Chapter Text
Chapter 1
It’s dreary in Gotham, definitely fits Lady Gotham’s vibe. Danny climbs up a fire escape at the edge of crime alley, hoping he doesn’t have to wait on the damp rooftop for long. The scar—wound, really, it still hasn’t fully healed in the last four weeks—on his chest stings the entire way up. Fucking bats and their goddamn rooftops. He really hopes this Red Hood guy has chilled out as much as everyone claims cause he really can’t handle a tussle right now. He just needs to warn him; the best way to get his attention is to knock on the metaphorical front door of his haunt. Collapsing on the edge of the roof with a sigh, he can’t help but wonder if warning him will be enough. He has failed so many of his people. He let the GIW grow too large, let the Fentons learn too much, and build more dangerous weapons. Too many have already been hurt, who knows how many more. His love for his parents influenced him more than his people's suffering. He was foolishly hopeful that they’d wake from their delusional obsession. They never will. Their “science” was always everything to them.
Danny is staring at the Gotham skyline, thinking about his failures for so long that he almost misses when footsteps land somewhere behind him. Even his enhanced hearing barely picks them up. His ghost sense triggers, but not fully, just enough for him to come back to himself and realize that those steps must belong to who he has been waiting for. Sighing lightly, he stands and turns, tugging at his chest as he does. The only reason he doesn’t wince is from years of hiding his injuries from everyone outside of his fraid.
“Red Hood, I hope?” And holy shit, that man is a brick shit house with more guns than hands.
“Why are you here and apparently looking for me?” Red Hood’s modulated voice hid any inflection there might have been. Thank the ancients that he has enough of a core that is shouting in confusion, cause fuck he’s intimidating.
“I need to have a private conversation with you. To warn you of people hunting those like us. I’ll get more specific if you can lead me to someplace less open to listening ears.“ Hopefully that’s not too fucking ominous that it sounds like a threat, 'cause it would suck to heal a bullet wound right now. Danny can barely hear a voice coming from what he assumes is Red Hood’s comm.
“Hood, whoever you are talking to isn’t showing clearly on video, and every time he opens his mouth, all I’m getting is static.“ Yeahhhh, that’s not gonna help with the whole not coming off as threatening thing. There’s that rage he’s famous for. Fuck. He can’t risk there being proof of him anywhere, though, not when everyone knows Danny is Phantom. Everyone hunting him knows anyway. Like his parents. His parents, who muzzled him. His parents, who cut into him, cheered about each new discovery they made. His parents, who think he’s a non-sentient monster.
“HEY—“ Shit, he needs to fucking focus.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to—look, I really need to talk to you, and then I’ll be gone. Never see me again.” Danny’s desperation and fear leaked into his voice a bit, causing him to cringe. Stupid to think about what happened right now. He just needs to focus on warning his people.
“Did you fuck with my tech?” Aaand he’s holding a gun now.
“Wha-oh no, no it’s a passive power. I can turn it up and down like a-a dimmer. Kinda escaped from the people I need to tell you about, so I don’t want records of me anywhere.” Way to go, Danny, sound like a sketchy fucking meta in a city known to shun them away. He has his hands up in a pathetic attempt to seem non-threatening. Lady Gotham has assured him that Batman has a no meta rule purely because his rogues like toxins that fuck with a person's head, but not everyone in the city knows that. They just know metas aren’t welcome. Well, not like he’s sticking around, and Hood will know by the end of this conversation that it’s not a meta ability. It’s fine.
“Are you asking for help? We can protect you.” Huh, that’s a quick switch-up. The gun is still in his hand, but it’s held loosely and pointed at the ground now. Proves he’s an anti-hero and not a villain. Do people not pay attention before they call him evil? Sounds familiar. Stop, Danny, focus.
“Nope, I’m gonna dip. Just want to warn you and attempt to warn one other person here, though I’m not sure he will understand the warning. I gotta try. Don’t wanna put you guys in danger by being here, but I’ve learned this organization is not known to the general public, a friend asked me to warn you two.” Lady Gotham technically didn’t ask him to do that, but she has told him about both Red Hood and Grundy, so close enough.
