Chapter Text
I stand watching the back of my mentor and friend as he heads for the portal that will finally take him home. It’s been a couple years, and I know he needs to go or he could fade out of existence, but I can’t help but wish he didn’t go through that portal. Just as I’m sure that this is the last I’ll see of him, he turns around.
“Spooks, I can’t go through, I can’t leave you. Not like this,” my mentor looks at me with pain and apprehension in his eyes.
“What are you saying, of course you can go through, you have to. It took a year and a half to find this portal. If you don’t go through this portal now you could fade out of existence. I can’t ask you to do that. Besides, you told me how to find you. If I need you, I know I can go there and you’ll be there for me. But you can’t do that if you don’t go through that portal now,” I try to reassure him and push him to go in the portal.
“I know this is probably my only chance Spooks, but I can’t just leave you like this. Who knows if you’ll actually able to find your way to me, and how can I just leave you to continue fighting for the peace of this realm and the stability of time and space alone? Time Police partners for life, right?” he gives me a half hearted smile, watery with the unshed tears from the prospect of saying goodbye.
“I’m slated to be king of these realms when I’m ready, I’ll have to work alone eventually anyways. And you have a family to go build. I don’t think they’ll be able to connect like they should if you aren’t there. You’re the big brother that will keep everyone together. The glue for your family, I just know it. You can’t leave them like that. Clockwork showed you them for a reason, they’re inevitable but only with you there. Don’t break time only for me to have to clean it up, please?” I refuse to show him how much I wish he could stay.
He sighs. “Yeah, alright Spooks. I suppose it doesn’t look too good if a time cop breaks time. Ok, I’m going to say it again even though I know I’m repeating myself for like, the hundredth time. If you need me, go to Gotham. Once in Gotham you can ask almost anyone for directions if you really need them, but head towards the outskirts of town, don’t even go near Crime Alley okay? If you reach Crime Alley you’ve headed in the wrong direction anyway. Find the main road that heads out of town in that direction. Once you’re on that road immediately take a right. Go straight for a while and you’ll find the Mansions. Wayne Manor is honestly the hardest but yet somehow easiest one to spot. It’s the largest plot of land with the biggest manor there I’m sure, but it’s set further back from the road. There’s giant ‘W’s in the gates though so you can’t miss them. Press the intercom and say you’re looking for me. Even if I’m not there, someone in that manor can get a hold of me. Just tell them that you’re Danny Phantom and they’ll let you in, I promise. Now you make me a promise.”
“Wing, I already promised. You know I could just push you through that portal now instead of going through all this again. I don’t think you could stop me,” I smirk playfully at him to lighten the mood.
“But you won’t, not till I give my consent. And I’m not giving it till after I hear that promise again. Promise me you will come find me if you ever need me. I mean it Spooks, I don’t care if our timelines don’t quite match up, you come get me. And cut it with the bull shit. No amount of fake smiles, smirks, and quips are going to make me believe you actually want me to go through that portal any more than I want to go through it cause that means we have to separate. Now cut the act and promise me,” He looks at me with more seriousness than ever before and I know he won’t drop it. And due to his comment, I can’t seem to hold my smile as well anymore as it wobbles and tears well up.
“I promise. I promise I’ll go find you if I ever need you, Dick. You’re right, I’m not happy to see you go but asking you to stay would be too selfish. I won’t be the reason you cease to exist,” I rush forward and hug my mentor for the last time. I know our timelines don’t match up. But I’m not sure our worlds do either. “Now go! Before you miss your chance and I can never reach out to you for help again. GO!”
I push him towards the portal and he looks back at me with a watery but fond smile, nodding as he passes through the portal with the weird red edges, a tell tale sign that it was out of sync with the rest of reality.
“You’ll see him again,” Clockwork shows up next to me and suddenly speaks. I don’t even flinch. Seeing as I turn 16 next month and have been at this for nearly two years, I’ve grown used to his antics.
“Oh yeah, when will that be? In death? You said the same thing when I finally opened up to you about those I’ve been missing. He has a place in my court when he dies, but until then you, the ancients, and those stupid eyeballs are gonna try everything to prevent me from going to him and showing up as anything less than Phantom.” I huff, annoyed at the ever present vague explanations.
“Trust me, all is as it should be,” Clockwork smiles as his form shifts from regular adult to old man.
I snort. “Yeah, so you like to say.” I decide to head home and mope while I can, who knows what ghost will come through the portal and cause mayhem…or when. And then I have to start taking ghost king lessons a lot more often after I turn 16. So moping can only last so long.
I spent the next month fighting off the usual suspects. Each of them growing more annoying and frequent as the month went on. Finally my birthday rolls around, and who knew ghosts respected birthdays so much? I was mid co-op battle with Technus and Skulker when the clock quite literally struck twelve marking the start of my birthday. They both stopped and grumbled, pouting as the clock chimed.
“What’s wrong? Is your carriage turning into a pumpkin? Don’t forget your shoe cause I won’t search the realms to find you!” I quip.
