Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Danny is fighting Desiree. A giant monster tiger is attacking him. He dodges its claws and blasts it away with an ectoblast. Stupid tourists, making wishes at the fountain. 'This is not a little kitty, Desiree!' Desiree taunts him, daring him to wish it away. The tiger pounces again, but it is caught in a Fenton net. Danny looks down. 'Thanks mom!' Maddie reigns the tiger in. 'No problem sweetie!' After the whole disasteroid thing, Danny's life has become so much better! Amity Park knew who he was and accepted him. Thank god the rest of the world had no idea, otherwise the GIW would be after him! And with Vlad in space, Danny could finally live his half-life! Danny goes after Desiree again, defeating her. Jack is happy. 'Look at him. He’s growing up to be such a great ghost hunter!' He tears up. 'Sometimes I wish he was a little kid again, so he can hang out with his dad like old times!' Jazz screams: 'Dad no!' But it is too late. Desiree grants his wish, enveloping Danny in purple mist. When it dissipates, Danny is gone. Maddie quickly uses her portal-zooka to pull Desiree into the Ghost Zone. Jazz is angry at Jack. 'Dad, what did you do? You know you can’t wish for anything near Desiree!' Jack feels guilty, but he doesn’t understand. Even if Danny was made a kid again, shouldn’t he still be here? To hang out with his dad? Maddie becomes angry. 'Jack, did you forget that Danny was adopted?' Jack thinks for a second. Oops.

Jason is tired. It had been a long patrol. First some thugs had been harassing his girls, then 2 dealers thought they could infringe on his territory, and after that he found a warehouse filled with penguins of all things. God, couldn’t that guy store his birds somewhere else? In short, Jason just wanted his bed. He gets to his latest safe house, one of the nice ones. He wanted to sleep in an actual bed tonight. Checking the alarms, he went inside. Taking of his helmet and jacket, he puts them down on the chair. He gets a beer and throws of his shoes and shirt, forgotten on the floor. He puts the beer down and opens the closet, checking to see if this safehouse has pajama’s. Purple mist briefly rolls around his feet, but aside from a sneeze, Jason doesn’t notice due to fatigue. Picking Wonder Woman pants and a red shirt, he closes the closet and turns around. He stops. There’s a kid. In his appartement. The kid is holding his helmet, examining it. Jason tries to sneak up on him, but the kid notices him. Laughing, he runs off making Jason chase him. Jason needs the helmet back, it’s got explosives in it! Jason nearly trips over his shoes as the kid jumps on the bed. The kid tries to jump off, but Jason grabs him mid-air. Jason holds the kid up, taking away the helmet. The kid laughs, and Jason examines him. The kid has white hair and familiar green eyes. He’s wearing a black shirt with white overalls, and he looks about 5-6 years old. Jason asks him how he got inside. The kid shrugs. 'You don’t know?' asks Jason. The kid says he can’t remember, but he doesn’t seem too troubled by it. He asks Jason if they can play more tag. Jason is confused: 'Tag?' The kid squeals: 'TAG!' and slips out of Jason’s grip, to Jasons suprise. Jason chases after him again, yelling at him to come back, there are weapons in here! The kid just laughs. He tries to crawl under the bed, but Jason grabs him by the ankle, pulling him out. As he pulls him up, upside down, he notices something that shocks him. The kid’s eyes are full Lazarus green and glowing while he is laughing in delight! Jason puts the kid down, asking him to calm down. The kid still giggles, but sits down. Jason sighs: 'First off; Who are you?' ‘My name is Danny!’ 'Ok, Danny. You said you didn’t know how you got in here?' 'Nope!’ 'As in, you just woke up here? What’s the last thing you remember?' 'Hmmmm. Nothing!’ 'But you knew your name?' 'Oh! Yeah I did! Weird!’ Jason gets a bad feeling about all this. 'Do you know why your eyes are so… green?' 'Oh! That’s because I died!’ Jason was startled by how cheerily the kid said that. It makes his own eyes flash green as well. The kid is surprised at this, and climbs up Jason to get to his face. 'You’re like me! You’re dead too!' Jason grabs him, telling him to calm down. Danny just keeps laughing. Jason sighs, putting Danny under his arm. He re-checks his alarms, but finds that none have been activated. Its like the kid just popped up! Jason asks if Danny has any place to stay. Danny thinks a bit, but can’t think of any place. 'Where are we actually?' Jason is surprised the kid doesn’t know where he is. He debates his options. He could leave the kid somewhere, either at one of his shelters or with his girls. No, that’s a bad idea, the kid saw his face. He’d tell everyone. Maybe he could leave him with Bruce? An image of the 5 year-old in a Robin costume flashes before his eyes, tinting them green again. Not an option. So he can’t leave them with civilians, nor his family. Then that means… 'What’s this?’ Danny is holding his taser. As Jason rushes to take it away, he just thinks that this is going to suck.

Chapter Text

Jason wakes up the next day. As he groggily rubs his eyes, he realizes that he is on the couch. Why is he sleeping on the couch, this appartement has a bed? And why are his weapons in boxes? When did he- OOF! Danny jumps on him, knocking the wind out of him. Oh, right. He had a kid now. Danny smiles wide at him. 'Good morning, Jason!' says Danny cheerily. Jason catches his breath: 'Good morning.' Danny looks at the boxes: 'What are you doing?' Jason sits up, telling Danny he was putting away his weapons. He had to safe-proof the house. Danny asks if he is putting up lasers. Jason says no? which earns him a sigh of relief. Jason asks Danny if he could sit down while he finishes clearing away the weapons. Danny says: 'No weapons outside the lab!' This distracts Jason, wondering what lab he is talking about. Suddenly Danny jumps off the couch, insisting he helps! Jason tells him no, but Danny is running to the knives on the wall. He trips over the shoes still on the floor from yesterday, and slams into the wall. Jason is worried, but Danny says he is fine! One of the knives falls from the wall mount and slices Danny’s arm. He lets out a yelp, and Jason rushes over. He consoles Danny and examines his arm. To his shock, his blood is green. The kid bleeds Lazarus water! A small sob snaps him out of it. Jason picks Danny up, realizing the cut will need stitches. He puts him on the kitchen table, and finds his tears are Lazarus water as well. Preparing the needle and thread, he tells Danny it will hurt a bit, but- Danny interupts him: 'I know. I had stitches before.' That worries Jason. Why would a 5 year-old need stitches? He puts the needle in and Danny barely flinches, which tells Jason Danny must have either a high pain tolerance, or he was used to this. God he hoped it was the former. After he is done, Jason goes through his equipment. He was sure he had one still… There! He comes back and gives Danny a tiny stuffed bunny, one that would fit in his utility belt. It was useful when they needed to calm down a child in danger, but it worked for this too. Danny loved it, naming it Mr. Bun-Bun. Jason put Danny on the living room floor and sat on the couch to keep an eye on him. As Danny played, Jason was going over his theories. Why did the kid show up in his appartement? The easy option was that he was a spy, planted to keep an eye on him. Somehow, that didn’t seem right. Danny claiming he didn’t remember things, only to remember them after being reminded by a question was too strange to be used as a cover story. There were much better stories in that case. Plus, Danny seemed a bad lair. But to just show up in his appartement of all places? That couldn’t be a coincidence. He was sent here, but maybe Danny didn’t know or remember why. Jason sighed. He tried to figure out who would’ve sent him. Well, that was obvious. The League of Assassins were the only ones that had access to Lazarus water, and the kid was infused with it. The only question was whether it was Ra’s or Talia. But why would they make a kid like this? He feels a tug on his arm. Danny is holding up the toy. 'Mr. Bun-Bun want’s you to wake up! Otherwise Nocturn will get you!' Jason smiled: 'Don’t worry Mr. Bun-Bun, no boogeyman will get me!' He notices something. He gently grabs Danny’s arm, and pulls out the stitches. Danny’s arm is already healed! But it had been only an hour! Jason looked at Danny. The white hair, the green eyes plus the rapid healing? This kid was a second attempt at a Respawn.

