Chapter Text
Tim Drake, aka Red Robin, re-read the letter Prue had intercepted years ago.
No major discoveries aside from public record patents (attached). No assistance is required. –Spare
The patents that had been attached were the work of the doctors Fentons. From what little he could find on them, they were ‘ectobiologists’ who made inventions to capture and eliminate ghosts. He couldn’t get past the firewalls around their small city of Amity Park to find out more, though.
Neither he nor Prue had ever figured out who this ‘Spare’ was while they were in the League. It wasn’t something he had given much thought to after he saved Bruce from the timestream. However, after Ra’s Al Ghul’s death and the whole mess with Deathstroke… After Talia’s disappearance with her zealots, well…It may be time for Tim to ask the demon brat. He would bring it up during dinner.
____
The family was up in arms.
Damian would like to point out it was Drake’s fault. (And maybe his, but he would never admit it out loud.)
It started at the monthly family dinner. Father had suggested that the family get together at least once a month. Even Todd had shown up.
After dessert, Drake had brought up that he couldn’t figure out who had written two letters he had intercepted years ago and asked for Damian’s help.
Damian smirked at his brother Drake’s need for his help. He took the letters and frowned as soon as he figured out who had written them.
“Aw,” Damian said calmly as he reread the letter, “I suppose I should be the one to bereave my twin of his assignment. His reports will certainly go unread.”
He had forgotten he had a twin; he supposed it was time to tell him about the League’s fall and his, their, grandfather’s death. He obviously didn’t know about grandfather’s untimely demise if he was still sending reports.
Damian knew he was fucked when the table went silent for a moment. Then all hell broke loose.
“Damian, what do you mean ‘twin brother,’” his father barked asked.
Damian sighed; like he said, it was all Drake’s fault.
Thousands of miles away, Daniel Jack Fenton, nee Danyal Al Ghul, sneezed. Huh, that was weird.
Danny wrote his yearly report to the League. (It was always the same two sentences.) He hadn’t heard from them in years, but on the off chance they were still reading the reports from the Al Ghul’s failure, well, he wanted to keep them out of Amity Park.
It wasn’t a long report; some of his parent’s tamer invention blueprints were attached. He still hadn’t told them about his parents’ invention of the portal to the afterlife. He shuddered to think what his grandfather would do with that knowledge.
Now, all he had to do was send them out and hope he could keep the League of Assassins and Ra’s Al Ghul away from Amity Park for another year.
____
Bruce wished he knew where Talia was hiding so he could wring her neck.
She hadn’t hidden one son from him, but two.
“Damian, why didn’t you tell me about your brother,” Bruce demanded angrily. If Talia hadn’t told him about his second son, he would’ve thought Damian would’ve had the decency to do so.
Damian crossed his arms, “I forgot.”
“You forgot you had a twin brother,” Jason asked incredulously.
“Danyal was exiled when we were seven. He was ‘given’ the assignment of finding out how scientists outside the League interacted with Lazarus' water. Last I heard, he was placed in a small city with two scientists named Madeline and Jack Fenton.”
“He wasn’t mentioned often except to remind me not to be a failure like he was. I didn’t want to be exiled or worse. Neither grandfather nor mother mentioned him after I turned nine. Then I came to live with you, and he slipped my mind.”
“What the fuck, Damian? So, if I had never brought up these letters, we wouldn’t even know we have another brother?”
Damian threw his hands up, agitated, “I’m sure I would’ve remembered him eventually. Besides, we weren’t close. We weren’t raised that way.”
“It doesn’t sound like Danyal was raised at all,” Tim murmured.
“That is so fucked up,” Jason said.
The rest of his children and Barbara had stayed silent.
Dick was staring at Bruce, analyzing his expressions.
Bruce wished Alfred was still with them. He would’ve known how to handle this situation, and if not, he could’ve at least helped Bruce figure out his emotions.
“Tim, what can you tell on what you’ve found?”
Tim frowned, “Not much. I know Dr. Madeline and Jack Fenton live in Amity Park, but I can’t find much about the small city. The whole city is behind a thick firewall I can’t get past. I can’t find any news or social media from the residents beyond two years ago. The town’s website hasn’t been updated in three years and claims to be the most haunted city in America.”
