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.

Chapter Text

Ok, so Red Robin decided to show up during his first fucking shift at the coffee shop. That’s fine, he could handle it. This was Gotham and he could already tell that this wasn’t too unusual. Apparently Tuck and Val did their research when they placed bets on which Bat would visit the coffee shop first.

Damn.

Tuck won that bet.

Val would be disappointed.

He just stared at the vigilante as he walked up to the counter, not able to see his eyes through the domino, but there were a number of ghosts who didn’t have pupils or irises and their eyes were just a solid color, so it honestly wasn’t all that different to him. He could sorta read emotions due to his ghostly side, though he wasn’t overly good at that yet. He was supposed to get lessons about that from one of his council members, likely Dora or Frostbite.

The floating eyeballs could fuck off which is why they weren’t part of the council. They’d been big mad.

“Hey, so I’ll take a Death Wish with two extra shots of espresso,” Red Robin said, placing his order and bringing Danny out of his thoughts. The emotions that Danny could read from Red Robin right now just indicated curiosity, which wasn’t abnormal from what Danny knew about the Bats. Especially Red Robin.

Wait a minute.

Two extra shots of espresso. On their Death Wish coffee?

This guy was either insane or had some weird meta immunity to caffeine. What the hell?

Whatever, wasn’t his body being fucked up.

“Alright, is that all for today?” Danny asked, making sure he had the entire order.

“You’re not going to try and convince me not to get the extra espresso?” Red Robin asked, voice indicating a raised eyebrow that Danny couldn’t see. Danny just shrugged in response.

“It’s your body, so if you wanna destroy it with an ungodly amount of caffeine, who am I to stop you? I’m not your dad or anything.”

“Fair. Other coffee shops usually try though. And no, that’s all for my order.”

“Ok, the total’s on the screen. Cash or card?”

“Cash.”

Red Robin handed over cash and Danny got him his change before moving to make the coffee he’d ordered. He was remembering the amount of caffeine to text Tuck about later when he mentioned Red Robin coming in. Jazz was going to be appalled at the amount. But then again, Danny had a notoriously high caffeine tolerance (ghost biology sucked like that) so it wouldn’t be too far out of the realm for him to order that but Red Robin was, to his knowledge, just a regular human.

Once he’d finished making the coffee, he brought it over to Red Robin who thanked him and then left.

It was once again empty in the shop.

He was texting the groupchat.

Ghostbusters - 5 Members

Wanted Dead or Alive

one of the bats just came in to get coffee

Technopath

Who was it???

Wanted Dead or Alive

red robin

so you were right tuck

Seeing Red

DAMNIT

Technopath

Hell yeah I win the bet!

Wanted Dead or Alive

he ordered an insane amount of caffeine

remember the death wish coffee i sent?

Poison Ivy Stan

Yeah it had like 6 shots of espresso or something

Wanted Dead or Alive

HE ADDED TWO MORE SHOTS

Psyched

…

That’s usually something only you do

You’re sure he’s human?

Wanted Dead or Alive

pretty fkn sure

he’s def not a ghost

Psyched

That’s a bit concerning…

Poison Ivy Stan

Uh oh

Jazz is starting a psych profile

Psyched

No comment

Technopath

Did you talk to RR much?

Wanted Dead or Alive

um no?

i dont wanna be on the bats radar

and like i was just making his coffee

dude left right after

got crime to stop

shit a college student just came in

Danny locked his phone and focused on the absolutely exhausted looking college student who’d just come in and was looking at the menu. He definitely saw the person’s eyes lock onto the Death Wish for a few moments.

~~~~

Getting back to his apartment and the lack of rotten ecto smell meant that his neighbor was currently out. Making his way into his bedroom, he made a note that he’d need to do some grocery shopping and maybe look at some furniture. He was pretty sure if he didn’t get a bed frame soon that Jazz would find her way over and hit over the head for keeping his mattress on the floor. To be fair, it wasn’t the most comfortable, but Danny had slept on concrete and wedged between buildings before. He’d be fine.

He changed out of his work uniform and into pajamas before getting on his mattress and pulling his NASA blanket over himself.

At some point, he registered that ecto return next door.

His neighbor must have a night job too with the weird hours he’d be home or gone.

~~Tim~~

He’s gotten some good footage of Danny thanks to his trip to the coffee shop. He got back to the cave and took his time changing out of his suit and showering, specifically so he would find the cave empty when he was done. Jason didn’t want anybody else to know about this yet, and if Bruce got even a whiff of this then he would stop at nothing to get answers as quickly as possible and he’d probably scare the kid off.

He uploaded his mask footage and put some clearer stills of Danny’s face into the software and started running the program. Sitting back, he took a sip of the coffee that he probably shouldn’t have been allowed to buy.

The program pinged Danny as Danny Fenton judging by how clearly he matched both the missing poster and the magazine cover, but he also slightly pinged both Bruce’s and Selina’s faces. Ok, this definitely wasn’t just a coincidence. At least they had an idea of who Danny’s mother might be…

It was strange, though, since Danny would’ve been conceived long before many of them were adopted and before Damian. Why hadn’t he been mentioned? Especially by Selina? Unless she put him up for adoption without Bruce knowing. But Tim didn’t think she’d do something like that, and Bruce likely wouldn’t have given Danny up. Depending on when all this happened, Bruce may have adopted Dick already. They’d need to ask both of them about it, and Selina as well. Which would alert them that they were investigating something relating to a possible son of Bruce.

And of course there was the weird sketchy fake adoption agency that he was adopted through and the fact that Amity Park didn’t seem to exist since there was practically nothing online about it and anybody who lived there seemed to pop out of existence once in the town limits.

There were so many things that didn’t add up or make sense and it was making every single instinct of Tim’s scream.

…He was going to see what the fuck was up with the adoption agency and the town with or without Jason’s go ahead. He was too invested at this point and needed answers or he’d go mad.

He opened up a chat with Babs and Jason this time.

New Group - 3 Members

I Know All Your Secrets named this group Danny Investigation Squad

I Know All Your Secrets

So

I got some info on Danny

I Am Big Brother

Alright

Let’s have it

I Know All Your Secrets

There’s a lot

And none of it adds up

I got better footage of Danny from the coffee shop tonight

And had it go through the face recognition software

It pinged with both the missing persons report and the magazine cover

Both showing one Daniel Fenton

Adopted by Drs Madeline and Jackson Fenton

The couple already had a daughter named Jasmine

The Spiritual Homes adoption agency was never an actual agency

It was most likely a front for selling stolen babies from what I’ve found

They no longer operate as of a few years ago

The family then moved to Amity Park, Illinois

And then there are no fkn records

No medical records, school records, etc.

It’s like the town doesn’t even exist

Their online presence and the presence of anyone there is nonexistent

Then 15 years later, Danny Nightingale shows up in Gotham

He has an apartment he’s paid for in cash

A job at a local coffee shop

And as far as I can find, fake records

The Drs Fenton filed the missing persons report about a day or two ago

Which is odd since he first appeared in Gotham before that

Something’s up

Yorick

What the fuck

I wasn’t expecting you to uncover what sounds like a conspiracy

But it’s definitely looking like B has another lost kid

Do either of you two know anything about him missing a kid?

I Am Big Brother

I know nothing about this

Never heard anybody mention it either

I Know All Your Secrets

His face pinged both images of B and Selina

So he’s most likely their kid

I’ve never heard anything about them having a kid

But if anybody besides them were to know anything, it’d be Dick

It was around the time that he was adopted by B so he might’ve been around

I mean, Alfred definitely knows, but he wouldn’t tell us

Not if B hasn’t

So asking him is out

Yorick

Damn

That’s true about Alfie tho

Guess we need to ask Dickie, B, and Selina

Should we go for Dickie first?

I Know All Your Secrets

Maybe each of us can ask one of them?

I could take Dick, Babs you can take Selina, and Jason you can take B

Yorick

Why the fuck do I get B?

I Know All Your Secrets

Because whenever you ask him something he answers

Like almost immediately without hesitation

He’s afraid to lose you again

The only other family member he’ll do that with is Dick

Yorick

You evil genius

Alright, I’ll ask the old man

I Am Big Brother

I can set up a girl’s day with Selina

We’re overdue for one anyways

That is assuming that she won’t be needed at the Manor

I Know All Your Secrets

I think you’ll be good

B’s working from home

And Dick’s staying overnight at the Manor for a case

He’s working with Damian on it

Yorick

Shit

Demon brat’s not gonna like there being another kid

Especially one that cancels his title of “only blood son”

I Am Big Brother

…

I didn’t think of that

But if Danny really is B’s, he’ll have to deal with it

Plus, B’s been due for another addition to the ranks

Yorick

Question is: will the kid be part of the nightlife?

I Know All Your Secrets

Probably

Especially if he really is Selina and B’s bio kid

This is gonna be a mess

I Am Big Brother

Alright, let’s get some sleep then start

Tim, put down that coffee and get some sleep

I Know All Your Secrets

I forgot you have access to the cave cameras

