Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

His chest heaved as he tried to get oxygen into his lungs as he used up all his energy to get back to Fenton Works before his parents did. He needed to pack, and quickly.

His parents had found out he was Phantom, and it wasn’t his decision. They saw him transform after he thought he’d outrun them and ducked into an alley to transform back so he could slip by their trackers. If they saw him as Fenton then it wouldn’t take much to explain that either he happened to be in the area or that their equipment was malfunctioning since they already thought it malfunctioned every time it picked up Danny in human form. Unfortunately, his parents followed his ecto-signature to the alley and made it there in time to see his transformation. He’d seen a reality where his parents accepted his ghost half, he’d hoped they would this time too.

He’d been wrong.

They immediately thought he’d killed their son and was impersonating him, that he wasn’t human at all and was masquerading as a human to get close to them and to be cruel by tricking them. They hadn’t listened to anything he tried to say, and that’s when the ecto-guns had been aimed at him and started firing. He’d quickly transformed back into Phantom and took off, turning invisible as he did so and turning intangible to go through as many buildings and structures as possible to try and throw them off his trail. He even turned human a few times to make his ecto-signature disappear and reappear somewhere entirely different.

The group chat had been texted. Tucker had a program that would allow him to hack into his parents' trackers and plant his ecto-signature somewhere it wasn’t, allowing Danny enough time to get back to his room and grab what he needed. Jazz was helping keep their parents away as long as possible, Valerie was making sure Vlad didn’t catch wind of anything happening until Danny had left Amity. Sam was waiting at her window to give Danny money (that he still didn’t want to take but Sam would hunt him down and kill him all the way if he didn’t) to help him leave town.

He finally got back to Fenton Works and immediately rushed up to his room. He grabbed his go-bag, already full of necessities. He went down to the lab and opened a pocket dimension of his and started stuffing certain weapons and their blueprints in there, destroying other inventions and blueprints that were too dangerous to keep existing. And the destruction of a lot of these would slow his parents down. He grabbed photos with his friends and sister, small mementos, his laptop and phone (Tucker modified so they couldn’t be traced or hacked), and the legal documents he had. This included fake documents for him so he could get away without people knowing who he is and how old he is. He couldn’t exactly get an apartment or anything if people knew he’s only 15. With his parents still not back, he flew invisibly to Sam’s, reappearing in front of her window. She handed him a bag with the cash she’d gotten for him. He promised to message the group chat once he was out of the state, though he still didn’t know where exactly he was going to go just yet. There were a couple different cities he could choose from that all had a good level of ambient ectoplasm for him to survive off of, but he’d figure it out. They looked at one another for another few moments before he left.

Once he was outside the city, he transformed back into Fenton and put on the backpack he had, putting some of the cash inside it and then putting the rest in his pocket dimension. Before he did anything else, he needed to get to the Ghost Zone for a bit. He’d shut down the portal at Fenton Works (and took a few key parts so his parents couldn’t get it working again - at least not right away), but he’d learned how to make his own portals as part of his increased power since learning he’d won the crown from Pariah Dark when he defeated him.

He hadn’t been king long, but long enough that he was able to give an order to the ghosts to not attack during certain days or hours so he’d been steadily doing better in school. So much better that he wasn’t put in summer school like he was originally going to be. With what a lot of their obsessions were, keeping them from attacking or coming to Amity while he was there was nearly impossible and he didn’t want to cause issues with their cores, so they’d made somewhat of a schedule (not that it was followed all the time but it was followed enough for him to be doing better academically and socially).

Opening a portal, Danny stepped through and into Clockwork’s tower. Clockwork and Frostbite had both become Danny’s pseudo ghost parents and Clockwork was his closest advisor while Frostbite had become his primary doctor. He couldn’t really go to a human one since half of him was no longer human and he didn’t know what would appear in any tests they’d do.

Clockwork didn’t look away from his many screens as he heard the portal open, likely knowing exactly who it was and why they were here. Danny closed the portal after him, making sure nobody else could follow him. While he had faith in his friends and sister keeping his parents away for long enough, there was always the chance they’d figure out what was going on. Or at least his mom could.

“Hello Daniel,” Clockwork said, finally turning to face him. “Here to order all ghosts to steer clear of Amity. A wise choice.”

“Thanks,” Danny said, transforming into Phantom and using his core to send a command throughout the Ghost Zone that Amity Park was no longer safe for any ghosts, the Fenton Portal was shut down, and everybody was to stay clear of both the Fentons and the GIW until Danny said it was safe. And if they needed to go to Earth for their obsessions, to let him know so he could swoop in if something went wrong and they ended up in danger. He then looked back at Clockwork.

