Archive of Our Own

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1.
A Godfather’s Responsibility

The sound of the heart monitor and oxygen generator mixed with the steady typing of the halfa in his lab, and he sank into his hands that trembled with shaky breath, eyes bloodshot unseeing against his lab’s stainless steel surface from the many hours he’d delved into everything he could about the cursed occult that had deemed Amity it’s latest hunting ground.

Masters looked over to the boy, floating in the stabilization pod under the drift of sleep. Young Daniel had only gotten paler and paler, which seemed impossible to do with how the boy had practically his ghostly glow around him before, but perhaps it was because the white mop of hair that blended it all together was missing, and the strands of black were swirling over his head instead.
It was a shock of the two against each other.

He could hold no bitterness for the boy.

None of this had been his fault.

Really none of it had ever been. If only his parents had been just a tad more thorough through their research and grants to spot when something fishy was going on, then maybe they wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.

He loved his Maddie.

She was passionate, funny, a natural elegance tied to everything she did, even if until more recently those natural charms had been in moving with guns aimed to blast right through his chest.

But the way he’d seen her that night….he knew something was wrong.

Her steps… were much too quiet.

Jack’s

steps were too quiet. The air had been too still. When had they last breathed?

Earlier same day

Vlad was feeling playful and antagonistic. He had at least left Danny alone long enough to get his midterms out of the way. Even had his vultures babysitting some other ghosts into leaving him alone as they brawled so he could catch just a little bit of sleep. He couldn’t have the young halfa’s image smeared after all when it would be Maddie dragged into it with the usual Mason dinner party slander to the other moms leaving her a further outcast for not being enough support for her son as her husband tore up the town in their Ghost Assault Vehicle.

But now?

Now Vlad could play with the boy a bit, get his reaction time up, and whether he wanted it or not, training from his better.

He hummed as he went up to the house, knocking while poised in his usual confident strict stance after years of practice.

It was odd though, there were no yells coming for the door,
no smell of cookies or fudge drifting to escape the house. With another knock unheard, and noting the GAV was indeed in the drive, he debated only a moment before shifting through the door. He took a pause… something felt

wrong

. Something in his core flamed in defense with a muffled sound from the basement, before he felt the familiar sensation of panic, escape, betrayal and confusion. Danny’s core was usually like that, but what made it different was that the feeling was with his parents home, and there wasn’t the sound of weapons blasting. A twist in his gut propelled him forward, shaking out his hands with the new anxiety building.

He had heard it a million times of them yelling out the window as Phantom flew away, the threats to catch the ghost boy and tear him apart molecule by molecule. But he hadn’t thought they’d get that far. His new anxiety of what they must be doing to the boy grew, and his imagination flickered over the boy strapped down, torn apart. He'd already seen him like that because of the GIW, He didn't want that from his love, he had to stop that now. He’d never wanted that.

He was careful in a carefree demeanor as he lightly jogged down the stairs, doing his best to appear like he was dropping in for his usual visit and a cheerful hum, his heart racing past its usual slow pace made it almost like everyone else's.

“Oh Jack? Dear Maddie?~
How are my lovely old fri-” his voice stuck in his throat as he reached the bottom of the stairs, confusion and panic rising together.

It wasn’t what he was expecting.

It was possible it was worse.

Danny in his human form was trapped with his arms against his sides in a massive hold from Jack who had his back to him, head over Danny’s shoulder with something that had him muffled screaming in pain, gagging, and legs thrashing, and he saw his lovely Maddie had her wrist glued over Danny’s stuck open mouth. Danny’s eyes frantic as he caught the eye of Vlad, and the screaming of Danny’s core betraying his usual bravado pushed against Vlad’s so it was almost dizzying.

Wrong. Hurts. Danger. HELP PLEASE STOP!!

Before Vlad had time to think of it deeper, he was across the room as Maddie’s goggled face snapped around towards him, and he was punching her in the gut, sending her flying away from the boy. She went skidding to the wall, but as she raced back to him, it wasn't with her strong stubborn in charge gait that he knew. No… this was a staggering
lethal silence with laser focus.

“Vladdie!” Jack’s chipper tone cut through even as Vlad was knocking away Maddie’s attacks, which were solid and hard, and if not for his ghostly reinforcement, would have knocked him back, even as he hid it in his human form. “Aww don't be so stressed Vlad! It’s alright we can all be close again, Maddie and I know just the way how!”

Danny’s voice had died down in its screams when Jack’s teeth had left his neck, whimpering and sobbing as he was dropped to a heap on the ground with Jack’s new focus on his old college buddy.

“What have you two done?! Little Badger, I need you to stay awake!” He dodged under one of Maddie’s kicks, shifting to the side as Jack went to slam him against the wall, putting a very solid hit in against the metal walls, denting them into twists and breaks.

“Vlad, you know Danny is stronger than he looks, he’ll be fine, and this way he won’t be coming home with so many bruises from school! Our little Danny is going to be alright Vlad, and you will too, I promise it only hurts for a little bit.” Maddie’s angelic, beautiful perfect voice hummed out, but there was a new air to it, a pressure to the air itself that twisted it. That was not

his

Madeline, as was proved when her face set in a stretch over her features that should not be possible for a mortal face, harsh lines, sharper fangs somewhat like his own parting in a too wide grin.

“Somehow I don’t believe you my dear. May have to do with the screams before you stopped.” He said with a coy smirk but his voice flat. Angry. Something had taken his Maddie, and it was trying to take his beloved little badger as well. As usual, any thought of the boy usually was linked to the chaos tied to him soon after.

There was the sound of the portal doors slamming shut, and his eyes flickered over as he shifted through the dodges for a moment, seeing the lanky youth had plugged something into the portals computers, and was typing quickly even as he staggered with blood pooling down his shirt, soaking his pant leg. Oh butterbiscuts, that was a lot of blood. He got smashed into the wall with a backhand from his giant college buddy as the lights flickered in the lab, with a familiar flash of white hidden behind a counter, one the Fenton’s missed as they were too busy wrangling their abandoned friend with a grip around his waist and a hand yanking his head to the side.

There was no way in the infinite realms he was letting them at him. He was about to betray everything to transform and get them off of him, before there was the slam of another body into him, phased through the other two and the familiar wash of intangibility washed over him as he was tackled through the wall. They had enough instances that they’d had to have each others backs against stronger opponents that the feeling of Danny having tackled around his mid rift wasn’t foreign enough for him to throw the young halfa off, instead he took over flawlessly, letting his transformation wash over him as he held onto Danny just as tight and flew them up through the dirt of the foundation to the higher levels, going up through the house quickly to snag a surprised jasmine from her room with a yelp as her doctor reports fell to the ground, finding herself tucked under Vlad’s arm like a football, and her younger brother bleeding gripped against Vlad’s chest in a cradle.

There was no way he was leaving her unaware with that danger two levels below the floorboards of her room, and for now he ignored her cries of alarm and anger at seeing her brothers state as he flew them straight over to his manor, racing to the safety of his walls as Danny was coughing wetly, splattering blood and ecto against Vlad’s chest.

“Hold on little badger. Put some ice on your wound, put off the bleeding until I can properly patch you up.” He cooed out as gently as he could manage, knowing even with the sister yelling, how Danny’s ear was pressed to his chest he’d be able to make out the words and understand. Shakily frost covered over Danny’s neck from his hand as he sobbed in pain, trembles coursing through him in the shock.

Lack of sudden yelling came from Jazz as she gazed at the town below. It was in an overcast that darkened the street, and it was enough for chaos to be overwhelming it. Old residents were moving much faster than they should be able to, and there were screams of terror as others were tackled underneath them,racing over each suburban area, those that were lucky enough to be inside were laying out the ghost defenses on their houses, shutters covering every entry and buzzing of electricity filling the air.

“Are you just going to watch Vlad??” Jasmine spat at him and he sighed.

“You two are my only concerns right-”

“You’re the Mayor!! You have to do something!!! If nothing else that possessive spirit of yours shouldn't want anything else to hurt what belongs to you, right??”

Annoyance pricked through the refined gentleman in the form of a sigh as she worked her damn courses he paid for against him, and yanked at the part of his core for something messing with something that was his ward, his love, and his city. Without a word in argument though, he sent off dozens of his clones to flood into the streets, distract those biting and attacking with blasts of his hands and drawing them in away from others to let those unaffected run away, while some gathered to those bitten and set them in quarantine to their homes, before setting the ghost wards and quickly flying out as the settings trapped them in their own homes that they shouldn’t be able to infect others readily.

He landed in his familiar manor, slipping straight down to the lab with them and setting them down, looking over them wearily. It slipped his mind earlier in that Jazz had been in that home for the last couple days on summer holiday from work,l and he had to do a couple looks over her to make sure that she was not infected as well, even as he put a thick oxygen mask fitted to Daniel’s face and strapped it around his head to keep it in place.

He was met with a sputter of indignation as he reached for the straps. “I can breathe fine Vlad, you know that’s not a problem!” Which was met with the older halfa’s slapping away his hand away from its reach.

“Indeed I do know that, little badger. Unfortunately, as mouthy as you are, I don’t fancy muzzling you. Despite this I need at least a moments warning as you fight that before you try getting a bite in on Ms. Fenton or myself.”

“What the hell is happening Vlad? Or perhaps you would rather answer Danny?!” Her piercing gaze from years of practice lecturing her brother bore into them both and though Vlad hadn’t done anything he felt his gut sink a bit in that guilt that didn’t even belong to him.

A frustrated cough escaped Danny as Vlad got him set on his medical cot in the lab as he started trying to filter the blood to remove the toxins, as well as he gave Daniel a couple pills, Danny phasing them through the oxygen mask before he could think about it and downing them without question. Perhaps with the loss of blood and having his sister there for security, there was a part of him that blindly hoped they were simply pain relievers?

The little badger went slowly through what he remembered leading up to the disturbing scene that Vlad had walked in on.

~~~~~~

Danny's parents,
having found something new and undead to research into, had thrown themselves into research of some other branch of the occult, which had been paired with the appearance of a lean form, with intense eyebrows, hairline and sideburns that had rivaled Vlad’s own. That description had earned him a huff but Vlad wasn’t going to comment, too worried about what to follow. Danny had stayed out of the house, not liking the mix of quite not dead off the gentleman or the scrutiny he was being studied with like the Guys in White.

After a few days of nothing seeming to happen with the gentleman as he came over each day, Danny had slowly started to settle and his suspicions wane away from him with Tucker telling him he was being too paranoid since the guy had a touch of the Vlad aesthetic.

At first Danny hadn’t thought about it much as his parents lost themselves in the research down in the basement, after all it was a trend that they had been following since much earlier into their childhood. But then more of the food upstairs was left untouched. The lab grew quieter, only sounds really picking up into the middle of the night and it was like their sleeping schedules were more out of whack as usual. Sleeping all day as they worked all night, the house slowly getting more shut in, the shutters coming down to cover the morning light that would filter through to the living room, the halls…

Danny had come down that day with the gnawing insecurities down into his core with something being extremely wrong. His ghost sense was silent, but he remembered holding his breath and moving in as quiet as he could to peak in on them.

They moved almost as sluggish robots, their forms lurching with an unfocused nature almost like Ember’s hypnosis was over them, but he knew she was too busy selling cds and playing with Youngblood this time. A fairly odd lurch from his father in particular sent Danny flinching and stepping wrong on the squeaky stairs below him, one he was usually better at skipping. At once his mothers head snapped up towards him, goggles on but she offered a warm smile.

“Danny sweety! What are you doing up this late? It’s nearly two in the morning!” She put her hand on her hip, but the position of the fingers, the way she would have leaned her weight into the hip as she shifted weight…it was wrong. His ghost sense wasn’t going off so they weren’t possessed…what was this?

“H-...Hey Mom…sorry just…I couldn’t sleep and… I know how you guys can get lost in your research. You haven’t touched the leftover ravioli…and dads fudge has set a bit hard.” He offered a skittish smile, shifting feet with the food in hand, having warmed up the Italian in the oven for them, on a couple plates with the fudge on the side.

“Danny-boy! Oh my would you look at that it has been a while since I’ve been peckish! And you know how fudge is always the answer.” His dad sniffled, wiping a proud tear from his eye at his sons consideration, but as he turned with his smile, it had looked like all the color was drained from his face…without the harsh light of whatever test they were running they both had started looking rather gaunt, bags under their eyes.

Danny hurried to set down their food for them, the stress shifting to worry over his family. His core troubled but still set to protect, even if it was protecting his parents from themselves. “Dad, your hazmat is loose on you! You guys seriously forgot to eat for like four days?? I know you guys love the ghost zone, but you shouldn’t want to become its subjects like this!” He protested their stupidity as they giggled a bit.

“Oh Danny, we don’t have to worry about that. Your dad and I are going to be fine.” Maddie took his hand and lifted it, covering the back of it in small kisses. Danny marveled that the usual heat against his colder hands did not seem to be as much of a stark contrast as it had been since his accident.

“He is right though in that it’s been a bit. Jeeze, it’s like I haven’t looked at you in days! Let’s watch a movie together and get our nerves back before we continue.” Jack had patted him on the back, leading him to the smaller sitting area they had stashed to the corner of the lab where sometimes they would watch shows while waiting for research tests to finish going through the machines. Before he could protest, each of them settled to each side of him, and covered the twenty year old in blankets to snuggle up to him.

The shock of them stepping away from their stations had been enough to let him forget the rich food they’d abandoned on the lab counter.

Despite initial discomfort, Danny settled in against his parents, having missed their close contact, and maybe his mind had been playing tricks on him, or them their own minds through so many days with so much focus on one thing. He slowly eased, the wrongness in his gut fading as he felt his parents around him, clearly perfectly safe. His moms soft humming and his dad’s gentle circles on his back lulling him to sleep, sagging his weight and stress against his mothers arms.

He felt heavy, yet floating. So far off from what he’d felt flying as Phantom again, like his limbs were sandbags pulling him down into a deeper sleep, before a shock of night sky filled the tear of the darkness, an owlish face with the beautiful night sky behind it blinked into existence with a hiss.

“Chosen one. You

have

to wake up.”

No he didn’t…he was so comfortable. So heavy…to just not worry for a while…it wasn’t so bad was it? Skulker or whoever else it was could wait surely.

“You’re in danger starboy. If you don’t…move!” The hiss of Nocturne as he shadowed down on him and slammed down towards his sent Danny bolting upright, only to cry in pain to a burning pain at his neck.

“Oh sweety I don’t think he was deep enough under. Don’t worry sweet baby it’ll be over soon.” His mothers face cooed over him with a brush through his hair even as he was barely registering the pain in his neck wasn’t the pinprick of a needle or the force of the ecto blaster guns that would usually target him from his parents as Phantom, or the GIW when they’d gotten him tied down. It was a wide burning pain with his body recoiling from it. Trying to scramble back he only found himself surrounded by his fathers arms, held tight against his chest even as his…teeth were buried into his neck??

An almost growl tore through his fathers throat unfamiliarity as he clamped down more, earning another bewildered scream from Danny, and before he could find his voice enough for questions, there was the sickening slosh of blood in his mouth. But he hadn’t bit his dad, or his tongue, why was he-? His head was in a lock around his throat, pressing on it and forcing him to gasp for air with his mothers arm clamped over his mouth and she plugged his nose, forcing him to swallow as he was desperate to suckle air into his protesting lungs.

After a while of his struggle against them in that is when Vlad had found him, who looked to Danny wearily as he finished the rest of it for the exhausted boy, both he and Jazz horrified by the implications.

This brought things back to the stabilization tube. He was getting more sickly pale by the minute, and eventually the pills Vlad gave him kicked in, making him lift the mask and wretch out the vile liquid that had been forced down his throat. Shortly after he had passed out, and he switched from deathly cold to glowing with whatever effects raging beneath his skin.

They had blood samples running on him for what exactly it was, but Danny had lost too much blood and ectoplasm. So Jazz had to help Vlad put him into the tank to surround him with the liquid and keep his supply up, temperature stabilized, and his nutrients by the tube in his throat with him put under by heavy sedatives.

Vlad had stuck Jazz with research, and while originally she had glared at him incredulous at the type, his stone face had left her unsettled.

If anything was to point them the right way, it would be the occult studies into vampires. Like seriously, as if all of this didn’t scream of the undead bastards and their hundreds of years of myths for brainwashing, seduction, sharing of blood.

There was something deeply unsettling though... how would the undead clash with the half dead?

A few hours of research brought them to the basics of what to expect of the lords of the night…and the dangers that they faced ahead if they couldn’t stop all of Amity from perishing or becoming part of the man’s coven.

Within that time, alerts had sounded through the tone of those that had managed to get out of their homes, to try to escape or for those that their new hunger clawed at them… wasn’t a sure thing either way. Vlad set to delivering supplies to those that were still intact, and wrangling the GIW into being his hands with an excuse that this had to be a new form of ecto taking
control of the people and they had to save the infected, especially with how many of the members of the GIW had fallen to the effects. He did his best to supply them with the non-lethals while he gave to the parents and younger generations whatever information he had on them to help them protect was was their own… he didn’t count the GIW as his own, and as such he didn’t care if the members fell away, long as they managed to help the people of the town before that point.

It wasn’t long until the infected were tearing at the doors of his and others in the area. He had some time though, so that they wouldn’t be able to break into the underground so easily as they poured into the castle above. He worked with Jazz to get all the information together that they could off the drive, a lead to a gothic city in New Jersey to having leads in curing the ailment affecting their town of the outbreak. As much as they could fight these people, they were still someone’s friends, someone’s family, and in the small town that everyone knew one another, he knew that no one wanted to be the one to end one another's folks. They took Danny last once they had their things together, gently unhooking him from everything though they’d only had a few hours he hoped it would be enough for the little badger as he scooped into his arms, and Jasmine climbed onto his back, holding tight to his shoulders as he phased them through the walls to leave town, the clones working to hide his remaining researches under the floorboards. This character that had met with the Fenton’s didn’t need more access to information of the ghosts than they would have clearly gotten off of the couple of mad scientists and their unending blabbering.

~~~~~~~~~~

Everything was so loud.

Danny couldn’t move.

The streets below him were flooded with screams he couldn’t place since Walker's men had taken over half the town to attack the remaining residents of Amity Park. The ringing in his ears with the muffled screams were unbearable, Danny’s chest rising and falling as his body urged him to do

something,

and it wasn’t until there was a firm smack over his cheek with the burn of it that he snapped back to attention, vision blurred through tears as black gloves held his cheek and the firm yet for once not demeaning tone of his godfather was the only thing that came out clear as the winds whipped around them. “Little Badger, we cannot help them as you are. You’re compromised. We need to go. Now.” His tone left little room for argument and Danny didn’t have the energy or focus to figure out a rebuttal.

With a shift the pressure of the bandage against his neck, and with it the taste of copper and bile in his mouth, the soft faces of his parents flashed through his mind before he had been gripped tighter than he had even thought his father capable of.

Vlad was saying something again, but something in Danny’s face just left him to sigh, and yank the little badger against his chest as they flew further from the home he knew so long, his protector core screaming at him, and he had no strength to resist the for once comforting hold of his godfather. As darkness overtook his eyes, he watched the shield go up around Amity Park, set with a swirl of green and red that mirrored his own blood's state. Keeping its new monsters inside, as his sister gripped his good shoulder gently while laced over Vlad’s back.

They went on a path to a warehouse outside of Amity Park, the fancy scroll of DALV CO over the side of the building led unsurprisingly to his personal collection of vehicles inside, where for this Vlad opted for a jet, to give them comfort as they made their way closer to their destination.

Danny felt as he was laid across a row of seats, bundled with an ectoplasmic iv dripping into his arm as well as saline and so swaddled he could barely move. Surely not totally for the purpose of comfort, it was likely the swaddle was a barrier for their protection as well. His head throbbed and he curled into it though, his words slurred. “Vlad…”

“What’s wrong little badger? Are you uncomfortable?” The voice of the other Halfa was gentle and firm, only the edges of his voice wavering showing his concern.

“T…Team Phantom…?”

There was a moment of quiet in something he missed, and he forced his eyes open more to look at Vlad, eyes widening in worry.

“Daniel…unfortunately… Miss Mason and young Foley were in the mall when the breakout hit…they were in the middle of the chaos when it broke out. One of the duplicates had to lock them up in their homes and away from their parents until we can figure this out.”

At this Danny gasped and shot up, before his dizziness and a firm hand from Jazz forced him back to laying down.

“Don’t worry Danny…we’re on our way to find help.” Jazz soothed, playing with his hair as she sat across the aisle from him, wanting to be close as possible without compromising all of their safety if Danny did seem to lash out.

“Where….where are we going, fruitloop…?”

“We need an expert in this situation…and it seems we have one a few states away…we’re headed for Gotham.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was a beautiful day.

Any day in Gotham could be a beautiful day if you squint reeaaally hard and hold your breath, passing out and staying in bed. Yes. In bed made for a great day in Gotham.

Unfortunately for Dick, it was his patrol night, picking up on some slack since Tim had run himself ragged with one of his obsession cases for the last week.
Who knew what it was this time. But the kid had been awake for close to 30 hours before the microdoses of sedatives in the sweets from precious Alfred finally put him under. That man was a national treasure.

So while Oracle ran things from the computer, watching the high crime traffic intersections and had alerts set up for cameras off screen to flick on from older drug bust stops in the past, Nightwing had the roof watch.

“Hey Birdie, you got 7 on the corner of Sable and 5th.Looks like they're headed for the jewelers on the corner.” Came the light hum from his comms.

He hummed lightly back in acknowledgement and he started racing that way, taking a grapple and a leap to race off the side of the building, the momentum of the grapple dragging him higher in the air, him giving a twirl gracefully before rolling onto the next roof and picking up speed for the next one.

“Always gotta be such a showoff?”

He laughed a bit as he was closing in on the destination, his domino mask giving him a tracker of distance with the cameras information to close in on their location, making sure he still had plenty of time, and positioned himself to behind them. Throwing a smoke bomb to the front by the scouts leading the boss, he got them tense for a frontal attack while he bounced up to wrap his legs around one member’s neck and flip them to bodyslam them into the ground, getting a yelp from their friend as he dealt with it quickly, and then through their numbers, narrowly dodging several bullets and striking into their heads and guts with his escrima sticks, one unlucky bastard even got it to the nads. Buddy shouldn’t have tried to backstab him.

Karma was a bitch and so was Nightwing.

He almost whined when as he finished up, a familiar alarm sounded over the comms and his police radio strapped to his hip.

“Really?! Why’s it on my day?!”

“Connecting to B for Joker,as well as Dr. Crane. Until the others get on scene around the asylum, NW you need to get your ass over to Hood before he does something stupid.”

“J stupid? Never!” He gasped with a hand to his chest in horror, the mere idea of his little brother ever being accused of such slander. None the less, he made his way over to Crime Alley, to help keep his brother busy as yet again, the fucking clown got out.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It was another shit awful day in Gotham.

Of course it fucking was.

There was a sign on the way in with writing on the bottom telling tourists to run, and if that wasn’t the most honest thing in the entire city, Jason didn’t know what was.

But today was another particularly nasty one with another glaring reminder of the failure his guardian had seen him to allow his killer to run the streets, whistling as he bombed the folks below in water balloons full of his stupid Joker venom. He already got his boys into collecting the homeless, the service gals and gents, and the kids as far from the area as possible. In the meantime he sent screenshots through the domino hidden under his hood of the areas folks were hit that would need a quick cure shot when the others got to the location. In the meantime it was on sight for cheap circus act goons.

Getting through them was simple enough, and he was in Crime Alley so it didn’t matter too much how badly he brutalized them, though as long as he was trying to play nice with the bats meant they should at least still breathe. If they needed the help of a machine after or not was completely up to them in their demeanor towards the citizens.

The problems arose when his big bro wing showed up, the same time as he flipped over the roofs and raced to his side to give him support, the Jokers cackle echoed off his streets full of glee.

“Hood! Don’t engage with him! You know we have steps lined up for a reason!” The black and blue vigilante chirped out after him a bit frantically as he raced after him.

“After finding out what that asshat did to Red? Fat fucking chance!” He growled, the faint green glow barely visible through the two masks and their seams, but he was pissed enough it was there.

Lately he had to remember to put a goal in mind, direct his anger to something productive. Some therapists recommended baking, cooking, maybe even some knitting. Which of course all had their times and places for him, especially when it came out to helping out Alfred in the kitchen. But for now that purpose was pinpointed in a way that Jason thought would be far more useful.

Of course that being putting several bullets between Joker’s fucking eyes. That’d be the best therapy anyone could ask for.

“He’s back Jason, he didn’t stay gone and we can’t just make Joker stay gone either. Oh you know how we’ve tried.” Nightwing whispered as he followed close to the little wing, a frown over his features as he didn’t like letting the guy breathe either, but his goal stayed keeping Red Hood out of jail, especially when it was under his watch.

“You know damn well he didn’t just come back from that unscathed. “ The sound of leather clenching came from Red’s gloves as he shifted his hands over his gun.

“Jason..”

“I’m not going to kill him.”

“Oh really? Thank you-”

“I’m just going to hurt him reaaaal bad.” With a touch of his mockery to a tone the Joker would have taken.

Before Nightwing could protest that one, there were three shots fired off, each of Joker’s arms hit, and one between his legs with a scream of pain and psychotic laughter to accompany it as the man collapsed to the ground gripping the pool of blood coming from his crotch.

“Huh, you know, part of me didn’t think anything was going to be there.” Red hood shrugged lightly as he hopped his way over the side of the railing to leap below into the remaining goons.

“I think him bleeding out is still considered killing him Hood!” Came the firm reprimand with the voice of the elder leaping down behind him, kicking back one that aimed their pipe at Hood’s head.

“Tomato Tomado?” He chuckled, it getting warped with his voice changer as they snapped their way through the ranks, the sound of sirens steadily nearing.

“Hood!” He groaned while Hood hesitated a moment, staring down at the bleeding curled up man on the ground before he shrugged.

“I’m okay with waiting…therapy gave me some patience Wing~”

“Waiting 10 minutes watching him bleed is different than whatever situation you’re using that excuse for!” He hissed as he roughly shoved bandages onto Joker after securing his arms.

Jason merely gave a swish of his hips in sass in place of an eye roll as he yoinked Nightwing around the waist as he grappled them out of there, nodding to the officers that were filling the alleyway now, as he really wasn’t one to have to fill out paperwork…especially if it was for that garbage excuse of a human being.

They made their way back to one of Jason’s safehouses so he could grab Dick a gasmask, knowing their evening probably wouldn’t be over until they found the cornfield freak too.

Unfortunately the wait for the sign of the madman went without payment up into the early hours of the morning.

More unfortunately?

Oracle reported that the clown lived.

Just another shit day in Gotham.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tim sighed as he stretched, whining with the stiffness of his limbs, blinking at the clock on his nightstand.

Those bastards.

He dragged himself to his feet, hand slipping over the surface of the table, grabbing an old mug, running his thumb over the handle of it as he trudged his way down to the kitchen.

“Good afternoon Master Timothy.” Came the soft drawl of the glorious wonderful butler as he slipped over a fresh mug of coffee into his hand, stealing away the old one, like he was trading a treat over a dogs bone.

“Morning A! Uh..any reason the others didn’t wake me? I got-”

“Your appointments are taken care of, Master Timothy, and I made sure no one messed with your progress downstairs. It’s all right where you left it, and a couple hours more of sleep isn’t going to change that.” There was a quirk of the older man's brow as he said that, almost daring for some part of Tim to argue with him, but he settled the look when he just whined.

He nursed the coffee as he let his mind settle, taking the slow wake up and some breakfast before he headed down to the cave, looking over the information, then frowned when a string of study caught his attention.

And there is where Jason found him a couple hours later, a couple firewalls popped up in areas he was bypassing, and cases of people missing, as well as the file of one Count Dracula.

“Really? This is your new thing? Wait a minute we HAVE a file on Dracula??” Was accompanied with the weight of several sandbags plopping onto his back.

He sighed, swatting at his brother's face to try and get him off. We got a ping from somewhere in Illinois looking into the research a little more thoroughly than an average writer I guess. This seems to be from B's younger days as Batman, likely before he even got Dick. I see no mention of him in the mission report he'd filed at that time. But in any case…seems someone is having vampire troubles. Their research bounced around for a while but then as soon as they found out about the plague in Gotham at that time of the infected townspeople, they launched into and restarted the timeline from the beginning of the article and followed it to the end when the missing people were returned to their homes.”

“Seems a little bit in the fuck all nowhere for some place in Illinois to have a vampire problem.”

“At first I was unsure about that too, but the more I interacted with their database, the more I got bounced around. I drew back from their server and looked more into supernatural activity in Illinois and it took me to fan pages of a place called Amity Park. It's…interesting? Posts of ghosts and their vigilante fighting all over the place with the news articles, though sometimes the guy is a bit messy, especially towards the beginning of his career.”

Red Hood snickered with the pull up of the phantom grinning as he raced out of a bank. “Man, if they blame the kid for that they need to get better at reading faces.” He slid over other profiles of the kid hero next to each other, shifted a couple of them back and forth from the grayscale. “Nowhere else does he look like this…the level of sneer on the kid ain't natural. And if we're lookin at it with these… the eyes ain't right either.”

“Yes…if we compare the shading of them it seems like a possession…maybe brainwash? Or a parasite?”

“Who fucking knows kid. Now the green in his usual style does mess with me a bit cause that color is just a bit…ya know…

much

for me. But he looks completely in control through these fights thereafter and he ain't a showoff either like he'd been blatantly putting his face straight in front of those cameras…someone wanted to fuck with his image…and look at this bullshit.” He laughed at another one with the kid panicking trying to duck an arm he was locked into the grasp of the man, the article saying he had kidnapped the mayor.

“Looks more like the mayor kidnapped him” Tim nodded in agreement. “Going to have to interrupt B's lunch I think…he was the only one on case with Dracula,
so he will know best how to deal with this new vampire problem they're having. They may already have a ton infected.”

“I heard there's a building vampire issue?” There was a drained sigh as Bruce shrugged off his suit jacket, stepping quickly down the stairs.

“W..what?! How did you already know B?” Tim swerved around incredulously.

“Tim, he's Batman, he knows everything.” Jason snarked with a smirk leaning his weight through his arm onto his head.

“Alfred. He may not have touched your things but he definitely noticed that material popped up. Dracula, or Dr. Alucard was a solid pain to deal with at the time.” He looked studiously over the amount of detail popped onto screen. “Undead interacting with the actual dead on this sort of scale…if these ghosts it mentions can somehow get infected too this can quickly become a national problem.”

“So you're not questioning any of this?” Jason curled a brow, hands in his pockets with his head tilted.”Not even the ghosts?”

“We have a ghost in the Justice League, I can save my questions for when they get here.” He pulled up the pings of information questioning about the vampires with their interaction to Gotham, watching as it steadily made its way across the map. “Looks like they're on a flight here with those speeds. Make sure they don't have the vampire asleep in storage below the plane, though unlikely with how frantic the search seems to be, we can't leave out the possibility.” He then focused his gaze on the white haired kid flying through the air and fighting a multitude of enemies, going to the teenagers profile pages to study the fighting style of when he had to face off against them. “Doesn't look like an ounce of formal training ... but the body language as time progresses gets more defined... he learned what he knows likely from every fight. We fail to take him down the first time completely, he'll be ready for us the second time.”

“Hasn't even

met

the kid and he's already making contingencies.”

“What, like you expected anything else?” Tim teased with a smirk before looking at Bruce. “So B…shall we gather up what we need to hunt down some vampires?”

“We already possess the cure…just a matter of getting it out of storage and making enough for the general population.” Bruce sighed, rubbing his head, but ever so glad for the batcomputer system giving them warning to be able to start making it in advance of whoever arrives, knowing his kids would each need some on hand, especially if the breakout crossed back into Gotham.

“But yes…let's start with garlic…lots and lots of garlic.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Danny felt like he was wading through a pit of mashed potatoes dealt by the lunch lady, up to his ears in it and barely able to breath. It took a while trudging through it before an embrace of the stars pulled him through it, back to a weightlessness he'd come to know through his flights. He blinked, taking a moment to make sense of what was before him, before it shrunk down into the familiar Visage of Nocturne.

“This is kind of sketchy Nox…this is the second time you've helped me…what's the catch?” Danny looked around the emptiness with the hint of others dreams to the background.

“No catch, child. Your parents would have tried to poison the ghost zone in whatever findings they made of their new abilities…that is just their nature. And as the protector of the ghost zone and earth… your interference was required.”

“Okay ... but why you man? It isn't like you for this. How come?”

“Well when one knows the joy of space takes over your mind and that is a large part of my appearance…how can I not want your attention on me?” he smirked as the boy's gaze had indeed gotten lost into the swirl of galaxies over his skin.

Danny’s face flushed bright green, lighting up the freckles laced over his face. “Heh…ehm…well you weren't one of the worst ancients I had to fight. And it didn't turn out too bad. Everyone finally got a goodnight rest…plus you know my dreams as well as the next person…”

“Yes, Starboy” Nocturne laughed a bit, messing with the hair of the halfa. “You're being taken for help by the mortals… in Plasmius' dreams it's someone he dreads but I think you'll find them quite enjoyable…I believe they will be trustworthy with your identity after some time.”

“So…someone who's a troublemaker towards troublemakers?” He grinned, not minding the idea of someone to help him pick on the frootloop, debating. “Alright…if it's someone I need help with whatever the hell is going on at home… I understand if I have to. Thank you...yourself and clockwork aren't too bad when giving advice.” Danny beamed a bit to the warm gaze of Nocturne.

“I appreciate you taking my advice…I'll do as I can not to lead you astray” and with that, the dream faded after wrapping his body of stars over Danny like a blanket to help him go to more pleasant dreams while his body was shaking with pain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jazz gnawed at her knuckle, unseeing for the words in her book and unease wracking her body.

Danny….did not look good. At all.

He was in a cold sweat, face was paler and his lip trembled, while he did what he could for nothing to touch the bite at his neck. Perhaps it was scabbing with his advanced healing factor and it itches? She hoped that was the case, even if the state of his body showed otherwise. She tried to distract herself, looking at Vlad who was staring just as intensely at the boy. “So… what brought you by when you found him, Vlad?” She tried to hide the suspicion in her voice.

Vlad caught it though and he let out a laugh after a second. “Honestly? I was about to talk your parents into taking him out shopping for a proper suit and then borrowing him for a week of dinner parties, shows…try to butter him up to at least the finer things in life, get him out of those ragged shirts.”

Jazz blinked at him a bit confused. That…tracked but also didn't make sense. “Really? That's it? Not trying to talk him into being your heir, threatening, experimenting on him?....why?”

The halfa sighed a bit smugly. “He would be looking for it to happen, be jumpy, someone might assume he doesn't have a good home life, put in a couple calls to get Jack at least docked for OSHA violations…that and he'd hate it. Have you seen how salty he gets about hair gel? The little badger is a menace.”

“So ... slight psychological warfare…making Danny presentable ... getting our parents called out on bad lab safety…and making Danny have a temper tantrum?... I get it. He is pretty cute when pouty.” They both had a soft laugh, easing a bit of the thick tension in the air. “Then, who are we on our way to see?”

“I'm hoping to get an appointment at Wayne Enterprise as quickly as possible. They've released a number of cures over the years and anti toxins from their rogues here… and Gotham has dealt with vampires before. If anything else goes, the cure points back to them… just have to hope they still have it.” He sighed, running his hand through his hair, for once not prim and proper, sank back into his seat.

“So we're really going to Gotham… you think the bats will mind our bringing a security risk into the city?” She fiddled anxiously as she looked at Danny again, who'd steadily gotten more comfortable.

“Considering it was the Batman who dealt with the vampires last time…he'll likely be upset…if they have some available we can take it and start producing it ourselves, hopefully before they realize anything about him.” He was already online, going through the web domains and getting in touch with a representative to get an appointment with their medical research department as soon as possible, which would still be a couple days. He scowled as he went looking through other domains to try and get the ball rolling soon as possible.
“Seems I’ll be getting you a dress instead after all… we've a charity auction to attend tomorrow.” It was early evening in Gotham, not that one could tell past the grime, dark clouds and smog, but the flight had taken a while.

As they got off the plane at the airport, Vlad let Jazz scoop up the boy this time, where she cradled him close to his chest, the group headed for a car Vlad ordered for them upon arrival. The dark haired man hurried to open their doors for them and take their bags for the trunk, popping it into place before closing their door for them, going to the front and strapping in. The rather well built gentleman started them out of the hanger and over onto the freeways leading to downtown.

“Sir? Does the young man need medical attention before reaching the hotel?”

“No, we've got some medicine for him for now, but if he has a flare up I may ask for the ride there later. He'll be more at ease when he can lay down properly for a while.” Danny laid his head over Jazz's lap and curled up to her as they went over the bumps of the road for patches after many rogue attacks.

“Yes sir…this your first time in Gotham? We had a breakout yesterday so wanna warn you to be extra careful, they haven't caught Scarecrow yet.”

“I've been in the city a couple times, I'm aware of the dangers and I'll make sure these two know properly as well. “ he kept his tone smooth even as his eyes stayed locked on Danny's face, who hadn't moved the entire time, if someone didn't know better they'd think he was dead. Ha.

After a while of the quiet, Jazz sighed, rubbing her head.

“Ms. Fenton?” Vlad asked gently, brow furrowed as he rolled up the window between them and the driver for privacy.

“Do….do you think they'll actually be able to help? What if it isn't even the same type attacking?” Her voice came back quietly, having taken off her headband and fiddling with it between her fingers.

“If anyone can help the little badger it'll be here…their medical field is incredible. They have to stay on top of so many new toxins brought in by their villains, poisons, viruses… this is the best place for him right now as we dig around.” He kept his voice quiet too, eyes softened.

“You know I thought I pictured you more to aim for Lex Corps than here.”

“While I do understand and I have enough shares of his company for a seat on the board, he still runs behind the Wayne's by a massive amount… as much as one cares to be faithful to their business partners, I'm much more devoted to Daniel's well-being.”

This seemed to relax Jazz, her shoulders slumping as she petted her little brother's hair, biting her lip but kept quiet the rest of the ride.

When they got to the hotel, Vlad took Danny and some of the bags while Jazz got the rest of it, filling it into the room he got them, a top floor multisection where Jazz could feel some comfort not just having Vlad in the queen right next to their own or something.

She stayed with Danny, doing her best to help his temperature regulate as Vlad ordered them food.

~~~~~~~~

Jason pulled the car back up around into his safe-house, and retrieved the bugs from the backseat, plugging them into the system as he plucked off the hat of his outfit and tossed the jacket to the side, and put his com back in. “Got all that old man?”

“Receiving the file now, any suspicious behaviors?” Came the curt side of Batman on the other end of the line.

“They had a young man with them that was in rough shape, bandages lacing from his neck across his chest, clammy, pale… and Vlad Masters seemed quite intent on keeping him isolated...but something felt off about the guy… he was watching the kid…kinda possessive. Oh and I could totally tell the guy was lying that he’d bring him to the hospital if needed, actin’ like he was just trying to get the nosy driver to leave him alone.” he snorted.

“Keep an eye on the situation.
If they're here for a vampire cure I want it ready as soon as possible, the one of us needs the drop on them for some questioning. We need to know what led to the research and how they're linked to the cause.”

“Got it B. Put a couple bugs in the kids bag too. Seems the least likely to get into his any time soon to notice. Let me know if something comes up on your side.”

Things had gotten better between them when Jason had gone digging, finding out that Bruce

had

killed the Joker…until the damn Supersport decided Bruce couldn't possibly live with that and brought the bastard back.

Now it was him Jason had a grudge with. And super-bitch hadn't been able to figure out why. He had gotten much softer on Bruce, and Nightwing’s help in taking him down at that time.

Their bond stronger than it had been in years, he was back to dinners with the family, and baking with Alfred. In return for being back in their lives…they looked the other way when a few of the crime bosses still went missing in Crime Alley. Of which to prevent a vacuum of power for worse to take over and infighting, he positioned his own people, manipulating the market within to make it look like the area still had a few gangs competing instead of Red Hood alone, who they may assume doesn't have enough eyes to take care of everything on his own.

He'd even gotten Bruce in on it with his undercover persona, working together as the bats, the gangsters, and as family. Jason felt warmer than he had in a long time having his family's full support.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The files coming into the Bat computer, Bruce turned on the audio and listened back over the conversation, Tim there too tilting his head.

“Well they’re looking for a vampire cure…they’re keeping the kid isolated from the masses of a hospital while at the same time…how long does it take for the effects of the vampire virus to take over someone?” Tim tapped his hands across the board, out of habit making a transcript of the audio as well, adding the notes from Jason about the interaction with them to the top of it.

“If someone is mentally unstable, as Joker had been, the mind control from the biter is low, it takes more to try and direct their thoughts in a way they want, and sometimes they may get abandoned in the process of it. Distance can make a difference too…if the master has access to the boy, the turn will happen quickly within a few feedings. If not it’ll be painful and slow over an estimated 3 day course if they’re being taken care of.”

“What if…someone like Phantom is bitten?” Tim shifted again, as when they tried to get a deeper look into the Phantom’s abilities, they hit more patches of deleted footage, even from news outlets. Someone was actively keeping him on the lower profile as long as they could help it. They didn’t mind him being seen by how much there was, but they didn’t want it to publicize his abilities.

“We have no idea if whatever keeps them built up is even compatible with the venom…it could do nothing…”

“Or… it may be the opposite end of the spectrum and mutate them into something far worse…right?”

“Hn.” Came the gruff agreement as Bruce tapped his pen to the desk rapidly, and looked over anything they had from Vlad Masters. He had aged very slowly over the years compared to others, though he had gone white haired in early collage around the same time that he dropped out, the records sealed and removed for the reason why though.

“Question is…how do you catch something you can’t touch to find out?”

As soon as the words left his mouth there was a tension to the air as they knew exactly who they would need if it came to that.

No one wanted to bug Constantine if they could help it. But on this one… they may just have to.

“Well…it looks like he’s confirmed for an invitation to tomorrow's charity auction, and confirmed only a plus one. If he’s being this cautious to avoid hospitals to get him in the middle of crowds, he’s taking Jasmine Fenton with him while Daniel James Fenton stays at home.” Tim pulled up the profiles they had on the parties involved, and from the name of Ms. Fenton having been brought up, it helped to quickly put the dots together on those involved, as there were a few public stunts posted of Daniel with Masters, and in each of them he seemed wildly uncomfortable, other than the first appearance of them visiting their college reunion with a tour of the Dairy King Castle in Wisconsin.

“How does a guy go from being a reclusive billionaire in the middle of nowhere to… well the mayor of another completely different middle of nowhere? Why all the way out there in Illinois?” Dick swung through the metal bar railing to the raised platform to the bat-computer before perching himself on top of it.

“Turns out he’s a family friend of the Fenton’s, ranging back all the way to college where they were in some sort of technology group together. He’s extremely close to the parents, while the kids seem to avoid any posting with the three of them completely. Yikes, look how hard Daniel is flinching away with the mayor's publicity photos.” Tim tsked in sympathy with the many galas and dinner parties he had been dragged to in the past where the paparazzi couldn’t mind their business and leave them alone. How B put on such a comfortable Brucie act was a level of commitment they may never be able to reach.

“Let’s hope that the relationship is improved enough to not be too concerned about him bringing the kid states away… his sister is with him so that’s at least a good sign? And in the conversation in the car…she didn’t sound scared of Masters? Just that they could figure it out.” Tim tapped his finger against his coffee anxiously while he mulled it over.

“It could simply be teen angst, B…or... that only Daniel is having trouble with him.” Dick frowned, not liking what they’d heard of him looking at the kid possessively. He may be twenty already, but that he’d known him for at least six years left room for something that could be far more sinister.

Bruce stayed with his eyes fixed onto the screen, a steady tapping of his hand as he took in the information. Three things concerned him most above the others.

He had a significant amount of shares with LexCorps. And he had a significant relationship with scientists in a field of study concerning ghosts. One that if harnessed, by the footage of fights previous, there was a chance of high collateral damage to whatever fights Lex deemed worth using on. Then there was a kid surrounded by influences like Vlad Masters, Unhinged scientists of parents if the hazmat suits of every photo they were in were to be judged by, and by the galas possibly Lex Luthor too since his sister had mentioned it so openly.

All the makings of a possible rogue. And a trapped kid.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

While there was no way at this time that Vlad could reason getting Danny his suit measurements taken, let alone going among others, that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t case out the best he could with an unassuming plus one, and if anyone had the sass to keep up with the upper crusts of Gotham, it would be Ms. Jasmine Fenton.

As used to these things as he was, he was unnerved when he was on the losing end. He needed something tonight, and he had to solidify the deal, make sure that Daniel was alright. What would he trade to the Wayne’s for that? Just about anything they asked, as there was little he could give away that he couldn’t easily earn its worth back. But the Little Badger…he couldn’t lose him. They were two halves of the same coin. He’d never felt so complete as when he’d found out the young man was just like him.

With that he was determined, once he’d gotten Danny settled into the hotel room for the day, he left a Plasmius duplicate with him in case he woke, then took Jasmine to shop for the evening, hunting down something for her to blend in seamlessly. Eventually they were in a rather cozy side of town where everyone who passed possessed the newest models of watches, Wayne phones, the latest of business suits. Everything sleek and polished, save for the shadows of the ever present alleyways, a few ignored lower members of society cast out of the public eye far as they were aware.

“Really child?”

“What, like you can’t spare it?” Jazz mocked as she dipped into the cash supply that Vlad had given her, careful not to show what all inside there was and making the movement look swiftly like she’d taken it all, before she made her way over to those more bravely to the edge of the alley. “Hey…I know there’s a few of you in here…if you want to keep it to yourself I get it, but if you could pass it out to the others…it should be enough to help for a little while?” Her voice was low and steady to not spook them as she offered the money, hidden in a bundled cheap grocery bag to make it look more subtle like a sandwich or something, that they hopefully wouldn’t be immediately targeted.

They nodded a bit to her, studying her as if to memorize her face as she rose with a small thankful smile and
headed back with Vlad to the stores.

“You know, this being Gotham, you may very well have gotten yourself a target painted on your head for a ransom?” Vlad sighed, rubbing at his temple as he trailed alongside her.

“I also very well could have gotten someone on their feet with a lucky break in a city that everyone has that mentality, or if I have a smidge of luck, it’s someone already able to care for themselves that won’t look the other way when someone else with a target on their head is snatched away.” She shrugged as she looked around the very expensive clothing. With anyone else she would have looked at the prices and cringed.

For all that Vlad had put her brother and mother through over the years though? He can dig in his pockets a bit.

Vlad went to find a new suit as well, trusting the fashion sense to her and the store girls to find her just the right thing. He came out with a well tailored blue suit close to his frame, and saw as Jazz was shown a few numbers, where she narrowed in on a teal gown that bunched to the side with a split up the leg. He brought her for her hair, then her nails and makeup to be done as well, getting his own eyebrows shaped a bit and a hot towel treatment for his skin to feel fresh. With that they got a quiet lunch in the area and made their way together back to the hotel.

Danny was being tended to by Plasmius, a massive bundle of blankets around him for his chills, and a cool cloth to his head for his back and forth fevers. He was being spoon fed some soup to keep his nutrients up, it was done patiently in extremely small increments to ensure he wouldn’t choke.

Jazz took over so Vlad could drop the clone for a bit and change as the city grew dimmer, then they switched for her own turn.

Vlad resisted the urge to grab at his own hair. He had finally gotten the frizz out of it from the amount of moisture in the air threatening for it to start raining. But he didn’t know what was happening to the kid, and he didn’t have the equipment to see. Was he doing this right? He was so much better at not caring about the others in a situation and going for what he wanted alone. However he couldn’t drive himself to it, his face scrunched in pain, whimpering in panic with the whispers of ‘Please, Mom’ on his lips. It wasn’t like he could blame the kid for being scared either, just as part of him couldn’t help the adoration of Maddie fading that any part of her could ever be corrupted enough, by ghost, vampire or any other force of nature, to purposely hold down her son like that.

He had put her on an impossible pedestal he never had to worry about before as she had made herself thoroughly out of his reach. She had so thoroughly spurned him at every turn, for all that he had, everything she could gain from him.

She had resisted his love and the world… If she was capable of that, why couldn’t she resist causing her sons screams and sobs of pain?

He gripped his chest as the center of his obsession shook, feeling cracks around the edges. But now wasn’t the time to lose his composure over such things.

“We’ll fix this, Little Badger...just hold on for a while.“ He tentatively brushed his hand through Daniel’s hair, where the sweat had it clinging to his forehead, brow furrowed. He wasn’t sure if it was pain anymore or nightmares plaguing him, nor what more he could do to help without the information. He set up a bag of fluids for him, carefully hanging it from the headboard, so that with how much he was losing in perspiration he would be able to get back.

As time grew closer there was still no sign of his waking, Jazz came back over, giving him a kiss on the head and a gentle hug. “We’ll find a way to get you the cure without everyone panicking Danny…then we’ll help everyone else. We’ll be alright.” She hummed out to him delicately. Part of her wanted to only tell him that he needed to be alright and that’s all that mattered. But if Danny’s core was suffering from seeing the town under attack, it needed the sooth of protecting others as well, perhaps even more so.

With hesitation they both drew away for the evening of the Charity, to hopefully meet earlier with a Wayne and at least get it mentioned so they could idly search their database and find which corner it may be stored in, that their reaction time could be that much faster during the time of their actual appointment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damian had finally gotten word of what was happening when he got out of school, and he was perplexed by the idea of an undead entity haunting the streets of Gotham. They’d already had enough trouble with Grandfather, and whoever the vampire was sounded just as bad. He was a bit amused though when he was given a garlic coated rosary to palm. That was the most interesting way to punch someone he’d heard in a while.

Patrols were taken with diverting at least one member of the Bats and Birds over towards the hotel that Master’s had checked into, and Robin was the one on a nearby rooftop when Vlad stepped out with Ms. Fenton.

“Do vampires have a type?” He mulled over the coms a bit.

“Just like anyone else I’m sure bloodsuckers do too, why?” Hood chuckled

“The reports from the last incident had one Vicki Vale who was almost set as a sacrifice for Dracula’s Bride, and Fenton on Master’s arm tonight has a large likeness to her visage.” He zoomed in on his domino with a squint, snapping pictures of the two as they got into the limo.

“Ew, I hope it isn’t a type thing, that’s her godfather, man.” Drake gagged on the other side of the com line as he finished getting ready himself to go to the gala with Bruce.

“If that guy’s a vampire he’s been maintaining for a while. While Dracula even called himself the embodiment of evil, if Vlad seems one, he’s kept it under the radar, or it’s way more recent, and the level of control he would need around so many people doesn’t make sense if it were recent." Batman added, probably hiding his mouth behind a glass of champagne by the muffled talking in the background.

“Nor would it account for his hunting down a cure for the young man. Please young masters, do let your suspicions wait until after you’ve had a conversation with the gentleman and lady.” Agent A clicked his tongue as was headed back to the cave since they were dropped off.

There were the sighs and grunts of acknowledgement settled over the coms as they went for positions, as Robin studied the windows for the suite that they had left, scanning for movement inside or any disturbances. He kept like that a few hours of the patrol, staking it out to make sure nothing else was coming after Daniel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason doubleclicked on his com for a sign that the two had arrived at the event hall, interacting with others with a light smile as he carefully negotiated his way towards their end of the hall, talking to many of the members there that night that brought their items in. Bruce was slightly playing up his Brucie act with wide grins, his well gelled hair messed up on the ends like someone had given him a noogie, while Tim was full manners and polite smiles as they took a very casual look to their surroundings while studying those that were not the usual members to these events.

Tim eyed Jasmine the most closely. Vlad had perfect control over his expressions and managed his interactions much as the Wayne’s did, sipping a champagne flute as he seemed to be passively building his connections. Jasmine, however, was far more stiff, the way she would hide her fingers to the backside of her glass with nervous taps and a strained smile over the clearly unwanted conversation with them, but practiced through her panic that this may not be her first time at this. A control over her facial muscles, but the deep slow inhale with the rise of her chest is just another factor to her nerves being wrecked.

Not like Tim could blame her. The only interactions the Fenton’s seemed to have with the public was the children flinching away from the doubtful looking interviewers and their overexcited parents, as well as in that her brother was laying sick while she was expected to laugh and talk about the less fortunate.

Vlad stiffened lightly when he was backed into, his face betraying a bit of a scowl as he turned to look at the source of the issue, only for the annoyance to immediately disappear when he found it was clumsy Brucie Wayne who seemed to have been bumped with a rough pat from one of the other contributors to the nights collection.

“Hello there! I’m so sorry about that. Try to leave the crowd and it just seems to follow! Who do I have the pleasure of grabbing the next drink for?” Bruce let off a goofy grin, apologetically dusting off Vlad where he’d bumped into him.

“No harm, Mr. Wayne. I’m sorry to say this is the first in person interaction, though I have been familiar with your social circles in the past, we never got the chance to meet.” Vlad smiled, bowing his head in greeting and offered his hand to shake. “Vlad Masters, a pleasure to meet you.” At the name of Wayne, Fenton had to resist whipping her head around to look at them, swallowing as she did her best to turn to it casually. He was right to keep eyes on her.

“Well if there was any doubt that they were here to see us that’s gone.” Oracle chuckled over the coms watching the three.

Bruce happily took the hand and shook it, not missing the slightest clench of desperation from him before letting go just as smoothly. “Well it being our first meeting means you need the tour! Be my honor for almost getting wine on your lovely suit.” He threw an arm around Vlad's shoulder to steer him around the hall, meet some people, and showcase some of the more interesting items that were up for auction that day.

Tim nodded to Jason, Ms. Fenton left to her own devices on the floor where she seemed to retreat to the less popular items on auction to collect herself. Jason winked over to Tim and took over on this one. Despite his being a giant, he had a more casual air to him, and neither of them thought she could make her way through many more polite smiles and pointless drivel of conversation.

~~~~~~~~~

Jazz looked over at the casual walk over of a much burlier man made his way over, head turned at some amalgamation of a sculpture, teeth and twists that were all over the place, his brow furrowed.

“I swear I saw this thing in Beetlejuice.”

That caught her off guard and she let out a short laugh, relieved she wasn’t the only one that didn’t get it. “Kind of like the thing that held the mom down for the wedding vows?”

“Yeah! It could totally be part of her collection.” He chuckled, deep and from his chest, a mess of black hair and a shot of white from the middle, he stuck a hand in his pocket and the other one out to her. “Jason.”

“Jazz, it’s nice to meet you.” She smiled as she took it, slightly surprised how his hand made hers just…disappear inside of it, she held back a slight laugh at that, letting some of the tension leave her shoulders, taking a moment to quietly make fun of a few sculptures with him, mostly him egging it on as she didn’t want to insult the artists, but he was comfortable to talk to.

“So, you looked like you were about to throw your glass at a couple guys back there, you alright?” Jason chuckled and her face went bright red in reminder of the annoyance.

“Ah yes… I got a few…insinuations that I was paid to be the company of my godfather.” She shuddered and made a face. “He’s got the hots for my mom, and that’s weird enough.” She let out a laugh with that and a rub at her temple.

“Who, Masters? Yeah you look a little outta his league~” He smirked casually over to her as they found the seating area and he plopped down, throwing his arm over the back of it.

“That’s very kind of you.” She laughed lightly as she sat, giving him room. “My boyfriend would be having an absolute blast with the horror stories he’s heard of Vlad’s interactions with our family.”

Jason laughed a bit at that. “Oh it can’t be that bad.”

“Oh it can.” She grinned, finishing her glass, setting it down on a side table. “One time, my brother told me about how this seminar he and my mom were invited to on this private jet went to crash in the middle of nowhere halfway there, and they made their way through the woods where, oh just by complete chance, they were outside one of Vlad’s mansions.”

“Oh, clearly a coincidence.” He offered to pretend he bought that but the grin in his eye gave way he knew it couldn’t be.

“Which mom apparently totally bought! Even though he greeted them on his golf cart with personalized gift baskets, then later that night tried to talk her into leaving my dad and living with him.” She shook her head like she was in complete disbelief of that still.

“That’s...wow.”

“Yeah, and that’s just one of many.” She laughed fixing a lock of hair behind her ear, grinning at his face of shock.

“Well, if he’s so weird, what brings you to Gotham with him? “ Jason lulled his head in against his hand as he tilted it at her.

Jazz deflated. There wasn’t any way Jason really cared, but stripped of her restraint to share from the many needless conversations beforehand, she let out hesitantly. “My brother…Danny. He got sick in our hometown with a whole epidemic. We learned how Wayne Enterprise was the leading medicine for what’s afflicting him and… we just hope we can get to talk to them about it as soon as possible. We don’t know how long anyone has but we have to try and get them covered.”

Jason sat up with her softer tone, leaned in to show that he was listening, eyes softer than the joking manner of earlier. “Shit, an epidemic and you have to get to a charity auction to try and get ahold of us?”

Jazz blinked, looking puzzled. “Us?”

Jason smiled again almost a bit sheepishly. “Ya know, I figured you weren’t from Gotham as everyone recognizes a Wayne around here… Jason Todd Wayne.”

Her face scrunched in horror that she’d spoken so bluntly and annoyed about her Godfather that was in the middle of trying to make the connections to help them. “I am so sorry!” Her hands went up to her mouth with a stronger blush coming up over her ears.

“No no! If I worried about stuff like that I would have introduced myself originally like that.” He laughed a bit before letting the serious tone of their interaction come back, looking over across the room and waving someone down.

Jazz followed the gaze, seeing a more business orientated dark haired man looking disinterested in what a group of ladies surrounding him were talking about, perked seeing the wave and excused himself quickly to come over to them.

“Thanks for the save, who’s your friend?” They smiled as they rolled their muscles a bit looking over the two.

“Tim, this is Jazz. Jazz, my brother, Timothy Drake Wayne Apparently they need some W.E. assistance. Not something trivial, sounds like they’re having a breakout of something.”

Tim perked up and looked over concerned to her. “Shall we head for a quieter area, tell me more about it so we can see how we can help?” He offered his arm as she got up, taking it with a ragged sigh of relief, knowing if she just started talking about vampires in the middle of a crowded room it was unlikely she was going to be taken seriously.

“Thank you so much, and thank you Jason, for helping and…for listening.” She smiled softly over back to him before hurrying with Tim to cross the room.

~~~~~~~~~

“That was a lot more productive than Bruce and Vlad’s conversation.” Oracle snorted

“They're both wearing masks, as playboy and discreet mayor, feeling out what the other one wants. Sometimes wearing a mask prevents you from getting the help you need.” Jason shrugged as he watched her go. Relieved they got things on track.

As they disappeared there was the distinct shut off of lights and crashing of glass. Of course. What was a charity without a rogue invasion?

~~~~~~~~~~

Vlad snapped his head around as he’d been getting into what Bruce believed in of the occult, eyes flickering for their view of in the dark to figures smashing through the glass panes, and a gas spreading over the room. He was a little more surprised at Bruce’s reaction time, the eldest Wayne dragging Vlad to cover under a table by a pillar in the corner as screams filled the room.

“Is this so regular that it’s second nature?” He blurted out before he could think more on it.

Wayne laughed lightly, digging through his pockets a bit blindly and finding at least a thin couple masks. “Put this on, it's probably the Scarecrow. That fear gas can really screw people up, especially when they aren’t expecting it. Breathe slow and shallow as you can, and

stay

here.”
And with a race off of tailcoat, Bruce left him there, probably to go help his kids.

Well if he was conveniently given cover from the eyes of others, who was he to work against the chance given? He didn’t have time to try and play victim when every second not moving towards the cure could be a second too long and lose Maddie and Daniel both.

He quickly shifted, setting out a half dozen Plasmius clones to go over the room, summoning the one from the hotel as well, using their invisibility to get closer to the rogues, and find subtle ways to help dispatch them as a swish of black and gold made its way into the room of darkness in ease, a quiet agility to her, more than the swish of Batman's cape could provide.

Vigilante Orphan.

She promptly set to countering the attackers before they could get far. She seemed to let off an impossible amount of batarangs, disarming many of them, and the clones subtly shifted her targets to make sure they didn’t move out of the way of the hits. He noted Jasmine in the corner of the room bent with her knees to her chest, holding something over her mouth as well but she was shaking. Whatever this fear gas was had gotten into her system, and that just pissed him off. He let one of the Plasmius clones shift to the opposite side of the room as the girl, and set swiftly to striking down other rogues, especially if they got too close to Jazz.

The attackers were dealt with swiftly by the two of them, but the effects of the gas were a lasting effect, sobs and screams filling the room as visions of horror overtook their sensations. Vlad sighed as he released the clones before they could be questioned by the vigilante once they were secured, and hand firmly over his mouth and nose with the thin mask and a kerchief over the top of it, he quickly made his way to Jazz across the room once some of the lights had came back up, probably the emergency generator activating.

~~~~~~~~~~

Danny woke up in sweat, everything was hot and his vision blurry. He fumbled his way to sitting up in the bed, feeling drained and sluggish, he blinked around the room, finding himself in a very unfamiliar room, alone but a note by his bed with some sweets and an empty bowl of what probably had been soup.

Vlad and I are going to find you some help Danny. We’re in Gotham, as there’s a company that

has a cure for vampirism from a break out they had decades ago. If we can get them to sell it to

us, we can help everyone get back to normal at home. Feel better and we’ll be home

soon, okay?

-Love, Jazz

Danny sighed as he looked around the room, looking outside to the heavy gothic architecture, against the warmth of the room on the inside. It looked cool outside and he was way too warm. Leaving the needle in his arm to easily reattach it when he got back in, he carefully removed the line to the iv, looking down over himself, still in the clothes from before, though his bloodied overshirt had been removed it was only his tank top. He shifted over to the dresser, finding a pajama shirt to slide over it, to help hide the lichtenberg scar coming up his arm over his neck before he floated his way up through the ceiling onto the roof. Coughing a bit on the smog of the city, he found his way to sitting on an ac unit as he took in the cold air of the city, his eyes closed with his head back for a moment as he dispelled the heat around himself. Feeling himself slowly ease and the waves of the cool city helping him to re-regulate, he looked over the city again, the sound of sirens in the distance, possibility of a fire on the other side of his horizon, muffled through the sounds of traffic and pedestrians getting some late night shopping on the busier streets.

There was no sign of the stars above, nor the moon through the thick clouds, but it was almost a comforting blanket of cover, a promise to be obscured from the world.

He enjoyed the busy quiet in a way, and though it seemed a bit twisted, there was enough ectoplasm in the air for him to breathe in as well, help steady himself.

Unfortunately, it was only a few moments of the environment before there was a slight crunch of boots on the roof behind him and he sighed. Hotel security probably, but he couldn’t blame them for wanting to prevent jumpers or something, he just wished he had a while longer to himself before having to go inside and figure out how to tell them which room he came from.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll get back inside, sorry, the door had been cracked.” He made the flimsy excuse as he started to turn to the source of the disturbance, finding a lack of time to react before there was the thud of a thick metal against his head.

“Kid!!” A panicked voice he didn’t recognize echoed from somewhere nearby.

He registered the sound before the pain as he was smacked back against the roof in a daze, completely surprised as it wasn’t like his ghost sense had gone off, and his rogues tended to announce themselves. Not to mention why would they be in Gotham?? Did they hit him by mistake, is that why they yelled?

Before he could get his bearings, there was a second thwack and his vision went dark.

~~~~~~

It was like watching a slow motion attack in a western film or something.

Nightwing had switched patrol with Robin so he wouldn’t stare a hole through the wall of the suite room, and within an hour there was the slight movement his enhanced com picked up on with the grunts of complaint. It faintly sounding like Tim when he was headed for his coffee. Seemed the kid had finally woken up. He spotted shuffling inside as the kid went to the dresser, unhooking his iv to dress a bit…then the kid just vanished. He whipped his head around the suite bewildered where the tired kid had managed to just disappear, and he snuck his way down to the room, carefully plucking an unlocked window open to look inside, a cold in the air that didn’t match to outside, and scanned over the note before he hopped back up to the opposite roof with a grapple swing to see where he could be, looking over the streets below before he picked up on the weak cough, head snapping up to seeing Daniel curled up on a unit of the roof, looking to take in the rooftop breeze and collect himself.

More concerning though was the group of three not far from him on the roof. He stiffened when the kid seemed only a bit annoyed as they moved towards him. Was he expecting them? Perhaps the kid already had some following in Gotham? He decided to take a second to see what his affiliation was to the group of scarecrow junkies.

And that second was a mistake.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll get back inside, sorry, the door had been cracked.” He watched as the kid shifted to get up, at the same time the front of the group wound up his arm to smack the kid in the head before he even fully faced them.

“Kid!!” He yelped as he set to grappling across the divide of the streets and lunged in after them, before the kid could put together that that clearly wasn’t security, he’d gotten smacked down again, going limp.

One dragged the kid over his shoulder putting a bag on his head as the others readied themselves against Nightwing, a couple of smoke bombs and probably fear gas thrown to their feet and at him to obscure his view and bring him under as the one retreated with his catch.

“Oracle, I need cameras!” He coughed out before setting to hold his breath, and lunged through the smoke, targeting one he heard the hasty steps of, bashing for the back of his neck, then weaving as they aimed a baseball bat for his head. The two kept him busy just long enough the sound of the others running had trailed off.

“Be aware, there is a chance the kid is a meta. Soon as you got close to him your domino feed went on the fritz. Looking through the traffic cameras now to pick up on them.”

Shit. A meta kid, being corrupted by vampirism, now had fear gas coursing through him. That kid was having a real shit luck week wasn’t he?

Worse so in that they couldn’t pick up which alley they had disappeared into, where they likely had a car waiting and merged back into the street traffic. They had no idea which way the kid had gone. His only leads were the knocked out lackeys behind him. He secured them both and dragged them to the edge of the roofing as they reported the situation to B and the others, who were reporting at the same time the auction being hit by more scarecrow minions.

They sure were busy tonight.

Dick blinked before a heavy groan.

“What’s the problem, Nightwing?”

“Well, look at it a bit further back and the situation makes sense. Black hair blue eyed kid chilling at the hotel just a street down from the Wayne Charity party? They think he’s one, I bet.”

This was followed by a bit of a growl from B over the com, annoyed with everything hitting at once as he moved to secure more people away from the invading rogues.

“Orphan arriving on scene. I’ll have things covered here.” The sound of movement with the clashing of bodies and screams on the other end confirmed her position as Nightwing and Robin set out to scour for the kid, Jason getting himself out of the charity soon after to assist them, having his stash of Red Hood gear not far from them.

They spent the night calming the charity goers after injections of the antidote, and digging every inch of the city looking for Daniel. There was still no trace of him by the next dawn.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Really wanted to show off the babies I made on IMVU, hope you guys like it as much as I did! I bought all their clothes from their respective creators to still be supporting artists, and ugh just -chefs kiss- OTHER THAN YOU VLAD, WHATS WRONG WITH. YA. FACE?!
First; Jazz casual look!!

THEN GALA JAZZZ I feel like she came out peeerfeeeect!

-screaming into hands, staring through it at Vlad's face. You're a star Vlad, work with me!Vlad: -outfit serving-Me: ugh you get a pass for now. Your face aint doin' right for Vladdy DADDY vibes though. Just ignore his face.

Danny sick is kinda...heyyyy~
Danny: I'm hot and cramped, lets get fresh air.Danny: -gagging and wretching internally at sour ecto and smog- This is fine.

I worked on getting his litchenberg scars the way I wanted them, may add in layers for vivisection later as def part of his lore, but I spent so much time on his silvery scars~I love this twink.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Every time he woke up he was somewhere different, and this time Danny had a throbbing headache to go with it, so off balance he felt like throwing up, he blinked groggily against the rough fabric against his face.
“Man, the hotels downgraded, what is this, a five thread count?” He slurred as he tried to take it off, finding his hands tugged against something else just as rough, snapping him a bit more awake, head jolting a bit as he tried to look around, able to squint a…warehouse? Through the burlap sack on his head. He felt caked blood on the side of his head as well as his feet and arms bound to a surprisingly comfortable chair.
“Now who wakes up kidnapped, joking if not a Wayne kid? I’m telling you boss, he’s gotta be the newest adoptee!”
“You think he got past the paparazzi long enough to get comfortable? Don’t be an idiot, why would they all be at a charity with this kid just on his own? Brucie may be a spacey dad but pray tell, would he leave one this sickly outside the manor?”
Brucie. Wayne. Adoptee. Danny tried what he could to pick out the important bits of information as they yanked off the hood on his head, he couldn’t help the wince and hiss against the light glaring in his face. “Man, can you warn a guy before just blinding him?” He blinked to have the room evening out before staring confused at the man before him, a massive hat with a burlap underneath, a noose hanging around his neck, and a belt of syringes around his waist. “Well…looks like you tried to at least have me feel included in your fashion sense…so uh…thanks?”
He was slightly pleased with himself with the slight stifle of surprise then the narrow of the eye poking through the sack on his face at him.

“A point for manners at least… Who are you, child?” The slightly crazed voice of the man came out with a tilt at him.
“Oh shit, I should've introduced myself. I’m Danny. I’d shake your hand but uh… got my hands full?” Gotham rogues were weird apparently. Didn’t even know the name of the kid they picked up. Looking around the room his eyes caught sight of a camera on them. Probably for the ransom of whatever guy they thought they were getting.
At least it got a snicker out of the guy. “Dr. Crane, a pleasure. You seem much more lucid than expected. You needed a couple stitches in your head, and the fear gas didn’t affect you?” He moved his hand to Danny’s neck, eyeing the bandage over the opposite shoulder as he checked his pulse and counted it on his watch.
“Sleep Apnea I suppose made it so I didn’t breathe in too much. I’d uh…not lean so close though, Doc. I feel like I’m about to blow chunks.” Keep them talking, don’t pry, slowly learn what is happening, try not to look too clueless, don’t seem like you’re hiding anything. He didn’t know who the camera was sending his information to on the other side, so he had to keep as calm as he could, and not bring in their attention deeper on him than it already was.
Luckily for the Doctor, he leaned back in time as the contents of his stomach did worm its way back up Danny's system, turning his head to the side as he threw up, body curling up in pain and protest to it as he did, emptying out the contents. Looked like he was right. It was soup.
“Hm…must be some of the reaction to the gas lingering…or… a loss of your previous medication?” He felt a flick against the needle still in his arm and he gagged again.
“Oooh no no, don’t touch that I can feel it moving.” He dry heaved at the sensation through him from it, legs squirming.
“Needle shy?” Crane chuckled softly, crouching next to him, and something about that laugh made Danny’s heart sink with a bad feeling. “Lucky for you kid, my specialty is working people through their fears…let’s try some exposure therapy hm?”
“Nah you really don’t have to do that Doc- Fuck!” He yelped as he flipped one of the syringes from his waist and plunged it into Danny’s neck, sinking whatever fluid into him.
“Man what was that for?! I haven't been sassing you or anything!”
His vision blurred as he felt his voice was going through some horror house effect, and the room feeling like it was tilting to the side and getting blindingly bright, his words slurred as it came out as a darker growled rumble.

“We're here to help of course dear lad. As I find you endearing, I'll take the highest care in the recovery of your fears.” The distorted garbled voice of the Doctor sounded like it was straight out of the ghost zone and confused Danny further, trying to make sense of what he was looking at, but it was like attempting to gaze through a fogged glass shower door.~~~~~~~
Wayne or not this kid was kind of fun. He was cautious, but didn't seem scared of him either, had kept things light, and even attempted a sort of bonding without psychological analysis on him. He could appreciate a thought out costume, introduced himself when asked even without being weird about it. He did have some concern for how his new friend's heart rate was slow, even if he wasn't scared, it was far below average.
Plus what his past patients had described his scarecrow look as something to drive them mad, Danny just looked lost like he walked into the wrong meeting room or something.
While he wanted others to be punished for their fears because of how they behaved, Danny had him compelled to work through it with him. They would have so much fun getting to know each other.