~~~~

Tim woke up the next day, still sort of tired, but that was normal for him. He blearily got ready and headed downstairs where the others were gathering for breakfast. Dick was already at the table so Tim decided to sit next to him. That way he’d be able to ask him to talk after breakfast without the rest of the table finding out.

As more family members who were at the manor this morning arrived, Tim leaned over to Dick.

“Hey, Dick, could I talk to you after breakfast?” he asked. Dick looked a little confused but nodded.

“Of course, Baby Bird,” Dick agreed readily. Tim nodded and Bruce and Selina got to the table. Shortly after that, Alfred brought out breakfast and they all started filling their plates. Tim also took the time to look over at Bruce and Selina and look for the resemblance between them and Danny instead of seeing it through the facial recognition program. Based on memory, he could pinpoint certain features that Danny shared with each of them.

If Danny somehow ended up not being related to the two of them, there’d be something seriously wrong.

After breakfast, Dick and Tim ended up in the empty sitting room as the others all went off to do different things for the time being.

“So, what did you wanna talk to me about?” Dick asked, looking at Tim expectantly.

“Do you happen to remember anything about B and Selina possibly having a kid together back around the time he first took you in?” Tim asked.

Dick’s face changed to surprise. That obviously hadn’t even been on the list of things he’d expected Tim to ask.

“Timmy, why are you asking that?”

That wasn’t a yes or no. Tim looked at his older brother. “Jason enlisted me and Babs to help with something. Please, just answer.”

Dick sighed. “I’m not sure I’m supposed to be talking about this, but yeah, they had a kid together. It was shortly after B took me in that he was born. I don’t know the specifics of what happened, but B and Selina were told that their son got sick and didn’t make it. It just about broke the two of them and it’s part of why they were apart for a while, so they could heal a bit from it. B doesn’t like to talk about it and so I’ve never brought it up. Alfie won’t bring it up either. It’s why none of you have ever been told.” Dick sighed, not mentioning that it obviously affected him too if the sadness on his face was any indication. “Now, will you tell me why you’re asking me this?”

Tim sighed a little, figuring he may as well tell Dick why since both Selina and B would be asked and would also want to know what was going on. Plus, if he didn’t then they would all just stalk and dig until they found out what he, Babs, and Jason were hiding. And Dick was scary good at finding out shit. Cass too.

“Jason encountered this kid in Crime Alley. He got a weird feeling so he had me and Babs look into him. From what we’ve found, it seems that he may be B’s and Selina’s kid.”

Dick’s eyebrows raised as far as they could and his eyes widened almost comically. “What?”

“I did a facial recognition search with some video stills I had and his face pinged partially for B and Selina. He looks like a carbon copy of Bruce. It’s a little uncanny, honestly.”

“Timmy, are you sure?”

“Look, I don’t know everything, but he was adopted by a couple of scientists from some shady adoption agency that no longer exists and apparently was never actually legit. That probably means that he was stolen and sold or something through that agency.”

“...What’s his name?”

“Danny.”

“Danny…” Dick said, mostly to himself. He looked far away, likely wondering more about Danny. “You’ll tell me if it actually is him?”

“Jason and Babs are gonna ask B and Selina and once we know for certain, we’ll let the whole family know.”

Dick nodded, hope simmering in his eyes, before heading to another area of the manor. Tim took a deep breath. He’d wait a little bit for Jason and Babs to ask B and Selina and then text the groupchat with what he found out and hear what they found out.

Chapter Text

~~Barbara~~

Shortly after breakfast, Babs got Selina to agree to a day out. Babs was planning on them going shopping and getting food, and afterwards she’d ask about the supposedly dead biological kid. She didn’t want to do it straight out, she needed to buy a few things anyways, and it’d been too long since she’d hung out with Selina one-on-one so she was killing three birds with one stone at this point.

The day went well with Babs getting what she needed while shopping (and many things she technically didn’t need) and the two of them had some great food for lunch. Afterwards, Babs decided to finally ask Selina about Danny.

“Selina, I need to ask you something,” she said, looking over at the woman who looked just a bit confused but nodded in acquiescence. “Did you and Bruce have a child together about 15 years ago?”

Selina froze before looking over at her. “...Why are you asking me this?”

“You know I wouldn’t ask this without a reason, so there is one. But please, I need you to answer before I tell you why I’m asking this.”

Selina sighed and a look of immense grief came over her as she answered. “I hope you have a damn good reason. Nobody other than Bruce, Alfred, Dick, and myself know about this. Bruce and I dated a while back for a bit, you all know that. What most don’t know is that I fell pregnant and we decided to keep the baby. We were so excited for him and shortly before I gave birth, Bruce took Dick in. We hid the entire pregnancy from the press so it was never public knowledge, and we wanted it that way. Our son was born under an alias and whisked away to the nursery, but we were told not long after that he’d fallen ill. Really ill and was rushed to the NICU. He didn’t make it too much longer and passed. I don’t remember too much directly following the news or directly preceding it. I don’t even remember what the cause was because I sort of zoned out immediately afterwards. The toll was too much and Bruce and I took a break in our relationship to separately deal with it and heal. That was part of why it’s never been mentioned to any of the others that weren’t there during that time. Now please, why did you ask this?”