“I didn’t even know the Fentons had a kid, let alone the brat’s twin. I was hoping Barbara could help me get past the firewalls to find out what’s happening in the city. My guts tell me there’s something more going on in Amity Park.”
“Of course I’ll help, Tim, that’s why I’m here,” Barbara immediately offered.
“Damian, what else can you tell me about your brother’s…assignment?”
Damian shook his head, “I told you everything I know.”
“Stephanie, Barbara, you can choose whether you want to come or stay. The rest of you pack your bags. I’ll ask the remaining Birds of Prey to care for Gotham while we’re gone. We are going to Amity Park to collect my son.”
“I think I’ll stay,” Stephanie answered, “I don’t want to get in the middle of whatever this is.”
Bruce nodded and left to pack. He had a son to pick up.
____
Father had decided that the private jet would be faster than booking flights. He had asked Damian more questions, but they had yet to be answered.
With a twinge of guilt, Damian realized he knew so little about his younger brother and what had happened to him. Like he told his family, he had forgotten about Danyal. The younger twin hadn’t been important to him.
He wondered how Danyal was doing. He doubted he had forgotten about Damian. How could he? He had been exiled from Nanda Parbat. He probably thought of nothing but his family while the rest of the Al Ghuls had erased Danyal from their minds.
Not even mother mentioned him.
Damian felt his guilt deepen when he thought of Respawn. He had been so excited to find out he had a brother, not remembering he had a twin brother. How could he have forgotten Danyal?
Father’s phone rang.
“It’s Barbara,” he said and put it on speaker. The rest of his siblings crowded around father while Damian stayed where he was.
“Talk,” father said.
“Geez, hi to you, too, Bruce.”
“What have you found?”
“Not much, but what I have is interesting. I found out more about Danyal, also known as Daniel Jack Fenton. He’s the Fenton’s adopted son. They fostered him when he was eight and officially adopted him two years later. They have a bio-daughter named Jasmine Fenton. She’s older than Daniel. He’s a junior in high school. I’ll send you his picture.”
There was a ding. This time, Damian got up to see his brother for the first time in eight years. Everyone always mentioned how much Damian resembled his father. Danial was the spitting image of Bruce Wayne. While one could tell that he and Damian were related, Daniel was lighter-skinned than Damian. His eyes father’s eyes stared back at him on Daniel’s face. His blue-black hair was longer and shaggier than Damian’s. His smile was mischievous, almost as if he was keeping a secret, and was amused by said secret.
“He doesn’t have much of a social media footprint. He has an old Twitter account with pictures of stars, galaxies, and other space-related things. Danny also has a Doom account—an online video game. There’s an article from two years ago when he found that one of the last two purple-back gorillas was a female, effectively helping save the species.”
Damian continued studying his twin’s photo.
“Either than that, I can’t find anything else on him.”
“How about Amity Park,” Tim asked.
“There’s not much I can find. It’s frustrating. I’m running a program to hack the firewalls around the city. They’re under a media blackout, from what I can gather. I’ll let you know when I find out more.”
“Thank you, Barbara,” father said, “keep me updated on anything you can find.”
“Will do,” and then she hung up.
Damian sat back down. This time, Richard followed him.
“How are you feeling, Damian?”
Damian gritted his teeth, not wanting to talk. But this was Richard, Damian’s Batman.
“I can’t believe I forgot about him. I haven’t even had an errant thought about Danyal. Neither mother nor grandfather mentioned him in years.”
Damian was also a little fearful of how this would affect his and his father’s relationship. After everything in Lazarus Island with Nezha, Damian thought he and his father had a fresh start. This secret had the potential to destroy the relationship they had started rebuilding.
“I’m sorry, father; I truly forgot about him.”
His father grunted, staring at the picture of Danyal. It was times like these that Damian wished Pennyworth was still alive. His grandfather would know how to deal with this.
The plane was silent after that. Soon, they would land in Amity Park. For the first time in eight years, Damian would see his twin.