The kid clearly had gone through some stuff before being kidnapped, bashed in the head, woke up by a famous rogue and immediately faced with one of his fears only got a slight outburst.

Vigilantes were too sassy. Civilians would either scream at him or cry. This one got their own category. Danny would be his friend.
He noted a flash of green over the crystal blue eyes with mild surprise. Their catch was more fun than a Wayne.
They seemed to have their hands on a meta. He spun around a chair to sit backwards on it facing him, running his hand through the dark locks with a hum.

“Danny, Danny sweet boy~ didn't you know Batman doesn't like metas in the city? Could be dangerous if the wrong guy gets a hold of you.” He cooed as he waved his hand, not needing him destroying the place while reacting, got a meta gene collar put onto his arm that was locked behind him.
Danny gasped as he strained away from the touch, even if he couldn't move far. “Not…not a meta… I'm…not a…child either.” He gasped against whatever visions he was having and fighting hard to keep his mind clear. “ ‘m twenty, man.” He shut his eyes tight as he started seeing more than the garbled images, while Dr. Crane put some heart monitors and O2 sensors on him to compare his levels with that of previous participants and figure out where his baseline was. Didn't want the kid having a heart attack after all.
“A little thin for twenty… must've been a rough childhood when you were supposed to be going through your growth spurts. Plenty of height on you but you're skin and bones like me.” He chuckled a bit. “I'll wait for the more personal questions until we're better acquainted…for now, is a slow heart rate like this usual for you?” He was surprised when this was what got the kids eyes tearing up.
“Please…I promise I'm alive. I..I feel everything…no more! I'm not faking it!” Danny's breath was hitching and shallow, digging in his heels away from him, but it was bolted to the ground, trapping him in his vision.
“So it's a long term condition…an internalized fear of being a meta for being persecuted for it? You poor dear.” He hummed as he drew his hand back when the kid was bracing for pain, curious. “You're being such a good lad. I'll let you stew for a bit and you talk when you're ready.”
He left Danny to struggle to regulate his breathing with eyes darting around the room, going to the camera footage,which went on the fritz once he’d started freaking out, and putting his face up against a number of possible heroes, anti heroes, or villains that the kid may be. He guessed a cold power due to how freezing his skin was when he put the heart rate monitor on him. Even through his thick gloves his fingers felt frosted. Thinking a bit he put the dark hair, blue eyes, glows green, and variant names for ice powers to see what may be a hit. If he could find out where the kid had been, it’d be easier to work with him through his fears after all.
And perhaps inflict some fear upon Danny's enemies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jazz had a bit of relief over her, the tension of the evening wearing off after she’d gotten her injection against the fear gas and she stopped having the visions of her little brother getting torn to shreds and his pelt becoming skulkers rug, or his skull becoming Pariah’s new goblet. She was able to talk to Tim about the severity of the problem at home, some of the security footage taken from around the manor before they had left showing the twisted faces of the residents tearing away at the doors to claw their way inside, hunting friends and family to quench their new thirsts. He promised that the Wayne’s would jump on manufacturing the vampiric cure, and they could talk later in details about the possible trade of technologies, trading vampire defense knowledge for the ghosts he’d spotted in the background.

She couldn’t be more relieved he hadn’t asked for an offense collection.
All of that relief was gone in seconds when they got back to the room…to no Danny. Only thing Vlad had found misplaced was a night shirt missing. He hadn’t taken shoes, his wallet, or even his phone. It wasn’t like Danny to just disappear like that!
Unless… someone like Skulker had tracked him through a natural portal to Gotham. Their luck couldn’t be that bad for Gotham to have a natural portal somewhere and the rogues to take it out on him that they couldn’t get through from Amity Park being sealed shut…right?
Shit. Their luck usually was just that bad. This seemed all the worse when Vlad went through Danny's bags to see if there was anything and found some audio bugs in it, who destroyed them quickly.
Now Danny could be anywhere in Gotham, Ghost Zone, or even a GIW facility.

He could turn vampiric and they wouldn’t be able to find him in time to stop him hurting others. If the two energies were compatible,there was no telling what he would turn into! And would he be compelled to follow the wishes of his parents that bit him, or whoever had bitten them? The situation was terrifyingly open ended on just how bad things could get.
Vlad was just as much a mess as she was, he sent probably close to thirty clones around the entire building, scanning down each room then spreading out to other buildings, hunting for the feel of his core, trying what he could to retrieve him, though he seemed a lot more worried about others hurting Danny than him. And..maybe he was right. Danny would do whatever he could to keep a low profile. He treasured his secret identity, and made sure he could always keep some sort of edge over his rogues with some of his power hidden.
Even if he gained some vampiric power of some sort, he would hold it back as long as he could.
Despite her worry for his identity, she did go ahead and put in a missing persons report down at the station, providing a picture of him, and made sure she drove the point home that he was extremely sick and needed to be isolated as soon as they could manage it. It wouldn’t do, sending a plague from one city to another, would it?
She went back to her room and curled up in Danny’s bed when she’d dressed down, hugging the pillows tight and prayed for his safety.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Danny could feel them spreading his chest, drawing out his organs and ignoring his screams. His mouth forced open and the tongue cut off with the force of likely garden shears.

Forced to regenerate, forced to keep himself from powering up. His mask he'd rigged to blow would go off if they tried to get to his eyes, so he was barely saved that they didn't want to completely lose their specimen.

If he did he was dead. There was no doubt.

At his regeneration, if the guards weren't taken out too, his face would eventually reform, they would know who he was, where even if he escaped they wouldn’t let him rest in life or death, always hunting him down, and there were enough of them now they could take shifts on it around the clock where he would never be able to rest.
“Please!! You don’t know anything about us! We feel everything just as much as you do! None of us deserve this! Even death row inmates are treated better than this!!” He pulled against the restraints before a course of electricity lit through his body and he let out another scream, ectoplasmic tears streaming down his cheeks as he fought everything in him to not kill them all with his Ghostly Wail.
“You’re already dead with this much ectoplasm in your system, ghost scum. There’s nothing left for you to feel. This is all just your tries of sympathy, you are completely nothing.” The Agent that cut through him shook his head with a tsk.
“If I was nothing, why the hell would I need your sympathy?! I'm human too, there’s laws against this kind of shit!” He coughed up a chunk of tissue, ectoplasm dribbling down his chest.
“Laws for humans, and separate laws for ecto-entities. You know we’re in our rights for this.” The agent laughed, reveling in his distress.

“Based off of bullshit research from some crackpots that got a lucky breakthrough! Did you guys not even finish high school? You should at least have three sources on a research before even considering it, and they barely even count as two since Madeline does all the reports!”
“Shut up you ghost scum.” He screamed out a sob again as they used the force of pliers to grip at his finger, twisting it to snap before using blunt force to rip it away from his body. “I said shut it!” His body convulsed as they poured something down his throat, likely an ecto-energy weapon discharge, choking on it and thrashing against his restraints before the room started to fade.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wow. Dr. Crane knew there were some extremists against the abilities of metas out there, but the gentle reserved kid didn’t seem like he would have been anywhere near that, until he tried to talk to him some more and he kept hearing something completely different,
fighting desperately to be seen as human, as an equal to his captors.
Likely an illegal meta market of some sort. It was well known that Batman didn’t want metas in his city, so without the promise of safety and support, who would suspect one to hide here. The kid was hurting himself at this point, flailing against the restraints and his wrists bleeding from the strain against them. Putting him out of some of his misery, he gave him a concoction of antidote and sedative. Let the kid sleep after the intensity of his trauma as he looked to the drops of liquid left in his drip line connector, he’d gotten him more saline to keep him going.
It wasn’t as simple as needles for his fear, it was the control under someone else as being experimented over and over. He had strained to keep his green eyes under wraps, likely even as someone else had held him before, was most terrified of hurting others with his abilities.
He needed to free his mind. Allow himself to be as powerful as he needed to be, no matter who stood in his way. He couldn’t wait to see the kid move with the freedom of whatever thought he liked.
Dr.Crane slid off his costume down something more comfortable to study in, sending his goons off to leave every which way and go home. He wouldn’t have time to focus on playing with anyone else for a while.

His new friend needed him after all.~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two days. Two days of frantically searching for any news of the kid, any sign of remaining scarecrow men. The two had been thoroughly interrogated, but the safehouse that they knew had been abandoned with structural damage of some massive blast that the bats didn’t have a record of a bit enough encounter of their own having taken place there. They found scrubbed spots in the concrete that seemed pretty fresh, likely removing blood stains. So if the Doctor had been there before, they weren’t there now. And their goons had disappeared to the wind.
And if the kid was truly affected by vampirism, he might have attacked the Doctor and gone free on the city, but the radio silence of his usual men in areas didn’t make sense, they should be at least searching for him, or spreading news of his death to other lackeys for the power vacuum left from him to find a new rogue to slide into place.
So what did Crane want with a vampire?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The normal cold Danny was used to had retreated into his core, his powers less accessible by the hour. A different hunger was building inside him with his features sharpening. He was slowly getting used to whatever the Doctor had been giving him.

The first time had been the worst. Following it, whatever he had observed from his reaction, he changed his approach to Danny.

He warned him before injections, and he changed the formula. He made it that purposefully he would have some control in his hallucinations, to take power against his captors, funnily enough. He encouraged the harder stance, that even killing in self defense wasn’t seen as a crime, so protecting himself should not be a problem. Weird advice from a captor, but something about his words sunk in the next time the hallucinations had taken over. The next he was subjected with his body being dipped between molten metal and ice to find the limits of his body to the torture, he had let the pain of his time out there in a hallowing scream, forcing the agents back and making the roof cave in over them and trap the awful men below the rubble to slowly suffocate without the proper fresh air.
Unfortunately for Doctor Crane, his power had crossed from the hallucination to the real world, and that first day after his capture the warehouse was shredded with the force of his voice. Once he had recovered though, able to skip around the falling rubble and come back over to him, Danny had expected disappointment, anger, annoyance. But his captor was…proud? It was an odd feeling.

He had fainted with the force of his wail with his already being under the weather, and when he woke again, he had been relocated. His ankles were no longer restrained, but his arms were secured against him in a straight jacket. He knew the guy was a Doctor, but wasn’t the touch of insane asylum a little much? Danny didn’t think he was that unhinged to need it…but there were still cameras on him. Still possibility of endless people watching him. He couldn’t slip up again. As he shifted around in it he felt the weight of the meta cuff had been removed. Likely in that Crane had realized it did nothing to stop him when the building went down.
Speaking of the Doctor, he was much more attractive without the mask. With how gaudy the look of the noose, the mask and the massive hat on him, he’d thought it more likely underneath maybe he was horrifically scarred and wanted to be seen ugly by a choice instead of some brutal accident. When he came to see him, dragging a massive beanbag for Danny and plopping it down for him, he had found a mess of brown hair hanging in waves around his head, and bright blue eyes peering at him from a pair of glasses, with plump full soft lips, with the weight of years of struggling
sunk his expression into something neutral. It felt like some sort of trust between the Doctor and himself. So perhaps he could be a bit better about the questions.
“Alright, trying again from before Danny. Your heart condition, can you tell me about it?”
Danny scrunched up his face as he let himself plop onto the beanbag, a bit awkwardly without being able to balance himself, he couldn’t find anything to fiddle with having his arms stuck, but being able to subtly hug himself tighter was a bonus. “It’s…I was working in a lab. The…lead scientists of the lab weren’t the most safety orientated..I tried to fix something that by all indicators I could see was powered down…it was…hooked up to the grid and…I got hit badly. I…died for a few minutes from the force of the shock. I’ve had a heart defect since then… I was fourteen.” It was weird, but he felt compelled to let him on it, maybe a desperation to get through it, his core screaming that for once, he was getting the protection that Crane's sweet words promised.
He could feel it from Crane studying his face that he knew he wasn’t saying everything, but he let it slide. Guess if Jazz could give Freakshow some imprisoned therapy from a circus car, he could get some from someone possibly as weird. He wasn’t bending Danny to his will, he wasn’t forcing him to really kill or rob anyone, just to have the ability to protect himself and be alright with that which…he felt was a help. He was still skittish about any hint of others coming into his zone and secrets.

“I see…are you prone to heart attacks or seizures? Did the doctors at that time diagnose you with anything that I should be aware of as we move forward?”
Danny avoided his face, looking to the side with a blush taking to his cheeks. How to put this…?
“Did you not go to the hospital after you died , Danny?”
Well that helped take the struggle away, and he laughed a bit awkwardly. “I mean I came back? My friends helped me for the next few months get back control over my motor controls as everything kind of changed after.”
“The force of the accident gave you your abilities, which is why you insist that you aren’t a meta, and while it raked your body with untold damage, you also had to hide your abilities in a dangerous environment. You didn’t have a safety net to fall back on outside of your friends to even figure out who you were now?”
Danny watched him, stunned how quickly Crane had cut through his bullshit to the heart of it, and his eyes shifted uneasily around the room, feeling like the white was closing in on him with the more direct dig into his abilities having to do with death. And again with freaky clarity, the Doctor picked up on that.
“You are safe here Danny…and as you get more comfortable through the therapy sessions, you’ll find more control over yourself as well as your opponents that don’t let you be just as you are. Then, even when you aren’t safe, you can twist it into their problem instead of your own. Aren’t you tired of fighting while worried about the next time you may be brutalized like you recalled our first session?”
He was met with a silent acceptance from Danny, and he let it weigh for a moment before Danny quietly spoke up again.
“I…I got a fear of white after I got captured…I see a labcoat…or a bright lab…or a blank room like this…I feel like my stomach is in my throat again, my brain freezes up as I remember being under the knife like it just happened all over again.” He breathed out. If he was going to be here and this guy was going to force his fears forward anyways…he better deal with it while he was contained instead of causing an accident in the middle of a real fight. He let the momentum of the confession carry him forward before he lost his nerves. “I’m terrified of being confined, of being ripped apart over and over again. Of my parents. Of my Godfather. Of failing to protect my family. Of becoming someone that the line of right and wrong is gone for me just trying to quell my own pain, going mad with drowning in my own grief. I mess up just once and it could be the death of someone. I’m terrified I’ll be abandoned, that no one can handle my problems anymore.” He found his eyes wet as he spilled his guts to someone who had only shown him a hint of consideration. Ancients, I’m pathetic to become this vulnerable with just a few kind words.
“There is nothing pathetic about seeking growth and security in something it sounds like you’ve been fighting on your own for years.” Crane spoke softly as he ran his hand through Danny’s hair again, which was quickly becoming a comfort for his being touch starved, though at least one of the fears had hardened the doctor's eyes. Was he angry for him?
“Shit I didn’t know I said the last part out loud.” He burned with embarrassment, even as he didn’t move away.
“I’m glad you did, Danny. It’s important to be honest to overcome one’s fears. We’ll have you eat, then we’ll start your next session. Do you have any dietary restrictions?”
Praising sharing with a food reward. Danny felt like a puppy in training. But before he could protest the method, the sound of his stomach growling filled the room and sent his face an even deeper shade of red.
“U- um…long as it doesn’t bite me back? Anything should be fine.” He half joked trying to distract him from just how loud that had been. He hoped that was just in his own ears.
The quirk of his brow pointed to his hopes being crushed before he smiled a bit amused and got up. “Very well, I’ll be back.” He gave Danny a light fluff of the hair before he left the room, a pause at the outside of the door in consideration of something, before he flicked on some purple and red lights in place of the stark white that had made the room blinding with them inside of it.

Danny’s heart skipped a beat at that. He listened to every word Danny gave him, and was considerate to not put him through unnecessary stress between the tests. As the door closed, locking behind the man, he found himself in quiet consideration of the weird adventure he’d been on over the last few days. How long had he even been here? Wasn’t he kidnapped because they thought he was Wayne? Why was he still interested in him?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Audio Log 3 Second Day of Trials

A mixed concoction for the last batch was the correct way to go. Mixture of a half strength fear toxin, a small amount of sodium thiopental and the simple power of suggestion was a good balance, and his oxygen levels stayed unimpaired from the chance side effects of the main components. While in control of his behaviors within the vision, his impulsive control went down, thinking less of the consequences to opening up has made many points to improve upon the lesson plan for upcoming days.

In noting of his hesitance, the fear of white seems to be one of the strongest contenders, likely linked to the ‘agents’ mentioned while confined in his previous hallucination. Are they a group like the one Waller formed, twisting the gifted under her control as her hunting dogs? Is that what Danny was able to escape? And if he was so scared of using his powers to defend himself…how did he escape the agents?

Of second note, in a subconscious attempt to downplay their involvement to his torture, in the middle of his confession and building trust in me was the presence of his parents. Uncomfortably close to the fear of being ripped apart. Was he in the middle of an anti-meta cult? Was he bred for his powers to be siphoned off?

There is so much to explore with my new friend. While my approach to most even of his age would be brutal to implant new fears and break their minds, this kind boy seems to have already shattered many times over…perhaps it is time to train someone how to gather their broken pieces.

Patient is driven for acceptance, approval, and it appears effective to use physical contact, words of encouragement, and food. Likely little support from parental figures even before the accident that gave him meta-like abilities. Note of having his food right in the past, did he have to hunt and has a fear of hurting animals as well, or is it something more akin to his food more literally attacking him while on his plate?

Fear of being too late. Allegrophobia. Points to likelihood of being a hero, vigilante, or a high chance of anti-hero having had to work against possibly governmental sectors to have the right to keep his innards where they belong.

Fear of his own possible degeneration into madness. Dementophobia.
Possibly has had it driven into him over time that he’s losing touch, that he goes too far and needs to keep himself in his neat little box for the safety of everyone else. My my this one…you are perfect for Gotham, dear Danny. If you lose yourself, I will help you find yourself again. Or be lost in our madness together. Is someone truly a friend if they aren’t willing to dance to the chaos with you?

Fear of abandonment, being alone. May well be a mix of Autophobia and Athazagoraphobia. This raises the issue of his support group being even smaller than previously. He cannot truly trust them to stay by his side. They may have been there for his recovery after an accident, but the foundation of the friendship is likely shaky.

He may even be playing hero for the approval of these friends of his, worried again, that if he doesn’t stay compartmentalized, that he will be thrown to the side. This mental strain of constantly keeping your more negative thoughts to yourself with fear of confrontation and abandonment, this creates a thicker mess, and leads to higher likelihood of snapping, like a cord winded too tightly.

How lovely you would be, with your fears broken away, who are you underneath the traumas you have faced? For the semblance of humanity you granted me, I shall in return gift you yours. For the treasure of telling me all your fears, to learn of these effects and the limits of my formulas of someone on your unique capabilities, I will free you of these shackles. Every groove of your mind will be trusted to me, my dear Danny.

~~~~~~~~
The embarrassment was something on another level needing to be hand fed from the Doctor. He knew Danny wasn’t actually a mental patient right? Was his first breakdown that bad? Oddly though it was a sense of being spoiled and doted on, with the care and patience provided by the man he’d first heard being much less understanding to his goons.
He waited until he was between bites, swallowing quickly before he got the next slice of beef done cutting. “So…can I ask why your guys were trying to kidnap Wayne?”
“I’m surprised you retained that, you were so drowsy at the time.” Crane chuckled as he offered up another bite. “Seems my men thought my coffers were a little shallow and could use a ransom. They’re lucky you weren’t a child of Bruce Wayne really. I haven’t the time to deal with the squad of bats and birds that come barging in when they are involved. It just builds costs of medical expenses, doesn’t really help anyone trying to take advantage of that lot. If I want a problem with the local vigilantes I’ll confront them directly.”
Neat, so he messed with people to get to the ones that could do something about it directly. That sounded kind of like the rogues back home. If Ember wanted to play with him for a bit, she’d ensnare a good portion of the town to rock it out with her, and he’d go beat the shit out of her for it. She knew it was coming, that was their dynamic. Actually…that was the dynamic for almost all his rogues now. Made sense that if that was a typical behavior for the villains in life to have it follow them into the afterlife.
“Makes sense enough.” He chewed in thought, finding himself extremely hungry and more inclined to the meats than the vegetables today, but he made no complaint to finish it all. He felt a bit of a burn with the touch of garlic in the green beans and that made his eyes widen with the thought. The shift in his position was enough to draw his eye again as Danny flopped his head back into the beanbag.
“You look like you just had a worry strike your mind… if it’s a fear you know I’m more than willing to work on it with you.” The doctor offered, almost a bit exasperated that he had to tell Danny to speak up.
“Well…the uh…reason we came to Gotham? I got…infected with something and the only place that seems to have had interaction and cured it quickly was here in the city. I don’t know how long it will be before things get weirder.”
“A…meta sickness? Or is it something contagious that I should have been aware of before this?” He looked between them at the close distance he had been keeping with Danny, probably regretting not having his gasmask on.
“Neither! It’s only contagious if I bite you I think. I didn’t bite you in my last couple therapy trips with you did I?”
he stiffened looking over at the Doctor in concern.
Dr. Crane stayed still for a moment, staring at him, before he pulled down the collar of Danny’s jacket, yoinking it out of the way for where he’d seen the bandages layered underneath, as fresh as they seemed before
he was going to wait until the next knockout to change the dressing for him anyways. He stared at it again at the horribly bruised area, crushed collarbone likely underneath, and the tear of flesh from getting a chunk torn off of him at removal.

“Daniel.” The statement of his full name was a lecture, a question, bewilderment all in one, almost demanding he explain and he flinched at it a bit.
“Everything else was hurting earlier so I forgot about it! When your nerves are on fire remembering being vivisected you don’t think about the mark on your neck! And before that I was in and out of it for who knows how long!” He protested, flying to defend himself.
“And. Pray tell. Why would this compel you to bite me as you have been?” His face had fallen into something more stern, refocusing him on the issue of the bite itself.
“U-uh… because… I ‘vould vant to suck your blood’?” He offered with an awkward laugh, sinking more into the jacket like he was trying to disappear. That earned him another moment of silence before a smack in the arm. “Ow! Hey rude!”
“I can’t deal with another round of vampire joker!! Three times as fast, twice as annoying!” He let out a controlled sigh, recentering himself.
Danny was surprised how cool he took him turning into a vampire. It was kind of like Sam. He missed her. Was she a vampire yet? Oh she would hate that for how long she was an ultra recyclo vegetarian. Wouldn’t bother Tucker too much.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watching how quickly Danny got distracted again by his own mind, going thoughtful, to finding something funny, to grossing out, helped to calm Crane back down.

Danny had many years of many fears, he had experience hiding his injuries from those he loved so that he wouldn’t be targeted by those that were supposed to protect him. If it happens enough, trying not to talk about something, not to think about it, eventually those things may stay in the background as things of little concern if it was something that he couldn’t improve immediately anyways.

Now though? They had to get this handled immediately. It didn’t sound like Danny was losing control anytime soon, but he’d already had him a couple days and who knew how long the trip to Gotham had been before then.
“Danny, who bit you?”
He watched the kids face fall from his attempt of playing things calmly, hesitating a moment. “My… dad. It was a team effort from both parents. Mom made me drink hers while he had his teeth sunk into my skin. My godfather is the one that got them off and got me out of there. Before we got the flight here once our research was ready, the town was getting overrun and we had to put up a force shield to hold them in until we could find a solution. I... I’m sure that the townspeople are okay. They’re used to weird things happening, and Vlad got them supplies to hold out longer.”

Danny prattled as he curled up more in on himself, looking impossibly small despite his tall stature. He was used to making himself as unnoticable as possible. Seemed before the vampirism the kid had been subject to attacks from his parents.
He sighed as he pulled out his phone, slipping up to give orders to one of his faster teams to get a hold of the cure. “I don’t know how much Wayne Enterprise is going to have on hand, but if they have the cure on hand, my guys will get a hold of it.”
Again a look of confusion came over his face, pure bewilderment that someone would be willing to do anything for him. Holy shit this kid needed several shots of confidence.
“I…don’t know what to say…other than…thank you.” He smiled softly up to Crane, more adoration meeting his eyes.
This kid was making it way too easy to reign him in. Thank Lady Gotham someone like the Joker hadn’t found him first. Red Robin getting twisted into JJ was bad enough. Get him a meta who already was cool with being kidnapped by the second day? Gotham would be screwed.The fear of the city would have been delicious, but would be a hard fight getting back in control of his own sectors.
He gently urged him into eating more, now knowing he was going vampire he avoided making him something with garlic and cooked the meat a bit less to satisfy the growing wild side before it would get out of hand hopefully.
It didn’t seem that Danny was used to rare foods either, grimacing slightly from the red juices dripping back onto the plate, perhaps in remembering his apparent dissection from before. Despite it, once the tint of blood though somewhat cooked reached his mouth, he leaned in with a flash of red to his eyes in desperation for the next bite as he took it down quickly.
The study of one's diet being forced for an unfamiliar hunger was worth the study as well. He feared so much of himself, could he fight the new hunger as well? He was almost able to see how these thoughts passed Danny’s eyes too, hugging tighter to himself in the straight jacket, suddenly glad for something holding him back from being a threat.
“You have such an internalized fear of yourself, everything adds to it doesn’t it?” He mused as he fed him, sitting close to let him know that as Danny hadn’t been afraid of him, neither was he of the string pole.
Danny was getting a sense for what direction his questions were leading to, and with the bit of the truth serum in him as well as the slow release of affection he had been feeding him, likely mixed with his exhaustion, it didn’t seem like Danny wanted to resist the prying or play games with it.
“Yeah… the first few years, new powers from my accident steadily took over my everyday life, and I had to reign it in…it helped to have troublemakers that were naturally drawn to the power…I guess kind of like how those of Gotham naturally find those that find it fun to go against the Bats and Birds? Being able to be matched in my abilities to drive them back helped a lot... but…” He swallowed, brow furrowed. “I was…introduced to a couple situations where I became corrupted. One was a magic mind control that almost killed my best friend. The other…a…hero? I’m not sure how else to describe him, showed me a version of myself that had lost everyone… and made it everyone’s problem, that they failed me or something. Like, I know they were me, but the idea of making everyone else suffer for something none of them were at fault for? It felt…surreal… but I saw a lot of the effects of what I’d done from what they shared with me… I was horrible.” Dr. Crane helped him talk through it, finding that the hair brushing seemed the most familiar for him to zone out with. From the amount of times a dazed Flash had zipped his way into the city from some cataclysmic event or other, it seemed heroes might often need guidance from the future to avoid their path to becoming people like Dr. Crane.
They weren’t working to remove the boy from him now though, so there was a possibility, funnily enough, that he was the healthier option for them in this situation.

“Ah shit, another fear, I hate clowns so much after that brainwashing bullshit.” His face curled in distaste just by the memory of him.
Well, another point to keeping him away from the Joker. Although…that’d be some perfect exposure therapy when he really thought about it. A new man with his fears below him, and the sound of the clown prince's head popping his head under his heel.
Danny would look quite dashing that way, and he was sure all of Gotham would agree. He hummed at the thought as he fed him until the sleepiness seemed to be taking over him, and Crane smiled a bit.
“Shall we try one more round of facing your fears, and then you turn in for a while?” He’d actually gotten Danny sleeping a lot more while he stayed busy. Not that it made a difference with his energy being stolen away again from the sessions and his body being eaten by the vsampirism. Having the room with no view of the outside and him dependent on Crane for his interactions and sense of time let him make him sleep about whenever he wished, which was probably a bonus for the kid from the depth of the bags under his eyes.
He was hesitant to jump back into it, but seemed to hate his own fears enough to squash down the unease. “Which…do you think I should focus on first?”
Yes, just like this, he would guide him through his fears. He could do so much more when the subject trusted him.

“The most debilitating ones for you seem to be of the color white, and being restricted…you seem to be alright with the jacket which is good for between, but I believe for the exercise we should practice it to a position you are more prone to freak out in, as it were. To face the likeness of the horror of what was before, closely to feel its full effect, the room bleached white, until you can remember that you were stronger than them, and it was by your own strength of character you didn’t tear them limb from limb the way you can. That if you choose it… they can never hurt you again. Once you are ready for them to take you seriously and regret ever crossing you.”
Danny’s brow furrowed as he thought hard on it, seeming to understand just how much that was true, and despite how overwhelming it was…that was exactly why he had to deal with it. “I...alright… got something in place this time to make sure I don’t blow the place out with my incredible singing?”
Dr. Crane chuckled but nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure no harm comes to the real world while you go through this this time. You’ll be snug as a bug out here.”
Again that heart wrenching trust from the midwestern kid as he laid down, breathing picking up in anticipation of the visions as Crane unhooked the belts of the straps from around him. “What position were you trapped in the most?”

He gnawed at the inside of his cheek, hesitating as the sticky heart monitor on his chest alerted him to the rise in it, instead of offering his words, he slipped into position of it, his arms going out to the sides straight out, his eyes misted over like even without fear toxin in his system he could feel himself being back in that room. A part of him found it tragically beautiful.
“I know you’re getting overwhelmed, but you’re doing fantastic alright? It’s when we reach these points that we can overcome, especially with some guidance.” He kept his tone soft as he shifted around the side of him, pulling the belt of the sleeve taunt, and locking it into place from a hook ring in the side, getting the nod from him about it before he handled the other side as well.
“What else did they do?” He stroked his hair to help ease his panic until the right time.
“M-my legs…there's no way they would have allowed me the freedom… knees and…my ankles. They...stayed together. Tightly” he could see
the stress rolling off of Danny in waves, but with his hate of the trauma was a desperation to overcome it, to not be frozen in place at the sight of a doctor's office, a needle, or white.
Dr. Crane felt a stir of his scarecrow slip in as he felt him tremble under his hands, securing extras of the jacket straps around his knees then his ankles as Danny's chest heaved a bit. He could indulge himself a bit with the fun. After all, he had skipped on a number of possible test rats, and Danny was so very willing. He hadn't got someone to play with in a while. The uppercrusts at the gala had been a bust other than a few screams to carry him over, but the attempts at not falling apart, Danny’s threads of sanity slowly ripping, now made Scarecrow want to get him to scream and beg again, and then be the one to help him pick up the pieces.

In time. Just a little more patience and he would cry out as much as he wanted to. And more lovely he had given permission, given control over himself to the good doctor.
“You're doing great…we're going to do the injections now alright?” He practically purred it out as he shifted to the spot he'd modified into the jacket for an area of the upper arm to be exposed, and he waited for Danny's nod and the deep breath of expectancy before plunging the needle in him once again.
As soon as his eyes misted over, he set to his promise of controlling the scream. He wheeled over the oxygen tank to keep him going, and hummed retrieving part of his rogue worker uniform. He slipped the noose around Danny's neck, and slid it tight into place, pressing for him to gasp shallow breaths and thrash against his restraints as he secured the oxygen mask around his head. Sure it changed the sound of the screams, but it was different to when he used duct tape. The deep gasping, the strain against unknown forces digging below his skin, the force of being cut open again and again, the hope leaving his eyes.

Scarecrow’s hunger was clawing at his mind now, adoring the sight the two had made together, and he surged forward to picture everything that had happened to him with the most clarity. His arms secured with straps at the shoulders keeping his arms locked into the restraints, he unzipped the front,
shifting it to the sides, and a euphoric high shifted over his mind to how Danny thrashed. Popping the buttons away from the nightshirt, he left it to slide open too, and ran a scalpel down the cloth of his undershirt, loudly ripping it away from his body to fall aside. He didn't let it cut the surface of his skin, but the glimpse of the tool, the way he screamed in pain and despair, he was feeling it anyways through the memory.

The marks on the kid were incredible. He'd expect this amount of scarring on the bats or birds, fireblasts, slashes, gunshots scattered over his skin. But this little unknown hero had been through it all, seeming without near the support the batman had. He wondered if in his younger days Batman was like this, hurt saving anyone he could and desperately holding it together, alone before the first of the Robins saved his sanity. The dance of lightning across his chest and up his neck with his scar from the accident caught his eye, and the raised skin over his chest,
from each shoulder to the center of his chest then down his stomach. They really had dissected the kid alive. He drew back to watch his handiwork of the position with Danny's screams and sobs, thrashing against the restraints, his face flushed and his eyes rolled back as he tried to get away from the phantom touches, green tinted tears streamed down his face.

He waited a while in it, staring like it was the most intense opera performance, before he started to hum, leaned on his hand watching his face. “Remember Danny… they can only hurt you as much as you allow… you're in charge of them…their lives are in your hand. And they can only push so far before you push back…isn't this enough? Aren't you tired of letting them underestimate you?”

A part of Danny quieted long enough to hear him, straining to cling to that pearl of discovery, in not being alone,
to be supported taking back control over his miserable life. At this the lucid dreaming part of the interaction started, and as what he saw didn't match up with what he felt, the interactions unmelded. He gave it a moment
before stepping closer again and carefully loosening the noose that had been choking him, slipping it away as well as the oxygen to sit next to him.
“What do you want to happen, Danny?”
His eyes were unfocused, hands and face twitching to the movements in the vision.

“I want my friends and I to be seen for what we are… to stop being hurt just because they don't understand…”
“You know what is the best teacher for them to understand?” He hummed as he brushed through Danny's hair. Perhaps he enjoyed the touch too.
“Exposure… the more you interact the less you have to fear…?”
Danny was too cute with that answer. He had such an innocent mind. But he was going to get destroyed over and over by it. Better to get rid of that now.
“Fear is the best teacher.
They're happy to squish you underfoot with a sick feeling of power, because they think you can do nothing to stop them… you're their warm up for another threat. But when they see that you have been holding back all this time for your love of others, your fear of losing yourself… could they realize how flawed their logic is? Let go.” He whispered the last bit gently to his ear. “It's not the world that suffers if you take down a corrupt system. You protect the innocent, yes? Your friends, those that could become yours and their friends if not being torn apart piece by piece…so let them realize how much more they have to fear you, that they created their own monster, and can’t stop it.” He let his words coil to Danny's susceptible mind, remodeling and releasing him from his chains of being a good person to be able to do what he needed.
A shiver of delight went through the doctor as he left a bit more of the state he'd been holding back from using his powers in front of the Doctor. His eyes glowed again and his hair started to float around his face, the crackle of ice forming a shell on the beanbag and spreading over the floor, but not moving otherwise. Seems he was using the ability in the dream strong enough to let a cross over reach, much less violent than the scream before at least. But he was releasing himself from the confines of his own morals, expanding to do what he needed to.

Dr. Crane smiled in his approval, giving him the sedative after letting him stew in the sweeter vengeance for a while so after it wore off he could sleep again, as he lowered the lights, then went to check on his goons for their progress getting the cure.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Batman watched from the roofs, they had dug through every warehouse, safehouse, anything that they could find on Scarecrow where he must be holed up, but other than his fear toxins storage, that they happily seized to prevent some future plague of fear gas upon the common populace, there was no inkling where he had gone. A kid fighting through vampirism was missing somewhere in the city, and it seemed that even whatever his guard dog was couldn’t find him. The same one that had popped up briefly to help Orphan at the gala and just

vanished

. The bits that could be recalled, he had come up when attackers got too close to the other Fenton in attendance.

He moved so fast, at first they seemed a trick of the light, there being reports of bright white and red moving at the edges of vision, with some sort of green scanners in the nooks of alleys and
around the corners of old governmental buildings.

That was until Batman had managed to spot the culprit of concern with an eerie grace over the roofs, different from their own style or the league, which seemed a sort of flight. He might have been more leaning towards meta if it wasn’t their flair of the dramatics clearly indicating the vampiric origins. A stark white suit with a v dip from his neck as pronounced as his hairline. His hair curled up into a pair of nearly horns, a cape bright as fresh blood on the inside staying close to him and the same shade of red for his eyes to match upon his gravely pale features.

Perhaps the maker had followed the kid here, and needed to do more to complete the transformation. Had he gone to the gala to lay claim over the other members of Danny’s family?

At least they didn’t seem prone to attacking others on their search. Unlike Dracula who had torn through the masses to quench his bloodthirst, of the homes he had retreated from, no one was the wiser, and no bites were found. It was possible perhaps that this vampire could not complete another minion until he had established the first? Perhaps Scarecrow was accidentally doing Gotham a favor having the kid hidden away.

It didn’t sit right though in what the kid could be facing in the meantime. He had sent a flight with Red Robin to the next city over to Amity Park to take a look at the situation as soon as they had confirmed the worries of Jazz and Vlad. The footage sent back in his many pictures and videos from a far off vantage painted a horrifying picture.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A green red swirl of a dome held in its inhabitants. Hundreds of the vampiric turned abominations were running the streets, bashing at homes that were locked down in the night, trying to force their way in to convert or drain the remaining residents. Taking their attacks during the night at least gave some reprieve for the residents in the bright daylight that was given to the rural town.

There seemed at least two who took to the attack during the day, one in a form fitting suit, and the other with a dark cloak over their frame and a wide brimmed hat, keeping them fully covered from the sun, one or both of them could easily be vampires at this point, but they seemed to have more control over themselves in order to protect others.

Red Robin had tracked the two for a while, getting a feel for the dynamic and their danger rating to the rest of the townsfolk.

At night there was a different hunter who seemed much too eager for the experience, but also had been able to shrug off multiple attackers trying to rip their teeth into his form. Was he in a metal suit with fire coming out of his head? Was that safe? Maybe he was like Firestorm. He detained at least seven of the creatures in the evening, and was extra excited the harder the hunt was. Probably why he did it at night where they could maneuver better without the restraints of having to keep to the shadows.

They were doing supply runs, busting holes into the new lairs of the turned lesser vampires, forcing them to keep further from windows and protect the safe houses of those remaining. The biggest safe houses seemed to be the school and town hall.

It was impressive the odd dynamic he was able to spot in the town. Into the third morning of Red Robin’s watch of the situation, he noticed a delivery truck had managed to be sent, and while he freaked for a moment on if the new driver would be compromised, and went down to speak to the man, he was just shrugging with indifference.

“Something weird is always going on in Amity Park. When the shield is up like this, we just back up the delivery inside the shield and let the residents inside access them while I stay safely on the other side.” The delivery driver seemed more confused that he was talking to Red Robin way out here than he was about what was going on inside.

“How often is there a shield like this to begin with?” To see how the man would proceed and let him stay on his schedule he’d hopped into the cab of the truck with him into the passenger seat, watching as he finished the drive to the town, and took a spot that seemed designated at this point for turnarounds right outside of the portal shield, and backing it up into place, he was confused why the truck was able to pass through a shield in the first place. And why in the world did a little town in the middle of nowhere have such complicated technologies?

“Every couple months or so. Usually it's just the ghost green though. The red is new. Ghost attacks are a menace to the area. Whatever happened in this last attack must have taken Phantom down from the count if things are this tore up.”

“Phantom, the guy in white and black right? Is he a ghost too?” RR started to take down the notes of their interaction while the truck was backed into spot, hopping out with the guy as he walked up to the shield, and checked over the clipboard with him to make sure everything was in order before giving it a light toss through the shield to land on the grass to the opposite side. The figure in all black and an older woman who floated alongside her made their way up to the shield.

“Yeah that’s the guy. Good kid, been at it for years. Hi Lunch Lady, Miss Mason.”

Shifting gloved hands up to tilt her hat back a bit, ‘Mason’ showed off purple eyes and dark hair framing her face. “Hey Oscar, how the hell did you drag boy wonder down here?”

The driver put his hands up like he had no clue. “Guy intercepted my delivery to see what was happening. I don’t know the guy.”

Tim cringed a bit at the name. “Woah hey, boy wonder was the first Robin. I’m Red Robin, miss. We had someone come to Gotham and report on the situation here looking for help, and I came to check on the state of things so we can make a game plan. Any casualties? I don’t see any bodies out here…”

She crossed her arms under the cloak, taking a wide stance. “Hell, after all these years the league not hearing our need for help, someone finally gets a clue? At least it’s Gotham.” She grinned widely at that, eyes almost sparkling. That wasn’t the usual reaction. People heard Gotham and they cringed away from the chaos the city faced.

“Any…particular reason you’re glad it’s us?”

“Batman is one of the most supportive members, trying to get his rogues help, like phantom does, and not to mention the architecture and fashion.” She grinned more, showing her fangs poking out from under.

“So, the look isn’t just for the vampire effects? How are you so comfortable with this?”

“Red I’ve been sporting the goth look probably as long as you’ve been Robin. Just came in conveniently.” Before he could ask his next question she seemed to have a read for it. “And yeah I got bit. It’s painful but it seems as long as you put off eating you can keep your mind clear. At least for me. I was already a vegetarian, so there’s no way I’m biting anyone. Helping skulker put away the more dangerous passionate members of the new coven of the undead is the best I can do for now. So…who got out and got help?” It seemed a double question, as if testing what he really knew. Lunch Lady was busy floating all the food out of the truck and comparing it to the notes on if it was all there.

“A group of three, one infected, came to get cured and negotiate the cure to be mass produced and sent here. Vlad Masters with Jasmine and Daniel Fenton. Fenton went missing though before we could get the cure to him. We’re still searching.” He offered with a frown, brow furrowing under the mask.

She tensed at this with her eyes wide. “Shit, Danny’s missing in Gotham? I swear he has the worst luck! He is not living this down.” She rubbed her head, wincing a bit of the sun grazed her cheek, quickly getting the veil of her hat back into place.

At this Red Robin got into his utility pouch, and retrieved a bundle of vials, offering it out he tested the shield, letting his hand pass through it holding them. “They were right to come to Gotham though…we had to deal with a vampire invasion once before. Take these and hopefully you know best who to give them to to help you wrangle the others. Just have to drink it. Wayne Enterprise is still making enough to send a larger order, I’ll let them know about the delivery method through the shield. Have the unbitten been able to escape?”

She took it, debating a moment before holding off on drinking one herself. She probably needed the speed to get down the other ones before accepting the cure herself. “Unfortunately the shield is holding vampires and liminals alike. Amity Park is rich in ectoplasm and it has steadily made changes in almost everyone here. It’s kind of like being radioactive? But it doesn’t really hurt you, just sharpens your senses a bit. Unfortunately the shields were not calibrated to let out ecto-contaminated, but everything ectoplasmic. Long as the shield is stuck up, residents and vampires alike are trapped inside, and any ghosts. I used to think it would be really cool to meet Dracula you know, now I have to stay away from him as much as possible so that he doesn't do the freaky red eyes on me and make me attack the rest of those in the safe zones.” She sounded thoroughly disappointed at meeting her…idol? Gothic icon?

“Wait so it’s actually him? Batman burned him to a crisp over a decade ago though!”

“And Van Helsing drove a stake through his heart centuries before that. Guy has a reputation for finding his way back. I don’t know why or how, but Dr. Alucard was anything but subtle once he got to work taking over the town.”

He was even still going for the cheesy backwards name as before. Maybe he was incapable of learning from his past mistakes? Or found mortals too foolish to catch on.

Mason signed off on the clipboard once the lunch lady confirmed it was all there and flew off with the supplies, splitting it off into two to deliver to the school and the city hall.

“Well, I hope Batman can do it again, get rid of the guy, and perhaps we can find a way to make it a bit more forever? I’ll talk to the ghosts for some more ideas on containing any remains that survive of him after getting fried like zucchini. When you find Danny… remember he can be a little feisty anyways without vampirism, but he really doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He’s a good guy. I hope Vlad and Jazz get him back soon.” Before he could formulate anything else, she took off in massive leaps back across the town, the cloak billowing around her as she raced off with the vials, likely taking advantage of the daylight now to go find her corrupted allies she could fix up before they woke up to hunt again.

~~~~~~~

Batman watched over the footage from him, the camera a bit blurry around the lunch lady, but something about the shield on it seemed to negate a bit of the effects.

Amity Park had been dealing with the ghosts for years in a way they hadn’t known about until now, where everyone was quite casual with their bodies being changed by this ectoplasm if Samantha Mason was one to judge based off of. They were used to lock downs, at least every few months, and the news articles they managed to get into showed it could have been six years of having these issues. A ghost had to step in to work against his own kind to protect people, one that went missing with the vampires, so likely had to self isolate after getting compromised. If the power of telekinesis from the lunch lady and casual floating were anything to compare against the few articles they could find of Phantom he had defeated much larger enemies. If ghosts could get sick with the vampire virus they may be facing an even larger problem. And there was the issue of their twisting biology possibly not being compatible with the cure in the first place.

Danny, being infected, would be the ideal candidate to research on to see how his body reacted, but that wasn’t an option at present. He was left with getting blood samples from Jasmine Fenton, Vlad Masters, and the vampiric entity that was searching for the boy. Perhaps that’s why he glowed, he was an infected ghost.

Now to give a visit to the two he could find and hope they cooperated.

He dressed, and headed down for the hotel that Vlad and Jasmine had been residing in, going business casual to not look too stuffy or formal, knowing they were probably pretty stressed and worried more that Danny was gone, where something more stiff may give the wrong message of a body being recovered instead.

Knocking on the door he was greeted by a very frazzled redhead, hair up in a top knot, the news on in the background, he didn’t know how he had missed how vibrantly blue her eyes were before, but it made sense if it was a mutating ability from their hometown.

“Mr. Wayne! Please come in. Vlad is currently working on a presentation of the technology he can offer…coffee?” She didn’t seem to know where to focus his attention, or if she was talking too fast, she dusted her hands to her sides in a slight shake.

“Coffee sounds great, Miss Fenton, and please, just Bruce is fine.” He stepped in as she moved aside, and she pulled out a seat for him at the counter to the kitchen as she hurried to the pot that was half empty. Pouring him a cup she set it on a tray with sugar and cream, not knowing how he liked it or if she would get the mixture right, and she leaned on the other side of the counter.

“Then call me Jazz.” She smiled faintly, shifting the knotted headband out of her hair and fixing her hair back more neatly into a ponytail out of the way and a bit more presentable. “How can I help you this evening?”

“Of course.” He delicately doctored his coffee with a bit of both, looking to her as he turned it in his hand. “With the sensitive nature of the problem at hand, we at Wayne Enterprise reached out to Batman since he was the last one to fight a vampire, while we were just able to make the cures. It’s a problem of isolating the victims to get them the treatment they need without others getting hurt in the crossfire. He sent a scout down to view Amity Park and the situation, and we understand there may be some complications with the cure if we are not careful.” He spoke delicately, brow furrowed.

“Complications? Because of the ghosts? I swear, they shouldn’t give you any trouble, they stay in Amity and really only give us any difficulty, there’s no reason they should come to Gotham.” She sat up, hands folding to steady herself.

“It isn’t the ghosts themselves that we are worried about…but the ectoplasm they feed off of, and that we have the understanding has been slowly mutating the common population to be able to adapt to the environment? The scout said the term ‘liminal’ was used. Could you tell me more about that?”

Her face went pained, with a groan and thumping her head to the counter. “I should have taken that into consideration and told you about that earlier, yeah… as the term suggests, our bodies stay in a state of adaptation to how quickly the ectoplasm can fluctuate from normal levels to the environment being saturated with it. Kind of like amphibians? We somewhat adjust to being able to handle the load of the stuff on us. What do you need to see if the cure will work?”

She had a quick understanding of the situations, and looked for solutions as quickly as possible, terrified for her brother and those back home. He had a feeling with the environment of Amity Park, like Gotham, the kids had to mature much too fast.

“It would greatly speed up the process if we could get a hold of a sample of the ectoplasm to see if it has an adverse reaction to the solution, as well as blood samples if you would be willing to. Any data we can get on this will be of assistance.”

She was slightly hesitant, but it didn’t last more than a moment before she went digging through her bags. Then it was his turn to be surprised when she pulled out a vial of viscous Lazerus Water. She put it on the counter, sliding it over to him.

“This is pure ectoplasm. To a ghost this is a healing boost or energy shot. Keep it away from organic material. Had way too many days of cross contamination where the food came back to life to try and get a bite out of us first.”

He had to resist with every fiber of his being to not interrogate her on why she just

had that on hand

. He had to just be grateful that she did, since the material with the shield up wouldn’t be able to leave Amity at current.

“Where should I go to get the blood drawn for it? I don’t know if Vlad will do it, but whatever I can do to help make sure the cure is safe for my brother the better.” She took out a notepad from the stacks of papers they’d been researching the vampires from, getting ready to take down the address.

“If it’d be alright with you, I do have a CPT that I could take your blood now.” Almost sheepishly, he reached into the laptop bag he was using for the gear, taking out the equipment. She seemed to be relieved that he didn’t want to waste any time at all. She wasted no time signing over the waiver and putting out her arm for him, seeming deep in thought on something as he prepped the arm and got the samples needed. “Do you have any other information for this case that may affect things?” She seemed to have been almost ready for this question or hoping for it, and she chewed over her words carefully.

“I would try to…keep things low on the radar as you put in the study of ectoplasm to your work with the company. There are laws called the ‘Anti Ecto Acts’ and if they get a whiff of Wayne Enterprise coming in on what they’ve marked their territory on, they may try to raid your building.”

He tilted his head a bit as he took the blood samples, getting a couple of the vials. “Anti Ecto Acts.” He started to leave it open for her to elaborate.

“Says that…well anything or anyone that has ectoplasm in their system is non sentient and is required to
be handed over to a branch of the government called the Ghost Investigation Ward, or as Amity calls them the Guys in White. While living in the area our ectoplasmic readings are low enough that they don’t set off their equipment and we stay very hush on it…but anyone mutates just a little too much, or they get their hands on a ghost… they’re legally allowed to do whatever they want to to them…”

“If that isn’t against the meta protection act I don’t know what is.” He frowned as he put the equipment away, giving her a lil Superman band-aid.

“Ectoplasm, not a meta gene. And… the readings are a little stronger in Danny than they are in me, so finding the cure for him may put him at higher risk.”

“Fortunately for those apparently ‘ectocentric’, the Meta Act goes to protect humanoids, not just the specific meta gene. Otherwise it would be much harder to put the blanket of its terms over guys like Superman, those exposed to radiation, lab accidents, mutagens, list goes on and on.” He smiled lightly. “I will make sure to handle the data involved in this process with the greatest delicacy, and look into these acts okay? I’m sure if we pass this information over to those like the Justice League they will find their consideration of a whole town to be liable for experimentation just

because

very vexing. You won’t be alone with the stress of these guys alright?” He smiled gently to her, and while she still didn’t seem eased, it was enough encouragement to carry her through for now. If she knew how Bruce Wayne was a sponsor for the Justice League, then she would realize how much he could really do with that, even without knowing he was Batman. He got her blood sample, and though Vlad did have some distaste for doing so, it seemed he had heard some of their conversation and was more willing to hand it over as well. Bruce noticed how as Jazz’s blood had a faint glow to her blood, his blood had additional Lazerus swirled flecks to it. It was a limited base to work with, but it would have to do for now, and hopefully the variation between the two of them was enough to help the residents of Amity Park.

Around that time came the alert that a couple guards who had been packing away the first shipment of the cure had been jumped. Although they were merely knocked out, one of the boxes had been broken into, and a few of the vials were missing.

Well at least it seemed that Scarecrow didn’t want to deal with the vampirism either. No one else right now had a reason to steal the concoction. Somehow he didn’t think that he would have considered the ectoplasm effects to it. If he was lucky, it would work no problem.

Bruce hated relying on luck, and got to work to make sure on his end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny wasn’t sure how long had been passing while he was in Dr. Crane’s care. But he could feel the obsession through his spirit and his interaction of understandings of fear, and while he had flair ups of seeming to enjoy watching him while he faced those fears, overall he seemed concerned with helping him through it. Especially with the more he found out about Danny’s parents. A bit of a protective fury?

It was kind of nice. Being given direction, the only lecture he'd gotten was on forgetting to mention he was becoming a vampire which yeah, fair enough that was pretty important.

He didn't feel judged, or pressured. Dr. Crane was pressed to have mastery in his field, to not be scared of anything. And it was something he wanted to share. Let’s face the facts, everything he'd been through, there was a shit ton Danny was scared of. He'd wake up in panic that something was trying to kill him again, or someone dying, or his parents trying to blow up the ghost zone, or more recently, pinning him down and biting the shit out of him. These accumulated over the course of the last few years.

So he put his trust in the doctor, to work through those fears, knowing that whenever he passed a chance to improve, he paid for it later under the heels of his own rogues. So he listened to everything the doctor offered. He even felt comfortable offering to take off the restraints for Danny, but he couldn't trust himself to that.

“Actually Doc…I think the restraints should be improved so I can't lunge for you if the vampirism gets stronger. I can't tell how it's going but…I don't want to chance it. To be clear, I believe that you wouldn't abandon me for it, but that it'd be hard to keep the relationship going without the guilt from biting you. I feel myself getting hungrier.”

Dr. Crane nodded, acknowledging his limits. “Very well. I'll get a thick chain to loop through the back of your jacket so it keeps you closer to the wall. Let me know if you face any discomforts during the process.” With that he got up to go get the material. He didn't argue with Danny, try to decide what was best for him, and took it with an unbiased professionalism he didn't have in his chaotic life. This guy may be one of the rogues of Gotham, but he could feel it was like with the ghosts. His obsession had gotten neglected, and it was driving him mad. In accepting the help, he was helping him in return. He was alright with the equivalent exchange. It was more even than with his rogues and their fights. There was a satisfaction to it that settled his core. He was the only one he could see and hear, but he could feel the pleased air of the man that was filling his obsession.
He admired seeing the genuine smile he got back when he shared something about himself, to let the Doctor peel back the layers of his fears. It was kind of like Spectra, but he wasn't making it worse, he was feeding off the understanding instead of
suffering alone.

Until he was cured, this was probably the best place for him. Protecting himself from others, helping him in the process. For now he let his own obsession close around Dr. Crane. Jazz would be safe with Vlad, and they were in the middle of getting the cure for home. That's all they could hope for right now. So he could be okay, him and Crane being the only protections for each other.

Crane came back into the room after a little while, with a golden glowing vial as well as the chain.

“New uh…new medicine to try doc?” He curled a brow at the vial as he stood and turned to the side to give him better access to loop the chain through.

“Yes. The epidemic seems to have been brought to attention by those who brought you to Gotham and they were preparing a shipment. So we'll see if it works with your unique gene. I'll be watching the entire time to keep you stable.”

Danny nodded, trial and error in the past had been how they learned his limits in the past. Hopefully this wouldn't be an error. He waited for the chain to go through and hook to the walls first before he downed it, and he gagged, arms pulling at their hold trying to grab his throat, feeling it like a fire under his skin, probably like sunlight on a vampire's skin, he tripped as the warmth spread, clawing under his skin. It felt like his ghost core was protesting it in pain as well. The jacket felt tighter, his body straining in it and his constraints, before a grip to his jacket lifted him in the air before slamming him down onto the beanbag and pinning it around him. It was of faint comfort, his writhing restrained, before it felt the vampirism and core worked together to expel it, his eyes rolling back as it forced him to shift intangible and the injection mixed with quite a bit of his blood to fall out of him with it, his body completely rejecting it. He rolled over to his side coughing up a couple mouthfuls of blood. He shook and gripped in the sleeves, gasping.

“Guess…guess that cure..I.. isn't an option…” he found a cold sweat on his brow, and a Dr. Crane tilted his head at him. “What…got something on my face?”

~~~~~

Danny had the ability to escape him since the moment he had been captured. He just… rejected the liquid and forced it out of his system, and was now sitting in his own blood. Could he only do that if it was at risk of his own mortality, or was he just that protective of his identity? He must've strictly been keeping it under for years to consider his options of using his abilities to slip out or to endure. Whatever entities had tortured him for his powers had been enough to convince him human styled torture would be more bearable than what would happen if he was exposed. And if his scars were anything to tell from he was probably right.

For now though there was another issue. His body completely rejected the cure. When it couldn't figure where all of it was, it took chunks of him with it.

He tapped his fingers together in thought as he frowned watching him. “Your abilities made it so your body rejected the cure completely. We may have to reach out to get you a modified one to match your physiology.”

Danny frowned at that, looking at the splatter he laid in. “Shit. I'm not supposed to be able to do that once something is inside of me…my body tore itself apart to get that out.” he winced. “Yay new ability?”

“It'll be better if we can get a blood sample. I've got a few connections we can bring to someone that will find the right reaction. I'll make sure they don't find out the extent of your condition.” He offered softly, trying to navigate advancing his care and not sending him into a panic at the idea of the tests. Yes this may be a little misleading. If the Wayne’s were into making the shipment, they’d be able to figure out who the infected blood was coming from, they wouldn’t know he had the abilities he did. Though he’d have to show the body’s rejection. Somehow.

His weariness was lower than expected, Danny's eyes wide and drinking in Cranes take on the situation, before slowly nodding. “ Thank you Doctor…”

Dr. Crane blinked, Danny seeming to pick up on his confusion.
“You…always make sure you're waiting until I'm ready. Well, after that first day anyways…that I have a choice…and when I'm concerned you don't treat me like my comfort levels are ridiculous, childish, or not worth my time...you're considerate each step of the way. Along with not treating me as something invincible that should roll with all the punches, you don't treat me like a fragile doll. So… Thank you. And…yes that'll be alright to take a sample…I trust you.”

Holy shit. He had tried to be there for students in the past with his years of a professor, but he’d been scoffed at or eyes rolled as he pried into their fears.

But this young man who’d been knocked out and dragged to him looked at him with such soft, eager trusting eyes within five days. He had a small flash of guilt knowing that this was his goal, but he had predictions this one had far exceeded. He had likely been much closer to a mental breakdown than his calm introduction had let on. Or…had already had a few of them.

He smiled as he moved in, gently brushing his hand through his hair. “Very well, I’ll be right back to draw a few vials of blood, then you’ll have your rest.
We can continue with your exposure therapy in the morning. I understand your discomfort of being a risk. So, to get you cleaned up, I will release these restraints enough to bring you to the showers, where you can clean up and change, I’ll clean up here at the same time, then get you to bed.”

Danny nodded agreeably, like at the Doctors mention of sleep it lulled him back to its embrace. He’d only been up a few hours, but he was mostly only giving him the time for a couple hours to nap before their treatments. This would keep him just disorientated enough to keep more susceptible to suggestion, and that much faster to fall under the intense adrenaline of the treatments.

If he ever ended up in Arkham, he really would be a model patient. He’d be one of the few that got out legally.

He slipped away the chain again, and carefully led him off to the showers. Outside of his neat room, the hallways were more dim, more unstable with flickering lights, or over half of them dead. But Crane knew the way well, leading him over. The shower room had open stalls at the end where an eye could be kept on their patients, with ready safe products on the walls stocked up, and a door with a window leading to it, unfortunately no one got true privacy in arkham asylum, and the older one that had been abandoned was more unhinged than the active one. He did Danny a bit better than they had done for theirs though, and once he was in the door and turned his back to him, he slipped the jacket off of him and shut the door, making sure he could manage the rest before slipping down the shade over the window with it locked, going to dispose of the messed up jacket, preparing one fresh, and extra cozy surroundings with more blankets and pillows for Danny to sink into.

He moved quickly, getting everything in order and prepping fresh bandages for him as well. With it he listened for the showers, which Danny kept in there for a long time, finding solace, peace under the water surrounded by flickering lights it seemed. A warm shower really could do wonders sometimes. Recentering one, and letting them temporarily ignore the stresses of the day.

He waited until the water stopped, and the shuffling of feet came over to the door to knock tentatively, where he raised the shade.
He had dried and put the pants on, but unsure kept the shirt off. The bandage was off and he could see the problem.

His wound wasn’t healing. The skin around his bite was puffed and angry, swollen and trying to pus.

“Do you feel in control enough for the moment for us to sit down and I tend to your wound before you finish dressing and we go back to your room?”

Danny’s eyes were soft on him again, melting in that he understood without his having to find the words. They’d work on being able to actually ask for help later. With confirmation from him, Crane carefully slipped into the room and guided him to sit as he took the tray with the instruments, cleaning the wound, sanitizing it and wrapping it again tightly before standing. Danny seemed to be missing something as his eyebrows stressed together, glancing at him before down again. Dr. Crane smirked softly. He had such a puppy behavior to him, so gently he obliged him again, reaching over to pet his head softly. “You did wonderfully Danny.”

And like magic he had perked up again, smiling as he slid on the clean soft button up, it was too wide on him and he swam in it cozily. “Thank you Dr. Crane.”

He hummed as he watched him finish getting ready for the coat. “Jonathan… you may simply call me Jonathan if you wish.”

And dear Lady Gotham if his face didn’t light up like it was Christmas.

“Jonathan…Thanks.” The warm smile took over his face as he put his arm out for the blood draw, a few vials taken, and he was brought back to bed.

Dr.Crane was having a harder time even remembering the last time he slept, with how amusing he found his next plans for Danny. He cleared his throat and put on his get up, darkening the room for his footage after Danny was under sedated, deciding a show the kid was alright would faintly put minds at ease and do what he needed. But it was also

far

too tempting to unsettle them at the same time.

“A misplaced duckling found its way to Gotham There is no option of another taking over this patient's care. We have much to
explore through his mind after all.” A slightly off key cackle slid from his lips, swishing the noose around his neck with a hum to the side. “Unfortunately, new variables are trying to interfere with my study.
Remove the variable.” He lifted the vials of blood giving them a light tap. “Your mixture nearly melted his insides before it could fix him, and if you’d be a dear I’d like a solution. If you disappoint me and I lose my new plaything…
you’ll know just how light the play at your charity auction was and how deep the fear can run in this city.”

He hummed as he turned it off, editing the video, he took to splicing it with bits of Danny’s bright face with second splits of his face in the screams, focusing on it being when he got the vampire cure and forced to phase it out of himself, and throwing up chunks of blood. It wasn’t Crane that was hurting him. His was a healing treatment. Only the mixture from Wayne Enterprise had truly hurt him. He secured the samples in ice packs and slipped on a different, hyper realistic mask, rolling it into a comfortable position and slipping on a security uniform, headed out with the film and the samples. There was always a chance no matter what preventive measures he took that the Bat would be able to track him down. But the unknown of the timeline for Danny’s smiling face over his screams and thrashing for such an effect should throw them off for a while on if they should interfere if they believed it to be a new fear toxin, or to look more closely at the Wayne’s if they were using harmful chemicals in it. Either way he earned a few more days to play, to make sure their own and the boy would be alright before they ripped him away for the evaluation of some lesser shrink that wouldn’t understand the depth of their connection.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the morning, Bruce and Tim found themselves both summoned to Wayne Enterprise with an unsettling present in the middle of the lobby floor by the security desks. A taxidermy crow with its wings spread , the usb drive sticking from its beak, and positioned over an icebox.

A view of the video on the usb painted a puzzling picture from Crane. The lights were askew in red and purples around Danny, looking to someone off camera with all the kindness in the world, cut with the hunger for more and more rare meat, his screams as the cure was rejected by his body, to his light delighted laughs. He certainly had a way of painting a picture for how quickly the kid declined in the four days of his captivity.

“Is he torturing the kid between joker venom and fear gas?” Tim shuddered as they gathered for what exactly had been put into the ice chest, vials of the liminals blood. Carefully stored to keep, they seemed still viable and were rushed to run through Fox’s lab.

“We’ll have an answer soon. Traces of fear gas and joker venom will both be found in it if so. In the meantime we should get it sent to Bats as well. They should know what their rogue is doing and be able to close in on where the kid is being held.” Bruce nodded over to Tim, that they'd have to hurry and run this through everything they could, or his mental state may soon shove Danny into being a rogue for Gotham, or a rogue against Phantom of Amity Park.

They’d come, trusting for Wayne Enterprise to help them, and lost their godson, their brother, before they could even reach the doors.

They quickly took some of the sample down to the batcave as well, Dick babysat the blood in the centrifuge, Batman took slide plate samples of each from Jazz, Vlad Masters,
and Danny to study its effects with the cure against it, while Tim analyzed the footage, frame by frame.

Dick’s tests came back first, quite a bit of fear toxin and sedatives going through his system, but no Joker venom. That was one less problem at least. He frowned over to the computer watching the smiles that came over Danny's face, even patiently with his arms restrained behind him. He did have a nasty bruise on the side of his head. Was he agreeable because of a concussion? Dick contacted Fox for how his tests were going on the blood and there was an issue. He hurried over to B once he heard it.

“Hn.”

“It's not good for the kid… his system is attacking itself.
His transformation is slow because the ectoplasm and vampire virus are killing each other. The makeup of the kid's genetics are almost reliant on the amount of it in his system. Where the vampirism should have been healing even his head injuries to not see the bruises, it's focusing too much on killing all the ectoplasm on the way there.”

“So Crane isn't likely in immediate danger while keeping him. But Danny's slowly dying.”

With a flip over the railings, up the stairs, Damian came to inspect the situation, looking between them and the cameras below as Tim went through painstakingly moment by moment.

“What do we tell Jazz and Vlad? The situation is going dire. And a civilian is not going to have much of a mind left after to try and fix.”

It stung but Damian had a point. Scarecrow would drive everyone past their limits, and the mind could only take so much. To see the sweet gentle smile on Danny's face here was probably going to be for the last time.

“He's got the strength of a Gothamite. If you see through the database of Amity Park what the kid’s been through and what their town has faced, he's got a bit of a hardened will. He's no Phantom as far as facing their problems, but he's been kidnapped by half a dozen of the guy's ghosts, humiliated with his parents mistaking him for a ghost capturing him with one ridiculous contraption or another…he's not doing so badly.” Tim chirped from his chair as he carefully took down any notes he could think of on the situation.

“So…is he so positive while tied up because the times he's made it out of these situations before? Is it an average Wednesday for him?” Dick frowned looking at it again, surprised with a segment Danny tied up and just…took a deep breath and nodded before the syringe was put to his arm and emptied.

“You sure about that Gotham strength Tim? Looks to me like he gave up.” A scoff from the youngest.

“If Danny kicks and screams, thrashes away from him he could break the needle, cut something important, or likely he's seen how victims are brutalized here in Gotham and is trying to make himself as uninteresting as possible. There are a million things that could be going through his head, but as far as we can tell, whatever it is he's holding his will to not far apart with vampiric thirst coursing through his body while it's giving out on him,
and intense sessions of fear gas. Let's cut the kid a break.” Jason growled a bit as he headed over, coming downstairs from breakfast with Alfred.

“Let's hope with the acceptance of things his mind holds out longer…” Dick frowned. “As for his family in town?...”

“Only thing we tell them is the vampirism and his body are both fighting the cure and each other, and we have to fix it. See if Jazz has another vial of this ectoplasm we can send to Crane to help the kid fight this a while longer while we restructure a whole cure.”

“I'll go. She can at least recognize me from the party, knowing I'm already involved.” Jason chuckled, grabbing his jacket to head for his bike.

They were distressed with the news, while it was confirmed that the effects weren’t as strong against Jazz’s blood sample, Vlad’s was almost as bad as the one from Danny. Those with low liminal stages could bypass it, but longtime heavy exposure made it much harder for it to work as intended. Jazz had contact with Mason back in Amity and was able to warn her of the side effects if she did decide to use it.

Her friend Tucker had been one of the first people given the shot, but he couldn’t phase it out of his body like Danny had. It wrecked his system a bit, but besides some bed rest he should be alright.

They had managed to detain about a third of the vampires, but that left so many that could still infect everyone else.

The ghosts had united with the outside threat coming down on their area, not willing to put up with some mock of their realm of influence. Despite the footage of many attacks in the past, the residents were working well with the rogues in keeping every bit of their society together that they could.

When they got the ectoplasm dropped off in the designated nook of a phone booth Crane had insisted on, they watched the occupants closely as they went in and out through it with their calls. After a dozen people, finally one made the reach. They wrapped up the vial while casually talking onto the phone, hiding its bright green glow, then they followed him to downtown. The bustling sidewalks he seemed to bump into more than a few people, and Oracle and Tim watched closely with everyone he had, seeing which was going to be the one for the hand-off. It became far more difficult when he got onto the subway, right in the middle of the group, pressed to a dozen other bodies as he wormed his way from one end of the train car to the other. By the time he reached the other side, his walk changed like his mission was accomplished. He had successfully handed it off. They had no idea who to though. A seizure and questioning of the guy though,g7 showed that he had been asked by a couple thugs to make the pick up, he didn’t know where they were either.

He wasn’t even one of scarecrow's men, just a hire at the Iceberg Lounge.

A week passed with no more word from the Doctor. The footage had been taken through every shot but he’d been careful with the amount of light not to show where they were. The lights could be psychological, or it could be in the corner of a club, a basement. The position didn’t give away any windows for outside surroundings either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had taken a while for Danny to stabilize back out with the chunks missing, and the next few sessions of waking up that it could have been hours or days he could barely move as Jonathan insisted on his eating. Somehow, the doctor had gotten a hold of a shot of ectoplasm, and that he knew he needed more than anything else right now. He drank it down greedily, and it set energy through him buzzing, his core feeling brighter with the stabilizing shot.

“So, your accident made you dependent on this stuff?” He nodded to the empty vial, head tilted a bit at the last glowing drop in it.

He hesitated a moment before giving a slight shrug. “I don’t have to have it often, but…it makes my recovery time a lot better when I’m injured. It gives a bit of a boost to my powers and I feel less like my body is falling apart around me.”

“What is it, Danny?” He flicked the last drop onto a slide to look under a microscope before giving Danny a stern look and making sure he ate regular food, not just the ectoplasm.

“It’s…you know the movie Ghostbusters? It's like that stuff, the sludge they leave behind. Called ectoplasm. I got hit with a lot of it when I…well when I died for a bit there in the lab accident.” One was always hesitant to talk about their deaths, but it felt like everytime he told Jonathan some truth about himself there was a pleasant buzz through his body of being able to finally talk about it, finally process some of it.

“So… in a way, you didn’t fully come back? The energy and makeup of the dead are fused with your body?”

Danny’s face lit up. Again no judging. No concern or shock and horror. He was so incredibly steady and grounding for him. “Yes. In a way, different from the vampires, though I guess I’m already half dead? Maybe that's why it’s taking so long for my body to decide what flavor of death it wants me to be.”

This earned him more gentle tostlings through his hair, and he was happy to lean to the touches. He felt so safe, content, and cared for as he gave the knowledge. He didn’t have to play protector right now. It was okay to just be protected.

“Well, there are a couple things we can try. If you call more on your meta like form, then perhaps the surge of power can drive back the virus further. Or, it’ll burn through your reserves faster and make you more susceptible to it.” They’d found his mental stability as confirmation enough for the closeness Jonathan could provide, and Danny was eased to him like a long term friend at this point. He slid closer with the brush through his hair and laid his head to his lap, a purr through his core at the comfortable energy between them.

“I could try charging up… I…don’t want the cameras on me though when I do. I trust you, but from friends hacking into things in the past, there isn’t a single security system that I trust to not be able to get compromised.”

“You’re doing well to share your boundaries, Danny.
Considering my reputation, your trust in me alone means the world.”

Danny looked up to him, feeling the slight vulnerability from him in it. He meant it. Like Danny had a hard time finding people to believe in him, Jonathan had too. He met his eyes and smiled a bit goofily to reassure him. He didn’t feel he had done anything special to mean so much to him, but he understood just how much that trust could mean.

He watched Jonathan smile back down to him, and retrieve a remote from his pocket, clicking it towards the cameras on opposite sides of the room, the lights flicking off from them. With that he took a deep breath and stood up. “I’ll try just my transformation for now. Maybe it’ll be enough of a washing to work against it.” He closed his eyes, a nervous energy about showing someone new his abilities, before summoning the rings to slide over himself.

His core having retreated into itself after the last phasing of the cure out of him, it snapped back out over him and didn’t let him keep the dramatic reveal of a slow transition.

Jonathan stood when he did, and circled around him curiously with it. “Do both forms need to be fed? Have you been weary of allowing this side of you to stretch out for what I may say?”

Danny looked down to his arms, feeling how the hazmat was a bit loose against his arms. For once he was thinner in Phantom form then he was as himself.

“Where I live, the ectoplasm is pretty strong in the air. I think my body is so used to so much of it being in the air around me that Gotham is a bit of a shock to the system…that and apparently it and the vampirism eating each other can’t be good for me.”

Jonathan nodded lightly. “We’ll find you what to eat as soon as we can. It may come down to getting ahold of these shots of ectoplasm regularly to squash the virus. I’ll have to find a less traceable supplier though to get it in bulk without worrying about your position here being found out.”

Danny caught himself laughing a bit at that. “Right. I forget technically I am kidnapped right now? This has really been more healing of a kidnap than I’ve had in years.” He stretched, blinking with a chuckle that the straight jacket had stayed with his human form. He plopped back down into the mess of blankets and pillows, smiling over to Jonathan.

This was the first time that he caught the doctor looking stunned, and that just made him laugh harder, fits of giggles with a soft green glow around him lighting up his freckles and floating his hair.

“You…forgot that you were kidnapped. If we didn’t already have a bond growing here, Danya I’d feel insulted.” He offered a light smile with it though, finding it ridiculous that anyone could be chained to a wall, restrained, and forget that they were technically a prisoner.

Danny sputtered in mock indignation. “That’s how kidnappings are supposed to be aren’t they? The nap part means short term so making sure your guest is comfortable just comes with the territory right? 10 out of 10, full marks, best kidnapping ever.” He laughed as Jonathan swatted the back of his head, floating up into the room with a playful whine. “Heeey, don’t treat your guests like that!”

“You. Are. Ridiculous.” Jonathan was still smiling though. “Do you want to run tests on how your body does to the fear gas in this form as well? It’ll be good to know what your weaknesses are in a city like Gotham.

“Alright Jonty! We’ll give it a go.” He floated back down, fiddling with the hazmat suit on himself for a moment looking for the seam to move it away before shrugging and just moving his hair out of the way and tilting the good side of his neck as he sat back down.

“Jonty? Really?” Amusement colored his tone as he slipped the needle into place to give him the dose.

“You gave me Danya so you get one too. I’d call you Johnny but I already have a friend with that name.” He blinked as the room shifted, vision lurching a bit he gripped to his seat.

“Very well I suppose I can accept that. How do you feel?”

“Like…this might be one of those I take the room with me again. I’d uh…shift back before you're..in the fire zone.” He slurred past the visions dancing past him, apparently with the light mood, the focus today shifted towards the laughing and carnival music. He covered his mouth with a shudder. “Fuck. Today's focus is freakshow. Fantastic.”