“You’re injured.” Of course, he caught that. Danny was really hoping Lady Gotham was exaggerating how perceptive her knights are.
“I’m healing, a souvenir from the people I’m gonna tell you about. Can we please go somewhere more private?” The anxiety of being so out in the open while discussing this has him practically breaking out in hives. He really needs to warn Lady Gotham’s knight, though, at the very least. Hood is her fucking favorite (though she’ll deny having a favorite). Danny can’t let him get caught unaware by the GIW or the Fentons.
“Fine. O, I’m goin’ to my main warehouse and logging off. I’ll be back in 30 minutes.” Hood finally puts the gun away, and Danny’s shoulders lose tension as he lowers his hands. “You good to grapple?”
“It’s gonna suck, but I can.”
“It’s not far, meet me on the ground, and we’ll walk.”
The Warehouse really wasn’t that far. Danny was expecting Red Hood’s main place to be towards the middle of his haunt, but guess the more human part of him chose the boundaries of it.
“Sit.” They have entered what is clearly a well-used office space with papers all over the desk. Hood props his feet up as he sits and gestures towards the ratty couch on the other side. “Talk.”
“Okay, so in this conversation I’m gonna have to state something that you aren’t going to like talking about, but please just keep listening and let me finish.” After a moment, there is a slight nod, good enough. “So the people I’m warning you about are the GIW, it stands for Ghost Investigation Ward, we called them the Guys In White because they look like Men in Black ripoffs and were harmless in the beginning. They aren’t harmless anymore.” Danny’s eyes go slightly unfocused as he says that before he blinks and continues. “They passed a law called the Anti-Ecto Acts, claiming anything that produces, needs, or contains significant levels of ectoplasm is non-sentient and non-sapient. Free to be experimented on and exterminated at will by the government. These acts were created based on biased papers that actively contradict themselves, written by the Drs. Fenton.” He takes a deep breath before continuing. “These apply to you because you have died before. And not in a “your heart stopped briefly” way. I know this because Lady Gotham told me about you." Hood visibly tenses. "I have zero faith in the Justice League and any other heroes; they have failed Amity Park every day for the last three years, so I’m not asking for help. You are free to do what you want or need with this information, as long as you do not endanger anyone else. Any questions?” At this point, his exhaustion is evident, and he is clearly ready to leave. His leg is bouncing as his hands figdet, and he tries desperately not to think about what he escaped from four weeks ago.
“Ghosts?” Ancients, he was really hoping we weren’t starting from scratch here.
“Yes, ghosts. Not entirely what you think of as ghosts, not exclusively anyway. Not all ghosts were once living. Not like Deadman in the Justice League, either; he is powered by a Hindu god. The beings we are referring to here are better known as Denizens of the Infinite Realms by those who practice magic.” Danny really fucking hopes his tone conveys that he’s not explaining that further. Red Hood appears to sit with that information for a moment before reaching up and removing his helmet, revealing a domino underneath.
“You said the Justice League has failed Amity Park. How? What is Amity Park? Your home city?” He should have expected there’d be a lot of questions, but he really wanted there not to be. With a sigh, he settles into the couch.
“Yes, Amity Park is my hometown and the central hub of the GIW. Three years ago, the Fentons tore a hole in reality, creating a portal to the Infinite Realms. They call it the Ghost Zone. Luckily, they are unaware of how it started working, so the GIW is unable to replicate it. Someone else did, twice. All three portals are now shut down thanks to my friends and me, following my escape. The other two were only known to a handful of people, and the person responsible for their existence chose to help us shut them down once they realized how much of a threat the GIW had become.” Good ole Vladdie realized much too late in Danny’s opinion, but at least he helped them shut them off without essentially bombing the town. The fruitloop has decided to give up living a mortal life and move to the Infinite Realms to hopefully redirect his Obsession into something less harmful. The council definitely has its hands full with any power grabs he attempts in the meantime. “The Justice League failed us because they dismissed our calls as pranks. Everyone gave up on calling them for help within the first month. After that, someone, possibly the GIW, managed to block our calls to them. So when world-ending threats came through the portal, my friends and I were left fighting them on our own.” Hood visibly processes that and clearly decides to switch topics. His own anger spiked before redirecting the conversation.
