Dark and force him back into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, and winning the title of High King.” Sam explained. “Good times.” The young woman added sarcastically.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Bruce entered the interrogation room that held Jasmine Fenton to find her sitting in her chair, her back straight, and her hands resting on the metal table, neatly folded. Her slightly glowing teal eyes were watching him, reading his every move. It would seem that she had the ability to read people just like his daughter, now the question was if this ability was as refined as Cass’s ability or not. And was this ability a power based ability or a taught ability? Jasmine politely smiled at him, her body giving off the air of someone who believed was in control of the situation or at least knew what to expect from the situation.

On the way from the main meeting room to the interrogation room, Bruce had taken the time to review the footage from Cass’s cowl. From it, he was able to determine that each remaining member of Team Phantom had fallen into a specific role: Jasmine wanted everyone to believe that she was the temporary leader when she was the distraction, it was Samantha that was the temporary leader, and Tucker was still the person-in-the-chair.

The footage also showed that, at least Samantha and Tucker, had powers and weren’t afraid to use their powers. Bruce deduced that Jasmine also had powers, powers that either weren’t as obvious or weren’t useful in that situation.

“Batman, it’s nice to finally meet you. And I apologize for the last interaction we had, but I needed you to understand the severity of the situation.” Jasmine explained calmly. Bruce grunted as he walked up to the only other chair in the room and sat in it, just as his comm beeped with an incoming message from Oracle. This alerted Bruce that something had happened, something either life threatening that the others could not handle themselves, or something Danny related. “If you need to take that, I can wait.” Jasmine said, alerting Bruce that the woman had some level of enhanced hearing. Without saying a word, Bruce quickly stood back up and left the room just as Superman flew back out of the interrogation room that held Tucker Foley.

“What happened?” Bruce asked.

“I don’t know,” Superman said as the medical team rushed forward, “I entered the room, introduced myself, and he passed out. I think I knocked him out with my voice!” He cried, running his hands through his hair.

“Superman, breathe. This could be something else. He might have a medical issue that caused this, or this could be all part of whatever they have planned.” Bruce told the man as his comm beeped once more, slightly more demanding. “Whatever the cause, we will figure it out and either help him or put a stop to whatever they are planning. Now, Samantha is the closest to Tucker, she may know if this is medical or not.” With that said, Bruce turned away from Superman and turned his comm on.

“Danny was just contacted by Tucker Foley through my computer.” Barbra told him the second Bruce turned his comm on.

“Is that Granddaddy!” Bruce faintly heard Danny’s voice and had to force himself to not smile. “Can I speak with Grandaddy and tell him all about the maze game and speaking with Tuck-Tuck?” There was the sound of the communicator being taken from Barbra’s ear and handed to Danny.

“Hold it to your ear, like that, you’ll be able to hear him clearly and he’ll be able to hear you by speaking in to the mic.” Bruce heard Dick explain, earning a huff from the boy.

“Unckie Dicky, I know how to use Fenton Phones! Though, these look different from the ones Phantom and Tuck-Tuck made, those ones go around the ear instead of in it.” Danny said, sounding closer. “Hi Granddaddy! Are you having fun playing in space with all the other heroes? Can I go to space with you? I wanna see the stars from your club house!” Bruce chuckled lightly.

“Yes, Danny, I’m having fun, are you having fun? What was that about a maze game?” Bruce asked, having gotten used to having to redirect the hyper boy’s attention back to whatever subject they had been talking about. Bruce knew that they needed to get the boy checked for ADHD.

“That’s right!” Danny gasped out. “Me and Auntie Barbie and Unckie Dicky and Momma got to play Tuck-Tuck’s maze game! I helped Auntie Barbie find all the eyes! And then, at the end, I got to talk to Tuck-Tuck! But he couldn’t hear me, but he knew it was me and we still got to talk. But he had to go, he ran out of energy. I hope he had snackies close to him, he’s not like Phantom, if he doesn’t eat after using so much of his powers he passes out. It’s scarry to pass out.” Bruce filed everything away to examine later.

“What powers does Tuck-Tuck have? Does Sammy and Jazzy have powers as well?” Bruce asked, he at least knew Sam had powers, but it was always best to have confirmation.

“Tuck-Tuck has the special power to see and speak through the interweb! He doesn’t even need a computer to do so! As long as wherever he is has interweb, he can protect his mind into the interweb.”

“Project.” Jason corrected.

“That’s what I said.” Danny huffed out.

“What’s Sammy’s power?” Bruce asked.

“Plants! She befriends the plants and they help her!” Danny informed them. So, Tucker had internet based powers and Samantha had plant based powers, it made sense from everything he had learned about the two.

“And Jazzy’s power?” Bruce asked causing Danny to hum as he thought and Bruce could practically see the boy tilting his head side to side as he thought.

“I know Jazzy has powers, but me and Phantom never saw her use her powers. She doesn’t like to openly use her powers. She said it was so that it’s safer if no one knows exactly what her powers are. I never got it, if you have powers why hide them?” Bruce understood why Jasmine didn’t want people to know what her powers were, if people knew then they would be able to find a counter measure to her powers and be able to stop her. However, if no one knew exactly what her powers were, or if she even had powers, then no one would be able to create the counter measure until after they saw her use her powers, and by then it could be too late. Jasmine was smart for keeping her powers close to her chest, it was something that he would do.

“You said you were able to talk to Tuck-Tuck, but he wasn’t able to hear you?” Bruce asked.

“Yup!” Danny chirped happily. “Whenever Phantom beat the maze, Tuck-Tuck always gave him a prize! One time Tuck-Tuck gave Phantom a suped up Fenton Phone that could be used in the Ghosty Zone! One time Tuck-Tuck used his computer to sneak into a big telescope so Phantom could watch a meteor shower far from Amity Park! My prize was to see and talk with him. But Grandmommy was making it difficult for him to fully connect! Grandmommy said she would protect me from the bad guys, but she didn’t know that Tuck-Tuck isn’t a bad guy. But I’ve informed her and she said she made it so that Tuck-Tuck and your friends can now contact us.” Bruce had so many questions, but he also knew that he couldn’t be on the comm for too much longer.