~~~~~~~

Somehow over the last week they had managed to steer away from the visions of clowns, mostly as that was going to be the last thing he tackled with Danny knowing that was what he was most likely to run into in Gotham.
The reaction to the clown was about as strong as with the GIW and their torture though. He retreated from the room carefully, especially since Danny had no restraints on now, and took to his research in what this guy had done.

He looked unsettling enough, but it seemed that in Amity, Freakshow was charged with kidnappings, attempted murder, and brainwashing. There were a few images of the show too, the kid having red eyes as he cut a cord sending a girl plummeting below. Another him covered in jewelry, red eyes again smirking as he robbed a store. Seemed most of the brainwashing was on ghosts, taking advantage of their abilities for his own greed and staying out of the crossfights. He’d been caught with his train car full of jewels and the gem controlling them was shattered, freeing his bound performers.

It felt likely to be deeper than just those couple interactions that Danny would have a strong reaction against the clown. Nothing showed up though.

He watched through the window, a rage from this form crossing over, and his face almost seemed affected by the vampirism stronger, his body twisting with claws growing from his hands and feral growls. Were ghosts just feral cats? He had purred earlier. He’d almost lost his composure on that one.

If he did destroy the place they could just move again. The bats had gone through all his other buildings from what he'd seen on the security cameras. At this point he could go back to one of the more neglected ones with Daniel, or even hole up in one of Jokers. Bastard had been recaptured anyways, and if Danny freaked out again with a vision surrounded by the clown gear, he could destroy one of his properties at the same time.

His worries had been for not in the end though. Some roars shook the place and it had ended up covered in a layer of ice he had to kick through to get the door back open on, but he managed to keep his actions within the hallucination and passed back out after a while. The routine of going to sleep after a session had become so routine he didn’t need the sedatives as much, and he let him sleep longer and longer as he had other things to do to protect him after the fact.

It took a week for him to burn through the energy from the ectoplasm shot and he was getting closer to securing more. He’d tested his theory, released bits of data about the ectoplasm and he grinned when he got reports from his goons around the city.

They had found a supply alright. And he released a bounty on them at the same time. Any declaring themselves as the Guys in White or Ghost Investigation Ward were to be attacked on sight, beat the shit out of, and anything from them glowing green was to be brought to him.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

With nothing heard from the Scarecrow on more plans for Danny, and no sign of hide or hair of them, the week had passed in anxiety for all parties involved. Something would be changing anytime now.And change it did.
They had new players in town.And the rogue’s didn’t like the new guys playing in their backyards. With a united front, white vans had been exploding all over the city. Men in full white suits were brutalized and left in alleys, stripped down to nothing but their briefs. More than a few had been killed. Anything from their cars and persons had been stripped away from them, but a few traces at some of the scenes revealed traces of the ectoplasm splattered to the walls where it’d gotten caught in the explosions.The same Guys in White that Batman and Wayne Enterprise had been being very cautious to avoid the involvement of the ectoplasm there, had decided to slam open the saloon doors to the rogues hangouts, so to speak, and found themselves decimated quickly. Red Hood reported that there were bounties put out on the Agents, and for every member that was taken down was a reward, higher rewards for their loot.While Hood wasn’t one to usually side with rogues either, a few of the agents had taken interest in him when he went to stop a shoot out at them, getting blasted in the back with the green goop. The pit rage quickly had him singing a different tune where he didn’t know if the next couple mangled corpses were from goon weapons or his own.The middleman was through the Iceberg Lounge, but the trail was quick to catch up to Scarecrow.Apparently the first shot of ectoplasm had been helpful, and now he required more. The GIW had shown up right in time to fill that need.It was a mess trying to get the Birds and Bats to every scene. It was a massacre of the agents before they could get past the city limits once the rogues backtracked where they were coming from. Whether they were trying to make their way towards Wayne Enterprises, which they never could get that close even if it was their goal, or if they were trying to close in on Crime Alley, it was like a brick wall had been put in their path at every turn.They managed to stop several of the raids from retrieving the odd glowing green weapons, but they only got the reports needing help after the agents were already engaging with them. Two dozen white vans absolutely obliterated, and the agents in them needed the hospital or the morgue.
Apparently Scarecrow truly didn’t want anyone else playing with his new patient. This itself was growing the tensions higher. Was he breaking him, or corrupting him? This was a long time to keep so focused on one person.
Tim couldn’t help but compare it to the agonizing weeks of torture he had spent getting his mind broken from the Joker. And as the week turned into two with no one getting closer to it, the bats turned to studying on the side the weaknesses of the ectoplasm if they needed to fight the drugged up kid.Finally at the end of the second week, Fox had managed to get a breakthrough with the cure that it ignored the ectoplasm completely. Now they just had to get it to Crane.Around the same time, Crane had gotten enough information about the kid to leave a scythe themed usb dangling on a cord outside of Jazz and Vlad’s balcony. Jazz had been the one to find it, then immediately brought it to Wayne Enterprises after seeing it. The report of something from Crane had them meeting her as Batman and Red Robin.It was a video about Danny. His features were a bit sharper than the first clips, his eyes had harder notes hidden in them but he seemed to be fully coherent.
The room was more visible with sticky stars put all over the place, kept to dark cool colors that were changed under the shifting colors above, almost like a Borealis effect. Danny sniggering stretched out comfortably while right next to Crane, massive pajamas over him, clean and pressed, his hair a mess.

“Alright Danny. You insisted you didn’t want your sister freaking out, so let her know what we’ve been up to.” Dr. Crane’s voice was light and casual as he was going over notes of something with him, out of costume, and Danny grinned up to the cameras, waving enthusiastically.

“I’m finally taking therapy Jazz!” He cracked up as he sat up, beaming to the camera, a sparkling green glow to his eyes around all the blue. “Dr. Crane has been helping me through so much… I know you were always trying to help me, but it feels…different having someone else on the outside just…see you, you know? Like you begging for someone to look into how unsafe the lab was! I’m okay. Jonathan’s gotten ahold of a ton of ectoplasm, and it’s making a world of difference. The first couple days I could feel myself falling apart. Now…I’m feeling more intact than I have in ages! I don’t…really know how long I’ve been here, but I’m good. I’m safe Jazz.” He smiled warmly, fluffing his hair, before the video cut off.
Red Robin was a bit stunned, but couldn’t help the relief that washed over him that Danny was reaching out to comfort her instead of trying to scare her or something, that he was bubbly still. It was a small comfort.“What’s Crane’s angle in this?” Batman glared, rewatching the video focusing on Crane’s expressions. He was smug, almost smirking to the cameras in part, like he knew it was going to get back to Batman seeing it. Little shit. “He doesn’t just help people. He takes pleasure seeing someone break underneath his power over the mind.”Red Robin tapped his pen to his leg as through the rewatch he’d kept his eyes on Danny. “Maybe… Danny inviting the help? He has such trust in his eyes, and playfulness. We know he’s gotten the gas in his system by the last blood analysis. So… he got taken and just rolled with the punches to take the therapy at face value?”Jazz’s face blanked a moment before she smacked her forehead with a groan.
At this Batman gave a pointed stare over her seeming annoyance with her brother. “Is he…prone to this sort of thing?”Jazz looked like a few veins in her head were going to pop. “In Amity Park the ghosts have obsessions. Lunch lady feeding kids, box ghost boxes, Skulker hunting… we’re used to feeling out what a ghost needs to get out of their system not to anger them getting in the way. Anyone who grows up in Amity can pick up pretty quickly on this. Danny apparently has directed our town rules towards this Doctor. He’s obsessed with understanding fears? So Danny just… lets him understand his fears and work him through it. Has he had someone before just sit down and go ‘I'm messed up? Well alright, what can we do about it?’ I mean at least it seems to be working…”Red Robin stared back at her for a moment. “He’s… in therapy with Scarecrow… to be Scarecrow’s therapy?” He looked back at the screen, a sinking feeling in his chest growing at what it could mean that Danny had a habit of sympathizing with ghost rogues enough that connecting to Scarecrow came naturally. How much easier that could be for him to have Danny as his little pawn. And it could very possibly be that this is why he wasn’t breaking him, but training him, to be a faithful little soldier to him for his messed up games, long as he put it in a way to keep his leash tight on his trust on him, who knows what Danny would do for him, to help him. He felt like his blood was running cold.“Looks like it. Smug little shit! I tried to get him into therapy for years, won’t listen to me but let’s an asylum patient be his new doctor?!”So both Danny and Dr. Cranes were little shits. But it was keeping them calm. Other than the attacks on the street against the GIW.They took a moment in thought and let her process that her brother found an actual villain to be more helpful than her.“Think the GIW tracked Danny here then?”“Him or the vampire looking ghost flitting around the city. But it seems enough they should back off soon with how much the residents are tearing them apart.” Red Robin nodded looking over to them.~~~~~~~~~Danny really did look better than he had in years. He had a relaxation to his shoulders Jazz had never seen, he was almost glowing his ghostly powers just beaming at the therapy from his new friend. A friend that happened to be a terror to the city and regularly drove people insane with their fears for the hell of it. As his usual Phantom self, it seemed he had zeroed in on the precise issue of the doctor's obsession, and like magic drained away the unhinged nature of his enemies. She had been going sick with worry while he was on vacation!It was better that he was relaxing at least. She needed to just be happy for how things had played out, and hope he finished with the scarecrow soon. At least he was distracted from the panic of his home town being overrun by bloodsuckers.~~~~~~~
Batman didn't feel Jazz was taking this nearly as serious as he did for her brother. While she had an earlier interest in psychology, she had left that long ago for brain surgery study and didn't seem to yet get the depth of the troubling nature to the video.
The more they studied the video, they felt it. He was helping Dr. Cane. But his methods left him disassociating. The small moments between talking, his eyes would gloss over a bit going unseeing and little muscle twitches of fighting something before beaming again.
Likely even if he was being given sleeping breaks, he was being shoved through his treatments in rapid fire. Told to handle it in that moment, going over it later, but no room for him to digest his own actions during it. Small moments the ectoplasm flared in his eyes, reminding Bruce of Jason's Pit Rage. Jason had to have years of training to bring him under control he still struggled with now and then if his going ballistic on the GIW was anything to compare to, and the ectoplasm was bringing it higher in Danny. How full and sparked of the energy Danny was, Dr. Crane was likely giving him way too much. Everything felt more intense. It was a part of Lazarus water they determined through their tests, but they had the proof through watching Amity that there wasn't a single pit anywhere near the place. However the ghosts were intense in their emotions as well, and Danny looked to have as much of them under his skin as he did being human.The threat of the GIW got stronger in Gotham first. Anyone who generally owned a white van buried it deep in their garage and called taxis to not get associated with them to become targets. The weapons of the agents were severely lacking the lethal force that Gotham used every day, and they didn't seem to understand why humans were attacking them either.Orphan was able to track a team with the ectoplasmic blasters to where they were dropping it off to sell to scarecrow. A previous Mr. Freeze spot that kept the materials at safe temperatures, where they were being broken down into vials and jugs, disassembled to their base components to be sent off again. Here she had to be more weary of their caution, tucking herself up under the truck and gripping onto the exhaust as it made its way through the city, Oracle tracking her, suddenly she double tapped the comms that Orphan should let go, and she shifted to toss her way to bushes on the side and look over.“Yes, Oracle?”“I know the rest of the way where that truck is going. He's being held in old Arkham.”“How many we want in on this?”B came over the com with a growl “I'll meet you there Orphan, then at least one more, who's got a nearest arrival time?”“I'm seven minutes out.” Came the clicked tongue of the demon brat.“Ha! I'm at three! I get to meet the bubbly guy first!”
“Confirmed, Nightwing. See you two there, out.”~~~~~Danny didn't need to think about a lot of things since he got here. After being able to lose the restraints he took to having his meals with Dr. Crane’s company more than having to be fed by him, they did blood tests often making sure the vampirism was still dying out to how strong his ectoplasm boosts had been, and he felt incredibly focused and more solid than he had in years. He finally opened up on it being his parents that he'd been in the lab of, and many of the blasts from them, not recognizing their son.“So this fear is more to face the possibility of what they would do finding out you were half dead. To be able to hold strong if you do not earn their approval?”Danny nodded, hugging his knees with his chin resting on it comfortably. “There were a couple points they accepted as timelines got messed up…but they're more extreme now. What if they think I've been corrupted, not really me for the past six years, like they've been on the virus since they bit me.”“I see… them using their limited experience in an unrelated field to reinforce their biased, low informed views on the other half of who you are.”“Yeah…I feel it's got an eighty percent plausibility. ““What do you think you should do? If you are faced with their guns and scalpels,
as some monster instead of their son. Do you want to appeal to them, or simply have the strength to cut ties to them and grow further without them?”He thought for a moment. “It would be a waste of energy to try and convince them. If they don't know me from our years of my saving their asses then nothing will get through. I should… prepare to separate from them completely.”“That's what we'll practice today then.” He looked through his collection of injections for something more realistic, to be sucked into the dream-state of his subconscious without twisting them into full horrors. He sunk the injection into his arm, and scooted for the comfortable position of Danny's head resting on his knee, and his hand brushing through his hair as it kicked in. This one he worked through him describing as it happened, how he was protecting himself, how quickly he could tear apart their base, destroy their decades of research in seconds. The kid had been aware enough of their threat he had these memorized. He had someone that could make him a fake identity, a way to solidly block off the tear of dimensions, and knew how to build it again.
Dr. Crane had been making the doses steadily stronger, building his mind to protect him from it, and where he should have an easier time against mind control in the future as well. He pretended not to note the shadow in the hall, watching the corner of the window of the room. Since he could barely see them, he knew that they wouldn't be able to see Danny yet.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I do believe this will be our last therapy session, Daniel.”

He felt a slight stiffening from Danny by this, it seemed the young man didn't want to go either. “Have I done something wrong?” He smiled a bit at the gentle question, no longer having the stress of need of approval, just curiosity.

“Quite the opposite. There's little more I can help you with… what do you say, before you go, you get a bigger taste of everything, make sure you've mastered those fears, and give yourself a direction to go for when we meet again?”

Danny thought about it and looked up at him with that goofy smile. “Alright…I’ve worked through enough of how I’ll face the folks… in the end there's nothing to fear but fear itself, right?”

Damn Crane was going to miss the screwball. “That's right. You will become the master of your mind, not it of you.” He slipped on his mask with a final deep breath. “Anyone else, this mix would drive them to insanity or death… you will be alright. If you feel otherwise, you need only say ‘Cocktail.’ ”

Danny laughed at that a bit. “Ask for a drink if I’m overwhelmed? That makes sense.” He watched his face. He knew.

Neither of them wanted to say goodbye. And they weren’t going to. When he woke they would be nowhere near each other. Not like Danny knew that the bats were outside the door now. But they had their own way of talking to each other by now. Part of Danny could feel his bitterness at their separation, but he wasn’t questioned about it. Just more solid trust. He would slip out from the capture as abruptly as he had arrived. That was alright.

So Danny let him release the lethal mix right in his face for it to fill the room, giving him a two finger salute in parting as his body seized, gasping and grasping at his chest like something was in there that shouldn’t be. Was it the hands? Was it the metal amulet that evaded him from Time’s grasp by his future self? Was it the portal, ripping him apart and smashing him back together for an eternity? There were so many possibilities. He wouldn’t be able to help him for a long time.

At least Dr. Crane was able to give Batman a welcoming present. He’d find the kid just as interesting as he did. Who knows, maybe if he didn’t like the stories about Danny’s parents he’d yank him into his care instead. He’d already taken plenty of bats and birds, what was one more lil ghostie? He laughed to himself as he stood, one last ruffle of Danny’s hair as he disappeared into a flurry of screaming.

Cue the lack of restraint from the bats.

A rush into the smokey room met a blast to his jaw, sending him flying into the wall opposite the side of the room. He smirked under his mask even as he felt the blood from inside his cheek, and he raced in low to the symphony of sweet Danny’s screams. He managed a few hits on the one that had gotten to him, ah, Batman himself. Until a strong heel got to the back of his head. Youch, that was probably Nightwing, the sweet boy wonder. He was another one that was fun to play with. He felt as his face was shoved down roughly to the ground, and arms yanked behind him. They felt at his waist to check him for more of the fear gas. He felt the thighs pinning his backside to the ground tighten in alarm.

“What was the point of getting him intact again just to give him the lethal shit?!” Nightwing was flabbergasted, smashing at his head to break his mouthpiece. He’d reinforced that thing ages ago though, and long since given himself immunity to his own concoctions. He laughed anyway, coughing from the force of their hits.

“Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want variables?~” He hummed out melodically to Danny’s screams, musing to himself over it. “He is my

plaything

…I can break him if I

want

to.” He was full of it, but it would be enough to convince them until they got a chance to start watching over the weeks worth of interviews and sessions he’d had with the kid. Though most of them were neatly hidden away in stacks of paper without video surveillance from Danny’s request.

The room shook with a feral growl of a cry tearing from Danny, his form bubbling with his anger and grief, trembling as it scrambled at him.

“There’s a performance, such a good boy Danny!” He laughed as they kicked him against the wall out of the way as they hurried to him. He let his own sedative kick in, a crinkled smile under the mask. Goodbye, sweet Danny.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny was in a complete daze. There was the distinct snap of pain after he had accepted their goodbye. Within minutes it felt like his core was flickering. He couldn’t focus on any of the fears when it felt like his brain was melting, and the force of the ectoplasm through him dragged it back into place. Perhaps he was dying a bit from the kitchen sink of a dose, and it was just making his core stronger on the death energy. He’d gone under like that in what felt a matter of minutes, but he could feel something to his body too. And like that he was gone again. Felt like he floated for ages.

~~~~~~~~~~

Apparently a hyped up kid with ghost abilities facing fear gas was a pain in the ass. When they’d turned to Danny with his screams, going to help him, his body was pulling and twisting against itself, something primal in him trying to keep it together. He was grabbing at his chest and eyes squinted shut against a headache, or more likely every chemical of Dr. Crane’s mixture scrambled every bit of his mind.

Orphan had thrown the Scarecrow out into the hallway out of the way once he was restrained, so they could focus, while Danny was blown up to some eldritch horror up to the ceiling. When faced with fear you may try to become something scarier no? And Danny was indeed terrifying now, muttering to himself in some broken language that made his ears want to bleed. They threw a couple of the antidotes to different scarecrow’s products to sink into his skin and inject, but he just looked irritated with that and brushed them away before much of it could get into him. How some ghost energy had turned the kid into this he had no idea. That’d be a question for Constantine.

Batman was going to have to try and get up to him, have him hear past the pains in his own head long enough to get it into him. They used grappling hooks to bind his hand, dragging him down to race up his arm towards him, and he looked confused down at the cord, saying something else, his eyes glazed over as he snapped through the cord like a stray thread on a shirt. Things got a bit worse when power concentrated on his fingertips, and he blasted back at them, with Nightwing trying to rein his limbs in, he got slammed back into the wall with a blast through his shoulder.

Batman managed to climb his way up to his face, gripping to his hair a moment for a hold as he got up, and popping open a couple vials to pour it into his mouth. How big he was he had likely inhaled a lot more after all. “Wake up, Daniel!!!”

This seemed to actually reach him, looks of more confusion, horror, and Batman took that sign to hop back off of him quickly back to Nightwing. Danny staggered, holding his head before all at once it was too much, the power strain too much for what he was supposed to be running on probably. A flash of white light went over him and he collapsed, falling from the height of half up the room, Bruce barely catching him before he became a heap on the ground, pulling him in against his chest. Now the twisted voice was gone, mutters came from him as he weakly gripped to his cape. “Cocktail… s’too much Jonty…cocktail…”

Nightwing cursed under his breath, glaring back to scarecrows form crumbled in the hall before injecting extra to his arm to be safe.

“Can’t just drop the kid off at the hospital or to his sister after that can we?”

“We should keep him under as we run more blood tests. We need to see the progress of the vampire virus, run him the cure, and take a look over his cameras… power like that we need to know him as well as Crane does.”

The next couple hours were messy. They wanted to keep taking the ectoplasm and potential new weapons off the street, so Matches Malone became the cover to establish the trade and buy out the shipments, while Red Hood was going through interrogations of the GIW to learn more what they were hunting, and treating them like they were crazy when they insisted it was against ghosts, like they’d never seen such a thing in Gotham. Then for the pings of looking into ectoplasm being contributed to a research paper for renewable energy that was proposed in Wayne Enterprise. Was pretty simple to sweep most of it under. For their attacks and missing equipment on those that had been left alive, they were just stared and declared dumbasses for thinking they could waltz into Gotham and everyone would just accept that.

Tim dug through the videos, all the research material that Dr. Crane had on his interactions with Danny. He had stayed busy with him almost the entire time. He fed him, talked to him, losing the mask and having deeper conversations of different fears, and the sessions seemed far more controlled than ones he had done in the past.

Why was he so soft on this kid? He cringed at how Danny seemed to take to laying down and looking up to the Doctor fondly, and it showed the progress in that time, that they
were becoming lifetime friends. Or perhaps, in Tim's opinion, more of a master and his new pet.

He accepted the injections and gas each time, and while it had a bit of him facing the fears, the camera was clicked off over and over before they could get too much info on the kid. Jazz was right in that he seemed to find it helpful for Crane if he accepted the therapy sessions freely. Kid was fucking weird. His timeline of sleep was alarming though. He would fall asleep immediately after finishing talking about his experience or eating, but alternated between sleeping almost all day when Crane was busy to only being able to sleep for a couple hours usually before they were doing it again. It had him in a bit of a stupor, where in the two weeks he had been held, he should have gotten about a hundred hours of rest, instead he seemed to have lost about thirty hours, but no waking time of rest to process everything. Just sleep as needed when injured, drained, promptly woke up, and thrown into more issues.

They kept Danny under in the Batcave while they ran his blood, and looked over every bit of the kid's life. There had been many times that the camera had cut, and some sections were cut out of their interviews, a couple days missing sometimes.

They had the kid sleep for three days more while they ran everything. This was enough time to run his blood, finding the faint traces of the virus in his system they gave him a dose to finish it off now that he wouldn’t be hurt by it. Then they finally let him wake up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright Daniel. Time to get some support.”

As Danny came to again, Nocturne’s gentle nagging echoing his thoughts, he noted that his bed was different, the lighting in the room felt off, his body felt light though, full of energy, he rubbed his eyes with a stretched yawn, blinking away the blurriness. Well this was an interesting twist. He had a room full of masked guys staring him down, and sat in a corner of a cave? Kinky..? “Alright not the weirdest way I’ve woken up I guess. So uh…hi?”

A chuckle came from one in black and blue, walking over to him and offering his hand to shake.

“Welcome back Danny…are you feeling alright?”

Danny had to study him for a moment, thinking through everyone Jonathan had described. “It’s…Nightwing right? Yeah I’m doing okay, a little lost right now but that’s alright.” He offered a crooked smile warmly after shaking his hand.

“Do you remember what happened?” Broody grunty darkness, ah that’d be Batman, watched him with his arms crossed.

“Uuuh… I was having another therapy session with Dr. Crane… he said it was probably going to be our last one. He didn’t seem to want to say goodbye…which I’m kind of grateful for? I don’t do goodbye very well either. Said I could try the last mixture and I’d be stronger than it… then I passed out? That stuff felt weird compared to most of the mixtures.”

“You were dying, Danny! Scarecrow has a lot of different flavors of fear gas, a couple lethal, and he has hit you with every single one!” Frantic stress rolling off a guy in red with a black cowled cape. At least Red Robin hid his hair. Better to keep his identity than half the Robins it looked like. Though it looked a little awkward. Bronze on his accents would look better than the gold, Danny decided thoughtfully.

“Damn…that’s one heck of a goodbye.” Danny laughed a bit, rubbing his neck. “He did warn me though. Let it be my choice.”

“You’re just…completely fine with that?” Nightwing’s face was scrunched up in confusion. “Like…you spent weeks talking to the guy and he just tries to kill you.”

Danny started to respond then blinked, cocking his head to the side looking back at him. “I’m sorry, how long did you say?” Without the sessions, the drugs gone from his system, suddenly weeks sounded a lot longer and more important than it had felt before.

At this the face under the cowl softened, Batman moving closer. “A little over two weeks, Daniel. Your sister and Godfather were doing everything to help find you, and make sure you got cured.”

Jazz and Vlad? Shit, Amity. He looked wide eyed, moving to stand, woozy with little to have been fed to him while under. Batman put a hand on his arm to guide him to sitting back down. “What about Amity? My parents? I-is the shield still holding?”

“Don’t get up too fast… Agent A will be bringing you something to eat shortly.” There was a softness that still somehow worked with the gruff looking guy. Jonty did say B was good with kids. “Amity is still on lockdown, but we’re getting the inhabitants cured and in a safe section of town. It also seems that their natural ectoplasm exposure levels have been being consumed by the vampiric virus, removing their liminal abilities. We put a light generator over a large section of town to keep vampires away during the night, and have slowly been recovering the town. We don't have a sign of your parents yet though.”

He sighed slumping back into the bed a bit. “That's…good…that's good…” his dizziness caught up with him a bit though and he laid down. He hadn't been eating much since he'd started taking his ectoplasm doses, despite Jonathan’s insistence and their times they did eat together. He just wasn’t hungry being so full of energy. And he could tell now as his mouth watered before he even registered he was smelling food. He looked up with an older gentleman bringing over a covered tray with food setting it up for him. “Thank you sir.” He beamed and got to eating, eyes shutting happily as the rich bacon Mac and cheese melted in his mouth. He savored the first bite then dug in, taking a moment to realize one of them was talking to him. He blinked, looking in attention but he'd obviously missed a question.

Red Robin sighed as he repeated himself. “So why were you so cozy with Dr. Crane? From the start you just…sat there.”

Danny grinned a bit as he thought about how the first interaction went down. “Well his guys wanted to kidnap a Wayne member, and he didn't even want that, he was just annoyed with the situation. Then he seemed pretty happy to hear I was scared of something so…” Danny shrugged. “Is it smart to scream and cry about something when it's just going to piss them off? Seemed worth it to let him just play a bit and let it go. Then by the next conversation he wasn't all that bad. Seemed just kinda…lonely. And I was a risk to others just lounging in a hotel room so it was better to be confined and make a new friend at the same time.”

“You consider Scarecrow. A terror to Gotham. As your new friend.” Robin stared down at him, thoroughly looking unimpressed, and though the cowl hid Red Robin’s eyes, he could feel the stress rolling off of him, Nightwing too. A tightness to the air.

“I mean, I don't know anything about Gotham.
I wasn't really planning on coming here. So all I learned was from him. For instance, a guy named Mr. Freeze being a terror while trying to cure his wife? Love that, even more so that once Wayne Enterprise found out about it, they sponsored a wing for him to study in and do what he needed to without having to hurt others in the process? I know that Gotham is able to rehabilitate some of their villains, and so if I took part in helping him feel stable, yay.”

“And in the process exposed yourself willingly to fear gas multiple times?” Batman's emotions were conflicting. Pride, Guilt, and Worry?

Danny sighed, rubbing his head.
“Look…when you're around ghosts growing up, you… feel what they feel more strongly. He was curious, excited. I only felt slight malice like three times when I was going under and he liked my screams a bit too much. But he treated me fairly, and honestly helped me through years of trauma I have been completely refusing to acknowledge other than as states of fact.”

“And what sort of things would those be?” Red Robin asked more delicately, a hand on his hip relaxed.

“That would be between my therapist and I.” He smiled a bit playfully, to which the smallest Robin scoffed.

“The one that's an active patient at Arkham Asylum?”

Danny gasped in mock horror clutching his pearls. “That sounds like a HIPAA violation telling me that!” His dramatics were just met with pointed stares. “But yeah that's the one.”

“If you trust a rogue with the info, why not us? We've been active in getting rogue's help for years.” Red Robin almost sounded pouty, but the way he was watching Danny, piercing and sorrowful… he probably meant something deeper by his question.

Danny laughed lightly, finding a grown man pouting at him adorable. “Because there are a lot of big feelings in this room.” He pointed to Batman.
“I do feel that you want to help, but you are bubbling with suspicion. That's uncomfy.” Then he pointed to Robin. “This one for some reason is hostile. Don't know what I did to deserve that but I rather not give info for him to try and use against me.”

“The rest of us you're cool with?” Nightwing blinked surprised, looking at Redhood, who flipped him off with a chuckle. Guy seemed cool enough, and a part of Danny’s core actually wanted to coo at him.

“Yeah. And like, Batman I understand. I can handle some suspicion. I grew up surrounded by it.”

“So I'm the only one you have a problem with? Tt.” Feral Robin scowled at him.

“More accurately you seem to have a problem with me.”

There was a moment of quiet consideration before Batman spoke again. “If I showed you why you make me weary. Would you be a little more open?”

Danny beamed a bit relieved. “Sure. I still have the right to decline if something is too personal.”

He looked as Batman brought a video up on the computer. It was right as he was being put under,
and what followed.

Suddenly his suspicions made perfect fucking sense. “Holy shit I can turn into that?!” He looked at the monstrous spindly limbs pouring from him, a second pair of arms with sharp claws, his skin turned bright blue and his eyes fully green, a too wide fanged grin from his mouth that tore his face almost in two, and a flaming crown on his head.

A flaming crown? Why did he have that? That made his stomach not almost as much with seeing him blast through Nightwing’s shoulder, wincing and whipping his head around to the vigilante, who rolled his shoulder, looked a little stiff but seemed to be comforting Danny that he was alright, giving a thumbs up with the afflicted arm, recovering well enough.

“Well this just gave me a boatload more issues to address. Okay…” he stared at it a moment more with them trying to wrangle him in before looking away, he could feel an embarrassed burn to his face. “Yeah, I guess you should get some answers.”

“Appreciated.” Batman had a sense of relief, concern, and amusement, though his face remained completely stoic. Neat trick. It did ease Danny too though that he wasn't as suspicious since he didn't know he could do that.

“Is it…a regular occurrence for someone to be able to shift into something like that from your town?” Red Robin started, twirling a pen over his fingers.

“That's… yes and no? It's not unheard of but usually years between for something happening… There was this girl I went to a dance with that an artifact turned her into a dragon when she got mad. But…I didn't have anything new on me than I've had since I got to Dr. Crane.”

“And this was a first for you. So you had no reason to believe you'd become that destructive.”

“Well doc was alright with if there was some damage since he knew when to get away and we only ended up in spots he was okay losing anyways. But I had no reason to think I'd turn into that and hurt someone. I'm sorry you guys got blasted.” Danny rubbed his neck, frowning a bit.

“Mr. Masters told us about how he found you before taking you here…are you okay?” Agent A was soft and solid, like how Dr. Crane had been with him.

Danny smiled warmly to the older gentleman, nodding. “I've had some time to work through it. It was terrifying at the time being pinned down like that…but I won't freeze up when I can hug my dad again.” He appreciated the gentle check in away from the interrogation.

“You have…higher levels of ectoplasm than your sister and Mr. Masters…can you tell us why?” Batman flicked up a graph on screen of their blood samples, and neat, Danny’s was over twice what Vlad had.

He thought about it a moment and nodded, Nocturne having insisted twice now he could be more open with them and settled his core to these questions. Perhaps not all at once, but a start.

“I spent most of my childhood helping my parents in their lab. Jazz didn't spend much time there,
and didn't think it was healthy. So I got exposed to it a lot more than her, and it's probably higher than my parents too.
I got in a lab accident in their basement where one of their machines turned on with me way too close. Was a ‘shocking’ experience, and I got more than a face full of the stuff.”

He felt some of their unease roll through the room, so he gave up on the vague answer, unbuttoned his shirt to show the lichtenberg scar traveling up his arm to his neck, showing it with its slight glow against his skin, though he kept the center covered to not show the GIW marks yet. He lived for some shock and awe after all and the trail of lightning was 'shocking' enough. “I was electrocuted. The stuff saved me before it could kill me completely. So with how much was sent into me…I have a couple more abilities than most folks home. Like…” he made a bit of a show to wave his hand and have it disappear from sight a moment, shrugging. This had most of the room's interest perk.

“So the first warehouse was destroyed by you? What power would that be?”

“Are the blasters that came from your fingers normal too?”

“What about Phantom? Have you worked with him? Do you know what happened to him when the vampires broke out?”

A cleared throat from Agent A quieted them, Danny beamed, he was quickly becoming a favorite.

He nodded in thanks before looking at each of them. “Yes that was me, it was a yell. Yes, the blasters are normal for me. I have worked with Phantom. He got bit. But he'll be alright.” Danny smiled, finishing his food where it at least wasn’t turning now, happy.

“How could you be sure? If he's over your power levels of a pure ghost getting affected by the virus…" Batman frowned, growing concern where he'd disappeared to.

Danny paused for a moment and a warm smile covered his face. “You have docs cameras…you didn't snoop for it through his conversations with me?” He was more happy when a bit of guilt colored the edge of a couple's feelings.

“He didn't keep anything in depth with you it would seem.”

“It's official. I adore Jonty. I asked him to keep that stuff off camera and he did. I love my therapist.” He grinned, giddy. “When's his birthday? I'll have to send him a card.”

“I take it then this Is one of those you're declining to answer?”

Man, Robin had a bite to his words. Sassy man. “I had human bits to me for the vampirism to feed off of. From scans doc was taking of my blood regularly, the virus and the ectoplasm attack each other. So if someone's full ghost and gets a bit of the virus, it'll be much faster to finish it off without blood to boost it.” Yeah he needed support, but he still wasn't rewarding bad behavior. He was going to play with them for a little while and see when they figured it out.

“With it attacking each other, will he be alright? He’s been missing from Amity for a while.” Red Robin frowned looking over his notes with the lack of sightings.

“You…do realize that the ghost shield is up and most of them probably evacuated to the ghost zone right? I know the portal went down before Vlad got me out of there too, so he probably is just waiting for Amity to open up again to help out.” Or, ya know, is trapped outside and apparently spent multiple weeks chilling in therapy.

Oh well, he had been a liability anyways.

“We could definitely use his help with it being his own people. We know little about ghosts and it'd do poorly to step on their turf unprepared.” Batman set to typing into some sort of arm communicator and Danny snorted.

“Definitely. If Batman dropped into Amity Park then the Skulker would very much try to put him in his zoo on an island as a personal prize.”

Batman looked up at him for a moment.
“Skulker is the ... metal flying man?”

“Ah so you've already seen him through the field nice! Yeah he sees the townsfolk as generic so they're not in danger of him, but Red Huntress and Phantom end up fighting them often. He's calmed down since he got a girlfriend, but put a new grumpy badass fighter in front of him he'll go nuts.” He beamed at the concern flowering over their features across the room.

“So…the people of Amity like yourself have become nonchalant about your hero often being hunted across the skies.
Would anyone know if he disappeared?”

“Probably Team Phantom, his support group that runs around with him. Might take them a couple hours but he hasn’t died any more than usual, so… but should the people be worried? They have work, school, and everyday lives that are disturbed enough by the ghosts, they don’t have time to worry about his extreme game of tag with one rogue or another.” He held the bit of a bitter bite back from his words at the amount of times he’d struggled to escape the GIW or his parents while townsfolk watched with indifference like it was a B rated action movie. He doubted he succeeded though with a perk of energy rolling over the room. It kind of sucked knowing when you got caught.

“Team Phantom? So he does have someone that can back him up in a fight.” Nightwing seemed to have a sigh of relief. Aw, he was worried about him! How sweet these bats and birds were.

“Well, yes and no. They aren’t fighters, but one is great at cover stories and the other helps with more technology based fights as his hacker. But he dealt with large enough threats and came out on top. As well, if he does end up trapped somewhere, there’s still Red Huntress, who would be happy with his being out of her way, and my parents! Expert ghost hunter ecto-scientists. Just…gotta hope they actually send the ghosts home instead of disassembling them for their studies.”

“Disassemble.” Man it was funny when they repeated him, especially the dumbstruck Batman, still looking perfectly in control even as worry spiked from him. They were a bunch of sweethearts! “Are they associated with the Ghost Investigation Ward then?”

“Damn, you guys are already researching those jerks? Yeah, my parents got a hold of a couple of ghosts known as ‘blob ghosts’ and based all their research on them. They guys are like jellyfish! No brains! And because one subspecies doesn’t have sentience, they figure that goes for all ghosts. And the GIW just went with it for their matching extreme views! Racists.”

He crossed his arms in a huff, blowing hair out of his face, then perked up a bit as Agent A slid a fresh plate of food in front of him and he sunk into it again. A homemade meatloaf with fresh mashed potatoes. He let out a dramatic sob and wiping away a fake tear. “It’s like a reward.”

“Agent A really does have the best food.” Nightwing was quick to agree, and he felt the buzz of acknowledgement across the room.

Danny beamed as he ate, careful not to talk with his mouthful to insult the older gentleman who was keeping an eye on him, swallowing hard between. “Thanks!... Yeah, it’s a pain staying ahead of what weapons my folks give them to attack the ghosts. Especially since they attack Phantom too, so I gotta go down and tweak their designs to make them much weaker. It’s terrifying when he’s midfight with a rogue and a GIW goon fires a bazooka at him, or an electric net, or tries to shoot his head off. They’re unbearable. And they don’t know how fast the town would fall apart if he were to just disappear into one of their labs. I mean they kind of do, they got him once, and the rogues remaining cost the town a no small fortune in repairs being unchecked.”

“Is that why you still live there despite your accidents there? Trying to help team Phantom and the other ghosts against the threat that’s your parents?” Red Robin again, head tilted like a bit of a puzzle was making sense, a jump in concern with that Phantom had been caught by them before for disassembly. Red hood to the back with his arms crossed leaning against the wall jerked his head slightly at that too.

“Yep.” He popped the p before chewing over another mouthful, fiddling with his napkin making sure he wasn’t leaving a mess. “It’s more meaningful than I can reason going anywhere else, and no matter how loud Amity Park protests them attacking the vigilante, they don’t listen, my parents and GIW both. All say that the ghosts are brainwashing us.” He squinted to the side with a deep breath.

“You seem to have a special distaste for them, not just on behalf of another.” The gravelly voice of Batman pressed, trying to dig ever just a bit deeper. Danny could take it, he had gotten weeks of getting comfortable talking about it.

He carefully moved away the tray of food so as not to knock it over, and moved to pull his shirt off overhead, hoping the center of their focus would be on the Y over his chest since it was the center of discussion at the moment instead of the ball of lightning scars. “I guess that’ll happen when they decide you’re not sentient too since you got a strong ecto-signature.” He could comfortably show the horrors from the GIW that before he’d gotten bitten he would’ve been hiding them in shame of his capture, his failure to get away. But it was never his fault, only theirs. He had come to peace with this from Dr. Crane’s help, and now saw it more as a pride of his survival.

The wave of anger and horror across the room was satisfying too. He was comforted with their outrage at his marks. He may have forgotten the layers of other scars littering underneath and over the top of it at the moment, but even if they did question it, he could explain it away simply enough with how often he’d gotten trapped in human form by Phantom’s enemies. Plus in that the GIW

had

caught him.

Luckily they let those questions die down for a more interesting one.

“How did you get out? Your parents vouch for you over the other ghosts about your accident or..?”

“As it turned out, they’d captured one of Phantom’s rogues too at the time, Plasmius, who was a lot more able to knock a few of them through the walls, and while he let other ghosts out, probably to have them his minions later, he let me out too, probably to put in a good word with Phantom… he

really

wanted to adopt him at the time. Took him a while to accept the no, and now they work together occasionally.”

“Plasmius? What does he look like?”

“He’s kind of rare in Amity so it makes sense you haven’t seen stuff on him. Kinda looks like a vampire, but in bright white and red. He’s dramatic, but entertaining.”

Odd point for a note of tension to drop from the room.

“So that explains why he’s been digging through almost every building of Gotham. He was looking for you as Phantom’s ally, not to finish your turning process.”

Danny blushed a bit, that was nice of Vlad, digging for him for multiple weeks.
“Where in the world was I that even Plasmius couldn’t find me for two weeks?”

“There was an older version of the Arkham Asylum that was partially demolished years ago, and it sits empty most of the time other than some desperate homeless getting out of the cold. Scarecrow had you deep within the sections of it.”

“Ha! That explains where he got the straight jackets from.” He couldn’t help barking a bit, before he knew it the second plate was finished of his food. “So…would it be alright to see Jazz and Vlad now? I know I’m already in for quite the lecture.”

“Being lectured for being held prisoner in a shut down Insane Asylum… I’ll talk to them first. No one deserves to hear that first thing being free. We’ll finish the last blood test, make sure that the stuff is completely flushed from your system and let you back to them. They know you’re secure for now at least.” Batman watched him with a soft frown he wasn’t sure how to place. “We…should really discuss your mental state from being isolated to only the Doctor though.”

Danny blinked a bit, finding his cheeks warm. Was he being called mentally unstable by a guy dressed as a bat and had a giant penny in the corner of the room. He wondered if he pinched that. Ha. “I’ve never been more stable, Sir Batman.” He quirked a brow crossing his arms. “As I told Jazz in the little video message, I feel great. I had a lot of issues going in there and… I’m more at peace than I’ve been in years.” He softened his face with the fondness of the doctor.

Red Robin walked over to the video screen, tapping at the edge of the keyboard, biting his lip hesitating at something. “He wasn’t as pure in his intentions as you may think, Danny. It’s… hard to have the distinction of the care and manipulation when you’re in the middle of it, and I don’t think it will be clear for a while to you all he’s done.”

Danny read at the tear in his emotions, like a part of Red Robin wanted to grip him close and the other to shake him by the shoulders and call him nuts.

“Like I said… I felt it a couple times where it slipped to what he’s used to with past victims, but I know he cares. I haven’t had… anyone… that looked at me that way in understanding and not judging a single part of my being.” He spoke softly, twirling his fork as he felt the sinking chests of those around him and a spike of anger from a couple from them. Nightwing and Redhood?

He watched as Red Robin glanced to Batman, who nodded with a grunt, and he rewinded in the video to right before he started to mutate, when the gas spread over the room and the Doctor as Scarecrow started laughing with his screams as the Bats burst into the room. Whatever their opinion on it, it seemed they were going to rip off the band-aid for him.

“What was the point of getting him intact again just to give him the lethal shit?!” Nightwing was flabbergasted, bashing his fists against Scarecrow's face, who laughed and coughed with the punch.

“Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want variables?~” He hummed in pitch to Danny’s screams. “He is my plaything…I can break him if I want to.” He bubbled with a smug nature.

The room shook with a feral growl of a cry tearing from Danny, his form bubbling.

“There’s a performance, such a good boy Danny!” Scarecrow laughed as they kicked him against the wall out of the way as they hurried to Danny as Scarecrow slumped, passing out it seemed.

They paused the video as it caught up to what he’d already seen.

Danny watched the screen as they studied his face, feeling all those eyes on him to the words of Scarecrow, he was contemplative. No one was that good at hiding their feelings from him, heck he even had a read of the infamous Batman. He hadn’t been focused on the feelings from Dr. Crane at that moment so he couldn’t confirm if he was being honest or not but…

It surely felt wrong. It had to be a lie. He wasn’t his plaything. He was Jonty’s friend. He felt his core unsettle at the dramatic display, torn on if the one person he’d finally let it all out to, the one he had trusted to everything had truly just seen him as something to pass the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was like watching Harley with her realization of the Joker, with his lies and her denial that they were something special. Batman could see the struggle against heartbreak in Danny’s eyes, fighting between what he was seeing and his personal experience with the man. His eyes misted one moment and blinked away the next. If they wanted to stop Danny from relying so much on someone that would talk about him like a little marionette doll that was to dance for his amusement, to stop the looks of soft awe they’d seen on Danny’s face just at peace watching the Doctor with his fingers running through his hair, they had to give it to him straight.

They gave him a moment to process, not breaking the silence, Red Robin who hadn’t been in the Asylum room at the time of recovering Danny clenched his hands, and he could feel the tense energy from his stiff stance, almost desperate to scoop Danny into his arms and tell him it wasn’t his fault. Batman was feeling it too, but he stayed quietly back, knowing that while he hadn’t had any time to process the other visions from the fear gas, he needed to at least have it start to settle that Dr. Crane wasn’t there for him as completely as he thought.

Robin had walked away, not comfortable as he still struggled now and then with his connection to his Mother, in his love for her and knowing how much she had tried to twist him to her ideal image, watching another go through the stages was not something he wanted to see.

Red Hood was unnaturally still, eyes trained on Danny, Batman could nearly feel the anger rolling off of him from it, it being his first time to see it too, to see how pure that trust had been and how easily Dr. Crane shrugged it off.

Dick had his stance as open and apologetic as possible, even through the domino his eyes were creased with the hurt for the boy. He’d had quite the manipulation on himself from Slade as well, being forced to work for him and having to take the lessons driven on him to survive.

Duke was off on his patrol, and the girls had moved away as well, since it seemed the feelings were a bit intense for Orphan.

Finally Danny just nodded in thought. The glaze of his eyes showed he had stopped processing it and just shut down from that line of thought, the same they’d seen in the video talking to Jazz. He blinked into the daze and smiled a bit pleasantly over to Red Robin.

“Thank you for showing me. I will… have to consider this for some time. Is it possible to get a copy of this video to watch again later? It’s…a bit difficult to take it in while being stared at like I’m going to spontaneously combust.”

The others looked to Batman on it, who gave a slight curt nod to Red Robin that made a copy of the full video onto a usb drive, taking a bit of time before he handed it over to Danny on a cord so he could keep it around his neck safely and not lose it, his hand gently brushing his in comfort as he handed it over and Nightwing giving his shoulder a soft squeeze, that Danny was either numb to or didn’t mind.

That was as much as they could hope for at this time it seemed. To stop a possible growing rogue partnering with Scarecrow, to let him see it as much as he needed to let go of that trust… even with how vulnerable this must make him feel.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I’m sorry, Little Badger was getting

therapy

?”

“That’s as he sees it… Scarecrow, or Dr. Crane has very excessive methods for when he wants to know someone’s fears in depth, but it seems that having the mental preparation of Dr. Crane's warning helped him to keep the visions separate enough from reality to keep together… but we can’t know from just a glance how serious the long term effects could be. He didn’t even know how long he had been out.”

“So…he could be better than before we came to Gotham…or some day in the future he could be just going about his business and have a complete breakdown.”
Vlad rubbed the bridge of his nose, fighting a throbbing headache to the information from Batman who had knocked on the window of the fire escape and he’d let in.

“Yes. From bits of footage we could spot of the interactions, Danny was drugged, more willing to give in to suggestion. His rest times to more sessions he wasn’t given much time to rest and be more in control of his mental facilities either. The bit of kindness from the Doctor was enough to keep him under his sway for any test he wanted. In addition he seems to have been more scared of what he was capable of with the vampire virus coursing through him, and believed others were safer if he just stayed put. So… don’t be too harsh on him. I would highly recommend follow up care from a therapist he trusts.”

After Spectra? That category didn’t exist. Danny wasn’t going to listen to his sister let alone himself or anyone else following this if he felt nothing was wrong with his interactions with the badly dressed villain.

He decided to placate the bat for now, nodding softly. “I’ll make sure he’s got time to rest, and figure out how he feels about it while away from the Doctor. He is an adult so I can’t force him, but I will make sure he knows he has the option and encouragement to find help.” He smiled warmly to the bat. A little irritated when he just continued to stare at him in the silence.

“The only other time he went to any form of therapy was mandated time with the school counselor, who turned around and tried to kill his sister within the two week period he’d gotten to know her, after she had been actively making him feel worse with each session and subjecting him to humiliation, so her hidden ghost form could feed off the misery of him and the rest of the school of having her explode right in front of him... So forgive me, If he doesn’t want to talk to someone, I’m going to be the last person to force it. We only in recent years started getting along so well. I’m not ruining that and pushing him away. If he needs help, he will ask.” He exhaled, getting irritated at the Bat just staring at him would do nothing for his future dealings with Gotham and Danny getting his help for Amity Park.

“He’s likely quite sensitive after how his sessions with Crane ended…If I don’t see he’s gotten help, one of my people will be coming to see him ourselves.”

“Great.” He turned to pour some tea. “So when can I expect the boy to be back?”

He was met with silence and turned to see just the curtains billowing softly from the window and an empty room. Man showed up dramatically and left the same way. At least he could expect Danny back soon. He messaged Jazz about the interaction, and started packing for their return to Amity, or to the castle in Wisconsin if it was going to take too much longer. He was liking Gotham less and less. The more time he spent here, the more it felt like the tall buildings were closing in around him. There was a reason even before going to Amity Park as a small town he liked to live in the middle of nowhere.

When he filled in Jazz about Danny’s situation as she stormed into the room following his message, she sputtered in indignation that they would dare prevent her from lecturing her little brother. He was glad he had the Bats as the buffer though for why to leave him alone.

“Well, either way, we won’t be able to get back into the Park until the shield is brought down and the vampires dealt with. You are welcome to join me back in Wisconsin, as is Daniel. I’m sure he could use some quiet.”

“Now that he’s healthy we need to get rid of Dracula already! He looked perfectly fine in the video he sent, if he was having trouble he would have sent some sort of hidden signal Vlad! Yeah more people are being recovered by the day, but you know as well as I it would go a lot faster with Phantom there! Soon as we get someone on the inside, like if Tucker can use Technus or something, we can get it down and dealt with in a number of hours!” Jasmine was packing her bags roughly, wanting to be ready the moment Danny was released to drag him back there.

Vlad glowered back at her, taking a moment to shut the window and returning his gaze to her with arms crossed. “That. Will. Be. up to Daniel. You may have been visiting from College and still close to Daniel, but you don’t know him as much anymore. As well it seems you switching back to brain surgery has relieved you of your deeper thinking of the psychological studies you used to obsess with. You want to throw someone who’s been drugged and possibly been brainwashed straight back onto the frontlines like some soldier so he can use Phantom who’s also compromised. There’s a reason that woman was more interested in your brother for Genius Magazine, as clearly it skipped over you my dear.” He smoothed his hair with them glowering at each other before he took a deep breath and headed down to the lobby, expecting since they bothered to tell him that Danny would be back soon. He got a drink and absently swirled it as he watched the entrance.

It was still a couple hours before he finally felt Daniel’s core nearing, and he stood straightening his suit. Seemingly he had been handed over to Wayne enterprise after Batman was through with him for the remainder of his tests, a company car from their building pulled up and a secretary pulled open his door. He was surprised to see and feel just how calm Danny was. It had been years of his bubbling anxieties over his parents, the fighting, balancing home school life, where he’d stayed a nervous wreck. If he were the waves crashing on the shore now in a storm, now there was barely a ripple.

Then there was the warmth that blossomed through their cores when he turned, offering a massive smile, and he thanked the woman before heading inside. Daniel saved him from the struggle to find out what to say first by stepping in and wrapping his arms around him tightly. They had been getting closer, but he still was in disbelief by the lack of tension, the open core letting his emotions flow to hugging him tightly.

“Are you alright Little Badger? It’s very good to see you again… I was worried sick for you.” He spoke gently as he hugged him back tightly, patting in his hair, glad to see the tear into his neck from Jack was gone, leaving only a silvery scar.

“I’m doing good, Fruitloop… I heard that Plasmius was tearing through the city looking for me… Thank you Vlad, for not giving up.” Feeling Danny’s core purr against his chest, he felt a pride in himself, and such a deep relief that he didn’t think it was just the Bats that cared he was gone. Theirs was probably because he was bitten, less worried about the individual than the masses. They wouldn’t know that Daniel was worth more than the whole of Gotham.

He stayed like that with Daniel for a moment, hugging him tightly, slight shake to his hand with finally just being able to hold him and know that he was okay. He welcomed his core open to him too with their moment, that they could know each other fully, that he really held none of this against him, and Danny just had gratitude and calm to his very being.

He finally pulled away after a moment, clasping his hand between both of his and smiled warmly to him. “I believe your sister is still tempted to lecture you on treating a human like one of the ghost rogues…would you like to get something to eat and hope she falls asleep to be calmed down by the morning, little badger?”

Danny gave another of his signature goofy smiles like when he had first met Vlad at the college reunion. He really had benefited from getting kidnapped, oddly, but nothing Danny did was typical. “That sounds good. I’d be happy to see her, but if the first thing she does is to tell me off or smack me upside the head I’m liable to smack her back.”

Vlad grinned and brought him his phone so he could search for where he wanted to eat. He looked like he’d been given some hand me downs with how they hung a bit loose on him, but for once he wasn’t going to pick it apart and insist they stop somewhere. Daniel was so open and so comfortable, there wasn’t a single thing Vlad wanted to change about their moment now.

Danny picked out an italian eatery, Bamonte’s, and was alright with their close space to each other going into a cab to get there, he even laid his head against Vlad’s arm, watching out the window of the city he hadn’t got to explore yet, and the popping high energy music coming from the driver. Vlad wasn’t sure now if he was quite as eager to race Daniel away from it, if he was interested in it and it brought them closer.

Perhaps the longer kidnapping had left more lingering than his core was humming about, if the boy needed to be close to someone like himself.

He let the comfortable quiet sit though until they were seated and ordered at the restaurant. They got a quiet booth by the window as he didn’t want his little badger to feel cornered.

“So…the…Batman came by the room earlier tonight… said you may benefit talking to someone more about your experience with Dr. Crane?” He offered gingerly, tucking in his napkin.

“They wanted me to talk to a professional, yeah.” He grinned looking over the quaint decor of the restaurant, feeling homey and very warm. “Before I met him, it felt like there was so much I wanted to tell someone, anyone if I could just trust them… they didn’t feel what I did from Jonathan though. He worked me through on things I didn’t even know I had issues with, or that they felt small enough I could ignore them. It’s not like I could talk to someone else about all the things I’ve seen but…he was different. If I was going to talk to anyone about it, it would be you Fruitloop.”

Not Jasmine, Foley, or Mason, but him. His professional strict table manners melted looking at him, everything about Danny’s body language was open, and the glow from his eyes that he would meet often with anger were willed with a happy excitement as it painted his baby blues. He puffed at this. It was overwhelming how much it warmed his fire core, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything. “Why…why me?”

“Jazz likes to shove it in my face with her success, she knows the best for her so she thinks she knows the best for everyone else. Sam pushed me into the hero gig in the first place where I needed all the help, and treated me like an idiot when I couldn’t keep up with it and had no idea what I was doing between it and school. Tuck’s sweet, but he’s always been envious that I got abilities. He wouldn’t think it was such a bad thing to deal with everything else as long as I’m able to phase invisible through locker rooms and into whatever event I could ever want. He would try but… you get it. You struggled, alone through everything to do the best with your powers that you knew how, and fought tooth and nail for your goals to come together. Then after all the hell we put each other through… you didn’t leave me.”

Vlad knew he didn’t mean the Fenton lab and the vampires, but that of the GIW, and his face drooped thinking how Daniel had looked, strapped, his abdomen torn open, electrodes attached all over him with not a moment of rest.

“There was no way I could leave you like that, little badger… even apart from your parents, there is no one who understands me as you do, my dear child. You’ve seen the moment I was created, an alternate world where I still wasn’t completely happy with Maddie as my wife, through follies I caused on my own, and supporting me when we faced bigger enemies together. Even if you never see it the way I do, little badger… I see you as my own.” Still offering the aura of his core open to the boy, he felt moisture in his eyes as it wrapped around him. He had accepted it. He was his mentor, his extra father.

Danny moved around from his side of the booth to wrap his arms around him once more, tightly, the bond solidifying and settling, boosting them both in the depth of their friendship and understanding each other, to be able to turn into a flawless trust.

Faintly he could feel the bonds with other cores Daniel had managed to forge. Ember’s fiery core felt like a sister, Kitty too. Clockwork was Grandfather to him, a warm embrace with a softness unmatched. Ghost Writer like the uncle who played up how much Danny irritated him.

He would be more amused with their connections and how he associated them, but he was too busy being completely enthralled that Daniel saw him as close as a father. That he so thoroughly knew him better than he had allowed Jack or Maddie to in his entire life.

Dinner was a blur, happily discussing some of the weird effects from the fear gas, and more quietly sharing his fears, even in that he’d managed to help him over the fear he had built of Vlad in his earlier years. Now

he

wanted to thank Dr. Crane.

They talked until dawn, ordering occasionally once they’d burned through the previous courses, fully indulging their high metabolism and overactive ectoplasm in their happiness of their bond. Vlad left a few hundred in tip for the servers for their troubles, and skipped on taking a cab, walking back. The early morning was much more peaceful. People headed to work, the crime worn out for the night, traffic was steady and sluggish, giving them the time to point out to each other the more intricate art and sculptures of the city that Vlad had been too busy diving through the buildings before to notice, and Daniel taking so many excited photos made the towering buildings less overwhelming.

He tilted his head in thought as they went down a more calm street, and Vlad gently offered the more worrying bit Batman had left him with. “Little Badger… Batman hinted that your… therapy… didn’t end well… could you tell me what happened?”

Danny sighed softly and he worried he pushed too soon as he felt uncertainty wash over the younger halfa.

“It’s…probably easier to show the video they gave me of my recovery… I’m not sure what to think about his last words about our bond yet. It feels like he’s messing with them, like I’ve done a million times to piss you off back in the day, but… The local vigilantes should know him better and were pretty upset and sure he meant it.” Danny spoke gently, tucking himself against Vlad’s side, the push of his emotions that much stronger than in the lab with their much stronger bond.

Hurt. Confused. Safe. Love. Pain.

Alright so was he shaking the man's hand or plummeting his face in? Vlad could feel Danny shutting down, wanting to leave it for now.

They headed back to the room after grabbing coffees, one for Jasmine as well. Waiting for her to wake up after setting it in her side of the suite, Danny and Vlad talked a while more. Danny, taking it more thoughtfully, curled up on the couch, having changed into fresh clothes that fit him, and pulled up Vlad’s laptop to plug the usb into. Vlad was fascinated at the way the vigilantes moved in quickly taking down Scarecrow as he bubbled in laughter. His lip twitched and turned down the volume a bit to Danny’s screams as he tilted his head as carefully as he could to listen to Scarecrow’s tone. He put on headphones to gently backtrack on each sentence, and hesitated as he watched the irritation of the vigilantes.

He gnawed his lip a bit as Danny watched him, waiting for his opinion, debating heavily on it. “I can see the issue.” He stroked Danny’s hair, sitting with him and sipping his coffee. “As they know him well enough…his words may be true. But he does have an obsession with fear, obvious enough as it is. And to have the Bat’s scared that he knows everything about you, may use you, and twist you to crime… well… that would definitely be something I would have pitted you and Red Huntress against each other for. Even if every word was a lie at that time.” He felt some of the worry slip off of Danny who nodded and leaned to him more, head on his shoulder watching him. “It may be just manipulation… I lean more towards genuine, though. Either way…I think you’ll need to talk to Dr. Crane and find out for yourself by studying his voice and body language carefully as well as his emotional state while talking with him. I can read ghosts alright, but you’ve always been better with hearing the human state.”

Danny sighed, deflating a little bit, but he was glad too, perhaps in that he trusted Danny to have sharper instincts than that. And how could Vlad properly judge how Dr. Crane had felt about Danny without seeing the other footage? Danny could be completely correct that he was genuine.

Seeing the topic getting too heavy until Danny would have the chance to talk to him, he switched the topic. “Do you think you’ll be able to face your parents again…after the…lab?” He knew this wasn’t a lighter topic, but Danny just nodded lightly, and slightly veered the conversation for something he seemed more pressed for, which fully surprised Vlad with its direction.

“I think once they’re cured… I have to decide if I can trust to tell them the truth, or to completely destroy the rest of their research. I need to protect the ghosts, and no matter how I try to stop them a little at a time, everyday things become worse from the GIW, them, and now vampires seem to like the research as well. I won’t be able to keep up much longer.”

“Even with my full support? I can think of a few things to lessen the burden.” Vlad shifted out a few papers, looking over contracts as he listened.

“Considering I don’t think they will take it well about me…it may really be better cutting off theirs and GIW support if you can. It’ll be a good time for you to draw back too. I shared with the Bats a bit of what they’d put me through the years and you could feel it rolling off of them to put a stop to that nonsense. I know it gave you the information to protect yourself, but it’s a loose end now to cut. And if for instance you didn’t know that I’d been captured by them before, opening up after spending time in therapy is a reasonable excuse as well.”

Vlad grinned a bit, sitting up. “Did you know that they tried to track us here in Gotham? Amity closed off to them. I suppose our signals were the strongest to them after that, and Gotham has already given them a warm welcome.” He grinned as he pulled up the pictures and videos of them trying to enforce their authority, and getting absolutely wrecked by common thugs.

Danny scooted in, looking over the damage and grinned widely at their shocked expressions.
“They got their asses handed to them fast.” He sniggered, head tilted a bit to a couple of them with their heads bashed in. “Pretty sure they came here because Scarecrow manipulated the situation to do so… after one shot of ecto perked me up against the vampire virus, he suddenly got a hold of a lot more of it and I didn’t get the chance to ask… Think those that survived will still all consider Ghosts as pure evil wanting to rule the world when they’ve never done something like this, even when well deserved?”

He was no longer quite the bleeding heart that even winced when anyone was hurt. He would be more ready to protect himself when dealing with them, his parents, or rogues in the future. While slightly concerned at the change, Vlad was far more relieved at it too.

“A number of them will. Those that saw their coworkers fall to humans. Between some leaving and the deaths, I can imagine they’re going to be asking for a bigger budget to get their bearings and set for hiring more recruits. It’s a wonderful time to cut them off completely… as well as having been such a contributor, I know others that invested in this that I can use the old Plasmius charm on them to dissuade their future contributions.” Who he would promptly make go missing once things were handled as well. No one needed them springing back up an equally shady organization after the fact.

Danny nodded softly. “Can even source their incompetence in losing so many hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment that’ll endanger the citizens of Gotham. They have no idea what they’re holding with those weapons, and it’s dangerous to see what other uses they find for it when they see it doesn’t perform the way they want it to? We can hope they just drop it, but for what they’ve got to face on the daily they’re probably a lot more resourceful than that.”

“A crime lord, Matches Malone has been buying it all up since Scarecrow got caught. He’s been monopolizing it, and his goons beat the faddle out of anyone who doesn’t bring him the product as they’re supposed to. He doesn’t seem interested in it as a weapon, as it's being sent constantly for deconstruction to the energy inside. He’s on the straight and narrow, as close as a crime lord can be. Seems to have an agreement with Red Hood of Crime Alley in protecting kids, taking out predators and pimps that don’t treat their ladies right. I’m sure he’d find it ridiculous to start going after ghosts for it.”

Danny nodded softly while listening. “If he does reach out to learn more about it, I hope Dalv Co. can reach out with answers first before they get stuck in their mind what the GIW thinks?”

Danny was even trusting things like this to him, Vlad beamed, ruffling Daniel’s hair, that he’d quickly found out he quite enjoyed with how his core purred to it. He couldn’t get over it, that the little badger finally felt completely safe with him.

“I doubt the Bats will be too comfortable seeing me directly dealing with the man even if I got the chance, but I’ll find a way to go over it as smoothly as possible. Now, you were planning on possibly telling your parents, and that it could go very sideways… how do you want to address the ghosts' needs to fill their obsessions? It sounds either way that we’ll need to destroy all their portal equipment.”

Danny grinned at that. “Oh please, you have a way more steady one anyways. And better control at shutting it when you don’t want dozens coming through. It could stay in Amity, or we can open it somewhere else, then we can both still have dealings with the Ghost Zone and keep my parents far away from it.”

Vlad could listen to his kid brag about his work all day. And by Fraid standards, a ghost's chosen family, that’s exactly what he was now. He nodded readily.

It was at this time they could hear Jasmine shuffling a bit, making her way to their common area once she had found her coffee. She froze, staring at them in disbelief at how close they were. At this point Danny leaned to Vlad’s side, his arm around the kid and stroking through his hair gently while they looked through the papers.

“Since when have you two been close enough for this?” She glared at Vlad accusingly, like he was taking advantage of her baby brother. Before he could say anything though he felt the bubbling of mischief coming off Daniel, and he let him take the lead, amused.

“The fuck Jazz? Vlad and I have been friends for years now. He’s like my mentor bestie.” He stuck his tongue out as he flipped her off, all the dramatics to his tone.

“Again, since when?! I expected you two to be getting along, hopefully a little better with your petty drama out of the way, but this looks way cringe Danny!”

Danny gasped in mock indignation, the mischief from Danny’s core making him grin too, sure he was about to do something to horrify her as he hugged Vlad’s arm. “You leave Vladdy Daddy alone.”

Vlad choked on his coffee, busting up laughing at that. “What did you call me, Little Badger?” He set the coffee down to hold his chest as he could barely breathe.

“Doy, you’re my ghost dad now, ‘Vladdy Daddy’.” Danny seemed almost as happy at his humor in it as he was at Jasmine’s horror.

“Please

never

call him that again! What are you even talking about?! Batman was right, you did come back broken!”

Danny had been about to comment sarcastically to the first part before his face froze in the smile, slowly blinking at her and turning his face up to her, the light bubbly energy of his core flipped off like a switch. She had sent the walls he had down flying back up faster than Vlad could open his mouth. “Vlad was there when I was being torn apart, and he was here again making sure I was alright before anything else. You want to never hear from me again, call me broken one more time. Go. Ahead.” There was disgust rolling through his core, an anger for his sister. He had probably leaned on to her more than a few times with fears of falling apart, for her to be his comfort, and her using those words against him felt quite targeted with how quickly it had flipped the switch for him.

She seemed at the same time to understand what she had done as the moment his face had frozen the bite had left her glare. “Danny…Danny I didn’t mean-”

“Yes, you did. You can play your mind games on others but I know you. I’m no longer your mock patient to try and diagnose with anything under the sun because I show one day of a bad mood or extra energy another day. So, I will be calling Vlad whatever I like, and you can go back to New York. Hope you’ve been doing consultations online to not have wasted your whole PTO looking for your

broken

little brother and saving some of it… don’t even try to say you were playing either. I can feel the contemptuous energy rolling off you every time you try to give me your advice.”

Jasmine bit her lip, a bit of guilt passing her face. “I get it… I’m sorry Danny. I crossed the line where you were obviously trying to mess with me.” Her voice was softer, gripping her coffee, a bit annoyed with herself for going so far with it.

“Good..now really Jazz, I’m alright. Vlad and I were talking about how to handle Amity Park going forward. If the Bats make contact with us again or we’re able to talk to Wayne Enterprise, we’re going to finish this up, but we need a solid gameplan. It does mean a lot that you were helping Vlad look for and care for me before I disappeared, but really it’s alright. You’ll be safer in New York.”

Just like that he had turned back off the hostility, but Vlad could still feel the miserable twinge to Danny’s core.

Jasmine nodded softly, looking between them again, and Danny shut her down on any talk about his sessions with Dr. Cane, budding her out of his business solidly, and keeping the conversation about Dracula and their parents. After a while Danny went to bed, while Vlad looked at the dejected Jasmine, sipping his coffee and working on the cut off for the GIW.

“Has it…seriously been years you two have been close?” Was she jealous of their bond now? Hard to win with the Fentons, wasn’t it?

“Only more recently for us to sit that close together…but we have indeed become more of a team and built our trust over years. You left for college, Jasmine…and things changed. You aren’t at fault for bettering yourself, but you can’t get upset that things didn’t stay the same.”

She sighed as she nodded, rubbing her head. “With Wayne Enterprises and Batman, I’m sure they can get a good plan to deal with Dracula since they did it before when Batman was working alone.”

“And if Danny wants a part of it…best way will be to fly to Wisconsin for him to be in recovery while we ‘get Phantom from the portal’ who with Plasmius will go back to Amity and be there as soon as Batman would allow.”

“You don’t mind vigilantes, members of the Justice League, knowing you have a portal to another dimension?”

“They know by now I’m sure, that I worked with the Fenton’s on it in college, and that my godson isn’t safe with them, that I know about his abilities and support him while he doesn’t even tell them. Saying I’m using it to keep tabs on them, protect him and the ghosts he cares about will be perfectly fine. Additionally, it would be good for a member or two to see beyond the veil if they want to to understand how deeply my dear college buddies have their research wrong.”

“That’s….actually quite a few really good points.” She tapped her knee, nodding and getting up. “…I’ll make breakfast.”

~~~~~~~~~

When he did wake again, Danny settled on the plan Vlad proposed, with the Bats able to meet Plasmius on their way out since they’d already spotted him around the city. Jazz headed out mid afternoon once they’d gotten the chance to spend some of the day together, headed for the airport, then Vlad made his duplicate, invisibly, and made a show of him flying in from a couple streets down for an excuse why he wouldn’t have been seen the whole time. Danny found it kind of funny spending time with Vlad and Plasmius both, playing some Uno with him. Watching him play against himself and sick extra cards and color changes on them both was hilarious. They played for a couple hours, easily losing track of time before there was a throat cleared in the room, Danny’s head snapping up, and offering a grin.

“Hey Nightwing! Want to be dealt in? These assholes are destroying me over here.” He laughed as Plasmius doubled his plus four into an eight for Vlad, him quickly adding four more that Danny had to draw twelve. “See?! They’re awful! Dead or alive, they’re all out to get me.” Nightwing smirked a bit coming over, curious to see Plasmius since he hadn’t stayed in place long enough before to get in an actual conversation with him.