“Ok, so I know I can trust you to not go all obsessive over this like Bruce would, but there’s been some information that’s come to my attention that indicates that your son might actually be alive.”

Barbara could see Selina freeze yet again. It was almost as if she could see her brain rebooting.

“...What?” She looked directly into Barbara’s eyes. “You’re telling me my baby might’ve been alive this whole time?”

Barbara just nodded. “It’s too complicated to get into right now, and I promise you’ll get the full story later, but just know that Jason, Tim, and I have all seen this kid and he looks scarily like you and especially Bruce.”

“I expect Jason is going to ask Bruce about this?”

“He is. We all wanted to see what you’d all tell us.”

“Makes sense. When can I get that full story?”

“If Jason’s talk with B goes well enough and he promises to not get obsessive and scare the poor kid, maybe later tonight because it looks like Tim uncovered another conspiracy in the process.”

That got Selina to smile fondly. “That does sound like something he’d do. And Babs, I’ll make sure my love doesn’t fuck up us getting our son back if this really is true.”

Barbara knew from that look. Nobody fucked with Selina when she had that look.

Well, nobody fucked with her and won.

The two continued spending a bit more time together and Babs waited a bit for Jason to have talked with B.

~~Jason~~

B was working from the Manor today, which meant that Jason had to actually go there (ew), but this was better than having to go to WE to talk to Bruce instead. Small mercies.

He got to the Manor, greeted Alfie when he opened the door with a promise to have some tea together after his talk with B, and headed to the home office where he knew the old man was working. Not even bothering to knock, Jason just waltzed right in, evidently surprising B if the look on his face was any indication.

“Jaylad, what brings you here?” B asked, a warm look on his face as he looked at him, which Jason was trying hard to ignore (which wasn’t working).

“I have something I need to ask you,” he said, crossing his arms. He watched as Bruce closed his laptop, giving Jason all his attention.

“Go ahead.”

“...Did you and Selina have a kid together?”

Of all the things Bruce had probably expected Jason to ask, this was evidently not one of those things. He actually visibly reacted to the fucking question. That’s how surprised he was. His eyes widened and he tensed up a bit.

“Why are you asking that?”

His voice was a little shaky. Damn he was really surprised. This reaction was going to live in Jason’s mind rent free at this point.

“Just answer the question, Old Man.”

Bruce sighed and still seemed hesitant. Time to pull out the big guns.

“...Please.”

Bruce looked up once Jason said that and Jason could see him immediately soften and acquiesce.

“...Alright, I’ll tell you. Yes, Selina and I had a child. It was right after I took in Dick.”

“And…?”

Bruce sighed. “When he was born he seemed completely fine. But at some point we were told that he’d fallen ill and it wasn’t long after that that he passed. I tried looking into things, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The hospital didn’t have security cameras for me to check back then, but the nurse who told us gave us no indication that she was lying about anything. Selina and I took time apart to come to grips with things.”

Not surprising that Bruce had looked into things, but the lack of security cameras and lack of evidence pointing to the baby being alive would’ve definitely made things harder.

“Jay, what is this about? This seems like a random question to be asking,” Bruce said, looking just a bit pained by all this. It was a bit strange to see, though Jason had seen that look a few times before. Like when Jason was originally refusing to spend any time with the family.

He’d talked with Babs and Tim about them having some sort of discussion with B and Selina (and Dickie too if he wanted) about what they’d discovered so far, as long as B promised to not go after this kid and scare him off. Not just so they could add in their two cents, but because the little insomniac had somehow uncovered a conspiracy while looking into this kid. Because of fucking course he did.

“I’ll tell you, as long as you don’t pull a Batman and get crazy obsessive over this.”

B narrowed his eyes a little in suspicion but nodded his agreement.

“There’s this kid that I met, and whom both Tim and Babs have also seen or met, that looks almost like a carbon copy of you with some traits of Selina’s thrown in. He’s here under a fake name and is about 15. We’re looking into it more. We’re planning to tell you and Selina more tonight as long as you let us ease this kid into things because we don’t know for a fact that he’s yours or why he’s here. We can’t do that if you go Batman and scare him off.”

Bruce was silent for a few minutes. “...You think he’s alive? Has been alive this whole time?”

Jason didn’t like how small Bruce sounded. It left him feeling wrong-footed.

“We do, but it’s not a certain thing. We’ll talk more about this later with Selina and maybe Dickie too. I don’t want the Demon Brat or others to know about this just yet. Not until you and Selina have gotten all the information we have and we are a bit more certain.”

Bruce agreed and after leaving the office, Jason pulled out his phone and opened the chat with Babs and Tim.

Danny Investigation Squad - 3 Members

Yorick

Just talked to B

He said he won’t get obsessive about this

So we’re good to talk to him and Selina tonight

I Am Big Brother

Cool

I’ll let Selina know

I Know All Your Secrets

Is Dick gonna join?

Yorick

He can if he wants

I’m going to tell Alfred so he can choose to join or not

I’m thinking we do this after patrol and the others head up to bed

I Know All Your Secrets

I’ll let Dick know

I Am Big Brother

Doing it after patrol is smart

That way what we tell them isn’t on anyone’s mind

Cause I’m not sure if B will be able to focus afterwards

And Dick definitely won’t be able to

This way they’ll have a day at least to get their thoughts in order

Otherwise Damian and Cass will know something’s up

Like immediately

Yorick

True

Cass still might figure out something’s up

She’s good like that

See you all after patrol

~~Danny~~

Rotten ecto guy - Jason - was out for basically the whole day, which was nice because Danny was home for most of the daylight hours and didn’t appreciate the smell constantly emanating from next door that he could smell through the fucking walls. He really needed to pay him a visit as Phantom to see if he could do anything about it. Maybe either later tonight if the guy was home or tomorrow. He was off for the night, too, and the guy seemed kinda nocturnal. He figured it’d be best to visit right after the guy got home cause then he’d know for a fact that he was awake.

Once you’ve had your sleep schedule fucked up because you’ve been awakened in the middle of the night all the time, you try to avoid doing it to others too. Unless they deserve it.

Like the one time he did it to Dash after he’d been particularly awful one week in sophomore year.

That was funny as hell, no matter what Jazz and Sam said.

For now, he was going to get out for a bit and do some grocery shopping. Maybe pop into a furniture or decor store to get some things for his apartment. He’d already ordered a bed frame - you can shut up now, Jazz - that was going to be delivered a bit later so he’d need to be home for that so the package wasn’t stolen.

He’d also be making a trip into the Realms today to check on everything there and make sure things were running smoothly. Make a stop into his office and grab some of the paperwork to bring to his apartment to work through. Also check in with Clockwork and see if he had any homework for him to do (he was still technically in training to be king despite already having been crowned since there was A LOT to learn). The joys of the crown.

As he was leaving to get food, he pulled up the group chat.