“That’s great, chum, I’ve got to get back to work, we’ve got some important guest that I’ve got to get back to.” Bruce informed the child.

“Oh.” Danny said, suddenly sounding very sad. “Work is very important. Sorry for bothering you.” Had his words triggered a memory he shared with Phantom? Had Drs. Jackson and Madeline constantly gotten onto Daniel when he was younger for bothering them and interrupting them while they worked? Were they the couple that believed that children were to be seen and not heard? Did they only have children because it was expected of them? To pass on the legacy of the Fenton name? Were they like Jack and Janet Drake?

“Hey, none of that, Danny. You’re not a bother, in fact, you helped us.” Bruce told the toddler.

“I did?” Danny asked in awed shock.

“You sure did. And you know what else?” Bruce asked.

“What?” Danny asked.

“When I get home tonight, you get to continue telling me all about Tuck-Tuck’s maze and your Grandmommy and what you and Tuck-Tuck talked about.” Bruce told him.

“Really?” Danny asked excitedly.

“Of course, would I lie to you?” Bruce asked and Danny giggled.

“No.” Danny told him. “But are you sure you really want to hear me talk?” The sad and scared tone alerted Bruce that something had happened, either to Daniel or to Danny.

“I really want to hear all about your day when I get home.” Bruce promised him. The line was silent for a long minute before anyone said anything.

“I think it’s nap time, baby…” Bruce heard Jason say before the line went dead. Bruce took a few minutes to collect himself before he went back into the interrogation room.

“Welcome back, I hope everything is okay.” Jasmine said politely. Bruce didn’t say anything as he took his seat before silently pulling up the files he had on them all. “Oh, someone’s done their research.”

“Your brother, tell me about him.” Bruce grunted out and Jasmine froze for half a second before forcing herself to relax.

“What’s there to say that you haven’t already found out through research?” Jasmine asked.

“I want to know what’s not in the file. I want to know how you see him.” Bruce told her and Jasmine’s teal eyes glowed brightly for a second.

“How will this help you find my brother?” Jasmine asked.

“If your brother escaped from his captors and was dazed and confused or had little to no memory of who he was, then his first instinct would be to migrate to somewhere somewhat familiar, even if he doesn’t know why.” Bruce explained and Jasmine looked down at her hands, deep in thought.

“Any place he could see the stars.” Jasmine whispered. “My brother always loved space, wanted to travel through space. He told people he wanted to be an astronaut because that was the ‘normal’ response of a kid who loved space. But the truth is: He wanted to be a Green Lantern, or an alien. As a kid, his go to Halloween costume was either Martian Manhunter or Green Lantern.” Jasmine smiled sadly down at her hands. “I always tried to save up money to buy him the costume he wanted… but something always came up and we ended up having to scrape together a costume thrown together enough that people could vaguely guess who he was supposed to be.”

“Do you mind elaborating what would come up?” Bruce asked and Jasmine glared at him.

“Well, let’s see, our DNA doners would constantly use the appliances in the house to build their stupid inventions even though they had plenty of money to buy the parts, but they would rather Frankenstein the inventions. One time I came home to find the water heater in pieces, do you know how expensive water heaters are? I do! I’ve known how expensive they were since I was 7! I’ve bought so many microwaves that I should practically be a share holder at this point! Oh, and they would get so lost in their inventing that they would forget to pay the bills! So, I’d have to use whatever money I was able to save up from all my tutoring jobs to either turn the lights back on or the water or even the land taxes. What normal 10 year old knows how to do taxes?! I learned how to balance a checkbook by the age of 8! I learned the best way to budget the household by the age of 9.” Jasmine cried; her eyes glowing as she tried to fight off her tears.

“You two should have never been forced to live the way you did.” Bruce told her causing the young woman to let out a wet laugh.

“You’re right. But every time the CPS came by, the house was clean, there was food in the pantry, me and Danny were washed and had clean clothes, beds to sleep in, and had a roof over our heads. Our parents weren’t beating us. There was no physical proof of abuse.” Jasmine told him.

“The system set up to help you, ended up failing you.” Bruce told her and Jasmine nodded.

“Not just the system, but that whole town. Almost every adult that could have helped, turned their heads. We were the weird children from the towns nutcases. Angela and Maurice tried to help, they really did, but other than constantly calling the police and the CPS or giving us what little food they could and a safe place for Danny to hide, they couldn’t do a whole lot. Mr. Lancer tried, but there wasn’t much he could do, not when it was either help us and lose his job or keep his job and be forced to watch from the side lines. And if he helped us and lost his job then he wouldn’t be able to do much, so he did what he could and gave me and Danny opportunities to stay out of that house: Tutoring jobs for me and detentions for Danny.” Jasmine explained and Bruce’s jaw tightened. “Not everyone can be a multibillion dollar himbo with a heart of gold and a mansion to be able to house every orphan or abused child like Bruce Wayne.” Jasmine told him with a sigh.

“As you pointed out, there was no physical proof of abuse, so the CPS would not have taken you from the home. However, had they done their job, they would have been able to see the clear signs of mental and emotional abuse and neglect. You and your brother were failed by every adult, myself included.” Bruce told her. There was a heavy silence for a long moment before Bruce pulled up the cobbled together picture of Danny’s ghostly form. “What can you tell me about your brother’s hero persona?”

“First off, I would like to congratulate you for being able to cobble together such a clear picture of Danny’s ghost half. Ecto-Entities are notoriously hard to capture on anything that hasn’t been treated with Ectoplasm.” Jasmine stated with a kind smile. “The one thing you really need to know about Phantom is that he is what’s known as a Protector Spirit. It basically means that his main obsession is Protection. He either has to be the one protecting people or he has to have a hand in helping people. However, there is another aspect of that obsession that he never seems to take into account and that is that he needs to be protected as well.” Jasmine explained.

“What are obsessions?” Bruce asked.

“Every being that has a core has at least one obsession. An obsession is the very reason that their core formed. An obsession could be anything: being remembered, racing, causing pranks, boxes, feeding children… literally anything.” Jasmine explained.