“Looks like a blood bath! Just remember to make him pay for it later, but I’ll sit this out. Figured we should talk about Phantom and Dracula right?”

Danny hummed as he put down a skip, and got up to refill his soda. “Yeah! So we have another portal, Vlad made it and keeps it at his primary home in Wisconsin. We’re going to head there with Plasmius, then when he finds Phantom the two can talk about having help from the other ghosts to round up the other infected to get their cures, get out of the way, and cast some protections at minimum for the final fight. If their attacks are good on him though, just know the ghosts will want in on it. He messed with our town.”

“So, if Phantom agrees to it, the idea is a day attack to be able to keep the undead isolated until they can be gathered and cured? Old journals about it show that he was able to be taken out while sleeping during the day while asleep.”

“Then the others should be asleep too right? That’ll make things way easier to get the cure in them.” He sighed in relief, fluffing his hair. “I’ll make sure Phantom knows. I’m sure he’s been worried about his Haunt.”

“So… ghosts haunt a particular spot for a special reason?” Nightwing looked over in interest as Danny played a nasty hand to Plasmius.

“It’s a place they have a strong connection to when they were in life, or they can tie to a passion of theirs. It’s like the place where they can have a ‘domain expansion’ or something.” He chuckled.

Vlad hummed as he nodded with this, having to draw a few cards on his own. “Yes, Plasmius shares it with the Dairy King in my castle. They make alright roommates.”

“Oh, multiple can occupy the same area?” Nightwing sat by them, watching as Vlad and Danny seemed to be ganging up on Plasmius now.

Plasmius grinned at them showing off his fangs as he switched the colors. “It is easier when ghosts have common interests or relationships. For instance, one Ember McLain spends a lot of time with another ghost, Youngblood. A teen and a kid, they put on very dramatic performances that he works out his play obsession.” He kept more of a higher pitch with smugness to his tone while Vlad kept to the calmer deep gentleman tone.

“Or there’s Kitty and Johnny that are dating. They go everywhere together when he hasn’t pissed her off looking at other girls.” Danny plopped upside down on the couch looking over his hand, his feet kicked over the back.

“Some of them follow each other to the afterlife, and others meet after the fact and become pretty good friends. Or worst enemies.” Vlad offered, rubbing his chin.

“So…if ghosts are common enough to be on the news and run around needing their own hero, why don’t we see them more often?”

“Most areas aren’t rich enough in ectoplasm in the environment to encourage the forming of a ghost. A strong death and the natural energy of their dimension around them encourages it, and the more powerful a ghost is, usually the more intense their death was.” Danny squinted at his cards and tried to fling one in place, gliding over the opposite edge and landing on the ground, he pouted and he squirmed to flop on the floor and go get it, phasing it up through the table into place staying on the floor lazily. “Plasmius said he spotted one of your crime lords…Matches? Gathering up the weapons left from the GIW trying to come to Gotham… do you think he’ll be a problem?” He poked his head out from under the table over to Nightwing, a slight frown.

Nightwing smirked at that, shaking his head and a hand on his hip. “Matches just cares about the city. Soon as he finds out it won’t be a weird new drug for him to capitalize on or something he’ll probably lose it in a warehouse somewhere, the Bats and I will commandeer the supply, get it back to those it belongs to, such as you and your people. It's part of who you are, so it’s safer you know what to do with it right?” He nodded over to Plasmius.

Plasmius nodded lightly, a bit of a frown to his face. “There is a good chance… that the GIW dissected our people…and are using their very blood to attack their friends. Perhaps a small chance is possible that if their ectoplasm returns to the Ghost Zone they can find the cores we collected from their facilities and regather.”

A visible shudder went through Nightwing with the mention of their blood or liquified organs being used as the weapons. “I’ll bring that up to Bats. Hopefully Matches loses interest in the ectoplasm quickly. If we swoop in too fast, he could dig further into it.”

Danny nodded to that, he often had to be careful of new inventions of his parents, he tampered with it too soon then they’d notice and fix it quickly and suspect a ghost attack. He dug through one of his bags, taking out an earpiece and held it out to him, silver and green. “Well, we should head out now that we got you into the loop. Sooner we find Phantom and get him ready the better.”

Nightwing nodded lightly, peaking over Plasmius cards and grinned, plucking one for him, placing it on top that Vlad would have to draw four again. He busted out laughing at Vlad squinting at him accusingly, but playful, before he took off with a run out of the fire escape, grappling into the night.

Danny grinned over at Vlad as he put his cards down, clearly losing anyways. “I think they’re going to be awesome to work with.”

Vlad curled a brow as he closed the window. “I don’t know Danny. When I approached you this positively, I definitely had alternate motivations. While one may be cheerful like that on the surface, there’s a dozen things that could go wrong trusting them as much as you have.”

Vlad earned a deep stare at that, then a grin that came up to his eyes as he jumped up, pointing at him dramatically. “You finally called me Danny! No more Daniel formal bullshit, finally Danny!”

Going bright red, the older halfa swatted at his pointed hand away. “I've been toying with it for a while... though that’s not the point you should be focusing on, you know.”

Danny shrugged and smiled, poking at Vlad’s face. “It’ll be fine. Nocturne told me twice that the Bats could be trusted. One of the two I know was especially about them now because he said you wouldn’t like them.~”

“So you trust the dream demon over me.” Vlad clutched at his invisible pearls with a scoff.

“In your dreams I would make it a competition.” He grinned widely and Vlad groaned.

Cleaning up, they gathered their bags and went for Vlad’s jet, strapping in to head out of the city quickly. Once they were securely far away from Gotham, Danny grinned at Vlad, transforming to his Phantom form.

“Very well Danie- Danny… go ahead and fly around the outside but stay in the clouds. We don’t know what hero or villain air space you’ll cross into flying away in any direction up here.” Vlad sighed as he released Plasmius' clone to settle in his seat, glad Danny could let loose a bit and fly around the plane in freedom he hadn't had in weeks.

He smiled softly at it and kept half an eye on him for a couple hours before Danny settled back in.

The flight was uneventful, and slowly the jet settled onto his castle grounds for them to head over. They had to make a show of it in case Batman decided to look into energy shifts in the area to make sure their claims had backing to it, and they needed the access to more ghosts anyways.

Danny flew in, Vlad coming with so they could gather enough ghosts for a united front of support, wanting in part the bats not to just think they were “one of the good ones” but that the ghosts cared about their connection to the human world as much as them.

As Vlad was speaking to one of Walker’s men about a meeting, Kitty flew right up to Vlad’s face,
arms crossed and foot stomped making contact with nothing. “The hell Plaz?! We're locked out for a couple weeks and suddenly your Phantom's dad?!”

He smirked. “That's right. So as his sister, don't stay out too late with that Johnny,
and wear a helmet.”

“That is so not funny!!” She smacked at his arm, getting a laugh out of him. She huffed and looked him over. “Starting to change your look, old man?”

He curled a brow since her gaze seemed settled on his hair. He felt up at it, it had relaxed from the devil points and was more floating behind him, where he hadn't felt it around his shoulders yet so he didn't notice. “It's been like that for years… fascinating.” He'd have to look into it later, he'd never used gels or anything, he felt it was like the karma of his soul that did it to him. Was it something else? He shrugged and smiled. “We're going to head back to Amity from my portal in Wisconsin.
Danny made some friends that have a plan to get rid of the problem that is locking down the portal.”

“Danny told me. Vampires? Really?? The hell they want with Amity?”

“That’s a good question, but we’re not sure why they’re interested, though it's clearly about the Ghost Zone.” He frowned with a nod, understanding the frustration.

He gathered up some old hires of his, Walker and his men would be the most useful, and he was getting annoyed how stir crazy the ghosts had been getting and destroying his prison regularly for the hell of it.

Walker, who also was not pleased with how many of his guards had gotten peeled apart and used for GIW guns, and less pleased with their cheap knockoff suits of his own style, had shifted for ivory. He was not going to be compared to those discount rack goons, and he could terrorize his inmates with his rules, no help of the white intimidation needed. He was more than happy to come back up with the remaining guards, and prisoners, letting them out since he knew they were going to break out anytime anyways, calling it their ‘community service’.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny in the meantime had talked to Kitty, Youngblood, and Ember, before flying by he skidded to a stop seeing Pariah’s falling apart castle.

He squinted, remembering the crown over
his twisted form that Batman and Nightwing had to talk down, and flew right in, looking around until he spotted Soul Shredder, sighing and plucking it from the pumpkin, a burst of green light bursting from it, he held strong this time not to jump back, carefully letting go of it for it to summon the Fright Knight.

“Who dares disturb the rest of the Frig- Oh! Crown Prince! I did not expect you, my apologies for the brashness.” Danny blinked in disbelief as Fright Knight took a knee in bowing to him.

“I think all that time in the pumpkin turned your brain to mush Frighty… King Pariah is gone, and why the hell would I be the prince?” He gestured for him to get up, feeling weird that even kneeling the guy towered over him. Just wasn’t fair.

Now it was time for Fright Knight to look at him in disbelief. “Yes, I know the previous king has fallen…did…did they not explain what destroying the king's core in single combat means?”

Danny had an odd feeling about this, his face falling. “So…the reason for getting the floaty crown overhead when my brain was melting earlier this week..that’s…”

“The crown of madness must have been feeding off your death, and returning that energy to you.” He clarified with a nod as he rose by Danny’s discomfort.

“I got the position?? Wh- Why wasn’t I told about this? Shouldn’t I have been assigned stuff if I had to be king in training?”

“If I may, my lord. You still possess but a baby ghost core. No matter how experienced you are now, there is still much more to the Infinite Realms you must come to your own conclusions of before being asked to take up your office... though you should have been notified.”

“So… It’s like I get to be a European Neo baby that tours the world then later I decide what to do in taking over the old man's company?”

“That…I suppose is a close enough comparison. You have access to the power, but for now the bigger decisions will await you unless it would completely alter the Ghost Zone or other structures.”

“Well…damn I guess I won’t worry about getting a college degree then. I’ll just get a couple courses in political sciences or something? That’s… a lot.”

“I apologize that you were not previously informed. Perhaps now though it is good to figure out what you would like to do with the grounds? You conquered its master, so this lair is rightfully yours. Am I right to assume that you previously didn’t have one here in the ghost zone?”

Danny nodded softly, looking around the massive halls. “Right…so, I have an increase in power from the artifacts. It’s called the crown of madness though so… it comes with that side effect if I do use it then?”

“Correct. It should not be a power used often, lest it start to compromise your mind.”

Danny tapped his fingers together in thought. “If it is something that shouldn’t be used. I won’t use it at all. I’d like to commission a new crown, if I must wear one.”

“This… crown has been worn by the last three kings. It is a tradition… but as there was a different crown before them, I will make sure you get your own. Your core of protection would not do well with going mad, my prince.”

Danny nodded, focusing to force the crown forward through his ghost form recesses and snatch it off his own head in distaste, setting it on the display pillow that had housed it before. “I’ll deal with that when the new one comes in. Is it out of pocket, or do I have access to Pariah’s riches?”

“Everything that was his is yours. His lair, his riches, his concubines if you wish.”

Danny’s face snapped up in horror with a squeak. “C..concubines?! Ancients no, make sure they know they’re free, I’m not doing that shit.” He rubbed his head with a grumble. “Can’t keep one relationship, let alone who knows how many that I don’t even know about.” He rubbed his head. “I don’t have to do anything that they’re working on, but can I propose stuff? Put up bills to vote on and stuff?”

“Of course my lord. The coffers are endless as the king's pillaging was, and his high taxes, the earnings are yours to do with as you wish. If something is reasonable, I don’t see why it won’t pass.”

“Very well… for Amity Park, I want to set up reimbursements for the buildings that have been destroyed over the years that came out of the residents' pockets to fix. All damage but from the Fenton’s and the GIW is to come from here. I’m sure more than a couple college plans went down the toilet with needing to fix the houses. The Fenton's and the GIW need to pay for their own part. Myself seperately of course since this is from me.”

Fright Knight nodded and a quill floated over a parchment he summoned to take notes and draw something up. “Anything else, my lord?”

“Yes… I’d like for you and the skeleton army that was able to be summoned before to be ready should I call upon you to Amity. This time for its defense.” He explained the situation, and eagerly got the agreement of the Knight. He headed back for Vlad, Soul Shredder on his back to summon the Knight when ready, and nodded to Walker and his men with Vlad when they got to the portal, excited to get this over with.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was late the same night the communicator that Danny had given Nightwing went off. He was in the middle of dealing with Killer Croc.

“You know you can get the meds for managing your treatment from your doctor, Waylon! The steroids don’t help you!” Nightwing ducked a whole ass desk was thrown at him, and launched himself up to attack with a grapple wire to wrap around him.

“I gave up on getting cured! I still feel myself declining by the day. If I can’t get human again, I might as well embrace it fully.” Croc growled, smacking Nightwing against the wall with his tail as he tore at the hook before getting bashed in the head with his escrima sticks on either side, electrifying with his head in the middle.

“Fine, self love is important man I get it, but you don’t have to make that everyone else’s problem.”

He had a thick head, he could take it.

It took a while more to bash him down, answering. “Yo, this Phantom or Danny? Sorry I had to finish something up.” He cleared the police to come in as he walked away from the scene.

“This is Phantom! We found a number of ghosts that are ready and rearing to get the vampires out, we’re going to start flying that way now. I’ll make sure the men stay out of your way, and give you instructions on how to shut down the shield if we can’t find a way in.”

“I’ll fill in the bats, the last big batch of the cure should be arriving there tomorrow by truck, we’ll do our best to come in around the same time if Batman agrees, alright?”

“Got it!~ Nice talking to you, Nightwing, can’t wait to see you in person. And I really appreciate you guys working with Vlad and Danny. I…don’t know what else we could’ve done saving these people, probably would have taken anyone else months at minimum to make it from scratch.”

Nightwing smiled a bit. “I’ll make sure Wayne Enterprise knows. The ghost defense technology we worked a deal through Mr. Masters will make Batman more comfortable too, now that he, ya know, found out ghosts are more common than just a couple here and there. Plus, B had been the one to re-kill Dracula before, so that he didn’t stay dead kind of works against our credit.”

He heard a snort from the other end. “Got it, Nightwing. I’ll make sure he stays dead this time with your help. Anything else?”

“Yes, um…actually we did ask for some help over to you guys. Batman was concerned to make sure that we didn’t put our foot in our mouth asking anything stupid, so he summoned an occult specialist… just… make sure he doesn’t have access to alcohol in large quantities. He can be…excessive.”

“As long as they don’t call us ‘ecto-entities’ or some bull like that it should be fine.” Phantom snickered before hanging up, leaving him to coordinate with B.

“They got in working order rather quickly didn’t they? Think they’re that used to things getting that bad in such a little town?” Damian squinted at the put together information as he was suiting up.

“That’s right, demon spawn. Their news articles do have a few spots missing, but ghosts taking over the town, the town ending up in another dimension for a bit… a lot has happened to the place that they’ve worked to keep it all together, a lot of the time with very little warning.”

“The longest event I can see is a takeover of what looks like The Green. They called it Undergrowth instead, but the power seems formidably similar, and it took a few weeks for Phantom to get strong enough to take him down without hurting his hostages of plant controlled people, acting like his own personal zombie hoard.” Red Robin shuttered a bit, gathering all his printouts for the flight
in catching up with the truck.

“When we catch up to them, Red Robin, I want you to keep your cameras trained on Phantom, I want a good read of his fighting power, morals if they cross into the fight as well. Plasmius we already saw around the city so we understand a little bit of him. There’s a chance they will be fighting closely together.”

“Got it B!”

“We’re striking during the day so they’ll be in their lairs, hopefully all resting so we can get the cures in them with little struggle. I want as many people cured as we can before Dracula wakes up, so Damian, you’re the quietest, get in and drop the shield with Phantom’s instruction if he doesn’t find a way in before us, so the ghosts can provide backup and spread the cure out to everyone we can find.”

“Orders confirmed, father.”

“Nightwing, I’d like an assist in dealing with Dracula. Something tells me I might not be as fast as I was before adopting a whole horde of robins.”

This got him a snigger from just about everyone in the room, before Nightwing chirped back in. “You mean flock, B! I’m sure Hood’s going to be pouting about missing on Drac, but it’s hard for him to step away from the city especially with most of us going.”

“He and the rest will be alright. Orphan, Oracle,Redhood, Signal and Spoiler will do a fine job with the city.”

When the day came, B set with them into the jet, taking off once they made sure they had everything
to catch up with the truck perfectly to meet up with the ghosts at the edge of town.

On their route, Tim checked the surveillance that he had set up before leaving, catching some of it on the corner of one of the cameras, where a few pissed off ghosts were driving back members of the GIW, a couple guard looking ones caught in nets and others with a blast through them here and there. “Even with the town overrun and locked down they’re coming after the ghosts?? This is ridiculous.”

Damian peaked over at the screens to take in who was on Phantom’s team, that he recognised from the pictures before of news articles. Plasmius and Phantom served as distraction, gathering their fire towards themselves as the high value targets as another ghost seemingly in command of the guard ghosts guided them to behind the agents for a strike, apprehending a number of them and getting them restrained, their weapons destroyed with plasma blasts from the guards and Phantom.

“Phantom is performing non-lethal with the agents… How are those laws coming along?” Tim looked up to Bruce piloting.

“Has been brought up to Justice League for their takes on Meta Protection Act, then also brought up to Justice League Dark for that they are from another dimension and tied to the occult. Constantine saw my message and started replying fourteen times before telling me ‘don’t piss them off, don’t ask any invasive questions, I’ll be there’. He will be meeting with us when we get to Amity as well, finishing up on a mission with Zatanna or he would have been here last week, apparently to make sure we don’t cross the line. I assume he will be very much for the government staying out of their business.”

Dick snorted a bit. “Did you tell him we already were questioning Plasmius and a bit of Danny? Danny’s not a ghost but I’m sure they’d claim him, with how he mutated before.”

That was met with silence before a quiet. “He doesn’t need to know.”