“Haven’t decided where to go yet?” Clockwork asked, looking at Danny with a knowing and cryptic smirk. Like always.

“I have a few ideas of places that have enough ambient ectoplasm, but I haven’t figured out which place to go. I wish I knew literally anything about my birth parents, but I don’t,” Danny said. His parents had told him a few years ago that he was adopted, but they didn’t know anything about where he was born or who his birth parents were. They said he’d been left at an orphanage before they adopted him, meaning nobody met or saw either of his parents.

“You’ll find your family in Gotham.”

“What?” Danny said, looking at Clockwork a bit shocked. “Are you telling me my birth parents are in Gotham?”

Clockwork simply nodded.

“Who are they?”

“That, you’ll have to figure out on your own.”

Danny nodded, figuring Clockwork may say that. He couldn’t reveal too much or he’d alter the timeline too much. And then those glowing eyeballs would be all pissy and complain to Danny about it. And then they’d get pissy cause Danny wouldn’t do anything about it.

“Thanks Clockwork. I’ll come back to the Realms soon,” he said as he transformed back into Fenton and opened a portal just outside the city limits of Gotham. Because there was so much ambient ectoplasm, he knew the portal wouldn’t register enough to alert the GIW or the Fentons. He looked up at the gray, cloudy sky (hopefully it would clear up at night so he could stargaze), took a deep breath (Ancients, that air smelled foul ), and made his way into the city.

His first stop was somewhere he’d be able to look up places to live. He had money enough to get an apartment, but he’d have to get one that wasn’t too expensive and then get a job to pay for things after that. While he had some money from Sam (and technically all that money from Pariah’s Keep which was now his), he didn’t want to have to rely on that and have people question where he was getting his money. He didn’t want to make himself stand out. Not when the Fentons knew his secret and would be searching for him so they could vivisect and experiment on him.

Once he was a good distance into the city, he saw a library. While he didn’t really go to libraries much (not like Amity really had one this big), he knew that he’d be able to look through apartment listings on the computers there. Or at least open his laptop at one of the tables there and start searching. Maybe he could also look up job openings that he could apply for. Then there was also the fact that he needed to look into getting back to school. Which is where his fake identity from Tucker was going to come in handy. Especially because it included fake grades which were loads better than his actual grades from Casper High. He’d look into the school situation after he got a place to live and a job. It wasn’t like it was the middle of the school year. The only good thing about this happening is that all of it happened during the summer so he didn’t have to worry about missing part of the year and falling behind.

He walked into the library, looking around as he did so. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a girl who reminded him a bit of Jazz, but that was mostly the red hair and the general vibes she was giving off as she sat behind the librarian desk. Jazz once worked part-time at the small library in Amity during one summer to get some money. Scratch that, the first thing he was going to do once he sat down was take out his phone and message the group chat.

He found an unoccupied small table and sat down, putting his bag on his lap as he took out his phone first. He knew better than to take his laptop out before he was going to be using it. He didn’t want to out himself as a halfa so soon after getting to Gotham.

Ghostbusters - 5 Members

Wanted Dead or Alive:

Am safe. In Gotham.

Poison Ivy Stan:

You chose Gotham?

Technopath:

What made you decide on Gotham?

I mean, it’s got enough ambient ecto, but it’s also, like, crime ridden

Wanted Dead or Alive:

So, Clockwork actually told me something without being overly cryptic

Remember how I’m adopted?

Well, turns out my bio parents live here?

Seeing Red:

Oh shit, for real?

Wanted Dead or Alive:

Yeah

Imma try and see if I can find them

Even if they don’t wanna interact with me, it’ll be nice to at least know

Poison Ivy Stan:

I hope they want you in their lives

You deserve a nice family that’ll accept you

And if they don’t, I’ll gladly come to Gotham and kick their asses

Technopath:

I’ll help

Wanted Dead or Alive:

Thanks guys.

So, how’re things in Amity?

I know it hasn’t been that long since I left, but what’s happened so far?

Seeing Red:

The Fruitloop doesn’t know anything yet

At least, I don’t think he does

Idk I left his office as fast as I possibly could

He gives me the ick so much

Wanted Dead or Alive:

Valid

He gives everyone the ick

Except dad

But whatever

Psyched:

So, mom and dad are still trying to find your signature.

They haven’t quite figured out that you’re not here anymore.

Did you do everything you needed to?

Wanted Dead or Alive:

Yea

Portal off and missing pieces

Some inventions and blueprints in my pocket dimension and other destroyed

Got clothes and pictures and other stuff I wanted

Have my phone and laptop and both real and fake docs

Made order to the Zone to not go to Amity rn

And Sam’s money that she threatened me into taking :(

Psyched:

Good. I’m glad you’re safe.