“Ectoplasm? Like Ghostbusters?” Hood’s tone is incredulous.
“Yup. Those movies were surprisingly accurate at times. Been my ringtone since I died.” How the hell do the dominos work in a way that he can tell Hood’s eyes widened.
“You died? Are you dead now?” Danny has to fight not to snap. Those are such fair questions, but those fucking instincts are a bitch.
“Yeah, pro tip: don’t ask a ghost how they died. Good way to get punched. It’s instinctual. My existence is really complicated, and if I explain it to you, you have to keep it to yourself. There are very few like me in existence, and it’d be like pointing an arrow and telling everyone hunting me where I am. They weren’t even aware of beings like me until they caught me.” No, Danny is not bitter or angry at himself for endangering even more of his people by getting caught, shut up.
“Okay, I promise. My comms are off, and you have that emp power thing.”
“I’m called a halfa. Meaning half human, half ghost. Half dead, half alive. It’s easiest to say that, but it’s a lot more complicated, and it came with a magical girl transformation so-” He does jazz hands for a sec and is rewarded with a soft snort. “Due to the nature of my death, which I will not explain because the fewer people who know how I came to be, the better, I was killed and revived on repeat until I reached an equilibrium of the two. That, combined with a couple of other factors, made me fully alive, while also fully dead. Normally, this would be where I show you my “ghost form”," he used air quotes, "but I’m heavily injured in both a human way and a ghost way. Not to mention they have sensors keyed into my ectosignature so I’d be screaming into a megaphone that I’m right here, leading them directly to both of us. I have to limit my use of my powers to limit my ectoplasmic output. Summary: I’m an existential Schrödinger nightmare.” At some point during his explanation, Danny had simultaneously shrunk in on himself and prepared to bolt if he needed to. He is basically frozen waiting for Hood to react; his heartbeat is practically at a normal human level instead of his average 42 bpm. He reaches for Hood’s—not quite core—and feels confusion but mostly concern.
“Are you-do you need medical help? Like something for your ghost-ly injury?” It catches Danny so off guard, even with the concern he’s projecting, that he has to buffer for a second before responding.
“Oh-uh, no, I-I’m okay. It’s just a-gonna take time.” He can feel Lady Gotham’s amusement at his slightly flustered response. She’s letting him feel it on purpose because she knew her knight would only be concerned once he knew the situation. His cheeks warm slightly at her teasing. Hood, not knowing he was actively being teased by the city spirit, shows slight amusement at Danny’s reaction.
“You said you were gonna leave after warning me and someone else, do you need to? You could stay here in Crime Alley, rest and heal for a bit.”
“Oh no, it’s best if I leave. I’m um, pretty powerful I guess you could say, so if they get close enough I register easily. I don’t want to put you or anyone else at risk, let alone by staying in your haunt. I think they will eventually find their way to Gotham due to Lady Gotham’s signature, which, luckily, they don’t know about city spirits, but it’ll draw them here nonetheless. Even just the passive healing I’m doing will put out enough of my signature that it’s dangerous.” He is really uncomfortable with admitting he’s powerful in the city of the lord of paranoia, but Hood needs to understand that he can’t stay.
“I could help hide you while you heal, my young king.” Lady Gotham’s offer is full of motherly affection, but the guilt of risking the lives of his people again overshadows everything. It’s his fault it got this bad. He became High King of the Infinite Realms by accident two years ago, and all he’s done during his reign is fail his people.
“No, I cannot allow you and your knight to risk yourselves for me. Too many have suffered for my choices already.”
“What do you mean by my haunt? Do you mean Gotham? Or my territory? Also, this is kinda what I do. Offer protection to those who need it, and you clearly need it.” Red Hood's questions start before Danny has had a chance to breathe after his reply to Lady Gotham.