Tim groaned as Dick burst out laughing. Apparently even Batman didn’t like to get lectured.

~~~~~~

Groaning as he pulled himself through a portal, Constantine stared at the absolute shitshow before him. There was a fucking tank aimed at the group of ghosts, all but a handful of them sporting wispy tails for ease of movement dodging around the blasts from guns and tank cannon alike, ectoplasm blasting everywhere. He almost wanted to just walk right back through the portal, but he knew the bats would be on their way, and a couple of the ghosts had already spotted him, as well as an agent in white.

The portal behind him dropped away for him to summon a shield with the agents firing one of their ectoplasmic charged weapons at him, covering his body and being pushed back with the force of it he growled out. “Sod off you twits!!” Twisting his hand for a magic circle in hand, he set off fireballs at them in rapid succession.

“It’s ectoplasmic scum wearing a human, like a suit! Focus some fire on him, Agents J and C!” The order barked from next to the tank, while a white haired ghost boy and a vampire knock off looked at each other in confusion.

“Would he be one of your new friends from Gotham?” The vampire blasted at one of the agents taking aim at the newcomer.

“Well I doubt Danny got to meet all of them. But pretty sure that’s the guy Nightwing said I should keep away from the liquor aisle if we end up fighting vampires in the store.” The white haired kid made a couple clones, one flying over to watch Constantines back with hands glowing green, taking a deep breath before casting out an icy breath to wrap around the tank to a block of ice.

“That narc! I know when a moment’s appropriate!” He squinted at the agents, firing blasts right for their faces. “Name’s Constantine, nice ta meet ya lad. Glad the Bats remembered ta at least mention me, cheeky ones they are.”

The kids clone grinned, throwing a shield up to his side with stray hits from another agent. “Phantom! The other heavy hitters here are Plasmius, Kitty, Ember, Youngblood, and Walker. Oh and if you have any electronics that wig out, that’ll be Technus. Shouldn’t be until we need him though. Same with Frighty, he and Technus are stored away for the moment. Today all ghosts should be friendlies, thanks for coming to help!”

He wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing they were so quick to just accept Constantine in, but he took to it, one of the agents getting in closer with a sword, he shifted with a spark of golden magic to behind them and strike them in the head with brass knuckles gripped in his hand, as they stumbled he kicked them in the back sending them flying towards the guards as they flopped on their face, leaving the perfect chance to get detained. The ghosts guards were a bit brash, rough handling the men, but he believed it completely reasonable since they’d been inches from getting their heads blown off just moments before.

Once they were off his back, Constantine summoned a group of three circles, enlarging them and casting down onto the agents and their tanks. “Keep a step back if ya got some tech you don’t want scrambled. Don’t need them calling more backup and wearin’ everyone out before we can even get inside.”

Phantom took a hop back, watching curiously and quietly as electricity sparked over the group, scrambling and shutting down the GIW equipment. “Damn that’s useful. Trying to grab every piece off of them is ridiculous, they even have gadgets on them that wipe dirt off their suit for the higher ups!”

“Prissy lil shits aye?” He smirked down, the guards taking the rest of them in custody. “Tech-magics like getting the answers for a test you haven’t studied for.”

Phantom snickered with an exaggerated wince to that. “Probably something I should leave alone then..cheating on tests seems to have extra consequences for me.”

Constantine curled a brow at him, amused and curious by that. “Good deterrent as any. If ya can avoid magic, it’s usually for the best. It’s hard ta let go once it’s got its claws sunk into ya.”

“I’ll keep that in mind then, I got enough on my plate without magical distractions.” The young ghost looked pouty at it though,finding the idea of the magic curious, and Constantine smirked.

“If ya do try ta get inta magic, contact a professional first please..don’t need a newbie hexin themselves before I can get to ya.”

The white haired fluffy ghost grinned at that. “I’ll keep that in mind sir.” He offered his hand to shake now that they had a moment.

One that Constantine instantly regretted shaking as he felt the energy of his aura wash over him, blinking dazed, and mouth ajar a moment.

Phantom seemed to see something too as his head snapped to looking at Constantine’s chest, confused, head tilting impossibly over enough to lay on his own shoulder. Likely at his tattered soul. He was lucky it was easy to figure out what he was looking at, because Constantine was having a hard time figuring out what he was seeing. A massive twisted form was squashed into the man, rows of sharp teeth, elongated extra arms, and a glowing crown twisting above it. The visage was more ghostly than the solid seeming boy before him, an echo perhaps of his past, or a barely contained future?

“What the fuck.” Slipped past both their lips at the same time, and a snicker from Constantine to follow.

“At least I don’ have ta worry having said it myself when we were equally as rude.” He smirked at the other, shoving his hands into his pockets to will the image to disappear. Unfortunately, now that he’d been exposed to it, the after image hung over him like a shade.

“Man, are you…are you alright?” Phantom’s brow furrowed in concern looking between his chest and back up to his face.

“Somewhat live ta fight another day.” He winked back to him, the idea of an undead eldritch horror of a kid both hit a soft spot and irritated him. Why hadn’t they worried about the kid the same way that he wouldn’t have such a twisted powerful death magic about him?

Luckily that got a snort out of him and he let the concern drop, though it didn’t completely leave his eyes.

“The Bats will be here in a couple hours, to get inside and deactivate the shield. No one within Amity can take it out as by now everyone is infected with at least a little ectoplasm.” Phantom gnawed the inside of his cheek, clearly bothered that he could do nothing but wait while people inside were terrified in their race for supplies inside their homes. Though he did see that those who had become vampires and were cured again were able to leave the ghost shield. Seemed the virus had eaten away their liminal abilities so they were clean. Now that wasn’t a fucked up contamination cleanse he didn’t think the agent punks needed to know about. No one as a civilian would be useful for getting to the home either to face at least two vampires guarding the shield either. It was for the best that civilians got out of there quickly anyways.

Constantine tilted his head to it in thought. Team cooperation was definitely needed with the bats for the majority of the mission, but they could get a headstart on it right? He scanned around before clicking to the lent comm from the bats. “I’m going ta try and sneak the kid in so he can help his people.”

Immediately he heard the sounds of protest from the other side before Batman got his voice above the others.

“Going in with just a few of you is an awful idea Constantine, wait.”

“He’s got a small army here jus’ waitin’ ta sink their teeth into the case. There’s a count of about twenty five here. We may not need ya for most of the vampire fights, but can at least get a jump on the portal so those tha’ can stand sunshine get their asses out and we don’t have the threat of hostages. I know ya personal experience with Dracula will be more important to the end.” He looked at the Phantom. “Where is tha generator?”

Phantom was lighting up to not having to wait as long, that clearly sounded better to him than anything else. “Fenton Works, Danny’s parents, who have the most ridiculous signs advertising the place it can’t be missed. Its power is down in the basement but it broadcasts from their emergency ops center on top of the building. I can get you to it, but I can’t touch the machines until the generator is down. Good news is that enough problems usually face their property that their neighbors moved out long ago. Shouldn’t be anyone in the immediate surroundings to cause issues.”

Constantine nodded lightly, watching him thoughtfully. “Alright, I'm going to try and jump with him and his buddies to the other side of the shield so they can at least lay out defenses for civilians while Phantom and I head for Fentonworks. Will do our best to not engage hostels.”

“You know that would be a lot more comforting if we weren’t hours away in case you do, right?” He snickered as the snark of their Red Robin.

“Yeah well, unless he’s moved from hypnosis magic over to confinement, it’ll be easy enough to get out of the way, and into the lovely sunshine of this town.” He squinted at the warm glare of it. Usually he had too much of a hangover to deal with the light output, but he was going to stay grateful to it.

“I got a short jump teleportation magic I’ll hop ya through with.” He looked to Phantom, who tossed an odd green glowing thermos to Plasmius, who tilted his head in taking it.

“You’re testing it before me, dear boy? How Sweet.” He smirked.

“Well of course Papa Plaz~” he sniggered. “If it works with me, I don’t want him to have to hop back and forth, so suck everyone else into the thermos for one trip. No point exhausting our new friend before any sort of fight that we don’t have backup for.” Phantom pointedly looked at him, hand on his hip, before nodding to Constantine and offering his hand out, who pulled him in, with a flash of the golden magic, and popping them inside the shield.

Phantom looked so relieved he might cry a little. Constantine wasn’t dealing with that and quickly walked right back through the barrier as Plasmius talked to Walker’s group and quickly sucked them into the thermos in a splash of green light that had him a little stunned. Then Plasmius just held his hand out expectantly like it was perfectly normal. And, well, shit, who’s to say that it wasn’t normal around here.

Grabbing onto him he quickly brought him through, where Phantom had gotten into contact with someone else and a woman in mismatched probably paintball armor, bagged black cargo pants and a pair of spiked headphones around her neck, a black mask pulled up to cover her mouth and nose, but piercing purple eyes were visible enough under a rough wolfcut head of hair came racing over, tackle hugging him that he was okay, sighing in relief.

“Last I heard you were bit! Are you alright?”

Phantom smiled and nodded. “Took a while but my ectoplasm ate through it. Sam, this is Constantine, the magic man who got me past the ghost shield. Constantine, Sam Mason, who’s part of team Phantom.”

Constantine nodded over to her as Vlad pressed another button on the thermos, releasing the hoard of ghosts that had been inside of it, bringing some surprise to the girl's face.

“I mean I understand Plasmius, but… Walker?” She seemed to cringe against the man in the ivory suit.

“He’s got the manpower to be useful, but don’t worry, he’s not our only fall back. Plus, we aren’t in the zone for me to be breaking his rules for once.” Phantom grinned and stepped back, reaching into his chest- into it?? Holy Shit. And Constantine could only look slack jawed as he pulled out a massive sword from the middle of his chest.

“Why…why do you have that? And..h..how?” His brow furrowed as he looked between him and the massive sword he held with ease. “That does not belong in this dimension!”

“How else is Fright Knight going to have some fun? He let me use it!” Phantom grinned, rolling his shoulders, while Sam looked relieved but more concerned as well. This town already had such deep connections to the Infinite Realms that the Soul Shredder Sword was easily recognizable? How did one dead kid keep all that in line?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny watched the horror over Constantine’s face as he didn’t question who Fright Knight was, watching a bit of the sweat clam to his head. He didn’t know who this tattered man had been dealing with before, but something in his magical studies seemed to have made the name recognizable. It was a bit grounding, getting the outside perspective to his everyday chaotic life. Therapeutic even.

He grinned as he looked at Walker and his men. “Alright, please guys, try not to terrify the already trapped people, work with Sam since she’s already been helping here to secure anyone you can once we get the ghost shield down so it brings down the home defenses, gather them as far into the safe side of town as you can. If you come across vampires, please take them into confinement until we get the rest of the cures in to save them, and keep them out of the sun.”

Walker’s men looked to their leader and when he nodded in confirmation to Phantom’s request. “What of the GIW scum?”

Phantom grinned, arms crossed. “Imprison whoever of them you like. Leave those that need cures long enough for the others to arrive for them though. I entrust them to your care. Also, while I’m thinking about it, Walker can I get a copy of your rules later so I stop breaking them? Solitude is nice for getting some thinking in but it’s really inconvenient. I always make a mess when I’m there anyways.” He grinned with a wink.

A massive grin spread over his face, getting a shudder from Constantine feeling the malicious energy of that, but who seemed to judge against speaking out against it. Good. He didn’t know what happened between them. He should at least wait until he knows before trying to play the bigger person. He had a feeling the bats themselves wouldn’t be so refrained.

Walker nodded and dispersed with his men around the town, setting their detectors for the ecto energy that usually came from Fenton tech weapons sold to the GIW, Sam squeezing his hand before she took off after them.

Now it was time to give Constantine his ride in return from his own. “I’ll fly you over. I’d use intangibility but I don’t want to chance the slightest bit of ectoplasm on you stopping you from being able to get through the shield. But I can at least make the trip as short as possible. Bridal or piggyback?” He beamed over under his fluffy hair.

Constantine chuckled. “Better than the super blokes who just grab ya without warnin’…I’ll go for your back so you can keep ya hands free if you need ta block someone aye?” With a nod he moved behind Phantom, who hoisted him up like he was nothing, making sure he was securely in place before floating up and taking off across town with him. He felt him stiffen when he saw the Fenton Works building, very likely he hadn’t pictured just how obnoxious the building would be. He took his familiar route, checking along the outside to keep an eye out for GIW agents, before he slipped his way up to the door to let him down, the shudders down in place against his ghost energy, he scanned along the doorframe with a shaky breath and followed the seams of the wall to a raised part by the window out of the siding, and fished out one of Tucker’s PDA devices that Vlad had managed to get ahold of when first passing out the vampire gear to the people, and he got it uncovered to plug into.

“That’s…a wee concerning you know exactly where that is lad.”

Phantom’s face burned to the open familiarity he had displayed but he shrugged lightly. “Danny had to sneak it into their designs and modify it so I could get through. Their portal to the ghost zone is important to sending ghosts home safely out of the Fenton and GIW reach. Only two other houses have this little port for me to be able to access in case of emergencies.” He kept his voice carefully steady as he worked through the program and shut down the protocol for lockdown of the house defenses, looking at him. “We can head up to the observation station to try and shut down the signal from there, or chance starved vampires in the basement to cut off its power more directly.”

“A fight with at least two occults ta flip a switch, or work through some programmin… fuck it, if we go for the easy route I’m sure it’ll end up ten times worse. Ta the basement..” Constantine lit a cigarette, making Phantom and Plasmius both shudder a bit that his mom would be smelling that once she came to her senses, but as he had been kind to hold his mouth shut, they did the same.

This time Plasmius took the lead, preparing a pink shield over their group as they carefully made their way down to the basement, Phantom taking the back so they could keep the magic user safely in the middle, floating along ahead and behind him, each with hands aglow.

It was very rare that Phantom or Danny caught a break, if he were in human form his heart would have beat right out of his chest waiting for them to pop out from any direction. They were met with silence, and Phantom lit up the room with three clones and their glow, careful not to activate more power to alert his parents that he was sure would have far more sensitive hearing than all their trips down into the basement to release ghosts through the portal had been before.

Constantine spoke quietly, not wanting to completely cut through the tension of the room. “It’s the middle of tha day…the ghost hunters should be asleep if they've been infected, yes? I need one of ya ta walk me through on turning off this power.”

Phantom could feel it, that they were both too invested here, and that Constantine would be picking up on that quickly if he didn’t already. Phantom moved over to him to walk him through on getting into the machinery towards the wiring while Plasmius kept watch at the base of the stairs once he and a couple clones had inspected carefully into every dark corner to be safe. Now and then he could feel Plasmius’s eyes locked in on him, inspecting him for something, but it was not something that he could focus on right now.

He put a hand to his chest in relief when the shield around the configuration went down, and he could feel it drain from around the town as well. Long as they stayed ahead of the vampires they’d be safe. No longer locked out, Phantom cracked his knuckles unearthily and set to work on his own, rubbing his neck as he took out a blood sample, opening a compartment in the side of the rig and removed a glowing vial of ectoplasm, replacing it with the other.

“Ehm…what’s that about mate?” Constantine peered over, his head tilting as he watched him put in for the analysis.

“Sample of Danny Fenton’s blood, filtered out his ectoplasm and most of his DNA so that the vampire virus is strongest. I’m putting a lock on it into the system to have that be what it attacks. He’s already cured, and while the ectoplasm weapons won’t hurt mortals nearly as much, it should be enough to keep the crawlies of the Fenton residence busy when they wake up. Hopefully Alucard if he took up residence here too.”

“You sure it won’t end up targeting the boy when he gets back? I mean it is his blood you’re using.” Plasmius this time was the one with concern, which Phantom snorted to. At least he was sticking to the bit of them being separate.

“Relax old man. Danny and I have been messing with the systems for a long time. I know how to pick a strain to follow. If I can target D- Jack's ghost flu and keep him busy with that then I can do this.”

He scanned through the data quickly again, templing his fingers together as he watched the coding flit across the screen for any errors, it still taking some time, it stretching into uncomfortable silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So kid…ya wanted ta be an engineer or something in life? This a lot o’ stuff to get used to.” Constantine probed softly, knowing better than to ask about his death, but watching the snowflake blaze through what he could had fascinated him. He blinked when it earned him a green blush over the kids cheeks instead.

He was quiet for long enough that Constantine didn’t think he’d be graced with a reply and was about to change the subject when Phantom quietly offered back. “I wanted to be an astronaut… watch the stars, fix satellites, meet aliens.”

He glanced at Plasmius from the corner of his eye, having his face fall with understanding. Regrets, lost aspirations of the dead.He’d had to exercise more than a few spirits that felt this too strongly, but these two seemed to have a handle on it.

“That takes a lot of smarts…makes sense you would study enough into everything you could. When you’re hundreds or even thousands of miles away from possible help, you have to know what to fix on just about anything in a jiffy.” He hummed as alluding to compliments of his intelligence had the snowflake ducking his head a bit embarrassed. “Ya know…ghosts or not vampires were more a Batman problem since he doesn’t seem to have properly ended the guy… maybe you can talk him inta a visit to the Watchtower for reimbursement.” He hummed, watching the kid flinch, the reflection of his face into the screen he was watching betraying a glow to his eyes with a sense of longing before he shook his head. “Why the bloody hell not?”

“I’m slowly letting Batman in enough to know who I am, and that alone is going to take me a while. I know he’s a good guy, as are the League. I can’t involve them when just by communicating with me they put themselves at risk for forceful containment under the Anti-Ecto Acts.”

That set a pit in Constantine’s stomach. “I only had a lil heads up from the Bats on that…can you elaborate?”

At this Plasmius cleared his throat, giving Phantom a break to focus on the test. “The agents in town are part of the Ghost Investigation Ward. They have determined that… anyone that may be contaminated with ectoplasm is to be handed over to them for experimentation and…eventually disposal.” Though he couldn’t spot any pupils on the man, he watched the flit of eyes over to the younger counterpart by a slight tilt of his head. His position was the same, focused on the screen, but Phantom’s reflection in the computer showed his anger, more of a glowing smoke trailing from them.

That was why he had been so careful not to let intangibility overwash Constantine, and probably the same reason Daniel Fenton had allowed himself to be held by Scarecrow, isolated for the vampire virus, and for others to avoid his ectoplasm if he did get out of line.

“Those are some shit laws mate, if they actually did pass those. Ya clearly humanoid, pretty sure you’d pass under the Meta Protection Act.”

“Protects Metas, aliens..but we’re considered dead, non sentient, and the only goal is to spread our evil.”

Plasmius smirked without humor to his face as Constantine stuttered to that. “We know. Counterproductive argument that doesn’t match up…they refuse to acknowledge that though. Bring it up to them and we're ‘influencing them and confusing them to spread our evil’.”

“Im goin ta need a drink just dealin’ with this…” Constantine rubbed his head with a sigh then started a bit, eyes wide. “The..other dimensions don’t usually take too well to getting torn apart for study.”

“That they don’t, good sir. Luckily their king is permanently gone, so it’s taking longer for them to get together on an agreement for how to fight back.” Plasmius hummed as Phantom seemed to finish up on the coding and making sure it was locked in, looking around the basement lab and glaring at a couple items before grabbing them and sticking them into his chest for later. That was so damn unsettling.

“Ghost King Pariah is dead?? That…that doesn't make sense without a king the Realms would become far too unstable. How is he gone?”

“Single combat…happened five years ago so if something happened to the Realms because of it we should know by now.” Phantom shrugged to keep casual but was avoiding eye contact.

“And…who beat him at the time?” Constantines mouth tasted bad and dry. Last one had been a right brute if understood by the stories. If someone had defeated him… they needed to know what the new guy was like.

Plasmius smirked over at Phantom with a hum. One that Phantom's head snapped around with an accusing finger at the man. “I wouldn't have had to if you didn't wake the bastard up trying to steal the crown off his head!” This earned him a snicker from Plasmius and a slack jaw from Constantine.

Shit. Oh fuck. The new king was a fucking child at best by ghost standards. And didn't seem he had shared that with Plasmius, or that they weren't yet acknowledging him as king for some reason.

Justice League Dark was going to have a field day, and so was Batman.

Phantom looked over, tight lipped to Plasmius, before to Constantine.
“Let's hurry out before anyone hears us. We'll have to be back here later when the cures arrive for the Fentons.”

A ghost king who had been trying to manage his people flooding into the real world and had been being regularly hunted by the creators of the wormhole for it. With a group of maybe three kids helping him.

That the Earth hadn't been destroyed already was a damn miracle.

He waited until they were out of the house and was sure that Phantom could feel his eyes burning into him questioningly.

Phantom looked to Plasmius first though. “Alright. We need to help everyone realize the shield is down and get them to their cars, and out of town before the fighting with vampires starts. You want to start on the north side of the safe area and I'll start south?”

Plasmius nodded to this, making over a half dozen copies of himself to head to that part of town while Phantom headed closer to the sound of fighting, taking Constantine with him.

Constantine was working up the courage to ask him about it, before the kid sighed like he felt it buzzing off of him. “I might as well fill you and Batman in at the same time.” He pressed on the comm to Nightwing, asking to be connected to the others so he could get it over with. “I ask that you wait in questions until Constantine gets his over with, I can’t have buzzing in my ear, on my back, and trying to defend against the agents.”

Nightwing chirped up a bit in confusion since he didn't hear the conversation leading up to it but they were busy mid-flight anyway so it wasn't like they had much else to do. “Got it Phantom,
connected to the others, we can hear you.” His voice as faintly as Constantine could hear it was patient and soft like waiting for a kid to tell them what was wrong.

“Although I was hoping you’d be waiting to fight until we were there to back you up.” Batman grumbled quietly. Constantine knew damn well he probably wanted to observe his fighting instead.

“Ghosts are isolating the vampires and making sure their space to cause harm is smaller, but those we’re being attacked by on the street while getting people to their cars are fair game.” It took a moment and a shaky breath from the phantom before he started. “I didn't know that fighting the old Ghost King got me the crown until literally fucking two days ago when going to Fright Knight for help, so now I’m Crown Prince of the Infinite Realms.”

This situation was getting more and more bizarre.
They didn't bother telling him he was the king for five years? Was that normal? “So… then about those GIW…” he was uncertain how to approach the idea that the infinite realms were going to be putting pressure on a boy king to destroy their planet most likely.

Phantom sighed as he carried him. “They've tortured myself and many others of my kind. I wouldn't be surprised if their weapons weren't made by natural ectoplasm of the environment, but probably from dissecting them…I have no love for the GIW. I don't plan on holding that against the whole damn planet if they ask me…but it has to stop. There are plenty of very powerful, very angry ghosts that have already been talking about storming the portals of this dimension and handling it themselves. The GIW is like a brainwashed cult.”

Being in close contact with him and the hidden form sharpened, he could almost see it curl in on itself with the weight of the new responsibility.

Constantine hated when anything had to do with kids, and while not all ghosts aged, he knew there were a couple subclasses that did. And the dreamy way he'd said he wanted to be an astronaut had definitely been the grandiose dreaming of a kid before passing. He had been likely a teenager dealing with all of this, and his core radiated how tired of it he was.

“Justice League Dark knows how dangerous it is to mess with other dimensions and planets. Along with major factions like the lantern Corps. We will get this brought up, and find out how it slipped through the cracks to have these Anti Ecto laws passed… are there more major instances you know that they've done to the Infinite Realms?”

He could feel the tightness in his shoulders as he held on with a scowl settling over his face. “They tried to nuke the Ghost Zone. Wanted to implode the whole dimension.” At this Constantine stiffened too, wide eyed.

“E-Even at the minimal levels that is extreme genocide! Who the bloody hell do these people think they are? And they cannot just unravel a dimension like that and not expect backlash! The infinite realms are the glue that keeps the multiverse together!”

Phantom winced with concerned bats going off in his ear, sounded like a few of them. He waited for them to calm before continuing. “Yeah the ancients weren't too happy about that. Managed to block it in the gate and the backslash into their lab was relatively harmless to the agents in comparison.”

“How long have you been fighting them?” he could hear Batman, concerned and angry on the other side.

“I first ‘went ghost’ at fourteen…I immediately went into vigilante style. They started hunting me that same year. By fifteen I fought the king. I've been escaping Mr. and Mrs. Fenton since I was fourteen, the GIW, and other ghosts.” He rubbed his head, brushing his hand back through his hair pushing it back as he set Constantine down in an side street near some fighting ahead, he got into a side pocket of a fanny pack on his side, giving Constantine an earpiece too so he wasn't left out of the conversation while they were fighting.

“Did you have any mentors?” A younger voice, stern though cut in. That was right Robin was in the flight too.

“My mom taught me some basic defense stances as a kid? Other than that the only one that actively taught me was to stop me from freezing myself to death since I didn’t know how to let the energy of my ice core. That was a couple weeks training. Everything else Team Phantom had to teach me with us trying it compared to superhero training in comic books, or I had to learn mid fight with my rogues to not re-die.” He snorted a bit at the end, but it was faintly bitter.

He'd effectively had no guidance into being a growing hero, and had to figure out so much for himself, but he'd been holding it together.

At least they seemed to lighten the conversation away from dissection and nukes.

“What sort of enemies have you faced? After a few firewalls on news of your town we found out about a few of them but none of the information really went into depth.”

“Hm…oh how about like a game? I describe one of my rogues and if you guys have a similar one we both say the names to them?” Phantom beamed, his tail where his legs disappeared whipping as he blasted back at the agents to get them away from the guard ghosts getting people to their cars.

“That sounds fair enough.” Was…Batman actually amused? He heard that little rise to his voice.

“Alright! Hypnotic music, Ember McLaine! Likes light blue and black” Phantom got into the rhythm of talking as he fought, sending blasts and placing shields.

“Music Meister,
green and purple.” Robin confirmed back.

“Giant green plant monster, Undergrowth?”

“ Ours would be The Green, or Poison Ivy when she wants to be a menace not on a date with her girlfriend.”

“Oooh nice! Pharaoh reincarnation trying to take over the world? We had King Duulaman.” the Phantom ducked under a giant electric net, and body slammed the agent into a wall, cracking it.

“That's specific. We got King Tut , a little unsettling.” Constantine could practically see Nightwing going wide eyed, chuckling.

“Oh I got one! Guy obsessed with being the best hunter! Mine is Skulker. He keeps threatening to have my pelt on the foot of his bed…”

“That's nasty. Your pelt? Who does that?” Red Robin gagged, almost making Constantine gag too. “Lobo is one of the best bounty hunters out there, so we'll put them in the samesies slot.”

“That bloke is terrifying.” Constantine agreed nodding thoughtfully.

“Oooh okay how about a clone meant to attack you, that's a complete sweetheart?”

“Wandering away from rogues, but Superboy. Or Robin's had a few clones made of him but not even the original is sweet, the rest kept trying to kill him.”

“I'll have to get my ‘Little sister' to meet Superboy! Clone besties!” A trilling noise came from Phantom, with a little clap, the idea that she wouldn't be alone anymore.

“Alright well that's a good connection at least! Happy to hear it.” Nightwing was relieved, sighing before stopping. “Wait a minute, who cloned you?”

“Plasmius.” he snorted as his eyes flashed, zipping in to slam an agent's head into the street, the other agents looked shocked that he wasn't pulling the stops as much as usual, even though they always put their all into capturing him. He rolled his shoulders as more of the vans in town were pulling up. “Cutting coms for a minute, Constantine, you should cover your ears, and I apologize in advance!” Phantom hummed out with almost a wince, as he disconnected from the comm line, inhaling deeply, Constantine decided he'd listen and he clapped his hands over his ears tightly as what felt like a thousand screams tore through the air around him, clawing through him, and Constantine's heart sunk with it the sound of his loves and friends dying with him not being fast enough, blinking away tears. Phantom floated up and aimed it down at the agents and their vans, the intensity of it tearing through the metal of the vehicles and driving them into pits in the ground, he stopped it with some ears bleeding and all the tech looked destroyed.

Almost impishly he tilted his head at the agents, swiping one of their pairs of sunglasses as they gripped their head in agony, before he splashed them with ecto discharge from their own guns onto their arms and stole green thick cuffs off them to lock around their wrists, feeding off the ectoplasm and containing them, before he beamed over to Constantine with a sad smile.

He didn't kill them, he gathered them up to be contained in the remains of their vans, and pushed them with shields to the far side of town away from the vampires. A blood trail scent to trace them through and draw them out of hiding.

Okay.
The vigilante could be a bit brutal. And part of Constantine was proud of that for him. Had to be hard for a young vigilante to lay down his boundaries. And managing to not kill those that tortured you? Especially with the strength of his grief through his scream. Seemed a bigger person than Constantine would be. Even that young he doubted he had near that restraint.

Then he clicked his comm back on. “Sorry about that! A certain power of mine ruins electronics. Anyways, oh! Dream paralysis demon?”

He continued on with them like that for a while, Walker taking some of the GIW agents while Phantom gathered others after beating the crap out of them, there seemed to be agents he recognized more than others, a few he kicked Walker's way which seemed to be those less angry at, while others were closer to being beaten unconscious by them. This theory was reinforced by those whom he showed no mercy were the ones spitting an ID name at him. He was still just a prisoner or experiment number to them. C1-TL5.

“Hey if you're going to use your pet name on me at least use the full thing ya dehumanizing scum!”

“What would that be mate?” Constantine slammed one back that was aiming for a cheap shot on Phantom's back, kicking them in the head when they were down. And he loved his steel toed boots for stuff like that.

“Contact subject one, threatening level five, baby!” Phantom grinned back at him, finger gunning in thanks for his cover, splitting his body in half to avoid a nasty massive weapons shot.

“You were the first ghost they made contact with? What's threat level five mean?” The rustle of Batman moving around his plane to grab something, probably to take notes. Phantom hummed.

“I mean yeah,
if you manage to get into their history, a dipshit millionaire decided to put a bounty on my head. ‘Inviso-Bill, the million dollar ghost.’ That brought a Scooby rip off, some weird 'eX-TrEme!' sports guys, and these jerks. Think they all expected an easy payday with a guy in a mask, and instead I was their version of first contact. My playing easy on them dodging around while they were bumbling idiots put me to the top of their threat level list. Plus, I've been a protector of Amity Park and it's still standing so that usually means I win. Think six is their highest threat level. I was level six before then. They demoted me when they actually managed to catch me.” He sounded like he was trying to look back on it and laugh but there was a strain to the edge of his voice, and in his eyes Constantine could see the building of anger.

Who knew how long he’d last. He was faced with the people who had broken him down and put his insides on display before him. He didn’t have an ounce of fear in him though, instead his death magic energy was almost vibrating in its excitement to see them.

“Ya trying ta get back up their ranks in threat level?” Constantine quirked a brow as he put a small hoard of them to sleep in a collapsing pile together.

“Oh I’m going to show them I’m an all new Category 7 if I catch them hurting one more person for their blind hatred.” Phantom grinned, eyeing another aggressive agent, he smiled wider and twisted his head around backwards to look at them, then the rest of his body to follow, earning him Constantine’s stomach turning, and the agent stuttering in their speech about ecto-scum.

“He sounds adequate for this team up at least.” Robin hummed his approval, seeming with the open nature of his powers Phantom had gotten one of them on their side. Just great that it happened to be the most feral Robin approving.

A small grunt from Batman as Phantom got a screech out of the agent before he burst out laughing, picking the guy up by the ankle, tossing him probably three blocks. “Hey Ollie, go long! Red Rover, Red Rover, sending jackass three right over!”

Right as Constantine was wondering who the fuck Ollie was, one of Walkers security guards had his head snap up to look what happened and raced to catch the guy as he was screaming through the air, Phantom giggling to it in little fits, happy to give them a real fear for once.

Things were settling as the bats reported in. “Headed to the edge of town with the cure truck now. Meet us there and show us where the remaining vampires should be.”

“Roger that, B! No way I want to deal with getting bit again today. That stuff drains me.” Phantom tsked, leaving Walker’s men to secure the streets as well as their prisoners on patrol, now that the most competent agents had been gathered up. He brought Constantine with him to go see their new company. Flying
to the edge of town he found himself among some of the bats, a big smile on his face.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Hi, I'm Phantom,
what's your favorite dinner food?”

Red Robin and Nightwing both snorted a laugh at that in surprise,
Robin looking clueless while they could see the faintest pull at Batman's mouth. For scrambling their plans so badly, he seemed capable. Didn’t help when they couldn’t tell him the plans beforehand.

“Batburgers are the go to, of course.” Nightwing grinned and offered him a hand to shake, which he took happily before looking between the others.

“I already was told about you guys so we can skip introductions on this end, I'll tell you more about my rogues as we get into town but just know they're friendlies today. They want the vampires out of town just as much as the GIW. The other batches of the cure seem to have been passed out by Sam Mason, and anyone they could get cured they did, and are finishing evacuating the town now of the citizens that can leave the shield.”

Batman nodded curtly. “It's going to be difficult, hitting every home left in town to get them out, do you have a way to know which ones are clear?”

Phantom beamed and took out an ancient looking PDA.
It sparked and dinged with lists of addresses, they'd been clearing street by street. “My tech guy started filing everyone's addresses as leaving town, he's got a check out system going to make sure no one is left behind…and…to check for casualties.” Phantom's face fell a bit at the idea before looking over to Batman again. “As for getting them out, I laid a lure that should get a lot of them out as the day gets darker. Got a pile of GIW, alive, on the safe side of town with a trail of blood from them and donations of blood that were expiring at the blood bank, to lure those that are a little more desperate out.”

Red Robin's eyes widened. “You just have…a pile of people as a lure? That are bleeding?”

“Not actively. They've been bandaged up, and they aren't left defenseless. There's easily fifteen men around them, and they are currently overshadowed too by the ghosts so they won't feel the pain of their injuries until they are processed. I've got people hidden in all directions to capture any vampire that approaches. Got the sunlight generator turned off too for now.”

“Why wasn't this reported earlier?” Robin sighed out, perplexed.

“It was during the time I was busy screaming at them and the electronics were on the fritz, and I forgot about it after.” Phantom shrugged, grinning as he floated lazily around them. “But they'll be fine.” He waved dismissively.

Red Robin cleared his throat. “May I see the PDA? I'd like to spread the address list to the others so we can get through this efficiently.”

“Sure! Just be careful plugging into it or synching anything, there’s some files on there Technus, our electronics rogue has connected to in the past, and you do not want him following you back to Gotham. He would love all the tech of a bigger city, and Gotham has some ectoplasm in the air that he could sustain off of for a while.”

“I’ll keep that in mind… you haven’t wiped it since he got into it?” He looked through the addresses, noticing the green and red areas of town.

“Unfortunately it’s also the easiest way to take down another rogue of mine in their current state. Guy stole another PDA and synced it to his robot suit. When he gets really annoying in our fights, my tech guy makes him polish his face while I shoot him down.”

“Skulker then?” Batman looked over the PDA as Robin brought up his own device and selected the neighborhoods still red to give them the list of addresses.

“Oh yeah.” He giggled a bit. “Though he’s getting better with some enrichment. I hide something silly around the town and challenge him to find it before my ghost dog gets it first, and the hunt is on. He’s just a silly lil guy~.”
Phantom cooed pleasantly.

“Why does it sound like the majority of your rogues you just play with? If you’re on good terms, why do they still cause trouble?” Nightwing looked at the list of addresses as Red Robin sent it to him.

“Ghosts have obsessions they have to fill. A lot of those can’t be filled in the ghost zone, and if they don’t sate it, they start going stir crazy so to speak. The longer an obsession is ignored, the worse it gets for them and everyone around them. It’s disrespectful to talk about someone else's obsessions without their permission, not that I didn’t totally already tell you guys about a few of them over the coms but… for instance mine? One of mine is protection. I have a deep desire to keep others safe, especially those close to me.”

“How could that become a bad thing?” Robin’s cut to his voice had faded, genuinely curious.

“If I had gone much longer without being able to protect Amity, or if I see someone close to me get extremely hurt, it tears at my core where it’s screaming at me to fix it. If this were to be ignored, I may start to fade, flicker out of existence, or, my obsessions could twist into possession where I cling tightly to anything that gets too close, and possibly shut them off from the rest of the world in my desire for no harm to come to them. That hasn’t happened to me yet so that’s a guess, but it makes a good enough example.”

Batman nodded a bit in thought, keeping that note in stride.

They got their list of addresses, and Phantom paired them off with ghosts for a bit of backup if needed. It was kind of funny having Batman’s plan go out the window so quickly, but in more than a couple fights, having the backup was incredibly important. Ghosts snatching the wrists of wayward claws for those that were awake and holding them back long enough for them to get their injections in, and Phantom accepted when Batman wanted Red Robin at his side, whether he knew or not that Batman was keeping an eye on him this way or not wasn’t clear.

Every now and then while they were handling a vampire, there would be the pop up of a GIW agent, going for a sneak attack on Phantom, who after the third time his eyes glowed dangerously, having more simply knocked out a couple of them, he kicked this one hard enough in the wall to leave a crack in the plaster.

“Enough! Oh my Ancients, I can’t deal with you right now PL! I get it! ‘Ew ghost, get rid of it!’ Maybe worry about that when there aren’t people trying to tear each other's

throats

out?! For being here supposedly to help public safety, you have zero situational awareness!” A growl slid out his throat, looking like he wanted to scream into a pillow or tear out his hair. He kicked the guy more lightly when they moved to roll up to their feet again, yanking their arms back and smacking the cuffs on, stealing their earpiece, and Red Robin shuddered at the line of staticy curses that slipped from Phantom’s lips. He was cursing out anyone left on the sight and probably their mothers too, before popping the earpiece with a bit of ectoplasm.

“You alright there, Bogeyman?” Red Robin looked to him as they got the cure for the other residents and dragged them out of the house to send with retrieval teams back to the evacuation site.

Phantom sighed, scribbling a note on a green post-it note and looked around, grabbing a stapler from their house and attached it to a small sack of what sounded like coins, before leaving it on the coffee table for them later. Damage costs?

“They say that ghosts are the danger to the rest of the world, that we want to do evil mind control manipulation and take over everything, which they have no proof of, if anything Ghosts have been more taken advantage of and mind controlled in the past against others and against their obsessions. Like Freakshow? Guy had a ghost mind control orb and had them robbing and attacking... When we are actively trying to save a town, dealing with an epidemic, they’re

still

treating it like we’re the worst possible thing in the room.” Phantom made a series of irritable clicks through his throat,didn’t even seem aware that he was doing it.

“Have the ghosts taken over the town before often enough to have their fears reasonable? Dissection and extermination are by no means reasonable, but the fear and unease maybe?”

Phantom sighed, rubbing his head. “The GIW has been here almost as long as I have, and not once have they actually saved the town from anyone. They try, and sometimes I have to save

their

asses. Dragon attack? Me. Town Mayor possessed, people on lockdown in their home? I stopped that. Ember McLain stealing the minds of the youth in admiration of a concert? Team Phantom. Stealing the minds of adults with sappy sleepy music putting them on a workout for energy or some nonsense?

High schoolers

stopped that! Ghost King yoinks the whole town to another dimension? Ghosts stopped that! Myself and all my rogues, to

stop

him from taking over the world when he was done with us! They have all this tech, they have killed so many innocent ghosts going peacefully about their afterlives, but they haven’t contributed anything real in six years!” Phantom took a deep breath, glaring back to where the GIW agent was being hauled off with the others to Walker’s care.

“Sounds like Team Phantom has been under a lot of pressure… were you unable to reach out?”

“At first we tried.” Phantom spoke softly, his anger leaving him. “Danny, Sam, Tucker, half their high school… they tried to reach out for help. Then when the Acts came into place, we couldn’t risk more government here trying to destroy the other ghosts. So they learned to be silent, and I kept trying.” He had a slower deep breath as they went to the next house. “I believe at the start it was another ghost that was stopping us from reaching the Justice League. By the time he gave up on what he was trying to do, we had already given up on trying.”

Red Robin’s stomach curled. A whole town had been left to their own devices, even someone that had died like Phantom was waiting for them to come, but they couldn’t get to them. They had given up hope that the relief shift would ever come. They’d gotten their own hero out of it, but he had just been a kid too. And not in the way that the Robin’s were. At least they had Batman to train with, to learn their boundaries and morals from. Phantom and a group of three teens had to be better than the adults in their lives and hold peace between dimensions on a knife’s edge balance.

“You alright if I show the feed from my mask to the JL members? You know by now Batman is going to be in on this, but while they’re already looking into the Acts, I know stuff like this is going to help.”

Phantom nodded gently. “If there’s anything specific I would rather keep to you and the other Gothamites, I’ll let you know. Just because Amity is my Haunt doesn’t mean that I would spurn the assistance now. I still have a lot of things I’d like to do once Amity is fully secured, and the Ecto Acts are gone. I don’t actually want to keep doing this endlessly.” He smiled warmly as he quietly handled the next couple vampires in their sleep before shifting them outside with his help again.

They were slowly spiraling into town towards the Fentons, sweeping through the layers. There was a tense nature to the air about going there, though Phantom glanced that way often, like he was mentally preparing.

“Are you alright, Phantom?” Red Robin frowned over him, and they sighed.

“Crossing the Fentons is always troublesome…they are on par almost with Red Huntress in ghost hunting…and now they're going to be faster,
stronger…more of a pain in the ass. She’s already a black belt and he’s already as big as Bane and probably as strong without the vampire power.” Phantom shuddered.

“If you want, we can leave this to a couple of the others… It’s clear from news outlets that the Fenton’s have a massive problem with you.”

“No…no. This is my problem to deal with, my town, my stupid ghost hunter par-.. ticipating idiots.” Phantom frowned, rubbing his head perhaps tired and having forgotten the word halfway in. Red Robin squinted at him anyways. He scoffed at this. “I don’t like it but awesome vigilantes or not I’m likely faster.” He rolled his shoulders as they headed in towards Fenton works. Red Robin squinted when he easily opened the door, though a ripple of energy tore through him like he was tempted to do something else first, perhaps out of habit before he just kept going in, his slight hover over the ground keeping him silent as his head whipped around, Red Robin following his line of sight to lines of slits in the walls, and scuff marks around the house.

Phantom moved carefully, trained for it to get through the house, making sure he didn’t set off alarms and that he had properly shut them down last time, before he scanned downstairs first, making sure it was clear, going through the basement and quickly locking up a number of massive weapons hiding them away in the armory and held a plasma ball in his hand and bringing it up to it to melt the lock so keys wouldn’t work, before starting back up the stairs, Red Robin watching him carefully in how quick and methodical he was at removing threats to himself before headed back up the stairs, still floating as he scanned through the downstairs, the garage, covering all the bases he could to making his way up the stairs.

Phantom looked haunted with the idea of going up the stairs at this point, his eyes hardening as he carefully floated up, prepared with a net launcher and the vials of cure, wiggling out the tension of his shoulders in facing the ghost hunters as he went up, eyes glowing as he carefully twisted the handle to one of the doors in the hallway, opening it as slowly as he could for it to not make any noise.

Inside, the green glow of his eyes was the only light to the room, Red Robin letting his eyes adjust since he figured from the other weapons they'd seen if he needed to launch the net or use one of his powers it would just blind him anyways if he used the nightvision.

The blankets had been pulled back from the bed and used as just an extra coat of protection against possible sun warmth leaking into the room, and in jumpsuits that now hung loosely on them, Maddie and Jack lay on the bed with their arms over their chests, Jack’s were on over the top of a teddy bear, held snuggled to his chest.

Phantom nodded to Red Robin, handing him one of the cures and gestured over towards Jack. It made sense he supposed, Maddie would probably be faster with her limber build, and while there were no feed tubes of bane venom to get rid of as a weakness, Red Robin had faced the
similar build before to understand a bit better at evading. If one woke ahead of the other one, they would probably fly into a rage at the others' screams of distress to their bodies unmutating. Red Robin timed himself to match Phantom, and while Maddie had faster reflexes to her sleep and grabbed his first wrist, he had been prepared for that with the vial in the other and twisted the arm up to push the rest of it down her throat the other hand, using his strength factor to hold her wrists away from it as she snapped awake. Jack simply woke with a slight choke midsnore as it poured down his throat, coughing and sputtering as he shot up at the same time as she did it being pushed down her throat. Swiftly she kicked at Phantom, sending him flying through the wall into the hallway, while Red Robin quickly jumped after him to get out of arms reach of Jack. They both started grasping at their throats to the burn of the cure desimating their virus, while Red Robin jolted to Danny being sent flying again down the stairs in a blurr of a darker figure.

“I’m getting tired with the meddling of spirits stopping me from solidifying my position.” A tall figure slid over the floor, almost floating themselves, their voice smooth and easy to be drawn into, and Red Robin quickly recognized the figure, flipping out his metal boa staff with garlic coating over it as he tapped his chest to alert Batman his location that they’d found Dracula.

“And I’m getting tired of bloodsuckers trying to take over my town! Get lost, the world doesn’t have a place for you anymore.” Phantom recovered himself mid air and launched himself back at the man, taking his assumption that he’d be attacking him to quickly scoop Red Robin out of Dracula’s range and fire a net at the detransforming homeowners, it wrapping around them he blasted a hole through their rooms wall, since it wouldn’t be as solid as the predictably reinforced window, throwing Red Robin outside with the gun so he could get them to safety. Red Robin was surprised how quickly he was manhandled and thrown around, but he grappled the edge of the Fenton building , attaching it to the Fentons themselves so he wouldn't tear something trying to support their weight himself on its other side, it taking off some of the tension from the line to smack them in the side of the house instead of the concrete below, before he withdrew it and let them fall, controlling his tumble to land on his feet, and promptly drag the Fentons to cover of shade as they fought the virus coursing through their system.

“Red Robin, are you yet able to report?” Batman’s alarm came over the com as he could hear them racing for his location.

“Dracula was taking up residence in the Fenton home. We got the cure into Danny’s parents, and then the vampire came out of nowhere and sideswiped Phantom. Phantom threw me and the Fenton’s out of the building and engaged Dracula inside. There is a...LOT of being thrown around going on in there and weapon blasts. The layout of the home is tight and complicated, it’s going to keep them fighting in close quarters.”

“If they’re both that strong, the building could easily come down on them. Hopefully Phantom can get out of there and wait until it’s an open fight we can assist in.”

Red Robin winced to the sound of yelps and hissing, before a bit of an unhinged laugh as Phantom flew through the side of the house, his legs wrapped around Dracula's midsection, his arm in Dracula’s mouth that was being bitten into, crashing them into the pavement while he pummeled into his face with the other arm, laughing with a spread of his own ecto and some dark almost black blood over him.

Jolting as he ran over that they’d chance landed in the shade. “Phantom drew him outside instead and uh… he got bit again. Drac doesn’t look like he’s having a good time with it.”

“Red Robin, we’re almost there, explain.”

“Simple enough bats!” Phantom grinned as Dracula recoiled from the ectoplasm, it smeared over his mouth and his gagging with a shudder. “My blood is beating up his blood!”

Dracula hissed and grew his claws out, slashing along Phantom’s chest and throwing him off of him to crash back into the side of the Fenton building. He hit his head hard but quickly got back up with a grin even as ectoplasm dripped down his front.

“Yeah it fucking ‘sucks’, doesn’t it!?”

“Such vulgar youth these days.” His lip curled in distaste as his eyes flitted to Red Robin, who was standing well in the sunshine. “He said bats? Batman is involved once again?” He sneered, both claws drawn out as he stalked Phantom against the building. “He will not stop me from retrieving my beloved’s spirit! And when I track her down, the lovely Jasmine will make an excellent host for her soul.”

“That’s what got you attracted to their studies?? Finding Carmilla?” Red Robin glared as he threw some silver to Phantom for extra support.

“That crazy bitch? You want to put her in Jazz?! Oh hell no fruitloop! You are way too old for her!! It’s bad enough Johnny tried that with her, but at least he was closer in age!! Ya nasty!” Phantom growled and threw himself back at Dracula, snatching the silver dagger from Red Robin, and drawing the sword from his back and summoning the Fright Knight in his rage, not needing the army of skeletons, but giving the Knight his sword to assist engaging with Dracula since he had nothing to bite anyways. Almost snarling as he fired plasma blasts at the man, a fury of plasma and claws as they clashed, Dracula not letting himself be driven to the edges of the shadows, they were soon covered in claw marks and burns from one another, before Phantom inhaled sharply seeing Batmans bike he’d brought
with drop off from the jet. A chill filled the air, frost going over the ground as Nightwing and Batman jumped off the bike, Constantine jogging over from a separate section of the town with a couple of the ghost guards, cursing under his breath as he dug into his pockets for some sort of artifact he could use for the occasion.

Right as Phantom was starting a frost breath at the vampire, he got struck through the side with an ecto blast, yelping out in pain and irritation as he flew up out of the shadows to look down for who shot him, Fright Knight quickly falling into the defense of his king, bearing the now flaming sword and holding it out to face attacks from the woman.

“Are you FUCKING kidding me?! I have had it up to HERE with you Madeline!” He glared down at the woman who had pulled a blaster from who knows where the hell, probably from Jack, and pointed it at him through the netting at him. He practically shook in his rage and… hurt? Red Robin saw the emotional pain through his features even as he held his side.

“Get away from Dr. Alucard ghost scum!! I don’t know what you did to our town but it stops now!”

“Mrs. Fenton! Alucard is a vampire who forced you to attack your son and is trying to get your daughter possessed by his wife, you daft woman!” Constantine spat as he found a device, started chanting as he set up a ward to prevent Dracula from going deeper into the shadows.

She may have been too focused on Phantom to drink that in, but the sluggish man popped up, ripping his way through the netting with eyes of panic. “Danny?! We…oh I..” He watched his face crinkle in horror as he remembered the night, instantly looking sick, before he swallowed hard and glared at Dracula. “What’s this about my boy and my Jazzy-pants?! No one possesses my baby girl!!” He roared, charging at the man, Phantom hissing through his pain and went in to make sure Dracula couldn’t bite him. Knowing the ghost hunter was a walking tank and force of nature he probably couldn’t stop if he wanted to, which their shared rage for Jazz seemed there was no want of that, Red Robin raced over as he lined up grapple lines against Dracula to trip and snag him up, slow him down for Phantom and Jacks attacks, while Batman and Nightwing were dealing with Madeline, Constantine lighting some matches and starting a magic circle around Dracula’s group as they fought, chanting to start putting bindings in place as he held an orb, it glowing and floating in his hand.

Although they had been woken up and put under major reconstruction to their DNA, Jack and Madeline were full of energy. Jack to avenge the hurt caused to his son and protecting his daughter, while Madeline was focusing on getting closer to Phantom and inflict harm on him, throwing Juden Shaken at him whenever she could dodge a hit from one of the two, which glowed a different shade of green to the ectoplasm. Nightwing and Batman closed in on either side of her, with a flick of the wrist each between them to send Batarangs to cut off the trajectory of some, while Fright Knight slashed away others, they kept up with trying to apprehend her, pretty sure Danny didn’t want to come back to Batman beating up his mom, they worked to disarm her. Fright Knight seemed stationed simply to stop his King from getting backstabbed as he fought.

Jack worked flawlessly with Phantom, despite having hunted him before, it seemed that they may have worked together on occasion. He may be unarmed, but being full of rage made up for that by a mile. He used every extra edge from the remaining dying vampire virus in his system to aid Phantom and Red Robin, driving him towards the edges of the shade, Red Robin having the grapple lines coated with garlic as well so when they sliced into Dracula as he dodged and weaved the two, it slowed him down steadily.

“You take advantage of our research! Bit my wife! You make me bite my son and attack my best friend! Then you try to steal my daughter?!” His fists came down in a flurry of hits. He came in like Solomon Grundy, bashing away at the man with a force to crack the asphalt. Phantom blasted Dracula’s face, keeping his mouth far away from Jack’s flesh, and sent ice out to his feet. Red Robin let off a chain of thick silver coated in garlic to bind around his arms and trap them to his sides. It was a bloodbath between Phantom and Jack pounding the man into the ground, before Phantom’s head snapped over to Constantine changing the tune of his chant, and he put his hand on Jack’s shoulder, getting his attention to draw him back, icing the vampire in place to draw Jack back with him, Red Robin getting the idea quickly as well and hopped out away from the circle as it glowed, going from a bright gold to the same green as Phantom’s eyes.

As soon as he wasn’t engaging the vampire, he saw his wife, fighting Batman and Nightwing, and hands up so they wouldn’t think he was going to charge them, he snatched around Madeline’s waist and held her tight. “Maddie! My sweet pumpkin loaf, ghost boy isn’t the problem right now! Let him be, we need his help!”

She scoffed with a headbutt but he didn’t release her, he held her tight yet so delicately, protecting her from herself. Nightwing and Batman fell into a protective line between her and Phantom to stop any other blasts, while Red Robin hurried over to Phantom as he lowered to the ground, leaning on a wall and holding his oozing side, the ectoplasm dripping from his shoulder, his chest, and thigh from the slashes of Dracula, and the gaping hole in his side from Madeline’s blasting gun, blinking hard as the adrenaline lowered, taking deep breaths, glowering back at the woman, clenching at the stone.

Constantine’s eyes glowed golden as he drew a scream from Dracula, intense light magic on either side of him, and his form retching at itself trying to escape the light while trapped in the ice and magic circle, before a red smoke pulled itself from his very being, the body shriveling back to slump a bit as the spirit was separated from him, and he channeled the magic through the marble thing, drawing it to trap it inside, where it grew bigger around the spirit, and became it, an angry red ball of energy that smoked faintly.

As Red Robin helped Phantom patch up, tightly binding around his body to stave off the bleeding, glad that the bandages worked on him, what he didn’t expect was Constantine to walk over to Phantom, looking grim and holding it out to him.

“My kids…are..are Danny and Jazz safe?” Jack’s voice was thick, Maddie blinking, seeming to come to her senses a bit more with the spirit of the vampire drawn away, met his eyes while trapped in his arms. He was looking between Phantom, who he knew, and Constantine who had brought them up, desperately.

Phantom smiled a bit bitterly back to the man, but a soft sadness to it. “Vlad had to take them both to Gotham to escape the madness and they worked out a deal that got Amity free of the vampire virus, and found the Wisconsin Ghost, Plasmius, who helped retrieve me here. Danny is still recovering after he apparently got kidnapped in Gotham for a bit, but cured, and Jazz is unharmed and safe.” He spoke gently with a bit of a fondness to the giant man. The massive man in armor seemed to draw something from his hands, or was it the air? He handed Phantom a purple ball of goop, though it swirled with green, and Phantom was grateful, nodding to him in thanks as his eyes glowed and he sucked in the essence, his wounds glowing a bit. So like the ecto shots, it seemed the ecto could be taken by other ghosts for healing too. Did it have to be willing? Vampire ghosts would be terrifying.

Obviously, they may be bumbling idiots of ghost hunting, but oddly enough they were

Phantom’s

bumbling idiots he cared for. It reminded Red Robin about how Batman could connect with his rogues sometimes in moments of understanding, of needing his humanity and the chance to change.

“You know we can’t trust Phantom’s word on that, and Plasmius?! If they’re working together that’s all the more reason to suspect-”

“Oh Madeline I haven’t attacked in ages.” He watched as the caped ghost floated over, and Jack looked a little weary holding his wife closer, but nodded to him. “Phantom has a tight leash on me now. We’ve come to understand how he doesn’t wish either of his sparring partners, or their children hurt. You could see me as a minor annoyance at this point.” Plasmius chuckled and looked to the other ghost who smiled fondly back.

As Maddie started to spit venom at Phantom that that was just as bad, Jack spoke up. “Maddie, Phantom has

never

tried to hurt us. He even stopped me from quitting ghost hunting by letting me capture him before.” His voice was gentle in it, and Phantom’s face drew up in surprise at him admitting it. Seemed this was the perfect point for them to finish an understanding of one another.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny rolled the soul core in his fingers when Constantine handed it to him, knowing what he needed to do, but still felt weird with the idea of eating it in front of his parents, especially with the fact that he was planning to try and tell them who he was really, if the right situation came up. With Maddie shooting him didn’t inspire confidence, he felt his core warm that Jack remembered their encounter when the GIW and others were first making a mockery of his dad.

“Jack, don’t you remember the road trip?! He was blasting all over the road, following us! That wasn’t innocent.”

“Cupcake, Jazz told us he was stopping that one that kidnapped us with the rockstar girl from making us drive over the edge, or drown, and many other things. Only the kids could see the other ghost so it looked like ghost boy-..Phantom… was going nuts on us. Remember?” He kissed her head as he softened his hold. “He got our town from the ghost zone back, he personally protected our family a few times, and stopped Plasmius from making a bigger fool of myself in front of the others when he became the million dollar ghost… If Plasmius is agreeing to Phantom that we aren’t in danger, I have to assume it’s true my sweet ginger snap.”

Danny’s core ached and his eyes misted with warmth. He was finally being given that trust he’d hoped so desperately for, and let it die to a wisp of smoke when he went about it realistically with Dr.Crane. He had a little more of his dad than before. He even was actively trying to respect him more using his name instead of ‘ghost boy I’ll tear you apart molecule by molecule’

But a little less of his mom, who wouldn’t stop glaring. “They don’t want anything but to control others and feed on our emotions! They aren’t even sentient you can’t trust-”

“What a fuckin’ load o’ rubbish that is, you quack.” Constantine lit a cigarette, finishing a casting to shrink the tree that had been shading Dracula in their fight, the sun burning away his body from within the ice. Sizzling it away into ash and Constantine crushed it so not even the skull remained. “How the fuck is something non sentient and want to do the things Phantom’s done for you today, or what the ghosts did to you in the past, or a bunch o’ ghost guards comin in an’ holding people long enough to cure them and helping

the

Batman to escort em out of town. Ghosts have saved ya life today, and in no small part because of this one.” He gestured to Danny, who’s chest fluttered with pride. Especially feeling the agreement ripple over the bat and birds.

“If this Vlad guy didn’t get these blokes involved when he did, your daughter was goin’ ta be transformed into a vampire more bloodthirsty than Dracula himself, his bride. That’s why he wanted your town to begin with. Because your research punched a hole through to another fuckin’ dimension, contaminated everyone here with death magic including ya’selves, and started drawing in those that crave that sort of power.” Constantine glared back at the woman, while Jack had the sense to look abashed, her eyes tightened with her conviction.

“And who exactly are you to tell us our years of research are for nothing?”

“Hellblazer John Constantine. I been getting rid of ghosts and demons out of our dimension longer than ya stupid portal has been running, and this spot would make sense why for every spirit I send to rest, five more pop back up! And when I say getting rid of ‘em, I do not mean dissecting them! Who’s bloody idea was that!? They don’t belong to your world, heck they don’t even belong to this dimension. Who are you to think you’ve a right to dissect whatever you don’t agree with? What, going ta try and dissect Superman next?”

Danny…didn’t have to say a thing. He didn’t have to yell and scream at them for their wrongs. The exorcist magician had that handled.

Justice League was going to speak up for them against the government, and Justice League Dark was here for Phantom. Against his parents.

He beamed over to Red Robin, thanking him quietly, who was finishing wrapping Danny up, relief and exhaustion rolling from him, he let himself slip to sitting back against the wall, taking deep breaths as Batman walked over, he could tell by the size of the shadow even though he’d closed his eyes.

He snorted a bit. “Aren’t you usually the one that does scary interrogations? Constantine is kinda the terrifying one right now.”

He heard a slight grunt, and a shuffle, peaking his eyes open to see Batman settle to sit next to him. He was too tired to deal with figuring out whatever proper hero etiquette might be, and let his head lull to Batman’s shoulder, feeling more safe with how he and Nightwing had his back against Maddie as well.
There was a slight chuckle from the former Robins, and he heard a click of a camera, but he couldn’t be bothered to worry about it. “Thank you B… for having my back.” He spoke gently, his eyes having closed again as tension left his shoulders.

There was a moment's pause before Batman responded, an arm laced back around him to rest on his other shoulder and let him rest against the seasoned vigilante, the gravel softer in his voice. “Thank you for holding out, protecting Amity Park while the Justice League didn’t know about all this… I know it’s a lot to have been put on your shoulders. You’ve done an admirable job... You aren’t alone now.”

If that didn’t just completely overwhelm him. He blinked open his eyes again, finding them blurry with green as he met Batman’s gaze.

He was grateful to hear the Fright Knight start up conversation with the Robins and getting them over to Jack and Maddie to assist their questioning of the scientist couple, their voices fading as he felt the tears slip down his cheeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shit. He didn’t mean to make the young Ghost Prince cry.

It was clear how overwhelmed the kid had been, the stress of the fight, being shot at while trying to save others, to protect the exact people that had caused him so much trouble. He had been brutal on the agents, but all of them had survived to his knowledge, and he had gotten his attackers out of harm's way as quickly as he could.

Before he could backtrack and apologize for upsetting him, the young ghost royal threw his arms around his bicep, hugging it tightly and burying his face against it, trembling and his breathing shaky.

It felt like with one of his kids, or the desperate cornered children in alleyways looking for someone to rely on. Someone to believe in, and someone that would believe in them back. The guy had died and came back of sheer will to protect others it seemed, gone against his new people to protect the town, and possibly the rest of the world, while being persecuted endlessly. Like Jason had come back to face the Joker, though not as solid.

He drew the Phantom into his arms against his chest, and hugged him tightly. The ghost Plasmius had floated along to the conversation of Madeline and Jack Fenton, piping up now and then in agreement with Constantine and providing answers Maddie was too proud to answer, or Jack too ashamed, but he stayed close enough to keep the corner of his eye on Phantom, making sure he was okay, as did the Fright Knight.

Phantom just clutched to Batman’s chest with the new position, ice cold breath against his Kevlar plate, hugging him tightly to the relief of no longer being alone.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It took some time to clean up the town, but the drive to be part of Dracula’s Thrall had died down with him. The remaining vampires were weakened and sluggish, much easier to cure at that point and once they’d cleared house to house, it was a steady return to bring others to their homes.

Phantom took the time to greet those that strung along back to their homes, and had taken note of those that had gotten damaged in their fights against the vampires to calm them, and he handed out money to those personally he hadn’t left it in their homes, while he alerted the others to how it rested in their homes with his apologies. For damages not by him though, he encouraged them to seek out the Fenton’s for their research bringing in something so dangerous to their community yet again. He even gave back pay from other fights he’d said that Team Phantom had been keeping track of for him once he came across the funds needed, and there were more than a few shocked faces. After all, being seen as a non sentient, dead person, it would have been pretty hard for them to sue for damages anyways.
Even as she came off of her high of the vampirism, Madeline was itching to attack any number of the ghosts around town, but any time she went to reach for one of her many weapons, the townspeople were booing and getting in the way of it.

This wasn’t an impersonal being caught in the crossfire of a rogue fighting their town hero; after all that they could blame it on Phantom for drawing in the trouble. All the blame was shot squarely on the scientist couple's shoulders.
Jack on the other hand, was still in support of Phantom, especially once he got in a video call with Jazz who was in her apartment in New York, and later Danny who said he was in Vlad’s mansion in Wisconsin. Hearing more clearly what he had done seemed to spring up a few new grey hairs for the man, and while he was just glad Jazz didn’t even know she was a target, he couldn’t stop the bubbling of tears when seeing his son and everything burned into his mind of his son sobbing underneath his grip, tasting the copper on his mouth, and had to take a break to throw up in disgust of himself, when the boy had been so happy to curl up to him the night before and watch a movie with them, not knowing that he had been looked at as prey, that they’d looked at the boy they’d raised and loved as something to pin down and force under the same control they were under.
Following the call, as the man was crumbling under the weight of his actions, Phantom came to see him, tentative.
Plasmius had been keeping an invisible eye on Jack and Madeline, to see where they were going to settle their relationship at now, and his passionate flame for Madeline was steadily turning into rage, that even without the virus, she refused to see clearly the extent of her actions. She just waved cutely to her kids in the video calls and continued on with her experiments for the ghost weapons, while Jack had the weight of the horrid actions directly on his shoulders. The man may be simple in his excitement to a project, and rash in ways that hurt others, but he felt much more deeply in his sorrow too. He may have been cleansed of his ectoplasm when the virus had ran through his system, but his passion was definitely comparable to a ghost.
Phantom floated over to where Jack was sitting in Danny’s room, on his bed, shaking and sobbing as he hugged Danny’s NASA blanket.
“Are you alright, big guy?” Phantom asked him gently, sitting in the air floating in front of him, that Jack wouldn’t feel his sons personal space was being disturbed by him. Ironic as it was.
Jack looked up to him, running his hand through his now frizzled hair, cradling his head. “P..Phantom… what…what do I do? He… Danno didn’t even flinch… he… he still was looking at me with such love… how can he look up to me when I hurt him so badly? My baby boy.” His voice was thick, wavering as he clung to the blanket.
Phantom smiled up to him, eyes gently, and carefully leaned in to rest his hand to the side of Jack’s face, providing the cold from his ice core to comfort the man. “He knows you didn’t mean to… and seeing your love and horror at what happened is enough to tell him that nothing will change your love for him. He’s proud of you for calming Madeline as well.”
“It isn’t nearly enough. That…that little bit and he’s alright with trusting me? I… I don’t know if I could ever trust someone who did that to me again. On purpose or not. He.. he was so small and light in my arms, it was like holding him as a five year old still.” He choked another sob as he leaned into Phantom’s hand, feeling the steadily growing throbbing headache, knowing he needed it to process anything. Jack probably never thought he would be comforted by any ghost, let alone Phantom himself.
“He felt that something was wrong when he went down into the lab, that you guys were acting weirdly… but he really misses you. The times spent right by your side, silly fishing trips, learning boy scouts traps, training on the Fenton equipment… he misses being able to be close to you... more just ghosts. So when you guys wanted a movie with him… there was nothing else in the world that made him happier.” Phantom cooed to him gently, moving to hug him around the neck, knowing the giant of his father needed more than a hand probably barely bigger than his ear could provide.

Plasmius was tense with worry, feeling how the talk was going, how dangerously close Danny was. Danny hadn’t planned to do this much, he could feel it by the core, but he just couldn’t help it seeing his father in such pain.
Jack sobbed and wrapped his arms around Phantom, taking a while to calm back down at how much his son had admired him, shaking and leaning into the cool. After a while his tears quietened, and he slowly calmed to a realization. Watching Jack think was hilarious and a nightmare at once. Especially in the situation here where it could be a big difference in what he was realizing.
“How… how do you know that Danny misses such things?” Jack asked cautiously, slowly with the grief still heavy in his voice.
Butter biscuits. He definitely was putting it together. At worst he may think that Phantom was possessing him and putting Danny at risk all over again. Plasmius floated silently closer, on edge, worried how it may go for the boy, and what it also may mean for his own identity.
Phantom smiled, carefully easing a bit back from the hug with his own nerves building. “Danny came to see me in the zone… to… ask that I come help you guys. He knew there wasn’t much he could do to help you, and that he needed me… that you would. I know you don’t want me to have anything to do with your family but it was a pretty desperate situation, I-” Phantom was rambling a bit, and rubbed the back of his neck in his nerves building.

That.
That movement was what made recognition fly to Jack’s eyes. After everything, the familiar movement of his stress quirk rubbing his neck in a moment of suspicion.
That was enough for Jack to know. Plasmius almost lurched forward as Jack reached, cradling Phantom’s face in his massive hands, Phantom’s eyes going wide in surprise at the movement as well.
“Uh… J…Mr. Fenton?” He swallowed down as his hands shook at his sides, the weariness of the vulnerable spot had Phantom high strung to going intangible.
“Danny…” He whispered, tears overflowing as he held Phantom’s face again with a fresh wave of horror touching them.
Phantom’s eyes went wide. “I…yeah I uh…talked to Danny, that’s what I-” he yelped a bit as he was brought in for another crushing hug and his shoulder being sobbed into.
Phantom was frozen, staring up at Plasmius in shock, stress, and confusion at what was happening, but as Plasmius made himself visible for his softening expression to show, he slowly eased to the hug and held Jack back.
“I’m so sorry, Danny. I should have known. Vlad was right I’m such an oaf... how could I not know?” Jack whispered as he cradled his son to his chest, waves of despair and disbelief washing over him in tidal waves. Vlad might not be the empath that Danny was, but he felt it from the wash Jack’s form crushed down on Danny, and the overwhelmed shock to acceptance that Danny felt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Danny could almost tangibly feel all hatred of ghosts melt away from his dad, his eyes smarted with tears overwhelmed by the raw emotion from Jack bearing down on him, and he soon found himself melting into the crushing grip, and a slide of the rings over his body to have his warmth hug to Jack. He could feel Vlad worrying about him in it, and Jack jerked a bit to the cold disappearing, but he was so tired, and the weight of the secret leaking out was such a relief, he really just wanted his dad.
Jack pulled back to see him as he slipped to his human form, and cradled his face again in his sobs. “I am so sorry Danny. I- you shouldn’t have faced any of this. How..how long have..?” He rambled and was in loss, shaking as he wrapped Danny in his hold like the hug had been a combination of the love for him through his entire life.
“I…I was fourteen.” He whispered as he rested into Jack’s hold, feeling the slight panic, but no pain that would lead him to worry for his safety, and they both took the time to calm down hugging each other before they were rested enough to talk.

It took several minutes where they would start to settle, then bubble up in tears again as Jack remembered one or another instance of the ghost equipment going off, or the times they had shot at him, before there was a growing horror over Jack at another epiphany. “Dad? What…what’s on your mind?” Danny managed to croak out, grateful that Vlad had snuck in a pitcher of water and a couple glasses for them, he carefully reached over and filled both glasses to comfort his dad, icing it a bit for him to help refocus his thoughts. He didn’t feel anything ill from his dad, but he was very glad to have Plasmius there in his corner just in case. He sent waves of Gratitude, Worry, Love, Care. over to Plasmius.
Jack gently let go of him to down the water and refill it almost immediately, sipping at the second one and fiddling with it. “When… the GIW sent us information about a ghost parading in a dead liminal body… and… your friends said that you left on a trip with them to go camping a couple months ago… the organs they sent us...” His voice was thick, lip trembling.
Danny swallowed hard too and downed his own water, carefully setting it aside. “I…yeah Dad…I… Wasn’t camping…” He spoke barely above a whisper, and he could feel Plasmius look away even while invisible again as he shrugged off his hoodie.
Jack held his breath as he watched, growing horror more and more realizing what Danny had been put through over the past four years, and especially more recently, couldn’t tear his eyes away as Danny pulled off the tank top underneath, showing the scars up his arm, over his chest, the blasts over him, the claw marks, the stabs, the lightning scar, and the damned Y line down his chest.
Danny fought the urge to hide his chest again as he felt his dad’s emotions plunge to devastation and terror. He stayed still, gripping at his pant legs.

The reveal wasn’t supposed to go like this. Jack wasn’t supposed to know about this until he had a support group behind him. He had planned on Batman and Constantine being in the know and being there to assure them that he wasn’t possessed when he did the big reveal, once he had gotten the Acts revoked that even if they were mad at Danny they wouldn’t legally allowed to do anything to him.
“That’s…you’ve been wearing baggy clothes since your grades started slipping… when you started pulling back. I..I horrified you long before the bite.” Jack whispered, eyes spilling over in their tears again as he pulled Danny closer with his secrets revealed, hugging him tight to himself and clutching gently in his hair, his whole form vibrating in its trembling, nearly chattering Danny’s teeth. “How…how did this happen…how did you…become Phantom?” He was slow to ease back and just hold Danny to his side, not to crush him in his stress.
It took a moment before Danny opened up about the day the portal turned on, about his going inside and pressing the button. He brought up a photo album Sam had made for him, and while he was careful to avoid the sections with group photos to exclude their involvement for now, he went over the pictures of his learning to fly, his intangibility, his sneezing and freezing a whole greenhouse, his giggling as he phased out of a locker and pushed Dash into it, his first fight with the Lunch Lady, the large collection of ghosts he’d fought, raging through the air or on stages, over the water, anything Sam and Tucker had taken of him.

Jack sat through it, slowly letting the guilt fade to the back, and an eagerness to get to really know his son flourishing forward, and take in everything his kid had been up to.
Danny’s eyes water as he felt the pure pride and awe that flowed off of his dad as he put the album aside, and looked up to see the smile that held all the love in the world for him. He curled into his dad’s side that he had been so prepared to miss the touch of for the rest of his life. They were both exhausted by this time, but content at knowing their bond was able to be mended.
“Dad…don’t…don’t tell mom please. You…you know how she is about Phantom. I…want to ease her into it when I’m ready. To be ready if…” He swallowed hard but didn’t have to continue, his dad wincing.
“To be ready if she’s still in the ready to tear Phantom apart molecule by molecule… I completely understand, and I’ll be here for you. Is… is there someone I can talk to about this? I’m… very proud of you Danny and I know you don’t want me gushing but…I have to tell someone.” He beamed down to Danny with almost puppy eyes, and Danny’s face softened from the stress about his mom to grinning a bit mischievous.

“Your old college buddy. You can talk to Vlad about it. He’s…caught me shapeshifting a couple times before fighting in town and helped me keep my secret in a way.” Danny could almost feel Plasmius sputtering about being roped into it, but it made him grin wider that the man wasn’t even mad about it. He wanted to gush about Danny too. And maybe in the long run, he could trust Jack with his own secret too.
His dad grinned, face lighting up like when he finally saw Santa on Christmas. “Vladdie! He’s such a good pal. Maybe we can start a collection of stuff about you. Now I know my son has been ghost hunting and has been so strong and brave, you can’t stop me from becoming president of your fan club.” Danny burst into giggles as his dad attacked his already messy hair in kisses and brought him into a hug into his arms like a little kid.

In the following days, while Danny got the ghosts to quickly head back to the zone through Vlad’s portal, now that their obsessions of the interactions to the world had satisfied them enough, he didn’t want them anywhere near his mom, and he let Technus back out to, talking with him and seeing if he was okay with staying close a while longer in case things turned with the GIW or his mom, who was perfectly okay with it, and he took him with him again on the flashdrive before settling at Vlad's.

Danny let Jack know he was at Vlad’s mansion in Amity instead of Wisconsin, with the request he didn’t bring it up to Maddie, and his dad was all too happy to come over and visit them, checking constantly to make sure that Danny was alright, making sure that his wounds from Maddie and the vampire had steadily healed until it was perfectly sealed again.

A week had passed with Danny at Vlad's, his dad visiting, the town being cleaned up, before Danny got the courage to pull out Dracula's core.
He toyed with it, rolling it between his fingers as he felt at the rage and hatred for everything inside. Guy felt like Pariah’s core. He swallowed hard to stable himself.
Pariahs’s core had come with the side effect of his crown and twisting into nightmare fuel. What was Dracula’s core going to do? But he had the power of a ghost prince now, and his protection core should be strong enough to prevent twisting of his mind from such an entity. He shifted to his ghost form as he sat on the bed, watching the whisps of red smoke inside of the orb swirl angrily. He closed his eyes as he popped it into his mouth, hesitating a moment with it over his tongue before he bit down firmly, crushing it where it melted and he could instantly feel the energy of it merging to his core, flaring up the shadow energy that matched Fright Knights. He held his breath and swallowed hard to not let any of the new power escape him. The power of bloodlust and rage from a four hundred year old spirit melded to his own, and he could feel the shadow sense of it twist his ice core with his space obsession, and he got a flicker over his mind that he loosely felt this is what a Pokemon felt when they were about to evolve. His core processing exhausted him, though he had been doing little that morning, and he curled back up into the sheets, eyes drifting closed as he went under, while there was the spike of worry from Vlad’s core feeling the change. He didn’t have time to think of it though, the rush of footsteps into his room fading as he fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vlad had been going about his morning routine, brushing up and spiffing up his suit for the day, when the slight nagging at his core of Danny being in discomfort started growing. He could feel that the younger one was awake so it wasn’t a nightmare. He started his light jog down the stairs, passing over a few stairs as he wanted to check in on him and see what was on his mind, before he staggered and almost fell down the stairs feeling a darkness plunge to Danny’s core, and it flared with energy. He was on full alert, sprinting down the rest of the way and skipped knocking on his door, worried it was a ghost attack he hadn’t sensed in time. There were no other presences in the room, but Danny, while his eyes rolled shut and he slumped, before it started to shift.
Danny’s form alone was enough for concern. He was in his Phantom form, floating off of the bed and ice had frosted its way up his skin, thick around him and holding a darkness inside it. As he got there it finished closing up over his head, and thickened its layer for probably a foot of ice all around him, encasing him like a cocoon.

Panicking as he had never gone through something like that himself that he knew of he shivered with the waves of energy that pulsed over the room, telling those not close to his core to back off. Not a warning but a threat, a promise that they would pay for it dearly. Vlad sent Plasmius clones down to his lab quickly to get a hold of any books he could think of, while he put on a thicker robe over his clothes to keep warm, not wanting to leave Danny alone for whatever was happening. He contacted Team Phantom on it as well, letting them know which room Danny was in and had a clone wait at the door for their arrival with coats.
It took about twenty minutes for Sam and Tucker to hurry in, confused why they were putting on coats but shuddered and leaned heavily into them when they opened the door to Danny’s room.

“What happened Vlad? What is this?” Sam demanded as she walked up to the ice coffin floating over the bed with a dark center.
“I felt his core in distress, and when I got to the room, he was forming the ice around himself as he passed out. I’m looking for books on the situation now, but there’s no sign that he was attacked. He was just uneasy then suddenly his core surged with energy.” A clone brought up a few books, and Team Phantom took a couple of them, scanning their eyes over it quickly and their own research that they kept on their PDA. There were hours of quiet with them pouring over the books, looking for anything that was similar. It was a long shot, Danny was already unique as it was, to find any history of another ghost core acting like this which may have to be a halfa core in the first place, it really was a long shot. Many cups of coffee and hot chocolate later with thick stews, they were no closer to the answer while Darkness fell outside. Vlad rubbed his head trying to think of other possibilities.
“The Far Frozen… the Yeti community? Their medical is strongest, we need to either get him to them or them here.” He finally said, making the young adults jump from the disturbance of silence.
“Of course! His Doctor, Frostbite!” Sam jumped up, smacking the book closed and pulled Tucker with.

Danny’s doctor was the chief of Far Frozen? Oddly enough that made perfect sense to Vlad. He nodded and made sure that they had enough layers, and a clone took them to the lab, to travel with them and quickly locate the man, while he stayed close to Danny, unwilling to tear himself from his side. He gently reached out his core to his. Reassurance, Worry, Care.
There was a faint hum of his core acknowledging it and it not being a threat, the energy increasing up some with the assurance that he was in a safe place to have received such comfort. The ice glowed but there was little other change.
Another couple of stressful hours passed before he felt the energy of the portal fluctuate with their return, and the new ghost in his haunt. He carefully tore his eyes away from Danny’s face, and in thought, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to fit in Danny’s room anyways, carefully surrounded his cocoon with a shield, and pushes it out the door and down the stairs with himself to meet Frostbite in the foyer as the two phased up through the ground with him.

Frostbite nodded to him wearily of being in the halfas haunt since they didn’t have the greatest history, but he quickly turned his attention to the one in front of him, arms full of books and odd devices. “Any idea what the Great One was doing before this happened?” He started spreading out his research and machines, Vlad with the clones bringing over tables so he had more work space to work with.

“No. He’s been uneasy about something for a few days but I felt that it was something he was not ready to discuss. Then it jumped this morning in his stress levels before it felt like a shadow stabbing at his core.” He paced a bit as one of the devices hovered over Danny and started a slow scan from the bottom up.”
“It will take some time to see what damage may have been caused to his core for him to retract into himself like this… for now, Vlad as his Fraid, you may stay. Sam and Tucker, thank you for taking me to him, but you should go home for now. I will have Vlad send word when something has changed in his condition or we have answers.”
The duo were peeved at that, but little else they could do when they had other things to catch up with in their lives anyways, and soon it was just Vlad, Frostbite and Danny left in the foyer, his clones leaving as well so there wasn’t the bustle going about in the house, he even messaged Jack to let him know today was not a good day to come over, just in case since he wasn’t sure what else in Danny’s life, especially about this being unknown, that Danny would want to tell him about.

Frostbite worked in quiet, looking over all information that projected from Danny’s readings, and Vlad hovered a bit at a distance to not interrupt as he looked over them as well, trying to understand the vast differences to readings he had had on the boy when he was younger. His levels were off the charts for what it had been before, and Vlad was a bit pouty at how much his core energy power had increased over his own. Not that he’d ever admit it.
“His energy has been fused with that of a shadow core. He had the energy of Pariah’s fire core before, and while his body had slowly been accepting the energy as his own to embrace it, today it was flooded by a new core energy, a particularly vicious one… do you know who it would have belonged to?”
Vlad blinked, and rubbed his hand through his hair. “The magician…he gave Danny something at the end of the fight.. it … was probably the contained core of Dracula…or Vlad the Impaler as he’d also be known. He had to fight him off to save his town. A vampire core mixing with a ghost core… will he be alright?”
“A soul is a soul. Vampire or not, it’s not that he absorbed his flesh and body, but his soul itself, so it will not matter that he was undead.” Frostbite flew his hand across his holographic notes, taking it in for Danny’s medical files about the change. “However, as the energy of Pariah had been only barely starting to be absorbed, the shadow and fire are now being merged to his core at once. There will likely be heavy changes to his ghost form with the acceptance of these energies.”
Vlad nodded absently, watching him. “How long will it be? That he is stuck like this?”
“It is a lot of energy to convert, but he is brim full of satisfaction from his protection obsession, and overflowing with ectoplasm. I’d give it until tomorrow morning and have plenty of food ready for his human half to absorb.”
Rest and food. Vlad sighed in relief, rubbing his face in his hands as he nodded. “That…is much better than I could have hoped for. Will he need time to adjust?”
“I would highly recommend giving him a sturdy training course to see how much effort he needs to put into his usual moves, as his hits will be all that more lethal. He may wish to go to the ghost zone and challenge an ancient that he’s faced in the past to get an accurate read of his powers without restraint as well.”
Vlad nodded as he took the notes down for Danny, his hair loose around his shoulders at this time as the stress made it where his hair back was giving him a headache. He made a list of those he had faced in the past, who he would be safe against, and how he could support him with Frostbite’s advice.
Soon after the doctor left, and Vlad maneuvered Danny down to his pastel purple lab. No point in making the bedroom frost over. He needed the comfort of a nice warm room and safety when he woke, not immediately being put on defrost duty. He set himself up on a hospital cot next to Danny, messaging the team about it being a jump in Danny’s power and that there was nothing to worry about, and that he would tell them when Danny was up and about, before he settled down there with him, a fitful sleep without it being the comfort of his extremely fluffy bed, and the smell of labs reminding him of his time after his own portal accident. But he got to sleep anyway, wanting to be as close to Danny as possible.
Waking up in the early morning before dawn to the sound of cracking ice, Danny exploded the ice out into tiny bits of harmless snow, slowly floated to laying on the ground, still in ghost form, but if he hadn’t been right there with him and attached to the core, he probably wouldn’t have recognized him.

His skin had gone much more blue, like Plasmius, and his green eyes looked like stars peppered through them.Silvery freckles over his cheeks, pointed ears. A pair of soft blue horns matching his skin curled in front of his face, where a slight dip of his head would protect his eyes with the horns. Black marks trailed down his cheeks and a matching one down the middle of his chin, his lichtenberg scars lighting up much brighter along his throat and down his arm, bright blue like his ice powers, and his uniform had shifted with the high ecto content into more of an armor in the same green glow, with accents of faded gold. The dark became a mantle over his shoulders, and attached to a cape that flowed back behind him with a swirl of stars on the inside, dark on the outside. The gold of the armor grew stronger around the waist and down to his knee guards before fading darker again.
Once his magical girl entrance was complete and he laid on the ground, Vlad carefully picked him up and brought him back up to bed, getting a mirror put up over Danny’s mantle that he could see his new changes when he awoke.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Danny woke up again, he felt like his size was to that of his human form, and he yawned as he sat up, going to rub his eyes and blink awake, he only found himself puzzled with a pillow stuck to his face, he felt around pulling at something to let it go and felt something attached to his head. He wigged out a bit, with a rip the pillow coming off for Danny to be faced with horns in his line of vision. Scrambling over and yoinking at them in confusion he felt as the rest of his head was pulled with it. He looked around in confusion and spotted the mirror, getting up and stumbled up to the mirror, and staring intently at his new features. How the fuck had one ghost core made this much a difference in his look?
Danny didn’t exactly want a refund though… He looked badass by all means. He brushed his hand through the dark fur over his shoulders, it reminded him of the Yeti fur, warm and he could melt to sleep into it. He studied over the changes carefully before letting his transformation wash over him and his familiar dark hair flopping over his eyes. At least the horns hadn’t followed him over, and his lightning scar over his neck wasn’t nearly as dramatic. He shook his head, making his way out of the room rubbing his head, going down stairs with the smell of amazing food. He found Vlad there, cooking with his apron on and his hair back, who grinned seeing him enter.
“Good morning Danny… now I thought your transformation process itself was extremely dramatic…now you’ve a look to match it.”
“At least I’ve dropped needing the catch phrase.” Danny smiled, glad Vlad had already seen it. “How am I going to explain that?” He settled at the island near him.
Vlad hummed as he served him up pancakes, bacon, waffle fries and a fruit smoothie, some set aside for himself as well he sat not far to dig in. “Your father may be a bit weirded out… we can skip over that you had to eat the cores and just…managed to absorb their energy?”
Danny sighed as he swirled some of his sausage through the syrup pooled on his plate. “Nah…It’ll be alright if he’s weirded out. I finally got rid of one big secret from him…ghosts eating each other's cores is a pretty big one. I would rather not take the place of the first.”
Vlad nodded thoughtfully. “Well…I will be here to support you then Danny. He should be over soon. You slept all yesterday so he will be barg-”
Right as they were talking about it, Jack burst through the front doors like he was waiting for a stage cue.
“Vladdie! Danno!” Jack grinned as he hurried over, hugging Danny and rubbing his head, then picking up Vlad in a big hug. “Are you guys okay? Was a bit worried when you said it wasn’t a good time last night…” Jack looked between them, eyes wide and earnest.
Danny smiled gently feeling the worry, taking another bite. “Yeah…the uh…magic man from the day I got you guys back?” Jack nodded that he was listening and stepped to the side other than to steal a pancake, Vlad bapping his hand but otherwise allowed it. “Well, he found a way to make sure Dracula can’t come back since he’s done it before. He trapped the soul and…the fastest way at the time was to absorb the energy by another ghost…” He fiddled a bit.
Jack nodded lightly, tilting his head and brow furrowed, thinking hard on it. “So…you had to absorb his…soul?”
“Yeah… and it was a lot of energy since he’s from like, the sixteenth century…he had a lot of death energy on his hands and a pretty evil soul, so it took some time to process it and turn it into my own form of energy…or…flavor of ectoplasm?” Danny felt at his feelings carefully, feeling the worry for him, glad he wasn’t too disturbed.
“I see…are you alright? Stories of Dracula are really dark…you don’t have to hear him in your head or anything right?” Jack kneeled to hold his face and make sure he was alright. Danny smiled, loving his decision to trust his dad more every moment.
“Yeah Dad…I’m okay. No voices so far. But I uh…Phantom got an upgrade?” He rubbed his neck sheepishly.
Jack’s face lit up and he backed up. “Really? I was starting to think that was only a Technus and Skulker thing! Show me Danno!” He rummaged through a fannypack on his side, beaming as he took out a camera.
It was really nice having his infectious happiness aimed towards him, and Danny proceeded to show off the new guy, letting his dad touch the horns, feel at the pointed ears and his lil fangs in adornment, complete with dramatic poses for the camera, all three of them catching themselves in the laughter.
“Careful with capes son! Good way to get tangled up! But it looks great kiddo!” Jack beamed and hugged him tight again.
Danny beamed and hugged him back, letting some of his own crushing strength to hug him back just as tight.
“Compared to the rest of it… I believe your head needs some accessories, Danny. Everything else has some dramatic flair, then your head has the dramatic horns, but nothing on them…” Vlad hummed as he ate, tilting his head thoughtfully.
Danny laughed lightly. “It’s okay, I got a headpiece being commissioned actually, I’ll just ask for a little something to be worked in to make the horns stand out a little better too.”
“I’m glad that you have something to protect your face now.” Jack nodded and poked one of his horns listening as Vlad spoke. “It’ll probably take time to get used to that being in your line of sight to not let it become a blind spot,but I’m sure it will quickly become a strength.”
Jack smiled as he got in his stuff and took a reading, beaming pleased over Danny. “Your ecto signature has changed!
The GIW won’t know what to make of you.” The wave of relief from his dad eased Danny as well. They wouldn’t know what to do with Phantom, especially with having two different energies merge with his core. He’d probably be getting new powers from this!
Vlad’s core sent Amusement. Pleased. Curious. Back over to Danny’s excited energy. “Your doctor recommended we take you through some training tests, making sure everything is working alright. You ate the energy of a fire core and a shadow core. It could build on what you could already do, or it may change all of your powers to their base functions. We need to know before you end up in a fight.”
“Doctor?” Jack blinked, looking confused. “Danny doesn’t have a doc- oh fudge! Who’s been helping you every time you got hurt Danno?!”

Danny smiled, putting his hands up placatingly. “I have a support team here and in the ghost zone dad… I have a ghost doctor, his name is Frostbite, and he is the coolest Yeti ever.”
His dad gaped and almost shook in excitement and relief that Danny was being taken care of. And it was by a fricken Yeti!

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Danny thought about leaving Team Phantom out of it until he was trained, their surprise would be hilarious, but he was so happy to have a growing support group.

Jonathan was there for him first, then Vlad, Constantine and Batman, and finally someone he wanted in his corner for so long, his dad. He finally had his dad back.

He invited Sam and Tucker over to see his new form, who were confused at Jack being there at the same time, and alarmed when he switched, but the absolute joy and hollering from his dad eased their concerns into surprise. They inspected his form much the same way as his dad had, which Danny was happy to show it off and let them touch at his horns and ears, cackling when Sam whispered he had to be careful of Tucker getting a crush on him, the monsterfucker that he was.

Training went from Vlad’s gym, to the Far Frozen, and Danny could feel that it was all just that much more powerful. He broke more than a couple doors while he worked on his grip in human form, and in a willing spar with Undergrowth in the Ghost Zone, he was able to ice and roast his ass at the same time, though it was easier using one then switching, he slowly got it together for both at once, even forcing the energies towards each other and then to shoot out like a blistering steam. It made great for some fast coverage, and to warm up the area. Wasn’t the best against Undergrowth, but good to know anyways. Along with his powers staying the same, he did get new ones.

He somewhat wondered if he was going to get hypnotism from Dracula but that was a dud. Instead he felt a manipulation of the shadow core where he could pull and twist the shadows of things further away from him instead of having to have direct contact in order to turn someone invisible. If it was a bright place, welp, for now he was out of luck on that. Pariah’s core seemed to have increased the heat of his ecto-blasts, and his core strength, endurance, but that was it for power base. His was more the physical changes to his ghost form.

Unfortunately, this seemed to be the most interesting problem for the Team.

“There’s no way he can keep the same name! You see a tall bulking monstrosity looking down at you past their horns,in all regal glory and he introduces himself ‘Phantom’? Nah it was cool for High School, straightforward and to the point, but for this? He needs something equally intimidating.” Tucker's arms were crossed, squinting at Sam, who rolled her eyes.

“Why not just call him His Majesty and just leave it at that? He’s got enough of a snob air to him, it'll click nice.”

Danny blinked, looking over.
“Snob?! How do I give the impression of that? And absolutely no way am I going to be called that! It’s weird enough being called Crown Prince or O Great One. I can’t have you guys treating me differently now too.”

“I know! How about ‘Pale Death?’ Because I love you, but that form you look like you have Hypothermia.
It scares me. I keep wanting to go get you a blanket.” Jack ruffled Danny’s hair with a smile.

Danny chuckled a bit. “It’s better than His Majesty. We have time to think about it guys. The portals are controlled right now to keep down ghost attacks, The Justice League has GIW under investigation too where they aren’t so loud around town. I don’t need to use the form for a while and I’ll work on it.”

“Speaking of the Justice League… Batman did say that if you don’t go talk to someone, he was going to send someone to come talk to you.” Vlad hummed as he glanced through his book, sat by the window, amused, leaving the kids and Jack to go about their nonsense once Danny’s training for the day was done.

Danny tilted his head in thought and beamed brightly. “That’s…not such a bad idea. I’ll go make an appointment to talk to someone I know.”

Sam and Tucker looked at Danny in surprise and suspicion. Having both had the vampire virus, they were now liminal free, so they couldn’t be as in touch with his emotions, while Vlad sighed, feeling mischief rolling off of Danny again.

“What? You’re actually going to talk to someone?”

“Calling Jazz and ranting doesn’t count, Danny and you know that Batman is going to deep dive into it if you’ve gone to an appointment or not.” Tucker looked at him full of suspicion.

“Don’t worry! He can even pop in and talk to my psychiatrist himself!” Danny waved it off and ignored their questions, after all it was about his own mental health.

He just needed to make an appointment to go see his friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tim had been keeping tabs on Danny after the incident had passed, tracking his internet activity of what he could, but he surprisingly wasn’t online much. He had a few calls to the same three numbers on his phone, to Samantha Mason, Tucker Foley, and Jasmine Fenton, which wasn’t anything out of the normal.

But he didn’t go home.

Danny stayed at his Godfather’s house in Amity, with a couple weeks passing and he hadn’t stopped by home once. His dad actually came in to visit him almost every day, not his mom though, which was probably for the best, with her deep hatred of ghosts.

It could be an hour to several that Jack's location would ping for being at Vlad Master’s house. Danny’s signal moved around the house now and then from one spot to the other, but he was either setting the phone down a lot or there was a chance the emotional baggage of the interactions previously in the cave were enough to set him into a decline and to stay in bed for hours on end.

His worry spiked where there was a day in a half that Danny didn’t seem to move at all. Not a single blip on his phone, not a dot of movement. He sighed in relief at the massive amounts of electronics that Tucker carried on him that he was able to get a ping on one of them as well, so when they came to visit him after the fact a few times it didn’t feel nearly as dramatic.

And just like that, Tim had slowly been moving his worry for the compromised dude back further onto the shelf to say in his mind for other cases. He’d check his location, ping others that had been in the area and then let it fade.

Until today, which he had to do a double take. With his blip moving.

Danny was headed back to Gotham. By himself. Did the kid not learn anything from his last trip? He checked back through what little the kid had been searching and then a call for a number that was oddly familiar.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to panic as he sunk his head into his hands, calling up their number, and on his confirmation, Danny had a visitors appointment with Dr. Crane.

Tim did a counting exercise
in his head to ground himself before snatching up a printout of it and racing his way over to Bruce’s office.

Bruce was writing away at papers for Wayne Enterprises,
looking over some blueprints for approval from the different sectors and writing down questions about them in interest and circling along any errors within the circuitry when Tim came bursting through the door with a hasty knock.

“Can I help you Tim?” He raised an eyebrow to Tim being flustered, and seeing the worry, he stood up to meet him halfway across the room.

“It's Danny. That kid that Scarecrow was playing with his head like it’s silly putty? He's coming back to Gotham with a visitation to him!” Tim flung the paper at his face as he started pacing.

Bruce blinked and looked over the call log in front of him. It had been a couple weeks and Tim had been keeping an eye on him. He knew Bruce was planning on sending someone over his way if Danny didn't make an appointment for some help any day now.

Coming straight back to Crane once done healing though was even worse.

“He hasn't had any home visits by a doctor or therapist? No sign of perhaps an online appointment?”

“Nothing Bruce.
Not scheduled by him, his friends, his dad or godfather. Things calmed down in town and he's headed straight back to Crane!”

Bruce sighed, rubbing his head, tapping his finger to his cheek in thought. “Let them meet.” He said finally, crossing his arms with his brow furrowed. “Nothing illegal about making an appointment talking to someone in Arkham. Find out what booth he's going to be assigned to and keep an ear on their line for what they talk about. When he leaves, one of us can talk to him as well and see how he's doing. With the cowl of course.”

Tim sighed frustrated. He didn't want Danny anywhere near the guy! But at least if they did talk, then they could get a better idea at where the relationship stood. “Got it B… he'll be in a hotel tomorrow night and see him the next day bright and early, so unless Duke is talking to him, we're going to have to wait a while. At least it gives us time to piece apart their conversation.”

Bruce nodded. “Let him settle. Then we can talk to him about his lack of doctor appointments.” He patted Tim's shoulder fondly. “Good job. Any more sightings of Phantom?”

“A couple times, but the ghost attacks are down so he's probably soaking in the energy of the town being protected or something. Constantine seemed pleased to find him hugging onto you that day. He wants to help the kid learn some low level protection magic. Since spirits are weak to magic, he needs something to protect himself in case the GIW figures that out too.” Tim looked over the notes. “The trail of blood did good. There were a few of the thrall still missing at the end of the day so it drew them out to get cured. Phantom sent out compensation to all those affected by his own property damages as well. He's a lot more responsible than we've seen
in many heroes his age and willing to own up to his mistakes.”

“With so much of his training being on the job, barely anything from his background, he's made leaps and bounds in six years. He's a good kid.” Bruce spoke fondly, smiled a bit as he looked at his phone's family chat with the picture of the two against Fenton Works.

“Well. I hope he spots Danny acting weird and talks him out of getting so close to Dr Crane.” Tim sighed and headed off to find out what booth was going to be used.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny enjoyed the flight, now that he knew he had massive amounts of money he treated himself with a first class seat back to Gotham. Still wearing loose baggy clothes he got a couple funny looks, but most looked happy for him to have the experience with how excited he was looking out the window at everything.

He didn't tell the others where he was going as he knew Sam was going to lecture him on pollution. (The plane was going to fly no matter if he was on it or not??) And Tucker would have badgered him into buying the tech. He already didn't like being called royalty so he ignored the bit about his money too so they would extra be calling him snob. He watched the stars turn into the dawn, a breathtaking sunrise burning pink and orange through the clouds warmed his face as he ate whatever he wanted, and read over different things Scarecrow had done in the past.

He was pretty sure he was a unique case to Jonty, to allow someone that close, but he had to make sure. No other case studies that he could find released to the public had him nearly as doting as he had been with Danny. A part of his core fluttered to that.
He nuzzled into the blanket provided by the airline, and absently dozed watching a movie as they made their way to Gotham.

After a few hours he hopped out, not having to wait in line as he only had his carry on, so he headed out into the overcast of Gotham.
Sure it didn't smell too great, but it did seem to have rained the last couple days where the pollution didn't hang in the air quite so bad! He phased his phone and wallet inside of himself to help against pickpockets. He'd stopped at a gift shop on the way in and thought it was hilarious as he got a little kids lip gloss phone to slip in his pocket instead. He was going to ruin some muggers' day. Or help them slay their look.

He headed out the terminal, and headed for a walk over Gotham, taking in the sights again, but being there before he didn't look as much of a tourist. He made his way to the same Italian place he'd gone to with Vlad before and even took a double of leftovers with him to bring to the hotel.

He got one on the closer side of town to the asylum, so it'd be a short taxi ride there, and cheaper than what Vlad had hooked them up to for a room before. He hummed laying on his bed, watching a crochet tutorial as he was finishing up his gift for the Doctor, a little plush he was making. He snacked and fell asleep watching a movie, to wake up in the middle of the night breaking mid snore to see outside. The bat signal in the sky in the distance with sirens echoing off the streets.

He wondered absently what sort of trouble was being made for the bats tonight. Was it something stupid like condiment king? Or had the Joker gotten out?
Danny would pay to see condiment king versus the box ghost.
Also would pay to see Freakshow against Joker.

Thinking on it for a while, he decided to look up the Justice league and see what they'd been doing, and they were ruthless in calling people to arms about the immoral acts by the GIW. Calling out cases of children, senators, mothers and fathers who'd died for moments in the past at hospitals before their hearts restarted, and how they would be attacked by this act as well, and that it made it so many were technically exposed and that made it anyone could be snatched off the street as their next victim. Wonder woman spoke out very strongly and Danny knew Pandora would be proud of her, and the Daily Planet covered it pretty well too.

He bit his lip, knowing it was late enough in Amity they were probably getting up for the day. So he chanced a call.

A few rings in, there was a yawn to the phone being picked up. “Fenton Residence, Madeline speaking.”

“Hey, Mom. “ Danny smiled a bit, leaning against the headboard.

“Danny? Oh sweety, you really up much too early with it being Wisconsin.
Are you alright?”

“I'm doing good, mom, I fell asleep most of the day and woke up thinking about you. I've seen the news about the Justice league on the anti-ecto-acts. What do you think about it?”

A groan of frustration from the other side. “I've had that magician lecturing me for a week, then Superman came in and gave me a lecture too when they were done with me, then a half dozen reporters…I wanted them to see our work and everything we were doing and they're just painting it as some mad scientist's schemes! We're doing this for humanity's safety!”

“What about Phantom? He brought Batman to Amity and saved the place…don't you feel at least something for giving him a hard time all these years?”

At this her voice went higher, miffed at his siding with Phantom.
“He's a mess Danny. He's probably trying to get the heroes to visit so the ghosts can possess them and cause more trouble!”

“Mom, he paid people for damages to their homes while curing them, he even paid for past fights! Have the Fentons ever put their money forward for anyone else?” He clicked his tongue, shaking his head at seeing green.

“Sweety we are well within our rights for the protection of the town to make a little mess here and there.”

“So that's to say no and you don't plan on it either. Funny. I respect ghosts more than you. They seem to be more capable of change than you. At least they care and make a difference, left over emotion or not.” He hung up with a sigh rubbing his head and stretched. He put on some darker clothes to not stand out too much going in the middle of the night and headed out. Joggers and a sweatshirt, he went for a run down the streets, curious how dead the place could be.

There were only a couple graffiti artists, which he thought ghosts did that at this point how no one ever Spotted those people in real life. They had some pretty good skills in their artistry. Would be hilarious if during the day they were paid to do mural work over the top of their own graffiti. He let them be, no one was getting hurt so it was none of his business.

He jogged a few blocks, getting the layout of the place before he started back, downing electrolytes in his more of a stroll of a return.

He wondered what kind of life Dr. Crane led until he became a psychological nightmare, what sort of place had he lived in? Did he have college buddies? He had heard from him about his childhood, how messed up his dad was, but it wasn't like he had snapped immediately.

He headed back to his room and showered to get ready for the day, finishing his leftovers and went for a calming tea. Sitting himself in a corner booth, legs folded up under him as he sipped it and scrolled over his Justice League research, skipping a call from his mom.

He was there three teas in and dozens of tabs open as the shop got busier, a taller guy with messy waves of black hair beaming as he got his own drink. He felt the pout of the man looking around for somewhere to sit and was about to head off when Danny raised a hand that the other side of his booth was open if he wanted. He probably wasn't going to be there much longer anyways.

There was only a moment of thought before they hurried over to sit across from him. “Thanks! Man are you in close with the waitress? This is a prime spot!” Blue eyes beamed at him as they fluffed their hair and sipped their own drink. Smelled like a spiced tea of some kind.

Danny laughed lightly, checking his phone.
“Nah I've just been hogging it for…two hours now? It's a nice spot.” He smiled, relaxing back into his spot, not minding staying longer with the guy so bubbly.

“Nice! I'm Dick,
nice to meet you.” He offered a hand to Danny, who smiled in return and shook it.

“Danny.” he smiled as he looked back at the research, noting Dick peeking at it.

“Reading the news? Where's your grandpa's glasses?” Dick teased, nibbling his pastry.

Danny snorted, quirking a brow. “Now look here whippersnapper. Knowing the news is important and lost on the youth today.” He was pleased he got a cackle out of the guy. “Nah man, just seeing that there's assholes trying to skirt around the laws of meta protection acts is crazy. And that they've been doing it for years? Ballsy bastards.” he whistled. It was on the news anyways, so bringing it up to a nosey guy in a crowded Cafe full of gossipy college students? Perfect.

Dick beamed like he was in on some massive secret. “Yeah! I heard it's been like six years and some kid managed to sneak out and blow the lid on the whole thing! Pretty freaky that no one knew until this point. Got secret cloning written all over it.”

“As if! The law is to make genocide, not more of them. Think if you proposed more of them to be made they'd implode.” Danny made a sign of their minds being blown.

“Woah, really? Is it aliens? I Saw a few senators go on that.” Dick moved closer as he could see the articles, and Danny started babbling to him about it all. He had printouts in his bag too. He wanted to show it to Dr. Crane, excited that something was happening to them for all the harm they'd caused.

Danny could spot the increased energies that were drawn in from the students about the conversation,
some in growing horror thinking about family members and how their graves could be desecrated or to be tortured when brought back to life. Oddly enough he felt Dick becoming satisfied with the conversation's attention too. Whatever, worked for Danny,
and it didn't draw an obnoxious attention like one of Sam's rallies. Attention like that was a momentary fad anyways that only kept interest for a couple days, and they needed something stronger to build up the anger towards the GIW over and over. Perhaps a few kids might be in debate class and bring it up, or write a paper on discriminations in everyday life. He softened listening as other tables started whispering about it. It was a start.

Dick grinned to him as he finished the pastry, looking at Danny’s empty drink. “What’re you having? I’ll get you another one.”

“Maybe next time Dick. I have an appointment I have to get to.” He smiled standing and slipping his phone in his pocket, then discreetly sending it through his leg to keep it safe as he looped his laptop bag over his shoulder.

“Well, how am I to get you next time without a number?” He beamed and slid off his tea cozy, scribbling on it with a pen from his pocket. Danny chuckled and took off his drink cozy at the same time for them to trade once he’d gotten his number on it for him too.

“Yeah probably for the best, if I only take yours I’ll probably forget until I look in the corner of my bag some three months later.” Danny beamed as he pocketed it, and Dick instantly took out his own phone to punch in Danny’s number and shoot him a text.

“There! Now you have no excuse!” He beamed over to him, about matching height, Danny chuckled and offered his hand to shake.

“I guess not then. I’ll see you around then Dick.” Top three in the weirdest things Danny had happen to him in Gotham. No one just gave numbers like that outside movies right? But his outlook was bubbling with excitement and it was infectious.

Dick let him head off, and Danny hurried for a cab over to the asylum, and while the driver gave him a huge side eye, he accepted the money and played music in the background for Danny to watch out the window at the scenery with a light drizzle over the city. When it parked outside the long winding walkway of the asylum, he gave him a tip happily in thanks and jogged over to get checked in, before making the rest of the way inside, fluffing his hair as he could feel the bits of frost forming where the water had fallen. Heading inside he checked in again for his visitation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Crane had been a bit surprised to say the least when he heard that he had someone requesting to visit. Only one who ever bothered with that would be the Bat and it was the middle of the day, not to mention that he had already finished grilling him about the missing camera footage over a week ago now.

Then he melted when he heard who his visitor was, and couldn’t agree faster.

Now he was sitting at his booth, sitting at attention as he scanned the other side. He was a bit early but he just couldn’t wait.

As it were, it seemed his little moonbeam couldn’t wait either. As soon as they finished looking through his bag and making sure nothing suspicious was in it, Danny hurried over to his spot on the other side of him, smiling up to him, little bits of frost in his hair like stars of the night sky clinging to him.

Dr. Crane picked up his end of the line first, and waited until Danny was settled and picked his own line up breathlessly. “Hello Danyo.”

“Hey Jonty.” He beamed back to him happily, head leaned into his hand,
How that crooked smile melted his center of being was ungodly. “I wasn’t sure if you got letters in here, or if other people read them before they got to you, so figured it was best to come see you myself.”

“You don’t even live anywhere near Gotham.” He chuckled watching Danny, the amusement over his face.

“Well turns out a buddy of mine is a little more well off than he ever planned on being, Phantom, and he’s more than happy for me to use some of his money for him.” Danny stuck his tongue out playfully

Dr. Crane laughed a bit. “Oh? And how did that come about?”

This time Danny sighed with a massive eye roll. “Dude became a fucking high prince when he beat the last guy, and all his stuff just got instantly transferred! Last King had damn concubines waiting for him. We both were completely appalled at that, those ladies went home fast as Phantom could manage. But! Turns out when he was a tyrant overlord, even while he was asleep he was collecting taxes over thousands of years so…he's loaded.”

Crane nodded in thought. “How has his team taken hearing that? I believe you stated before about temporarily becoming rich, and while you had changed, Mason had some very strong opinions on it?”

Danny deflated, diving a hand into his pocket. “She said he already had the air of being a snob and with his new look is voting his hero name gets changed go ‘His Majesty’
so..neither one of us felt like telling her about the money.”

“That is completely understandable then.” Crane nodded as his face brightened in interest. “Phantom's look changed? May I see?”

Danny brightened too as he reached in his bag and took out a photo to hold up to the glass, Crane drinking in the new features curiously of horns, blue skin, pointed ears and eye marking, his eyes slid back over to Danny while leaning on his hand. “What a change… he's absolutely beautiful. You'll introduce him to me right?” He loved watching the deep blush spread right over his face up to his ears as he cleared his throat.

“Oh come on Jonty, not going to change your attention onto him already are you?” he laughed fighting the blush back down.

“Well he means so much to you…of course I want to meet him.” He hummed back, running his hand through his hair.

Danny laughed a bit and brightened as he got more papers out from his bag to spread out and hold against the glass for him. He showed him all about how the Anti-Ecto-Acts were changing, and the justice league going against the GIW and his parents, and Dr. Crane saw a softness come to his eyes.

“How is your relationship with your parents? Things were…rather strained last we spoke of them.” He asked gently, as from the expression he was sure there was at least something good.

The warmth that happily radiated off of Danny's face confirmed that.

“I told dad after he got cured…I wasn't going to but I told him everything. About team Phantom, about mine and his relationship, my new powers…he was horrified when he realized what the GIW did, and what he almost did. He's so quickly gone from Phantom's hater to his top supporter, and mine and…it's really… Really nice.”

Dr. Crane beamed over to him, knowing how hard it was to have difficult parents, at least Danny had his dad on his side. However… he had asked about both.

“However?...”

Danny sighed, rubbing his head. “Mom. She… she

shot

Phantom while he was fighting Alucard.
Batman and Nightwing had to hold her back until the fight was over. And when confronted with a real ghost and magic expert she refused to see what she did wrong. That any ghost or someone with ghost bits could be anything but evil. If she was willing to shoot Phantom after he shoved a cure down her throat…what's she going to do to me?”

And just like that Dr. Crane was pissed off for him all over again. “Are you still wanting to tell her despite that?”

“I'm going to make sure I have full support… Once Constantine knows all about my relationship with Phantom, maybe he'll stay close…and Batman was really nice when I woke up in their cave…as well he supported Phantom a lot… I think I can trust them both…it'll still take time as there's things I need to fully handle but… I'm really liking how things are improving doc. Batman, Constantine, Dad… it's really nice.”

Dr. Crane smiled, eyes tender watching so much of the stress over the years having melted from Danny's frame. He put his hand to the glass fondly, and chuckled when Danny phased his hand through it to hold his own and give it a squeeze. Even better to physically feel it that his friend was alright.

He watched as a different bit of a struggle went over his face, and had a feeling he knew what it was about. “Danyo?”

Danny smiled a bit sadly as he squeezed his hand. “Jonty… the bats…they showed the video of when they found me. Did you…did you mean it? Did…we mean anything?” Danny's voice thickened a bit as he broke eye contact while squeezing his hand.

“I didn't want them to give you a hard time Danny… coming out fine from weeks with me is enough to scare any bat. I didn't want them to think we were close enough for you to be a threat to Gotham in the future… our time together meant everything to me… and I hope for much more of it.” He let all his fondness and softness go for the gentle-souled brunette. He knew Danny could feel his emotions and he let it all out freely, even his built of guilt that Danny was questioning their friendship after the bat interference.

Danny's eyes misted as he beamed over, rubbing his thumb over his hand. “That scared the shit outta me more than the other sessions you know. I get why you did it though.”

Dr. Crane laughed lightly. “Well…I'm honored to be your worst fear … but it isn't something you need to fear…you're stuck with me now.”

Danny laughed, feeling the careful walls that had been cautiously put up against him melt away like the wash of a tide. “Then back to more serious but less important matters… Phantom is going to need some legal advice if he's called to the stand and I could use someone too… not exactly any dead lawyers mad enough to come back to life that Phantom's met…any normal person is going to be at risk being grabbed if they know they have association to an ecto-entity… got any recommendations?”

Crane grinned sitting up, pleased he could help. “I know a guy.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Danny headed out, grinning holding the paper he'd snuck through the glass and got the address for something Jonty said would let him in, Johnathan’s codename, and a passphrase written down for when he met who he needed to. Told who to keep an eye out for and to wear something decent but not too spiffy.

He couldn't help how at ease he felt. There were a lot of suspicious minds in the room, but the temperature of the Iceberg Lounge was too damn cozy for him.

He felt the doorman raise a brow and look over him. He went with a comfortable pair of dress slacks with an open jacket, a button down white shirt and even got himself a lil clip for his tie. Vlad said he always underdressed, so even if he tried his best it wouldn't be too much right? He was pretty proud of it.

“Members only kid. You got an invitation?” The doorman grunted, eyeing him suspiciously.

Danny just beamed back openly, kind of excited by secret codes and bodyguards, it felt like some spy movie. “Fear Monger said I may make friends here.” He brought out the membership card from Dr. Crane holding it up.

It was inspected to make sure it had the marks needed, then he was given a pat down for weapons, name taken for a guest log in case he caused trouble, and then allowed inside.
Being able to hide weapons internally was a huge help.

He headed over and got himself a mocktail so he wouldn't look extremely out of place as he looked over the room for who he was supposed to find. The split down the middle suits were hard to miss. Their boss with half his face missing is even harder to pass over. He was halfway across the room from them, but Danny was hardly subtle in his watching the group, so he wasn't surprised when one of the goons caught his eye and mumbled something, getting Havey Dent to look up and meet the gaze too.

Danny beamed as met with the suspicious squint, nodding his head to them in greeting but didn't avert his gaze even as it turned to a scowl. After a moment, Mr. Dent spoke to the goon, which headed across the room towards him. He sipped his drink gnawing at the candy straw a bit, nervous to have him already looking so upset.

The goon settled onto the stool next to him at the bar and ordered a couple more drinks as Danny swung his legs with his own drink, having a feeling speaking first would just make things worse.
As the drinks were being made he finally turned to Danny.

“What do you want, kid?” He gestured to his earpiece to show that the man would be listening in carefully.

“I was told I might be able to get some advice from ‘the sun and moon in the same body, as an eternal eclipse’.” Jonty had such colorful ways of talking. Man could make anything sound romantic. He heard his boss spark over his earpiece, muffledly.

The goon listened and looked to him. “Got anything he can look over before agreeing to meet you?”

Danny smiled and opened his bag, one hand up to show he wasn't going to do anything stupid, as he pulled out the same group of papers he had brought to Johnathan. Carefully organizing them, he offered the packet to him, just in time as the drink got there. The two were put into a split glass with two straws. Man, Harvey Dent was committed to his bit. The goon took the papers to scan over carefully.

“Stay right here kid.” He gathered the drink as well, and headed back to the table to bring the information to him, setting down the drink with it.

Danny watched in fascination as the unscarred side of his face tilted more towards the papers, reading and flipping over them carefully about the government sector, the Justice League involvement, and the jargon used about the law. He paused in deep thought and head tilted a few times mumbling something to himself…to his other half? Before something seemed to be decided and he sent a different goon to go talk to what seemed an event organizer or perhaps a manager, discussing something a bit before they hurried off with some staff upstairs, the first guy headed back over to Danny.

“Boss is setting up a private room for you two to talk. We're going to check ya for wires ta be safe. Then you have ten minutes to convince him to take on your case. Be polite. Just sit down and don't stare. If he agrees to your case, shake his hand at the end.”

Danny nodded as he'd finished his drink, straightening up. “Yes sir, thank you.” He smiled warmly and waited with him until Mr. Dent got up with the room set up and headed off, the one with Danny waiting a moment so his boss had time to settle before leading Danny up as well.

They felt through his hair, checked under his shirt, down his sides, the buttons, Danny was sure airport security hadn't been this tight. He let them get it over with though and headed in, nodding over.

“Good evening Mr. Dent, thank you for seeing me.” He took a seat, making sure not to invade his space but sat up straight, hands fiddling in his lap to leave the back of his neck alone.

“Harv.” He grunted, then the face softened with a lighter tone. “Or Harvey, is fine. So… you are considered an... illegal existence? Can you elaborate?”

Danny nodded, squaring his shoulders. “Before anything else of the deal I need to warn you, I won't be able to credit your assistance in my case, at least until the acts are overturned, as it will put you in danger by government sectors that will believe I used ghost powers to warp your mind into agreeing with me. I am considered at minimum ectoplasm contaminated, and currently sectors of the government rule that means I'm allowed to be experimented on to any end and when they’re done learning whatever they want about me, eliminated. The Justice League has agreed to start fighting it but…I need to know what to do to protect myself as well. Additionally to protect a full ectoplasm entity, as many of my friends in Amity Park, Illinois fall under this, full ghosts as well. They're good people. Even if the government doesn't think that we are people at all.” his voice lowered, thick to the responsibility he now faced as their prince.

Harv’s side leaned in, flipping a coin through his fingers. “This is troubling …and this could include just about anyone who's died before?”

“Yes sir, Harv… I'm in desperate need of help, but I understand if it is a situation I'm being too presumptuous to come here for.”

Harv considered him a moment, before he twirled the coin some more. “I'm on the other side of the law every day. It will be nothing new with the amount of people who wish me dead. I have a simple system. You get one side of the coin, I will help you. If the other, tough luck kid.”

This had Danny's nerves bunched in knots, but he took a shaky breath and nodded. “I understand Harv, sir. Any chance is better than none.”

As he flipped it and left it to land where it may on the table, he watched it roll when it landed, wobble, and stay perfectly in the middle as it stopped.

Danny and Harv stared at it together with expectation, then at each other when it didn't move.

It was a slow horror that crossed over Harv and Harvey, holding his head and staring at the coin in betrayal, in all his simplicity of it being ‘only one way or another’ a third one being selected had sent him reeling.

Danny panicked a bit too, feeling the crazy high stress coming off the guy, and he gently pushed his aura of

calm, safe, care

out towards him, really not wanting to be on the side of any rash decisions.

“What the hell do we do now?!” He snapped, snarling before the other foot tapped anxiously.

“Well… it's either we help or not…but I don't know what the coin has decided Harv…”

“I can see that you idiot! How're we…” suddenly Harv pointed at Danny, almost accusingly and he blinked in confusion. “You!! It does not say yes or no, what the hell do I do with it?!”

Danny waited a moment to let the harsh energy die a little bit, and offered hands up tentatively. “Well…it leads you to fairness right? If it's fair to leave my problem, or to help… so…if it thinks it's equally fair each way... shouldn't it be either one that you more agree with, sirs?” He didn't want to push his luck, to try and hint his own, in case he would send him the other way or get struck out at.

So he waited in the silence, for Harv to make his own decision now that it had been left to his hands, fiddling his fingers together, and looked as he went through each pro and con.

Eventually they sighed, mumbling back and forth to themselves before coming to some sort of agreement. Looking up to Danny, they settled back into their seat a little bit. “Very well, we have friends we are sure these laws would affect, so you’ll have our help. We’ll work out the prices and start compiling laws. How long are you going to be in Gotham then?”

“For help protecting my people? As long as it takes, sir.”
Relief washed over Danny and the tension left his shoulder, smiling brightly again.

They chuckled. “Alright…I want to see you at least every other day, let's go with four p.m., while we gather up the information on what legal and illegal these guys have done. What actions took place before the laws came in, any sort of ramifications they would have faced at that time… for all that they seem to be doing now I’m sure it goes much deeper… any witness statements would be of a massive help as well. Those who have escaped their clutches, and that aren’t afraid to step forward.”

Danny nodded fervently, taking a business card that Harvey took out from his wallet and memorized the address before putting it away in his wallet. “Almost a whole town has been subject to the consequences of the Anti- Ecto- Acts… both civilians and ghosts alike I know would be happy to give their testimonies.”

Harv nodded, lighting a cigar. “All this stuff, make copies of it too for Bats. He’s going to want in on it, especially since JL is already in the middle of this. They’re already pissed on your people’s behalf kid, so use that. Every advantage you can use, dig in. Fair or not, life doesn’t give second chances, understand?”

“Yes sir, thank you. I will make sure not to waste your time and to give any information I can.”

“Good, now, this place is for relaxation, not business, so go take a load off Mr..?”

“Fenton, Daniel Fenton. Please just call me Danny though.” He smiled softly, chuckled a bit when Harvey looked at the papers again, seeing the name on there. “Yeah… I’ve been watching my parents try to dig their nails into ghost research since before I could walk… I have plenty of experience that led me to be closer to being a ghost than a human.”

“That… will greatly help. We look forward to working with you, Danny.” He smiled gently and stood, Danny standing to meet his hand for the handshake, and then the other one when offered as well.

“Thank you Harvey. I’ll see you in a couple days.” It felt like two people with the energy, so he was glad that he had been careful to treat them as such. The switch of emotions for who was talking had been easy to track so he could stay respectful, and he felt way too weird of using the villain name on the guy. He was gruff, then he was polite… manageable.

Harvey guided him out to show the others that the situation was okay, and Danny went down to get another drink, pleased that it’d gone so well while he’d been a bundle of nerves. He listened to the live music for a while, not wanting to piss anyone else off in his people watching either.

His third drink tasted really good, a recommendation from the waitress, and he was happy to try different Gotham specialties.
The Poison Ivy Rose Mojito.
Good

night

it went down smoothly! Only halfway through did he realize the waitress never specified it was a virgin drink. He pouted when he stopped, sighing dramatically as he ordered food and some water, not yet knowing if he would have his metabolism beat out the alcohol, or if its effects would be extra heightening of his emotions, and he didn’t want to find out in a club full of shady characters, stripped of their weapons or not. He tipped the waitress anyways because underage or not, damn she had made a good recommendation. She tilted her head when she took it away, and she laughed like it was the most hilarious thing ever. A kid with only a few months until he was twenty- one and was very serious about it.

“Only an out-of-towner would be worried enough for our liquor licence. Sweet of ya kid. We’ll see you around soon okay?” She winked, beaming over to him as she brought the food, which he ate gratefully.

“Thank you miss, and of course. Can’t wait to try the other specialties in a few months.” He grinned as he downed the lobster tail, thinking how fun it would be. Turning twenty-one, the ecto-acts overturned, maybe he could convince Batman or one of his birds to come, and Johnathan, his dad probably getting into an arm wrestling match with Bane, Sam fawning over Poison Ivy, and Tucker almost getting himself killed with all the bad pick up lines to Gotham’s biggest baddies. His core purred in fondness of the vision,eating thoughtfully before he headed back to the hotel.

He was

really

liking Gotham, and the new unexpected friends he was making, and the allies.

He stretched as he got to his room,not worried about the lights as he went to his bag, playing some music from his phone as he was getting changed, letting off a little dance at how well the day had been going,pants on and messing with the shirt as he went to get some water from the kitchen, taking a groove.

“Think he came from afar, like another state? I don’t know, he just points at the stars. The way that he talks is bizarre~”

He was grooving to the banger as getting his shirt on when a cleared throat made him yelp with a jump, smacking his head into a corner with his head covered by the shirt, he caught himself in the stumble before finishing shoving the shirt on.

And there was Batman and Robin. Fucking chilling at his kitchen counter while Danny was busy dancing.

“Well… hi there.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The talk with Dr. Crane had its ups and downs. He knew the kid was close to Phantom, and it sounded even more than he thought the way that Danny and Crane spoke about the situation, and he had that pit in his stomach rise again.

Danny was indeed wrapped around his finger, he had his full trust and admiration. The behavior from the Doctor had been…unusual as well. Perhaps he was wrapped around Danny just as much. The slightest mention of things Crane fully understood and could take hints to quickly get into depth with him. What might take him or Tim weeks to get to know someone, Danny had laid his whole life out to the man. But… he had said he wanted to let them in. To trust Batman and Constantine. The two that could become his biggest allies or his biggest threat with their power sets.
Along with that, Dr. Crane had tried to let Danny leave a good impression to the team, to get his help.

The youth of Amity, Dead Princes and sons of mad scientists alike were tired, and wanted someone to look out for them as much as they did everyone else, to take the scattering papers of the madness of their lives and binding it neatly into coherent stories with an end in sight to the chaos.

Then Danny went to the Iceberg Lounge. Then followed Two Face for a private meeting.

The hell was Danny getting into? He couldn’t disagree or lecture Tim as he screamed out in frustration shaking his fists at the batcomputer screen that had the visuals showing from the club.

It took a little to get the eavesdropping equipment hooked up, but luckily was in place before Danny got up the room overseeing the Lounge below and the streets on the other side, cool lighting surrounding the two.

He had almost started to interfere when the coin toss messed up. An upset Harvey could quickly bash the kids head into a wall and make a paste of it before Danny knew what he’d done wrong.

He didn’t though, and Danny had been very careful to let him stay in charge of the situation.

He had to have been extremely involved with Phantom’s rogues in Amity to have kept such a cool head, and it made more sense how he had calmed Dr. Crane so early at the start too. But being in regular contact with two long time rogues of Gotham, innocent for now or not, concerned him greatly. Tim kept going into exasperated fits of cursing he had to redirect the energy outside. He would never know how much energy he had put into the Robins to not have them go down a darker path with all their own abilities. It was slightly entertaining watching him struggle internally with what Bruce had faced with every single one of them. All though he hadn’t seen them so quickly become so comfortable with so many of Bruce’s rogues. Either way, Robin was the most pushy to see the guy again. They hadn’t exactly got off on the right foot in the cave, but Damian hadn’t seemed to scare him off too bad if he was still considering being that open with them.

So he took Robin with him to the hotel room that Danny had booked, once they confirmed the taxi was headed to it and not another stop, then after slipping in, waited in the kitchen. It wasn’t as invasive as one of the rooms, and was one of the first rooms he would see.

They hadn’t calculated how he would just…walk right past them. The slight stun shifted quickly to amusement as they heard the music start and Danny wander back through the room getting his shirt on when Robin cleared his throat.
Batman was glad for the cowl to hide his expression to Danny’s reaction. Though from Danny that probably wouldn’t hold back much, given how well he had read them in the Batcave. Shit, he was going to know Batman found it hilarious he tripped into a corner with his shirt stuck over his head.

Danny blinked at them as he finished pulling the shirt into place, eyes wide. But through a stutter he was the one to talk first. “Well..hi there?” His voice squeaked a bit, pausing a moment before he continued to the sink, taking a water bottle from the counter and refilling it.

“Hello Danny. You’ve had a busy day haven’t you?” He cracked a small smile since he was going to see it anyways, and that seemed the right take as Danny stuck his tongue out at them.

“Well yeah, I was told if I didn’t talk to someone you might sick one of the heroes on me. And with how that could be anyone from Superman to Beastboy, figured it was better to make an appointment like I was told to.”

Robin stared at him, arms crossed. “You have no appointments set. If that was your goal today you did everything but.”

Danny blinked back in confusion. “I already went to my appointment…I saw my psychiatrist mid-day.”

“You know Dr. Crane doesn’t have an active license right now, right?”

“Well yeah but I talked
to him nonetheless.” Danny grinned back at Batman at that, plopping a seat on the couch as he gestured they could sit as well if they wanted. He rubbed his neck when they didn’t move. “Look… Crane knew I could take that mix…he studied my blood for a couple weeks checking the virus in my system, and the variant fear toxins in my blood. Neither of us wanted to say goodbye and he was trying to protect me from you guys getting all weird about it like I’d have a bomb in my chest at your retrieval of me if there wasn’t something else in my system. “

Batman let him talk as he took the seat. Danny was being open for now so there wasn’t a need to use intimidation.
“You know he has a lot to work through of his own, right?”

Danny shrugged lightly. “I’m sure when he’s ready he’ll tell me more about that too. I’m not saying that meeting me is magically going to stop him from going Scarecrow but… I have no reason to fear him myself. He built up my tolerance probably past what the street doses get to, and then some.”

“Can you tell us what sort of fears you faced..? I know last time it was too early but…”

Danny smiled lightly to the more gentle line of questions than the overwhelming force he must have faced having all the bats face him last time. “Well…GIW and my parents were way up there. After all, the gov sect

did

dissect me alive, even if I kept my face hidden and they had no clue that it was me, still don’t. Thank the ancients… if my folks caught me they were probably going to be just as bad. But… talking to Dr. Crane, I was able to reign in my fears enough to see how much my dad was hurt by what he had done to me while under the virus so… I took a chance and his love for me hasn’t changed at all. If I hadn’t met the doctor, I might have missed my window to ever get one of them open to me for who I am.”

Batman's face had completely lost its scowl, listening intently. That the kid had ever been scared of dissection from his parents hurt, but he was relieved the kid had support now.

“Dr. Crane hasn't been able to be a functioning doctor in many years…while I still have some concerns…it's good you are getting more support from other adults in your life.”

Danny laughed a bit. “Man, I'm twenty. You know that makes me an adult too, right?”

“Brain doesn't stop developing until twenty six. I think they should move up the age of being considered an adult.” Batman smiled lightly back to him.

That made him laugh a bit more. “Fine, I’ll accept getting babied a bit then if Batman himself thinks that is perfectly acceptable.

“Now…we understand why you met with Crane, clearing the air… but why did you meet with Two Face?”

“Harvey and Harv? I asked Crane for advice who I could talk to to support my case.”

“You know that the Justice League can easily be your legal representation right?” Robin scoffed at the boy, still standing and his arms crossed.

“I can’t expect the world's heroes to have the time to educate me about legal representation when at any moment there could be a death comet, or an alien invasion, or any number of things… So I got someone that has some free time, and has a passionate history.”

“It won’t go well if others find out who it is that is assisting in this, we have more than enough resources.” Batman offered gently.

Danny sighed a bit and rubbed his neck, curling up on the couch and rubbing his neck. “The less you have of close contact with someone ecto contaminated before it’s repealed the better. The GIW may already try to get the case dismissed because of your affiliation with Red Hood. I felt a pull to him when we were in the cave… he died before right?

Batman’s stomach dropped and Danny looked like he felt a bit guilty bringing it up. The kid did have a major brush with death after all, but for it to be in a way that he and Jason were connected?

Robin managed to speak before him. “Correct, when he was a teenager.”

“He’s definitely got some type of ecto in his system… while working on Phantom’s case, he should get all the support that he can. If the GIW decides to poke around here again, they’ll notice.”

Batman was glad for the cowl to hide his throat as he swallowed hard, the idea of his baby getting hunted down like that was a lot. “Do you have more information for the case? The inner workings of the GIW or the Fentons?”

Danny nodded lightly and got out his phone to message someone. “I’ll get you the stuff my dad has access to back in Amity, as well as get Team Phantom on the collecting information Phantom has grown about the GIW over the years with Technus help. It’ll go to Mr.Dents as well.”

Robin thought about it for a moment before looking at Batman. “In a way…I could show how monstrous these acts are. That Hero and rogue alike can agree that these laws are barbaric and archaic.”

“That would make a great front page paper wouldn’t it, B? You, Harvey Dent posed to either side, Redhood in the middle? Heck get Bruce Wayne in there too. 'Millionaires, Crime Lords, Rogues and Heroes, all agree the Anti-Ecto-Acts are atrocious!' ” Danny grinned over to them happily and Batman looked a little smug at the idea. He’d love a new picture with Jason.

He grunted slightly to finish their thought on that and changed the subject. “Constantine got to meet Phantom, but I think it would do well for him to meet you as well.”

Danny smiled a bit sheepishly. “I’m sure he’s got more to do than bond with a kid that’s got a couple ghost powers.”

“Actually, he's extremely concerned with what all you have the possibility of being exposed to growing up in a home connected to the Infinite Realms. It’s a place that even in all his studies, he knows very little about and has never been. Now that we know the hornet's nest has been poked, though, he and the Justice League both will want to know if there is anything we can do.”

Danny nodded in thought on for going forward. “Well…once he has proper protection against ectoplasm… Phantom or myself can guide him into the Infinite Realms and what we know?”

“You’ve been there personally?” Robin’s voice was strained with no small amount of thinly veiled concern. At least he was warming up to Danny.

“Been there, imprisoned there, left tied up floating into the void… oh yeah…great times.”

He was imprisoned? By ghosts and who knew what other sort of entities. He pursed his lips a bit before he cleared his throat awkwardly. “Do you…mind if I get you two into contact? That is…a lot that he will be very interested in.”

“That’s fine.” Danny smiled and dug around until he found the hotel complimentary stationary, and wrote down his number. “For you, the Justice League, Constantine…whoever needs to get in contact with myself or Phantom, I’ll make sure to get them in touch with him.”

Batman nodded as he took it, tucking it away safely as he and Robin headed to the window. “Very well…” He paused as Robin left the window to grapple to the next window, and was half crouched through it as well, looking back to Danny. “Are you sure you can handle working with Mr. Dent? I will be checking on you often, especially since you seem determined to meet with them and Crane both often.”

Danny grinned. “I can do this, Batman sir. I won’t let my support system ‘ghost’ me now.”

Oh god he needed to keep him and Nightwing apart. Or Jason. The pun just came too easily that if Batman continued the conversation he knew he would be hit with another twenty of those, so he nodded curtly and hurried off after Robin. Barely catching Danny whispering as he did. “I’m glad you’re looking out for me, thank you.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Well… that was fucking

awesome

!

Robin was done having whatever issue with him had been there before, and Batman hadn’t gone all Super Saiyan on him for talking to the rogues. He could do this! Get all the information about Fenton research, the GIW, get it to Batman, Constantine and Harvey, get regular appointments with Dr. Crane, work on his new name-

Ah shit he forgot to show Batman Phantom’s new look. Oh well, he always had next time to show it off. He didn’t like the idea of popping in like that. Then again if the GIW didn’t know who they were dealing with was Phantom but some mysterious Ghost King, they’d be more scared right? That’d be pretty funny. Danny smiled as he got all cozied up for bed, curling up in it as he messaged the others to let them know he’d be staying in Gotham for a while to handle business and stay in contact with the Justice League.

Vlad saw through it immediately and called Danny, asking how things had gone with Dr. Crane, and when he gushed on everything he just chuckled.

“You know it would have been so much easier if you were this interested in making friends with villain types years ago dear child.~”

“It really wouldn’t, Vladdy~ I think it’s only working because I’m at the stage of my life I am now.” He hummed as he started dozing with a yawn.

“Alright, get to sleep, Little Badger. I’ll get together the information your father and I have on our research of the Ghost Zone and on the GIW, sounds like you’ve had a long day.”

“Thanks Vlad, I’ll check in now and then.” Danny smiled as the line went dead, plugging it in and passed out pretty fast.

Gotham seemed to have a way to mess with his sleep schedule, especially in that he woke up in the middle of the night. Every. Single. Night. Sleep had not been this difficult with Jonty.

So wide awake to the distant sirens, he stretched with a massive yawn and went to shower and get into his joggers again. It was becoming a routine rapidly. He ran himself down different routes through the city blocks, getting the feel for the lay of the city since he’d be here for a while, and while he avoided headed to Crime Alley, one because he didn’t need that sort of attention if he did get involved, and two because it felt like Red Hood had a claim to the area telling him to buzz off too.

So middle of the night jog, morning information gathering from Vlad, his Dad, and Team Phantom, going to the library to print out, head to the store to get it in a binder in order of events, he even got Technus onto a laptop he bought, and waiting until one of his searches locked onto the GIW attention for his prying, sicked him on their servers before they could backtrack him, and he in return could get videos and data on the ghosts that had been gathered up over the years of their operation.

Danny smiled at the chaos with Technus cackling on his laptop as he sipped his coffee. “Show those novice ghost hunters just how superior the Great Technus is in all your technological glory for me? And if you can force open the facilities they’re operating in to let the others out, it will be a mighty blow to them, and I’m sure you’ll make some new friends too.”

“I see, ghost child! They will see that I, the Great Technus, Master of All Technology, am

superior

to their flimsy walls of fire!” Technus was maniacally laughing and Danny chuckled.

“Hide it though so they don’t know it’s a ghost, just a great hacker, until you’re out of their systems and it's too late for them to trap you in, okay?”

“They won’t know what hit them until their weapons are imploding, our people are free, and all their sprinkler systems are going off, so says I, the Great and Powerful Technus!”

Danny giggled a bit at that. “Thank you, Technus.” He grinned as he looked over the copies of information currently gathered, and went for another jog mid-day, full of energy with how things were going, when his phone went off. Pulling it from his chest as he went, a bit breathless. “Hello, this is Danny!”

“Aye kid, B gave me your number, John Constantine, got some time ta talk?”

Danny blinked and smiled, slowing down his jog to stretch, fluffing his hair. “Sure thing sir, sorry a bit out of breath, was going on a jog.”

“Oh I know kid. Don’t scream alright?”

“Well that’s not omin- gah!” He looked around but before he could figure it out he yelped as he fell through a gold circle on the ground a hand had grabbed his ankle and yoinked him through, instinctively making himself float just a bit over the ground before plopping down.

He looked over to Constantine who smirked a bit over to him.

“Hello John! Should give someone better warning before you just grab them like that. I almost kicked you.” He fluffed his hair and looked around. Seemed that Constantine had eyed him from a rooftop while he was on his run and just went for it. He chuckled. “I thought roofs were the Bats thing, why are you up here?”

After a moment of Constantine watching him in thought, he simply shook his head with a tsk and lit a cigarette. “Better than yanking you into a cafe and freaking out the barista aye?”

Danny gasped in mock indignation. “You could have summoned me somewhere with coffee!? You fiend, to deny me the caffeinated bliss!” He smiled when Constantine snorted.

“So..what’s all this about kid?” He gestured over him lightly.

“You and Batman keep treating me like I’m baby~ Again, I’m twenty man. But if you

must

know it’s called exercise~”

“Alright smart ass, that’s clear enough but your death energy is all over the place.”

Danny snorted, cutting him off and shaking his head. "I died in an accident and came back, got some ghost abilities."

Constantine eyed him wearily, taking a deep drag of his cigarette. “Must have been for a while.”

“I’ve had my powers for six years, six people know. Oh and don’t forget the trips I’ve taken into the Infinite Realms, really stock me up on energy.”

Constantine cringed a bit. “So ya weren’t kidding telling Bats either you or Phantom taking me through a tour. Can’t be good for ya.”

“Actually since I died, I kind of need the stuff or I get really lethargic. It’s not so bad once you know who you need to avoid, and who are really friendly and open.”

“What sort of entities have you had issues with then?”

“Ugh, Ancients, Observers, creatures straight out of Mythologies, I fought a Sphynx, a beholder, Ancients of Dreams, Nature, Time, Weather… Most of the time I was just a help to Phantom, but that didn't mean their strikes didn’t sting in the morning!

“Fuck Danny… how’d you piss so many off…?”

“Hey, most of those were not my fault! Only

one

! Observers sent Clockwork after me because a future me was evil and they wanted him to erase me, so I had to fight him to be allowed to fight my future self and fix everything. The Sphynx my friend got possessed by a Pharaoh energy of his past life so I had to fight their pet sculpture, Nature got mad because the Mayor was doing a bunch of construction getting rid of the trees, Weather he was put under a device to control him and he started making problems everywhere so Phantom had to go to his stupid core and trap him, while I had gotten struck by his energy that my emotions were playing havoc on immediate weather of the town…they’re assholes! Phantom and Team Phantom try hard to keep up with the bullshit!”

“You fucking time travelled? Blimey mate that can cause so many issues!” Constantine didn’t seem ready to address all of that at once so he picked one.

Danny shrugged lightly as he sat with his legs dangling over the side of the building. “More than once. Clockwork said it worked out fine. We became buddies once he made it clear he was giving me a beatdown to show just how bad my future self was by cheating on one stupid test ruining my life."

Constantine sighed and dragged from his cigarette deeply before blowing it into the air. Man looked about ready to drop with the load one kid in Amity had been facing… It was just a little funny to Danny. Justice League Dark had a team that they could call on each other for backup… His team was by no means to the same standards, but he counted them equal for how many times he had to save the world and no one knew about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re going to go back and see Batman right? I’ve made a few copies of information that I have currently for the Justice League, and Phantom has a specialty ghost looking into GIW servers to steal all their information he can. I’m meeting with my legal council tomorrow to give him the information too.”

Constantine watched curiously, glad for the mental break as Danny got into his bag, digging a bit before taking out one of the binders, had them with different symbols to keep track of who had the information, giving Constantine two, the one with a big JL symbol on it, and A fancy C for himself.

He flipped through, looking through the data that had been recorded by the Fenton’s about ghosts biology, with their initial findings being about blob ghosts that had very little to them, like jellyfish, as Phantom had said they were all assumed to be the same kind and it led to their odd basis for the rest of their research. The papers were mostly by Maddie Fenton while Jack had little doodles on the sides and lil emphasis on notes happy to encourage her in their research.

Her notes got darker and more extreme with the passage of time, especially once the portal opened. They hadn’t managed to capture any of the big ghosts, but once they saw a couple in action, her work steadily got messier, spiraling, and longer rants. The doodles were more of them shooting down ‘Ghost Boy’ Phantom or the other ghosts. It tracked when they started partnering with the GIW, what deals of weaponry and defense had been passed along, some of the notes that the GIW had passed back to them on the effectiveness of their tools, and research data about the ghosts for them to work off of.

Data like how pain relievers didn’t work on ghosts.

How the restraints burned at their ‘skin’.

How many times one could crack a core before it turned to dust and disappeared.

How much louder their screams got when their ectoplasm was infused with preserved Blood Blossoms.

How many times an organ could be cut away before regeneration started to slow.

Constantine had to flip closed the binder when the pictures were included, leaning on the ledge and dry heaved, hand clenching to the ledge as he took deep shaky breaths.
Danny may have been able to hide exactly who he was so he didn’t have to abandon the Fenton name all together, but he had been in the middle of this.
He had been caught by these monsters, by what Batman had shown him on surveillance about his scars and markings. Just barely moving into adult life and instead of worrying about how to start paying bills, how to apply for college or jobs, he had to focus on how to hide from his parents.

Because while the notes showed how excited they were to receive quite complicated data about the date they’d torn apart a masked liminal limb from limb before the ghost Plasmius had broken him out of there, Danny was the one they were so excited to look at the copies of his liver in their basement, to inspect the chambers of his heart that was ripped from his chest, how long the tongue was that was cut out of his mouth with fucking garden shears.

They’d been playing with his organs while Danny had to quietly watch so he could keep helping Phantom, keep helping ghosts that got overwhelmed with their obsessions to go into the real world and end up creating havoc. Been raging at how dare a ghost pervert a human’s body to puppeteer it while their son stared at his own organs displayed on the shelves of their lab like prized possessions.

Holy shit how was this kid

not

a rogue?

He looked over to Danny, who was watching

him

in concern after the bile had left his system over the edge into the alleyway, and patted his back to comfort

him

.

“Shit.. you need some help kid. Who knows what they’d do with a core like that.” Constantine swallowed, rubbing his head as he snuffed out his cigarette, mixing it with bile was not what he needed right now.

“I’d love that.” Danny laughed a bit with a stretch, looking back down over the city. “I really would. If not for Dr.Crane finding me when he did before I had time to try and process everything on my own…I don’t know how fast I would have fallen apart after they buried their teeth in me like that.” The laugh had died from his voice as he curled his knees closer to rest his chin on them.

Constantine studied him, for the best way he could help him, with the reminders of the large scars clinging to his chest, with everything he faced. He gnawed the inside of his cheek before he started carefully.

“Look… this isn’t something I offer the..information or wiseness of to many at all… but I think you’re one of the few that desperately could benefit from it.” He watched as he got Danny’s attention, tilting his head at the magic man.

“With your regenerative abilities… as fucked up as it is, I recommend you learning the extreme basics of blood magic. If those blokes take to tearing you apart again, you’ll have plenty of material to work with after all. And.. while it takes a lot of blood when lacking a willing conduit, doing it on yourself can be much more powerful with the right words. Other than the description of Desiree in here, I haven’t heard of ghosts with magic abilities, so the Ghost Investigation Ward should be ill prepared for what I want to set you up with… Have you ever thought about tattoos?”

While Danny didn’t look so keen on the idea of using his blood for magic, he quietly listened, and blinked at the end sitting straighter. “Woah…like… words and symbols of power inside of tattoos to enhance casting and reduce casting times?”

Just another thing for Danny to casually blow his mind on. He was a bit gobsmacked that the kid just…

got

that. “And how the bloody hell do you just know that?!”

Danny grinned widely that it was something he had gotten right. So at least he hadn’t been completely sure. “Popular video game and movie tropes! Guy in a game I was friends with had like, magic stone liquid pumped over his veins to enhance his power for his gross lord. Fenris is baby.”

Constantine sighed and shook his head, rubbing at his temple. “So…your thoughts on getting tattoos mate?”

Danny looked out over the streets in thought. “Astronauts are still allowed to have tattoos… if I get there someday I can still get in…I don’t have to have any on my face though, right?”

Constantine thought he remembered someone else wanting to be an astronaut recently, but he couldn’t put his finger on who had said it. “No, we don't have to get your face done. Arms chest and back should be plenty of canvas to work with. We can also look into making the tattoos invisible when not in use to help keep your identity on the down low.”

Danny hummed, nodding in thought. “I may just like the tattoos and leave them on…with how my skin is, I usually keep a shirt on anyways so it’d be pretty hard for people to realize. But… could it be covered with a magical or ghostly artifact for the long term?”

Constantine smiled a bit. “We can do that. An artifact with a large power base and a small draw with this spell to hide magical in nature tattoos as needed.”

Nodding back Danny hummed out lightly. “I’ll get to Team Phantom about what artifacts Phantom got from defeating the old ghost king he may have that we can infuse. Dude has a treasure room to make the Scrooge Duck jealous.”

Constantine chuckled and nodded. “For now though, I’ll get ya an appointment to get your tattoos. You’re going to want to slather up with numbing cream, as it’s going to be a long process and I don’t want to wait and chance having the next scheduled tattoo being the one you need when you get captured, aye?”

Danny nodded lightly, taking a deep breath. “Alright… might as well get some piercings at the same time really go for the full look to not have it questioned… plus playing around in Gotham for a while, going for clear skin and casual clothes seems to make me suspicious, so this should do nicely.” He beamed, and Constantine could see his trouble with blending in. Kid was like a giant puppy. Every goon would be locked in on that from a mile away.

“Alright kid, it’ll take a couple days for us to go over all this information, anything else?”

Danny snapped his fingers like something had come to mind he was grateful for and he dug into his wallet, taking out a picture. “Yes! After you gave Phantom Dracula’s core, when he ate it he was just starting to absorb Pariah Dark’s core, so both hit him hard and he got a new look. Can you show this to Bat’s and the others too so they don’t freak out when they see him?”

Constantine blinked as he took the picture from him, studying it over carefully. He didn’t know much about ghost physiology, and as such he had no idea that he was going to cause them to go through such insane physical changes. He cringed a bit of guilt. “I eh… Didn’t know that it would be changing him so much. Can you apologize to him for me? I just knew that was the proper method to make sure that the ghost had no chance of coming back and that the Ghost King felt like he could use a power boost anyways.”

Danny laughed, relaxed. “Don’t worry, he likes his new drip bro~ I’ll make sure he knows that you didn’t know this would happen though, as I am sure that he would have liked some warning.” He winked. “Phantom feels hardly fitting though for the new look so he’s thinking of a new name. Think the bats would have fun coming up with some new suggestions? Team Phantom sucks at naming things as much as I do. Can hardly blame me though, everything had the name ‘Fenton’ in the front of it, so hardly to say there was any creativity there.”

If he was looking for help from the Bats, Phantom was going to be very disappointed. Batarangs, Batcomputer, Bat-mobile, they weren’t much better. He smirked. “Maybe not the bats…but I’m sure the Justice League will have fun playing around with it, and they have a lot to talk about with your case, so I’m sure going over what Phantom’s new name could be would be a healthy distraction to ease the tension.”

He nodded softly and offered a bit too wide of a crooked grin, and even if slightly unsettling, it was still warm and kind of cute on his face with fluffy hair. Adorable kid.

“Alright, I’ll get this to the bats then, enjoy your run, and we’ll be in touch with you soon.”

“Yup! You got my number!” Danny blew a kiss with a snort before he hopped down from the roof in a fluid motion, making Constantine’s heart nearly leap out of his own chest before the kid slowed himself down right before he made impact with the ground and casually walked off like it was nothing. Kid scared the shit out of him.

He took a moment watching them head off back into their run before taking a deep breath and portaled his way back to the Batcave. This was going to be a tough break. He was glad he wasn’t going to have to explain much with the binder provided.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luckily for once, Tim wasn’t in the Batcave, digging for every crumb about Danny and Phantom that he could get his hands on. Alfred had managed to sneak a tasteless sedative into snacks where he’d been camped out at the computer then Bruce has carried him to bed. So Dick was looking over comms and been contemplating if it was too early to ask Danny out for the extra tea he had promised him when a gold circle popped into the Batcave, and Constantine stepped through it looking haunted. Ha. That was perfect for the case they were all working on.

“What’s up JC? Looks like you just saw a ghost!” He asked cheerfully, trying to lighten the man's mood up,
and by the slight scoff and rubbing of his temple, he only succeeded in the smallest amount.

“Need ta brief the bat on Danny’s case with the GIW, it’s pretty nasty what these blokes have been up to. If they’re doing to ghosts what they did to him… we really are lucky Phantom didn’t know he was High Prince until recently or this whole dimension could have been obliterated.”

Yeah, Dick didn’t think any of his quips were going to be very helpful in his case. “Good timing, he’s putting together what information we do have from Amity Park in preparation for the upcoming meeting with the Justice League. I’ll get him from his office.” He popped up from his seat and hurried upstairs in a jog as he took off the domino stuffing it in his pocket. Not that they needed it for Constantine, but they’d kept pretty strict rules of having Dominos on in the cave to stay in practice.

It took no time to find Bruce in his office and drag him down the stairs once he knew Constantine had something for him that was enough to warrant coming in immediately after visiting with Danny.

Dick debated on what he was going to do now. He wanted to bond with the guy, but he knew if he was too in depth about the guys file that he gave over to them, he would not be able to stop himself from expressing those feelings around him. Didn’t help that the kid could read emotions. For now, Nightwing needed to stay out of his business, leave that to the rest of the paranoid family so he could get to know the guy as much as he wanted him to. That meant stuff like coffee, the skate park, maybe a fair or two. Natural things, instead of making every single park of Danny’s life revolve around his experiences as part of Phantom’s team.

So he left them to talk about it in the cave while he washed up and went over some of his cases going on in Bludhaven. Place was a mess and he couldn’t just leave his cases high and dry, so he had a lot of traveling back and forth. Took a while to get into the swing of things, but he kept everything manageable.

By the way that Bruce looked when he came back up, it was a damn good thing that he had stayed out of it too. It was like Jason dying all over again, the devastation that was over that man's face. Whatever the hell Danny had been through, Dick desperately needed to stay out of it if he was going to help him have any semblance of normal. So while he asked if he needed anything, he didn’t offer to go over the binder with him.

He left Tim to stay asleep as whatever new info dump Batman had ready for him, he was going to need the rest beforehand or he was sure the kid wasn’t going to be able to sleep for a while anyways.

Damian had no trouble putting himself right in the middle of it though, demanding to know what had happened and shutting himself into the study with their father to piece apart the alarmingly thick stack of papers, and Dick helped Alfred bring snacks to wait outside the room for them.

Duke was out on patrol, but Jason was over! Bruce had gotten more pushy about keeping Jason close since his last meeting with Danny in the apartment, so Dick snuck through the house to find him, and grinned when he spotted him in the library, quietly leafing through a book, in a doze with the soft sunlight drifting down onto them. His little brother was so cute when he was in the zone. He thought about a sneak attack, but he didn’t want to get chased right now or get a lecture from Alfred about rubber bullets going off inside the house, so he stepped in quietly to not disturb, but not trying to be silent either where Jason blinked slightly from his doze looking up at him. Dick went over to him and plopped down, trapping Jason in one of his full body hugs as Jason groaned trying to push him off. “What do you want, Boy Wonder?”

“Just to spoil the burliest little brother ever!” Dick baby talked at him as he pulled his cheek playfully, almost getting a finger bit for it as he sniggered.

“Get off of me you leech, you’re stealing my sunshine warmth.” He chuckled, pushing his face away until he let go, but let Dick settle at his side and peek at his book.

“B and Damian are getting all weird about something with Danny and it’s putting me in the dumps. I need my therapy cuddle pile to deal with this stress Jay.” He poked his tongue out and settled for hugging his arm for now.

Jason chuckled, messing up Dick’s hair and flipped the page in his book. “That’s why you’re stealing all my hard earned warmth? Fucking twig. Whatever they got going on with the adoption bait, I’m sure they’ll tell the rest of the class later.”

“Something that Constantine brought for him to look at. Man looked like he was already sick by whatever he saw before taking it to B. I want to stay out it so I don’t treat Danny weird in civilian mode.”

“True, you suck at reigning in your Dickiness.” Jason started to get up, closing his book as Dick let out a whine.

“Where are you going now? I just got comfy!”

“To go check out what the issue is. After all, B said that whatever the GIW has going on I’m under the umbrella of concern too and now ya got me curious.”

“Noooo!! I need my bro time!” He whined in protest, flopping onto the ground and hugging his leg as he went to head out of the room, dragging Dick along behind him like a fussing toddler.

“Man, go bug Batcow or something.” He chuckled as he dragged him with, just going faster to give Dick a bit of rug burn so he would hurry up and let go. Dick finally let go in the middle of the hallway, face planted into the carpet with muffled whining into the fibers spread out like a starfish before there was a poke at the back of his head.

Looking up Dick beaming, and launched himself at Cass, latching onto her side hugging arms and legs while she staggered under his weight with a slight grunt. “Caaaass!!”

“Why is brother broken?” She poked his cheek as she made no move to help support his weight on her side.

“Nooo, if I tell you, you’re going to run off too! We’re going to watch a movie!”

She snorted as he let down his legs to scoop her up instead and race off for the entertainment room, so he could keep her trapped in cuddles, eventually Steph joined them too, plopping into the pile as he went for a more fun one, slapping

Short Circuit

into the tray.

When Steph went to move away from the cuddle pile to grab more snacks he cackled with grabby hands at her. “No disassemble, Stephanie!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Constantine was done with the Bats, it was all Bruce could do to not run down to the adoption agency immediately and get Danny under their name instead of Fenton.

He had to remind himself that Danny said he was alright, that he had his support now and he was completely horrified when he realized what had been done. With any luck, Jack Fenton was in the middle of destroying the collection of his son's removed body parts and taking a good long look at himself in the mirror. They hadn’t been the ones to dissect him themselves, but that they could look at any assembly of organs and know that they were taken from a fully coherent subject was awful. Jack had offered up some extra notes to his clarity to this as well, little tidbits of notes to send them to different sections on how wrong they were about the lack of sentience from them based off of the research, and careful review with Danny’s Godfather, their old lab partner back in college, pointing out that if they were only echos of their original lives, that they should not be able to respond to new situations, nor would they be able to want anything other than the basics that they had missed in their death. That even if they were scared of the ghosts trying to take over the world, that a ghost may have the want to rule, the ability to want such thing clearly negated the thought that they weren’t sentient. Despite some of his skepticism of Vlad Masters for how he had ties back to Lex Luthor, he was extremely glad for his involvement in the situation. It also showed how towards the start of the GIW and their ghosthunting, he had sponsored both the Fenton’s and the GIW for ghost defensive technology to help protect Amity Park. In recent years he seemed to have separated himself more from both of them once things for the town were established, but with finding out what they did to Danny, he had completely cut his funding from both parties.

This affected Maddie more than Jack as he still came to see Vlad and clearly had no quarrels with being pushed back, but Maddie was sending out funding requests from more sources now. Requests that Jack was quick to steal back out of the mail and include back in the report who she was trying to reach out to, without giving the chance for anyone to say yes to her.

He was doing what he could to protect his boy now that he was in the know of his child being involved with the experiments, with Phantom. He had been at his wife’s side through all their research since college, but as soon as he realized his child was in danger, he turned his back to keep him secure until he knew that his wife could be trusted with the information as well.

So Batman had to give him a chance as well.

Team Phantom was a lot more in depth with their reports on a case by case, a list of the powers of their rogues, their emotional states when they had been defeated, the complexities of their relationships, the sense of community that they had in the ghost zone. They may look different, but it didn’t matter in the long run, they were all just people. All a sense of community coming together, or being in disagreement as neighbors for trespassing on each other's properties, kids wanting to play pirates and cowboys, or being in a band. For being dead they were really just… very passionate people.

People that had been being pieced apart and their very bodies used as weapons against their friends and neighbors.

Bruce fully supported Danny getting help by Justice League Dark to defend himself against these creeps. Jason and Damian were both upset more agents had not died when they invaded Gotham, and Bruce couldn’t raise his objection to their outcries either.

He wondered if Phantom had been caught too, if he had faced the torture of the Ghost Investigation Ward. He didn’t have to wonder much, the tired, defeated look that had crept over his face when he’d hugged Batman’s arm after Madeline had attacked him in the middle of the fight spoke volumes. He wanted to give those kids all the hugs he could, it wasn’t fair they had to face such injustices.

There was definitely enough in the folder given by Danny while they waited on the information from Phantom and Technus, though he did not like one bit of it that they had gone in there without backup. He didn’t know where they were facing off against the men, or if they’d gotten captured, he just had to hope that they were alright, that the rest of their team would reach out if it was more than they could handle. So he scheduled for the League to have their meeting about the GIW the very next day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And here is the picture of my creative process! Drive my coworkers nuts with my sticky notes everywhere haha I purposely blurred it a bit so I wouldn't give any spoilers!

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was a long evening of organizing the notes and putting the timelines of events to area outside of Amity Park, such as Phantom's fight with Vortex being the most widespread they could link back to a traceable timeline and the insane weather that had been around the entire world, and had the mysterious faces glowing on each storm that'd been unleashed.

JLD had been out of their depth at the time and Vlad Masters had claimed at that time a weather control device that went on the fritz, but the news of it had just stayed there in Amity, presumably his angering the spirit had made Amity face the worst of weather for subjecting it.
Phantom had managed to beat back the spirit with its own power, but the rest of the world had been in the dark of why the sinister weather started and disappeared just as suddenly.
Other issues had the potential to become global threats, but Phantom had worked hard to keep his rogues in line, as well as the Fenton’s and the GIW. He had been struggling to keep them all in balance for the six years, with all parties getting smarter and more difficult by the day.
Going over the information with the Justice League had them understandably concerned, and Flash perked up to Constantine’s extra detail that Danny had time traveled a couple times, as well as it seemed Phantom had with his including murals of a fight through time with Plasmius over power that got them both included in murals of ancient texts.
“Hold up, so ghost kid goes running around through time and the timeline is just cool with it, but when I do it everything gets messed up? How’s that fair?”
Shazam snickered at Flash’s pouting. “Because he wasn’t actively changing the past himself, he was stopping another from doing so, then in the future, it was so bad that the ruler of time himself was sent to destroy Danny if he couldn’t get his butt in line. So, that makes them acceptable right?”
Wonder woman scanned over, looking at the point that Phantom was training with Pandora after containing the horrors Box Gost had unleashed. “How did Danny become so powerful to ruin the world? Over the ghost king? Over us? Surely any number of us would have been trying to stop him.”
“There are many untold horrors in the Infinite Realms, love. While Danny himself doesn’t know how ‘Dan’ got strong enough at that point, there are many devices in their realm we cannot even begin to comprehend. As for the Ghost King, this seems to have been from a timeline where Pariah Dark had not been awoken, and he would not care if one timeline were suffering even if he did wake. He likely would have happily turned Danny into a knight or agent of destruction in his name, much like a certain dark lord of Apokolips wished to do with many of us…perhaps that is exactly what happened. Danny didn’t get the time to look into the background of his future self, he was too busy stopping any surviving heroes from finishing him off there, and getting the timeline back in order to where it is.”
“As it is, this was enough to terrify him as well where he has been open about the weaknesses of ghosts to the report given to me as well. The timeline he went dark is far gone, and it has been long since he got any warning that he was going down that path again, but he was…relieved when he felt that I would find a way to make a contingency against him.” Batman narrowed his eyes at others in the room that had given him a hard time over his plans against them. Clearly if a twenty year old could respect his power enough being scared of it and knowing what could happen if he did go dark, the rest of them could learn a thing or two as well. A couple of them had the decency to look flustered at least.
Superboy was the next one to gently speak up. “The report says Phantom has a clone… do we know why there is so little information on her here?”
“While a name was skipped for her, the young clone was underdeveloped and as soon as she had a chance, she escaped the rule of her creator, Plasmius. Phantom was just a teen at the time and unable to look after her, and at the same time none of the adults around them could be trusted with an unstable ghost clone. She neither had the stability needed for vigilante activities, nor did she have the wish to be stuck around her captors. I’m told Team Phantom over the years has been sponsoring her to travel the world and get a feel for things herself. She had an appearance just a couple years younger than Phantom and should be around eighteen herself now, though genetically speaking, seven. In his notes, Phantom cares for her deeply.”
“Even if she was made to replace him originally, he loves her like a little sister…interesting.” Green Lantern hummed with a smirk as even not looking at him directly the room could feel Superman squirm.
“Getting back to the present, if we can, thank you. Phantom, Daniel Fenton, and a town full of ghosts and people just like them are being subjected to laws that count them as nothing but test subjects due for incineration. Now that you get a feel for just how real these people are… should get a sense for the horrors they’re facing.” Batman started onto the next section of the papers, passing out the notes given to the Fentons for cross research on ghost limits, about how many tests had ended with the death of ghosts, how they had been pieced apart, and used as cannon fodder in the most literal sense. By the whiplash of connecting to facing the facts of the tests, it was clear Batman would be extremely disappointed in anyone who tried to play the devil’s advocate in their defense, and that everyone would see it, that this was a town desperate for help that they had failed to notice for six years .
They went through the papers steadily, reading the information quietly, while the speedsters were shuddering as they got ahead of the others and going into full horror with the pictures sent to the Fentons in some cases, and apparently, unwittingly, their own son as well. As they were shuddering in distaste and some had to leave the room for a moment, Constantine looked up with his phone going off, perking up as he looked to the message. “Phantom and Technus are done with their information gathering… we have locations of thirteen bases that they just crashed their systems to let everything out they could after collecting all the information on their computers.” He hurried to make a portal, when Wonder Woman put up a hand. “Instead of simply going to collect this information to him… can you bring Phantom here? It seems very important to have the man on the inside here himself.”
“I…will see if he will permit it, I’m not going to spring it on the chap though. Remember, he’s the fucking Crown Prince of the Infinite Realms. If he comes, be damn respectful. Also, he’s trying to pick out a new name. He doesn’t care for how intimately the GIW knows him to keep the name when his form has vastly changed. So help the kid find something new aye?”
With that, Constantine headed through the portal to meet the location the Ghost Prince had sent.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phantom laughed as he was in a video call with team Phantom back in Amity, they were unsettled how long he had told them he wanted to be there, and he was waiting for a moment Constantine would be able to take the information off his hands.
Sam had one of the most annoyed groans he had ever heard.
“Oh come on, it isn’t that bad, it kind of fits!”
“You are not calling yourself Twilight!” Sam protested, hair frazzled just by the idea of it.
“But my hair sparkles with frost! And you know Dracula would absolutely hate it!”
Tucker sniggered at the other side of the room. “You want every time a super has to carry you off to say ‘Hold on tight spider monkey?’ “
Vlad smirked a bit from the counter he was cooking at while Jack was snacking away at fresh made fudge, Jazz was on the call as well from her apartment in New York.
“But Tuck, when they notice my eyes change colors, I can blame the fluorescents!”
All but Jack made their protest loud and clear with a resounding no, while Jack chirped from his spot happily. “I like it!”
Danny grinned. “At least he approves! Ah fine, how about…StarryKnight?”
This one got a sigh out of Vlad. “You are not a Van Gogh piece dear boy.”
“I am certainly a work of art, thank you very much.” He smirked. “How about Blitzar?”

Tucker made a face, poking out his tongue and shaking his head. “It’s missing something…like ‘Blitzar the Destroyer!’ The way it rolls off the tongue does not sound heroic dude.”
“You are such a hater Tuck! Fine! PhantomNova!”
Jazz was the one to shake her head and give a big thumbs down to that one. “Booo! C tier at best, and they might still piece together Phantom!”
Danny got a bigger grin on his face by the exclamation. “I could be Boo?”
Sam raised an eyebrow with a smirk. “Shall we get you a monster costume made out of a chair? Does that make Mr. Fenton Kitty?”
“Nah man! King Boo is already taken. If you’re not scared of the government, be scared of video game companies, man.”
“You guys are such haters.” Danny whined, laying on his stomach on the ledge of the roof, swinging his feet.
“How about Ghost Boy?” Jack beamed.
Which, of course he would as the rest of the room cringed. “That sounds like there’s a ‘Ghostman’ out there too, there’s Superman, Batman, Aquaman…pass. Plus I would rather not use the name you were shooting at me with, you know. No offense?”
Jack pouted, eyes big. “That’s how I was going to title your new fan album…”
Danny giggled a bit at that. “You can call it that for the part of my life you did call me that. Any future pictures need a new name.”
Danny perked as he heard the swoosh of the magic circle. “My contact is here! I’ll let you guys go, and let you know if I pick a name out, alright?” He smiled as they quickly ended the call, shoving the whole ass laptop into his chest as Constantine stepped through, standing up and dusting his outfit off from the dirt and grime of the ledge.

“Hey man! Didn’t think you’d be able to come that fast!” He grinned, feeling his new sharper teeth poke out in the wide smile.
“Didn’t think you would be done so fast either mate. You’ve got some- holy fuck mate it’s different in person.” Constantine gawked a bit at the new frame before him. The ghost form before had been sluggish behind Danny’s human aging, but with the two cores to power change that he had been going through with the years of fighting, he’d finally shot up to the same height as his human side, and while at human he was a bit more solid in the shoulders, his ghost form had lean tight muscles. Likely from having to dodge and weave as much as he did growing up. He was sure the biggest change Constantine was glued to was his fricken face though. It had sharpened, lost the baby fat that clung to it, the marks on his cheeks, and the giant ass horns curving around his face.
“Again, I’m really sorry that I didn’t know what changes you’d be going through mate.”
“It’s perfectly fine, Constantine. I don’t want any chance of those that would hurt my people being left for a repeat session.” He smiled, taking on a more serious air as he held out the 5 usb flash drives to the man, who he then blinked at in confusion when he looked hesitant. “What’s the matter?”
“Well… we’re actually in a meeting right now about all this on the Watchtower and… the Justice League wants to know if you’d be willing to come up and speak to them yourself?”
Danny froze at that, slowly putting the flash drives away.
Holy shit the Justice League wanted to meet him! Probably in part that they wanted to assess his threat level, but still! Oh Ancients, there was a lot of sudden pressure. He thought he might meet them in the courtroom facing his past captors, but it made sense they’d want to meet in person first, of course!
“Kid, breath.”
He would have Batman and Constantine up there with him of course but there would be aliens! Superman and Manhunter, and members of the Green Lanterns! Then wonder woman! Pandora would adore to see them meet!
“Your Highness?”
Oh god they’d all be staring at him while he was explaining about his friends getting shredded to bits and he would have to try to not cry! That would be an awful first impression.
“You’re glowing. Please tell me you’re not about to implode.”
But he would be in space! He would be on the watchtower, with the stars in arms reach! Surrounded by technology that he could only dream of studying! Bet they didn’t have any haphazard wires spilling everywhere!
“Oye!!”
Danny blinked, finally snapping to attention to the extremely concerned magician in front of him, grinning widely. “When we get up there, you guys can look through the stuff but I’m going to need at least a solid ten minutes to just stare out the window, my dude. Just warn them I’m not going to be hearing a single thing while I got all the constellations staring back at me alright? Just… I’ll need a moment up there.”
Constantine snorted as he got his attention finally, and gestured for an ‘after you’ to the portal that was still open ahead of him.

Danny smiled, taking a deep steadying breath and brushing himself off again over his shoulders before he glided through. Walking was for chumps when you could just hover majestically after all. Heck he knew members of the Justice League that couldn’t fly that still made walking look badass. Batman could do it, he kept his steps so silent you’d think he was on a hover drone of some sort just working some crazy ankle muscle control to get it the way he wanted it to. Flash could just walk so fast you couldn’t tell his feet were moving.

He tore away from his thoughts realizing that he was in a room, surrounded by the members of the Justice League, and while he blinked in surprise at being taken directly there, he guessed that Constantine had quickly dipped out that way to get the information as quickly as he could. Shit he hadn’t fully mentally prepared. He was only ready for space, maybe to look down at the earth, or perhaps with his enhanced vision he would be able to glimpse the other planets in the distance from here and-

Oh shit. The biggest fucking window was right there. Like that any attempts to introduce himself were instantly gone as his eyes went wide like saucers, floating over to the window with his jaw hanging as he pressed to it softly.