Chapter Text

After cooking up some breakfast for the 2 of them, Jason and Danny were eating at the table.

'So Danny. What do you like?' If the kid was going to stay with him, he might as well make it more comfortable for him. Jason had plenty money so getting the kid a nice room was no problem.

'SPACE!' Yelled Danny. 'I love space! I like the stars and the moon and the sun and the planets!'

Jason smiled: 'Yeah? How about meteors and asteroids?'

Danny frowned: 'I like meteors, but I don’t like asteroids. One nearly broke the earth. I like the Earth too! I don’t want it to be broken.'

Jason remembered that. Bruce had been in a frenzy. A large asteroid emitting a strange energy had nearly destroyed the Earth, when somehow, the Earth had turned invisible and the asteroid had just flown right through! He had been going crazy with theories until John Constantine had found out beings from a place known as the Infinite Realms had turned the whole planet untouchable under orders of their King. Rumors said some Lex Luthor wannabe had tries to use it to take over the world, but nothing had come up of it. The investigation had come up empty, and other cases took their focus. In the end, the file was never closed, but no one was working on it. Poor kid, he must’ve been so scared of losing his home. Suddenly the alarm went off, someone was trying to get inside! Jason quickly pushed Danny in a closet, telling him to hide. He grabbed his gun and headed to the window, pulling back the curtains and taking aim.
'FOR FUCKS SAKE, OLD MAN! Let me know beforehand if you want in!' Batman looked at him with that stupid stoic face, and Jason turned of the alarm. Deciding to be petty, he didn’t let him in, forcing B to pick the lock. When the Bat entered, Jason asked him what he was doing here. Batman said that Jason was the one to report Penguin’s warehouse last night. Jason confirms this, and asks why. Batman says something was taken from it, and he asks if Jason has it. Jason gets defensive, wanting Bruce out of his house. He didn’t take anything! So now B can leave, right? Suddenly they hear a thud, coming from the kitchen. Jason’s heart sinks. He doesn’t want B to know about the kid. Batman takes out a Batarang and heads to the kitchen, followed by Jason. Jason doesn’t say anything, knowing that any excuse he gives now would only make Bruce more suspicious. He knows that Bruce dislikes the Lazarus Pits. As much as it brought back his kids from the dead, he knows Bruce still hates it for bringing Jason back wrong. Bruce always said he loved Jason, but Jason could see it in his eyes. He’d never trusted Jason after that, not truly. Bruce grabs the closet’s doorhandle. Jason it going over excuses in his head. He needs to be able to explain things when he sees Danny. The door is opened.

The closet is empty.

Bruce puts the Batarang away, letting out a grunt. Jason asks him what he expected to find, aside from groceries.

Bruce turns away: 'A penguin.'

Jason is incredulous: 'A what?' Bruce admits the warehouse that Jason reported had 34 penguins, but only 33 made it to the Gotham Zoo.
Jason just looks at Bruce: . You know you have another Robin that’s a much more likely suspect, right? Damian is the animal lover, not me.. Bruce heads to the window. Jason knows that means he's ashamed: 'How long have you been awake, B?'

'… A week.'

Jason laughs at Bruce: 'Maybe the Batman needs to hit the hay. If not to get his detective skills back, then to set a good example for the Replacement!'

Bruce grunts, and grapples out the window. After waiting a few moments to check if he really left, Jason immediately runs back to the closet. He looks inside, asking for Danny.

'Danny? Danny, where are you?' He is very worried, when suddenly Danny pops up! Like, you blink and he is back! Jason actually falls backwards in surprise.

'TADAAH~! I hid! Did I do a good job? I’m the best at hiding!' says Danny happily.

Jason agrees, not wanting to ruin Danny’s good mood. He asks how he did that. Danny just asks this? And turns invisible. Jason picks him up, still invisible but giggling. Jason grabs a black notebook and puts Danny back in his chair. He writes down:
Accelerated healing
Invisibility

Looks like the LoA was not just making a second Respawn, but trying to improve on him with extra powers. 'Ok, a 5 year old that can turn invisible. That’s.. I can deal with that! Jason thought naively. He had no clue what was about to come.