“What are cores?” Bruce asked.

“A core is the very being of the ecto-entity. It is their heart, their lungs, their brain, every important organ that the ecto-entity needs. It is also the thing that ectoplasm forms around to protect. If the core is damaged, the ecto-entity is damaged. If the core is destroyed, so is the ecto-entity. There are also many different cores: Fire cores, Ice Cores, Water cores, Wind cores, Earth cores, Space cores, Time cores, Electricity cores, Shadow cores, the list goes on. The type of core determines the main power type the ecto-entity will have outside of the basic power like flight, intangibility, invisibility, overshadowing, and telekinesis.

“An Ecto-entity with a Fire core will have a lot of fire based powers such as pyrokinesis, or they could have ecto-fire on or around them. Phantom had a rogue known as Ember that had a Fire core, though she rarely used fire based moves, her hair was made of ecto-fire that showed how powerful she was at the moment, and her ectoplasmic body runs hot. Phantom himself has an Ice core so he has Ice based power which also has both his ectoplasmic body and his human body running colder than normal. It also means that he doesn’t do well in heat.” Jasmine informed him. “If you locate Danny and his body is running a normal human temperature then he is overheating and you need to focus on lowering his temperature.”

“Do you know what his normal temperature is?”

“In his human form it runs around 94 degrees, and in his ghost form it runs around 90 degrees.” Jasmine explained to him and Bruce made a mental note to check Danny’s temperature when he got back to the manor.

“Do ecto-entities have to listen to their obsessions?” Bruce asked.

“Their obsessions are the reason they became ecto-entities; they need to fulfill their obsessions to help regulate their emotions and keep their sanity. However, they cannot over indulge in their obsessions, but they also cannot ignore their obsessions. It’s a balancing act.” Jasmine explained.

“What happens to an ecto-entity that over indulges in their obsessions?” Bruce asked. For a split second Jasmine looked terrified before she forced herself to look and act calm.

“They become distorted and tainted, their core twists and living becomes painful. There’s no helping an ecto-entity that has over indulged in their obsession, they will lose any self-control. They will lash out and attack anyone that tries to help them, even if it is a member of their fraid. There was an ecto-entity, a protector spirit just like Danny, however he lost the people he swore to protect. The pain and the guilt he felt at the loss caused him to lash out and hurt the very people he was meant to protect.” Jasmine explained, her voice detached as if trying to distance herself from the memory that had come up.

“What was this ecto-entity’s name?” Bruce asked.

“He went by the name Dan.” Jasmine whispered, as if afraid to say the name too loud.

“Is Dan a being that we should worry about taking Danny?” Bruce asked and Jasmine laughed.

“If Dan escaped the containment that Danny and Clockwork made for Dan and got his hands on Danny once more, then this dimension would already be under Dan’s control and you and I would not be having this conversation.” Jasmine told him, Bruce instantly recognized the name ‘Clockwork’, so it would seem that the grandfather clock had been named after someone in Daniel’s life.

“Explain.” Bruce growled out.

“How much do you know about time travel?” Jasmine asked and Bruce had to force himself to not tense up. He vaguely remembered being lost in time, even now he wasn’t always sure this wasn’t just a vision he was living through in the time stream.

“I have some experience with it.” Bruce admitted and Jasmine gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Dan is a version of Danny who lost every member of his fraid.” Jasmine told him. “I’m not sure what happened, and it took Danny a long time to even admit what he did and I’m not even sure if it’s everything that happened. But I’ll tell you what Danny told me, mind you this all happened not long after he became Phantom. Danny was stressed about an upcoming aptitude test coming up in school, our DNA donors were stressing the importance of Danny passing because ‘Fentons don’t fail’, his rogues were appearing more frequently and he was barely getting any sleep, and the teachers were stressing how important a good score on the test was and showing exaggerations of what would happen if you failed. Well, Danny stumbled upon the answers to the test and took them. This is when Clockwork intervened and, in a warning of what would happen if Danny chose to cheat on the test, threw him into the future where Danny had to watch what would happen.

“Mr. Lancer, suspecting Danny of cheating, called our house and actually managed to get our DNA donors on the phone and got them to agree to a meeting at Nasty Burger. I went to the meeting to support Danny, Sam and Tucker were also there in support of Danny but not at the actual meeting. Everyone he considered family under one roof. During the meeting the special sauce of Nasty Burger exploded, which killed everyone in Nasty Burger but Danny thanks to his ghost half. The pain of not only loosing his family but also not being able to protect everyone in Nasty Burger and having no one to protect him caused Danny’s mind and core to crack. He couldn’t handle it. So, he ran to our godfather Vlad Masters to have the man rip his human ghost half apart. Now separated from the one thing keeping him human, Phantom killed his human half before ripping the ecto-contamination out of our godfather and combined with it before killing Vlad. That freed him to become Dan.

“Dan then began to take over the world. He first took out any magic users that could stop him, leaving the Justice League without the ability to fight him. Then, one by one he tortured and killed the Justice League, leaving you and your team for the last. He methodically took out each of your team members, making sure you were there when he killed them. I don’t know exactly how Dan killed them, Danny refused to tell me, but he did hint that he knew who each of you were under the masks.” That shocked Bruce, Daniel might know who they were. “If you’re worried about Danny telling your secret, don’t be. Danny understand the importance of secret identities, he never let me or the others know who you or your teammates are.”

“How was Dan defeated?” Bruce asked.

“By Danny. In the future, Dan and Danny fought when Dan learned that Danny was brought there to make sure Dan never came to be. Angered, Dan trapped Danny in the future and Dan made it back to the past to insure that he was created. He forced the meeting at Nasty Burger to happen and tried to make sure that the explosion killed us. I was able to notice that Danny was acting weird and with the help of the Boo-merang, an invention of our DNA donors, was able to get a message to Danny. Danny was able to make his way back to our time and trap Dan in a Fenton Thermos and stop the explosion. He confessed to planning to cheat on the test and was given a second chance, insuring that Dan was never created. The timeline where Dan existed was then erased from ever happening and the thermos with Dan, who was trapped out of time, was given to Clockwork to watch over.” Jasmine explained.