Ghostbusters - 5 Members

Poison Ivy Stan

Things are still quiet in Amity

Or as quiet as it can be

Fentons are still trying to find you

Tho it seems like quite a number of people think you ran away

And they’re not wrong

Technopath

And it’s good that I encrypted this server

With ectoplasm especially

Cause they’ve tried asking us if we know anything

Seeing Red

They tried asking YOU

They haven’t even approached me

Technopath

They sort of forget Danny made another friend tbh

Seeing Red

…

That tracks

Wanted Dead or Alive

Yikes

that’s not great

at least they dont know where i am

perks of being in a crime ridden, ecto ridden, big city

ancients knows i woulda been found in a small town

they know when theres someone new

fkn narcs

im also shopping for food today

the grocery store has the weirdest things locked up

Poison Ivy Stan

Like what?

Wanted Dead or Alive

the fkn coffee

and like all the energy drinks?

im so confused?

also some of the produce

specifically certain colors

purple and green are the top offenders

gotham is fkn weird bro

Technopath

Weirder than Amity?

Wanted Dead or Alive

…

i mean

sorta

but also not

theyre different flavors

gotham is more sour

with a slight smoky taste

Psyched

I worry about you

Wanted Dead or Alive

<3 love you too sis

im also gonna visit my neighbor as phantom

i cant stand that smell anymore i stg

ill let you know how tht goes

gonna buy stuff now

talk later

He pocketed his phone as he finished getting the groceries he had on his list (he’d forget everything otherwise) and got ready to get in the line for the checkout. He had a busy day planned and he was already tired.

~~~~

His bed frame was delivered without issue (aka wasn’t stolen) and he put the box in his bedroom to put together later. He didn’t feel like dealing with the chaos of putting furniture together right now. It was time for a Realms visit.

Opening a portal right in his living room, Danny slipped through as it closed behind him and ended up in the middle of his office in his castle. He’d inherited Pariah’s castle and once he was crowned, the castle changed to fit him better. The sarcophagus with Pariah was in some super hidden and hella deep dungeon so that no Fruitloop opened it again and there was a huge observatory as well as rooms catered to all his friends and sister and a bunch of other empty rooms. Some were for guests and some were apparently set aside for specific people but Clockwork would just cryptically smile at him when he asked who. Apparently he wasn’t allowed to know yet.

Cryptic bastard.

There was some new paperwork that was labelled as “Urgent” so Danny took that as well as some of the oldest backlog there (he was making his way through it bit by bit because Pariah did nothing even before he was locked away and so there was a backlog that went back a few centuries) and quickly portaled them to his apartment desk (he bought a desk specifically for this and when he enrolled himself in school). He was in the process of putting together his council so he could delegate work like the backlog, but it was still in the beginning stages. After all, he hadn’t been king long.

Shit, he should talk about that with Clockwork today. He really needed to get at least a preliminary council set up. He had the base members he wanted on it.

Flying out of the castle, he made his way over to Clockwork’s Tower, fairly close to where Danny’s castle had moved once he took it over, and said hi to some of the ghosts he knew on the way. He even saw Ember playing guitar and listened for a few minutes.

“Hello Daniel,” Clockwork greeted before Danny had fully landed inside. Danny smiled at him.

“Hey Clocky.” Danny walked over and Clockwork just immediately gave him a couple books. “This my homework?”

“Indeed. One of these books is on royal customs. Of course, you can always choose what customs to continue since most were ignored by Pariah. The other book is on Court and Council interactions and responsibilities to help you completely seat and organize your Royal Council, though I know you already have some ghosts in mind. I know you’re ready to make your preliminary council today to help with the backlog and once you’ve read up on the exact responsibilities, you can make your final one a little later. Come to me with any questions you have.”

“Thanks Clocky. Do I call the ghosts I want on my preliminary council to the castle?”

“Yes. Just reach out with your Core and call for theirs. They’ll show up shortly afterwards.”

Danny nodded and flew back to his castle after portaling the books to his desk as well. Once he got there, he used his Core to call for the ghosts he wanted to be on his preliminary council.

Clockwork, Princess Dorathea, Pandora, Fright Knight, and Frostbite were the ghosts he wanted on his preliminary council. He would most likely add some others to a larger one, but these were the ones he trusted most and would always be his smaller one. He already had that much decided. The other ghosts had been a huge pain in his ass beforehand. Though Clockwork was a bit of one still but that was besides the point.

Talking with all of them, they all agreed to his request. Fright Knight was more in charge of Danny’s protection right now and would apparently be watching from the shadows to make sure Danny was safe and would be ready to defend him at a moment’s notice if need be (though he knew Danny could very easily defend himself for the most part unless he was knocked out or something) and Clockwork was more of Danny’s advisor and somewhat regent while he learned how the Realms worked and what was required of him as the new king. The ones that would be in charge of helping him with the backlog were Pandora and Princess Dorathea with Frostbite helping with matters that related to ghost health in any way, shape, or form. The three also had experience with leadership roles since they were all in charge of their own areas of the Realms. Dora and Pandora were even training him (Dora was helping with diplomacy and Pandora was teaching him how to kick ass with swords and close combat instead of just his powers and ecto-guns).

Once everything was temporarily set in place (with guidelines for approving or rejecting certain requests and the requirement to reach out to Danny if they were unsure or something was a bit off or unusual about something), Danny finally portaled back home and rested on the sofa for a bit before going to put together his bed frame.

When he was relaxing on his sofa in the early morning after working on Realms paperwork and reading a bit about the council responsibilities, he finally felt the ecto return next door.

Time to make his first appearance as Phantom in Gotham.

Chapter Text

~~Jason~~

Patrol was definitely interesting.

He, Tim, Babs, Dickie, B, Selina, and Alfie were going to have a discussion afterwards and he could feel the anticipation radiating off them. Some were better at hiding it than others. Alfie and Babs, being at the Cave and not visible to anyone, were the best at it (though Alfie’s face also gave away absolutely nothing unless he wanted it to and he’d been shocked by the news early enough in the day to compose himself). B and Selina were pretty good at it too, but Dickie wasn’t the greatest. To be fair, he either wore his emotions on his sleeve or locked them all up until they exploded and there was usually no in-between.

This family needed fucking therapy.

Luckily, nobody noticed that anything big was off. Dickie being a bit off wasn’t too unusual for anybody to really be concerned (sad, really). If Dick was off for more than a day in a row, then people would be concerned. They’d learned that one day off wasn’t concerning but any more than that at a time meant something was wrong wrong.

Cass may have noticed the little things that were off, but she was also an expert at reading all of them and knew when not to say a thing, and this was one of those times. They’d tell the rest of the family when it was necessary.

Finally, patrol ended and Damian, Steph, and Cass all headed upstairs after changing to get some sleep. The rest of them being up and still in the cave didn’t raise any eyebrows. Babs got there shortly after they’d gone upstairs and Alfie came down into the Cave. Tim, Babs, and himself gathered Dickie, B, Selina, and Alfie around the Batcomputer. Tim had the file ready to go, with pictures and search results.

“So, tell us about my little brother possibly being alive,” Dick said, breaking the small silence that had descended once they’d assembled.