Chapter Text

Jason is gearing up for patrol. He’d prefer not to leave Danny alone, but he needs to meet with his men to make sure that things run smoothly if he takes a break while he figures this whole situation out. Danny tugs on his jacket.
‘Where are you going?’ asks Danny. Jason doesn’t want the kid to know what he does, so he skims over it.
‘I’m just going to work, kiddo. Can you promise me you’ll stay in here? If you’re a good boy and stay in the appartement, I’ll bring home some Bat-burgers, ok?’
Danny says he wants Nasty burgers. Confused why a kid would want gross food, Jason ruffles Danny’s hair.
‘Ok, now go to bed, kiddo. It’s already late.’
Danny crawls into the bed that’s way too large for him. Jason thinks he really needs to get him his own room. Jason grapples out the window and activates the alarm. Time to get to work. He jumps and lands on a roof, dropping into a roll to cushion the landing. Making his way towards the warehouse where the meeting was taking place, Jason was certain that Danny would just sleep through the night. He’d have nothing to worry about.
Danny tries to sleep, but he just can’t. He gets up, bored. He tries to watch some tv, but all the channels are weird this time of night, so he turns it off. He plays a bit with Mr. Bun-Bun, but soon grows bored. He grabs some juice from the fridge, but the cold gives him an idea. He knows what to play!
Jason had a productive night. He told Bill to take charge of the more illegal side of Red Hood’s business. Sandy would take care of the charity stuff, she was good at that and always eager to help. Together, Jason knew he had nothing to worry about while he tried to sort out Danny’s case. After that he dealt with some thieves, got some kids back home, made sure his girls were ok, and then it was time to head back. After picking up burgers he was heading back home. On the way he checked in on comms. He did it once a night, otherwise his brothers would come and check in on him. Speaking of, it seems he was correct. Sounds like Dick still couldn’t believe how Damian managed to smuggle a whole penguin into the Manor. He’d almost gotten away with it if Alfred hadn’t decided to clean that particular bathroom. Damian still insisted that Sgt. Byrd would have been perfectly happy living in the Manor. As Jason climbed into his window he said that penguins can’t live in bathrooms.
‘They need lots of room and-‘ crunch. ‘Snow?’
Jason hung up. He looked down and saw that he had stepped in snow. In his living room. As Jason gets in completely he looks around, confused. How did all this snow get in here? He goes to the bedroom and sees the bed is empty. Worried, he calls out for Danny. Did Mr. Freeze kidnap him? Then Danny answers back:
‘I’m in here!’
Following the sound, Jason goes to the kitchen. There he finds Danny, happily making a snowman.
‘Jason, look! I made a snowman!’
Realizing there is no danger, Jason kneels down to Danny’s level.
‘I see that buddy. He’s got nice glov- are those my oven mitts?’
Danny says they are. ‘I couldn’t find any snowgloves!’
Jason smiles, it’s kinda cute. ‘Danny, where did you get the snow from?’ Danny says it came from his hands. Jason is confused.
‘Your hands?’
Danny gets exited: ‘I can make SNOW!’ He raises is hands and suddenly it is snowing in his kitchen. Jason takes out his black notebook, and writes down:
Accelerated healing
Invisibility
Cryokinesis
He puts the book back in his pocket and holds Danny’s hands to calm him down.
‘Hey Danny. I love the snowman, I really do. But can you promise me that, if you want to make a snowman to do that in the bathroom? It’s a lot easier to clean things up in there.’
Danny says he’s sorry, but Jason ruffles his head.
‘It’s ok kiddo. Now, who wants some Bat burgers?’

Chapter Text

The next day, Jason is making breakfast. He puts some eggs, sausages and bacon on the stove, and grabs a knife. Danny is looking at what he is doing.
‘Jason, can I help?’ Asks Danny. Jason thinks for a bit, and gives him some napkins and plastic cups.
‘Why don’t you set the table, ok kiddo?’
Danny is excited to help, and runs off to the dinner table. Jason takes this moment to cut up some mangoes, and put them in the blender. He doesn’t want Danny anywhere near the knife. Thankfully, Danny is small and the counter is high. He’s got nothing to worry about. He gets some banana’s intending to put them in with the mangoes for a smoothie. He turns around and sees Danny sitting on the counter. He asks how Danny got up there, but before he can finish his sentence he realizes what is happening.
‘DANNY NO-‘
He is too late. Danny presses the button on the blender, which is still without a lid. Jason’s vision flashes white whit a mango-y tint. When he gets it out of his eyes, his kitchen is laminated, and Danny is looking sheepishly.
‘I’m sorry, Jason.’
Danny hasn’t stopped apologizing during breakfast. Jason sighs. He knows Danny only wanted to help. Plus, now he knew Danny had another power:
Accelerated healing
Invisibility
Cryokinesis
Flight
Danny had flown, like Superman, and given Jason a napkin to clean himself. That was probably how he got on the counter in the first place. Jason realizes he needs to store his weapons somewhere else. Simply putting them high up wasn’t a solution. Looking at his kitchen, he realizes he needs to clean that quite thoroughly. Danny was still looking sad. Jason gets an idea.
‘Hey buddy, want to help me clean up?’
Danny looks up, hopeful. He wants to help, as he knows it was his fault. Jason ruffles his hair. He realizes he’s been doing that a lot. He compliments Danny on being responsible kid, and they get to work. Danny gets an apron that’s way too big and a cloth to keep his hair clean, like Jason. Jason wonders what task he can give Danny.
‘Ok, buddy. Here are a bucket of soapy water, a scrubbing brush and a towel.’
Giving Danny a pile of unbreakable items like plastic cups, placemats, Soda bottles etc., Jason asks Danny to clean all this icky, sticky stuff after showing him how to do it. Danny puts up his hand like a soldier and scrubs away. Jason grabs his own cleaning supplies and gets to work.
After a few hours, Jason is done and exhausted. He takes of the apron and collapses on the couch. He asks Danny if he is almost done. Danny says almost:
‘I only have a few cups left!’
Judging that Danny is doing a good job, Jason lays down on the couch. He tries to keep an eye on Danny, but is too tired and quickly falls asleep. After a few minutes Danny is done with the cups. He gets up to tell Jason, but he is sleeping. Danny wonders what to clean next. Taking a sniff, he knows one more icky, gross thing to clean.
Jason is walking through a hallway. For a moment he is confused as to where he is, when he hears the angry bubbling of the Lazarus Pits behind him. Turning around, he sees a green liquid monster chasing him. As Jason turns to run away, he realizes it’s a nightmare.
‘Not this one again!’
He runs as fast as he can, but like always, the monster gains on him. Jason expects to be engulfed, to drown like every night. Suddenly, as the monster is right by him, they both float up into the air. Jason has a moment to think that this is new before they both fall upwards into a sea of nails! Jason is surprised, and it hurts! He feels them scraping his… skin? No, not his skin. His heart? No, not that either. Where is this feeling coming from? Its everywhere and not at once! Confused, he suddenly notices the monster is also trapped in the sea of nails. But where Jason is only mildly in pain, the monster is in agony. It is screeching and wailing, being pulled apart and slowly disappearing in the sea. Its screams leave Jason lightheaded. After the monster is torn to shreds, the sea disappears, leaving Jason floating. He is confused, when he sees himself, a giant lying asleep below his floating self.
Jason wakes up. He still feels lightheaded and doesn’t want to open his eyes. He feels a weight on his belly. Realizing it’s Danny, he tries to open his eyes. AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! The nails are back! What!?! Eyes wide open, he looks up. Danny is indeed sitting on his belly, still in his apron and cleaning… what is that? Danny is scrubbing a green, floating orb with the soapy brush and Jason realizes he can feel it!
‘Danny? What are you doing?’
Danny looks up. ‘You’re awake! I found something gross to clean!’
Jason looks to his left and sees the bucket is full of Lazarus water, no Lazarus goop? Its consistency is too thick for watAAAAAH!!! Danny scrubs a bit harder.
‘Done!’
Danny dunks the brush into the goopy bucket. Jason is confused.
‘Danny, what is that?’
Danny says it’s a Core.
‘Ok, so what’s a CorRRRGGGH!’ The towel dry is very uncomfortable! Danny answers:
‘It’s like a Soul, but for dead people!’
Jason’s blood goes ice cold.
‘What?’
Danny doesn’t notice Jason’s existential crisis.
‘Yeah! I have one too! But yours was covered in gross goop! So I cleaned it! Don’t worry, I was reeeeaaaallyyyy careful!’
Danny then pushes the Core into Jason's chest, which somehow causes Jason to feel relieved. Danny gets off Jason and picks up the bucket. Jason realizes why his head feels lighter now. It’s the Pit. It’s quiet. He forgot what that felt like. He almost spirals, until he looks over to Danny.
‘DON’T FLUSH THE LAZARUS DOWN THE SINK!’