“And Clockwork can be trusted to keep Dan in his prison?” Bruce asked and Jasmine nodded.

“Clockwork can be a cryptic bastard that thought that traumatizing a young child was the best method of teaching, but he won’t release Dan. Clockwork is the Ancient of Time, he watches over the timelines. He sees all that could be, all the should be, all that will be. He never interferes unless something messes with the Timeline, like Dan. Dan is a being that, if allowed, will destroy every dimension just because he wants to. Clockwork won’t allow Danny, or Phantom, to come to an End without him intervening. And that very fact is the only reason I’m not panicking as much as the others. Clockwork has yet to intervene, which means that everything happening is supposed to happen, which means you are meant to be involved now.” Jasmine told him. “So, what’s the plan to find my brother?”

Chapter Text

Chapter Twelve –

Tim blinked at the scene in front of him before glancing down at the fresh coffee he had left the room to sneakily get. Alfred was starting to get rid of all of his precious liquid bean water in an attempt to force Tim to sleep more, so he had just left Kon and Danny alone in the theater room long enough to sneak to his last stash of coffee to get one last cup of coffee before Alfred found this stash (he knew the old butler would sniff it out soon). He hadn’t been gone very long, five minutes tops. So, how had Kon and Danny managed to get into this predicament?

Tim had invited Kon over to spend some time together as they had been busy for the last couple of weeks and today was the one day they both had free. He hadn’t planned to introduce Danny and Kon, worried about how Danny would take to Kon. Danny didn’t really like Superman, but he seemed okay with Clark (or at least appeared to be okay with Clark, Danny had ‘officially’ met Clark once when he was being put down for a nap). However, Jason had been needed as Red Hood, Bruce had been called to the Watchtower, Roy was spending time with Lian, Officer Greyson had been called by Jim Gordon to a scene, Steph was out with Cass tailing Damian and Jon on their first date, Barbara was needed at the Library for a mandatory meeting that she called, and Duke was out as Signal. The only one available to watch Danny was Tim, under the watchful eye of Alfred.

This would be the first time Tim really had any time alone with Danny. Sure, he was teaching Danny how to take pictures, but Jason or Bruce or even Dick was always there supervising. Tim didn’t think his family thought he would hurt Danny, he knew they were just worried about Danny. Tim, as both Robin and Red Robin, was very used to being around children. So, he was excited to spend time with his little nibling while also spending time with his partner. It was also a good chance to see how Danny reacted to Kon.

Tim had hoped that Danny would like Kon, Danny seemed to really like Jon the few times the boy had come over. However, Kon was a clone of Superman while Jon was the son of Superman. Who was to say that Danny’s dislike of Superman wouldn’t transfer over to his clone?

However, looking at the scene in front of him proved that Danny at least found entertainment with Kon.

Tim allowed his tired eyes to scan the scene in front of him. He wondered how in less than five minutes the two of them had gone from peacefully watching the animated kids movie that Alfred had put on for them to starting the beginnings of what looked to be an awesome pillow fort to having a mini pillow fight to some how getting into Damian’s paints to both Kon and Danny (and a good portion of the unfinished pillow fort) being covered in paint and feathers from the few broken pillows.

From the evidence that he could see and piece together. It seemed like someone (more likely than not Danny) had suggested that they build a pillow fort for them to sit and/or lay in while watching the movie. And then in the middle of building the pillow fort one of them (again more likely than not Danny) threw or hit the other with a pillow starting a mini pillow war with a few pillows as the only casualties of the war. He just wasn’t quite sure how Damian’s paints came into play or what the thought process was to involve the paints. However, it was involved and was now covering Kon and Danny (who Kon was holding onto for dear life yet holding away from him as if Danny was a bomb waiting to go off). Danny was just looking at Tim with wide eyes and an innocent smile.

“Kon started it.” Danny told him innocently causing Kon to sputter in shocked disbelief as Tim just took a calming sip of his coffee, he was going to need all the extra energy to come up with a game plan to explain this to not only Alfred but also Damian.

“I did not you little liar!” Kon playfully growled out. “You wanted to surprise Tim with the, and I quote, ‘most awesomest pillow fort to ever pillow fort’!”

“But you were the first to put the pillow down for the pillow fort.” Danny told him innocently.

“Because you said you had never built one before!” Kon argued.

“And who started the pillow fight?” Tim asked and almost instantly Danny was pointing at Kon.

“I did not!” Kon sputtered out and Tim had to bite back a smile.

“Did too!” Danny argued back.

“You threw a pillow at my head!” Kon argued back.

“You asked for me to throw the pillow at you!” Danny argued.

“I asked for you to toss me a pillow, not for you to launch the pillow at my head!” Kon hissed.

“Nuh uh! You did not say ‘Toss me a pillow’! You said ‘throw me a pillow’!” Danny pointed out and Tim chuckled, he was definitely a Wayne.

“Yes, throw not launch!” Kon growled in obviously feigned annoyance.

“I see no difference.” Danny told him, looking and sounding scarily like Damian.

“And how does the paint come into play?” Tim asked.

“Kon said all the white was hurting his eyes.” Danny told Tim innocently.

“I only meant that we should probably steal some of the more colorful blankets from the linin closet.” Kon explained.

“Then why did you break into Unckie Dami’s paint room?” Danny asked looking innocently up at Kon who looked like a floundering fish. Tim couldn’t stop the laugh that forced its way out of his mouth at that.

“I did no such thing!” Kon cried out.

“Then how did we get the paints out of Unckie Dami’s locked paint room?” Danny asked and Kon looked over at Tim, looking both scared and slightly impressed.

“I didn’t break into the paint room, I don’t have a death wish thank you very much. Danny said, and I quote, ‘Oh, Unckie Dami has colorful paints he allows me to use, I’ll go get them’ before he ran through the wall. He was gone all of ten seconds before he ran back through the wall with an arm full of red, green, and yellow paints!” Kon explained.

“Lies and Salamander.” Danny said causing Kon to look at him in confusion, which caused Tim to laugh again.

“Lies and what?”