And did Clockwork give you any other clues about your birth parents?

Wanted Dead or Alive:

HA!

Hell no

Said itd alter the timeline too much or smthn

Am currently in the library looking into an apartment

I’ll text you guys later

Poison Ivy Stan:

We’ll keep you updated on everything going on here

Stay safe

Technopath:

I’ll also be monitoring the Idiots in White to see if they pick up on anything

And you better still make the Doom raid this weekend

Seeing Red:

Without all the ghosts coming through I’ll help Jazz keep an eye on the Fentons

I can do it from the sky when Jazz can’t from the ground

Psyched:

And I’ll try and make sure they can’t find you as long as I can.

Miss you, and if you don’t text us again soon, I will hunt you down.

Danny chuckled to himself before putting his phone away and taking out his laptop. He opened it and saw it was charged enough and then connected to the wifi. It didn’t take long to start looking up available housing in the area. There were some areas that were just too expensive, especially if Danny was gonna have an entry level job so it didn’t seem like he was paying for everything by having an illegal job. He wanted to not be noticed by the cops or the Bats. Especially if he interacted with the Bats at all as Phantom. They’re detectives, and would probably be able to piece things together. Having the Furry Brigade rain down on him would definitely cause him to be noticed, possibly alert the Fentons and GIW, and cause him to move to another city. He didn’t want any of those three to happen, much less all of them.

He also wasn’t sure what their stance on the Anti-Ecto Acts was since they’d been allowed to pass and the Bats were part of/affiliated with the Justice League. Surely the Justice League knew about the acts and allowed them to pass because they agreed with them. They’d never answered any of his or his friends’ calls back when they first had ghost attacks and when Pariah Dark had invaded. Hence why Danny had been left to do the majority of the fighting alone since he was way more durable than any of the human ghost fighters/hunters. Even if he also got shot at. At least Val had stopped once he told her the truth. She even helped him both before and after a somewhat schedule had been made for the ghosts to attack and get their fill of both social fighting and fulfilling their Obsessions.

As he looked through available housing, he noticed that there were places that were a lot cheaper. He decided to look up the area these places were in and found out it was commonly called Crime Alley. While that would be dangerous to most people (aka normal people), Danny’s more ghostly attributes made it a lot harder to hurt him or kill him by normal human standards. He could easily survive in a place called Crime Alley. And it looked like there were a few places within walking distance that were currently hiring. He looked at the places available and decided on his first couple of choices before applying to jobs near both of them. After he finished that, he packed away his laptop and got up to leave. He wanted to get to those apartment buildings before it got dark to see if he could start renting one so he at least had an apartment to sleep in (or open a portal to the Realms if he wanted to sleep there instead).

~~~~

Danny actually had good luck for once in his half-life: the first place had an apartment he could start renting immediately. He paid in some of the cash from Sam and was given the key to his apartment. There wasn’t any furniture yet, but that was something Danny could fix pretty easily. Tucker had made him a credit card account under his new (fake) name before he left, which Danny hadn’t used just yet since he wanted to have a job lined up before spending too much. The most he was going to order online at the moment was a mattress. He had some pillows and blankets in his pocket dimension that had been gifts from friends that he wasn’t going to part with. No way in Hell was he giving up his fleece NASA blanket.

He placed the order and paid for same-day delivery. He’d like to have the mattress here to sleep on for at least tonight. While he could sleep in his castle in the Realms, opening a portal right now when he was supposed to be laying low wasn’t what he wanted to do. He’d need to figure out a schedule once he was more settled so that he could take care of his royal duties and continue his training with Clockwork. While he was technically already king by right of conquest, he still had training with Clockwork to learn more about his new role before he was able to officially have a coronation. Though he was already recognized as king by the other ghosts and the Realms, hence the need to take care of royal duties and paperwork. So much paperwork.

He just hoped the ambient ecto in Gotham would help cover any portals he made just like in Amity. It would make it a lot easier for him to stay hidden from the Fentons and the GIW.

Once his mattress was delivered, he collected it (before it could be stolen) and set it up in his new bedroom. He briefly opened his pocket dimension and pulled out his pillows and blankets to make it comfortable to sleep on. He needed sleep. Hopefully he’d hear back from at least one of those jobs tomorrow and he knew he’d have some more planning he needed to do, but for now he was gonna focus on getting some sleep and leave all of those issues for Tomorrow Danny to deal with.

Chapter Text

The next day, Danny woke up surprisingly rested. Granted, he’d been emotionally and physically exhausted and hadn’t needed to wake up in order to fight a ghost, but it was still nice. Since he and the ghosts made somewhat of a fighting schedule, he’d been getting more sleep, but there had been months during which he barely got any sleep due to the constant ghost attacks in the middle of the night. He stretched his arms above his head, feeling a satisfying popping in his back as he did so before he got up from his mattress to get dressed and start his day. He had shit to do.

Floating around the apartment, he got ready and made some breakfast with the meager groceries he’d gotten yesterday. He needed to do a more comprehensive shopping trip, but he still wanted to have a job first. He opened up his email on his phone as he ate his finished meal and scrolled through the few he’d gotten. He wasn’t sure how his new email had already gotten on spam email lists, but he didn’t want to sign up for a senior dating service (seriously, how did they get this email?). He saw that there were replies from the couple of jobs he applied for. That was fairly quick, though Danny wasn’t sure if job openings were applied to much when they existed in Crime Alley. After looking over everything, he figured he’d go for the coffee shop job that was literally down the street from his apartment. It wasn’t so deep in Crime Alley that there’d be too much danger (danger was always present in some way in Gotham), but it was still enough in it that he could stay low and wouldn’t have to walk far to get back to his apartment. Win-win.

After finishing breakfast and getting dressed, Danny left his apartment and headed to the coffee shop.