“I meant your territory, you’ve basically claimed it supernaturally. You knew something had entered the edge of your territory where you found me, right? Instinctually? I basically knocked on your Haunt’s front door. And no, I can’t risk you for myself. Too many have already suffered because I didn’t do anything years ago, before it reached this point. I don’t even know if I was the first to be vivisected. I can’t fail anyone else.” Danny is breathing heavy, and he’s barely present anymore by the end of his rambling. His legs are tense like he might bolt any second. Red Hood slowly lowers his feet to the floor, trying not to let his anger at the admission of vivisection overshadow what he’s trying to say.
“Hey, kid. I don’t even think you are an adult right now, let alone that you were years ago. It’s not your fault and not your responsibility.” Danny scoffs and stands up, pacing.
“It is my fault. I’m the only reason the portal fucking opened. If I wasn’t messing around with my friends, it wouldn’t have even opened. If I had told my parents immediately what I became, maybe they would have realized how fucked up their views and papers are. If they took back their papers, the Anti-Ecto Acts wouldn’t fucking exist. Their delusional fixation wouldn’t have festered to the point that they can’t come back. And it is my fucking responsibility because two fucking years ago I accidentally became High King of the Infinite Realms and all I’ve done since the moment the crown chose me is fail everyone. I don’t even know how many of my people have suffered because I wanted to ignore it all and live my life. Because I wanted to go to fucking high school. If I wasn’t in so much denial about being king or even about my parents' sick obsessions, it wouldn’t have ever gotten this bad! Everything that has happened, everyone who has been hurt, is my fault!” Danny is yelling and can barely breathe; tears are running down his face. He doesn’t even know when he started crying.
“The portal…the Fentons are-“
“My parents. And their invention killed me.” He finishes with a wet, self-deprecating laugh. “They are also the ones who vivisected me. Apparently, I killed their baby boy and took his place. Pretended to be him when I’m nothing but a twisted, evil ectoplasmic imprint making a mockery of their son.” He sits back down with his head in his hands. “Ancients. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of that. Fuck. I just trauma dumped from hell on you. I just got so overwhelmed because you and Lady Gotham were both telling me to stay and risk you guys, and I just-I can’t.” Danny’s voice is barely a whisper by the end.
“What’s your name?”
“Well, I already told who my parents are, so fuck it, I guess. It’s Danny.” He looks up from his hands, too overwhelmed by his own emotions to even try to hear Hood’s.
“How old are you, Danny?”
“I’m 17.”
“Well, sounds like you’ve had way too much fucking responsibility way too goddamn young. I don’t blame you for your mistakes, and I doubt this Lady Gotham does either. You couldn’t see the future and know it would get this bad. You were a terrified kid who wanted to go to school and be a kid. Instead, you got to save the world, multiple times over, from the sounds of it. That’s a fucking lot, dude. The Justice League is supposed to do that, and when I find out who dismissed your calls, I’m gonna fucking wring their goddamn necks. To not even bother to look into it is fucking insane.” Hood’s voice turns into a growl towards the end.
“We know who it was.” Danny laughs, his tears slowly drying. “My friends and I, anyway, one of my friends hacked into the watchtower records. It was Flash, both green lanterns, each a few times. Once it was the boy scout, but that call recording was a tiny bit more understandable.” They have had thorough debates about Superman’s call, with Danny and Sam admitting they may be a bit biased because of the whole clone thing. Ellie is a soft spot for both of them.
“That holier than thou fucker.” Hood scoffs.
“Yeah, he was one of my favs growing up cause he’s an alien, but I have a clone, so now I’m biased towards him in a negative light due to his treatment of Superboy. His call has been discussed a lot.” Danny really needs to shut up and stop laying out his life story to this guy.
“You have a clone? Are they safe? Who fucking cloned you?” Oh, he worried about her safety first. That’s…really nice.
“Yeah, last I heard. She couldn’t live with me cause it wasn’t safe, and I couldn’t explain her existence to my parents. The fruitloop aged her up to be only two years younger than me. Not much we could do but let her explore the world like she wanted and hack his bank account for child support money she could use. She checks in with everyone every few days. You don’t need to worry about the fruitloop, he owned the other portals, and he’s a halfa too, kinda. He had to supplement my DNA a bit, which is how she came out as a girl. Anyway, he chose to hide in the realms and has been there since the portals got shut down.” Hopefully, when he logs on to the server next, there will be a picture of her latest adventure or a message. He misses her.