Chapter Text

‘Here?’

‘No! It needs to be a little higher! Right there!’

Following Danny’s instructions, Jason glued the glow-in-the-dark star on the ceiling. Stepping of the chair, he sat down next to Danny on his new bed.

‘How’s that kiddo?’

Danny jumped on the Martian Manhunter themed blankets.

‘It’s perfect! It’s the big Dipper!’

Sitting down on Jason’s lap, Danny started pointing out which constellations Jason had put up. Jason had to ask Kori for a space rock or something if this got Danny so happy.

‘I had stars like that in my old room! But they weren’t in the proper place, so this is better! Thank you Jason!’ said Danny happily.
Jason wondered how much Danny remembered.

‘Hey Danny? What was your old home like?’ Danny put on a thinking face, which was absolutely adorable. Danny remembers a lab.

Jason is concerned: ‘A lab?’

‘Yeah! And lot’s of green goop in jars and stuff!’

Jason is worried. That sounds like Lazarus water. He tries to get more information:

‘Green goop? That sounds scary!’

Danny cuts him off. ‘Yeah! It was haunted!’

Jason is surprised. Haunted? He thinks for a bit. With how Lazarus Pits work, thinking the place was haunted was probably how his little kid mind coped with seeing people being brought back from the dead. It must’ve been a scary thing for a kid to see. He asks more.

‘Do you remember something else? Like the people that worked there?’

Danny says he does.
‘A big man, really big and strong! He wore orange! And there was a lady, she was really good at fighting! They made me!’

Jason ruffles Danny’s head. ‘Did they now?’

Inside he is comparing the description to people he knows. The lady who is good at fighting must be Talia. But the strong man in orange, could It be Slade? He is quite tall and his uniform does have orange in it. It would also confirm his Respawn 2.0 theory. Danny says he also remembers a girl, who wanted to talk his feelings al the time. He liked her. Jason thinks she must’ve been his therapist. The last Respawn was filled with resentment towards Damian, so maybe they were trying to prevent that for their second attempt. Jason starts to wonder if there are more.

‘Hey Danny, did you ever see other kids like you in the lab? Like, kids that looked like you?’

Danny says he did, but that was a different lab.

‘They all melted into goop. It was really scary. Do I have to talk about that?’

Jason can see that the conversation is starting to affect Danny. He decided it’s enough, at least for today. He now knows that Danny was made in a lab, by 2 people that match Talia’s and Slade’s description. They made more attempts, possibly at a different location, but those attempts failed. He is glad Danny is the only clone he needs to worry about, but he still doesn’t know how Danny got here. Picking Danny up, he asks if the boy wants a snack. After hearing Danny’s joy, he figures he will continue his investigation tomorrow.

The next day, Jason is gearing up for patrol. Even with Bill and Sandra taking care of things, he needs to checkup some things himself. He can’t tell Bill to jump from building to building and stop a mugging after all. Jason was pretty sure the guy missed a few bones, and that would certainly break the ones he still had. As he puts his guns in his holster, he suddenly hears a BANG! Grabbing the gun, he runs to the living room. There he sees that one of his paintings and the wall around it are scorched. He looks for the source, and finds Danny, with a hand that emits green smoke. Danny just looks at him.

‘There was a roach!’

Jason sighs.

‘So you can shoot fire?’

Danny shakes his head. ‘Nope! I shot a laser!’

Jason puts his gun back. ‘Of course you did. I didn’t know you could shoot lasers out of your hands?’

Danny gets excited. ‘Yeah! I can also shoot them out of my eyes! Once, I shot one out of my butt!’

Jason grits his teeth. ‘Great! One second, buddy!’

He picks up a pillow and screams in it. Of course the kid can shoot lasers! Why not? Danny laughs. Jason is being silly! Jason puts the pillow down.

‘Actually, screaming in a pillow is a great way of getting rid of big feelings. You should try it if you need it.’

Danny giggles. ‘If I scream loud like that it would flatten a building! Wanna see?’ He asks innocently.

‘NO!’ yells Jason immediately.
‘I believe you! But we like this city and we don’t want to destroy, right?’

Danny apologizes and agrees. He won’t scream. Jason sighs again and gets his black notebook back out. He writes down what he has so far:

Accelerated healing
Invisibility
Cryokinesis
Flight
Soul-pulling-out-powers???
Destructive scream

Lasers

Jason thinks the list is quite long. Looking again at Danny he suspects he hasn’t even seen most of them. Putting the book back, he puts Danny to bed.

‘Ok buddy, now remember our promise?’

Danny nods: ‘Try to sleep, and if you can’t only make snow in the bathroom, no touching the weapons, don’t eat too much candy and if you really can’t sleep, watch tv and fall asleep on the couch!’

Jason ruffles his head. ‘Good boy.’

Jason leaves. He knows the rules are probably lacking, but a kid that can do what Danny can is helped more with gentle guidance that strict rules. Jumping out of the window and landing on the roof, Jason starts his patrol.

It’s been a few hours, and Jason is taking a break. He’s on the edge of Crime alley, the border of his territory. Suddenly he hears a voice next to him.

‘Hey, I need your help.’