“I think he means: Lies and Slander.” Tim laughed out causing Danny to giggle.

“As happy as I am to hear such joyful laughter, would one of you care to explain how this room came to be such a mess?” Alfred’s unamused voice came from behind Tim, causing the young man to freeze.

“Uh.” Was all either Tim or Kon could get out before Danny oh so helpfully opened his mouth to explain.

“They did it!” Danny cried pointing to both Kon and Tim, who both looked shocked at the absolute betrayal earning a proud and mischievous smile from the little gremlin in Kon’s hands. He truly was Jason’s son!

“Oh?” Alfred asked and Tim whipped around to the old man, intending to explain that he had nothing to do with this! However, the look Alfred gave him silenced any argument he had. “I shall hear your side of the story after both the Young Master and this room has been cleaned of paint.” Alfred said as he swiftly made his way into the room, easily plucked Danny out of Kon’s hands, and placed the paint covered toddler on his hip. “I shall clean the Young Master, the two of you will clean this mess. I expect to find this room spotless by the time I come to collect the two of you after Young Master Danny’s bath. It would seem that the three of you cannot be trusted alone.”

“May I take a quick shower first?” Kon asked quietly, afraid to get into any more trouble with the actual head of the house.

“Of course, dear boy.” Alfred told him and Kon quickly left to find the closest shower with Alfred following after him. Tim sighed and began to carefully gather up the paint stained blankets and pillow cases. They would join the growing collection of old and stained blankets and pillow cases used to protect the furniture during game nights.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Jason sighed as he exited the hidden entrance to the bat-cave, rolling his shoulder to ease the pain of what was turning into a pulled muscle. He hadn’t wanted to leave Danny, hated to leave him during the day, preferring to suit up and patrol during the night after Danny had been put to bed. However, Red Hood was needed to quell a possible uprising in his turf. So, after he had laid Danny down for an early nap, he had left Dick to keep an eye on Danny and suited up.

“Welcome back. Good work out there.” He heard whispered from behind him as the grandfather clock slid back into its rightful place, hiding the entrance to the bat-cave. Jason whirled around, tense and ready to fight the intruder, having not recognized the voice. However, as his eyes scanned the room, he found that he was the only one in the room.

After taking a long second to calm his racing heart, Jason cautiously left the room keeping an eye and ear out for anymore voices. Some one was either playing a prank on him or there was someone hiding in the manor. And if there was someone hiding in the manor, he would find them and make them pay. Especially if they were there for his son.

Speaking of his son, where was the little tyke? He was bound to be up from his nap by now. He hadn’t heard the usual squeals of joy and excitement that Danny usually let out while playing gymnast with his ‘Unckie Dicky’. He quickly made his way to the kitchen, Alfred would know where Danny and Dick were, and Alfred would more then not be in the kitchen preparing Dinner by now.

“Lies and Salamander!” Jason heard Kon cry earning a hearty laugh from Tim, a chuckle from Alfred, and the most precious sound Jason would ever hear: his son giggling. Jason made his way into the kitchen to find his precious boy sitting on the counter holding a bowl of fresh cut lettuce and spinach as if it was the most precious treasure in the world that needed to be protected. Alfred was standing just to the left of Danny cutting up the tomatoes and cucumbers to top the salad Danny was holding, careful to keep the knife away from the giggling and wiggling boy. Kon fresh from the shower, with his dripping hair and towel across his shoulders, had a supporting arm around Tim who was trying to catch his breath from his laughing fit at the breakfast nook.

“What’s this about a Salamander?” Jason asked as he walked into kitchen.

“Mommy!” Danny cried happily the second he spotted him.

“Welcome home, Master Jason. I presume nothing broken, dislodged, or needed patched up?” Alfred asked, his eyes scanning Jason’s body as Jason made his way over to the other side of the counter so that he was not considered in the kitchen and forced to help cook. Though Jason did like to cook, his shoulder was starting to hurt and he knew that if he was forced to help Alfred cook, the old man would clock the injury instantly. Plus Alfred already had the best helper to help him.

“Nothing broken, dislodged, or in need of patching up, Alfred.” Jason told him, he saw Danny’s ears twitch as if hearing something the other’s couldn’t. And, for a split second, Jason thought he heard the faint sound of someone whispering something, however he couldn’t catch what they were saying and Kon didn’t look as if he had heard the whispers.

“Grandmommy says you hurteded your shoulder.” Danny told him, looking at him with sad eyes. Alfred also gave him an unamused stare. They still had yet to figure out who this ‘Grandmommy’ was and how she knew so much about them, or how she knew when they got injured. Or how this ‘grandmommy’ was even communicating to Danny. “Are you in pain?” Danny sat down the salad bowl and crawled over the counter to him. It was then that Jason noticed that Danny had been given a bath recently, as he wasn’t in the Red Hood pajama’s that he had been wearing when put down for a nap, nor was he wearing a ‘day time’ outfit. He was now wearing his batman pajamas.

“It’s just a little sore, I probably pulled a muscle while grappling. I’ll ice it before bed.” He promised Alfred earning a look that everyone clearly knew meant ‘you better, or your benched’. Danny held out his hands to be picked up and Jason quickly pulled the little boy into his lap. He bit back a smile when Danny kissed the shoulder he had injured.

“A kiss to chase the ouchies away.” Danny whispered before looking up at him. “Did it help? Jazzy always says kisses to boo-boos chases the ouchies away.”

“Yeah, baby, the ouchies are gone now.” Jason told him and Danny smiled before he wiggled to be sat back up on the counter. “So, where’s Dick?” Jason asked as he watched Danny crawl back over to where he had been before coming over to kiss his ouchies away and picked the salad bowl back up.

“Commissioner Gordon called in Officer Greyson, by name, to come to a scene.” Tim explained.

“So, who was keeping an eye on Danny?” Jason asked.

“We were.” Kon said motioning to him and Tim.

“Do not worry, Master Jason, I made sure to keep watch over Tim and Kon.” Alfred informed Jason, earning a huff from Tim.