“That’s…good. Quick question: what the fuck is your life, kid?”
“HEY! I’m not a kid, and I’m pretty sure Lady Gotham said you’re like 19. Not that much older than me. Also, I’m technically your king.” Fucking calling me kid! Rude.
“I’m 20, also I’m not dead right now, so suck it, your majesty.” Hood smiles when that gets Danny to laugh and relax more. He had been slowly relaxing while talking and his clone, but not much.
“Technically, that doesn’t matter. Ancients know I don’t need more people refusing to stop with the titles, though, so that’s fine. At least Lady Gotham sometimes calls me “young one” instead of something king-related. Sounds a lot less condescending coming from a being who has been around for hundreds of years.” The pointedness of that last bit is not lost on Hood.
“Well, why don’t you respect your elders and listen to the being that is hundreds of years old. Stay in Gotham and rest for a bit.” The smug smile on Hood’s face can fuck all of the way off.
“Dude, if I listened to all the beings from the realms older than me, the world would have ended years ago.”
“What about just the ones whose opinions you respect?”
“You aren’t going to let this go, are you? If I stay in Gotham at all, it won’t be long, and it definitely will not be in your haunt.” Danny replies after a long-suffering sigh.
“I know a guy with a safe house you can stay at! He’s got a bunch of them he never uses.” Hood isn’t even trying to hide the smile at Danny giving in. “Also, I wanna trust you, and I want you to trust me. So,” he carefully peels off his domino as Danny sits frozen in shock, “my name is Jason.”
“Dude, what the fuck. Why would you do that? You don’t even know me??” He seems genuinely distressed by Jason’s actions, yet he just gets laughed at.
“I had a feeling you knew who I was anyway. Was I right?” Ancients, that smirk is insufferable.
“Fuck off, ghosts are gossipy as hell. Plus, one of my friends has the Curse of Cassandra. I know practically every hero's identity, but that doesn’t mean I should!” Exasperation is practically seeping out of his pores.
“Am I really a hero though?”
“Obviously, ya dingus. You can prefer anti-hero, but it still has hero in it. Plus, you’re Lady Gotham’s favorite knight, so don’t disrespect like that.” Despite the humor in Danny’s voice, Jason can tell he’s being serious.
“There’s no way, it’s gotta be batsy.”
“Nope! The furry bitch ain’t even in her top three. She denies having favorites, but it’s insanely obvious when she talks about you guys.” Shock, embarrassment, and awe seem to be battling on Jason’s face.
“The furry bitch”
“I said what I said. Speaking of, if I stay the only ones in the furry brigade I’d consider trusting with any of this is Red Robin, Oracle, and Black Bat. Red and Oracle because my hacker trusts them. Said it’s hacker instinct or whatever. I trust him so, sure. Black Bat is my instinct, though.”
“Furry brigade,” Jason is wheezing at this point.
“Jason, we are gonna get along so well. That’s the tip of the fucking iceberg for the nicknames I call people.” Danny is grinning, genuinely thinking he could become friends with Jason.
“Oh my god, I gotta tell them that I met someone who called them the furry brigade. This is amazing. Do you have a phone?”
“Yeah, one sec,” Casually reaching into his thigh to grab his phone, the only way he can guarantee it won’t be stolen, and offering it to Jason unlocked.
“What the fuck. You have to do that when Red Robin gets here. I’m gonna text him, it’s his place I offered. It’s also completely off B’s radar, like most of his safehouses are.” When he hands the phone back, there are 4 new contacts: Jason, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Oracle. “I put those two because if you can’t reach me, you can reach Red, and Oracle is gonna look into the GIW, so she may have questions.”
“Tell her to poke at Pharaoh’s firewalls around Daniel Fenton, he’ll help. I’ll let him know. He has always been open to getting Oracle on this.” Resigning himself to the chaos that will cause in the server, he’s disappointed he won’t see the freak-out in person. Tucker is such a fucking fanboy for Oracle.