~~~~~~~~~~~
“Welcome to the Watchtower, Mr.Pha-”

“Don’t bother mate, ya lost him already.” Constantine snorted at the panicking prince barely realizing they were there before he locked his eyes on the window and he gravitated to it with the biggest eyes he had ever seen. He put puppy commercials to shame.

The people there looked confused to each other for the most part, how someone could just walk in then just gawk. But Batman watched him fondly. He had wanted to be an astronaut, and he was there now, with the stretch of space ahead of him. He could hardly blame him for getting overwhelmed. Martian Manhunter smiled fondly too, seeing his thoughts race about the situation probably. Constantine shook his head with a smile and patted at where Phantom had stashed away the flash drives, pulling them back out from his Fannypack and opening the baggy to set them out.
“He warned me he’d need at least ten minutes to gather himself up, and that he’s got all that looking back at him I’d make it fifteen. Don’t worry about him aye?” He headed over to the laptop that Batman had hooked up to the projector, which was closed off from the internet and clear of any other program except maybe spider solitaire. Plugging in one of the drives, he looked at the insane amount of video attachments that were attached. These flash drives were huge, and by how much was here they may all be filled to the brim.
“I believe we will have much to sort through here that we can allow our guest at least…half an hour before disturbing him for questions?” Manhunter smiled as he offered it tentatively, clearly feeling the insane amount of joy from the ghost, who was glowing, floating with his hair around him and his cape gently billowing even without a breeze.
Batman nodded in agreement before anyone could say otherwise. Phantom was getting his time to look at the stars, while Constantine would drill them with the information they had just gathered, so he could go over the list of rules you can and can’t talk to a ghost about without them bringing it up first. Deaths, obsessions, core location, no go, leave it to him to bring up first.
They looked over hundreds of hours of experiments, from attempts at mind control that had been dashed since Freakshow had destroyed all their related technology when he got and broke the reality gauntlet, though they couldn’t remember what happened between those points or what had happened to the man. They tried nuking the zone a couple times, but they never managed to get it that far. Then they controlled some ghosts through pain, but their obsessions going
untended had them ripping at the restraints and ending their own existences when they could reach. While it lost them as soldiers against their fellow ghosts, they took to this method as a sensory deprivation to lock the ghosts in secure cells and let them just waste away. They handled seventeen ghosts in his manner, while others strong and patient in their ecto supplies had held out a lot
longer, more putting themselves into stasis until they could do something, which Technus had gotten in and released the cells of forty like this. Team Phantom was prepared and went to help those with their obsessions running rampant while some ghosts helped others to get out of there, the places were trashed with bits of ecto and cores being freed.

Manhunter was most amused listening to the thoughts of the ghost prince and after more like an hour that the basics were caught up on going from one section to the other, the others were getting curious what was so amusing past the madness.

As he is realizing again who all is here… he is now panicking as he doesn't know how to introduce himself. He wants away from the Phantom persona, but he hasn't picked his new name yet.

He could just tell us his actual name right? Flash looked over puzzled in that their guest was panicking over something yet looked like he hadn’t moved at all.
Well, what things does he like or is he trying to base it off of? Wonder Woman offered gently, a few others brightening as well at the idea of assisting.
He enjoys space, science, puns, the duality of life and death as he protects the dead and the living. Manhunter mused, clearly knowing more, but he respected others minds not to share their secrets. This set the league into another fifteen minutes of debating names, before Shazam offered his gently.

Hey he had to gobble up that core right, so, EventHorizon?

They watched as Manhunter relayed it over and the ghost prince perked up excitedly to it, so Constantine snorted and cleared his throat. “Your majesty, would you care to introduce yourself to the class?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Ew, unless you have to in front of an observer or something, please never call me that again. Call me EventHorizon…or Rizon for short?…because I’ll be sure to ‘rizz on’ up to the occasion.” He grinned widely, getting a few laughs and many more groans. He laughed happily at the reaction, and floated with his legs crossed in the air to the side of the table.

Now that Danny had his fill of space satisfying his core for now and just reminding himself occasionally that he was there,a low purr rolled from him with accepting the new name, that the Justice League was amused instead of annoyed at assisting. Shazam was grinning ear to ear that his was the one Danny liked the most, and so Rizon slipped closer to his side there as they turned his attention back to the room.

“So you've truly trained under Pandora?” Wonder woman's eyes were soft over at him in respect.
“She was wonderful and steadfast, she's wonderful to spar with.” Oh shit she's probably She's probably where my inspiration for the second set of arms Batman saw! She'll fucking love that. Danny squealed internally as he caught Martian Manhunter's lip curling in amusement and oh shit he reads minds. We'll fuck if I try not to think about it I'm going to think about it five times as much so…hi!!! I'm Danny! I'm twenty, my parents are the Fenton’s but my dad is cool now!

He felt the laughter on Manhunter's mind ripple to his like a warm hug of ease. You are welcome here as a guest, Danny, I will not tell your secret. You seem to want to tell them in your own time anyways and it doesn't feel far off.
“I would love to be introduced sometime to her, she is looked upon very favorably by my people.” She smiled softly.
“Oh I'm sure she'd love that! I'll talk to her and find out a time to arrange a meeting if she's got an opening!” Oh thank the ancients I already loved you before but I am adoring you more every minute sir.

As I know your name, you may think of me as J'onn, if you wish.

Fuck yes! Shit I shouldn't be cursing right? Well damn it, sorry. But I'm so excited to meet you J'onn. To meet so many of you. Danny projected as much with his thoughts as his core with care, safe, happy.

Even if they couldn't understand it directly, the idea of it seemed to ripple over the room with his pleased chirp.
“I heard you have a clone…may I hear more about her?”
Danny looked around and blinked with there being a mini me of Superman, holy shit he wasn't his son but his clone!? He grinned, perking up. “Hold up, I'll text her to make sure she's okay with me telling you guys about her. I'll go over some stuff though.” He beamed pulling a phone out of his leg and started texting away, it was built like a brick. He could feel some surprise over the room as he reached out, and smiled brightly to them. “She is the sweetest kid ever! She's only a couple years younger than me physically but she is so funny, and sassy, and she speaks up for everything she believes in. She's like the best little sister ever. We called each other cousins for a while but it feels so much more natural with how we bicker. I love her so much.”
Template:
Hey brat!!! Justice League is learning about me and they want to hear about you too. There's another clone here! I think I'll adopt him he looks like us anyways.

Pint Sized Mayhem:
What's up template? Holy crackers are you kidding?! Yes brag about your Lil sis they can know whatever they want about me. How'd you get tied to the Justice League?

Template:
TTYL cutie patootie!

Pint Sized Mayhem:
Template you lil shit tell me!!

Danny cackled at his phone and beamed up to him, superboys eyes bright hearing him talk about her. “So her name is Elle, she's a couple years younger than me, plasmius made her since I refused to work for him at the time, and she worked with him to kidnap me trying to stabilize her own genes since she was made pretty unstable. She's doing so much better now and she's really a ‘free spirit’ traveling the world, making friends all over the place. I couldn't be responsible for her when we were younger, but she's always had my full support and love.”

He found it odd that there was a touch of sour in the mood from some of another group that had made it; aqualad, kid flash, and zatanna. He knew she was in Justice league dark now but before… They were all members of Young Justice with Superboy. His head snapped around to look at Superman in surprise.

“No shit man, really?”

He could feel the cringe over the room the same time ice crinkled off him around his feet. He shook his head to clear it lightly, and floated over to Superboy, offering a hand. “Well I’ve seen you do some wonderful work sir. It is an honor to meet you, and I know Elle would love to meet you. It might be a while, but now that she knows I’m in contact with the JL and you guys aren’t turning me right over to the GIW, I’m sure she’ll want to come see what’s going on anyways. Can I give you my number and we can reach out to each other?” He beamed over to him hopefully, his hair glowing floating around him.

“I…uh…yes your hig- sure Rizon, I’d like that.” He quickly changed halfway when Danny looked like he sucked on a lemon for being called Highness. He beamed as he wrote down his number for the Phantom/ EventHorizon line, and handed it over to him.
Danny then pointed over to Superman. “You are now on time out from any questions for…til college.”
“For til college?” Shazam gasped, covering his mouth while Superman looked confused and sputtered.

“For til college!” Danny grinned at Shazam getting it. “What about Supergirl, that’s his cousin right? Is she cool with him?”
Superboy now was getting a little happy at his own template getting lectured, crossed his arms slightly smug. “She is not cool with me.”
“Save a memo for Supergirl, she needs any favors from the dead she’ll get none from me either~ Unless it’s for this guy.” He grinned over to Superboy, floating upside down now. Young Justice members looked extremely pleased with this and smug. He was happy to lean into this.

Batman cleared his throat and he snapped his head over to him fondly, floating over swinging his legs behind him like a teenager talking to their crush on the phone. “What can I do for you, Prince of the Night?”
Batman had a roll of amusement off him but kept his face neutral. That was still one of the coolest things ever.
“Can you tell us more about your relationship with Daniel Fenton? He’s risked a lot for you over the years, as well as Samantha Mason and Tucker Foley.”
He hummed in thought how to put it, taking his time. “Danny was hit by the portal and it may well have been because a living person was standing in the gateway that an artificial portal was able to establish anyways. When he came out he was hurt badly. He got a couple powers, and his friends helped him hide it from his parents. The new ghosts that were able to slip into Amity were curious about the area and excited to interact with the new world… I… could feel how bad this could go way too fast. So I got Team Phantom’s help in wrangling back the ghosts, using Fenton tech to safely send them back to their homes. All of Team Phantom has been a great asset to the protection of Amity.” He wiggled his little ghost tail as he floated back around Shazam, and settled to fluff his hair liking the guy who seemed just excited to have Danny here as he was to be here himself, so he happily wafted little braids into his hair, confusing him but he didn’t seem unhappy with it, and his hair was just so bouncy!
“What about now that the portal is down? What will this affect for the ghosts of Amity Park?”
“Honestly, I’d like to help them find healthy avenues to run their abilities, and once the GIW is dealt with, helping them to integrate with this world. I know of one other portal in this world I can still travel from that is a constant. Then there are the natural portals all over the place too that come and go. Most of them really aren’t bad people. Only a couple of the ancients really get that annoying. Like Vortex? Don’t count on him for anything. But..Skulker could easily be a bounty hunter, teens in this world already adore Ember McLain’s music, Young Blood would be great playing with other kids, Walker could use some training in sensitivity, but he can be an excellent warden when he wants to.” He smiled softly. “Then they could fill their obsessions and…make the world better for it, instead of freaking everyone out.”
“What about characters like…Danny’s future self?”
He cringed a bit but shrugged. “If he gets to be a problem I can handle him, and if not, we’ve already been handing what information Danny thinks the bats could use to fix that.” He smiled over to Batman gratefully. He really hoped Dan was done with his shenanigans, but one could never be too sure. “And I do believe that Wayne Tech is working with Dalv Co now to get anti-ghost safety measures in place on a wider scale? That will make a huge difference from the defenseless world that Dan knew, according to Danny. Before, only Amity Park had survived as the last planet because of how much ghost research had gone into it. Vlad is very researched in ghost technology, after all he was on the same research team as the Fentons in his college years, and he gained a healthy respect for lab safety after his own accident at that time, and has seen in his time as Mayor the difficulties that can be faced with ghosts. He quickly got over trying to get me killed in the early days with publicity stunts. He’s a good man, just had his heard twisted for a while trying to impress the wrong person.” He spoke gently, and others looked to J’onn who nodded lightly at how fond Danny’s trust was in the man now.
“What of characters such as Vortex?”
“Hope that you got someone fast enough to run into a tornado to get close to him and aim a thermos at him.” He pulled one of the thermos out of his chest, setting it on the table. “You are more than welcome to piece this apart and study how it works to build more of them. I would be honored, as I’m sure Daniel Fenton and his father would be for any version you make to become a part of your utility belt. I would personally adore it being right next to the famous shark repellant.” He grinned widely as he dug into the research notes through his chest, finding a copy of its blueprints as well and setting it down alongside the thermos.
“Are you not worried about the subjugation of your people? And so immediately following the behaviour of the GIW?” Wonder Woman had her hands templed on the table in front of her, brow furrowed a bit.
“Dude, for reals? Luthor, maybe, but you guys are literally in the middle of helping me turn things around here. Plus, you guys aren’t near as dumb to try and destroy a whole plane of existence you don’t understand. If there are any issues with my sassy ghost friends though, I really hope that you reach out to me instead of fighting them immediately. Sometimes it is the stupidest things that set them off that are really important to them that others just…wouldn’t understand, and if you invalidate it for them it could make it a million times worse. I’d really appreciate any issues by my people to give me, or Constantine who’s shown a healthy respect and weariness for them on the field as well, if he’s okay with it, a chance to fix it ourselves.”
Constantine beamed a bit proudly at getting the respect put to his name. “Aye ya dears, ya can come ta see me about it, do call first though?” He winked to Zatanna, who laughed a bit while a few others groaned at him getting a big head.

“Will Danny be alright with coming and talking to us soon as well?” Flash perked up at this point, and how friendly he had heard the guy was, Danny was a bit surprised he hadn’t spoken up yet until this point, he seemed more just…fascinated with the situation.
“Yeah, but not tonight. Every other day he has appointments to make sure he stays ahead of the GIW and in the know. Tomorrow until….” he checked his phone for the appointments. “Until eleven a.m. Gotham time, that's the range he’ll be available, and every other day to match this as well.”
Because hell yeah Danny would love to get up into fucking space every other day! He doubt they’d call on him that much but still.
Talk devolved more casual as the meeting ended and they were in on the information, before he fingergunned at Constantine. “Hey, remember to text Danny about those tattoos okay? I’m assuming most important is clean linework right? Don’t want to smudge a protection spell.” He beamed as Constantine nodded.
“Yes EventHorizon, I’ll make sure to get it in as quickly as both our schedules allow. I’m thankful for his and your trust in me.”
Danny beamed. He really would have to tell Constantine soon. At the same time he didn’t think he could put up with the stress of the whole Justice League knowing who he was, all the pressure it would include. This worked for now. So, Constantine took him back to Gotham, where he could hurry off for his appointments once he could subtly switch back to human form.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“B, if you don’t find a way to take in that kid, Conner is. He and Billy were already arguing over who gets to adopt him.” Barry sniggered, arms crossed as he was in the cafeteria with the man, filling up his plate high.Bruce sighed, still in a cowl, rubbing his head. “I hope you mean to be on one of their teams. He said himself he’s twenty. Conner and Billy are both technically younger than him, no matter how they may look. Also seemed like Rizon was thinking the same thing about Conner himself.” The new name fit. Billy had chosen well with EventHorizon, even if it was weird for them to be reminded about him eating cores, but it was good to know that souls like Draculas would not by any means be coming back. The dead should be left to rest, when they were characters like him.
“As excited as you could see him being about all the aliens and old souls in the room… I have never seen respect for someone disappear that quickly and solidly. He’ll have to work on his relationship to Conner before he’s got a chance with Phantom.” Queen was so damn smug about it. Finally a blind love for the figurehead had died down quick as the flash himself.
Clark on the other hand was glum, sheepish as he could overhear them, of course, and was getting heckled by Hawkgirl in the crosshairs, looking to Manhunter for any input he could get.
“Sorry Clark, for til college.”
“Who am I waiting to go to college?? What does that have to do with me being able to talk to him?”“I would bet on it being Conner. That you need to support him for til he wants to go to college.” Hawkgirl smirked, brushing past with her own food.In short, everyone was pretty amused with the situation, well, except for Clark of course.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Danny was pleased by the meeting, he could feel his energy bursting after being in space, and getting a way to protect his people, the future from Dan. It was a pretty wonderful day.
He was eager in his meeting with the Dent men as well, and gave the same information he did to the Justice League, including up to a selection of the ghost weaknesses that they had been abused by.Harvey and Harv studied over the case files carefully, like Batman, he was careful to reign in his emotions on the surface. The room felt hotter through Danny feeling the displeasure rolling off him for the case. Luckily for Danny, he decided to take the time to think it over and put his thoughts in line in order to get his case together. But he had still met with him, and he was still taking up his time, so he paid the man of course. As he would continue to do so.He was quickly settling into his routine. He had appointments with Crane midday, then the same evening he would have his appointments with Harvey, followed by a video call to home, catch a nap, and then a midnight jog, he’d only had someone try to mug him once the entire week, and his stuff was inside him so finally the lipgloss phone got to shine. After that he started carrying the Fenton Creep stick down the back of his jacket while he jogged, just in case.Then about twice that week, he had a bat come to check on him personally at the hotel room he’d paid up for. He was extremely excited for his tattoos, as he had talked over the designs with Constantine, at the same time that Boxy had come to see him with his newly commissioned ring and crown, more of a circlet now which worked out better with the lay of his horns, gently rings of pearls drooping from his horns and shifted through his hair. He grinned at the feel of his completed look, focusing on it being on his back for the majority, and keeping the marks up on his arms so if he rolled up long sleeves just a bit they would still cover up his marks. He got the ring of power over to him, having willed away the ominous skull so it wasn’t as recognizable, and he left it to Constantine’s contact to get the invisibility spell linked onto it with a trigger word he could use to activate it when needed.
Constantine…was really not a good influence. On top of the numbing cream, he decided Danny needed a drink or few to sit still for the process. He’d had plenty of painful blasts as well, so he was sure he would be fine but Constantine perhaps was worried because of this. If he knew a similar pain maybe Constantine was worried he would get trapped in those memories and panic mid tattoo?
So he drank plenty of water, ate what he could, before he let Constantine guide him through one of the calmer bars that were lax on id cards, and while he was sheepish, he couldn’t deny that the pleasant buzz of warmth against his usual cold was comforting.
So, he might have been out of it and giggling a little strongly when he got in, but he knew what he needed to do there… he might have just gotten a bit extra. Constantine was there right at his side, while making sure they kept all the lines crisp and spelling right, he kept Danny in a joking manner through the pain, which he had made sure Danny had gotten a healthy coat of the numbing cream like it was damn sunscreen.
They had some high energy music playing for him to relax to, Constantine had gotten him a book on space, he was buzzed and fully fed. It all made the needle digging in his back inch by inch bearable. It also helped when they asked what else he may like, and without thinking about it too much, remembered his thought about piercings and dove straight into it.
At some point he fell asleep, or passed out during the tattoo, he wasn’t sure which, but he’d been lightly giggling and squeezing Constantine’s hand babbling excitedly about all the new metal in his face, then the next moment he was feeling some sort of plastic pressing to his skin over various areas.Constantine was poking at his face, and pressed water into his hand until he was downing at it greedily, shaking his head. He felt lucky for his healing factor, as he was already down to a dull ache over most of his upper body from the tattoos, only the freshest area on the last arm was still painful enough to note, but he knew some more sleep and he’d be right as rain.Still, he was weak to being babied.Constantine didn’t know where he was staying, but had determined he wasn’t going to leave him alone, and had opened a golden portal, helped Danny up and walked him into a very cozy house, one with high wooden walls and candlelight.
Danny giggled a bit as Constantine guided him over to a couch. “Man, didn’t know you were loaded like that JC.”Constantine smirked lightly, fluffing Danny’s hair as he got him settled in. “Place was pushed onto me actually, not really my own funds getting it, but it’s a good place to call home.”“It is beautiful.” Danny nuzzled into the couch, sipping some more water, he checked his phone to see the new piercings, and he must have babbled a lot because he got a lot more than he thought he would. But it looked really cute too.One in his eyebrow and his ear was just full of the things. He wasn’t even going to have to wait for them to heal and worry about infection! He was such a lucky bastard.
He grinned to himself as he settled, watching Constantine bustling about, he posed on the couch with his tongue poked out to the side and holy shit he’d gotten one in his tongue too. Guess that one had been first because he didn’t feel it at all, and it was a lil stud so it didn’t get in the way of talking. He looked amused and winked in the picture as he sent it to the group chat, then silenced the messages of that one, not wanting to have to worry about explaining to them how he was drunk when he did it, but loved them anyway. It was going to be hilarious, them finding out about his tattoos as well.
Either way, he could almost feel the warm thrum in the power of the words surrounding his ghost energy, shielding and protecting him, much like Batman’s arms when he broke down in tears.
So he let himself sleep in what Constantine called the House of Mysteries, and feeling its mischievous energy meeting to his core when he woke, he grinned as he got up, and asked if it wanted to play after Constantine shrugged and told him just not to touch anything major. And like that he floated around, letting it show him around to various rooms, and while he was told not to touch, he took pictures of items he was curious about, then cooed at the house for being such a good host and giving him a tour of so many spoils. When he got back to Constantine he went over the list of objects he’d gotten pictures of an asking them, diving into a lesson of magical history, and learning key phrases he practiced right there with Constantine to memorize the right words to protect himself with magic in a pinch, then getting to understand the feeling of the aftereffects of using such abilities. It felt a bit like using his wail, a drain on his energy from his center of being, but drew from his human half with his guidance instead of his core. It would be...insanely helpful. To do a small teleportation when ectobracers held him against a lab table? Heck yeah.
“Now kid, I want to show at minimum how the verbal spells work to EventHorizon as well. I know you got the steps, but I want to make sure I can tell him every step as well. We do not need the Crown Prince of the Infinite Realms tied down to some lab table.”Danny laughed a bit sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. Constantine didn’t play games with secret identities to him, so he could give him a break back. “I mean…if you really want to show me the steps again you can?” His eyes crinkled in his smile.
Constantine looked at him like an idiot for a moment like he wasn’t getting what he was saying, before he popped his eyes wide looking over him. “Bloody hell, how?! I know you have some powers, but to be dead enough for becoming fucking royalty…” He blinked as a mix of horror and awe went over his face and he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You’re fucking lucky I already knew of some ghost abilities and made sure none of the lines on you would hurt that. You’re a little asshole.”Danny giggled a bit at that. “I’ve been called worse. I’m sorry, I wanted to see how long it would take the bats to figure it out and..I figure it will be longer since my look changed so drastically. No point keeping you in the dark. You’ve been wonderful with me like this, and with your time helping me as Phantom in Amity Park.”Constantine sighed and shook his head, smirking a bit after a minute. “Did you… hide it so you could double dip on your time in the WatchTower?”Danny cackled at that. “Wasn’t my original intention, but it sure is a bonus.”“Alright Danny, none of my business with the Bats and your game, not like they’re going to tell you who they are any time soon either. Just as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the case.”He beamed, glad in part that his game could continue.
“Thanks JC. They’re funny, kind…but they’re so fun to mess with to.” He cackled. “Also I want a little more time before feeling their horror realizing the guy that likely killed them all in an alternate future is now the future ghost king. Dan is in therapy after all. Maybe once he’s got his style under wraps I can get him connected to me and Plasmius to feel how things have changed, and he doesn’t have to have as much rage.” He hummed in thought as he relaxed back on the couch.He mused over how talks had been going with the Justice League so far, and how soon they would be able to get the information together concisely, and reasoned how the information had gotten to them without getting Danny or his Ghostly Prince form. Which…if they wanted to try and have beef with him in his ghost form, now he had the ability to protect himself. And he could close the portals if he needed to. He had already done so against his parents. Then Vlad might be weary of shutting his own down but if needed he was sure Vlad would be understanding and cooperative, especially now.
He did a second walkthrough of his new phrases to use and ate a lot to bring the energy levels back up. Constantine asked to see his other form as well to make sure he wasn’t pulling his leg, as well to see how the piercings and tattoos had done to this form. The piercings stayed with his human look, which was probably for the best, something to help separate the two better. Plus he didn’t want to choke mid wail. But the tattoos had come with, and lightened the ink color where it matched the electric blue of his litchenberg scars.Not having to run around and prepare for a second guest if Rizon was a separate person, Danny being both had Constantine at ease, sniggering that he got to know before Batman. “The only other lil shit that knows about this then is J’onn? It’s hard to keep anything from him after all.”Danny smile with a nod. “Yes, of the Justice League, J’onn knows. I freaked out because I was busy fanboying, then realized he would be able to hear everything especially since he was helping connect me to the others’ thoughts before having to pick out a name. So I just blurted everything to him and he was nice enough to keep it to himself since I was a guest there. I adore him so much. If things didn’t work out with my Dad finding out I was the same as the menace Ghost Boy, I would totally have asked him to adopt me.”
Constantine laughed. “Aw, not me bloke? I’m hurt. Then again I’m more surprised that it isn’t Batman. He’s got a whole gaggle of Robins with Black hair being the most common factor.”Danny grinned, and before Constantine could take it back, yoinked him into a hug cooing. “I would have been happy with either of you to become my dad, or both. You both have been wonderful and I would love to learn more, from an experienced vigilante, and from a specialist in the supernatural. I could really use the help in both fields after all.”Constantine pulled back from the hug best he could but Danny wasn't letting him out of it easily. “Batman would happily take you in being your new Dad, as I’m sure half the League would. But I warn ya kid I’m not exactly fatherly material myself. You should know more if you’re going to become the Ghost King one day… how about a mentor position? You can work with me now and then, I tell you what I know of different spirit entities, and you tell me more about the Infinite Realms?”
Danny smiled with a nod. He could trust Constantine with knowledge of the Infinite Realms. He had already been so careful to keep everyone appeased when they went to Amity Park, and very open to that the other usual enemies were alright to work alongside of as well.“I would be more than happy to have someone I could trust and talk about the Realms with. Plus… I’m pretty sure that the damn Observers are going to be pushing me into a corner with all their opinions on the matters concerning the Realms, and I need help to have a backbone before they get to know me properly and figure out I’m just a huge pushover.”Constantine perked up, and they launched into conversation with each other about the Observers, how they had acted before, how they had given radio silence in that he was going to be the next Ghost King, and what it would mean if the GIW had managed to destroy him after he became the Ghost Prince.
“You should find out more about other possible rules to succession kiddo.
Life is always unpredictable, and if you can find a way to set up who would take over as acting royalty should something happen to you outside of the right of combat, it would be for the best.”Danny nodded thoughtfully, it was something else he had to worry about now after all. Finding out that the Infinite Realms was the glue between other dimensions and how quickly that almost fell apart by the GIW’s brand of ecto-goo-be-gone, he couldn’t imagine the balance of the place would be any more happy about the ruler of the balance dying without a proper line to follow. Who the hell would he trust that kind of responsibility to? Did they have to be at least half dead in order to be considered for the position? He was going to need help looking over everything. First he had Walker's rules, now this.
He beamed a bit.
He’d get his lawyer to help him. To understand the laws in depth as well as Walker’s, and keeping him occupied learning about both would be a huge help to the living world as well
in keeping him busy. His core purred at the idea of how he could help the man and Gotham on a wide scale like this.Constantine seemed to agree with the sentiment as well. “He can be harsh when it’s more Harv in charge, but if he’s already taken a liking to you that’s a great thing. Especially if he’s already soft enough on you to be having meetin’s with you every other day. You have a lot going on, and it is very mature of you to get all the help you can.”Danny smiled a bit more faintly this time. “I had too long of trying to maintain everything with a very small team… I know how important it is to get support, and it’s been much easier since my psychiatrist kidnapped me initially.” He laughed, resting his head back. “I despise Dracula with a passion for what he put my town through… but I have to say I am incredibly thankful for how the push forced us to get help from outside Amity. From the Bats, from Jonty, you… it’s…really weird suddenly being surrounded by so much trust and love. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”“I get that,it feels weird to have someone putting their trust into my expertise after all the shit I get for it.” Constantine grinned, lightening the mood a little bit.
Next half hour or so was them talking about troubling stories of the past, of djinns, genies, succubi or ghost girls in disguise seducing for their own ends, times kidnapped, team ups with their rogues or demons in the past, and Danny quickly decided even if he wasn’t liking the idea of title dad, Uncle Constantine was fucking cool and being adopted into his Fraid.He left the House of Mysteries with a pep in his step, and was quick to get home for a shower and very gently wash off the layer of plasma covering his tattoos before recovering them to catch some sleep.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~It had been a long couple of weeks, and an energy had been filling the air he knew all to well to have occurred through his air, and to be perfectly honest?He was getting sick of it.He had been out of the Asylum for a couple weeks now and the bats didn’t seem too overly engaged after the first few nights in stopping him, so as their interest waned, he got curious. He sent his goons to find out what exactly had been keeping them so preoccupied that the usual quips were cut down so much.
What he found was infuriating. Of course Batsy had a problem, he already knew it by the absolute massive colony of bats and flock of birds that had been growing with time in Gotham and even spreading to other cities.
It shouldn’t have ever gotten past the first two to begin with.Ending little wing should have kept things back to the basics, of Batsy and Boy Wonder.
Simple, classic.Unfortunately, things hadn’t stayed on the downlow or returned to normal, where he had a lot less time to have some fun with each new ward he brought in. He had almost succeeded in leveling the playing field too when he had taken in the third little robin. A little JJ was going to be perfect. He had been such a good lad. But Batman took him away much too quickly. Denied him of another to take up his mantle with time passing, the hypocrite.
So he knew this uncomfortable feeling in his gut, and he was beyond upset that there was a new kid Batsy had been scouting.
His patience was reaching his limit, and he was going to make sure Batsy heard him loud and clear that enough was enough.When he went to visit the hotel room first, he could write it off as investigating a witness to one crime or another. But when he came back a few nights later to see the kid again?
Now that was unusual.
So he had put eyes on the room in question that the bats had taken turns dipping into, and he found out about them and their routine quickly.
Kid didn’t seem to have much fighting experience, so he was probably going to take a while to train, and he was already older than most that Batsy took in, but he got the style down.
There was someone he visited at the Asylum every other day, though he didn’t have someone in the staff since he blew the last one up for taking too long. Then he would go visit someone in Two-Face’s territory. Was he passing information and Batsy was trying to stop a new generation of rogues growing?
The easiest part of the kid’s schedule was his nightly runs. They varied only in about twenty minutes for his start time, but every night, in the middle of it, the kid was decked out in black and went for his run. He had a favorite route, which led him through only the shorter lengths of alleyways as needed, especially after he got mugged once. He hadn’t put up a fight either, just tossed his weirdly glittery phone and got it over with. Perhaps this new little bird was going to be information and undercover then, and he was setting up something between the asylum and the goons of Two-Face’s territory to get them busted. So he dismissed the goons who watched him during the day, already knowing when he wanted to handle the kid.He didn’t care to know what he was doing during the day anymore now that he’d gotten to know him a little better. The young ‘Fenton’ checked into the hotel and liked sticking to his schedule, and he could take full advantage of that.
He hummed when he set up his equipment in one of the alleyways Daniel fancied, getting different angles covered to make sure everyone could enjoy the show. Just enough filth into the alleyway to direct his run right into position, and eyes on him from the corners of alleyways, to watch for when he started his nightly jog.
He didn’t have to wait long. Apparently the man had a good day, because up and energized, he had started his run twenty minutes early.
All the better. He couldn’t wait to meet the kid either, who was he to deny him being excited to show up to his surprise party early?So he hummed and waited until they had the kid in sight getting closer to his location before he turned on the cameras to spark their control over different tv stations across the city.With that he was gleeful in his laugh, greeting his audience. “Hello, Gotham!! We have a special interruption for my favorite cesspool tonight!” He could hear the screech of tires down a couple street blocks, people listening to the radio in their cars getting interrupted by the Clown Prince’s voice made him chortle in delight. Police scanners would be down, the children's channels at home, the news, even diabolically he had interrupted Family Feud for the old coots at home! But he didn’t want anyone to miss this, and it was the easiest way to make sure Batsy was in on the show as well.“Oh Batsy, you haven’t been giving me much love lately you know! At first I thought it was a ‘me’ problem! Did you not like the change in my cologne? Perhaps the way I’d done my hair last time didn’t frame my face the way you like!” He threw his long mane of hair behind him with a dramatic sigh. “But as usual, it’s a ‘you’ problem.” He glared at the camera vehemently, pointing a finger at it accusingly. “You have been busy buttering up some new young kickstarter to join your ranks! I can always feel it, you know, since the third one it’s been easier to feel when you’re adding a new face to your ranks of child soldiers. But really, you have enough. And I have had enough of new Robins interfering with our one on one time! I miss you Batsy!~ So I will make it easier on you this time and nip it in the bud! This kid can’t even put up a fight, and he’s much too old for your style! So I’ll do you both a favor and clip the little bird’s wings before he flies. No more birds will fly in Gotham, Batsy!”
With that he turned on his heel, bringing into shot his crowbar in his hand as he took position behind the dumpster that would keep him out of sight of the young man, his chest racing in excitement. Oh he was going to absolutely devastate his Batsy. He had been such a mess after the second one and it had been delicious for a time, his beautiful broody Batman had been broken by him especially, and it had been hard enough for him to keep the pieces together then. Would he dismiss it as another civilian he couldn’t save, or would he be able to see that wonderful rage over his features all over again?He grinned as he willed his thoughts to quiet with the sound of footfalls. So close. Getting louder, the steps were relaxed and in rhythm, Daniel was in his groove. Crouched, he waited until he was close enough that if he startled back, he would be in the perfect spot.
Then as such he came out, a quick fluid motion as he reeled his arm back. Daniel jumped back just that little bit he expected.
And as he swung the crowbar, stepping in to not let him away, he brought all the force down, sending it across his front of face, clubbing him mid cheekbone and there was an oh so satisfying crunch.A crunch that sent Daniel’s neck snapping so hard his head went backwards, his body sagged.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AAAAAND Danny's new tattoos! That are of absolutely no help against crowbars!