“Oh be quiet whelp! No self-respecting ghost would act with any form of aggression towards you on this day. But know, you only have 24 hours, then we’ll be back to…” I cut him off with a press of the thermos.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah back to skin me and put my pelt on your mantle,” I yawn. “Hey after getting you back in the zone maybe I can actually sleep for once. Who knew ghosts respected birthdays? I guess I didn’t notice last year.”
I fly back home, yawning the whole way. It’s been an exhausting week, the ghosts were relentless. I think I’ve gotten like five hours of sleep in the last seven days, and that’s being generous. To be fair, some of that was my own doing. In between attacks and school, I’ve been doing some research. I didn’t want to deep dive it cause, no Sam it’s not an obsession, but I had to check in to see if Dick got his family. And it looks like he did. From what Dick told me he was the first of two adopted son’s of Bruce Wayne’s. But now Bruce has three adopted son’s, a foster son, an adopted daughter, another girl or two that are around a lot, and one son who is blood related to him. They’d been growing steadily over the last 8 years as a family. It’s hard to say if the Bruce and co are my Dick’s family or if he was from another dimension entirely. Nothing really stood out to match us in the same timeline. But one thing is for sure, both Dick’s are Nightwing if my Dick isn’t from my dimension.
I get into my parents lab and hook up the thermos to eject the two rogue ghosts back into the Realms where they belong. A yawn wracks my body, only for me to jump when I hear a gasp followed by a near growl. I turn and see my mom standing there, hazmat suit with it’s hood up, seemingly prepared to do an experiment. My exhaustion leaving me as she seems to be predatorily still.
“Mrs. Fenton,” I start only to be cut off by a battle cry coming from the woman I have always been meant to see as safe and home.
“How dare you! You filthy ghost! What makes you think you have the right to use my home as you please!” She shouts at me.
“Ma’am! It’s not what you think, I just needed to use the portal!” I try to reason with her.
“Your tricks won’t work on me ghost scum! You’re after my family aren’t you?! Well I won’t let you have your way!” Just then my dad came UP the stairs from the dungeon.
“Maddie, is everything okay? I got the sample you asked me to grab…Ghost boy! Why when I get my hands on you I’m gonna rip you apart molecule by molecule!” Dad see’s me and it only gets worse.
“He’s after the kids Jack! Don’t let him get away!” Maddie cries out genuinely worried about me and Jazz, despite Jazz not being here at the moment. I’m just stunned at the immediate disregard for anything I could say. I miss the dark look in my dads eyes as his face fills with rage over the scenario my mom laid out for him.
“I’ve got this Mads,” dad presses a few buttons on a nearby control panel and suddenly there’s a ghost shield between me and the portal, and surrounding me and my parents. “I won’t let you get away with this ghost scum! How dare you go after my family?!”
That shook me out of it and I go to defend myself. “No! It’s not what you think! If you’d just let me explain!” I plead, only to be met with a jack-o-nine tails. There was no talking my way out of this and Jazz is off getting her job situation set up for when she’s gone for college. She promised to be back this weekend to celebrate my birthday since she couldn’t be here on the day. None of my friends could help me right now either, most of them are asleep by now and I honestly have no way of calling for help if I wanted to.
I try to at least fly above their range so I can figure a way out of here. It doesn’t work, they end up catching me with some kind of net that I think was made from the fishing line, and pumping me so full of electricity all I could think of was when the portal opened on top of me. I end up passing out from the electricity and PTSD from the trauma, the image of a burning body in a flash of electricity and ectoplasm burned in my mind and playing on loop in my mind along with a gut wrenching scream before I black out.
When I wake up I struggle to open my eyes against the bright light above me. I try to move my arms to cover my eyes only to realize they’re strapped down to something. That’s when I realize I’m laying on a hard surface. My eye’s shoot open and despite the bright light I’m able to look around. I’m in the lab, the portal closed, and my parents are standing over me in their hazmat suits. I try to ask them what’s going on but I can’t open my mouth, there’s a muzzle on me, keeping me from doing anything more than grunt and part my lips. I manage to raise my head to look at what they were doing, and I see my chest flayed open like a frog in science class. Or more aptly like a cadaver. They’re dissecting me. That’s when the pain finally floods in from my senses. I scream, I scream as loud as I can through the muzzle. My parents only hiss at me to shut up, that they won’t be tricked by me. They keep repeating how ghosts can’t feel pain and how I’m just trying to gain their sympathy, so they’ll let me go. I have lost my family, lost my home, I can feel the toll it’s taking on my ghost side. My lair is no longer safe, it’s no longer my home my lair. And since this is no longer my lair, this town can no longer be my haunt. They don’t even know that I am the very Phantom that they are dissecting but I can no longer feel safe here and my core is crying from the loss. I begin to make uncontrollable chirps from my core, which they have thankfully still not found. Who knows how long I’ve been like this, how long they’ve been dissecting me. I’m not going to be able to get out of this until someone comes and rescues me. Jazz won’t be back till this weekend and my friends can be deflected by Jack and Maddie. My only hope is ghostly interference or Jazz.
“Listen to him make those disgusting noises. Further proof that ghosts are some kind of creature. They don’t even have nervous systems to feel the pain that they try so hard to mimic,” Maddie sneers as she looks at me.