“We’re adults who do not need supervision.” Tim muttered into his cup, that Jason could see that he was guarding with his life. So, it would seem that Tim had already gone over his allotted caffeine intake this month and Alfred had found all of his stashes, and this was Tim’s last cup of coffee this month. Alfred had most likely already called all the coffee shops to inform them that Tim Drake-Wayne was not allowed to be served anything but tea and decaffeinated coffee for the rest of the month.

“Master Timothy, alone you and Master Connor may be adults who do not need supervision, however together with Young Master Danny, it is clear that you do indeed need adult supervision.” Alfred informed them causing Kon to look away in embarrassment.

“Do I want to know what happened?” Jason asked and Danny waved him closer as if to tell a secret.

“They got into Unckie Dami’s paints and made a mess in the movie room!” Danny ‘whispered’ to him.

“Lies and Salamander!” Tim cried causing Danny to giggle madly.

“Lies and what?” Jason asked laughing.

“It would appear that when Young Master Danny tried to say the phrase ‘Lies and slander’ he was unable to say ‘slander’ and it came out as ‘salamander’. And so, these two grown adults who do not need adult supervision have taken to saying ‘Lies and Salamander’ in place of ‘Lies and slander’.” Alfred explained.

“It makes Danny laugh.” Kon explained.

“And it was adorable. I’ve already pulled the footage, there are multiple copies, and I’ve already made sure at least one copy was put into his file.” Tim told him. Every bat-kid had their own ‘memorable moments’ file, Danny’s was quickly filling up and, the last time Jason had checked (which was that morning) Danny had over 3,000 pictures and videos in his file.

“Mommy.” Danny cried sounding off and everyone quickly turned to look at the young boy who looked pale green and like he was about to be sick. “I don’t feel so good.” And, just as Jason was reaching across the counter to grab his son, the faint image of multiple pairs of hands appeared behind Danny before wrapping around him and vanishing, taking Danny with them. The sound of the salad bowl, that had been in Danny’s lap, hitting the ground and shattering broke the stunned silence and knocking everyone into motion.

“DANNY!!” Jason yelled flinging himself over the counter and began to search for his son, praying that his son had just gone invisible.

“No one from the Watchtower is answering. Oracle, can you get through to the Watchtower?” Jason’s rattled mind heard Tim, now in Red Robin mode, ask through the comm now in his ear. Jason, not finding his son in the kitchen, rushed out of the room, his son had to still be in the manor! “Follow him, make sure he doesn’t hurt himself!” This was just a new power manifesting! His son was safe and playing a prank on them! His son had not just been magically kidnapped right in front of him! His son was not who knows where with unknown magical people! He had promised his son that he would keep him safe!

As Jason raced through the manor searching every room for his son, he fought to keep the images of the ‘what if’s from invading his mind. His son was safe! He had to be! By the time he had made it down to the bat-cave, Tim, in his Red Robin suit, had planted himself in front of the bat-computer searching every camera while still trying to get in contact with the Watchtower. Damian and Jon had made it back to the cave and Damian had suited up, along with Cas and Steph. Duke, who had just gotten back from hanging with his school friends, was getting suited up once more. And Dick, on his bike, had just crashed through the waterfall into the cave.

“Tell me you located him!” Jason cried, rushing over to Tim who shook his head and began to work faster as Dick rushed over to him.

“We’ll find him, little wing, we’ll find him.” Dick told him soothingly as he pulled Jason into a tight hug, not letting go when Jason began to fight the hold. His baby was somewhere out there, alone and scared! He had to find him! “It’s okay, we won’t rest until he’s back in your arms.” Dick whispered.

“I’ve alerted Roy, him and Lian are on their way.” Barbara informed everyone over the bat-speakers. “I still have yet to be able to get back into contact with the Watchtower. Something is keeping me from being able to connect with the Watchtower’s systems.”

“Could it be Tucker? Could he had used being taken into custody to connect with the Watchtower’s systems and kick you out?” Tim asked.

“I don’t think so, this doesn’t feel like someone keeping me out. This almost feels like when we temporarily lost contact with Black Bat once she got to Amity Park.” Barbara explained.

“Tuck-Tuck had barriers around the town.” Cas explained. “Same?”

“I can’t say.” Barbara said after a moment of tense silence.

“Are the Zeta’s still connected? Someone needs to inform Bruce and to see what is going on up on the Watchtower.” Steph pointed out.

“Wait, weren’t they going to try and summon the Ghost King today?” Duke asked and everyone looked at him.

“Oh shit.” Steph muttered.

“The summoning could be interfering with the Watchtower’s communication systems and keeping me and Barbara out.” Tim muttered.

“We need eyes up there pronto!” Barbara ordered.

“Right. Kon, you go to the Watchtower, try the Zeta tube first, if it doesn’t work you’re going to need to fly up there. The second you get to the Watchtower let Jon know.” Tim ordered before turning to look at Jon as Kon rushed towards the Zeta tube. “Jon, you’re going to need to keep a close ear out for Kon’s voice and inform us the second he lets you know what’s happening.” Jon saluted. “Duke, we need your eyes. Go up to the kitchen and try to see as much as you can.” Duke didn’t say anything as he quickly rushed towards the elevator. “Damian, Cas, Steph, I’m going to need you to be ready to head out the second we get any clue as to where Danny could be.” The three of them nodded and began to make sure they had everything they might need. “Dick, you’re on Jason duty.” Dick nodded as he began to lead Jason towards the rest area of the cave where Alfred already had a weighted blanket and calming tea ready for them.

“It’s going to be okay, little wing. We’re going to find Danny.” Dick told him calmly as he gently lowered Jason to the couch and helped Alfred wrap him in the weighted blanket. He knew that he shouldn’t, that he should only be focused on finding his baby boy, but the only thing Jason could think of in that moment was: He had made fun of Dick when he had first brought the weighted blanket into the cave. Had joked that they were bats, that bats didn’t need weighted blankets to help them calm down, that all they needed to do was punch people to calm down. And yet, here he was now, being burrito wrapped in the weighted blanket and leaning on his big brother for support.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Jazz stared at all the gathered magic users that were surrounding the slightly glowing circle with many different phrases written in the Language of the Dead around the circle. She wasn’t positive in what they had written, Danny had tried to teach her how to read the written form of the Language of the Dead. But, as she hadn’t actually died before and was just heavily ecto-contaminated, it was very difficult to learn. But she could at least recognize that it was indeed the written Language of the Dead.