“Ok, I’ll start,” Jason said, figuring that he’ll start with him first meeting Danny. “So, there’s this new kid in Crime Alley, living right next to me. I’d seen him out and finally got a chance to see him up close and talk to him. There was something off about him and I thought he sorta looked familiar in a weird way. And the fact that he looks no older than 16 really set off warning bells too. He mentioned he’s in town because he’s looking for his bio family. I decided to look him up to try and find out why I had this feeling about him. I hit a brick wall, and then contacted Babs.”

Babs picked up the story from there. “I’d seen this kid in the library a couple days beforehand. I remembered him because he looked like prime adoption bait for B,” Bruce huffed a bit at that with Selina patting his arm as she smirked, “and he’d reminded me just a bit of B. I’m guessing he was in there to look up apartments and jobs since we’re guessing that was right after he got to Gotham in the first place. I texted Tim to help and use the facial recognition software in the Cave since it’s the best there is. I found his lease and saw his name is listed as ‘Danny Nightingale’ and a search of that name brought up his job as a barista at some small coffee shop near where his apartment is. Also found a credit card that’s only had a couple uses all in the past couple days. Turns out, ‘Nightingale’ isn’t his actual last name. Which led to the theory that the kid is a runaway for some reason or another.”

“I found the same info,” Tim says, entering the conversation to start providing what he found out, which would inevitably lead to whatever conspiracy he’s found this time. “I used the facial recognition software on the original picture we had of him from the grainy surveillance footage in Jason’s building.”

Tim pulled up said grainy photo. They honestly couldn’t make out too many features in it, but they could make out enough. The four assembled adults all let out varying forms of gasps in shock. Alfred looked very near tears at the prospect of this being B’s lost son and it was unnerving.

“There were a few pings to B’s face and a couple matches under another name that I’ll get to in a moment. I ended up going to where he works and getting a better picture to run, which I’ll show you after I finish explaining what I found about him. Once I ran that, I had a definitive match to those other sources but also pings for both B and Selina’s faces. The two outside sources were a magazine article and a missing poster, both listing his name as ‘Daniel “Danny” Fenton’. The missing poster is what really caught my attention. It’s from a day or two ago, which is concerning considering he likely had been gone from home for at least a couple days at that point since he’s from a town called Amity Park in Illinois and it takes a while to get from there to here.”

Tim finally pulled up the better stills from his cowl footage of Danny. Bruce fully froze, Selina not far behind with her hand squeezing his arm. Dickie seemed to have stopped breathing for a moment and Alfred’s eyes glistened.

“He… He looks like Master Bruce when he was a teenager,” Alfred said after a few moments, his voice soft and full of awe. “Even with the features he so clearly got from Mistress Selina.”

They all took a few moments as B, Selina, Alfred, and Dick looked at who they suspected was B and Selina’s lost kid. At one point, Selina was looking at the picture and touched her nose, clearly realizing that Danny had her nose. He obviously had B’s eyes and hair could be a mixture of the two, but any other facial features at this point could be a toss up. Though in Jason’s opinion, he got an even mix of their features.

If Danny turned out to not be B’s kid, Jason would be so shocked he’d die. Again.

After they’d all looked at the pics for a while (Dickie wiping his eyes afterwards), before attention focused back on Tim. He took that as his cue.

“So that town Danny’s from, Amity Park? Yeah, it doesn’t exist online. And the adoption agency he was adopted through? No longer exists and it looks like it was never fully legit.”

Everybody that didn’t already know this tensed up.

“The agency was called Spiritual Homes. It looks like it was a front for selling stolen babies. Either way, Danny was adopted by Drs Madeline and Jackson Fenton who already had a daughter, Jasmine Fenton. The family moved to Amity Park, Illinois, and then all traces of them seem to vanish. There’s nothing  I can find on them, or on the town itself. It’s as if there’s a blackout. No medical records, school records, news reports, or anything coming out of that town. All I could find was records for Madeline and Jackson from before any of this, showing that they majored in Ectology in college, which seems to be a made up field focusing on ghosts? All I can tell is that 15 years later, Danny Nightingale shows up in Gotham and starts renting an apartment, in cash, in Crime Alley and gets a job at a local coffee shop. His new identity is fake, but almost expertly crafted. If we weren’t who we are, I doubt anybody would’ve found out.”

They were all quiet for a moment.

“It would be best to ask him more about Amity. You’ve spoken to him?” Bruce asks, looking at Jason. He nods.

“Briefly. Told him to let me know if he needs help with anything. I’m planning to talk to him again, try and eventually either mention that he looks like you or create some sort of ‘accidental’ meeting since he seems to have no clue who his bio family are. I don’t think he’d be fending for himself like he is if he knew. And with how many things aren’t adding up and align with you and Selina? Safe bet he’s yours.”

“Hn.”

“He probably won’t say anything about Amity right away,” Babs inputs. “If he’s running from something back home, there’s a good chance he won’t say anything unless he’s comfortable and feels safe. We may have to wait until he’s been brought into the family. And knows about the nightlife. Otherwise he might stay clammed up.”

“What do you think he might be running from?” Dick asks, concern bleeding into his voice.

“No idea. But it must be something bad. He has a fake identity done so well that only somebody trained by the Bat would realize it. He chose to live in a cheap and horribly crime-ridden part of town and got a job. And he did all of that his first day that we know for a fact he was here. That shows planning on a level most runaways don’t bother with. He also must’ve had money saved up for it, too. The cash had to come from somewhere.”

“Which would be better: telling him straight up that he looks like B after I talk to him a bit more, or setting up a run-in between the two?” Jason asks, looking at the group. Tim’s the one who answers.

“Might be best if you mention it first. Plant that idea in his head. We can always try a run-in if nothing comes from it. Maybe he’ll ask if you can set up a meeting if you mention that B’s your adoptive dad. Or he could try and make his way here himself. Regardless, I don’t think he’ll figure it out on his own for a while if you don’t say anything.”

Jason nodded. “I’ll try and do that soon. I need to talk to him more first though.”

Everybody dispersed after that. Jason got back on his bike to head back to his apartment. Wouldn’t be able to talk to the kid if he wasn’t home.

He was just getting in, ready to go the fuck to sleep, when he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight on a glowing teenager in his fucking living room.

~~Danny~~

Danny transformed into Phantom as soon as the ecto returned next door and phased through the wall.

In hindsight, that was probably a stupid fucking decision.

Particularly when Jason pointed a gun at him.

Sure the gun wouldn’t technically hurt him, at least not permanently, but bullets still fucking hurt and it would still take at least a day to fully heal the wound. Oh, the group chat was going to go off at him for this.

Back to the situation at hand.

The gun. Pointed at him.

He raises his hand in a small wave. “Uh, hi?”

“Who the fuck are you and how the fuck did you get in here?!” Jason asks, not moving the gun even a centimeter from where it’s pointed at Danny’s head. Again, a headshot wouldn’t actually do anything to him other than make an owie for a day.

“Uh, I’m Phantom and I came through the wall?”

Jason blinks at him.

“The wall?”

“Mhm!”

“Explain.”

“Uh, explain what exactly?”

“How you came through the fucking wall!”

“Oh, that! Intangibility's a ghost power, and being a ghost means that it’s one of my powers.”

Jason blinks at him again, seemingly in shock, disbelief, or both.

“A ghost.”

“Yep.”

“How do I know you’re not bullshitting me?”

Danny blinks at him this time. “Uh, the fact that I’m literally floating in front of you right now? I don’t know how else to prove to you that I’m dead. I can’t pull a death certificate out of my ass or anything.”

Jason sighed. “Touché. Ok, let’s say I believe that you’re a ghost for now. Why the fuck are you even here?”