They do experiment after experiment. Removing body parts and organ’s, watching as they heal or regrow when ectoplasm is injected into the wound or simply when given time. My healing factor having only gotten stronger over the years. There was a time that I would have killed for this healing factor, now I can only curse it as it keeps me awake and alive far beyond the point when a final death should’ve taken me. My only saving grace being that the Fenton’s couldn’t take my place on the throne of the Infinite Realms, since they didn’t defeat me in single combat, that throne still belongs to me. Meaning they can’t order the destruction of the Realms and its inhabitants.
Time fly’s by and I’ve lost track of how many liters of ectoplasm with blood mixed in as flecks within my ectoplasm that I have lost. Maddie seemed fascinated by the way muscles and nerves were “replicated” when I “created” this form. I suppose they’re not too far off the mark that ghosts can manipulate their forms some, most taking on the form of what they once were as it’s more comfortable, though there are exceptions to every rule. If there is any mercy in this world they’ll have to stop soon and finally give me a break.
“I can’t believe how much we learned in one night Jack!” Maddie exclaims happily.
“Yes, this ghost scum was definitely a better specimen than any of the others. I can’t wait to learn more from it,” Jack responds excited like a kid on Christmas.
“We should get upstairs, clean up, and get some breakfast. We’ll learn the most when our brains are well nourished and rested,” Maddie rests her hand lovingly on Jack’s arm.
“Right you are Mads! Hey, why don’t we go out for breakfast to celebrate getting our hands on it!” Jack suggests enthusiastically.
“That’s a great idea Jack! Let’s get going, I’m sure the kids can figure out breakfast on their own,” Maddie says as if we hadn’t been fending for ourselves as long as I can remember, sometimes even against our own food.
Jack and Maddie head upstairs arm in arm and I lay there wishing this could all be some kind of nightmare. I had no real hope for rescue at this point, as much as I would love ghostly intervention right now, the shield is still up and the ghosts can’t get through it. And Jazz is still gone. Worst. Birthday. Ever.
As I lay there, hope fading from me, the portal opened. Out stepped a young woman with long shock white hair and glowing green eyes, her skin pale but cheeks and nose looking almost frost bitten except with more of a blue hue instead of the probably pretty pink blush it would be had she been living and in the snow. Her hair is waist length with part of it pulled back to keep out of her eyes. She glows a bit like a snowy night that still has the sunlight trapped between the snow banks and the sky. She wore a strapless Ice blue top that had a white belt around the waist and a white short sleave cropped jacket thing on top of it, a white mini skirt, and ice blue thigh high heeled boots. She also wore single bluish black metal necklace with a pendant in the shape of an eight pointed star burst or sun with matching earrings. Her eyes immediately zoned in on me.
“Danny!” with a burst of light rings around her body. Her skin instantly gained more color, the pink hue returning but without her looking like she’d been in the snow all day. Her hair became a mahogany brunette and her eyes turning gray with a blue tint to them. Her clothes now a simple nightgown as if she had just been in bed, slippers on her feet. She rushes forward and instantly reaches to get the muzzle off of me. “How do I turn off the shield? Frostbite needs to get in here!” She sounds panicked.
“Control panel, by the dungeon,” I manage to croak out, my throat raw from all the screaming.
“Ok,” she says but I can see the tears welling up, her scent turning sour from worry. I wish I could just comfort her but even if I wasn’t tied down, having my guts spill out probably wouldn’t reassure her. She rushes to the control panel and Frostbite comes in, hurrying to my side.
“Great One!” He cries out. “We need to get you into the realms. You need immediate medical care.”
Frostbite, in all his strength, manages to break the shackles holding me down. He gently lifts me into his arms and carries me to the Far North. I get treated there, even ending up in a tube full of ectoplasm to encourage healing. When the worst of my wounds are healed, they let me out. While I was in the tube, the girl I consider my savior now had gone and showered and changed. Not that it was easy to tell when she was in her ghost form.
“Hey Felli,” I wave at her awkwardly as I get out of the tube with Frostbite’s help.
“Hey Felli?! That’s all you say after that?! What the hell happened Danny?!” She shouts before pain enters her eyes as she seems to regret what she just said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, now. Sorry for worrying you. Come here,” I hold my arms open for her to take her comfort where she needs it. She whimpers and quickly buries herself in my arms. It’s not the most comfortable thing in the world for me, my chest still hurts from everything that’s happened, but she really needed this. “I may not be 100 percent yet Felicity, but I’ll be okay.”
“You better be, I need you. They’ll try and name me heir if you’re not around,” she jokes but the humor isn’t really there. Not only is she just that worried, but she’s not wrong. If I were to perish she’d be who they’d name after me to rule the Infinite Realms.
Felicity isn’t just another friend. Firstly, she’s actually Jazz’s friend, sharing in the fierce care of others to create a decent bond. She’s practically family at this point. But she also died in the same portal accident I did. She had come down to the lab looking for Jazz at the time, but she saw my friends taking pictures of me entering the powered off portal. Knowing it couldn’t possibly be safe, she ran forward, catapulting herself across the floor in her heeled boots. As she ran she was screaming for me to get out of there. I had hurried to turn, she grabbed a hold of my left hand at the same time. Just as she was going to pull me out, my hand landed on the button that started the whole thing. And just like that, we both have Lichtenburg scars, both can transform into the dead, and both seem to have become members of each others ghostly family, or Fraid as they call it.