She had been allowed to observe the summoning of Danny, the Ghost King, so that she could confirm rather or not they had summoned the right entity. And, Ancients, did she hope this summoning worked. When they had learned that Danny was missing, her, Tucker, and Sam had tried to use the Boo-merang to search for him. However, instead of flying off to wherever Danny was, it, instead, spun around in circles as if unable to fully lock onto Danny’s ecto-signature. Which worried and scared Jazz. The Boo-merang had never not been able to lock onto Danny’s ecto-signature. It had even been able to find him in a different time line! And yet, for some reason it couldn’t lock onto Danny’s ecto-signature when they most needed it to!

“Righ’,” the blond trench coat wearing magician (who had been introduced as John Constantine), stood up from his spot of triple checking that the summoning circle had been correctly drawn, “now we just need to place our offerings in the center of the summonin’ circle.”

“And it’s safe to do this here?” Green Arrow asked from his spot next to Jazz, he had been one of two ‘heroes’ assigned to keep an eye on her, the other one being Flash.

“Safer than doing it on Earth, with all the dead bodies and wondering souls of the lost.” The young woman in a dark cloak that reminded her of raven feathers explained. The way the young woman spoke and held herself reminded Jazz so much of Sam, only older.

“Raven is correct, it is best to summon the Ghost King away from anything he could use to form an undead army.” A woman dressed as a magician’s assistant (Zatanna, Jazz believed she introduced herself as) said and Jazz glared at the woman.

“You think my baby brother is going to summon an undead army and attack? He wouldn’t do that! He wouldn’t attack innocent people! He’s a protector spirit!” Jazz growled and moved to attack the woman who dared to insult her brother like that. However, Green Arrow was quick to gently grab Jazz by the arm and keep her from actually moving away from the wall. She contemplated using the emotional energy in the room to strike at the woman, however, she knew that it was best to keep at least that aspect of her power a secret until she absolutely needed it.

“I didn’t mean to offend. However, we don’t know what your brother’s been through or what his mind set will be. He may be confused, he might not know where he is, who he is, or who we are. He might see you and believe we kidnapped you. We don’t know what will happen. It’s best to keep anything that could harm us or him out of the equation.” Zatanna explained and Jazz forced herself to calm down. She could understand that reasoning, she might not like it, but she could understand it.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you.” Jazz apologized calmly.

“It’s quite alright, this is a very tense situation. Emotions are tense and you’ve been searching for your brother longer than we knew he was missing. You have every right to be tense and snapping.” Zatanna told her calmly.

“So, what offerings did everyone bring?” John asked as he nervously searched his trench coat.

“I went out and grabbed a chunk of the moon.” Superman explained holding up a decent sized chunk of moon rock.

“I was able to copy a star map from ancient times.” Wonder Woman informed them holding up a rolled up parchment.

“My grandson offered to let us use his astronaut plushy.” Batman announced holding up a star patterned bear wearing a little astronaut outfit sending out a wave of what Jazz could only describe as ‘awe’ throughout the room. Jazz blinked and looked at Batman in confusion. Batman was old enough to be a grandfather? Batman has kids old enough to have children? She knew that the Robins were his kids, but was one of them old enough to start having children?

Thinking about it now, the first Robin, who was now clearly Nightwing, was old enough to start thinking about having a family. And then there was Red Hood, who, everyone in the Infinite Realms knew was the second Robin. It was known in the Infinite Realms that the second Robin was meant to die, however he was never meant to stay dead. Red Hood was one of about eight or nine potential knights for when Danny became old enough to actually take the throne.

Soon, there was a small pile of space themed offerings in the center of the summoning circle. “Before we start, we need to make sure everyone understands their role in this summoning.” John Constantine said as he made his way over to stand at the head of the summoning circle. “I’ll be acting as a conduit for everyone’s magic to center on. Zatanna, you are to make sure the spell stays stable. Raven, you will be the one to direct the spell and make sure it doesn’t vier off course. Captain Marvel, you will be the one to direct everyone’s magic into me. Dr. Fate, you are to make sure the magic doesn’t kill me while also leading the chant.” John Constantine reminded all the magic users gathered, they all nodded and got into position with Raven and Zatanna placing a hand on his shoulders.

“Unless anyone needs to run to the toilet, we will be starting. To best ensure that the summoning takes hold and does not back fire on us, I ask that no one enter or leave the room until the summoning has been completed.” John Constantine growled out.

“Please keep your hands and feet in the ride at all times.” Flash muttered causing a wave of amusement to ripple through the room causing Jazz to have to bite back a smile. Batman shot Flash a reprimanding look, causing the man to look down at the floor like a chastised kid. And yup, Batman truly was a parent because only a parent could pull off that look, even with whited out eyes.

A minute later the chanting had started and Jazz could actually see the spell starting to form as several ghostly pairs of hands began to snake out of John Constantine’s body. Jazz, not knowing if being able to see the spell was supposed to be happening or was only happening because of her power, tried not to let on that anything unusual was happening. She knew, thanks to Sam having been interested in spell work, that most if not all spells had some emotion based factor intwined in them.

“There.” Jazz heard Raven muttered before she maneuvered the ghostly hands into the summoning circle. Jazz’s body was forced to take in a gasping breath as a heavy wave of fear flew from the summoning circle. “Don’t fight.” Raven muttered as she scrunched her face up in concentration. The fear became stronger and Jazz was thankful that she had a wall at her back to catch her as she fought to collapse. “We’re not going to hurt you.” The fear became strong enough to nearly choke her. It was only then that she realized that the emotion that was coming from the summoning circle was her brother’s. He was scared, terrified, and probably had no idea what was happening. As far as she knew, Danny had never been summoned before. “We only want to help you.”