“‘Kay, it’ll just be us three for now until we know what we are working with. You’ll be anonymous to everyone else when we force them to deal with their fuck up.” Jason is nodding to himself as he texts both Red and Oracle about this shitshow. “Hey, do they call you King Danny or do you have like a ghost name?”
“Oh, Phantom. Chose it before I was King cause the papers were calling me invis-o-bill, and I thought the pun was funny.”
“Good God, you can never meet Dick. Your hero name is a pun of your last name and the fact that you are a fucking ghost.” The horror on Jason’s face has Danny bent over, cackling. Of course, this is when Red Robin enters through the window.
“What the fuck did I miss?” Clocking Jason’s bare face, combined with the cryptic text about severe rights violations, and the current situation, Red Robin is confused.
“Tim. Timmy. Timber. Danny can never meet Dick. His puns are worse. His hero name is a fucking pun, Tim.”
“Woah names!”
“It doesn’t matter, ghosts are gossips apparently.”
“Doesn’t mean you should be so cavalier with identities, dude!” Danny chimes in.
“I’m so extremely lost right now.”
“Okay, so that was a lot.” Tim was already typing into his wrist computer, just to see how much of this would be easy to access. “And you know for a fact that’s a real law and government agency?”
“Yes. Pharaoh hacked his way back to the government to confirm years ago.” Tim freezes as he processes what this man just said.
“Pharaoh. Like Modernday_Pharaoh?” Tim and Oracle have literally talked about this hacker before. He didn’t show up much, but when he did, his work was crazy good.
“Yeah, I think that's his full hacker sign. We all just say Pharaoh ‘cause it’s shorter.” Tim and Oracle will be able to talk to Pharaoh. Maybe he’ll be open to challenging each other, as he and Oracle do. Holy shit, this is cool.
“Is he our age? Oracle and I always thought he was, but we couldn’t be sure.” Tim cannot be bothered to hide his excitement in the slightest. Not even hearing Jason quietly laugh at him does anything to dampen it.
“Damn, I knew he was a total fanboy for y’all, but this is gonna be chaos on all sides, isn’t it?” Danny looks almost as delighted as he did when Tim first got here. “We are the same age, yeah.” God, his smile is hot. Does he have fucking fangs!?
“Do you have fangs?” Tim’s voice may be slightly more breathless than he would like, but probably not that noticeable. At least Jason seems to be in the same boat; it looks like he just noticed them, too.
“Oh, yeah. Most people in Amity have them now, ecto-contamination from the portal.” He runs his tongue across them before continuing. ”Though most peoples' are a lot more subtle and will go away with time now that the portals are shut down. Not sure how that works precisely, but ectoplasm is like magic meets radiation. What’s not meant to be there will be filtered out eventually.” Then he shrugs, like he didn’t say something absolutely unhinged.
“So yours are more pronounced because the ectoplasm is meant to be there?” Tim is just trying to find logic somewhere.
“More or less, yeah. Keep in mind that the level of contamination in Amity over the last 3 years was never meant to happen, and that much of my information on it is my doctor’s best-educated guess. Plus, my doctor is a 12-foot-tall never-born yeti ghost who lives in the realms.” What the fuck. Gonna need to take a drug test back at the Nest because what the fuck. Danny has a fucking shit-eating grin on his face. He knows what he’s doing, but everything also points to him being honest, too. What the hell walked up to Jason’s front door?
“Danny. My dude. My guy. My liege. Why are you like this?” My liege?
“You live my life and not want to drop shit like that in conversation, Jason. Be honest, how many times do you lore drop the back from the dead shit for fun? If your answer is never, I’m gonna be disappointed in you.” That smirk is a crime against Tim’s very existence. This boy is giving overworked gremlin energy, and it’s working unreasonably well for him.
“You got me there, your majesty.”
“Oh shut the fuck up mr.im not dead right now.”
“Wait, what is with the “your majesty” and “my liege” shit?” That is the second time Jason has said something along that vein, and Tim is not letting them breeze past it again. Danny glares at Jason.
“You are legit the worst at secret shit. I’m putting Tim in charge of making sure you keep your mouth shut about me.” One put-upon sigh later, he turns to Tim. “Two years ago, I accidentally became High King of the Infinite Realms, so I’m technically his sovereign.” What. The. Fuck.