“Don’t worry, it won’t go that far. But I can’t think of that house as safe anymore. I almost transformed in front of Maddie without noticing and just for finding me in their lab they did…that to me. I’m gonna call someone who might be able to help, but I need to get back to my room first,” I don’t let her go as I speak to her. Knowing it best to let her hold me as long as she needs to.
“Are you sure? You don’t have to, you could come to my place,” Felli asks, concern etched into her face.
“I’m sure. They don’t know that their son Danny and Phantom are the same person, and I need to keep it that way. Besides, your parents may not mind me, but if I have to pretend that I’m not doing well they’ll want me home anyways. And until this chest fully heals, I’ll need to at least pretend I am sick or something so Dash can’t mess with me at school,” I try to end it with a lighthearted comment. Is it serious? Sure, but at least we all know I can handle Dash in the end.
“Ok, fine. But I’m telling my parents that I’m staying with you for the time being. They can’t stop me since I’m an adult anyways, unlike someone,” Felli finally pulled back and gave me a light punch to the shoulder.
We head back to the portal and I check to see that the lab is empty. It is and we enter so I can go lay down. I rest with Felli fussing over me as much as she can while still letting me rest. It takes about 24 hours before I’m able to stay awake longer than twenty minutes and have the next chance to know I won’t deal with Jack and Maddie any time soon. I tell Felicity to go home and get some rest and some clothes. I tell her to go ahead and pack a decent amount so I can’t convince her to go back again until after I’m better. I lied about the reason but that’s not important right now. I pull out my laptop and set it up, this won’t be the easiest thing I’ve ever done but being friends with Tucker has helped to keep my computer skills just sharp enough.
I start hacking and it takes time but eventually I succeed. I leave a file that simply says SOS and in the file is my name, location, and the IP address that I’m hacking from, not that they probably needed that last part but I decided to make things extra easy on them, hoping they’ll take it seriously. Now it’s the waiting game but I’m really hoping I don’t have to wait long. Turns out someone in the Bat family had nothing better to do cause in like ten minutes my laptop camera light turns on. Someone is now watching me.
~.~
Hacked, the Bat Computer was HACKED! How? I try to avoid opening the file in case it’s a trap but there’s not a lot of luck there since they didn’t do much other than leave this file. It says SOS so it must be a request for help…or a fake one. I open it hoping for the former. The file has very little in it. A name, location, and IP address. But what stops me is the name. Danyal Al Ghul Wayne. The name Danyal, not too crazy, weird but not crazy, but Al Ghul Wayne, there is only one Al Ghul Wayne that I know of, and he’s at Gotham Academy right now and goes by Damian.
I decide to follow the IP address and see if it gets me to the hacker. The security is pretty good but it was still somehow way too easy to get in. Another point for possible trap. I find a camera and hack in so I can see the person on the other side of the computer, it takes a second but once it loads I sit there in shock for a moment. Damian?! What’s he doing hacking the bat computer? But as I keep staring I realize, yes this person looks incredibly similar to Damian, but that’s not the Demon Brat of a little brother that I’ve come to know. The differences are a bit subtle but they’re there.
First thing is the eyes, Damian has green eyes, this kid has blue. Second is the hair, Damian’s is always well kept and styled to perfection, this kid seems like it’s a chronic mess and he’s content that way. And then there’s the smile. It’s hesitant but this kid smiled when the camera turned on. A nervous smile unsure of how to act. But one thing is for sure, the face staring at me seems to be no stranger to smiles. No, it’s not Damian, but he’s similar enough to worry me. He could be another clone, or something else. But either way, it’s serious enough to call Bruce. I pull out my phone and quickly select his contact, all while still staring at the kid on my screen. The more I stare, the more differences I notice. Where Damian is filled out with muscular bulk by now, this kid looks scrawny and like he needs a good meal. While Damian has his signature scowl, this kids has subtle laugh lines and a certain glint to his eyes. But the thing that struck me the most was probably the bags under his eyes. They were about as bad as my own.
The phone finishes ringing and Bruce answers. “Tim? What’s wrong you should be asleep you were up all night.” Bruce questions in his classic worried manner.
“Never mind that. I was in the cave and the bat computer glitched out and there was a new file. B we were hacked. The thing is it’s like they were looking to be found. The file is labeled SOS and there’s nothing of note in the system for how it got on the computer. But when you open it there’s only 3 things. A name, coordinates leading to a town called Amity Park in Illinois, and an IP address. The name was weird enough but, B when I hacked to the IP address I thought the kid on the other end was Damian at first. If it weren’t for the eyes and other even more subtle differences, I never would’ve realized that it wasn’t him,” I tell Bruce, a little frantic with my likely sleep deprived brain firing on all cylinders.