“Ok, so this might seem a little weird and random, but have you, like, ever died?”

That got a reaction. Danny shouldn’t be surprised considering how ghosts reacted if you asked them about their deaths, but Jason also wasn’t a ghost. Danny could tell that much at least.

“Why the fuck do you want to know?!”

“Cause you have this weird contaminated ectoplasm and it reeks dude.”

Silence as Jason blinked at him. Again.

He was inspiring that reaction a lot today.

“I have fucking what?”

There was also a lot of cursing from Jason today.

“Ectoplasm.”

“...I have no idea what the fuck that is.”

“Uhm, maybe if you put the gun away I could explain?” Danny hedged, really wanting the gun to not be pointed at his head anymore. And if he could explain things to Jason calmly, maybe the guy would let him clean his ecto so he wouldn’t have to smell it every time the two of them were both at home.

Jason seemed to be thinking it over for a bit before finally lowering the gun. He kept it in his hand, but it was no longer pointed at Danny.

He’ll take that as a win.

“Fine,” Jason said, motioning to the table nearby and Danny hesitantly floated over and lowered himself into a seat while Jason sat in the one across from him. “Now, explain.”

“Ok, so, ghosts are made up of this thing called ectoplasm. It’s what we need to sustain ourselves and what we tend to form from. It’s in the air practically everywhere, with some places having naturally higher amounts than others, which is completely normal and not dangerous to anyone. For example, I need a certain amount of ectoplasm to keep up my strength and I’m made of ectoplasm, to an extent,” he was not telling this man about halfas. Better let him think he’s a full ghost. “You, even though you’re fully alive, have ectoplasm in you, like a ghost would. I can tell because I’m a ghost, which is also why I can tell that you’re not a ghost. It’s strange. But what’s even weirder is that the ectoplasm in you is somehow… corrupted. Something about it is wrong and it’s also letting out this really strong, gross smell that’s also indicating that something about it is wrong. So, how exactly did you come back? No need to discuss your death, just the resurrection bit.”

Jason sighed a bit, apparently deciding to answer Danny’s question. “I don’t remember a whole lot. I woke up in my grave and was real out of it. I was tossed in something called the Lazarus Pits and that’s what fully brought me back. Gave me this white streak of hair and some nasty side effects, but that’s all I remember.”

Danny frowned. “What do these ‘Lazarus Pits’ look like?”

“They’re these pools of boiling, glowing, green liquid.”

He felt himself tense up. Ectoplasm was not supposed to be boiling. Or collecting in pools. But he had to be sure…

“Did it, by any chance, look something like this?” Danny asked, holding out a hand for Jason to see as he charged up an ectoblast. Jason’s eyes widened as he looked at it and he temporarily tensed before forcing himself to relax again.

“Yeah, it was that color. What is that?”

“This, is ectoplasm, in the form of an ectoblast. It’s purer because it’s mine, but it’s still ectoplasm,” Danny replied, letting the ectoblast fizzle out. “What you’ve described sounds like ectoplasm, though it’s not supposed to be bubbling or collecting in pools. That’s something I’ll need to look into because that’s likely the reason yours is so… eugh. What side effects have you had, exactly?”

“Pit Rage.” At Danny’s blank look, Jason explained. “I get into these rages that sort of take over. My eyes turn green and I sort of… black out until the carnage is over. Sometimes I feel it welling up and I’m able to push it down until I control it again, but it’s always in the background.”

“Hm, yeah that’s not normal. Uh, if it’s alright, I can, like, fix that for you? I think? I mean-”

“Wait wait wait, are you telling me you can get rid of the Pit Rage?”

“I’m pretty sure I can. And if I can’t, then my doctor Frostbite can.”

“Frostbite?”

“He’s my ghost doctor. He’s also the most knowledgeable about ghost ailments and all that.”

“What do I need to do for you to fix the… ectoplasm?”

Danny smiled at him. “Well, I need to get a bit closer to you so I can reach out to your ectoplasm with my own. Is that ok, or are you gonna shoot me?”

Jason looked at him, and then at his gun for a moment. “That’s fine, but one wrong move and I will shoot you, ghost or not.”

“Fair enough.”

Danny got up from his chair, floating only slightly above the ground, and made his way around the table to where Jason was. He slowly held his hands out and moved one to place against Jason’s chest. He could feel the man tense underneath his hand as he closed his eyes and reached out with his own ecto, feeling for Jason’s. It wasn’t hard since it was rotten and the smell and feeling was easy to locate.

He concentrated on pulling out the rotten ecto and replacing it with his own, pure ecto. Jason had something of a proto-core. While not entirely sure what that meant, he knew that Jason wasn’t a halfa or a full ghost. Most likely it just meant that he would 100% be a Realms Ghost when he fully died. It also likely meant that he’d have some liminal abilities like Jazz. Hm, he’d have to ask Frostbite next time he was in the Realms.

The process didn’t take long, but once it was done, Danny felt a bit drained. In the hand not on Jason’s chest, he’d collected the corrupt ecto so it wouldn’t be in his system. He didn’t need his emotions to be fucked with. Yeah, he could purify it, eventually, but he didn’t feel like dealing with that. He opened his eyes and froze the corrupt ecto before removing his hand from Jason and opening one of his pocket dimensions and stuffing the frozen ecto into to deal with later. Jason stared at him with wide eyes.

“Holy shit, that nasty green sludge was in me?” he asked, looking a bit horrified.

“Yep,” Danny said, fighting the exhaustion starting to weigh him down. “Gone now, though. You shouldn’t have any issue regulating your emotions now, though it may take a day or two to get used to the feeling of not having to fight your anger like a dog attacking its reflection.”

“You ok? You look a little out of it.”

“Oh? I’m just tired. That took a bit more out of me than I anticipated. I’m gonna go get some sleep. But, uh, here,” Danny said, taking out a card that had his contact info for Phantom on it and handing it to Jason. “If you have any questions or need anything, just reach out.”

He flashed Jason a peace sign before turning invisible and slipping back through the wall into his own apartment. He transformed and immediately flopped on his bed, pulling his blankets around him and falling asleep.

~~Jason~~

The Pit Rage was gone.

The Pit Rage was fucking gone.

And Jason… quite honestly didn’t know how to react.

There were a number of things he was unsure how to react to.

The absence of the Pit Rage, the fact that ghosts apparently existed looking like Phantom (he’d heard of Deadman but Phantom seemed completely different to Deadman’s flavor of ghost), and the fact that said ghost looked sorta like his next-door neighbor.

Same facial features and voice (from what he’d heard), but just… color inverted.

What the fuck?

Chapter Text

Ok, so Jason was confused as hell.

A ghost named Phantom - which was still weird as hell because the only ghost he’d ever heard of was Deadman who was completely different - had been in his apartment and told him that he apparently stunk and it was because he had some disgusting sludge stuck in him from the Lazarus Pits. Then said ghost proceeded to pull it out of him and replace it with something better and now the Pit Rage was gone.

And then Jason realized that the ghost, Phantom, looked like his fucking next-door neighbor and possible brother just with the colors inverted and fucking glowing.

And dead.

Undead?

What the fuck was with this family and dying?

He did not have the sleep or emotional bandwidth to deal with this right now. First order of business was to get some sleep, eat, and then try and see Danny (Phantom?) and talk to him so he could eventually mention that Danny looks like B. That should get everything moving. Hopefully, the kid’ll ask for a meeting or some shit. If not, they’ll organize an “accidental” run-in. If neither of those work, there’s a high chance somebody will eventually kidnap Danny since he looks like a Wayne and they’d rather avoid that.

Surprisingly they hadn’t experienced any non-Waynes being mistaken for them as of yet.

Danny is likely a Wayne so he wouldn’t qualify to be their first but still.

Fully changing into pajamas, Jason finally collapsed into bed. Falling asleep was surprisingly easy. He didn’t realize until later that it was because the Pit was no longer constantly buzzing in his head.