Recognizing the voice, Jason looks up. Red Robin is coming over. Jason is surprised that he isn’t feeling that pang of anger that he usually felt around him. Guess that scrub really did the trick. He’ll bring Danny a treat on the way home.

‘Earth to Red Hood? C’mon, I’m desperate here!’

Tim is waving his hand. Jason rolls his eyes.

‘What do you need, RR? You don’t normally come to me for help.’

Tim gets a determined look, saying that’s exactly why he is here. Jason knows that Tim will only come to Jason for emergencies, which means…

‘Please let me stash my coffee at your place! Alfred cut me off and I can’t lose my last stash!’

There it is. Only coffee will convince Tim to go to Jason. No way he would risk Jason’s demands otherwise. Speaking off, Jason wonders what he can ask of Tim in return. Tim gets desperate.

‘Let me hide my coffee, or I’ll.. I’ll… I’ll throw all your books out of the Manor library!’

Jason knew those threat were empty, but it did give him an idea. His mind went to the black notebook in his pocket, and the ever growing list of powers. If he can figure out which people Danny was made from, he might get a list of powers he could anticipate.

‘Ok, RR. You can stash your coffee in the safehouse near the Bowery. But in return you’ll help me with my case.’

Tim asks him what he needs. Tomorrow Jason will bring him a DNA sample. He needs Tim to figure out who it’s from. He warns Tim that he is suspecting a second Respawn, so multiple people might pop up. When they part ways, Jason is hopeful. He might just get a handle on this situation.

Chapter Text

It’s been a few days since Jason brought Tim some of Danny’s hair. He’d checked on Tim’s coffee stash and agreed with Alfred.

‘Goddamn, Tim! I said you could hide your coffee in that safehouse, not fill it!’

Oh well, it would be worth it. In those few days he’d been waiting, Danny’s list of powers had only grown. He took another look at his notebook:

Invisibility
Cryokinesis
Flight
Soul-pulling-out-powers???
Destructive scream
Lasers
Super strength
(Flying) Superspeed
Photokineses
Shields

Jason was getting worried. Thank god Tim was done with his research. He was confused as to why Tim insisted on meeting him instead of just sending him the list of people Danny was made up off. Jason did NOT want to think that the list was so big Tim wanted to give it himself.
Thank goodness Tim landed on the roof. Jason didn’t think he could wait any longer. Before Jason could say anything, Tim cut him off.

‘You have some explaining to do.’

Jason rolled his eyes. ‘I already told you, RR. I’m investigating a possible Respawn clone. Do you have the list I asked for? I need to kno-‘

‘Oh, don’t start with that bullshit. I know you’re lying!’

Jason was confused. ‘What? Why do you think I’m lying? Do you have the results or not?’

Tim looks angry. ‘Hood, you know full well there’s only 2 people on that list.’

Jason gets annoyed at Tim’s attitude: ‘Fine, so it’s Slade and who? Killer Frost? Superman? Give me details, man!’

‘It’s not Slade. It matches partially with Talia and you.’

Jason’s blood goes cold. ‘Tim, what do you mean?’

Tim rolls his eyes. ‘Look man, if you have a kid that’s one thing. But if you needed a paternity test you could’ve-‘

Jason grabs Tim by the arms. ‘TIM, WHAT DO YOU MEAN: MY KID!?!’

Tim finally realizes Jason honestly has no clue. ‘Wait, you didn’t know?’

‘NO, TIM! I DIDN’T! WTF YOU MEAN HE’S MY KID!?!’

Tim shakes Jason off. ‘Ok, easy man! Calm down! Deep breaths!’

Jason slumps down. Tim takes pity on him.

‘Ok, let’s take a step back, J. I need to know where you got this sample.’

Jason looks at him, and motions for Tim to follow him. As he climbs through Jason’s window, he wonders why they’re there.

‘So, did you have some files you wanted to show me, or-‘

‘INTRUDER ALERT!’

Tim is tackled from the side, sending him into the couch.

‘OH MY GOD!’

Tim tries to wrangle the kid off, but he can’t get a grip.

‘Get off me!’

Jason comes over and picks Danny up.

‘Jason! There’s a stranger here!’

Jason ruffles Danny’s hair.

‘Good job, kiddo. Never trust strangers that climb through your windows. But you can calm down. This is my brother, Red Robin.’

Danny tilts his head sideways. ‘Yum?’

Jason laughs. ‘No, not that Red Robin!’

Pulling Tim up, he introduced him.

‘RR, this is Danny, my… kid.’

Tim sees Jason having some more panic, and takes over. Kneeling down he talks to Danny.

‘Hi Danny! You’re a friend of Jason, right? You can call me Tim!’

Danny is hiding behind Jason’s leg. Tim says Jason asked him some help in figuring out where Danny came from. Danny becomes curious.

‘Did you find out?’

Jason picks Danny of the ground, so he’s on eye level with Tim.

‘Well, no. But I did find out something interesting? Turns out, Jason’s your daddy! Did you know that?’

Danny looks at Jason, and he looks amazed.

‘You are? That’s awesome! I always wanted to meet you!’

This surprises Jason. ‘Wait, you knew that I was your dad?’

Danny shakes his head.

‘No, not that. But mom and dad always said I wasn’t their bo…bia…’

Tim helps out: ‘Their biological child?’

Danny nods. ‘Yeah! So I was wondering who my mommy and daddy are!’

Jason is very tired and needs sleep, so he decides to cut this short.

‘It’s great to find out, but it’s very late. How about we go to sleep now, and tomorrow we’ll celebrate with cake?’

Danny cheers. ‘YAY, CAKE! Goodnight Daddy!’

He climbs out of Jason’s arms and goes to bed, wanting to sleep so he can get cake quicker. Jason head is spinning from being called daddy so quickly. Tim just looks at Jason.

‘You need to tell me everything. NOW.’

Chapter Text

‘So, he just showed up in your appartement?’

Tim was still confused how Danny ended up in Jason’s care. At least he wasn’t the only one, as Jason still doesn’t know either. And of course this was the one thing Danny’s memory kept failing him on.

‘I told you, one moment I was alone, and the next he was just sitting on the floor. I don’t know how he didn’t set off any alarms.’

The brothers were both looking at Danny, who was playing with his stuffed bunny, none the wiser to their conversation. That was boring adult stuff, and the adventures of Mr. Bun-Bun were much more interesting.

‘You don’t think he could’ve teleported inside, do you?’

Jason took another swing of his beer.

‘Honestly, the kid pulls a new power out of his ass every other day. If he did, it wouldn’t surprise me.’