“Tim slow down. What do you mean he looks like Damian? And what was this name you mentioned?” Bruce questions, trying to keep me on track.
“Right, sorry. The name is Danyal Al Ghul Wayne. When I got into the IP address I thought Damian was the kid looking at me through the camera, but it’s not. This kid has blue eyes, messy hair, subtle laugh lines, bags under his eyes that can probably rival my own, and looks like he could use a sandwich…or 20,” I explain once more.
“Ok, I’ll get back as soon as I can. Do you find this worth pulling Damian from school for some answers?” Bruce stays with business, deciding to avoid touching on the Dad mode I know is desperately trying to get out to get me in bed and protect his brood from whatever this is.
“Honestly I don’t know. He might not have any answers, or he could have them all. I think that’s a decision you’ll have to make,” I give him my honest opinion. If this is some clone, Damian wouldn’t know. But if it’s something else, he might know everything. Bruce will have to weigh the options and decide if he’s going dad or bat for this one. Or the favored batdad as we like to lovingly refer to him as when he’s combining the two.
“Hn. I’ll have to see about getting Damian picked up from school. Keep an eye on the kid with the computer and let us know if there’s any movement or changes,” Batman commands.
“On it B, see you in the cave shortly,” I respond.
I wait for a while, knowing that Bruce will be coming as quickly as he possibly can. There’s only so many ways this goes down. Either it’s a clone and Damian knows nothing making it a trap, it’s one of those freaky ‘everyone has a look alike out there somewhere’ things and also likely a trap, it’s the look alike thing but a prank, they actually need help but Damian knows nothing, or Damian hid something big from us and they need help…or it’s a trap. Honestly the most likely thing is trap but given that the file was called SOS gives me the inclination that they might actually need help. So, I take to probably the most boring job there is and watch the kid on the screen. But that doesn’t mean I can’t do some research while I’m at it. So I look into this Amity Park place in Illinois. New weirdness, the place exists but doesn’t. Like I can find it on the satellite, there is history of it on the internet, but anything dating back the last few years vanished. I hit a firewall as I try to dig deeper. And this firewall was fighting back unlike the Damian look alike’s. I’m mid fighting the firewall when I see the kid starting to look nervous. He opens his mouth so I quickly turn on his mic, maybe he’ll say something to me.
“Um, not to rush you or anything but…I have someone coming back to my room not too long from now and she doesn’t know how I’m contacting help or who I’m contacting so…I don’t know, can we like talk and see if we can get that help coming or if I’m on my own?” I probably couldn’t have been more shocked by what this kid just said. Not only did he confirm he needs help, but he implied it’s not just for him and that he’d figure out another way to handle it if he had to. I immediately turn on my mic while trying to avoid being locked out of Amity Park’s firewall.
“Kid, do you realize who’s computer you hacked into?” I ask, maybe he was doing a random shot in the dark of a hard server to crack for some help.
“Oh sweet there is someone there. Yeah, it was the Bat Cave right? I didn’t hack into some government organization or anything I hope,” the kid replies actually seeming concerned about the latter.
“No you were right, this is the Bat Cave…at like ten in the morning. You’re lucky I was here and saw it happen. Though I’d like to know how you hacked me without my noticing until after you planted a file,” I respond, hoping he’ll give me more info.
“Oh. That was a combination of a program my friend Tuck wrote for me and the League training. Forgive me, I’ve been trying to keep up from a distance. Are you Dick, Jason, or Tim? I know that’s not Damian’s voice and you’re too young to be Bruce Wayne,” the kid just drops the bomb casually. I nearly choke.
“The hell?! Who are you and what do you know?!” I demand. My Red Robin coming out a bit.
“Sorry, I probably should’ve used vigilante names. I’m in a secure location, there’s no one here but me and I did a bug sweep yesterday and before the hack. As to who I am…I guess it makes sense he didn’t tell you about me. Is, uh, Robin there? He can clear this up a bit,” the kid explains some.
“No, he’s not here right now and I need you to tell me who you are right now,” I may be pushing it some but I will not let my family walk into something dangerous. Especially when the Demon Brat and I have just started getting along.
“No offense but I’d rather not explain too many times. And I’d like to wait for Damian. He’s who I was reaching out to,” the kids mirth turns to steel in his eyes. “You may be a bat or bird, but you’re not him. I only trust him.”
This feels even more like a trap now. What has Talia done?! “I’m inclined not to let you speak to him. How do I know you’re not trying to lure him into some trap?”
“Because he’ll know. But I’ll give a little to get a little. I’ll help you break through the Amity Firewall you’ve been barely surviving against, and you let me speak with Damian,” the kid does know how to bargain. Though how he knows I’m working on that firewall is concerning. “I’ll also give you a launch point. In Amity Park, most people know me as Daniel Fenton, though they call me Danny unless they’re fruit loops.”
As he finished that sentence the Firewall opened up and I suddenly had access to all things Amity Park. I let silence engulf us and began my research. I muted my side, leaving him open in case he had more to say. But I’m not sure he had to say much after he gave me access to all things Amity Park. And what the hell is a GIW?!