~~~~

Danny had the job, and it paid pretty well. Yet again, Danny didn’t need to get a job for money, but he didn’t want to be flagged for having sus amounts of money without having an obvious job cause that would put him on the Bats radar. So, working a minimum wage job it was. He’d briefly worked at Nasty Burger once the ghost attacks decreased, so he wasn’t completely inexperienced with dealing with Karens and having to put on his customer service mask. Didn’t mean he particularly enjoyed the thought of it, though.

He’d be starting his job in a couple days. After that he decided to do a little shopping. He needed more food and cooking supplies and maybe he’d get a little more furniture since he now had a job. He really wanted a sofa he could flop on and maybe a table and a couple chairs. If he was feeling really spicy, he might even get a bed frame!

As he made his way to a few stores nearby, he pulled his phone out and opened the group chat with his friends.

Ghostbusters - 5 Members

Wanted Dead or Alive:

I got a job

Poison Ivy Stan:

Gross

Where at?

Wanted Dead or Alive:

Coffee shop

At least I get a discount on the coffee

Technopath:

I bet you have at least one Bat come by in the next week

Red Robin seems like he survives off coffee

Seeing Red:

My bet’s on Spoiler

Psyched:

How’s your apartment?

Wanted Dead or Alive:

I mean

it’s an apartment

i got a mattress and a few appliances

Going shopping today tho

I’ll get at least a sofa

And more food

Psyched:

…Are you telling me your mattress is on the floor?

Wanted Dead or Alive:

…So?

Psyched:

Tell me you at least have pillows and blankets

Wanted Dead or Alive:

Duh

You think I’d leave behind my NASA blanket?

What kind of fool do you take me for

…Don’t answer that

They talked a little more before Danny made it to one of the stores and sent a quick ‘talk later’ message before walking in. He had a floppable sofa to look for.

~~Jason~~

There was somebody new in Crime Alley. Not only could Jason just sense a shift in the air (one which the Pits were oddly silent about), but he’d seen this stranger briefly walking between his apartment building and the coffee shop a couple blocks away. He’d also seen the new guy out at a furniture store and the grocery store, so obviously he was new if he was getting furniture. Plus, Jason knew that nobody else had been renting another apartment on his floor before, and now somebody was . There was something both a bit off about this guy but also familiar and the Bat-trained part of Jason’s brain wanted to find out why that was.

Though that would be kinda hard without even knowing what his name was, especially if he paid in cash for his apartment (he had, Jason checked). Maybe he could talk to him? Though his social skills weren’t great. He also hadn’t been close enough to get a good enough look at his face to find out exactly why he seemed so familiar to him. Maybe he just looked like somebody he knew or had one of those faces, but those sort of coincidences didn’t happen to his family.

He finally got a chance to talk to the guy one day when he was coming back to his apartment after a workout. This new guy was at his door, in the process of taking his keys out to unlock it when he seemed to scrunch up his nose, make almost a gasping noise, and looked up as though he were looking for something in particular. He stopped when his eyes landed on Jason and Jason swears they were almost glowing. Now that he was closer, he also took the chance to try and find out why this kid (he couldn’t be older than 16) looked so damn familiar.

Black hair and blue eyes. So basically, the same requirements most of B’s adoptions had. It was a running joke at this point that if somebody had blue eyes and black hair, they were one tragic backstory or thirst for revenge away from being the newest adoptee.