~~~~

He woke up feeling so much better than he had in years. Probably since before he died.

What complicated feelings he had were fucking worth it if he could wake up feeling this good nearly every morning with the Pit. Goddamn.

He rode that high up until he finished breakfast when he realized he needed to face Danny. Possibly dead Danny.

You know what? He’s not touching that topic for a while. It’s currently Not His Fucking Business and if Danny is Phantom (though at this point it’s basically as certain as Danny being B’s kid) then he’ll probably tell them once he finds out about the Bats. Maybe.

Or until another one of the Bats (or himself) finds out and just asks him about it with no tact.

This is also contingent on the others actually seeing Phantom.

…

His bet’s on Tim.

The sound of movement next door broke him from his thoughts. It sounded a bit like Danny was moving. Jason decided this was a good opportunity. If Danny was leaving his apartment, he could make it seem like he just happened to be leaving at the same time and start a conversation and mention that Danny and B look scarily similar.

He slid his jacket on and boots on - had to make this convincing after all and he actually did have errands to run - and grabbed his wallet, keys, and phone and headed over to his door. As he was locking the door behind him, Danny came out of his apartment. Kid looked a bit tired.

“You ok?” he asked before he thought better of it. Danny jerked a little in surprise as he looked up at Jason. He blinked a couple times before he seemed to register what Jason’d asked.

“Yeah, I’m just tired. Was up taking care of a few things last night but I have a couple things I need to get done today so I’ll just nap when I get back. You?”

“I actually slept pretty well last night though there are a few things that have been on my mind since I woke up,” Jason answered truthfully. Danny’s gaze was searching, only bolstering the theory that he was somehow Phantom since as Phantom he would know what happened with Jason last night.

“That’s good. You seem to work late.”

Oh he was right on the money with that. Kid might figure out they were the Bats before they decided to tell him with how he was scrutinizing Jason without really knowing him. This was gonna be fun.

“Hey, you mentioned you’re looking for your bio family, right?” Jason asked as the two started walking to the elevator.

“Yeah, I did. I haven’t really found anything or even know where to start looking. Why?” Danny asked, looking over at Jason as they entered the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor.

“It’s just that… you really look like my adoptive parents. Like, scarily similar.”

“Who are your adoptive parents?” Danny raised an eyebrow, curiosity shining in his eyes.

“Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle.”

Danny’s eyes widened. “You’re Jason Todd-Wayne?”

Jason chuckled. “Yeah, kid. And I’m telling you, you look almost exactly like B with some of Selina’s traits thrown in. And they did have a kid together that would be about your age.”

Danny seems to consider that for a moment. The elevator opens and the two walk out, stopping not far from the elevator.

He hears Danny murmur, “I guess it’s worth a shot,” under his breath, likely not thinking Jason could hear. He then looks up at Jason.

“Do you think… Could I maybe meet them?”

Bingo.

“Yeah, I can arrange that. Gimme your phone,” Jason says, motioning to the phone Danny’s holding. He startles for a moment, looking a little surprised, and hands over his phone and Jason inputs his number and sends himself a text. “You’ve got my number and I’ve got yours. Let me know when you’re free and I’ll let B and Selina know and we can set up a meeting.”

“T-Thank you,” Danny stutters out, still looking like he’s in shock. Jason pats his shoulder and smiles at him before the two go separate ways once they leave the building. Jason pulls out his phone.

Danny Investigation Squad - 3 Members

Yorick

Just talked to Danny

He asked me to set up a meeting with B and Selina

Kid seemed surprised

Not only by the idea that he’s related to B

But that a meeting would be so willingly set up

I Am Big Brother

That’s not surprising

We’re already pretty sure he’s running from something

It may be his adoptive family

Hell, it’s likely

And if that family was abusive or neglectful then it explains his surprise

I Know All Your Secrets

That and the fact that B’s loaded

Probably expects more hoops to jump through to meet him

I Am Big Brother

True

Yorick

He’ll text me when he’s free to do this

I’m assuming this’ll take precedence over anything else

At least for B and Selina

And Alfie

I Am Big Brother

Alfred is currently stress-baking

I think

He’s on his like

5th batch of cookies

And there’s not really a reason for the cookies right now

He even let me sneak a few

Yorick

Damn

I want some

I Am Big Brother

Gotta come to the manor then

Yorick

…

Fine

I want Alfie’s cookies

And let him know about this

And I should probably let B and Selina know too

And Dickie

Jason put his phone away and got on his bike to head over to the Manor. He could do his errands after getting some of those cookies and telling the others involved the new update.

~~Danny~~

Ghostbusters - 5 Members

Wanted Dead or Alive

ok so

couple developments

Poison Ivy Stan

I’m already concerned

Wanted Dead or Alive

nothing bad i swear

i swear on my life

Seeing Red

…

You’re half-dead

Wanted Dead or Alive

…

valid

ok ok ok i swear on jazzs life

Technopath

Damn he’s serious

Wanted Dead or Alive

*he* is right here

a n y w a y

couple developments

so i helped rank ecto guy

jason

cleaned out his ecto last night

mightve scared the shit outta him

but like

thats not unusual for me as phantom

that gunk was nasty af

0/10 would not wanna touch again

Psyched

YOU TOUCHED IT?

Wanted Dead or Alive

i kinda had to

to like clear it out

i froze it after and shoved it into one of my pocket dimensions

frosty should probs look at it

but apparently there are pits of this rank ass ecto just

existing

in the world and jason somehow was dunked in one

he called it a lazarus pit

so

guess whos gonna hafta take care of that

fkn me because fk my life i guess

not like i already have a long list of shit to do

Poison Ivy Stan

Damn

So if that’s only one thing

What the hell else happened?

Wanted Dead or Alive

so today i saw jason as danny right

like literally minutes ago

and uh

he thinks that his adoptive parents

are my bio parents

and hes gonna help me meet them to see if they are

Psyched

REALLY???

WHO???