Finally Bruce walks into the cave. His strides determined to get to the bottom of this and keep his family safe. “Give me a quick report. Damian should be down after putting his school things away and changing out of his uniform.”
“Right well, there’s the kid,” I gesture to the screen which Bruce then turned to. He froze. Clearly seeing what I saw. “He says he wants to speak with Robin. That that’s who he reached out to and that’s who he trusts. I didn’t get much, but his name is Danny and he seems to be the son of two scientists by the name of the Dr’s Fenton. Both have a doctorate in the same thing, Ectobiology. Leaving out the fact that all their published works are obviously tainted by bias, they seem pretty dedicated to their work and pursuit of science. Though they seem to leave out the part of the scientific method that means your hypothesis could be wrong. All their papers ‘prove’ their hypothesis, but they also seem to be missing data or just completely contradictory. I’m putting together a file now.”
“He really does look like…” Bruce trails off but I know where the sentence is going.
“Yeah I know. To be honest B, the more I look at him, the more he looks like a scrawny younger version of you,” I tell him what I noticed in my couple hours of staring at him.
Damian comes down to the cave finally. “Not that I don’t appreciate getting out of the cesspool that Gotham Academy calls an educational institution, but why was I brought out of school so urgently Drake?”
Damian was getting his clothes to lay the way he liked, clearly making his way here quicker than he’d normally like but also seeming happy to be free of school. He finally looks up as he approaches the computer in the cave. He looks to me before glancing at the screen with his look alike on it and freezing. So many emotions flash through his eyes and I can’t read a single one. Unlike Dick who is the Damian whisperer and probably could’ve figured it out.
In a flash Damian is at the computer and turning on the microphone before either of us can stop him. “Sirius can be found by Orion, denies the rest he is granted.” He says so cryptically, but the kid on the other side grins and sits up, even though I clock a wince.
“Laelaps found a new hunter to follow and chases the belt to continue his hunt in the sky,” the kid responds. Damian takes a deep breath but continues on.
“One of two, and risen by Zeus, a gift to Europe,” Damian seems to be reciting a code that only he knows and is really weird and kinda long.
“Ends up Athenian lent to a king, a Major in the eternal fox hunt,” the kid responds again his smile beginning to look almost inhuman as the glint in his eyes returns.
“Risen to rest and end the madness,” Damian adds what I hope is the final line.
“But Laelaps continues his hunt,” the kid says with finality and Damian’s breath hitches. I’ve never seen so much emotion in his eyes before.
“Ahki, it’s really you,” Damian manages to croak out.
“It’s me Ahki, it’s me. I’m sorry I didn’t reach out till now. So much has happened and I couldn’t risk you getting hurt by the league for me contacting you,” Danny responded, similar emotions shining in his eyes.
“Danyal, I’ve been free of the League since I was 10. And you…you were dead! How is this possible? I know people have come back from the dead before but…” Damian’s sentence is cut off by what seems to be a whimper.
“But I didn’t return to you. I know Dami, I know. I’m sorry. There was a lot of risk and plenty going on that I…” his sentence trails off. I flinched when he called Damian Dami, he’s always hated that. But he didn’t bite the kids head off for once. “If I approached you right away there was a chance the league would notice and not only hurt you but others that I care for too. By the time I thought it might be safe, that the League might finally be leaving you alone…something big happened. I didn’t die back then Ahki, not for lack of mothers trying, but…I’m not fully alive now either.”
It’s cryptic but it’s that cryptic end that gets me and Bruce to catch up. “Damian, you actually know the kid?” I start but before Damian can answer Bruce asks something even harder for them.
“Ahki, brother. Damian, you have a brother? Why didn’t you tell me?” Bruce seemed hurt and dumbfounded. Not only did he not know he had another child, but the child he did know kept that information from him.
Damian kicks the ground a bit looking down and clearly nervous. “As far as I knew he died when we were 8. Mother came back from a mission that I wasn’t allowed to go on and he died. I was told he refused to kill all the targets and that weakness wasn’t tolerated in the League. As an Al Ghul he was supposed to do better and now I had to be better. I was never given the chance to grieve him. And when I came to live with you I thought it better not to make you grieve a child you never knew.”
“That was not a decision for you to make Damian,” Bruce says with a tinge of hurt in his tone.
“I know Father, I’m sorry,” Damian replies with his head still down. Danny clears his throat.
“Real touching moment and all, or at least looks like it should be, but we haven’t really gotten to the why of anything yet. I told whichever of your siblings that is there that I would only talk to you for a reason. Ahki, I need help,” Damian’s head shoots up at that.
“Drake did you not make this two way?” Damian asks me.
“No…should I?” I ask. We’re in the cave. Secret identities and all that.
“Yes!” Damian hisses. “I should not be the only one to be able to see my brother for the first time in so long.”
I roll my eyes and turn to the console. “Fine, whatever.” I press a few buttons and allow our side to be visible on Danyal’s screen. “Happy now?”
“Go ahead Danyal. Why did you feel it needed to reach out to me for help?” Damian doesn’t even respond to me focused on his brother.