They were waiting. Tim had convinced Jason that they needed go talk to Talia and get more information from her. The DNA-test wasn’t as useful as Jason had hoped, but knowing for certain that Talia was involved gave them a new lead to follow. Tim had managed to find out which LoA base Talia was in at the moment, but that had left one problem to figure out.

‘How long do you think it’ll take for him to get here?’

There was no way Jason was bringing Danny along to a LoA base. Apart from the obvious dangers like the ninja’s, Jason didn’t want Danny anywhere near a Lazarus Pit. The kid had enough of that stuff in his system as is. Knowing Danny, he’d say something about spicy soup and slurp the whole thing up with a straw! Well, maybe not, but it wouldn’t surprise Jason if that did happen.

‘Should be any moment now. It’s only 3 days, can’t take that long to pack a suitcase for that.’

So in short, Tim and Jason were leaving for the LoA base, and Danny stayed here. That meant:

‘Hey, I’m here! What’s the emergency? Where are we going?’

Nightwing climbed through the window behind Tim and Jason. Dragging a suitcase clumsily through the window, he toppled over once it popped through. The noise had startled Danny, who had promptly gone invisible.

‘Hey, Dick! Glad you could finally make it.’ Tim stood up from the couch to help Dick up.

‘Yeah, yeah. In case you didn’t know traffic out of Blüdhaven is always the worst. Plus I had to change out into my suit on the way. So, what’s the problem. Must be pretty serious if Tim was willing to cash in his blackmail.’

Dick stretches his legs, before dropping down on the couch as well. Jason stands up and gathers the supplies he had set out.

'We’re having a bit of a problem with my case. So we’re heading to Egypt, where Talia is setting up another LoA base and interrogate her.’

Dick stands up as well. ‘So, we’re going to Egypt? But you guys told me to bring regular clothes. It sounded like a Gotham mission?’

Tim puts his hand on Dick’s shoulder, pushing him back on the couch.

‘No, Dick. Me and Jason are going to Egypt. You’re staying right here.’ Tim took his own bag and headed to the window.

Dick was now very confused.

'Hold on. You’re cashing in your blackmail and pulled me all the way from Blüdhaven, just so I could house-sit for Jason?’

Jason smirked. Knowing instinctively where Danny was, he picked the invisible boy up and turned back to Dick. Tickling the kid to make him drop his invisibility, Jason showed Danny to Dick.

‘Nope! Not house-sitting. You’re baby-sitting!’

That had been 3 nights ago. Dick was looking at the kid. It had been just three nights. Three nights! And Dick was already at his wits end. Danny was a meta, and a wild one! No, not wild. Just, a lot to handle. Jason had just left him, only leaving a notebook and the food in the fridge!

Sure, Dick had already been tired. He had just finished a case, but not yet had the time to rest. Danny had immediately jumped on Dick, asking all sorts of questions.

‘Uncle Dick, what are these?’

Dick immediately rushed to get his Ecrisma sticks out of the 5-year-old’s hands.

‘Those are my weapons. Don’t touch them, they are very dangerous!’

He swears this kid has the survival instinct of a hamster. Knives, sockets, if it was dangerous Danny wanted to know all about it. And he was the type of kid that wanted to touch EVERYTHING.

‘Uncle Dick, why do you dress like that?’

Now that was uncalled for. His clothes were just fine. He wasn't even wearing his uniform, just regular clothes! Maybe the superman logo on his hoodie threw the kid off?

‘This is just my hoodie. I just like superman, that’s all.’

Dick hadn’t even gotten the time to skim the notebook. Instead he had asked Danny about his allergies, likes and dislikes. That’s probably all that was in there anyway. As long as he didn’t poison the kid everything would be fine.

‘Uncle Dick, what does daddy do for a job?’

Dick rubbed his temples. How does he tell that to a kid? At the end of the day, Jason has killed a lot of people, and still does.

‘He- uh, he puts bad people in the ground.’

Ok, he shouldn’t have said that. Luckily it didn’t seem like Danny dwelled on it too much. Now, if Dick could just get him to sleep, then maybe Dick could-

‘Uncle Dick, what is this?’

Rushing to pull his grappling hook out of Danny’s hands, Dick knew he needed a plan. Danny was most likely bored. With that white hair and glow that Dick had noticed when he turned the lights off, Danny most likely hadn’t been able to leave the appartement. The kid must be climbing up the walls. That gave Dick an idea that hopefully allow Danny to burn off some excess energy.

‘Uncle Dick, when will da-’

‘Hey Danny, do you want to go somewhere fun?’

Thinking no one would be here in the middle of the night, Danny and Nightwing arrived at the playpark. Due to Danny glowing and being an obvious meta, Dick had opted for wearing his Nightwing uniform and giving Danny a spare domino mask. Danny immediately flew to the slide. Seeing that Danny was more than happy to just play, Nightwing sat down on a bench. He was exhausted.

Why had Jason not warned him the kid was a meta? He couldn’t take his eyes off Danny for a second! Danny would fly up only to drop down, so Dick needed to catch him. If Danny had too much sugar he would fly around the appartement with breakneck speed, making Dick pray he didn’t fly into something. If Danny didn’t want to go to bed, he’d turn invisible and Dick would be searching for hours! Right as he was finally relaxing a bit, Dick suddenly heard a sound he and his family were acutely aware off.

‘Help!’

Knowing someone was in trouble, Nightwing knew he had to help. But he had to watch Danny! Seeing Danny happily play, he made a decision. One he knew he was going to regret.

‘Danny, I need to go and help someone. Promise me that you’ll stay right here, ok? I’ll be right back!’

Danny gave him a thumbs up, and kept playing with Mr. Bun-Bun on the slide. Nightwing ran to the source of the scream, leaving Danny in the park. He could do this, it’s only be a minute!

Danny was looking at Nightwing leaving, when he noticed something in the other direction. Promise forgotten, he got up and was determined to make a new friend tonight.

A few minutes later, Nightwing was running back. Just a stupid mugger trying to steal a lady’s handbag. He could’ve let the police handle it, but that’s the beauty of hindsight. It didn’t matter, he was almost back at the playpark. Almost back to-

‘Danny?’

Danny was nowhere to be found.

Chapter Text

‘OH GOD, JASON IS GOING TO KILL ME!’

Nightwing was grappling all over the city. He was looking everywhere for Danny. If he had been a normal kid, this was difficult enough, but Danny could fly, and really fast too!

‘Please tell me he didn’t fly all the way to Egypt!’

Why had he’d been so stupid! Of course a 5 year old would wander off! Why didn’t he put a tracker on the kid, that would’ve been so much smarter. As Dick was lamenting his mistakes in his head, his comms turned on and he got a message in the group chat.