Wanted Dead or Alive

ok dont freak

but his adoptive parents

are fkn

bruce wayne and selina kyle

Psyched is typing…

Poison Ivy Stan is typing…

Technopath is typing…

Seeing Red is typing…

Technopath

DANNY

ARE YOU SAYING YOU MIGHT BE A WAYNE

THAT MEANS FREE WAYNE TECH

Poison Ivy Stan

Your neighbor is fucking Jason Todd-Wayne?!

Wtf Danny

Omg my parents will flip shit if that’s true

Actually

You do really look like Brucie

Seeing Red

Only you

I swear nobody else would have this happen

Nobody else would end up being a lost Wayne kid

Psyched

I hope you’ve found them, Little Brother

And if they’re Fruitloops, I will come to Gotham immediately

With the Creep Stick

Poison Ivy Stan

Seriously Tucker, you’re focused on tech?

Technopath

It’s Wayne tech ok?

That’s top of the line

Excuse me for being interested

Of course I’m happy that Danny’s likely found out who his family is

But I can also focus on that!

Wanted Dead or Alive

yeah so imma let jason know when im available to meet them

but i got work for the next few days

Psyched

Danny…

Just take a day or two off work

This is important

Technopath

Also dude there’s no way you can focus after this

Your attention span is non-existent

Wanted Dead or Alive

…

true

ok ok ok ill take the next couple days off

say im sick or have a fam emergency or some shit

maybe see if tmrw would be good

i dont think i could do it 2day

Seeing Red

Fair

If you turn out to be his kid, you’ll probs be put in the spotlight

Meaning the Fentons will find you

Poison Ivy Stan

Yeah the Waynes are ALWAYS in the spotlight

My parents are always trying to go to galas they’re at

And they push me to befriend one of the kids

But tbh Brucie is pretty much the only billionaire I can stand

He mostly funds public programs and charities

Even if he is an airhead

And most of his kids were adopted from poverty and tragedy

Wanted Dead or Alive

ok

ill text jason and see if tmrw would be chill

ill keep you guys updated

Danny continued walking to the grocery store as he pulled up the number for his job. He called and said he needed to take a couple days off for a family emergency. They were surprisingly understanding about that, though considering this was Gotham and there were attacks pretty much everyday it was probably a common thing for employees to take off for. Once he did that, he then pulled up a chat with Jason.

Unnamed Chat - 2 Members

Wanted Dead or Alive

so

would tmrw be cool to meet bruce and selina

or is tht too soon

Yorick

Alright I’ll ask B and Selina

It took a few minutes for Jason to reply.

Yorick

Tomorrow is good

Would you be alright coming to the Manor to do this?

I’d be with you so there’s someone you sorta know there

Danny thought about it a bit. He wasn’t thrilled about the idea of being with a billionaire in a manor that he didn’t know the layout of (thanks, Vlad), but he had ghost powers that they didn’t have defenses against and from what he’s heard from Sam (and the internet), Bruce wasn’t a threat to really anyone. Hell, one of the videos Sam had sent from a gala a few years back showed Bruce falling into a fountain (the fact that Danny can be clumsy as hell but also dangerous is not relevant here).

Wanted Dead or Alive

yeah thatll work

who else will be there?

Yorick

It’ll be myself, B, Selina, Alfred, and Dick

Alfred is the butler but also B’s unofficial dad

Dick’s the eldest and has the same energy as a puppy

The rest of the family doesn’t know about this yet

Wanted Dead or Alive

how many people are there total?

Yorick

Uh

Dickie, me, Cass, Tim, Damian, Duke

There’s also Steph and Babs unofficially

And of course B, Selina, and Alfie

So…

6 official kids, 2 unofficial, and 3 adults

11 total people

Wanted Dead or Alive

why is this family so fkn big

back home i had 1 sister

and then 1 aunt in the middle of bumfuck nowhere

Yorick

Yeah the family’s big but eh

You get used to it

If you end up joining it I’ll give you a rundown

Wanted Dead or Alive

ok sounds good

what time are we doing this tmrw

They ended up setting the time to be a little after lunch tomorrow. Jason would take Danny to Wayne Manor (Ancients, he might be related to a fucking billionaire) and they’d see how things go from there. Danny was slightly worried about a DNA test so he was crafting his typical excuse that he has some ecto-contamination from his hometown. It wasn’t completely false or completely true. Most residents in Amity had some level of ecto-contamination simply because they lived in a town with high levels of ambient ecto. Most of them weren’t contaminated enough to be liminals, and it wasn’t uncommon to have a small level of ecto even in other cities, but those that had more contact with ecto had higher levels. Like his sister. And like Sam, Tuck, and Val. Even before he had the Accident he was contaminated because of the samples his parents the Fentons stored in the fridge.

He moved around the store buying a few more things he needed as he thought through how tomorrow might go.

With Danny’s luck it could go horrendously wrong somehow.

~~~~

Danny barely got any sleep. He was more nervous for this meeting than anything else in the past few months (being hunted by the Fentons doesn’t count) and it was messing with him. At least with them being willing to meet him indicated that they probably wanted something to do with him which was a good start. There was also still a chance that his bio parents would throw him out once meeting him. Or they could-

Deep breaths. Remember what Jazz said about how to calm down a bit.

He ate breakfast and even lunch in his apartment, made some progress with the paperwork he’d brought from the Realms (he was starting to see multiple complaints about some guy who sold his soul multiple times and it was starting to piss him off because he had to deal with it), and got dressed in his best casual clothes (he didn’t really have anything nicer since that wasn’t something he packed before leaving and he’d be damned if he was nervous and wearing a suit today). Eventually he heard a knock at the door. That’d be Jason.

Opening the door, he smiled nervously at Jason and closed and locked the door behind him. Jason led him to his motorcycle and the two got on once Jason put on his helmet and handed one to Danny to put on. He watched the city pass by as they drove through it to a less populated and richer area. Danny vaguely wondered if he’d be able to see the stars out here with less light pollution. His core ached a little at the lack of stargazing here.

They eventually pulled up to a gate that opened as Jason approached and closed behind them. Jason drove up the long driveway and stopped in front of the steps up to the front door. He nervously got off the bike after Jason, taking his helmet off and absent-mindedly handing it over to him. Jason led him up the steps and to the door. It opened shortly after he knocked, an older man dressed in a suit standing there. That must be Alfred, the butler/father/grandfather that Jason had mentioned. He looked kind and his aura was a mix of warmth and ‘fuck around and find out’ and Danny liked that. Reminded him of Jazz. And Clockwork.

“Welcome home Master Jason. And a pleasure to meet you Mister Danny,” Alfred said as they walked in, shaking Danny’s hand. Was it his imagination or were the man’s eyes… teary?

“Pleasure to meet you,” Danny said back, his voice soft and quiet from his nerves. He wasn’t sure if he could speak louder right now.

Alfred led the two of them to a homey looking sitting or living room (Danny wasn’t really sure which it was). Waiting there were Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle-Wayne, and Dick Grayson-Wayne. The moment they walked into the room, all three sets of eyes snapped to his and they all stood from where they’d been sitting.

Danny and Bruce made eye contact and Danny truly felt as though he were looking into his own eyes. His core buzzed in his chest.

Oh.

He was looking at his dad.