“Uh, hi?” Jason said after this guy just stared at him for a moment in what seemed surprise. Which was fair. It’s not like they’d run into each other yet and it’s not like he was living in a good part of town either. “I’m Jason. You’re new, right?”

The guy shook his head to seemingly clear it for a moment before he nodded. “Uh, yeah. I am. Just moved here a couple days ago. I’m Danny.”

The two of them shook hands. Jason felt something in his chest squirm at the touch, but chose to ignore it since it didn’t seem important at the moment. Though it almost looked like the guy - Danny - noticed it.

“What made you decide to move to Gotham of all places?” Jason asked. It’s not like many people would actually willingly choose to live in Gotham with the constant rogue attacks and crime rate. Danny just shrugs.

“Circumstances led to me needing to move, and I heard I have family in town.”

“Oh?”

“I’m hoping to find them at some point so I can connect. I’ve never met them before.”

That was interesting. Seems like he’s hiding a tragic backstory (another check for B’s adoption requirements) and apparently is looking for family. Maybe he’s adopted?

“Well, I should probably get going. Nice to meet you. If you need anything, I’m a door away,” Jason said, extending an olive branch should Danny need anything. Something about him made Jason want to protect him. That and the fact that there was a child (a teen is still a child) living alone in Crime Alley and Jason would be damned if he didn’t try to help the kid out when he needed it. Danny nodded and waved a little before heading inside his apartment while Jason went into his.

Well, he knew a name now. Danny.

Time to start digging up anything he could on the kid.

Cause there was something… off about him and that never ended well.

~~Danny~~

His day had been pretty eventful for someone trying to stay under the radar.

He finally got that sofa, and a couple other items to put in his apartment. And he’d been mentally preparing for his new job starting soon. He did agree with his friends that at least one of the Bats would be stopping by his new job since it decided to stay open till ass-o’clock and Danny had quite a few of those shifts already lined up. He didn’t really care since he wasn’t currently in school, but it still kinda sucked.

And then of course he found out he had a next door neighbor who was contaminated with the grossest ecto he’d ever smelled.

He was just trying to unlock his apartment door when he both felt his ghost sense partially go off and smelt what smelled like a combination of sewage and rotten food. He would know, he’s been dumped in both quite often. He’d looked up and locked eyes with his absolute unit of a neighbor. Seriously, the guy was tall and jacked. It reminded him of his dad Jack Fenton. He also had a familiar shade of white in the front of his hair and his eyes had briefly flashed green when they met Danny’s.

Apparently the guy’s name was Jason and he’d offered to help Danny if he ever needed anything. Which was… surprisingly nice. When they shook hands, Danny’s suspicions about the guy were verified. He’d died at some point and come back, but he wasn’t sure if the guy even knew . He didn’t feel like a halfa but he also felt a little more ghostly than a liminal like his sister and friends were. Maybe Frostbite would know more? He could always ask when he visited for his next appointment.

That sounded like a problem for future Danny. Current Danny was going to see if he could find anything about who his birth parents might be for a bit and then take a nap.