‘I just got an alert from Arkham. There has been a breakout, and a few heavy-hitters got out. Be on guard, guys. I’m not sure yet who has and hasn’t escaped.’

This did not ease Dicks worries one bit. Thanking Barbara for the message, he made up his mind. If he hadn’t found Danny within the hour he would alert the other Bats. Even though he had promised Jason he wouldn’t tell anyone about Danny, and Tim blackmailed him, if it came to that he would rather Danny be safe and Jason be angry then Danny be dead and Jason be furious. After a few more minutes, Dick was almost ready to give up. Right as he grabs his communicator to call in a missing meta, he spots a glow. Dropping down into the alley, he finds Danny.

‘Danny! Thank god I found you!’

‘Hi uncle Dick! I found a kitty, but he won’t come out! Will you help me?’

Danny was hunched over near a crate. Sure enough, a white cat was hiding underneath the crate, hissing up a storm.

‘Danny, I told you not to leave the park! Why didn’t you listen to me?’

Nightwing got closer, putting his hand on Danny’s shoulder. While the gesture was to calm Danny, in truth it was more for Nightwings sake.

‘I’m sorry, uncle Dick. I just wanted to be friends with the kitty…’

Danny looked a bit down. He was obviously feeling guilty for making his uncle worry so much.

‘It’s alright, buddy. Just promise me you won’t run off again, ok? I don’t want anything to happen to my favorite nephew!’

Suddenly Nightwing heard a voice behind him, the last one he wanted to hear at that moment.

‘Your favorite nephew? Well, I’d love to meet the latest Bat-brat!’

Before Nightwing could react, a smoke bomb that smelled very sweet made him fall asleep. In his last moment awake, Dick saw Danny try to shake him awake as the Joker reached out to grab Danny.

When Nightwing wakes up a couple hours later, he is momentarily confused. Sitting up, he notices he is in an alley. He tries to remember what happened. He was looking for Danny, who he found in this alley. But then, Joker had appeared. Standing up a bit too quickly, Nightwing looks around. He needs to figure out where Joker took Danny! He needs to-

‘Good morning, uncle Dick! Look! Me and the kitty are friends now!’

Nightwing head turns immediately to the voice. There is Danny, standing next to him, cradling the sleeping cat. The poor thing had also been knocked out by the smoke.

‘Wait, Danny. Why didn’t you fall asleep?’

Dick was confused. Why had the smoke no effect on Danny?

‘Oh! The smoke made my head hurt, so I stopped breathing! Is the smoke the reason why Mrs. Kitty is still sleeping too?’ Danny asked innocently.

Nightwing sighs in relief. His instincts kick back in. Joker might still be around. He immediately picks Danny up and takes him to the roof, but no too far. You never know with Joker, he might’ve strapped a bomb on Danny that would go off after leaving a certain area! After checking Danny over head-to-toe, and after being assured that Danny didn’t eat or drink anything that the mean clown gave him, Nightwing had felt it safe to bring Danny back to the appartement. On the way, Nightwing reported that he had been attacked by the Joker, but that he got away. He didn’t say a word about Danny, but Batman needs to know that Joker is on the loose. As Nightwing climbs back into the window, he asks Danny again just to be certain.

‘Ok Danny, just to be sure. The mean clown didn’t give you anything? No food, no drink, no gifts? Nothing?’

‘No uncle Dick. Even if he had, I wouldn’t have taken it. I hate clowns! They are always mean!’

Grateful that things had ended up fine, Dick didn’t notice the large, red helmeted man standing in the appartement.

‘Dickie, what do you mean by: the mean clown?’

Chapter Text

After a couple hours of screaming and yelling, Tim was very grateful that he put Danny to bed before Jason began his tirade. The kid didn’t need to see his dad and his uncle fighting like this. As he got back to the living room, he wished he’d stayed with Danny.

‘WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, LETTING THAT CLOWN ANYWHERE NEAR MY DANNY!’

Jason was almost as red as his helmet. Tim was worried he’d pop a vein!

‘WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THE KID’S A META! I WAS SO EXHAUSTED I COULDN’T EVEN THINK STRAIGHT!’

Dick was yelling right back. Seems like Danny made it difficult for him.

‘WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I GAVE YOU THE NOTEBOOK WITH ALL THE POWERS I KNOW OFF AND EVERYTHING!’

Jason pointed at the black notebook. Tim had a feeling Dick hadn’t read it.

‘YOU SHOULD’VE- wait, you wrote it down?’

Dick was feeling a bit sheepish. He really should’ve read that stupid thing. As Jason was starting another tirade, Tim decided to intervene.

‘GUYS! I know you’re tired and upset, but can you stop yelling? You’re going to wake up Danny!’

Jason and Dick calmed down. Dick apologized for putting Danny in harms way, but he made sure that Danny was ok. The kid had been more upset that he had to leave the cat behind then about what happened. Jason apologized for not being clearer about Danny and his abilities. He thought the book would be enough, but he should’ve told Dick what information was in it. Sitting down on the couch, Dick asked how their investigation went. Did they get some answers?

‘Well, yes and no. It’s complicated. We did find Talia and she was willing to talk to us. Turns out, she did have a kid about 6 years ago. She had him with Jason when he was recovering from his dip in the Lazarus Pit.’

Tim still felt weird about that. Jason had been way too young then, and it didn’t sit well with him.

‘Don’t give me that look. I was totally out of it at the time, I barely remember it!’ Jason misunderstood Tim’s look, thinking he was judging him, instead of Talia.

‘Since he wasn’t Bruce’s kid, she gave him up for adoption so he could have a normal life. She thought he had a good life, but didn’t keep an eye on him. She has no clue how he ended up in Jason’s care.’

Tim saw how surprised Talia had looked that they even knew of the child.

‘So what else did she say? How do Danny’s powers tie in all this?’

Dick was still curious. Surely they had all the answers now, and with he weekend he had he deserved answers!

‘That’s the part that gave us only more questions. She has no clue.’

Tim had been very disappointed that she had no answers. Talia had even gotten angry, suspecting her father of hunting the child down and experimenting on him.

‘And then there’s the age issue.’

Jason sighed. Damian had been aged up by artificial means, but that needed to be tested. Her father had forbidden her from wasting any of Batman's 'sample' on a test, but Talia had been desperate to make sure her Beloved’s son would be safe. That night she seeked Jason out, she hadn’t actually wanted him, but she needed a sample and he was there and still out of it. So the child had been aged up as well. He should look like a 14-year-old now, not 5!