“It’s hard to explain. To be honest I could use an extraction and probably a bit more,” he sighs. “When mother tried to kill me, and had thought she succeeded, I ended up taken in by a family in Illinois. This family was the Dr’s Fenton and their daughter Jazz. As the doctors got more entrenched in their work, they were less present for their daughter. When they noticed that they happened to find me. They thought what better way to prevent loneliness in their daughter as they had to work more than to take in another child who was younger than her.”
“Ahki, no offense, but we should probably try and get to the why you need extraction and what you need from us. As it stands I’m prepared to get the Bat Jet and go get you but I know father will want more information,” Damian tries to get Danyal on track.
“I promise, it’s related. I’m sorry, it’s just hard to explain for me,” Danny responds.
“Understood, go on Danyal,” Bruce speaks this time, placing a hand on Damian’s shoulder in support of his son.
“Right. So the Dr’s Fenton took me in and left me with their daughter Jazz. We always had what we needed but she was only 2 years older than me and raised in a somewhat normal household. So we were limited in what we could have as the Dr’s spent most their time downstairs in their lab. To be honest no paperwork was ever filed and Jazz did her best but they were needing to enrol me in school. I forged my documents and changed my name so everyone believed I was actually Jack and Maddie Fenton’s son. It was the easiest thing to do. And the only way I was getting enrolled successfully right now. Jazz didn’t understand the adoption process, and Jack and Maddie are actually incredibly moronic for such brilliant scientists. Those first 2 years were full of culture shock and trying to fend for myself while ignoring the nagging feeling that I needed to go get you away from the League. I knew if I left to go get you, not only would my cover be blown but you would be put in danger as well,” Danyal continues his explanation and Damian tries to hide his emotions like a Wayne and not show how much all this affected him.
“I appreciate the why you didn’t come back right away. Please continue Danyal,” Damian says hoping to move on from there.
“Yeah, okay. Time passed and I was given a new chore by the Dr’s Fenton. I was to start cleaning their lab,” it was at this point of the explanation that I first noticed Bruce’s eye twitching. Yeah, he doesn’t like the idea of a kid cleaning a lab. “As I was already vaguely aware of some of their hazardous materials that they worked with, I decided to agree to this chore and give myself the chance to see if this substance was actually Lazarus Water and if they discovered anything Grandfather had yet to learn. It turned out the Lazarus Water is simply contaminated ectoplasm that leaked into the mortal realm and sat there gaining emotions from around it. Nasty stuff really. But I digress. When I realized what this ectoplasm was that kept bringing our food to life, that was when I realized I needed to stick around and monitor what they’re doing and keep an eye out for any League goons. When I was 11 they began working on their biggest project yet. They said it was the culmination of their life’s work and that it would help them to further their science. They began to work on their portal to what they have dubbed, The Ghost Zone. It took them 3 years to complete it and when I had just recently turned 14 they first attempted to turn it on. Needless to say they were quite disappointed when it didn’t work.”
Bruce seemed to relax when told the portal didn’t work. At least that meant they didn’t punch a hole in the very fabric of the universe. “So they couldn’t get it to work.”
“Not exactly,” Bruce stiffened again. “I was 14 and my friends had come over when the Dr’s Fenton left to go collect themselves from how upset they were over the portal not turning on. I told them and…well stupid kids do stupid kid things. They dared me to take a picture inside the portal.” This time even Damian stiffened. They were both stone next to me. “I took precautions, wore one of their rubber hazmat suits and everything. I even made sure it wasn’t plugged in. Turns out the external electrical connection ended up being more for show as they had forgotten that they’d connected it to the towns power grid. My sister Jazz’s friend came down looking for her and saw me in the portal. She screamed for me to get out and ran for me.” Danny’s eyes seem to glaze over. This doesn’t look good. It looks like he’s reliving a trauma. I move to stop him but Damian grips my arm to stop me. He needed to hear how this ended. “She reached out and grabbed me in the mouth of the portal just as I was quickly turning around. I lost my balance though from the sudden grip she had on me, with the intent to pull me out and away from danger. To steady myself I reached for the wall. Turns out the Dr’s Fenton had a major design flaw in their portal, the on switch was on the wall inside of the portal. My hand happened to land on the on switch and a surge of electricity filled the space. Despite the rubber protective gear, electricity shot up my arm, across my chest, and down my other arm to her. We both experienced what it was like to die by electrocution that day. But as we were busy dying the portal opened and ectoplasm flooded the area and us at the same time. It put us back together, but we still didn’t quite survive. When we were spat out of the portal to what I now know is the Infinite Realms, neither of us were truly alive anymore. We both had snow white hair and glowing green eyes. But what really shocked us, was when light engulfed us, traveling our bodies and then we came back to life, looking exactly how we did when we entered the portal. Our hearts beating once again.”
Danyal paused collecting himself once more. I think we all needed that pause. “Danyal…Son what are you saying?” Bruce asks. He seems heartbroken, or as heartbroken as he knows how to look. It’s clear he’s not taking this too well. Heck, I’m not taking this well either. He’s just a kid for crying out loud!