He was going to take advantage of the couple days he had left without a job.

~~~~

Scratch that, Danny was actually gonna also message the group chat because he could still smell that ecto through the fucking wall and it was going to drive him nuts.

Ghostbusters - 5 Members

Wanted Dead or Alive:

Guys

there’s this guy next door

and he REEKS of bad ecto

Poison Ivy Stan:

What?

Technopath:

how did you find that out?

Wanted Dead or Alive:

So

I was trying to unlock my door

and i was having some issues

cause i’m not used to using a key

and this dude shows up at his door

he kinda activated my ghost sense and i could smell something rotten

turns out its him

he’s ghostly but something’s off

like i can currently smell him through the fkn wall

i need to see Frosty to see if i can fix this

i like this apartment but this stink is gonna drive me up the wall

like, i can handle explosions and shit

but bad smells is where i draw the fkn line

Seeing Red:

How do you know what bad ecto smells like?

Wanted Dead or Alive:

…

I feel like answering that might threaten my health

Psyched:

DANNY

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT

WHAT DID YOU DO

Wanted Dead or Alive:

LOOK I didnt MEAN to fall in the vat in vlad’s lab

i just kinda… slipped

Poison Ivy Stan:

…You what?

Technopath:

How do you fall into a vat of rotten ecto?

Why did Vlad even have that in his lab?

Wanted Dead or Alive:

I think it was runoff from him making all those clones?

idk and i dont really care

all i know is it was gross

0/10 would not recommend

dani thought it was funny tho

Psyched:

We’ll talk more about this later :)

Wanted Dead or Alive:

i smell danger from tht smiley face

Psyched:

:)

Danny knew he shouldn’t’ve mentioned how he knew what rotten ecto smelled like.

Then again, most of what he told them about whenever he was left to his own devices during a ghost fight usually got him in trouble with his sister. Or his friends. It wasn’t his fault he was naturally clumsy. It was whoever he got his genetics from.

He’s willing to bet his bio dad is the clumsy one.

Though dragging Vlad into the vat with him was definitely worth the smell lingering for a couple days. Thank the Ancients his parents Jack and Maddie didn’t leave the lab for those couple days.

His phone pinged a little later in the day and used the tone that indicated it was a message labeled as ‘URGENT’. He pulled up the group chat again.

Ghostbusters - 5 Members

Technopath:

So, um, there’s a development

Jack and Maddie have sorta filed a police report

In regards to you

Wanted Dead or Alive:

oh? is it a wanted poster or missing poster

Technopath:

Missing rn

i don’t think they want the GIW knowing that youre Phantom rn

They want first dibs

Psyched:

Can confirm that is exactly why they’ve filed the Missing Persons report first

Danny, this means that you might ping on the database if you get on the police’s radar

Or the Bats

Please be careful

Wanted Dead or Alive:

wdym im always careful

Seeing Red:

…

Psyched:

…

Technopath:

…

Poison Ivy Stan:

…

Danny

Wanted Dead or Alive:

OK

im moderately careful

sometimes

i promise i’ll try and not get caught by anyone

lemme know if they catch wind of where i am

or if the GIW try anything

plus, im not even in school rn

tht means im not leaving my little apartment unless necessary rn

like my new job

Technopath:

Of course dude

Just stay safe

And don’t bring attention to yourself if you can help it

Danny rolled his eyes at his friends’ antics, but smiled. He missed them. And Jazz. Though the Missing Person report was going to make things a little tough if he did end up on the police’s radar. Or the Bats. Good thing he was using cash for this apartment and wasn’t planning on getting into anything too risky. Plus, he had a nearly foolproof fake ID.

He should be fine. For now at least.

~~Jason~~

His search had brought up basically nothing . He’d underestimated how common the name ‘Danny’ was. Especially since it was most likely a nickname. And it didn’t help that he didn’t really know where the kid was from, either. All he knew was he was probably from the midwest given the accent he had and that he was adopted, but that didn’t really narrow down the possible matches at all.

He’d gotten into the camera footage from his apartment building (one of the cameras in that hallway was his own so he already had access to that one), but he didn’t have any kind of facial recognition software to run on the kid’s face. (Also was Jason tired or did Danny’s eyes reflect light when they met the camera?) And his main features of black hair and blue eyes fit so many people. Hell, it fit most of Bruce’s brood at this point.

It was time to call in a professional to help.

He took out his phone and pulled up one of his top contacts.

“Hey Babs, I need you to look someone up for me.”

Chapter Text

~~Barbara~~

Something was up. First she saw a kid walk into the library who looked like Wayne adoption bait (and looked a little too much like B in general to be coincidental), and now Jason was calling her up in the middle of the day and had asked for her help with something. Granted, he’d go to her before Tim in most cases, but he still liked to handle things himself if he could. And she was sure he hadn’t caught a new case as Red Hood. She would’ve known if he had.

“Hey Babs, I need you to look someone up for me.”

“Ok, what’s going on? You don’t ask me for help with stuff unless you’ve exhausted your own means and really want to find something out. Is it related to Hood?”

“No, it’s my new neighbor. There’s something about him that’s both setting me on edge and that seems scarily familiar and I don’t know what the fuck it is and all I have to go off of is a first name and what he looks like.”

“...Usually you don’t need my help with finding information like this.”

“Well, I don’t have any kind of facial recognition software like you do and the kid looks too generic to really get anything without it. He’s also not from Gotham and only showed up like a couple days ago so it’s not like anybody around here’s gonna have any info. I’m telling you, something is off about this kid.”