“How do you accidentally become a King at 15?”
“The previous guy gets woken up from his forced nap time by a fruitloop who wants his magic jewelry. Said guy then yoinks your whole town into the infinite realms and engineers the fight to make you 1v1 him. You win by the skin of your teeth, put him back in nap time, and almost die in the process. A few months later, the sentient manifestation of time tells you that you’re king now and can’t do anything about it because the crown is passed through mutual combat. The crown also has some sentience to it, 'cause magic, and likes you, so you aren’t allowed to say no.” What. The. Ever. Loving. Fuck. How do you deadpan that shit? Why was it hot that he did? Tim is blue screening, with his mouth hanging open.
“Yoinks??” Jason, that is not the main point of that story!
“I told you my word choice is spectacular.”
“Wait, wait, this the same fruitloop who cloned you?” What??? Tim really, really needs to take a drug test.
“The very one, he thought the magic jewelry would help him beat me in a fight so he could force me to be his son.” Danny is so nonchalant about all of it. How? Why? Tim wants to kiss him. Now is really not the time.
“You didn’t mention the son part earlier, and we are so delving into that full story at some point. Right now, though, you look like you could fall asleep any second. Tim, you brought your bike, right? His injuries are too fresh to grapple without risking worsening them.” Right, he is staying at one of Tim’s hidden safe-houses.
“Yeah, I’ll go grab it and pull to the front.” Tim is already climbing back out the window.
Jason puts his domino back on. This guy is insane. God, it was great watching him mess with Timberly, though. “Back the way we came.” He gestures for Danny to get up and follow.
“Aww, what if I wanted to try the window like burger boy?” Jason has not stopped glancing at the fangs since Tim pointed them out. Wait.
“Burger boy??”
“Yeah, Red Robin. Yum.”
“Please stay in Gotham for the long haul, dude. You are giving me the best material I’ve had on these fuckers in a hot minute.” Jason swears he feels amusement coming from the air. “Hey, you said Lady Gotham is a city spirit? What does that mean?”
“Mmm, so some ghosts are born from concepts. If the concept of a city grows enough and is combined with enough ambient ectoplasm, you may end up with a city spirit. They aren’t usually very powerful, though they can have influence. Lady Gotham formed after curses had already been placed on the city, though, so she’s weaker and more limited than most. She does what she can for her knights regardless. Usually, something like an extra dark shadow here and there. She may push herself to help you get to an emergency faster sometimes, but because of the curses, there are drawbacks to it.” Huh, that’s…weird. For some reason, it’s kinda comforting. B would have an aneurysm.
“Can the curses be helped?” Danny looks sad and regretful at this.
“No, her core built around them. They are part of her very being. Trying to remove them would risk destabilizing her completely.” After a second of silence, he perks up slightly, but also looks wary. Jason and Danny are standing just outside the front door now. “Speaking of gunk clogging up people's cores…” his eyes flick down to Jason’s chest for a second, and he starts rubbing the back of his neck. “You have what looks like the beginnings of a core, but it’s got a LOT of corrupted ecto. At some point, I’d like to take you to see my doctor, only if you want to, of course. He’s huge on HIPAA now that I've explained those laws to him, so no pressure. But, that can’t be nice to live with.”
“Corrupted ecto? What does that mean?” Jason has a bad feeling that this has something to do with the pits.
“Yeah, I’ve never actually interacted with any, but from what I understand, it’s like rotten. Corrupted by negative emotion and possibly curses.” Pit Rage.
“Would it happen to look like glowing green, bubbling water?” Danny pales at that, shit.
“Yeah, I’d say it’s corrupted if it looks like that. Ecto is green and glowing, but it’s like a goop. Not water, and NOT bubbling.”
“I don’t know how I came back originally, but I wasn’t all there at first. Then I was dumped in the evil Kool-Aid they call the Lazarus Pits.” Danny’s voice is completely flat when he responds.
“Pits. Plural.”
“Yup.”