“I…I’m saying that I died in that accident but at the same time I didn’t. I’m what the beings of the Infinite Realms refer to as a Halfa. Half human and half ghost. Basically I’m Schrödinger’s cat taken human form and I’m not the only one. Most of the inhabitants of the Infinite Realms are known as ghosts. All of them are Ecto-Entities though and that has become its own problem. See, the Infinite Realms are basically an entire dimension outside of time that is connected to every living dimension out there. If there was an afterlife ever thought of, it’s there. This is the dimension where thoughts and emotions, when strong enough, can form an entire being. Every living person or creature who has ever died anywhere, ends up in the Realms, hence they’re Infinite. When I died, due to the high influx of ectoplasm at the exact same time, I didn’t quite die right and now I’m known as the perfect balance between life and death. Well me, and Felicity who was trying to pull me out of there. We are the only two pure Halfa’s to be born at this time. We’re not the only Halfa’s but we’re the only ones who struck that perfect balance.”
“Danyal, as terrifying as all this is, I still have yet to ascertain why it is that you suddenly reached out,” Damian tries to get back on track.
“It has something to do with the Dr’s Fenton and their science doesn’t it?” I ask before everything continues.
Danyal looks down a moment and takes a deep breath. “Yes. When their portal opened they never put much security on it. Ghosts were coming and going as they pleased. For many that wouldn’t be a problem, they were just excited for a stable portal and wanted to see the mortal world for the first time in a while. But for several of them, they were seeking to cause chaos and mayhem. They were following their obsessions, which is needed to keep a ghost alive, but that also meant they would defend against what they would perceive as threats to those obsessions. Enter me trying to protect everyone in town only to have to turn around and protect the ghosts when the ghost hunters became more prevalent. The Dr’s Fenton being the worst of them all with their lack of caring for property damage. They would take down an entire building if it meant finally catching a ghost. Luckily even if they caught one they didn’t keep it long cause of me.”
“Wait, so the very people who took you in are now hunting an entire species they introduced to our world, which is a species you now are a part of as well?” Bruce asks. He doesn’t take kindly to hurting children.
“Yes. I used to believe that if they found out that I was Phantom, the ghost defending the town against other ghosts that they blamed for all the ghosts, that they would love and accept me anyway. I was their son, and I thought if they had the chance to find out and come to terms, they could accept me. That all changed on the night before my birthday, when they captured Phantom in their lab,” Danny looks away. I can’t help but gasp. That implied so many horrible things.
“Danyal, are you in a safe location?” Bruce asked, completely business but also very much in a dad mode. His son was in danger. Whether he knew Danny or not, he was going to protect him.
“Technically, yeah. They’re hardly noticing if I’m even home and I’m not here as Phantom right now. But ultimately…no, I wouldn’t call this safe anymore,” Danny gives his final answer and the course of action is all but determined.
“Understood. We’ll get you as soon as possible Ahki. Just wait for us where you are,” Damian tell him. Determination filling his eyes.
“Wait! There’s more. Felicity, she is like me as well. I can’t risk leaving her here either. She’s not my mate or anything but she is family, I can’t leave her behind. It’s not safe for her either,” Danny was frantic. Before Damian can respond, Bruce places a hand on his shoulder and leans towards the screen, the other hand landing on the console.
“That won’t be a problem, I have more than enough room. But right now, we’re gonna focus on getting you home. If that means she comes with, then she comes with. Understood?” Bruce states in his no nonsense Batdad tone.
Danny seems to choke up a bit, holding back tears. “Yes sir. Thank you.”
“Before we mobilise to go get you I have a question so we hopefully know more about what we’re walking into,” I stand when I realize Bruce is about to just start moving to go get his son. The room froze. “What the hell is a GIW?”
Danny blinks. “Oh, them, right. Yeah they’re part of the ghost hunters that are around. Locals call them The Guys In White on account of their all white suits with black sunglasses. Their official title is The Ghost Investigation Ward. They’re an organization of government funded ghost hunters whose mission is to hunt, study, and destroy all ecto-entities as sanctioned under the Anti-Ecto Acts. Per the Anti-Ecto Acts all beings who are heavily compromised of or produce their own ectoplasm are considered non-sentient, non-sapient, unfeeling evil creatures that are to be captured, studied, and destroyed with extreme prejudice. Basically per these acts I’m no longer considered a person.” Danny rubs the back of his neck in what seems to be a nervous habit.
“That’s a direct violation of the Meta Protection Act. Don’t worry, we’ll get those overturned,” Bruce assures Danny.
“I appreciate that. The rest of the Infinite Realms will as well,” Danny smiles.
“Now that that is established, can we please proceed with providing extraction for Danyal?” Damian asks. He seems antsy to get his twin back.
“We need to get Dick and the rest of them to cover Gotham for us. We’re still hours away from sundown, so you go get the plane ready and I’ll call Dick who can mobilize the rest,” I tell Damian, hoping to placate him.
“Then you need to go to bed. You’ve been up for far too long. You stayed home to sleep remember?” Bruce goes complete dad mode on me.
“I’ll sleep on the plane. I can’t let the two of you go alone. You’re both emotionally compromised with this one. Danny, we’ll be there as soon as we can,” my response left not room for argument. What can I say, I learned from the best.