“‘Kid’? I thought you said he was your new neighbor?”

“He is. Can’t be more than 16, which is also suspicious as hell.”

“...Ok yeah, that definitely warrants investigation. Want me to bring Tim in on this?”

“Yeah, you two can cover more ground. And if the kid sees me too many places, it’ll probably spook him. I’ll send you what I have and some of the camera footage. Lemme know when you get it.”

Babs waits a couple moments before she gets the files he sent over. She opens the footage and freezes.

“I’ve seen this kid before.”

“Shit, really? Where?”

“I saw him at the library like a couple days ago. I only remember because he looked like perfect adoption bait but there was also something that reminded me a little too much of B. And since this is the kid that apparently is living alone next to you and that you’ve said seems off, that can’t be a coincidence.”

“Sounds on par for this family. Fifty bucks says Bruce has another long-lost kid.”

“I’m not betting against that cause I’m on your side. The only question would be with who and did he know about the kid possibly existing. I’ll get Tim and see what he can find too. We should probably ask Bruce if he knows anything about this.”

“Hm, not yet. We don’t want to give the old man a heart attack at the thought of him having another long lost son and then it turns out to be the one time we’re wrong.”

“That’s fair. If any information starts to point to Bruce being his dad or anything, we tell him right away.”

“...Fine. Let me know what you find.”

“You know I will.”

She and Jason ended the call after that. So the call from Jason tied into the kid she’d seen at the library not even a week ago. She didn’t want to jump to any conclusions, but there was no way this could just be some coincidence. Jason definitely didn’t have much to go on. The kid told him his name was Danny and he’d told Jason that he’d needed to move and was looking for family he’d heard were in town.

…Yeah, Babs was definitely getting a little weirded out by everything just seeming to fit with their theory.

Jason noted that Danny sounded like he was from the Midwest and included some video and stills from some security cameras Jason had set up in the building, but there was nothing else to go off of. No last name or definitive age.

She was definitely going to need to use her facial recognition software for this. And maybe have Tim run Danny through the software on the computer in the cave. Her stuff was good, but the Batcave was elite. And Tim always seemed to be modifying it or upgrading it and expanding testing.

We See You - 2 Members

I Am Big Brother

Hey Tim

Got something for you to look into

I Know All Your Secrets

New case?

I haven’t heard anyone mention a new case

I Am Big Brother

Not an official case

Something Jason’s having me look into

I’m roping you in too

The facial recognition software at the cave’s better

And I have some other things I’m working on

So i can’t exactly make it to the cave rn

I Know All Your Secrets

Fair

What is it?

I Am Big Brother

I’m sending you the file J sent me

There’s this kid who moved in next to him

Weirds him out a bit

And he seems familiar to him too

Popped out of nowhere

He’s also the same one I saw at the library the other day

I Know All Your Secrets

Ok?

That doesn’t seem that unusual?

I Am Big Brother

Just open the damn file

You’ll understand then

But this kid is also most likely under 16 yo

And has nobody with him and no paper trail

Like i’m talking absolutely nothing

Paid his rent in cash and i dont think his lease has been filed yet

Cause then i’d at least be able to find his last name

But i’m still looking at it should be showing up soon

I Know All Your Secrets

…

This kid looks like B

Like a lot

What the hell

I’ll look into it

I’ll let you know if anything pings

Babs sighed a bit after the text exchange and moved to start researching. She wasn’t lying when she said she had other things she was working on. There were a few different ongoing cases within the Bats and she had information to find for almost every single one. But while she waited for some results on those, she started looking into Danny.

Hey, his lease information was finally available for her to takelook at.

According to his lease, his last name was Nightingale.

Looking up “Danny Nightingale” brought up nothing past his new job and lease. And a credit card that so far had only been used a couple times in the past couple days. That would be really odd, if that were Danny’s actual last name. But this just proved to her that it was a fake name. It fit with the runaway theme he was fitting so far. Though he probably planned for this to happen seeing as how quickly he seemed to be making sure he could provide for himself and stay off the streets.

He was working at a coffee shop near his apartment, which wasn’t too odd. After all, it was always hiring and was within walking distance. She was wondering how he’d gotten the money he’d already spent but if he’d been planning to run for some time, he most likely had a stash he’d been saving up just for this instance.

Past what she’d already found, she was finding nothing else about him electronically. She started setting up her software to run his face, though the security footage wasn’t great quality so she wasn’t sure if she’d really get anything from it. She honestly wasn’t too sure if Tim would get real hits from the footage either. They might have to get a Bat to visit the coffee shop while he’s working to get some better footage of him using their masks.

She started working on some of the cases she was helping with while her software ran Danny’s face.

~~Tim~~

Babs had texted him about helping Jason with something about a kid that’d moved in next to him that he was skeptical about. Tim didn’t really think that was anything too weird… until Babs sent him the file.

The kids looked a lot like Bruce. And it was more than just the hair and eyes; his face looked like Bruce except for a few differences. If this kid - Danny - wasn’t related to Bruce, he’d be shocked.