“Fuck. That sounds like a me problem. Is there like a group or person “in charge” of them? I could see if there’s a contract wrapped up in this.” Jason feels a little bad about stressing him out, but at the same time, maybe something will be done about them.
“Yeah, the League of Assassins, leader is Ra’s Al Ghul.” Danny’s eyes narrow.
“Assassins. Great. Also, does he really go by “the demon head”?? He understands that making his first name “the” is fucking weird, right?” His scoff is strained, and he’s clearly trying to figure out how high a priority he needs to make this.
“He lives for the aesthetic. Creepy as all hell, too. Pretty obsessed with Red because he outsmarted him and blew up some of the pits.”
“Blowing them up is insanely reckless, but clearly it didn’t make the situation worse, I guess.” His brows are furrowed, and he’s biting his lip. The way he shifts so seamlessly between humor and responsibility is Jason’s favorite kind of crazy. Would it be weird to date him? He’s 17, but he’s also his king. Not the time, Jason. Oh, he’s talking again. “-pain or emotional deregulation is what Frostbite told me it could cause. So, when I can find a good opportunity to portal without either of us getting vivisected, consider getting a check-up?”
“We call it pit rage. Do you-” Jason clears his throat. “Do you think your doctor could really help it?” God, he hates hope.
“Oh yeah, I can’t promise anything about getting rid of it entirely, not my area of expertise, but I’m sure he can at least lessen the symptoms. Make them easier to manage.” Danny looks him directly in the eyes when he says this, looking every bit as confident as his words.
“And you’d just take me to him. Just like that?” His face fills with such innocent confusion, like he couldn’t imagine not offering to take him. Jason doesn’t know what to do with that.
“Of course. You are basically sick, without access to the healthcare you need. I can get you that healthcare, so why wouldn’t I?” Danny cocks his head like a puppy as he says that, like it’s such an obvious thing. Maybe for him it really is.
“Alright, I’ll uh, text you about it. After we fix the government.”
“I uh, don’t know how far you’ll get in that endeavor, but thanks for being willing to try.” He really looks like he doesn’t expect anything good to come of this. Like, he really only came to warn him. Expecting nothing.
“Who is the other person you came to warn?”
“Oh! Lady Gotham says he goes by Grundy because of the nursery rhyme. I know he’s not all there, but I have to at least try.” Danny shrugs and smiles.
“He’s not usually one for talking, Danny. He keeps to himself a lot, down in the sewers, but he lashes out when he’s disturbed.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ll be careful and respect his haunt, probably won’t even enter it. Just wait outside the edges until he comes by.” He says with a dismissive wave of his hand. Like, he isn’t a heavily injured twig.
“You have a death wish.” Jason regrets the words as soon as Danny’s eyes light up, and that smirk is back.
“I flirt with death every day. Nah, but you and the furry brigade should avoid the w word. You have all been around death enough that you don’t wanna risk Desiree granting any of them. It’s always a pain.” Why does he seem fond even as he warns me of her?
“We are totally unpacking that too at some point.” Jason is gonna have to start a list. Danny just laughs and pats his shoulder before walking towards RR, who just pulled up.
“You ever ride a bike before?”
“Does a ghost bike count?” Tim and Jason share a look before they both shake their heads.
“I don’t think so.”
“Then, no. But I’m a quick learner.”
Danny climbs on behind him and, with zero hesitation, wraps his arms around Tim’s waist. “Lean when I lean and hang on.” He’s cold, is that a ghost thing?
“Aye, aye, burger boy.” Tim speeds off before processing what Danny said.
“Burger boy??” Incredulity dripping from his tone.
“Yup. Red Robin. Yum. Hood reacted the same way.” Danny replies with a laugh. All Tim can do is shake his head.
“You’re insane.”
“Stones and glass houses, my dude. Hood just lore dropped you blowing up vats of evil Kool-Aid owned by assassins.” After a pause, he continues. “Those are corrupted ecto by the way, and something I have to take care of when I get the chance.”
“Hey! It worked. Mostly. I’m assuming it’s a king thing that makes it your responsibility?” What all falls under his jurisdiction?
“Regretfully.” Danny mumbles into Tim’s shoulder. When did he start leaning on him?