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Red Hood stumbled on the roof he had barely landed on as the radio went to the laughter of that sick fuck. There was a crunch and silence. He had instantly killed the kid, or knocked him out? “Oracle, tell me what just happened.” His voice shook as he found his pace again, racing for what Red Robin and Batman had described Danny’s usual jogging route to be.

“I…fuck. He…” She had a hard time in that moment with the visuals on her end.

“Oracle.” Batman cut harsh over the line in his panic, to help her snap back to focus.

Her voice was low but she got it out. “He just… stepped out from behind the dumpster and…clocked him in the head with a crowbar. I’m sorry guys. His head, it’s…facing backwards.”

Oracle stared at the screen, swallowing back bile. After a second in the laughter from the Joker, her eyes widened. “Holy shit B, Danny’s still moving. He’s reaching for the Joker.”

“How the hell are his nerves intact enough to control his limbs?” Red Robin was incredulous in his disbelief for the situation but he sped up as well.

Oracle knew how much fun Joker would have fun with what he assumed was a new bat. She shook herself to attention and went back into the flurry of triangling his location, pinging it off of where Danny’s route was.

She watched as his hand stumbled out, reaching in front of him and clumsily grabbing for Joker’s jacket, following it up to grip the collar of it near his neck, holding onto it for dear life as his legs were buckling.

“Oh he’s got some spirit after all! Perhaps I can play with you a little longer, little bird!” Joker cackled as he allowed the weak grip at him, sweeping him over like he was dancing with a limp marionette doll. Danny’s limp neck sickeningly looked up as his body was lowered, Joker guiding his grip to the small of his waist so he wouldn’t collapse completely as he hummed a waltz like-tune.

At the pain of his neck being shattered, though it seemed he couldn’t scream in his pain, his other hand reached back, stumbling, looking like he was going to find his head and hold it steady, with the weak clumsy fingers. Joker laughed completely delighted, looking over to the screen. “Even as the light is probably leaving his eyes, he just can’t help but to want one last look at the Prince of Crime!~ What an honor, you really were picking well Batsy!”

“I’ll…..batsy….”

Joker’s eyes widened as did his disgusting yellowed smile. He couldn’t see from his angle that Danny had skipped past his head and reached down his jacket, a weird shifting of energy around Joker, a bit like a mirage leaving his body. “What was that dear boy?~” He giggled, leaning in to hear him better as the energy surrounded Danny instead.

Then a growl rolled from him as a bat phased into his hand from the back of the jacket, metal with a little sticker on it in neon green.

“I’ll give ya

Batsy

.” He choked out as he gripped tighter to his collar, and looked like he swung with everything he had to send a solid smack into Joker’s side, sending himself tumbling as the Joker let go in his surprise and pain into the alleyway wall, which cracked.

“Holy shit, kid has a broken neck and he’s beating Joker with a baseball bat!” She was both awed and horrified. How was Danny still moving?! Then the strength to send him into the wall like that? “We're going to need two ambulances.”

“Hold on kid.” She heard Redhood mutter, desperately as he looked from alleyway to alleyway, and she could see the green that he had tamed for so long starting to glitch out his domino camera.

It was a horrorshow on the television broadcasting the interaction throughout the city, but she knew there were at least a few cheers over the city at the Joker getting clocked.

As Danny fell backwards on the cameras, he flew his hands back to catch himself so he didn’t smack his face -

oh god his head was still backwards

- into the concrete. Clearly he didn’t plan to keep staring at the ground either. He took a deep breath and braced himself, cameras glitching out a little bit as he grabbed his head by the hair, and pulled towards his chest.

Well, there went her lunch.

She heaved as his head, backwards and now upside down, rested against his chest as he crab walked back over to the Joker, his metal bat having a dragging sound over concrete of the alleyway. He braced one hand against the ground as he arched back the bat, snarling. “I fucking hate clowns.” Blood was pooling from his mouth, shards of broken teeth being spit from his mouth, his baby blue eyes were wild and glowing icily, sharp teeth poking out from a manic grin as he bashed at the Clown Prince again.

Joker managed a kick into Danny’s shoulder, but with a second one,
he just sent a harder hit to Joker’s leg with a snap, it bending at an awful angle and the bone poked out against his pantleg.

Somehow Joker still found this hilarious. He laughed even as blood came from his mouth from the force of the first blow. He made a reach to grab the bat, but as soon as he grabbed it in another swing there was a bash of bones crunching, and it looked like he couldn’t let go. He yelled out in pain as Danny grabbed the base of his arm with the other and yanked back the bat, chunks of skin clinging to it… seeming frozen onto it?

“He…he’s really messing up Joker, guys.” She managed after a moment. “He has to be in so much pain but he is locked in. I don’t think Joker’s going to survive if Danny decides to take out his head.” She sat up as it finally stopped bouncing around. “Alley between Conroy and Benedict!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arriving on scene with Tim, the Pits were screaming at Jason. He quickly shot out the cameras they spotted first. Gotham didn’t need to hear or see anymore of this shit. Danny was covered in splashes of red and green, from the blood down his chin to covering his face and the bat, Seemed Joker had gotten a few kicks in too before his other leg had gotten smashed, as well as an arm.

Danny was letting out a feral scream as he bashed down on the man, only slowing when he heard the gunshot, checked over himself like he expected he was the one that was shot at, and his legs giving out a bit when he wasn’t.

Jason dove in quickly, scooping him up before he could hit the ground. His arms trembled as he held the form too much like Dick’s against his chest. Tim rushed over to secure the Joker as the ambulances could be heard down the street coming closer once Oracle was able to send them to the right area.

Danny blinked up at him, the adrenaline fading he groaned in pain, breathing hard as he held at the collar of his leather jacket.

“How the fuck are you alive kid?” He choked out, it warbled over his modulator as he cradled him close, terrified to touch his neck.

Danny steadily slowed his breath enough to manage some words. “Inside neck…intangible. Still..broken but…made won’t…damage anything else.” He gasped out in pain.

Relief flooded his system a bit. “We’ll get it straightened out kid the best we can. Being part dead saved your life today eh?” Thank fuck for the ghost powers. There hadn’t even been the option of being too late this time. He had timed it so there weren’t even minutes before he was telling the city exactly what he was doing to this kid.

He comed Batman, his pits settling with Danny in his arms. “Old man, Danny’s secure. He’s holding his ghost powers to keep the damages from his neck from disabling him completely. We need the best surgeon we can find to align this back up. Everything is mangled.”

“Understood Red Hood. Will meet him at the hospital.”

“I have…pretty good healing.” Danny coughed out, his body convulsing a bit with the force of the cough and Jason held him tighter. “Once..I release the intangibility… it will start. I can’t…can’t be sedated or I’ll slip.” Seemed he was having a hard enough time staying awake through the pain as well. How was he even talking? Missing teeth, broken cheek, and where the hell was he getting his air with his neck twisted like that? The moment he was put under, his neck was going to start healing, and if it did in this position, he’d be screwed. He was grateful when the ambulance pulled up, quickly jumping into the first one with the kid as they got him onto the gurney. They were freaked out to say the least by the position of his head, but Jason had at least wiped the ectoplasm off of him, knowing no way in hell would Danny want anymore people to know than necessary about his blood. Before they could strap him in, Danny was moving, holding up a hand for them to wait a moment as he inhaled, eyes more faintly glowing that icy blue as he started carefully untwisting his neck.

“You shouldn’t be moving at all, please don’t-”

“I currently have my bones, nerves, windpipe, muscles, in flux so I can do this much. You can’t brace my head like this just…just a second.” He groaned out with shaking hands as he flopped his head back down off his chest onto the cot, and Jason helped support his shoulders as he got his head returned around, the sickening twist of his skin had markings in it angrily red, but as he got it lined back up and they got the neck brace on him, the tears of pain clouded his eyes but wouldn’t spill over, and Jason could feel it with some sort of energy rolling off the kid, he was beyond pissed, embarrassed, but relieved at the same time.

Yeah getting clocked because of your routine sucked. But they had gotten to him, and he was safe. Probably embarrassed he had let his emotions get the best of him and had to show the EMTs his ability.

“No pain relievers… I need to stay awake until I can get in. And I can’t accept blood donations either, meta.” He grunted out to them, and they nodded in their understanding and secured him down. His voice sounded less strained now that he had his windpipe where it was supposed to be at least. Jason gripped his hand, rubbing it.

“You holding up okay kid?” He kept his voice even so it could make it out clearly.

“Yeah… you should see the other guy.”

Jason barked a laugh, making one of the EMT’s jump a little bit, and he was sure Danny could feel his grinning under the mask. “Oh I did, man. I could kiss ya for doing the number ya did on that washed up clown.”

Danny smiled, a bit of his crooked grin past the pain, and he was pretty adorable. Each time they saw him, he always put on the bravest smile. Facing kidnapping, fear gas, dissection…kid came out smiling. It broke his heart a little bit. But Danny was managing and that’s all they could ask for.

“Batman wants to be there for you at the hospital, will that be alright, man?” He gave his hand a squeeze, knowing he had gotten overwhelmed with their first meeting in the cave.

Danny’s face brightened, wincing a bit but excited. “I’d love that. Any of you are welcome to visit me. I could use the distraction as well. Surgery isn’t going to be fun, and when I’m healing afterwards I don’t want to think about it.”

Jason smiled a bit at the rowdiness in his helmet. “I’m hearing at least four bats and birds that will be happy to keep you company in turns kid.”

With that, he stayed by his side and got him to the hospital quickly, straight into the surgery room. At Danny’s insistence, Jason got to stay not far away once he was scrubbed in. They cleaned the area of blood as they carefully set Danny on his stomach, and explained to him each step as he braced himself for it. He took deep breaths as he had his face down in an opening on the table.

“My skin will be difficult to cut through, so I’m going to keep each layer intangible down to the base. Once the bones are in place, one by one I’ll let them solidify, then we’ll work out each layer until everything’s where it's supposed to be.”

Jason knew this was a lie with the amount of blood tests they had done on him the first time, but by his description of the torture he had faced before, he understood Danny needing to be in control as he was trapped into a stark white room again surrounded by scrubs and cutting tools while he was forced to stay still for them if he ever wanted to walk again.

He had pulled aside one of the doctors before it began and let them know Danny had medical trauma, and to be very open with him as much as they could.

So he was relieved when they talked with him through it.

“Daniel? You’re doing really good, we have the last vertebra in place, We can move on to the next layer now. Can you wiggle your fingers for us? Good, and your toes? Excellent, I know this is hard but you’re doing a great job.”

The panic of Danny’s heart monitor was still elevated, but it was slower than when he first was faced with the wide room and operation table. They were keeping him calm enough. He let out layers carefully, one set of muscles then the next, until he was able to let the skin go tangible again and fully relax his powers, shaking with exhaustion he was quick to pass out. Jason stayed with him as he headed back to a recovery room, neck in a brace, wrapped up tight, and Bruce as Batman was clearly relieved he was resting.

“Is the other guy going to make it?” He scoffed out as he crossed his arms, the two of them the only ones in the room with him.

“Probably. His will likely be a year of recovery though before he’s back to breaking out of Arkham.” Bruce frowned a bit as he sat at Danny’s side with Jason.

“That’s too bad.” Jason took off the helmet so it was just his domino underneath. He relaxed back into his seat, glad that Danny had managed to do at least that much to him. Imagining what he could have done if his neck hadn’t been broken in that first hit. Though that probably was what made it so terrifying. He and Bruce got a moment to watch the replay on the cameras of what they missed to the audio, and Danny had clearly learned a thing or two from Scarecrow in instilling fear, or was it from the ghosts of Amity? His upside down crab walk with that massive grin on his face was going to be in Jason’s sweetest dreams. He screenshotted it to save as his background. Just like the baseball bat with ‘Fenton Creep Stick’ on it was going to stay in his personal collection, blood on it and everything in a display case like a shrine. He’d only met the guy a couple times but he was serious he could kiss the guy.

“He’s being held under sedation for his injuries in high security. He’s got a lot to go through before he can even be transferred to a secure wing of Arkham.” Bruce sighed, holding his head as he watched Danny, Jason putting it in the fanciest font he could find on his phone to edit by the picture ‘I fucking hate clowns.’ with little hearts by it.

“I hope somehow the healing takes the rest of his life.”

Bruce looked over at him, having to reign in his pointed signature dad glare. After all, Jason felt that a part of him had to agree with it. Guy was a complete menace. There was no getting the guy together and rehabilitated.

Jason left him in the room with Danny as he stepped out to make a call, getting in touch with Harvey's office. Guy hated the clown just as much as he did for his accident, and he didn’t want him mad at Danny for missing their next few appointments. He got a secretary, which made sense, Harvey probably needed sleep too. “Hey Tammy. Yeah there’s a problem with your boss’s client, Danny who’s been coming by.”

“Would that be the newest one, Fenton?”

“Yes ma’am. He’ll be absent for the next few meetings.”

“I see, Mr.Hood. What should I put down as the reason for cancellation? Incarceration? Inhibition?”

“Hospitalization by the clown, ma’am.”

He heard the sharp intake of breath from the other side. Clearly she had seen the pop up over the many channels of Joker snapping his neck and the brutalization to follow. “Understood sir, I’ll make sure Mr.Dent gets the message. Thank you for calling.”

He let that call end and headed back to visit the kid. Every couple hours they rolled in with an x-ray machine to get a read on his healing factor, see just how much time he would need.

By the steady mending of the bone, the several months of physical therapy he needed was likely to be set in under a couple weeks. Batman was very relieved to have good news to tell Danny when he woke up, with everything he had been through. Jason felt like even the timeline of weeks was pushing it since Danny had to instantly regrow organs before to stay functional. Probably would be boosted by ectoplasm.

Of the Justice League, only J’onn, John and Conner were given Phantom’s number. The one Phantom and Danny had both been meeting the most was the one that Jason decided to reach out to, letting Bruce just have time to sit by the kids side who almost got killed for even being suspected of being an up and coming Robin.

“The fuck mate, you know what time it is? What’d the bat mess with now?” He was greeted with a groggy Constantine on the other side and he chuckled lightly.

“I wish it was something like that…listen, Danny got hurt badly. Can you get in touch with Horizon and let him know it’ll be a while for his recovery?”

Constantine was quiet for a moment, which Jason thought perhaps he had fallen back asleep after a moment of silence. “Joh-”

“Motherfucking- , are you kidding me?! I got wards put on the kid to protect him just today! How the hell did Danny get hurt?” Which, okay, he wasn’t used to Constantine growling out so protectively, but he got it too. He wanted to wrap Danny up in a blanket burrito prison and feed him a dozen home cooked meals. Actually if his healing was going like that anyways that’s exactly what he was going to do.

“No, I’m not kidding John. Joker thought B was going to take him as his new set of wings and wanted to stop that. His neck is going to take a couple weeks to heal, maybe less if he gets plenty of food and those shots I’m guessing.”

“The damn jester got a hold on him?” Constantine groaned. “Fine, alright. Rizon is going to be absent then as he’ll need to stay far away from Gotham or he’s going to destroy the person who hurt a member of his Fraid. Let me know how he’s doing now and then, okay?”

“Yes sir, I appreciate all your help. If the green is anything to judge by, if he’s as emotional as the Pits can get me, I understand his need to get away.”

He stayed a couple more hours with Bruce there before looking up at the next x-ray. He could move, just a little bit. Jason got up at the news and looked at him.
“Go ahead and get the bill, I’m taking Danny to one of my safehouses. Something tells me he won’t want to wake up surrounded by white, no matter how much therapy he’s been having.”

Bruce hesitated a moment, clearly wanting to take him too. But Jason got to it first, so he nodded, relenting it to him.

So he scooped Danny into his arms and headed out, cradling him against his side holding him securely and gently cradling his braced neck one armed as he took off across the city with him to where he left his bike. He gently sat him onto the bike and sat arms around him, having him face into him so he could secure him carefully. He had quickly stored away the jacket and Domino while driving as it was a bike not associated with Red Hood, so Danny would be safer. He took him back to a safehouse of his, and carried the lanky man inside. He set Danny in the spare room he usually had ready for Dick or Tim in their visits. He had a heated blanket to the side of him ready if Danny wanted it, a pitcher of water, and some soft snacks while he cooked something for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny had only been able to keep it together so long fighting his healing factor as he’d been able to feed off the cursed energy that surrounded Joker when he was rocking his shit into the alleyway. He knew he had been out of character, that there were some fantastic one liners he could have used on him he was regretting missing the chance on now. But the weird energy of hundreds of souls of Gotham being tied to him, cursing him in his death, had made him tougher for the everyday, that he deserved the most humiliating death they could think of, and so many differing opinions, had unfortunately been what was keeping him alive.

So he ate up their cries for vengeance, and it mixed with his protector spirit to absolutely rock Joker’s head into the ground over and over. They wanted a humiliating beat down, and he was able to appease some of this with the one he expected to decimate in front of the entire city to be the one to drive him into the dirt while having his head upside down, keeping it out of phase by the sheer will of the shades supporting him.

He felt the flashes of memories under the GIW while he was in the operating room, but he had to keep calm, he had to keep it together. He no longer feared the situation, but the weeks of training his mind to turn it against the agents he now had to hold in the cold, hold in the ecto eyes, keep it together so he wouldn’t hurt the people so desperate to help him. When he could finally let go of using his abilities, it had been a few hours and he was exhausted, hurt like hell. Batman wanted to be there for him, and Redhood stayed right with him. He felt his hand as he stayed by his side even as he fell asleep.

When he woke again he was in an extremely cozy room, in well worn soft plaid curtains and a comforter. He had at least been given his pants back underneath the hospital gown so he was a bit more cozy. Then there was the smell. It was just like Agent A’s cooking back in the cave. He felt at his neck brace and carefully sat up, going for the water and taking a moment to get his bearings. He had used up a lot of energy letting the shades get a fill of the joker through him, even if he hadn’t been there for long, then the surgery after. He blinked at the window next to him over the snow filling into the alleyway behind him. He slipped the window open to feel the cool air, as he curled his legs back under the heated blanket. He decided to stay in bed not to chance it, leaning against the cool window and dozing on and off for a while before a burly man in domino came into the room, he recognized his very faint ectoplasm. He was at RedHood’s apparently.

“Damn kid, trying to freeze yourself out already?” Redhood sat on a chair to the corner of the table he had the water set on, carefully setting down a pot roast the filled the room.

“Sorry if it’s too cold, it’s helping my head.” He smiled and before he could reach for the window he shook his head.

“It’s alright kid, I’ll just make sure to keep the door closed
so it doesn’t run the heaters at max throughout the day.” He fluffed Danny’s pillow and made sure he was comfortable, before moving the table closer so he could eat. Danny blinked looking at it slightly glowing. “Ah, yeah Red Robin figured those ecto-shot things would come in handy for you again after such a long day, and I figured that it’s flavor wasn’t the best.”

Danny laughed a bit and started to eat it quickly. “I appreciate it. Perhaps if I need another though, could you mix it into a drink? Foods, especially meat, if exposed to it for a while can come back to life with ectoplasm. I doubt you want to be fighting haunted stews.”

The domino widened in surprise, looking back over to it. “Shit I didn’t even think that was a possibility. Will definitely keep that in mind. What do you like to mix in with, then?”

“Thick drinks, like hot cocoa or smoothies blend with it pretty nice, though smoothies will still try to come after you if you make it in large batches.”

“Small batches, or hot cocoa, got it.” He smiled over as Danny ate, blinking as he stabbed a part of the roast that had started to squirm before shoving it in his mouth. Hood cackled a bit at him just waking up but having to fight the food, while at least looking well practiced in it. He hoped so, he had been fighting his food since he was eight after all.

“So… what happened to the other guy?” He asked after he hurried down the more lively bits of food, drinking at the water to help it settle.

At this he blinked to Hood absolutely lighting up. “Guy shouldn’t be moving for a few months, and in therapy several more. Only wish I’d gotten there after you finished the job but we aren’t all so lucky.”

Then he startled a bit as Red Hood leaned in and gave him a big ol wet kiss on the cheek. He burst out laughing feeling the moisture on his cheek. “What was that for, man? I would say take me to dinner first but you already got that covered.”

He grinned widely. “Anyone that can put Joker into a medical coma got my respect, and I told ya I could kiss ya.”

“That you did.” He snorted as he slowed down his eating, in thought a bit feeling the weakness of Jason’s ectoplasm. “You should eat with me, you know. I think ectoplasm would help you too. It’s weaker in you at the moment but… I think you should try this as part of your diet as well.” He was careful not to ask about his death in this, but he could feel the likeness from him. It wasn’t enough for his ghost sense, but it tried to form a couple times in his chest like a stuck hiccup.

Redhood blinked over to him curiously like he was thinking something over, before stealing Danny’s fork and stabbing a small chunk that had started to move, wincing a bit seeing his food perverted by the extra ingredient, but he tentatively brought it up to his mouth and bit it off. There was a slight flash to his eyes behind the domino in a familiar green before he stole Danny’s fork out of his hand and started wolfing the shit down.

Danny couldn’t even be upset. One it was hilarious having his food just yoinked like that, and two he really did need it. He could feel the neglected core purring at the ectoplasm being supplied to it. He purred gently back as he settled against the window, glad that he was right. It was a few minutes of eating before he snapped out of it realizing what he did, and as he felt guilt roll off of him, he couldn’t help but to laugh.

“Dude, however long you’ve been without this stuff it’s clear you needed it, don’t worry about it okay?”

Redhood slowly nodded as Danny insisted he eat the rest, his doting protective aura definitely was boosted anyways that even while he was being protected he could take care of him right back. He wiggled his feet in his warm blankets happily, watching the embarrassed vigilante more thoughtfully chew it down.

“I… get pretty pissed when the Pits get stronger…or my getting angry makes them stronger… is this going to affect that?”

Danny looked him over, and gestured to him to come closer. He put a hand to his chest, feeling for his core to get a sense for what the issue was. “I don’t know what a pit is, but I’m just going to assume it’s a pit feeling in your stomach, because if I had this stuff going through me I would feel extremely lousy. How much more ecto do you have here?”

“I got a whole batch from Matches. A large case of these things.” He gestured back to somewhere else in the house (Apartment? Mansion? Converted hole in the wall? He had no idea how to tell.

“Alright, bring a few vials… I think you should drink it while I try to pull at the energy with a thermos to draw up the sickly stuff.” Force the stuff to mix should dilute some of its take over power while comforting your center with the energy it's desperately needed.”

Danny could practically see the question roll from his eyes at something, and he grinned. He didn’t need to know how the hell he still had his thermos on him.

So Redhood left for the kitchen as he pulled out his phone, wallet, and thermos, setting them on the nightstand to get them out of his chest and thighs, smiling fondly from messages received by Constantine and Harvey wishing him a speedy recovery.
The others wouldn’t know yet what had happened, and he figured it was best they hear it from him.

Team Phantom (And Dad)

Spooks:

Soooo, think I just became a cryptid of Gotham.

Spooks:

I told him I didn’t like clowns, to be fair.

OversizedPuppy:

What? Are you okay kiddo? Did you die more?!

OversizedPuppy:

And clowns? Did Freakshow come after you? Do I need to come down there?!

ImTheMap:

Hold up I need to see what you’re talking about

StereoTypeRedhead:

Danny what is this? I just got up for work.

YoungPharoh:

HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN! oW!! How did you even turn your head that way man?!

VeganVamp:

Just looked it up. Danny, are you good? That’s uh…quite the smile you had going there.

ImTheMap:

HOLY TAQUITOS TEMPLATE!!!! That is BADASS!!! You HAVE to do that at the next haunted house!

GhostDad:

Little Badger, please be more careful. I don’t think that was the kind of therapy Batman wanted you to go to. Elle, language.

ImTheMap:

When the fuck did Vlad get in the chat? Fuck you!...Wait is that Mr.Fenton?!

OversizedPuppy:

Go Fenton Creep Stick!!! I’m proud of you kiddo!! Your neck okay? I didn’t like the sound of that crack. And hi!! Nice to meet you Elle!

Spooks:

I’m okay! I’m being babysat on bedrest by the bats. Love you all :3 <3

He chuckled as he turned it off for now, resting back as he messed with the settings on the thermos, Redhood coming back in with a suitcase packed with Ectoplasm.
He sat up carefully while Redhood raised an eyebrow to where in the hell Danny had been keeping not one but three things. He just grinned widely back in return.

“Alright so how we doin’ this?”

“I mean, it’s like you have a really bad version of Ghost Flu. So, you’re going to get stocked up on vitamins and hydration, while we pull the toxins from your body. I’m going to pull at it with a couple draws of the thermos, carefully. Ghosts it sucks into it, and you are way too physical to go in, and even if it draws it completely out of your system I don’t know what that will spell for you. So slow, easy, okay?”

Redhood frowned and wiggled into his spot a bit, nodding as Danny gave him one of the shots, holding the others behind him so Red wouldn’t just dive at the whole pile once he got a taste for it. He drank slowly as he could manage, while Danny watched, hovering close and got a feel for how the stirring in his chest felt with the ‘pits’ reacting to the ecto. It flared with the pure energy coming to it, and it lashed out angrily. At this he worked the thermos, small bursts to dredge up the sickly bits, and letting go of the draw button just as quickly so he wouldn't hurt Redhood. It wrapped around his ill ecto steadily that way. He gave it a few minutes to settle before he downed one and handed Redhood another vial.

“Sip it, slowly.” He instructed while he watched the stirring in his chest and the flair of green from under his mask. He could probably only handle a couple sessions today, and they’d work up more of it for however long he was stuck here.

As he thought, he only made it halfway through this second vial before he was looking queasy, and having to swallow it back fanning himself like it was too warm. Danny opened the window more and helped him over closer to it for the breeze to catch his heat, gently blowing cool air at him too.

“Alright that should be more than enough for today. I’d warn family or patrol groups that you’ll be a little tired for a while. You’ll need a lot of rest as your body catches up to your core needing this.”

“Core…that's where a ghost soul is right?” Redhood frowned a little bit.

“Yes. Yours is miniature at the moment, malnourished, and that's okay. We're going to work it up enough until you can filter your pit yourself and you should be strong for a lot longer again.”

Redhood perked a bit and got to messaging a handful of people on his phone without question, a bit of excitement from his core. “Alright kid, so we’re both getting some rest the next couple days. Am I going to keep burning up like this?”

“I mean it sounds like you may have something like a fire core, so it could be your body starting to adjust to it, or it could be that your body is making a fever to break the sickness it feels in your ecto. Again, lots of sleep.”

“Well I gotta keep an eye on ya anyways, so I’ll just crash in here with you alright?”

Danny blinked and giggled a bit, phasing the ecto vials under the bed and scooted over as Redhood moved closer in. He laid back as he moved into his space. And holy shit he was running warm. So Danny moved to lay his back against his, letting him steal some of his cold as he recharged with the open window. It was nice having the large solid body to his back and Redhood was surprisingly the first one to start dozing off. Maybe he was more used to cuddling piles of this sort of stuff so it came faster to him. That Redhood didn’t mind being right there and having his back to him was a comfort as well that lulled him to sleep. So he let himself be Redhood’s ice pack, and he his heat pack.

The next morning there were the press of a couple bodies on him, and he was a bit confused by that feeling it be multiple, and looking up over to them, he was curled up to Redhood’s chest with the giants arms around him, and Nightwing on top of them both plopped out and trapping them there. The window was closed too so it was extremely toasty. Both Redhood and Nightwing were fucking heaters. He liked it though, it was the friendly warmth he had with Sam and Tucker on overnight steakouts. So he laid there awake, sleepily happy as he was smushed, then there was the sound of another one sneaking in through the door, trying to peer over Nightwings shoulder as they put themselves on the pile again, smushing them down was Red Robin now. By how tired they were, it didn’t seem they even questioned it, even took off their mask as they curled up to Redhood’s back, immediately zonking out.

A couple more hours then it was the youngest, Robin, curling up to Nightwings other side. Where were they all coming from?

Next was Orphan, who put a finger to her lip sensing him awake and confused as she plopped on the pile as well.

Why was this happening? Danny hadn’t the slightest clue.

Another twenty minutes, then spoiler.

This was getting ridiculous. He knew there was no way he was even visible in the pile anymore. And if he moved or phased through them, it would come crashing down.

Then it was. Fucking. Batman. A dark warm cloak that oozed protection was draped over them as the lead cryptic vigilante settled himself onto the pile like a mother hen on her chicks.

Well at least he knew who they got it from now. Clearly Batman was the dad of this gaggle of chicks, and someone along the line had spread their mushy cuddles to everyone else.

He was crushed, pinned, trapped under multiple layers of bats.

Freedom and breathing were overrated anyways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Crane didn’t need the call that came through from Harvey’s office, but he appreciated it nonetheless. He’d seen the news, he saw what happened to his sweet snowdrift. He was proud of him for being able to stand up to them no nonsense and handle the situation. But he couldn’t help playing the beginning over and over, to watch the twisted smile on the Joker’s face, to hear him wanting to clip the wings of his dear moonbeam.

There was a bit of an understanding among the rogues, after all. If someone had special interest in a civilian, you don’t fuck around with them. You don’t touch what wasn’t yours.

Not that this had ever stopped Joker before. But he wasn’t like the other rogues. He wouldn’t storm in there and get himself immediately caught by the GCPD, no. He would take his time. Joker would suffer greatly for every hair out of place of his starlight.

Just like that, he began to plan. Danny needed time to heal, and the security around Joker needed time to become lax in their patrols. Not that anyone had realized Danny was his in the first place. The bats had kept it very quiet recovering the boy, where not a hint of him touched the news. All the better, he didn’t need the reporters eating him alive with questions that were none of their business. He had a few staff still on the inside that were his lackeys, and as such he sent word to his men outside to the streets, and reached out to a few friends. There were plenty that had been staying quiet enough for a while that if they set something up for him they’d get away with it at least once. The mitts were off.