He could understand Babs wanting him to use the software in the cave to try and get results from their facial recognition program since the stills from the video weren’t the best quality. But he’d gotten results with less.

He started running Danny’s face through his software while he started looking him up other than that. He knew Babs was looking up information about Danny too, but Tim was too curious at this point.

He found his lease, job, and information for a credit card all under a fake last name. He wasn’t sure if the first name was real or not, but he was gonna assume it was until proven otherwise. There wasn’t any more information at this point since he didn’t have a real last name to run through any searches.

The facial recognition started pinging and Tim pulled up what it matched for.

There were multiple “possible” hits against photos of Bruce. If he needed more proof that Danny was possibly another son of Bruce’s, this was it. But there were also two matches that seemed to be better indicators as to who Danny was.

One was some sort of magazine cover that had an article about the kid on the cover - Danny Fenton - finding out one of the last purple-back gorillas was female. Tim wasn’t exactly sure why Danny was on the magazine cover since it was a magazine about women scientists, though he was guessing that the woman with him on the cover was his mother? He still didn’t understand. The second match was a missing persons report from some small town called Amity Park, Illinois. Well, Jason thought the kid might be from the Midwest because of the accent, and this proved that was true. The missing person report was only a day or two old, which was around the time Babs first saw him.

He was going to visit that coffee shop Danny worked at during his next patrol (Danny was working the night shift, he’d checked) to get some clearer footage to make sure Danny Nightingale was Danny Fenton.

That wasn’t going to stop him looking into Danny Fenton now that he had a name to go off of.

He found adoption records for Danny, but it didn’t seem like the agency actually existed. That was something he was going to look into later.

The weirdest thing was that nothing else appeared. Once Danny was in Amity Park, there were no other records. He couldn’t find school records or vaccinations or anything. It’s like the town had some sort of block online. Something wasn’t right.

So they had a possible lost child of Bruce who was adopted through a company that doesn’t actually exist and lived in a town that he couldn’t find any information for.

Yeah, nothing suspicious about that at all.

We See You - 2 Members

I Know All Your Secrets

Babs

I found something

And also nothing

I Am Big Brother

What the hell does that even mean

Explain

I Know All Your Secrets

So, got some pings from the software

First off

He came off as a “possible match” to pics of B

So

There’s that

But then there were two matches that list him as Danny Fenton

Some article about a gorilla and then a missing person report

I’ll send them to you

So i looked up the name

Found adoption records

And then absolutely nothing

Kid’s from some town that i can’t find anything about

Once he started living there, it’s like he vanished

I can’t find anything

There’s some sort of blackout over that town

I Am Big Brother

…

Ok, that is weird

I Know All Your Secrets

AND

The adoption agency doesn’t exist

It’s not legitimate

I Am Big Brother

Yeah, we’re def telling B

This is just weird on top of weird

Let’s tell J first tho

I Know All Your Secrets

Im sending you what I have

Im gonna visit his job tonight to get better footage of him

I need to be sure it’s him before anything else

I Am Big Brother

I’ll tell J

Talk to you tonight

I Know All Your Secrets

👍

He had a feeling there’d be a new person living at the Manor soon if this turned out how he thought it would.

~~Danny~~

Ok, so Danny may have actually forgotten what day it was.

In his defense, he hadn’t really been paying all that much attention because of what’d happened in Amity but also because it was summer and he had a hard time remembering unimportant information like that during summer unless it related to a trip or something.

So he didn’t really have a couple days off until his job started.

Which is why he was nearly late for his first shift.

Luckily, he’d set an alarm on his phone for his first shift. He was really patting Past Danny on the back for that. What amazing thinking on his part. At least his phone knew what day it was.

He put on the uniform and headed to the shop for his first shift. It wasn’t dark out just yet, so he didn’t really feel weirded out walking down the street. Though walking down it at night wasn’t really an issue for him either since it was pretty hard for a gun or something to actually do real lasting damage to him.

He didn’t have the best sense of self-preservation when it came to regular people at this point.

He made it to his job and clocked in before starting his training. There weren’t really any customers right now so they didn’t have anyone they needed to serve or that were interrupting his training, which was nice. The training was boring and he’d rather get it over with quickly. Since he’d already had a fast food job, there were a few things he didn’t need to be taught, so that was a plus.

~~~~

Ancients, this job was so boring right now.

There was literally nobody coming in.

It was ass-o’clock and most sane people weren’t wandering around Gotham this late. And barely anybody was going to a coffee shop at this time, too. Though there were a few college students who were taking summer courses.

Danny was the only one working right now since he’d been deemed trained enough, so he was just on his phone to pass the time. He’d already cleaned anything that wasn’t needed to make coffee. He’d clean all that before the next shift came in.

The bell above the door rang and Danny quickly shoved his phone into his pocket before looking up to see who’d come in and to give that stupid generic welcoming.

It was fucking Red Robin.