“He’s here.” Zatanna whispered. Suddenly the ghostly hands flew out of the summoning circle and exploded, covering the room in tiny frozen crystals that reminded Jazz of the stars. The frozen crystals lazily floated around the room as everyone held their breaths. Could they also see the frozen crystals, or was she the only one? Slowly, a small black orb the size of a tennis ball with a glowing white crack in the center of it floated up from the center of the summoning circle. It took Jazz’s frazzled mind to realize that she was looking at a ghost core, but it couldn’t be her brother’s ghost core (she had seen his ghost core once and it had looked like a frozen ball of ice), and yet the hum she was hearing from the ghost core was the same hum that Danny’s ghost core always let out. Just like no two ghosts had the same ecto-signature, no two cores hummed the same. Tears slowly fell from her eyes as she stared at her brother’s cracked ghost core. What had those monsters done to her baby brother?

Slowly, as if being pulled in by a gravitational pull, the frozen crystals made their way towards Danny’s ghost core, melding together until they formed a frozen shield around the ghost core (and looked exactly like the frozen core she had seen Danny with), however the glowing white crack still shone through. A power pulsed out from Danny’s ghost core, causing everyone to take a step back, as a glowing white figure slowly unfurled from the ghost core absorbing the ghost core into it’s ghostly body.

Jazz gasped as she took a look at the ghostly body forming from her brother’s ghost core. The body was small, like a toddler. The body was facing away from them, showing them his back. They weren’t clothed in the usual black hazmat suit she had come to associate with her brother’s Phantom form, in fact, the body wasn’t clothed at all. The scars Jazz had become so used to seeing all along her brother’s body in both forms were gone and had been replaced by what she could only describe as an aurora borealis that covered his entire body. The hair was still white, but instead of the ghostly white she had become used to, it was more luminescent, however it was still messy and defied gravity.

Danny, because the ghost in front of them could only be Danny, slowly turned to face them. And, instead of the bright ectoplasmic green eyes that usually accompanied Danny’s ghost form, stared at them with eyes that resembled an exploding supernova. His eyes ran over all them, one by one, lingering on both her and Batman before he opened his mouth and the sounds of a bat chirping flitted out of his mouth causing Batman to tense up.

“What is the meaning of this, Constantine.” Batman growled at the man who had collapsed onto his back.

“I just summoned the bloody Ghost King, Bats, give a guy a minute to recharge.” Constantine groaned. Before anyone could say anything else, the door to the room slid open and Superboy the first flew in looking panicked.

“Danny is missing! He was magically grabbed from the kitchen in front of Hood, Red, myself, and Agent A! We’ve been trying to contact the Watchtower for the last twenty minutes. And I think Hood’s about to go on a murder spree if Danny isn’t found soon!” Superboy the first said in a rush before he finally registered the ghostly body in the summoning circle who had grown curious about the offerings.

“Batcave to Watchtower, do you read us?” The automatic voice of an AI sounded over the speakers.

“Seems Oracle was finally able to reconnect.” Superboy the first muttered as he watched as the ghostly figure picked up the astronaut plushy and chirped at it.

“Superboy, report.” A young male’s voice sounded over the speakers.

“It seems that everything is under control, Red, they found Danny.” Superboy the first reported and there was a small commotion over the intercom and Jazz barely heard the muffled words of ‘…Stop him…’ before the connection closed. Seconds later the computerized system announced that Red Hood had arrived on the Watchtower.

“Since when did he have access to the tower?” Flash asked in a panic whisper as the computerized system announced that Nightwing followed by Robin and Superboy the second had arrived on the Watchtower.

Jazz carefully made her way over to the summoning circle and knelt down in front of her baby brother, who, somehow, had turned back into a toddler, or at least his ghost form had. She hummed the lullaby she used to sing to him when they were younger to try and drown out the sounds of their parents either arguing or working in the lab. Danny’s head shot up and he smiled up at her. He opened his mouth and the sound of a pencil writing in a notebook and the soft sound of pages in a text book turning flew out of his mouth. She knew that sound, it was the sound Danny associated with her name and was what her name sounded like in ghost speak.

“It’s me, Danny. I’ve been so worried about you.” Jazz told him and reached across the summoning circle. Jazz faintly heard the computerized system announce that Black Bat, Spoiler, and Signal had arrived on the Watchtower.

“Don’t–” Raven started however, Jazz had already taken hold of her brother and was pulling him out of the summoning circle. As he crossed over the summoning circle he turned back into his human form, however instead of being her teenage baby brother, he stayed a toddler. He was now wearing a clean pair of batman themed pajamas.

“What happened to you, baby brother? What did mom and dad do to you?” Jazz whispered, tears falling from her eyes.

“Are you hurt, Jazzy?” Danny asked. And Jazz hugged him tight.

“I’m not hurt, Danny, I’m just so happy to see you again. I was so scared when I couldn’t find you. I didn’t know what else to do, I can’t lose you.” Jazz told him as she took in his scent. When Danny had first been this age, she had been too young to appreciate the ‘toddler smell’ that all toddlers seemed to have.

“Danny!” A male ran in. Jazz looked over at him, she had seen images of this man in Clockworks tower while him and Danny discussed the possibility of this man becoming his Fright Knight. This was the famous Red Hood, the one whispered about in the Infinity Realms to avenge a ghost. The one that Clockwork had hinted out would be one of many knights to protect Danny.

“Daddy!” Danny cried out happily as the Red Hood rushed over. Jazz (in her shock as her eyes flew from Red Hood, to Batman, to all the other bats that had just entered the room) allowed Red Hood to take Danny from her. Clockwork had never said that Red Hood (or the other knights he spoke of) would become Danny’s Fright Knights, only that they would be his Knights. And she had over heard many ghost from Gotham calling the Bat family ‘Gotham’s Knights’.

“Clockwork knew this was going to happen.” Jazz muttered. Oh, she would be having words with that ancient! No wonder he ‘couldn’t’ help look for their missing king! He knew exactly were he was the entire time! Jazz blinked as a glowing green post-it note appeared in front of her. She growled as she snatched the note and read it.

‘All is as it should be.
The King has found his Knights.
His Fraid is now complete.
And Justice will rain on those unjust.
-CW’