Danny was back in the care of the Bats, any attempt to talk to the mysterious person that had beat up the Joker went out the window when the hospital declared he wasn’t even on site there. A few reporters had managed to sneak in, but found absolutely nothing anyways. He really had to send them a gift basket at one point in thanks for the care to the absolute ray of sunshine.

~~~~~~~

Red Hood was the first of the bats to wake up, snuggling into the bat pile before remembering who he’d been with the night before, and most of the day had passed where it was sunset again. Blinking the blur out of his eyes, his arms had managed to stay around Danny, but the poor kid was buried in the center of the pile. Absolutely squished under everyone. What had probably woke him up was Signal sneaking into the pile as well as his shift ended, next to Robin.

Danny just had one eye visible, blinking at Red Hood like he had summoned the attack himself. He watched the amusement flitter over his face at Danny’s squint. A stray hand squirmed out from the mass of bodies crushing him, and swatted at his shoulder, bapping at him to reprimand him daring to be amused at his predicament.

“Hey at least you can’t move and hurt your neck like this.” He grumbled softly with a smirk, earning more baps right at his face.

Nightwing stretched, snuggling Danny tightly and getting a grunt out of him as he was waking up. He blinked at the mass of other bats there with them, then down at the glaring specter below trying to throw hands at Redhood, before grinning wider and ruffling his hair messily.

Danny didn’t know what his limit of trapped cuddles was going to be, but apparently this was it. He smacked lightly at his hand too before just going intangible and letting Redhood and Nightwing’s arms fall off from around him to crash into each other,and the rest of them to just deflate a bit into the pile against each other as he hopped out of the bed quickly. He grinned at the whines that echoed through the pile, avoiding looking at Red Robin’s face. He wouldn’t know who the heck he was anyways unless the guy was extremely unlucky, but he wanted to respect privacy anyways.

He stretched, careful of his neck as he shuffled out, bringing the dishes to the sink, and searching for the bathroom.

Which he found. But not before he found his jacket and baseball bat still covered in blood sitting on a stand with velvet pillows. He smirked, amused as it didn’t fit the vibe of the rest of the guys decor, but hey he wanted to keep his attempted murder weapon that was his business. He shuffled back in with the other bats waking up to the disturbance of the center, while Batman just carefully moved to the side to keep his cape over the much more sleepy Signal, to encourage him to sleep since he just got here, and Jason was gently tying the mask back on around Red Robin’s head.

How had Danny missed it the first time, how much of a family they were? He got himself some water with a relaxed smile, drinking quietly, before a stray Orphan arm popped out and drew him back onto the pile, to the outside this time at least. He rested back carefully to not further disturb the pile, and everyone else took their time slowly waking up for their evening patrol. Redhood squirmed unapologetically to get himself out of the pile to the groans of the others, making his way to the kitchen. Danny wasn’t sure why they had crashed here, but other than their dominoes they were in casual clothes. So at least they had managed to freshen up before crashing at Redhood’s. Danny heard the sound of a coffee maker being prepped, and that seemed to shoot Red Robin to attention and drag his way over there.

Danny watched in amusement as the group slowly started to pile out, and got to see a better look at Batman, who was in Flash pajamas under the massive cape and cowl that hid it below. He just smiled over to Danny when his eyes widened, and gave him a small wink.

Batman was an adorable broody protective dad. And suddenly he wanted to spite Joker not wanting him to be a Robin and become one anyways, even if that had been neither his or Batman’s intention at the start, he was pretty sure it wasn’t anyways. His core purred with the pure safety that rolled off of him and how many others were pleased to just lay in that warmth. So he sat next to him and the softly snoring Signal.

Batman spoke softly not to wake the other vigilante, looking over to him. “Hood said you were staying with him for treatment…but now you’re treating him?” He sounded a bit amused, and greatly curious. Danny spoke back just as softly if not more so.

“I could feel it when things got calm and it was just the two of us in here… I had wanted to reach out to him when I first saw everyone in the cave but I didn’t know what I was sensing at the time. Now with a closer look he’s got ecto like me, but it’s in bad shape… So I’m going to guide him on taking the healthy stuff he got off Matches for me to help him recover. He’ll be thrown off for a few days as his core system wakes up a bit, but he should be feeling better soon.”

Batman offered a slight curt nod, probably the best he could manage in such a stiff covering over his neck. Which after this last attack, made sense. Getting hit and your neck snapping fucking hurt.

“He’s been afflicted with it for several years, though he got control over it, it definitely flares up now and then. If this helps… I can’t thank you enough, Danny.”

He spoke with such tenderness and openness that Danny adored this man. He loved his kids so damn much.

Danny just smiled and shrugged. “You don’t have to. You’re the one that started getting me help to stop the agents… if I can do this much in return for helping my town… it is well worth it.” He wanted Batman to know how grateful he was with his entire being that they had been there for him as soon as they realized how overwhelming his struggle was.

Batman smiled, and gently pulled him in with an arm around his shoulder to let them just bask in the shared relief of their situations for a bit, before giving Danny a pat on the back and letting him pull away.

Danny was giddy from every sign of gratitude he got, even when they were shallow, so the overwhelming sense of appreciation and care rolling off Batman almost knocked him on his ass.

So, he got flustered under the attention, of course, and beat red he hurried from the room rubbing the back of his neck shyly as he met with the others in the kitchen where Red hood was cooking, and Red Robin was nursing a mug of coffee. They were discussing patrols for the night when Nightwing spotted him and grinned widely, looking over.

“Hey sport! I know you’re going to be trapped on bedrest for a little while, is there anything you’d like while we’re out?”

Was Nightwing a parent too? Or was it- ah it was an eldest sibling thing, looking after the younger ones constantly. He thought for a moment with a smile and nodded. “If I write a letter, later could someone take it to Arkham for me? I missed my appointment today and… I want to make sure Dr. Crane knows I’m not mad at him or anything silly.”

He knew it would happen, but the shift of unease over the room was uncomfortable, the youngest clicking their tongue as they accepted a plate of food from Red hood. Red Robin felt the most panicked, cradling his head in his hands and shaking it lightly with a soft tremble to his hands.

Orphan just seemed curious, nodding curtly. “Yes. Someone can.”

While Steph nodded thoughtfully and lounged next to her, Nightwing and Red Hood exchanged looks before Hood talked more slowly.

“So… you guys are still tight? After…everything?”

He smiled at them, for giving him a chance to explain. “He was good to me. In a time I was about to lose my mind, he gave me bits of control back over it. I had no time to think of everything I’d gone through after getting bit but… I think if I had, I could have gone down a very dark path again. He took his time, he gave me options, and he let me rest. Not worrying if my parents were going to blast me in the middle of the night, or if a ghost was going to phase through my bedroom to pick a fight as they couldn’t find Phantom otherwise, some attack on my parents, saving some pinned spirit from how overzealous the GIW could get…I was glad that for a while, they were taken over by the vampires that they would have something else to fight, something to give me a break. All I had to worry about… was healing, and to let Dr. Crane help me conquer my fears. I know you have all the reason in the world to be weary of him… but every test, every interaction… he got me more in control of my own head. To the end he was protecting me. I haven’t…had anyone protect me before like that…even from myself.” A warmth filled his chest with a soft smile at it.

“What if he was twisting you though Danny? You were on so many sedatives, one of the first blood tests he sent over to Wayne Enterprises had a mix of truth serum in it too. You were loopy and compelled to tell him whatever he wanted, are you sure it was just trust you naturally had for him at that time, that it is at all?” Red Robin was exasperated, desperate, hoping Danny would listen to some reason that Dr. Crane couldn’t possibly be pure like that to any one person.

Danny just smiled gently while he waited for him to calm. “At first I felt it…that it was weird I was telling him so much… but the weight off my chest when it was out? That I could lay bare everything that hurt so much over so long?... I needed him to get me out of my own head, even if it wasn’t the best way to start. I’d given up hope of anything changing, anything getting better… then I was wrapped in a tight jacket and spoken to without being judged or put at fault for what I had been scared of for so long… and he’s continued to be good to me. Glass in the way or not, I can still feel all his passion and protective kindness for me. I’ll be okay.”

Red Robin sighed, thumping his head to the counter, while Red hood sighed and Nightwing patted Danny on the shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re able to start opening up to others… you’ve been through mountains of trouble and insane fights over the years. It’s okay to want a rest. Just know that we’re all here for you too, okay?” Nightwing was gentle, with a soft smile and his energy full of concern with the same energy Jazz would get for him when she first found out about his powers.

He smiled and nodded softly. “Thanks. I really do appreciate and trust you guys. I just…also trust Dr. Crane.”

He seemed to have settled them enough for now, and Red Hood did get him a couple sheets of paper as well as an envelope so he could write what he needed as the others headed to go back on patrol, except for Batman, who seemed keen on taking care of both of them so they didn’t hurt themselves. He guided Danny back to bed and gave him a plastic table he could keep over his knees while he wrote his letter so he wouldn’t strain himself.

He smiled, easing to the flux of emotions leaving, other than Batman, who seemed in part to understand Danny’s hope for something better with the Doctor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I present my humble offering of a feral Danny. (I can't shade. lmfao) Used Flutter_bat_16_
post:

'I'm tryin to learn how to draw some more creepy poses and stuff just cuz I think they look cool' As the base which they had open permission for if things were changed up and concept of their original)

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Hello Jonty!

I’m so sorry I couldn’t see you in person for our meeting today. I got knocked around pretty bad and I’m being fussed over like a baby chick. I saw the replay before I got there, and man the guy has some presentation doesn’t he? A vigilante talking to you a couple times does NOT mean you are going to become a little bird, but damn it all, now I want to just so I can give him the middle finger while wearing primary colors.

Anyways, I promise to see you as soon as I can. I miss you already. There’s so much more to talk about now! Instead of freaking out and freezing when that creep got me, I was just so irritated at him interrupting such a wonderful day! Then his voice was just so grating! Gotta say doc 10/10 psychiatry work. Definitely aren’t afraid of the bozos anymore. Now I just feel disgusted by them it seems.

You’d be so proud of me! They had to take me to surgery, and keeping all my bits out of sync until they could put it right. It helped that the doctors were walking me through the process too probably, but either way I just held on tight to that cot while feeling them work at my neck. I didn’t scream, cry, I just had to resist swinging around to deck someone. They were all good doctors and very patient.
They didn’t even question it when I said I can’t take blood, that my skin was too thick, so they wouldn’t be able to cut to take it either. I felt a little bad lying, but it is such a relief to not feel new marks littering the back of my neck. Going to take a few days for my teeth to regrow though. Luckily shards of my cheekbone didn’t go flying everywhere and I didn’t have to get my jaw wired shut or something. Wouldn’t that just ruin our talks?

I made friends with one of the bats watching me, he’s funny, snarky, and I got dragged into a cuddle when I was running too cold. Then everyone else joined in. It was kind of hilarious waking up just smothered in Bats, but they’re all so warm and welcoming.

They’re still worried about us, about what you feel. But it’s okay. I don’t expect that anyone else will understand how close we are. I think though… I’m okay with them trying.

Part of me wants to tell them the rest before it gets all too deep and there’s no backtracking. When I see you again, can you tell me where the rest of the files are from our sessions? I want to be able to give them to the Bats. For them to see they have nothing to worry about.

I’ll see you soon, so take care of yourself and don’t forget to eat!

Danya

While Johnathan could say he was sure he’d hear from Danny as soon as possible, even he didn’t think Danny would have managed to do so this fast.

Or that it would be Batman himself delivering it.

It was highly amusing, especially in that he was getting the trademarked Batman scowl while he was reading about how sweet everyone was. Picturing the pile of sleepy bats squishing Danny into not being able to move now just made the usually unsettling glare look more like a wet kitten.

He smiled leaning into his hand lazily as he tucked the letter away safely into his jacket. “Thank you for the delivery Bats. Big improvement to the usual carrier pigeons.”

“What is it about Danny that you’re so fixated on?” He growled out a bit, and Johnathan just hummed.

“The dear man is going to tell you soon Bats. You start pressuring me here by the time we meet again he may just clam up. Plus it isn’t like you don’t know… isn’t he just so perfect? He’s well behaved, polite, and more than able to strike fear into his enemies if he so wishes, but he approaches things gently, when he can… isn’t he inspiring?”

He didn’t earn a nod with that one, but Batman didn’t argue either, so that was a win enough.

“I highly suggest you let him come to you himself. He speaks highly of you after all…don’t go crushing his sweet little heart.” He hummed as he turned the letter around to let him read it, and knew exactly where his eyes would catch pause, even if they were covered, he saw the slightest tug at his lip that Danny thought about becoming a Robin just to spite his attacker. “If there’s some sort of caping ceremony, which there has to be by now, I want to be invited.” He teased before hiding it away again.

With that Batman got up from the interrogation table. “We’ll see what happens, Dr. Crane. You hurt him though and I will be back.”

“Oh B, if you don’t get it now you may just be doomed to be senile… I have no intention of such things.” He watched as the big man left the room while he hummed.

In fact, I plan on eliminating all things that dare to lay hands on him.

He thought to himself with a light grin as he was cuffed to be brought back to his cell. Released from the cuffs when brought back into his cell, he read and reread the letter again, taking note of every swirl of the messy handwriting. Danny was safe, he was resting and being fed.

But he almost wasn't.
He almost lost the only one who had given him hope in the bleakness, of making a difference. He was going to make it clear that no one better try to mess with him again. That Danny belonged to him. So he smiled, and waited for the fires to burn down before setting his own.

Three days after Danny was attacked, he put his plan into motion.

The Bats would be used to Danny being able to handle himself at this point and slowly easing to his healing factor being beyond what they could imagine. Danny would be able to be up and about more. To appreciate all the love he was putting into his actions for him.

So, he got in touch with Harley and Ivy on the outside, to work with his goons, keeping them safe from Bat’s attention, but he needed people he could trust.

They set fires and explosions to opposite ends of Gotham, destroying abandoned buildings that were in key enough locations near other safe houses for it to have the Bats attention and to drive them away. He moved like he knew nothing on the outside, keeping an eye out until it was time for one of the nurses on the inside to let him out. Sliding into a storage room quickly between patrols, he got on the security uniform, and a lifelike mask to the likeness of the one he was switching with, who even took his place in his cell to buy him time.

If the Bats understood at all how much he cared about Danny, there was a massive chance they would be ready for what he was going to do, so he had to be prepared.

He swiftly made his way out of the compound, taking his lackeys car to head back into the city, shifting his disguise on the way to cast it off. He would be more gentle on everyone else today. Danny wouldn’t like it if he got innocents in the crossfire. So as opposed to fear gas, he let in a knockout gas he got from The Riddler, usually to collect hostages, but he just needed them silent long enough to do his work. As the bodies of the workers slumped to the ground or in against their desks, his heart hammered in his chest as he headed for Joker’s room. He had a calm, measured walk, and hadn’t even bothered to get his Scarecrow fit put together. Both parts of his mind wanted to tear Joker apart, and for now this was the neater method, until he was secured. Stepping into the room, the guards limp against the ground outside, he injected Joker with a stimulant to wake him, head leaning to the side as he looked out the window, seeing the fires in the distance.

He was very pleased to hear the groans of pain as Joker awoke. His arm, both legs were casted, his side wrapped up tight. Oh he could see red, his ears were pulsing as soon as he heard Jokers chuckle, his lip curling in disgust.

“Doctor! How nice of you to visit me.” He coughed in a pain to his chest from his short laugh, and Dr. Crane simply watched him, counting in his head. He couldn’t do this too soon. He needed the man to suffer.

“Of course. Bold of you to skip right over the timers, the games, and just put the beat-down on the young man. What got you so worked up about him?”

Joker hissed in annoyance at this, glaring to the wall. “I can’t stand the idea of another Robin running around! Boy Wonder was enough! I made that clear when I got rid of his replacement I thought, but it just never stops! They’re like cockroaches.” He sniggered, face tightening in some pain again.

“An interesting way of looking at it. Did you know he already belonged to someone before you got your mitts around him, Jack?”

“Oooh using first names! I must have pissed off someone up there!” Joker grinned widely, perking at the idea of the chaos that could come to Gotham from it. “Should I guess?”

“I think you’ll figure it out pretty fast. I haven’t the patience to play your games, Jack Napier.” He rolled his head over his shoulders, looking away from the window, before throwing a thick metal cord around the pipes overhead. He didn’t want it to catch fire after all.

“Really? The chaos gremlin is your little friend? I hadn’t heard a thing about that! When was this?”

“I had Daniel with me for two weeks, soothing his mind, grouping together the shards of his broken heart. He has been mine for the better part of a month. You should know better with how you hate it not to lay your hands on other people's things. And if you are too stupid to put it together with him visiting me every other day after the fact, you have no one else to blame but yourself.”

“Oh Johnny! Let’s not blow this out of proportions now. I know the situation now, I can honestly say I won’t hurt the kid again~” He could see his adams apple move as he shifted against his restraints, watching as Dr. Crane tied his loop in the metal cord.

“You only say that likely because you assume he’s going to be paralyzed from fighting you after his neck broke like that.” He hummed as he slipped it around Joker’s throat, tightening it. At the same time the door cracked open, and a canister of gasoline was placed into the room. “My sweet snowdrift will be alright. Because there will be no chance of seeing you again.”

Joker tried to yank away from the noose around his throat, but he had nowhere to go. So he tried to bluff, grinning maniacally to him. “You know I always survive. The bats will be here before you can do anything!”

“I have enlisted the help of three rogues to keep all the bats busy around the city, a body double in my cell… We will not be interrupted.” He spoke simply, before feeling the wide grin of Scarecrow pull at his face, leaping up to grab the cord, and yank joker up, it wrapped around another pipe for leverage as he hoisted the Joker into the air, the weight of the cot pulling at the rest of Joker’s body as the wire cut into his throat, instantly having the Joker gagging and gasping. “And do you know how flammable mattresses are? They got you a real cozy one, absolutely full of fluff.” He hummed as Joker thrashed, unable to even gasp a response. He’d always had a real sinister air around
him, but here in his final moments, he was nothing, a broken man who was going to die for hurting the wrong person.

He started spraying the gas over the mattress, and Joker's body, putting his mask on against the fumes with his head tilted. Opening the door he snapped his fingers to someone in the hallway on standby, and he smiled at the metal sign and chain that was put in his hands. He pulled himself up by the railing of the bed, choking the joker further as he got the sign put over around the back of his neck, before hopping back down, looking over his work, and lit the match.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gotham had been in a quiet, cheery air since Joker had been beat down from his attacker, an air of relief to the people of Gotham that he would be out of the way for several months, that they’d be just a little safer with their families.

The rogues also seemed to be taking some time off. Perhaps it was in that they were debating who was going to take over Joker’s territory, or in that they didn’t want to deal with an angry bat if they were going to be in the frenzied state that the group had been in when they lost Jason.

There were a lot more bats to piss off now after all. If any of them breathed wrong while they waited to hear the news on if the possible new Robin was going to make it, it could bring the wrath down for them to be in the hospital next.

Bruce didn’t know how long it was going to last, but he surely was going to take full advantage of the time given. The muggings were easy enough to handle, and Danny was in good spirits, even if Dr. Crane couldn’t get a letter back out to him as the ward was worried that it would end up being a code to someone on the outside for further problems.

On the third day, it all went crashing down.

A number of goons, hired muscle, all without signature belonging to one rogue or another, started issues in the city. Was a new gang getting brave with Joker out of commission and decided to make their mark over the city? There were fires everywhere, with explosions, gunshots, trails of blood in alleyways, in the middle of the day.

They had just been in the eye of the storm apparently, to get a thrashing they’d never believe.

Something felt off, the Bats could feel it but they didn’t know how to pin it down. The goons were surrendering too fast, none of them kept communicators on them to say who they were with, and they’d worked for a number of rogues over the months so it was a wild guess who they were working for now.

That sickening feeling in Batman’s gut grew until there was a report from the fire department about the local hospital.

By the time it clicked, it was too late. It was a gas fire that was hard to put out from its origins, but oddly everyone had been evacuated from the hospital. They were piled outside by the back entrance, laying over each other into a massive Jokeresque smile.

Racing up the stairs to the room he had been left in, they found the man, a mangled burnt bed frame fried into what was left on his back, clearly dead, the whole room burnt to a crisp, with a stark sign hanging over his shoulders. ‘Don’t play with others things.’

They ran the dental records, they checked what was left of his bubbling spinal fluid. It was definitely the Joker.

Considering the timing of events, they had their suspicions of who it could be, and Tim hurried over to the Asylum to see what was the current status of Dr. Crane. What they didn’t expect though, was him just happily humming in his cell, feet swinging behind him laying on the bed, reading over a letter fondly.

“Hello~ may I help you, sir?” Dr. Crane smirked back over to Red Robin at the cell.

“How'd you do it, Johnathan?”

“Do what? I'm afraid I must ask you to elaborate, Detective~ after all I've been in here since my walk at lunch.” They smiled back at him warmly.

“How'd you manage to get rid of Joker!?”

He watched as the man's eyes actually lit up in surprise,
sitting up to face him. “Wait, Joker died? Are you sure about that? Everyone knows what a slippery man he can be.” There was a lilt of disbelief to his tone, while still trying to keep their voice level. This man… really had no clue about the hit? He was quivering in excitement sure, but it was like a kid opening a surprise present for their birthday mom said they couldn't afford.

“Good riddance, the lout is gone. That's a peace of mind for me and a million other people at least. Someone must be answering prayers, now the sweet boy is safe~.”

Red Robin felt something was slightly off, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He'd have to check the cameras. He left after trying a few more times as the rumor was then whispered among the guards, the inmates, the warden.

The Joker was finally gone.

And the bats didn't even know who did it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Bats may not know what to do with their suspicion, but Danny had no doubt with how the shades rejoiced, he could feel from the energy in Gotham, though some shades were still angry at the man, for their own deaths no doubt, there were waves of them celebrating the Joker gone, and in part it was a blessing that the shades released their curse when they did, or Joker might have been able to use all that ectoplasm to become a terrifying ghost of Gotham
to terrorize in a way they’d never know.

Danny was feeling good enough to sneak off for a time too, not to mention that as EventHorizon, he would heal faster anyways. So, he took off over the city, invisible and silent, looking at the mild chaos below, he’d flick plasma heated pebbles at muggers and the likes as he went through, making them yelp and lose their cool all over the place like the bats were on their tails, while he floated his way over to the Asylum. He phased through the walls, searching cells of the inmates looking for Dr. Crane. When he found the familiar energy of the cell, the one in the middle of the bed looking bored…did not have quite the right build. He was just as tall, just as wide shouldered, but his muscle tone was off. He snuck behind him, slowly getting closer and getting a look at him. He didn’t smell right either, though his face looked right. Curious, he sniffed a bit at the air, the man looking around in confusion, and he saw it, where the eyes didn’t meet up right with the skin. So a mask.

So he debated a moment, before he smiled and flew back out, having an idea where else to look, he headed for the safehouse Dr. Crane had sent him for his Lounge Card, flying past the suspicious beakers where he felt the familiar energy, smiling as he poked his head around inside the keep before stopping short of where he sensed the energy inside, hearing bubbling laughter with a couple women, he almost stopped and turned back, before he tentatively knocked, transforming back to human, brushing his hair back to look presentable.

He felt a slight wave of confusion inside, and heard the whirr of a camera adjusting, looking up to see it peaking at him from over the door, he smiled and waved up to it a bit sheepishly. Then there was an excited squeal and rushing feet. Before he knew it, the door was thrown open, in the background he saw Dr. Quinzel and Dr. Isley who peered over the shoulder of Jonty with massive grins.

Jonty had his eyes wide as he flew open the door, and quickly but ever so gently took Danny’s face into his hands, carefully looking him over for the injuries, feeling the dent in his cheek where it wasn’t quite in the right place but didn’t hurt. A moment of them just staring at each other before Jonty wrapped him in a tight hug that easily competed with that of the bats.

He melted to it, desperately missing his friend he hugged him tightly back, rocking slightly with him and feeling the overwhelming protective air off of him, and the doting nature of the women in the back. Since he’d been yoinked into the hug, he saw a little further in the room with one last presence, and saw Harvey Dent off to the side, smiling and raising a glass of some sort of rum over to him with a wink from the Harv side.

He wasn’t sure why that made him blush.

He smiled into the hug, rubbing Jonty’s back, who at the women's giggling, pulled away enough to step further out of the room and close the door to ignore them, much to the cries of dismay to Dr. Quinzel.

“Danny, are you alright? I know you’ve been with the bats, but any more pain? Fractures remaining?” Jonty looked to him with the softest eyes and the deepest concern flitting over his expression, full of worry and a tenderness he didn’t recognize.

“I’m alright Doc.” He smiled, taking his probing hand away from his shoulder to squeeze it in his own. “The breaks are down to very faint fractures that are healing up wonderfully. I had more aches when trying to sleep on the floor at the zoo.”

Jonty sighed and squeezed his hand gently, guiding him over to a very plush couch by a window looking over a part of the harbor. “Danya…I was so angry I couldn’t…”

He smiled, squeezing his hand feeling it roll off of him. “You saw I was okay…right? That in it I had him handled. Why were you so upset then?” He asked, voice gentle in the quiet away from the others.

Jonty looked over his face searchingly, a flutter of uncertainty to his aura, before a gentleness. He looked down to his and Danny’s hand, thinking a moment longer before his voice came out very gentle. “I found a fear that I don’t think I can conquer, Danny.”

Danny sat upright in concern, leaning in closer and taking his hand into his other one as well. “What? What happened, Jonty? Talk to me please.”

He could see his own face reflecting in Jonty’s eyes, his eyes faintly glowing, instantly protective of him.

“You having been attacked. I..the one fear I don’t think I can ever conquer now that I’ve found you… is the idea of losing you.”

Danny could feel heat rise in his cheeks more than from all the gentleness of their interactions before as he realized what the tenderness was that he sensed from him. He looked to his eyes searchingly, and when Danny didn’t respond immediately, Jonty moved to pull his hand away. Danny squeezed his hand, raising it up to his own face.

“You won’t lose me Jonty… I’ll be right here with you, as long as you’ll have me.” He could feel the burning in his cheeks reach his ears and down his neck, as he gentled his touch to turn over Jonty’s hand, and tenderly kiss his palm, brushing his lips to it as his eyes stayed glued to his.

The absolute love and care that had been radiating off this man since his first visit to him in Arkham Asylum and Danny hadn’t even realized what the feeling was. Once he recognized it though, it clicked in his core just how much he cared about this man.

How much love he’d gained for him in such a short amount of time.

Jonty’s eyes locked onto his when his palm was brought to Danny’s mouth, and a soft warmth of red colored his ears as he moved closer on the couch to him with a slight scoot, taking Danny’s hand in both of his now, and slowly pulling it closer to softly kiss along his fingertips.

Even though they were down the hall and several rooms, the absolute shrill squealing that came from the room Jonty had been in before was impossible to miss, and they both snapped their heads up a bit to the cameras.

Oh well that’s embarrassing.

But it stopped a personal awkwardness of questions between them as Jonty ducked his head and pulled Danny by the hand back towards the others.

We just held hands and did a half kiss for the first time and I’m already meeting his friends.

He smiled stupidly.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

They were both blushing as they got to the room, to the whistles and cheers of the girls in the room, and a softer but deep chuckle from Harv.

“Fuck, you guys are cheesy.”
“Shut up Iv, you love sappy shit and you know it.” Harleen grinned over at her, swinging her legs.

“I was wondering why come back to Gotham of all places for legal help and why you’d listen to Crane for it…makes sense enough.” Harvey grinned at them, and Danny wished he’d wore a jacket so he could disappear into it. They all had gleeful mischievous energy around them but clearly found them adorable at the same time. Danny squirmed under their attentions as he sat with Jonty at a metal table surrounded by plants and warm lights, there were pinatas around of The Joker that looked like they’d already been bashed around a few times and replacements put into place.

Before he could get too comfortable, Harleen squealed and hugged him tightly, rocking him in the trapped embrace as he stiffened in confusion, patting her shoulder. “Oh I didn’t think the day could be any better!! Finally rid of the freaky ex with the junk drawer rolling around between his ears where his brain should be. And then this!! That was the cutest thing ever!!” Danny had to brace his neck, hunching it down against his shoulders against her almost violently shaking him in her excitement.

With that, Dr. Crane was quick to put his hand in front of her face and gently peel her back. “He may be walking and talking, Harley, but if you COULD, he still has neck fractures!” He squinted at her as he carefully pulled Danny back. He positioned him more securely between him and Harv, who chuckled softly and gave him a gentle pat on the back.
“I am glad to see you up and about Mr. Fenton. Even happier to see you getting more attached to the assets of Gotham.”
Danny rubbed his neck sheepishly. “I mean it was already growing on me on my first visit here… this visit just just explained the reasons better.”

“Well Johnathan is definitely one of the best reasons!” With that Harley tackled Jonty covering his face in kisses, and he groaned and pushed away from the best he could.
“Harley please.” Jonty was flustered, and Danny smiled, watching them, she teased him as bad as Tucker did.
“Yeah Harley, they just started flirting, let them bloom their affection on their own, you weirdo.” Isley snorted and pulled her away with a vine back over to her side.
Danny beamed to Jonty being released back to his side, and looked up to them, offering his hand. “It's nice to meet Jonty's friends. I'm Danny.”
“This is Harley,
I'm Ivy. Good to meet you too.
Jonty let us in on a fun little stunt today because of you~ so gotta give my thanks there was a trigger we could agree on for once.” it was clear she was teasing him in the nickname, with a slight grin. Oh she was definitely his Sam. Did that make Harvey his Red Huntress, or his Jazz? He grinned widely, easing comfortably to the group of them.
“You all took part in it? I'd never ask for someone to do such a thing for me but…I'm extremely grateful. “ he smiled to the others then more fondly to Jonty.

“Ugh get a room.” Ivy rolled her eyes and smirked, Jonty smacking at the air in her direction dismissively as he sat shoulder to shoulder with Danny.
“I asked for an all bets off arrangement to get rid of him after he tried to kill what was mine. They were happy to oblige. In repayment of course, I am happy to leave his territory to the rest of you.”
“Ew! No I don't want any of that fucker's stuff. Or his territory, I don't want to go back over the old stomping grounds.”
“Yeah too many chemicals aren't good for my plants and the place is full of it. You and Harv take it.”
Harvey smirked and shrugged. “I better get moving then and get Jokers goons out of there before they get to thinking it's a good idea to try and take over on operations… actually I gotta make a call even. Someone else is going to love this far more.”
Danny smiled, shaking his hand as he headed off, and he glimpsed his phone calling Redhood.

That'd be pretty cool, Harvey working with the bats? Nice.
Harley grinned over to them, legs swinging as she ate some sweets. “Sooo,
how did you two cuties meet?”
Both Scarecrow and Danny bluescreened, and Ivy looked at them with a raised brow before Danny managed with an awkward chuckle. “His uh…goons thought I was a Wayne brood and kidnapped me.”
“Then Danny let me keep him to give him therapy while fighting a vampire virus.”
They had a bit of a stunned silence around the room as the two women took that in, before Harley started snorting and holding her sides in laughter.
“I can’t fucking believe it. You got Stockholm Syndrome from the guy and just decided to roll with it when you got out?” Ivy crossed her arms, her face stern at the two.
“I mean we didn’t do anything while we were there! We just now had even that little confession! We talked, ate together, stayed close but…” Danny huffed, having already sensed that he was going to have to have these arguments with his team if they ever found out about this.
“It’s more of a Lima Syndrome, Ivy.” Crane offered, cheeks burned as he looked to the side a bit.
“You fell first?! Aww Johnathan that is so fucking cute!!” Harley grinned, pulling herself from the laughter to hug him tightly. “What was it? The baby blues and dark hair? I bet it fucking was! Half of Gotham is under that same spell from the Waynes!”
“Is that why your goons thought you’d want one of them?” Danny blurted out in his confusion, which got the others laughing harder.

Jonty huffed and squinted at them. “It wasn’t his hair. But he does make the sweetest faces, with his bright eyes and long eyelashes…his impression of a puppy is impeccable.”
Danny went beat red with that, turning his head to cough a bit under their cooing.

“So you were fighting the vampire virus huh? How the heck did that break out again? It’s been decades since it broke out in Gotham.”
“We aren’t sure how he came back, but Dracula was burned to a crisp again, and his soul devoured so there is no chance of his return or reincarnation.”
“I’m sorry, his soul devoured? That’s a thing?” Harley’s eyes were huge as she leaned in towards them. “Did you see it? Did a demon or an angel come to smite it?”
Danny grinned a bit. “Nah. A ghost did.”
“Now I know you’re bullshitting me.” She raised her eyebrows, leaning in to rest her head on her hand.
“Actually Danny is a part of a support team for the vigilante ghost that did the eating of the soul. He was recovering at the time in Wisconsin, but apparently Batman and his team themselves travelled to Illinois to deal with the vampire and witnessed him receiving the embodiment of his soul themselves.”
“So…ghosts are the problem from…wherever the fuck you are?”
“Yup. And their existence, as well as those that have gotten infected by ghost abilities are against the law, subject to disposal. So…” He grinned as he looked over to Jonty. “I was already breaking the law way before I met Jonty. We’ll work out fine together.”

He grinned as this got Jonty blushing this time, while Ivy tilted her head. “How’s that work? Just… being alive is illegal?”
“Dead but existing is the illegal bit, yeah. Justice League is working on it, which I’ve a shit ton of reports from my own vivisection and helping the team to start turning it over. Seems they’re facing little resistance, it’s just the problem of locking in on all their locations before they disappear into meta market trafficking rings before they can close in on them properly. But they’ve lost a ton of funding recently, as well as one of their main inventors backing out too. Soon I’ll be done with them and can just focus on the normal silly ghosts, playing with them to keep them calm, and eventually finding a way to do it away from there so I can be anywhere else… especially here.” He smiled lightly, finding Jonty’s hand and giving it a squeeze.
“I saw a little bit of it in the paper…but to think it was that bad.” Ivy shook her head. “I’d be happy to put you in touch with scientists all over the place that studied unpopular fields, or I’m sure the Justice League is already in touch with those that deal with the blanketing meta terms around the aliens. If they’re taking residence in another dimension parallel to this one, I’m sure that would count as aliens anyways and they’re causing some big issues.”
“That they are.. EventHorizon, who they’re talking to now and is the number one person they want to hunt all the times, he’s the crown prince of the dimension, and he has heard from more than a few ghosts that this reality should just be cancelled if they were wanting to take us out. He’s working with the Justice League to give them defenses against ghosts but… some of the stronger ghosts may act without getting clearance too if they don’t get it cleared up quickly.”
“What a shitshow.” Harley shook her head, Ivy cleaning some crumbs off her cheek.

“To put it simply.” He smiled. “But… I will be happy to get as many individual scientists on EventHorizon’s side as I can.”
“I’ll get your number for them then.” Ivy held out her phone to him and he quickly punched his name and number in for her.

They spent a few hours more, talking and getting to know him, as he settled comfortably to Jonty’s side, after a while relaxing to his head in his lap with his hair being stroked. The familiarity of the warmth of his touch and the speed of his gentle brushing eased him, and before he knew it he was falling asleep hugging his leg.
He woke again in the early break of dawn, to Harv headed back in shrugging off his blood covered jacket to slip in and watch Little Shop of Horrors with Ivy and Harley, Jonty having his head back falling asleep too, a hand rested to Danny’s waist and the other gently tangled in his hair.

He beamed to the gentle comfort, before his eyes widened seeing that Red Hood was joining them too.

Domino met wide blue eyes, where he stood awkwardly in the doorway a moment before shrugged and plopped down on the couch on their other side, startling Jonty awake to look over to him.
“Quite unexpected, your visit, Red Hood.” He yawned a bit with a slight stretch but not moving.
“Well I already gave Danny a kiss for beating the shit out of the clown, gotta give his killer a kiss too.” He smirked and Danny flushed, head turning gently up to Jonty who’s head snapped down towards him at the same time.
“It was on the cheek and he was being weird.”
Jonty turned head back up as Red Hood was yoinking him in, the sudden movement had the kiss on the corner of the mouth instead of his cheek, and Jonty spazzed moving away from it as Red Hood sputtered a laugh.
“Hey!! That’s not fair! I was supposed to kiss him first!” He threw a pillow at him, and Redhood’s grin widened. “Don’t tell Batman yet. Red Robin already thinks I’ve lost it.” He hurriedly added.
“Hey, how many villains Batman’s bagged, he ain’ got no room to talk lil bro.” He cackled as he noogied Danny.
“I’ll leave that to you. Right now Red Robin is busy trying to figure out what's wrong with the Johnathan Crane that’s behind bars, which is clearly the fact that it’s not him at all, but hey, I like it, plausible deniability. “ He winked that he was going to keep it a secret.
“So, what brought you here anyways Red Hood?” Danny yawned, moving to sit up a bit but Jonty’s grip just tightened over him gently, pulling him more against his stomach, getting him beat red.
He just grinned wider at that. “Joker killed me, made Harley’s life miserable, Harvey’s too… It’s a death day party kid, and we’ve only got a couple hours left.”
He smiled a bit, looking up to Jonty adoringly again that he had done this for him, immediately gotten rid of what had hurt him, no questions needed. Red Hood half sat on Danny with the movie going, munching on popcorn and grinning as Danny just let himself be a cushion and lap pillow. He wasn’t exactly mad about it after all.

Wait. This was how the last pile started. He wasn’t ready for the group to dogpile on him if it kept going this way, and while there were far less of them, Harvey was huge in his build. He was pretty sure it would be like his dad decided to flop on him. So he tried not to make the pile look too comfortable to draw in the others, smiling as the morning sun slowly filtered into the room.

He was lucky enough to be able to escape a second cuddle pile, and soon there was warm breakfast, hot coffee, ready for everyone. He smiled as he ate with them all, who were not so sociable as the bats in the morning luckily, let them all process a start to the day.

Red Hood answered his phone when it started to buzz, tilting his head to it. “Hey B. Yeah Harv and I cleaned up the goons. The safehouses are gone too, all their equipment has been gathered up. Ivy thinks she can work with the Joker’s venom, put it through her plants as a filtration system to synthesize a cure, and or make it far more mild to have like a light haze gas for a hot springs for something of a pleasant happiness… yeah he’s fine, he’s chilling here with Harv and the others. Yeah I’ll lecture him for you.” He sniggered as he hung up, looking to Danny. “Did you forget by chance when you snuck off to turn on your phone? Poor Red Robin couldn’t track you~.”
“Oh the horror.” He laughed softly, snuggled into a blanket and happily ate the waffles Jonty had made for him. “I’ll see him again tonight or later this week anyways, it’s alright. I reached out to EventHorizon though and he should be available for a meeting even later today if needed, now that the situation with Joker has been handled.”
“I’ll keep that in mind kiddo. See ya at home.”
“Bye, Hood!” Harley waved after him enthusiastically, beaming sending him off, Danny and the others waving as well.

Slowly the others filtered out to go back to their own territories, leaving Danny and Jonty alone to enjoy the peace. Danny chuckled at the news of Dr. Crane sneaking out of Arkham an hour later.
“You know for a body double, his build was all wrong. His hips are too wide and his chest too broad. Glad to see he isn’t trying to keep up the facade long term.”
“I didn’t realize you were watching me enough to notice such differences.” Jonty smirked over to him, resting his shoulder against his.
“Hey I was checking you out once you lost the mask if we’re being honest now.” Danny grinned back up to him, ears a bit tinted at the confession.
“Even from then? Well if it was that soon I don’t think anyone can call that Stockholm’s…” He smiled in amusement.
“Well when was it for you?” Danny quirked a brow. “When did you notice me?~” He smirked, sipping his tea.
Jonty considered his question to get the timeline. “Well…I had a curious interest when you were being politely cautious when we first met… then when you agreed to the treatment I was filled with an excitement I had forgotten from my youth. But…it was the day you took position for the full effect.”
Danny blinked in confusion, things having been blurred together with so many treatment. At his lost face Jonty grinned. “You had the sweetest face…a gentle desperation and such hope in your eyes to lessen your fears. And…I felt my heart melting with the pure trust you gave to me, as you let me put you in the position they had hurt you in so many times. To put you back on their table and trust that I wasn’t going to let you ever actually fall apart to them again.”
He then remembered it vividly, and picturing how he must have looked like under Jonty, squirming, breathing hard, hair clinging to his face in sweat. Jonty would definitely look good like that . He blushed heavily at that thought sneaking in his mind and cleared his throat. “I..see. A little embarrassing. I was barely conscious but I’ll take it anyways.”
Jonty smiled, taking his hand to kiss along his fingertips gently again. Danny felt his face burning again even harder.
They’d be flirting all morning at this pace. He giggled a bit as his phone interrupted his thoughts, the one for EventHorizon. “Pretty sure the League is anxious for their next meeting with me..I’ll see you soon?” He beamed as he got up, looking to it with a call from Constantine.
Jonty leaned in with a smile, hugging him tight. “I’ll see you soon snowdrift.”
“Just don’t kill anyone while I’m out!” He hummed as he transformed and flew out with the phone to answer it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lil representation of picturing the marionette dance into the classic movie style; complete with grumpy Danny about to grab his bat.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Hey JC!” He flew over the roofs away from Jonty’s.“Are you alright kid? I heard we were alright to call you again because of that, you know, but holy shit I didn’t think I’d hear you were moving around again just three days later.”“You know I think I healed faster when I had whole organs removed. Not limbs though. That was a pain in the ass to regrow.”Constantine sighed in what sounded like a shudder. “Yeah about that, we’ve gone through all your data, and we’ve got in an emergency meeting with the Justice League, the US Senate and House of Representatives. The Anti-Ecto-Acts have not affected other countries, so the United States is the one that needs to get things together for you, Rizon. We’ll be meeting with them in two weeks.”He had a deep breath with a sigh. It felt fast, but after so many years fighting for it, it couldn’t come fast enough. “I need to make appointments with whatever individual scientists we need to to prove that we are sentient, multiple studies whoever isn’t involved with them…” He rubbed his head with a deep sigh. “If we’re lucky, scientists that have moved away from their sectors too, know what all they’ve been doing and want far away from it. They would probably be the most convincing.”“If they’re smart at all, the politicians will be eager to turn away the blame from themselves and square all the fines for loss of life and property damages against the GIW themselves… let’s hope they at least have that much sense.”“While I’m sure it goes higher, it’ll be good for all those fines and hopefully arrests to cripple the smaller sectors.”“There’s actually someone that really wants to help you in the League. As soon as he heard your name he wouldn’t sit still.”Danny blinked a bit. “Someone…excited to meet me? I’m a nobody Ghost Prince in a backwater town… why am I someone to meet?”
Constantine chuckled and offered an arm. “You’ll have to ask him. He’s a little weird.”Danny grinned at that. He could handle weird people. He took the arm, and headed through as EventHorizon.Unlike last time when he was thrust into a room full of heroes, it was a quiet side room that he got a bit to appreciate the stars unbothered, while Constantine went to go find his mysterious fan.Right as he was sighing in content nature, there was a light knock at the door before Constantine opened it to a man in a gold suit and matching goggles, a star over his chest, and an award winning smile that felt like something Dash would put on after a football game.
“Event Horizon, Booster Gold, and vice versa.”Danny blinked when Booster Gold flew right over with the smile breaking out bigger and taking his hand to shake it lightly, returning the sentiment with a gentle squeeze. “Nice to meet you.”“Hey with all the willy nilly guidance of time issues, the honor is all mine for someone who can fix their own timeline variations.”Danny froze up a bit, having only told Constantine that the evil Dan was Phantom as well, he shifted his head in unease before Booster Gold threw his hands up to show he wasn’t a threat.
“Dude, I tried a dozen different ways to try and find how to fix the timeline then, and while I got a lot of info, I don’t when it comes to issues that are as well hidden as yours! Couldn’t find your origin with months of trying back and forth to clean it up, then BAM! Done, cleaned up and handled with a nicely wrapped little bow on everything. And WHAT a change it brought things to! This is definitely a better look.” He beamed with a thumbs up. “And sorry to just blurt it out there to you but when they showed me what the first Phantom form looked like there was no mistaking it.”Danny had a pause for a moment, and with his weariness he saw Constantine tensing like he was looking to get in the way of it too. “You…met Dan?”“Tried to fight him a few times too. Guy was a pain in the ass, but had some nice quips here and there. Made it hurt a bit thinking of everything a kid had lost to turn into him.”
He was bombshelled with the revelation. Someone just…knew the future twisted him, had talked to him… and not discussed the possibility with Batman or ratted on him? Not only that but he was excited to meet him? Had felt bad for what Dan was suffering through?He was confused, and cautiously positive. “You know…he wasn’t erased from the time streak completely… he managed to stay a bit outside it?”“Oh yeah! This is the first time meeting, for you and I, but I’ve met Dan a few times. After a LOT of therapy, the guy doesn’t even feel like the same person… it’ll do him some good.”A man from the future had fought his evil self, and already somewhat made friends with him… likely because he was the one to tell Danny that they just just needed a lot of extensive therapy?“Don’t think about it too hard kid, you’re likely to throw up.” Booster Gold cautioned carefully, gently putting a hand to his shoulder and guiding him to sit down.He was an absolute idiot.Of course they were going to find out! The flash could run fast enough to break time himself! If he ever stood out to him, he could learn whatever he wanted about him! And apparently there were plenty of others as well!“Tranquillitas” Came the soft voice from Constantine, which shifted his attention a bit to realize his chest was pounding in his ears and his vision was swimming.
The spell helped to numb his suddenly pounding head, finding Constantine squeezing his shoulder gently, Booster Gold looking worried holding his hand, and frost had quickly spread over the floor.“Hey, hey kid it’s okay. You got all of us on your side now. Then the idea of lying to you about knowing…”“Thanks.” Danny managed to choke out, taking deep breaths and rubbing his chest with its sudden tightness. After a moment, he managed to groan in frustration. “Man, it was going to be so easy!! I was going to tell Batman and his group since they’re the ones helping me the most from the start, and now they’re like, the earliest third to know! But now they’re all frustrated because I’m cozy with one of their rogues and-” He grumbled, dragging his hands down his face as he realized just how much it was all spinning out of control. Knowing his luck it would be that his mom found out before they did.Booster Gold pouted a bit in thought to that and patted his hand with a sigh. “Sorry man…kinda hard not to be early on the list of those who know when having met the future…maybe I should’ve…played that a little closer to the vest?”“You think?” Constantine snapped slightly and breathed out slowly not to re-escalate the situation.“I…didn’t think that anyone would have met him… that’d survive anyways. I mean… I thought he literally killed every single person.”“There were more than a few survivors. Those that hid, those that stayed off world, and some of the smaller rebellion groups working with tech from Axion, leftover stuff from Dalv Co, and whatever could be found of Fenton tech too. Enough survivors to give things a few more tries to stop him if nothing else. While I don’t know what ended up being the answer… I was more than happy to be done dealing with that future.”Danny frowned, biting his lip. “I… still had something to fight for…to stop him from killing my…his family all over again just so he would exist…and I saw what powers I could have in ten years and was able to figure it out that worked and use it against him while he hadn’t been prepared for anyone else to have the ability.”He watched the soft smile blossom over Gold Booster’s face and could feel the comfort he was trying to send out over them. “It takes a lot of love and care to dig deep and protect others in a losing fight… I’m very proud of you…and when you work up the courage… the others are going to be too.”He could feel it too, how proud this stranger was for him, and he felt a longing to know more of the future that had been erased, even if no one else was going to be remembering it. As he had been stuck with the memories of it, Booster Gold seems stuck with it too.“How dare you…I was not expected to tear up in front of a member of the Justice League today.” He sniffled a bit, huffing out cold air to settle over his face and calm himself, Booster chuckling and smiled warmly.“Can I…talk to you more about what you did see when this is over? If there were those that were especially skilled fighting ghosts, I’d like to pass on tech to help them with that. For if something like that ever does happen again, or to be ready if a natural or artificial portal breaks out again…”Booster Gold chuckled and nodded. “I knew I’d like you, kid. And hey! This time I can help steer you straight. If I take hops to the future now and then and see things getting darker for you I can warn you, nudge you in a safer direction. Lately though it’s been good. I’ll make sure we’re covered.”
Danny smiled between him and the softened Constantine, who didn’t even seem tempted for a cigarette at the moment.
With them settled, Danny made his way with them to go to the meeting, to discuss the upcoming meeting, and he found himself much more comfortable with a full desk spot for himself to look over everything, which he decided to take back with him to have his lawyer look over as well, as he tapped his finger to the desk. He caught Martain Manhunter nodding lightly over to him with a particular thought and he smiled as he cleared his throat.As he got a few eyes on him over the room with it, he straightened up. “I… would very much like this to be a meeting that is open to the public. I know it is an emergency meeting, but I want coverage video, audio, papertrail everything… I want the rest of the world to know what the government sector has been doing here, to help squash it down with the added peer pressure of the world being horrified they’re trying to rip open dimensions to destroy their dead peepaws and nanas.”Constantine looked up from where he was studying tomes, rubbing his chin. “It would be a positive and a negative Rizon… after all, once you confirm ghosts are real to the entire world, there are a number of magical forces that would be drawn into using you for their own gains. Especially with how the meeting is likely to go over just how dangerous ghosts are in the first place with such wide variety of powers. If you do… we need to take you down to get some tattoos, your highness, to help you control if you get sent to summoning circles.”Danny’s eyes widened, lips pulling down to the sides in distaste. “Wait, can I be summoned? That’s…incredibly creepy.” He started to think of all the implications that could come with, and he was pretty happy they were already on track to it, if the GIW found a way to summon the Ghost Prince into some sort of sealed barrier he was not going to be happy. “I appreciate that and would be happy to have your help getting such wards up against summons. It would not do well for me to be pulled around the world into magic bubbles.”Raven tilted her head a bit at their interaction and smiled faintly. “A lot of entities would be very wary of letting Constantine mark over their skin with magic sigils.
He has done well to earn your trust then?”“Totes! He helped me fight Dracula.” He grinned. “I would trust Batman to it too but I’m told that it isn’t his area of expertise.”He saw a small lift to the corner of Batman’s mouth that was gone by the time the others were looking over, and although he was amused, there was concern clouding his aura. He could guess what it was in regards to.
So when they’d been going over it a few hours on what they’d need to be doing and they called a break, Danny floated over to follow him to the lunch room.
“You seemed a bit distracted there B-man… is everything alright?” He asked gently most once others were occupied with other things, though he did get a surprised look from the supers over at them, perhaps in that he was familiar enough to see it, or that it was visible at all and something perhaps that they had not noticed themselves.Batman looked over at him and shook his head after a moment, gesturing they could grab food together then go to the side to give themselves at least some separation from the others to go over it. “It’s… about Danny.”Well at least he didn’t figure it out yet, but it did make him feel a little guilty. “What are you worried about for him? He’s making a full recovery, right?”“Yes… but an attack like that… it can send the most stable people to needing some therapy. Joker has traumatized more than a few people. His system for care is… not ideal.”Danny smiled softly. “I’m glad you’re worried about him. I really am but… he’s been through a lot. I met Crane, Danny wanted me to get some advice from him too on all of this. Introduced me to Harvey so I can look at this stuff outside of meetings as well. I might be able to help distracting Harvey Dent from causing more damages in Gotham with some stuff… finding out that I’m going to have to become king and that meaning someone’s leaving me in the dark until it’s sprung on me…”Batman frowned at that, but pursed his lip in thought to it. “Harvey… I have always had high hopes for. All it takes is one bad day to fall…but perhaps one good day to find yourself back on your feet.”He beamed to it, chest filling with warmth on his understanding how simple it could be on things becoming overwhelming and losing yourself. “As for Crane?...”
“He specializes in mental manipulations. He’s been tormenting patients for years, and times as a professor as well. It’s terrifying for him to be anywhere near Danny. But… he insists that he’s been a help. It’s…quite frustrating. My Robins are as frustrated as I am.” He sighed, eating with the whites of his cowl down into a squint at his food.
“Like you said…sometimes it can be one good day to start back on your feet?” He munched on the burger he’d gotten a hold of, melting to the rich flavors.
“He’s faked many… doesn’t help that he broke out of the asylum and killed the joker.”“I thought he was still behind bars when that happened?” He chuckled.“Red Robin was able to track their walks the day of and find where there was a gap in the cameras and the gait of he and a security guard got swapped on his way back to his cell. He was definitely there. And he’s claiming Danny as his specifically.”“Claiming? How do you mean?” He perked, clearing his throat to stop a blush coming to his face with that, as Batman pulled up a picture of the sign that had been put around Joker’s neck. His eyes widened a bit to the state of the body it was attached to, and he felt that swell of comfort again to know he was fully gone, that he was worth doing that for. “I mean… I would say don’t touch what’s not yours about my friends if one of my rogues went after them. I greatly appreciate and would do anything for them. You think he wants him around like a friend?”“Or a toy.”
Well. No one could accuse Batman of not having the ability to be blunt.“You know he can get a read of emotions right? That rogues are notorious for not being able to be fully in control of themselves?”“There is also the chance that Crane doesn’t know what he’s feeling. He could hurt him while he’s seeing him more as a toy then come apart when he realizes it later, with Danny further hurt and all of Gotham suffering for it.”He smiled softly back to the vigilante with the waves of concern washing over him. “Danny claimed Crane knows what he’s feeling… if anything, the reason Crane would keep acting like he was a toy would be to keep the other vigilantes from using him against him.”After this, there was some quiet, and he figured he would be getting a visit from the Bat outside of the cowl.They ate in quiet contemplation a while longer before they reset for the meeting.
He had a feeling he was going to be talking to one of the bats again tonight.
Several hours later, after running around getting things over to Harvey, retrieving his files from Jonty, as well as some files about himself, he collapsed in the spare room at Red Hoods with a yawn. If they were hoping for a late night interview, he was going to need his rest. He was completely mentally burned out.It felt like he only blinked before he was being woken up.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Red Robin stared at the heavily snoring Danny passed out sprawled over what was usually his or Nightwing’s spare bed, then looked over to Batman. “You think he’ll listen this time?”“It’s getting riskier… he’s talking to more rogues, he’s got Harvey giving advice to the ghost king now because Dr. Crane said it’d be a good idea.Red Robin groaned, rubbing his head. “Is this how you felt trying to prevent the robins from going rogue?”Batman just smiled grimly. Well that answered that. He looked tempted to just let the kid sleep too. But Red Robin was having none of that. He flipped out his boa staff, reaching over to poke him in the arm with it. With the number of nightmares that were possible under his calm exterior, he did not want to chance getting lashed out at with a possessed crab walk of death.Danny swatted at it with a whine before curling more into his sheets. “Nooo…go ‘way Sam…dun wanna go to a protest, it’s Saturday.” He mumbled while covering his head with a pillow.
“Actually it’s Tuesday.” Red Robin smirked a bit.“I’m protesting her protest, Tuck.” he muffled into his pillow, seeming fully intent on ignoring the situation.“Danny.”That got him. He jolted upright hearing the gravel from Batman with a yelp.
They watched as he blinked, bleary eyed and dazed, before a few seconds passed and he sighed heavily. “Dang it’s night already? I thought I had a few more hours…” He blinked looking over at the time seeing it was about three in the morning. “Huh. Damn.”
“Good morning, Danny.”Danny grunted to Red Robin’s amusement, and shuffled up to put on slippers. “Mornin’...I hope you at least brought-” he blinked as Red Robin pushed a cup of coffee in his hands gently. “Okay… I hate it a little less now at least.” He shuffled with a smile and a nod of thanks as he moved to shoo them out of the room so they could at least sit in the living room and talk. “You guys weren’t staring at me in my sleep or something right?”“Just long enough to decide if you should be left to stay asleep or not.” Batman noted as he followed Danny out with Red Robin so the shaggy man could take a seat curled up on the couch sipping the coffee to wake up for a moment.“So… take it this is about Jonty again?”“And Harvey… one, aren’t there enough dead lawyers in the world that could help Event Horizon with the paperwork side of things?”“Enough dead? Maybe. Enough in the ghost zone that died with it as their passion where they even want to go through it again? No. Plus he’s a sweet guy, one he’s made up his mind to help. I even got him to not use the coin to decide! Totally by accident, but reopening from an obsession to being able to think something carefully for what he actually wants is a huge step right?”“You…accidentally got him to make a choice without the coin? How did that go?”“He flipped it, then when it went to land on the table it rolled before just…staying on its edge. Bro had a meltdown but was able to slowly put it back together. From that…he decided to help. That he leaned that way, on his own when the fate of the coin itself left it up to him how cruel he wanted to be…clearly he’s still a good guy under all that. Rizon needs good guys, and Gotham could use a few less bad ones. Right?”Batman had his arms crossed and was quiet, not refuting it. So Red Robin set in. “Secondly… why didn’t you tell us you saw Dr. Crane enough to introduce him to Rizon? That would be a much more…fresh development.”“What? Who ratted me out!?”“Rizon mentioned meeting him, and there was no sign of him having been to one of your meetings or further into the Asylum.”Danny’s face looked like he had sucked on a lemon thinking about it as if he hadn’t thought about it. At least if he became a rogue he’d be predictable.“Oh.”“So you know where he’s gone since he’s left the Asylum.”Danny pouted, tapping his fingers together. “...I’m not tattling on him.”“Danny, he’s the prime suspect in Joker’s murder.”“Pretty sure he was behind bars at that time. They didn’t say he got out until much more recently.”“I tracked him through the Asylum where he got a body swap with one of the security guards. He was out at the time of Joker’s murder.”“Huh…well…any prints or DNA on scene? Or cameras?” Danny seemed almost pouty.“Danny, even if they don’t recover those things from the scene, he still eloped from the Asylum.”“Eloped?! We barely started seeing each other!” Danny choked out the joke before he hitched a laugh, going wide eyed that he'd blurted it out.“What?”“Shit.”There was a moment before they recovered. A stunned, long moment....“What do you mean by seeing each other?!” Red Robin whined in exasperation.“Uh.”“Danny.” Batman was looking and feeling quite unimpressed.“Hey! I heard about your rogue romance history Batman! You can’t judge me!” He pointed an accusing finger at the man.
“Oh he’s gotten more than a few lectures on that.” Red Robin huffed, arms crossed.“And…Warlock's Daughter?”
Batman felt smug at the call out, amused as Red Robin gaped.“How do you even know about that?!”“You think I didn’t sense a pattern in the many talks we’ve been having and that I’ve a need to defend my choices?” He huffed. “And I know you’ve definitely let Catwoman stay out of jail before, you guys have all the chemistry.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Batman.“She’s reformed.”“But she waaasn’t!~” He hummed. “And I think he likes the new direction I’m naturally taking him.” Danny beamed as he wiggled his feet giddily closer to himself and sipped the coffee in glee. He winked as they went quiet, clearly quite pleased with himself.“He’s still killed a man, Danny.”“Poison Ivy.”“I was under the toxin eff-”“Harley Quinn.” His grin got wider.“That was one kiss, why do you kn-”“Nocturna. Oh come on.”“How..?”“Rogues gossip, and who has bagged the bat in unusual ways is a popular subject. I was at a Joker Death Day Party with Harley and Miss Ivy.”
He could almost feel the pain of not being able to counter him on his call outs, perhaps afraid who else was going to be named in his rapid fire.“Just let me flirt with my psychologist! We’re fine, and even if he did manage to finish off Joker, it protects millions of other lives. I believe one person's life can be equal to another, and the ten million other people in this city he could have targeted far outweigh it. Plus, plenty of members of the Justice League have body counts. Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern… so it’s not necessarily an evil thing to stop them from further damage. Or you wouldn’t still be working with half the team you do.”
He could feel the desperation to argue bubbling up off of them, but they didn’t have room to argue, then with a look from Red Robin to Batman, there was more the air of a sadness before Batman nodded, some silent communication between the two leaving Danny to figure out what was up. Red Robin sighed as he sat not too far from Danny.“Look…it’s…really hard to picture that you were gone for two weeks and that things went so positively for you. There was a point where I was taken by Joker for a very similar length of time…even in the exact same place. So maybe it’s why I’m…struggling with turning it around. Through torture he turned me into his…little mini me. JJ, or Joker Junior. It was…a long hard road getting to feel back in control of myself after that. It…feels like you’re here… but with how we don’t know what you were like before, then the interaction in the alleyway… what if a part of your mind broke off to protect yourself and how bad it was has been suppressed?”Danny’s face softened away from the sarcastic edge and over to full serious attention at the confession, watching Red Robin earnestly and feeling how desperate he was to show how worried they all were. He listened, nodding softly to the possibilities. “Well… I have not had any blackouts or the like. I don’t know what else would be the signs but...I got my files from him today? For everything that happened from his point of view. I’d… like a chance to go through it myself see if there was anything that…I can’t handle someone else knowing the full truth about yet but… pretty sure everything we discussed I can be open with you guys on as well. I just need a chance to make sure. If there are any issues, anything I feel is too out of the normal, I will let you know. I really appreciate you opening up to me about something so impactful to your life…it makes sense why you’ve been struggling over the last few times we’ve met. I’ll take your worry seriously and do everything I can for you to not be so worried, okay?”He could feel the relief wave off from both Batman and Red Robin, who surprisingly pulled him into a tight hug. He was stiff for a second, before melting into the hug and patting his back.“Thank you..it’s…I’ve been worried about this for weeks now, and that you’re in a relationship now? That’s..” Red Robin whined, running his hand over his hood as he pulled back. All the little whines were adorable from the vigilante. Sweet pouty baby. He was probably older than Danny but that changed nothing. Sweetheart baby man.
Danny blinked at the thought. He needed to see Conner again soon, he was getting restless without knowing how the other clone was doing, and clearly he was projecting the protective nature on anyone even remotely similar.
“Hey, I’m okay, alright? You can check in on me… but until we know for sure, please just breathe and get a little rest okay?”Batman seemed as interested in the papers as Red Robin where he wasn’t going to wind down, so Danny sighed at his slight shift in stance. “I’ll…start looking over it tonight…okay? That way we can start discussing when it’s best for me to…tell you everything else…okay?”The relief went once more over the room that they would have a reason to stay, give him room and let him sort through the files while they could be there for him if it was too much.
So Danny retreated to his room again, turning on the lights and opening the window to enjoy the cold as he went through the files, debating and started looking through them from the first recording.
The first few files were filled with amazement and amusement, with possessiveness that was slowly changing over to admiration, and he found himself blushing, a few lines sticking in his head that he actually found rather attractive. He doubted the bats would feel the same… but if they wanted to read of his being drawn in to Danny, who was he to deny it. It was almost a pride of being able to show it off in a way.
If you lose yourself, I will help you find yourself again. Or be lost in our madness together. Is someone truly a friend if they aren’t willing to dance to the chaos with you?

I will free you of these shackles. Every groove of your mind will be trusted to me, my dear Danny.
He had it written, transcribed, and his audio notes, so he could see where the grip of the pen was tighter, and hear the drawl to his voice. He was definitely going to make sure he kept the audios.There were several notes like that further in, and Danny found himself blushing bright red hearing some of his praise for what a perfect patient he was, and then sweet young man, then finally his.
Someone who fully wanted every part of him when he had exposed his fears, his loves, his hopes, his dark future… they had accepted every part of him with almost a reverence.
He could hear the shuffling of the coffee pot getting started though so he figured he should hurry up, taking a sharpie to the report and crossing out sections with any sections that got too close to exposing Vlad’s identity. He even called Vlad to check on it, who was horrified that Danny was handing over as much as he was, but left it up to him, glad his own was being removed from the equation.
So once he’d combed over it all twice, he went to ask the Bats where the copy machine was, and made them their own to keep on file, not wanting to let go of his own.
It finished popping out the copies of the originals right as the coffee pot finished, so he poured Red Robin and Batman each a cup, not knowing which one of them had started it but figured either one of them could use it, before he topped off his own, putting a star on the original to make sure he got it back, letting them both look over it, a bit red at putting his life in front of them. He had skimmed through sections he wasn’t too worried about, the wordings tamed over time. He busied himself looking over the improved shrine to his wear of beating up the Joker, where the Bat was mounted, he noted it still hadn’t been cleaned, and allowed himself a small smirk at the new plague over it. Joker’s Bane. Someone’s a real funny guy. He found it a little weird the guy was immortalizing him brutalizing someone but… hey he was pretty sure everyone could agree the guy deserved it. With probably everyone else being on duty in town, Batman and Red Robin were uninterrupted reading other than occasional reports. He could feel sadness and shock going through them, probably when he finally confessed he was Phantom.
He could feel their glances, but pretended not to notice, looking out the window absently as he sipped his coffee as the stress rolled off them. Everything he had told them, that Phantom had told him…that the damn ghost prince had gone evil and destroyed everyone in the future and not just some half powered ghost kid in the background.“This is… a bit to take in. So your lab accident…”
“Yeah… it wasn’t just nondescript ghost powers like Spectra's attack on the students. It half killed me.”“When they caught you…was it Danny, or Phantom? We need to make sure we have our stories straight with the reports going to the Senate. It was both, but your human form more recently, yes?”He looked surprised with how they took it in stride, Batman seemed to be taking it in stride while he wanted nothing more than to pull him in his arms. Feeling the warmth and concern off of them, he blinked to keep his eyes from blurring. “Both… they did catch me as Phantom before. Last year. Luckily I got their ectoplasm signature of me deleted at that time so…when they got me more human…they didn’t have it to compare back to properly. I also wasn’t there long enough to get dissected or even stripped so they didn’t have the time to catalog my injuries as Phantom. There’s videos in there for both forms of me…the long one is the..more recent of course with the dissection.” He gripped the mug, sighing when it iced over, and he set it aside. “I can make duplicates so… I could also come forward as a witness for both and still keep them separately.”“Are you…sure? With Madeline?” Clearly they could both remember how quickly she had taken to shooting Phantom even though he was in the middle of fighting for them.“I can insist that she get her part out separately first before I take the stand, and or as I check in, take a mask that covers my eyes again, minus the bomb. I have half a dozen ghosts scheduled for interviews with other scientists in clean room environments to make sure they’re safe, and or a witness protection thing being under care of Vlad or my dad far away from them. He figured it out when I went to comfort him as the Phantom recently and he quickly became my biggest supporter… I can’t trust mom though until at least the laws are out of the way for her to fall back on, to see others on a large scale believe that what she does is wrong. To make her hesitate long enough to consider the truth.”
“It’ll be best to go masked. Can you make a human duplicate too?”Danny nodded softly. “It takes a lot more effort, but I can make both… I can stay next to dad as Danny, go in masked for the main autopsy, and also go as the Ghost Prince…it’ll be easiest to maintain if I go as Ghost Prince, but safest if I go in next to my dad.”“If you pop while trying to maintain it, it’ll blow the whole thing. I recommend Ghost Prince. We will make sure you are safe from any blasts as well.”Danny smiled gently to them, sighing slowly in relief. “Thank you…I..was worried how I was going to explain this all as it got further and further along. It’s…better while you suspect me than for you to trust me later and then feel betrayed I didn’t share. Though so far now the only person I haven’t told earlier than I thought is mom. She is not learning until there’s a chance I won’t get strapped to a table again. Constantine has already agreed to help me with that bit at least.”Batman nodded, serious and mouth set in a hard line. “I can be your backup as well Danny. You warned me that Red Hood could be in danger as well as helping him to become more stable… I can’t thank you enough for that still, so this will be a welcome start in my opinion.”Danny positively slumped into the couch in relief at that. “Holy shit yes. A magic expert and the badass lead of the Justice League backing me up that I’m a real human no matter how ghost I am. You have no idea how much pressure that is off my chest. I had no idea how to ask you.”He had been so soft to him as Rizon and as Danny, and he was so relieved for it too. From the start, he wasn’t given the hero complex, or simply ‘poor kid’ he was just…supported. He grinned at how many more people were supporting him now.“Will it be okay to share this with the rest of the League?”“Nah, just the ones that read minds and could tell from the first meeting that I panicked… can’t let too much on…after all I’m going to adopt Conner. Don’t need Superman knowing until he’s already my son or nephew or something. I’ll be the best ghost dad.”This finally got a chuckle out of Red Robin. “Batman adopts often…I’ll get you a copy of adoption papers.”“Hell yeah.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

So… Crane was romancing the Ghost Prince. Danny. Rizon. Who looked like he thought Crane had hung the stars themselves. Which was a big thing with how much he slipped almost comatose just staring out at space as soon as he got to the space station.At least the notes felt the darker nature of their relationship die down, and he had brought equipment, overhearing the notes on the recordings that Danny was a little more private with, and while they were concerned, Red Robin saw his blush when he came out to give them their copy.Now that he knew who he was, that in part made sense too. What ghost wouldn’t be flattered to be becoming the obsession of sorts for someone else? If he had a correct understanding of their relationship to each other.He really hoped that Danny was going to be a good influence on the guy and not have things the other way that Danny would become a crazy threat over everything else in Gotham.The weeks flew back and before they knew it, it was time for the meeting. Scarecrow had actually been staying quiet, as did Harvey Dent, Danny definitely had been keeping them busy, especially now and then with someone having Danny being watched they found that Crane had paid for a clear observatory and had a date with a little picnic blanket with the vigilante in the middle of the place, and just listened to him list off the mythologies of the different stars and how they tied into modern days, influencing with the belief in old gods getting tied to them too as neverborns. Oracle hacked into the cameras to record it all in case there was important information for later that Dr. Crane might slip, but they left the date uninterrupted. After all, it was for the day before the meeting, and they were all sure Danny needed to ground himself before the big meeting, and who wouldn’t be terrified?With thermal, which showed Dr. Crane running warm, and Danny running much colder, they watched over the two with the cameras as well when they fell asleep there at the Observatory. Okay so it was a little cute how they just flopped against each other.Red Hood was the one to go in and gently wake Danny when it was time for them to get ready to head with the others, and Danny understood a team needing to communicate so he hadn’t gotten in the way at all of the team talking to each other about him. Thereof, it made it easier for him to prepare before meeting the Justice League in three different forms.Plasmius had come back to Gotham to drill the multiple forms into Danny as well, to help him keep them all established, some combat training as well at the same time to ensure that his energy levels would hold. So one of him came with a full face motorcycle helmet, compliments of Red Hood, one was of Danny, and one now of the Crown Ghost Prince of the Infinite Realms, and man was this going to be a trip.The three Dannys accompanied Batman to head up the Zeta Tubes, to meet up with the Justice League. Danny explained away the third as being part of the Fenton Ghost Catcher like a giant dreamcatcher, splitting so that he could escape suspicion as well as lower both their ghost levels to a normal liminal level to not set the GIW on the high alert as soon as they got in.Quite a few of them were a bit worried that the Fenton’s had such an invention that could split a person in half, while in the background was an amused Firestorm.“Wonder if they eat nachos.” Firestorm grinned, while Batman paused a moment to squint back over at him testingly, but only got a bigger smile in return.Danny quirked a brow on what that could be about, but didn’t elaborate further.As Rizon, as they arrived at the hall, he had masked Danny on one side, which they decided to call Spatium, and then Batman, Constantine to one side, with Manhunter and Booster Gold on his other side, the other League members branching out, the scientists and specialists in different areas for their questioning of their interviews with the ghosts, and somewhere off in another area was ‘Danny’ with Jazz, Jack, and Maddie. He had let Jack and Jazz in on which one was the real one, and to be very careful of Maddie to have it that she would have turned in every single one of her weapons, really not liking the idea of being blasted in the middle of talking. He felt the glares from the opposite side of the room as he barely floated over the ground to keep the size difference compared to the human form beside him, the horns and new skin helping him he knew, but he wanted to embrace the new regal persona completely. At least here. Anywhere else he may gag.He felt the piercing glares of the GIW on their side of the room, and kept his head held high, not acknowledging their existence. If he still had a heartbeat it would be racing by now. He knew that it was Spatium, and as a full human his hands were shaking with his nerves and pacing. It kind of helped to have the forms separate, so that he could be as calm as the icy persona he was using needed. He settled into place when guided by Batman, who stared unblinking back at the GIW, steadily making them squirm after a moment and turn their attention back to the stands as the session was called to order.Rizon held himself sternly, straight back, shoulders back with an ooze of confidence that he mimicked off of Vlad and had been trained in over the years when he had accompanied him for one event or another, and he would put every bit of it into use now.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`Constantine kept an eye on Danny, both of the ones that were in his line of sight, watching the twitching of the balled up fists linked behind him as he sat to control his anger. His eyes glanced over where the newest runes would be carved for his protection to stop forced summonings and giving him choice of when to pop up as well as to change the frequency of perfect summoning circles that unless they knew the changes Constantine put in, would be much harder to hold him within a summoning circle as well. He hated that Danny had to be here for this. That he had to sit there and tell the government why he had a right to live. The same ones that had dissected him.All members were introduced in turn of the members of the Senate, the Courts, the agents presiding over their side of the case, the JL members, and lastly Danny, which felt a wee bit disrespectful, but it gave room for the kid to be dramatic as well. As he stood for his turn.“I am Spatium, hero of the Infinite Realms, in service to Event Horizon, Crown Prince of the Infinite Realms, also in part known as the Ghost Zone.” He managed to keep his voice level and polite with the speakers as everyone took their seats.“Now that everyone has been introduced, we will be taking witness statements from all sides, as the written longer testaments have been included beforehand, please keep it brief. Copies of the ‘Anti-Ecto-Acts’ have been passed to all members present as well as to the current press.Let’s start with the ‘Ghost Investigation Ward’ leader here, Agent Abernath. Welcome to the Senate here today, we see that your organization has been formed for the last five years, but operating for six?”“Yes, that is correct. Thank you for welcoming us.”“Of course. Concerns over these Acts have been raised, so I will be bringing up a couple of the points, and you can tell us after I have stated them your rebuttal. Do you understand this?”“Yes sir, completely.”“Very well. The first concern is in that your operations preceded the law, hunting down, as you state ‘ecto-entities’ for an unlawful bounty placed on one Inviso-Bill as of six years ago, that Mayor Vlad Masters has long rescinded, with a public apology for the renamed hero ‘Phantom’. I’d like an explanation why lethal force was used against this hero of Amity Park, and that is the term I will use for them, as I see a number of cases, provided by your own team and that of the Justice League that speak volumes in his favor. Secondly, I would like an explanation on how these ‘ecto-entities’ are considered non-sentient, unfeeling blobs of left over emotion, in your own words, Agent. Thirdly, how you believe these are not violations of the Meta-Protection-Act.”Constantine sighed a bit in relief of how the Majority Speaker already seemed quite unimpressed with the situation, and Event Horizon had a bit of tension leave his shoulders seeing the hardness in the Speaker's eyes.The agent, however, didn’t seem to have a clue of the hostility going towards her. She sat up straight, leaned towards the microphone. “My organization has long understood the threat of the ectoplasmic specimen, how they invade our world with the only energy or motive driving them is the remaining hostile energy of their life before lingering on ectoplasm and making copies of their forms. We were ready at the call when we heard of the menace to society known as Phantom made way into Amity Park and was terrorizing the citizens, we knew we had to put a stop to it immediately. We believe Vlad Masters was intimidated into withdrawing his statement. For the final point, this is not a born species, this is not so simple as a change of genetics from lab accidents that cause power, this is an infection, a plague brought to us from a dimension of evil creatures who’s only goal is our demise.”“You may rest now. The notion of something not sentient wanting anything at all is ridiculous and you should know this. We have two that will speak for sections of the Justice League, one specializing in the sub category of Justice League Dark. Both have extensive knowledge of demonic and ghostly interactions that these Ecto-Entities would likely fall under. First off, Sir Batman, thank you for being here today. I understand you have had interactions with ghosts in the past, as well as interaction with undead such as Dracula, who was in Gotham when last defeated before you found the case with an urgent report from Vlad Masters, and Jasmine Fenton regarding his hostile takeover of the area?”“Yes, Major House speaker.” Batman leveled a calm look back. “From what we can gather, the skull of Count Dracula, code name at the time of Dr. Alucard, was retrieved from the storage facility that had been housing it from direct request of higher authorities. He was revived to Amity Park.”“And while you were in Amity Park, did you see some of these ghosts?”“It is where I met High Prince Event Horizon, as well as a number of Phantom’s rogues of the past, who were ghosts, with the classification of ‘ecto-entities’.”“What was your impression of these specters to those you have dealt with in the past?”“Like humans, or many other races that have come to inhabit this planet at one time or another, there are some that may be more power driven, or able to hurt others, but this is not the feeling from the complete race. Even members that have been problems in Amity Park came together the same way rogues of Gotham have in the past to help the local people when their territory was encroached upon. They are strong, driven people. They adjust to new situations easily, which goes against the idea of them being pale imitations of their past selves.”“Let the record show with this, that Batman and the other League members present submitted to a scan on the way in for ectoplasm, which by report of the Ghost Investigation Ward, should be the only reason why anyone would side with the ghosts, with elements of mind control at play, which simply is not present in the Justice League today, confirmed by their own equipment provided to them by Fenton Works.“Thank you Batman. Then we have John Constantine, specialist against foreign entities, performing exorcisms, demon and spirit alike. Thank you for being here today Sir Constantine. Are there any members of these classifications that might fit in with the specifications that the Ghost Investigation Ward has provided?”“A very small amount, sir, not of being pure evil, but of sentience.” When the speaker gestured for him to continue, he straightened up. “The weaker a spirit is, where it has low ectoplasm when forming, the chances of a general blob forming instead of the spirit surviving in the primary form there is higher. These ‘blob ghosts’ are essentially jellyfish, sir. To put it simply, it is to say if another race found jellyfish in first contact with our planet, and put every other living being on this planet in the same category.”“Through your interactions with these entities in the past, what is your impression of the interactions with the Ghost Investigation Ward to the individuals?”“Horrified, sir. There are children between ghosts, there are beings we cannot comprehend, and there are bodies of government that have had the magics tied to their realm feeling very angry and twisted for the last few years. These people have been under a constant onslaught by the Ghost Investigation Ward, their people being slaughtered on the field and on lab tables to these very people. Governing bodies that there have been whispers to which it’d be better to wash the multiverse hands of our very timeline itself from the horrors their people have faced.”“What do some of these horrors include?”“Even for members of the human race, those that have been captured by this group have been subjected to being opened up under the operation knife, without pain killers as they don’t believe their pain is real, and forcing them to regrow their organs and limbs over and over as they remove them. If that is by someone still living and breathing , the tests to the limits of ghosts have been far worse, tearing them apart molecule by molecule to study every bit of their being, and when their forms cant take it anymore, shoving their disintegrated bodies into their weapons to attack their friends and family, other members of the Infinite Realms.”Gasps went through the crowd as more than a few people looked like they were going to be sick.“I believe that from the reports given, Mr. Spatium here is the one in question that is living and has faced these operations. Thank you Constantine, so now we will turn to the witness, Stadium. Hello sir, I’m so sorry you had to come here today, you can take your time as needed with the questions, I can only imagine the horrors you’ve faced.”“Thank you sir.” He kept his voice deep and clear, while Constantine could see him balling his fists to his pant leggings, and the rise and fall of his chest freezing up.“It is my understanding that, as provided by Jack Fenton, and by Batman, records from the process have been given to the US Senate here today. Having given a preview for the material, I understand if it is too much to see again, and we advise viewers at home to take kids to another room for this section. Will it be alright to show those operations up on the screen now? Do you need to step out for it sir?”Spatium held his head high, voice thicker through the modulator. “I relived these memories for months through my head nonstop. I don’t need to go anywhere. You may show it, then I will also confirm by baring my chest to show the scars left over from their vivisection to prove my identity as well, sir.”There was a moment for the reporters to adjust and warn their viewers, before the screen came up again.Constantine had seen it with the other Justice League members before, but it didn’t stop a couple of them from being sick too, as many members of the senate and public were there as well, losing their breakfast.“Permission to mute and or move ahead through the video ahead?” The Majority Speaker swallowed down his own bile, looking to Spatium as turning shades of green, as well as tears to his eyes what he’d gone through.He stayed motionless a moment, gripping the table in front of him with the screams being cut off before the weaponized ecto was poured down his throat. “This is a five hour video. Speeding up through it would be the best, sir.”His screams of pain and desperation were sped through, them shocking or using other methods to keep him awake. His sobs, his straining the binds. Eventually he let them mute it as well. “I can give a summary here sir. They made me regrow organs, limbs, fourteen times over this five hour session. There were others like this one. No pain relievers, even though I am still alive. No sedatives. Any form that they’ve found effective against ghosts, they used against me, testing their limits. That they did this to me so recently spells trouble for the rest of Amity Park and others in the world affected by ectoplasm. Once they figure out getting rid of ghosts, I imagine the rest of us would follow. Permission to show the scars, sir?”“Yes, please sir.” The Speaker was glaring at the GIW at this time, the hostility in the air tangible even for those that were not empaths.So it had to be that much worse on Danny. While Spatium stood, shrugging off his jacket and then unbuttoning his shirt to show the vivisections twisted scar down his middle, and the number of blasts, burns, slashes, he was glad they had gotten him an artifact to hide his tattoos as needed, something else to separate his connection to who he really was.Ice crept over the floor from Rizon’s spot, his eyes glowing bright green watching the video then looking more at his scars for every angle, and he allowed himself to grief what happened to himself, to show the horror and disgust for what everyone else would assume was for one of his own people. Silent tears were staining down his cheeks as he turned around to show the scars over his back as well. The snaps of hundreds of cameras going for both, and Constantine had given him an artifact to not mess with the cameras at all for this time too.After they’d had a moment of their pictures, he shrugged back on the shirt, buttoning it back up as he sat down, head dipped to compose himself as his hands shook, before getting on the jacket as well.“We thank you, for your bravery in coming up to the stand with all the horrors you have faced, and I am so sorry that you faced them at all. May we have the reminder, for the court, your age, sir?”“I’m twenty. The defenses of Amity Park against my ghost abilities have been targeting me since I was fourteen, sir.”There were angered whispers among the crowd there.“In what ways can one become infected with ectoplasm?”“The primary way that the GIW use as their excuse is possession. The trail of possession is very faint after the ghost has already left the body. These same trails stay on the body for those that were saved with ghost powers, such as Phantom turning students in the schools intangible with buildings collapsing. The stronger traces are from blasts the GIW and the Fenton’s themselves splash onto the civilians with their chase going on after the rogues and Phantom. Or accidents with the portal that was ripped into the homes of the Infinite Realms, and general ectoplasm in the atmosphere, which is a thin veil in Amity that it has leaked on over half the town. It is drawn to people that have died, even if not for long. Anyone who’s had a heart attack, stopped breathing too long, water filled their lungs or was dying of hypothermia or heat stroke. Children stillborn and taking a few minutes to breathe… All of these could draw ectoplasm to your body, which does not harm the human body in the amounts it would for a short death, but enough that these sensors could be picked up by the GIW, and they could be taken away from our families and ripped apart with it being perfectly legal.”More anger rolled over the room, and terror of the realization of how many people this could really face, and both forms of Danny had their knees shaking under the pressure of so many emotions. Exchanging glances, Batman and he both gently squeezed one of their hands, pushing down their own anger to provide tentative comfort.“So many billions of people could be targeted to this…” The Major Representative shook his head, along with most of the representatives there today. “Thank you, Spatium. “Unfortunately as much as they believed he was finally getting a break, turning the attention from one Danny to another did not give them any time.“Event Horizon, Crown Prince of the Infinite Realms. I extend my sympathy for the pain and suffering your people have faced, and no doubt yourself as well. This is a very serious matter that has gotten past for this long. Are you alright to answer a few questions as well?”He saw as Rizon had to swallow a couple times, the influx of emotions and controlling his own had puffs of ice from his lips, and a slight tremble to the air immediately around it, with the faint of whispered screams resembling those Constantine had lost before, but he was keeping it together.“Yes sir. I do apologize for any distortions to my voice. I have my own pains over this situation, and with part of my abilities being empathetic, my abilities are on overdrive with the heavy emotions in the room. I am sorry for any discomfort my speaking may bring to those present here.”The waves of pain in his voice, of grief and mourning that poured off of him with the situation and the emotions heightened by everyone else had Constantine blinking away tears, and half the room stunned with wiping away their own tears with trembling hands.“Thank you for notifying us sir.” The Major Representative cleared his throat to keep his own together. “You gained your rank by fighting for Amity Park, yes?”“Indeed sir. There was a time, the tyrannical old king that all of the Infinite Realms had come to fear, broke out of his confines, and stole away my home town into the Ghost Zone, only the shields in place keeping it safe, and the ectoplasm there could be toxic for humans how thick it was. Myself, Phantom, and many of the ghosts we knew, and didn’t, banded together to fight his forces, and drive him back. I faced the King in one on one combat, and when I struck him down, the town shifted back right where it was supposed to be, and the right of combat transferred the crown to me.”He seemed to be able to slightly relax himself on that one with the JL around him catching how he addressed himself as Phantom but made him seem separate, had the JL faintly amused.“If the King is gone, why are you not considered it yourself yet, and are Crown Prince?”“My understanding is that my core is underdeveloped, or that I need more experience of the Realms, before getting to be in charge…” He grinned a bit, relaxing some of the moods more, while the GIW shifted under how sharp his teeth were. “It’s like a Neo Baby getting to explore the world before taking over the family business, seeing what they want to do with it.” There were a few chuckles faintly over the room, while many snaps of cameras went off with Rizon’s smile as well.“I see, well I hope we haven’t disappointed you too much with what you’ve seen of this world.”“I am from this Earth originally, sir. This is my home. Sadly… I cannot help but to be disappointed at the current circumstances. There are many angry families that are torn apart back home where their younger newer ghosts came to play in their old world, fill their obsessions, and were not able to come back to them, their souls shattered by GIW attacks.”“Can you explain more about obsessions?”“First off, remember not to ask a ghost about their obsession specifically, and not to ask about their deaths. A lot of the time, these two things may strongly tie into each other, and it causes a lot of pain to the ghost as it tears up the memories of their deaths, making them relive through them. Obsessions are the human passions. I will offer mine freely. I adore space. The stars, space travel, the wonder and curiosity of it all. When I died as a teenager, these passions grew so much stronger. Wanting to be an astronaut gone forever for me, I came to watch the stars in this world as the Ghost Zone does not have them solid and cohesive the way I wish. If you ignore an obsession, it can make you highly stressed and lashed out, as creative minds among the living may get irrational anger and sadness when they cannot create. It physically hurts us as ghosts because of our strong emotional ties. That is why the ghosts still visit. We don’t want to take over the world. We want to live our passions, share them and learn with humans.”From there the interview was going well, calming down, understanding the hierarchy of ghosts, how they saw fighting as bonding, found most humans boring this way as well in that they were squishy and fragile, so they didn’t want to break their new friends.Then it turned into the worst of the offenses, and Constantine smirked to realize that they had spent a lot more time on the Rizon and Spatium than they did the GIW.“Among the top offenses of the GIW is, of course, dissecting my people, alive and dead, those still alive with brushes of death have a small amount of dual-citizenship of course. Then there is the matter of sending a nuclear charged warhead into the ghost zone to try and destroy it all-together.”Shock went over the room that any branch of the government had been cleared to drop nukes on another party without the world knowing.“This…how did this fair for your people?” The speaker asked much more softly.“Phantom was there in time. And while it would have torn our reality to shreds most likely, it was sent so the nuclear part of it was in weaponized ectoplasm. Shutting the shields on our end had it simply cover the agents and lab they were working in to be covered in highly toxic goop. This is lucky for both this reality and the Realms that it failed.”“I highly agree, but can you explain for the rest of the class?”“The Infinite Realms ties all worlds together… like the center to the afterlives of all realities. Destroying it would be sending out ripples to similarly destroy all realities.”The room erupted in yelling and accusations, anger and shock, enough for Rizon to have to squeeze his eyes shut a moment with a deep breath, his eye twitching.It took a while longer for the room to quiet back down, then they went into the studies both ghost and human scientists, those of the Lantern Corps, all around to confirm that yes this was a real risk, and it had the governing bodies outside of Earth watching the outcome for this meeting as well.Then followed quick statements of the scientists that agreed their people were sentient. Then Maddie arguing her side of things, only to be shut down and looking frazzled that Jack hadn’t backed her up on it, and had been actively going against her, even though he had been wearing her down for weeks up to this point. Yeah, Constantine was going to definitely have to keep a forget spell ready if Danny still wanted to try and confess to her.After everyone had said their piece, a recess was called while everyone digested and sorted their information, all but the key witnesses were dismissed, Jack hiding Danny leaving as his going with Danny and Jazz to go explore the city, letting him drop that one, then Rizon letting Spatium disappear with a few members of the JL returning to the watchtower for it to pop down as well. In private sitting rooms to the side for the recess he crumbled in a chair, panting and taking a couple shots of the ectoplasm as he let the form drop once it was just he, Batman, Constantine, and Booster Gold in the room, exhausted keeping his power in check while at the same time maintaining clones for so long. He passed out shortly when Batman put him in the safety under his cape to hide him from sight and provide the comfortable weight of someone being there with him.They both exchanged glances to Booster Gold, who grinned with a twinkle in his eye.The GIW was done for.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It took a couple more days for the US Senate to put everything together, and the GIW was quickly put on trial for war crimes. Every sector was dismissed, all their research destroyed, or returned to the Crown Prince for his people, and if he saw fit for Earth's Defensives, able to keep some technology. He approved protective measures, advertising for Jack the Ghost Repellent belt, the shields, and minor attacks like the wrist rays; others would be discussed at a later time if Danny felt like they could be trusted with it.

Spending another two full days with his ghost form up had Danny spent by the end of it, and none of them argued whether he slept for a full day after that, or disappeared to Jonty after that and spent the next full day there.
Danny melted to Jonty’s arms with how heavy the week was going, sighing as he curled up to his side, sipping some ecto-infused hot cocoa.
“You did so well this week Danya. I would have killed every single one of those imbeciles…”

“They’re being taken into the hands of Walker, and the Green Lantern Core for their violations to the peace between dimensions since they tried to delete all of us… I’m just glad that I can…feel the mental pressure of my people backing off for the idea of taking over this dimension and deleting it.” Danny sighed, chuckled as Jonty fed him, happily munching away whatever he put in front of his face. “And no killing them Jonty. You’ve been doing so well keeping away from the deadly stuff, and I don’t want Batman having another reason to go after you.” He smiled, gently kissing his fingertips when finishing a bit of the food, getting a light blush even as he did it. He could embarrass himself, no help needed. Jonty just smirked over lightly and gently held his cheek stroking over it.

“Spoil sport… but I do have to say…being around a successful case is even better than the fear of others through the city.”
“A part of you always just wants to help, hm?” He smiled as Jonty leaned down and peppered gentle kisses into his hair.
“Now who’s the therapist?” Jonty smirked, stroking through his hair, before lounging over next to him, Danny beaming curling back into him. “I suppose you’re right though… we’re more like ghosts than the GIW would ever realise. The obsession is strong and when we can’t do what we’re driven to…” He nodded thoughtfully to it, Danny smiling. “Suppose Batman hasn’t been in the wrong so far trying to get us some care.”
“Think you should actually listen to the good doctors talking you through some troubles? I don’t think Harley would mind.”
“Already ahead of you, had one session and have three more scheduled with her.” Jonty hummed, and Danny positively glowed that Jonty was getting the help he needed.
“I’m really glad. I…may need yours or her help again soon.” Danny stroked over his hand half to distract himself.

“Oh? And why would that be?” Jonty sat up with him, holding him close with his arms around him.
“Despite everything… I’m going to attempt the shock factor to wake up my mom that I’m Phantom, that ghosts aren’t evil, that… she doesn’t have to go on being a speciest the rest of her life.”
“I will be here for you Danya, of course.” He smiled as he kissed his cheek. “And I am very proud of you for taking it into your own hands and facing your fears.”
Danny smiled under the encouragement, and turned to him holding his cheek, a part of him terrified that something could go horribly wrong and his not being able to come back, he slowly leaned closer to kiss him softly. “I want only the possibility of losing you as my fear…then finding a way to stop that as well.”

He and Jonty grinned at each other as he kissed back, pleased in the quiet moment with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A part of Danny seemed still desperate to reach his mother, even as she was warring with his father, and Constantine felt it a little ridiculous, though he agreed when Danny was ready to go back home and confront his mother. Through the phone calls they could tell Jack was worried but hopeful too. It was a family affair, Jazz coming down for it too. So Batman and Constantine went back with Danny to Amity Park.
Stepping back to the Fenton house felt surreal, the buildings somewhat put back together.
Madeline was busy crashing things downstairs, small swears as she was angry while building a new weapon. Jack put a stop to that and brought her upstairs, sweet talking with her that he cleaned the lab and even changed the ecto-filter. He even finally installed the handle on the inside of the family bunker room.

He got her buttered up with that and fresh hot coffee, before meeting the others in the living room, where Danny waited with Jazz, Constantine, and Batman.
Her eyes narrowed seeing the League members suspiciously, but sipped at her coffee as she settled in.
“Last time you were here it was quite the lecture and it led to us losing all our funding I’m fairly certain. What now brings you to our living room?” She glanced over them, and quirked a brow up at how Danny shifted uncomfortably between them. “Danny? Are you alright? Are they threatening you?” Her tone hardened a bit as she straightened, before Danny rose his hands and shook his head frantically.
“N..No mom. Actually…they’re here because I asked them to. I’m…much more afraid of how you’ll threaten me instead.”
Her face froze in shock, and then confusion, before she started slowly again. “Danny, why would I ever threaten you? You’re my baby boy.”
Danny took deep breaths, looking to his Dad for support, who nodded in encouragement. Her head snapped around to him too.
“Jack? Why is Danny afraid of us? What is going on?” She demanded, now standing, and Jack took her hand, squeezing it gently.

“Cupcake, he’s…not scared of me… not anymore. But… Danny was in an accident Maddie…with the portal.”
She shrieked as she looked back over to Danny. “Is that why the portal hasn’t been turning on since we woke up? It broke and now you brought the Justice Lea-”
“Mom, stop jumping to conclusions! I can’t even work up the steel to tell you what’s wrong. And the portal isn’t working because I shut it down!” Danny was standing now too, Batman with him to carefully shift a bit in front of him and protect him against Maddie lunging at him.

She stared at him in shock while Jazz rubbed her hands together and had them together in front of her, working her nerves down while a faint chill was rolling off of her brother.
“Danny! With the research we could have been doing these weeks I should have been able to convince the Senate about our work, about how evil ghosts are!”
“They’re not evil! Phantom saved your ass even as you were shooting at him!”
“He is a threat to this family and everyone in Amity Park, Danny! He has been a plague on this city since he appeared!”
“No I AM not! I have been fighting ghosts since freshman year of highschool because of your stupid fucking portal! I spent years with my nerves on fire, struggling in school, stopping takeovers from anyone in the ghost zone that saw the new portal as a bright neon sign saying ‘Come here for a good time!’ I have spent years patching myself up with damn ghost fishing wire from the blasts you sent through my sides and you didn’t even notice when I limped into the house! I’m sorry I wasn’t a perfect vigilante who knew all the answers to stopping the ghosts coming through when I had just died! I have been half dead since I was fourteen and you never even took me to the hospital!” He finally screamed, not even stopping to breathe as being named so cruelly had finally broken him.

Well, this isn’t how they had planned telling her.

They were going to calmly sip tea, coffee, and work their way through it, but the rage rolling off of Maddie had redoubled the pain Danny had been facing for years.

So Constantine could hardly blame the guy.
The next bout of stunned silence led a couple minutes, before Jack slowly exhaled and squeezed her hand.

That seemed to snap her out of her stupor, her eyes hardening as her hands tightened into fists. “Don’t… don't joke like that Danny. I know you. I’ve..I’ve seen you and Phantom at the same time!”
“Clones, mom. You’ve seen me as Phantom do it before, and Plasmius has too. Now, my form is different because I had to eat Dracula’s damn core to stop him from getting back, and it seems when cores mix, they can cause physical changes.” Danny looked to Jack, making sure to confirm that he had turned off the house security system for this, before he shifted into Event Horizon. “As Phantom, I defeated the Ghost King to get our town back in place. I had to eat his core too and was slowly processing it when you guys got taken over by Dracula. The energy shifted together and changed me like this. I am Danny. I am Phantom. I am Event Horizon, Crown Prince of the Infinite Realms.” He focused with his core, breathing out slow and deep, making the clone of himself human, and more strain holding back the new powers swirling in his core to make Phantom, the two on either side with him in the middle.
Her face twitched in anger and loss, but no remorse, no guilt. Her lip quivered before it turned into a snarl. “If you are Phantom then you are no son to me! My son is dead.”
Danny looked at her, and it pained Constantine how unsurprised he was, Jack yoinking something she was reaching for in her back waistband, quickly tossing it to Jazz out of Maddie’s reach, a smaller blaster. Danny let the clones pop away and shift back to his own human form, before he had a choked laugh, running his hand through his hair. “So you have wished, so shall it be.” His voice was thick and small as he headed out the door, nodding to Constantine to go ahead with their plan should it go this way.

“ Oblivium .” Constantine gritted his teeth as he focused it, making sure not to hit Jack as he held her in place. The gold shimmer hit her eyes in confusion, as he kept his voice low in the silence. “You have never had a son…you don’t know any form of Danny, or Phantom.

Tears were going down Jack’s face as he let her go, her mind washing away every moment with her son like he never existed at all. He helped Jazz with shaking hands to gather their family photos from around the house. She was brought back to bed to rest through the mental exhaustion of twenty years of memories being altered, while Jack with shaking hands accepted a folder of papers from Batman, Jazz taking her moms phone to delete all messages and photos with Danny in them.

Constantine sighed and took a deep breath, stepping outside to check on Danny. He spotted him on a rooftop not far, pacing and ranting, where Booster Gold had popped back up with him, sitting on an AC unit on the roof to let him rant, solemn and understanding as Danny tore his fingers through his hair, throwing his hands around a bit with splashes of frost settling over the roof.

He had hoped for the best, but still lost his mom, completely in the end. Constantine had put a small condition in the binding of the memories that if she ever dropped her hatred for ghosts, and understood them for what they were, she could get the memories of her son back, but he wasn’t going to tell Danny that for now. There was no point in getting his hopes up for it after all. Not when her hatred had been so palpable while surrounded with evidence against her views.

When the house calmed and things were cleared out, it was prepared, though they hoped they wouldn’t need it, and Danny’s things were all moved into Vlad’s manor, while his room was converted into a quiet study, complete with a few puffs of dust layering over everything like it had been Jazz’s and was underused when moved out.

Jack left her that same day, taking away any weapons that could hurt Danny, and rewriting the contacts in her phone to those that she could sell the blueprints to, switching around numbers so she wasn’t missing them entirely, and blocking the original numbers so they couldn’t reach out to her either. With that he went to stay with Vlad as well. He had been spending so much time with him there anyways while they were figuring out Danny’s new situation that it came naturally.
She was removed from his emergency contacts, the access to his school files…
She was completely erased from his life, just as she wanted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Alright kid, let’s go. A good spar to get it out of your system, I know your rogues have been behaving for a few weeks, so let's go out and get the building aggression out, this is as good a day as any.” Booster Gold patted Danny’s shoulder and floated up, nodding to him before he started flying to the outside edges of town.
“If I start, I don’t know how long it’ll be until I stop… I don’t have to go easy on you right?” Danny inhaled a sharp breath before he followed him, keeping close, glad to be on his home turf as the day had started to darken.
Booster was right, he needed this out of his system. He needed to burn this energy before it ripped him apart inside. He waited until Booster nodded that he was ready though, that he could take it, and Danny reminded himself that he had fought Dan before, that he could go all out.

He lost himself in a haze of green, the pain of the loss, the anger at the self importance of the members of the GIW who had torn his people apart.

Soon his limbs were screaming at him, his core protesting the pull of energy flooding from him, his chest swimming and as he finally sank down towards the ground, he landed on a jut out of ice crystal, so he just sank against it going limp, hugging the giant piece of ice, and he felt as Booster Gold settled closeby to him, and offer a gentle comforting hand to his back.

He melted into it, and in the wear of the day, blinked and he was being tucked in at Vlad’s manor, Batman setting a glass by his bed and a full pitcher of water, Booster smiling sadly down to him and ruffling his hair, before both stepped out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“That was bloody reckless, Booster.” Constantine sighed as he looked back to the room, thanking Vlad for the dinner provided, Jazz making hot cocoa for everyone and Jack making fudge with a hum.

“Kid just stopped existing to his mom…he needed an outlet, and I already let him know that I could take it since I fought Dan before.” Booster Gold stretched, sore, a few rips in his uniform.

The landscape a few miles outside Amity Park was torn to shreds, ice shards going easily up seventy feet and spreading out for a quarter mile on its own, with scorched earth underneath, the remains of the GIW base shredded, so pounded into the ground with his scream to be returned to dust. He had put a lot of his very core energies into the attacks, but he left his intangibility down, wanting to be hit back to feel something else.

So Booster had obliged and fought back hard, to over a good half hour slowly drain him down to the emotional and physical exhaustion.

“You did a good job, Booster… holding back that kind of pain can be enough to crush someone’s spirit, it’s good that you helped him take the edge out of it. Additionally, I got a good read on his stats. More than obscure videos from shaky kids. It’s good to have this data to know how best we can help him, and be ready if the darkness does get too strong for his heart.” Batman nodded softly, looking back to the room as Vlad looked to them curiously.
“Well last of my love faded for your wife Jack… too bad that couldn’t have happened years ago. Not the disowning part, but the lack of interest.”
“...Something about telling me you were into my wife when I just filled out the divorce papers with her is really weird, Vladdy.”
Vlad chuckled at that, patting his big friend on the arm. “It’s been waning… just glad that’s done with. Don’t worry, still love you, you giant buffoon.”
Jack grinned at that and trapped Vlad in a noogie, getting an indignant squawk out of the man. Jazz stared at the two, quirked a brow, before shaking her head with a mutter as she set down the drinks for the other three as she walked away. “Guess Vlad is becoming Danny’s dad in more than one way…”
Constantine choked on his tea.
After that he quickly retreated to the House of Mysteries, Batman headed back to Gotham and Booster Gold back to the Watchtower.~~~~~~~~~~
Vlad’s manor was busy for the next few days, between Jack moving the rest of his things into the manor as well, though Vlad kept him far away from his own room and insisting that the man needed to learn how to knock and boundaries before he would let him come closer, while Maddie tried to call them both about what was happening with the papers, but it wasn’t like Jack could explain about Danny with him deleted from her mind, so he used the take that he couldn’t be blinded in judgement anymore to ignore the obvious, that being that ghosts weren’t all bad, and they needed to part company because she clearly couldn’t handle it that they had been wrong for so long. Jazz was more torn, and visited her mom a couple times to make sure she was still in general alright before she took off back to New York to get away from the newest of the Fenton Family drama.
Whenever there was a moment, Danny could be heard on the phone with either Jonty or Harvey, moving the discussion away from his mother over to what they needed to do for the Ghost Zone now, and to get copies of the Ghost Laws over to Harvey as following the insanity and his bursts of violent rage, Harvey decided that getting more involved with the ghost zone may be exactly where he needed to be to still have access to his friends when he was more under wraps. So, Harvey Dent and Danny started looking over the laws of the Infinite Realms, and schooling themselves on all the work they would have going ahead of them.
Red Robin kept an eye on Danny, at least now for a different reason. He filled every day of his week swamped in work, and if they weren’t poking their head in now and then to the safehouse Danny had taken to from Red Hood, they wouldn’t be sure the guy ever slept.
Monday: Visit Johnathan Crane, sit in on classes at Gotham University. Then in the afternoons visits to Harvey Dents office, pouring over a section of law and figuring out all the ways a law applied in the ghost zone. In the evenings, he worked with Red Robin in the safehouse on new designs of the ghost repellant belts to make it a baseline for the utility belts to keep the teams safe while on patrol. Eventually he would be sent to bed.

Tuesday: Magic training with Constantine, refining his ghost powers to the finest level control, meditation, and low level casting protection spells. In the evening, training with Batman or Red Robin on hand to hand combat, switching out with Robin or Duke depending on when he was booted from magic training not to drain himself too badly.

Wednesday: Sitting in a University Class, Visit Jonty, help with soup kitchens, more laws with Harvey.
Thursday: Ghost Law with Harvey, etiquette lessons with Vlad, catch up with his friends and family, weapons training with Damian and Red Hood, patrol Crime Alley with Red Hood
Friday: Forced to sleep in, Magic training with Constantine, spend time with Conner on the Watchtower, History Lessons of the Justice League with cultural backgrounds, sparring with Wonder Woman, teaching the
styles of ghosts, neverborns, and ancients to Justice League and Justice League Dark
Saturday: Ghost Law, Volunteering, Jonty, Ghost Repellent belts, hand to hand combat, weapons training, video call friends
Sunday: Magic training, etiquette-
Alright that was enough. Red Robin was watching him fill every moment with something to not think about it all, and he needed an out to go relax. He spoke to Batman about it, and while Danny was going over what his plans were for Sunday, he cut him off to tell him they were doing a hobby day. No volunteering, therapy, training, he was going to rest his body and mind damn it.

So for Saturday night, he went to visit Danny at the safehouse, while he was going over some of the ghost laws with Sam and Tucker, tapping his head at some of the complex contradictories and watching them groan and talk their way out of the video call not wanting to deal with it. So he waited until it was over and as Danny went to pour over the law again, lightly threw a space magazine at him to get his attention and snap him out of it.

Danny jolted and blinked over, then shuffled over his calendar confused. “Did we have something else laid out tonight? We did the weapons and hand to hand combat, oh did you need a break down of the ecto-”
“Danny, relax. Put the studies away. We’re going for a drive.” Red Robin smiled lightly, blinking at the confused Danny who shuffled and put the studies away, getting up and Red Robin grabbed his overnight bag he’d packed for Danny while he was in the video call, tossing it over to him and nodding to the window to lead him out, hopping his way down to the alleyway behind it and waiting for him to jump his way down as well, climbing onto the motorcycle with him before taking him on a more casual route to the outside of Gotham, until the smog cleared enough to be able to see the stars again, and he slowed, looking back to him as they pulled over into a lightly forested area out of the light pollution of the cars on the road.
“You are done for tonight. And doing nothing tomorrow. You’re going to stay at my family’s manor, have breakfast with the family, maybe walk over the grounds, and have a movie game night marathon.” Red Robin smiled at him, patting the grass to lay next to him and watch the stars.
Danny paused a moment, before settling in next to him and looking up with the peak of the trees around him, slowly sighing out his tension, and leaned his head to Red Robin’s shoulder as watched the stars, slowly his eyes getting a gentle glow to them.

So it came to be that Danny met the Batfamily, out of the cowl the next morning at breakfast, and got the whole table laughing that he had no idea who any of them were, other than in general that Jonty’s goons had tried to kidnap one of the Waynes. But he treasured getting to meet them.
Training for the position of Ghost King was alright, training to be a part of Justice League Dark was better, but getting a bigger family?
Well, that would always be the best.

He had Vlad, and his dad, who were getting closer to each other with every passing day, Danny had even walked through a couple times to his dad brushing Vlad’s hair. He figured they’d tell him when they were ready, even though it was clear on Vlad’s core. It was cute.

He and Jonty were getting closer to each other with every passing day, taking a couple months to make sure that they weren’t going anywhere on each other before introducing him to the rest of his friends and family, including his ghostly family of Kitty, Ember, Johnny, Ghost Writer, and Clockwork.
Danny didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he met Clockwork, and seeing the gentle smile in his demeanor with a wink of reassurance from his grandfather melted him to ease that they’d be together for a lot longer.

He even glimpsed a slip over a couple of the clocks of the timeline, where Jonty was getting the position from a retiring Fright Knight.

They were going to be together for a very long time.

All his new family. He said goodbye to his mother, but he gained so much more by fully embracing who he was as Event Horizon.
The other one he glimpsed was far more curious and intimidating. A glowing, dismembered Dan was crying, his energy twisted and strange.
Danny would cross that path when
he got there, for now, he was going to adore his Jonty, until the problem came to him.
It usually did anyways.