‘So in short, Danny is Talia’s and mine’s kid. But he is far younger than he should be, has powers with no origin and still no clue as to how he got in my appartement!’

Jason was frustrated. He had hoped for answers, but came home with more questions.

‘I’m not even sure it’s the same kid. According to Talia, he had black hair and blue eyes. It might be a result of his powers, but there is a change we’re talking about a completely different kid here.’

Tim was worried. There were so many things that didn’t add up. What if they were getting 2 different kids mixed up? As the brothers are talking, the bedroom door opens. Danny walks to the couch and crawls up, snuggling up to Jason.

‘Daddy, I can’t sleep. Will you read me a bedtime story?’

Jason pets Danny’s head. He wonders why the kid always has trouble sleeping. Maybe he wasn’t used to sleeping full nights?

‘In a minute, kiddo. Me and your uncles are almost done.’

Dick has an idea. With the amount of powers Danny tormented him with, maybe he could…

‘Hey Danny? Do you know anything about another Danny? With black hair?’

Danny looks up, sleepy. He thinks for a bit, before a ring of light appears. It splits in 2 and travel up and down his body, turning his hair black and eyes blue. His glow disappears and he looks like a normal kid.

‘Like this, uncle?’

The brothers were looking at the now black-haired boy, still snuggled up to Jason in his Martian Manhunter pajamas and his Wonder Woman blanket. At least one mystery was solved rather quickly. Jason rubbed his temple, before asking for the notebook:

Invisibility
Cryokinesis
Flight
Soul-pulling-out-powers???
Destructive scream
Super strength
(Flying) Superspeed
Photokineses
Shields
Doesn't need to breath (as often)?
Color changing (Camouflage? Different form?)

As Jason came to terms with another power, Dick decided it was the perfect time for a poor joke:

‘I mean, at least we know there aren’t 2 Danny’s going around?’

Jason gave Dick a look that said enough. But before he could tell Dick to buzz off, Danny decided to drop another bombshell.

‘But there are 2 of me! Dani is the best!’

The room immediately went silent. The brothers just looked at Danny. Jason gently shook Danny, praying he didn’t just fall asleep on them after that. He needed answers. NOW.

‘Danny, kiddo. What do you mean. Why are there 2 of you?’

Danny was beginning to doze off. He yawned and answered a bit groggily.

‘I was cloned. Dani is my clone. She is so cool. I’m so happy that she exists. Sometimes I wish that he cloned me sooner.’

Tim immediately followed up on that. Who cloned him?

‘Danny, who is this ‘he’? Who cloned you and made the other Danny?’

Danny puts on his thinking face. He still has trouble remembering things. But he knew exactly how to describe the guy:

‘I forgot his name. But he’s a rich, billionaire frootloop with adoption issues and a creepy lair underneath his mansion. He dresses like a vampire and he wants to get with my mom. I hate him.’

Hearing this, Tim and Dick looked up slowly, not wanting to make any sudden movements. Sure enough, Jason’s eyes were no longer blueish. They were glowing full, Lazarus green.

5 minutes later, Jason was calmy going around his appartement, Dick and Tim following in a panic.

‘Jason, please think about this!’

‘I just want to go talk to him.’

Jason was packing his weapons. Dick was trying to convince him to stop doing that, while also trying not to panic.

‘Seriously Jason, we don’t yet have all the info. There might be a good reason for this?’

‘I just want to go talk to him.’

Tim was very glad he had quickly put Danny to bed. The boy didn’t need to see what was going on with his dad.

‘Jason, please stop packing- Is that a bazooka!?!’

‘I just want to talk to him.’

Dick and Tim were at their wits end. They had expected screaming, anger, violence. The calm way that Jason was preparing a murder was unsettling to say the least. Especially since they knew who Jason was going to kill.

‘Dick’s right, Jason. What if it’s a mistake? Maybe it’s someone else-’

‘ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TRYING TO TELL ME THERE ARE 2 OF THAT FUCKER OUT THERE!?!’

Jason was livid. Tim admitted things didn’t seem good, but things had just been too strange. Nothing made sense anymore!

‘Look Jason, think about it. How could Bruce clone Danny? He didn’t even know about him!’

Dick was trying to reason with his brother. He couldn’t let Jason just try and kill their dad.

‘I don’t care how he did it! He knew I had a kid and he didn’t say anything about it! No, not only that, HE CLONED MY KID AND DIDN’T SAY SHIT! Oh, I knew that things had been going too well, I KNEW IT! I knew he didn’t trust me, that’s why he kept it from me! He didn’t trust me with my own kid, and now my kid has DIED AND BEEN REVIVED JUST LIKE ME! IM GOING TO KILL THAT-’

‘JASON!’ Tim actually slapped Jason across the face. ‘I know you’re furious, and you have every right to be! But we have no idea if Bruce really did all that! And before you start, when has ANYTHING about Danny been straight-forward?’

Jason actually put down his weapons, though his eyes didn’t change. Taking advantage of the calm, Tim kept pleading his case.

‘Look Jason. Things are really weird right now, and I admit, it does sound like Bruce did something he shouldn’t have. So, me and Dick are going back to the Manor. Give us a week to get to the bottom of this, ok? In the meantime, you can take Danny to all sorts of places now that he looks like a normal kid. How’s that for a plan?’

Jason calmed down a bit, the green finally receding. He knows Tim is right. He needs more information. And he can’t interrogate Bruce without strangling him right now. He relents:

‘Fine, one week. You investigate the Manor and I’ll try to get more information out of Danny. But if he did know-’

‘Then he’s all yours, Jason. We promise. Just, stay here and we’ll go. Ok? Bye!’

As Dick and Tim rush back to the Manor, they are worried. What the heck had Bruce done?

Chapter Text

Bruce knew something was up. He didn’t need the title of World’s Greatest detective to figure that out. And it had something to with his sons.

‘Tim, why are you in my classified files?’

He had caught Tim looking through his personal files on the Bat-computer. There were strict rules not to go into each other’s personal files, yet Tim had broken that rule. Then again, Bruce was certain Tim did this often, which was the only reason he didn’t get angry.

‘I was just… wondering if your contingency files were still up to date!’

At the time Bruce though Tim had been curious if there was a plan for him. But then the week had continued to become stranger.

‘Dick, what are you doing with our Lazarus Pit? You know I don’t want anyone near it unless necessary.’

Dick had been by the Batcave’s Lazarus Pit, with a ruler of all things! Everyone was forbidden of going near it. If that thing wasn’t so fundamental to have Bruce would have gotten rid of it ages ago.

‘I was just… making sure it wasn’t leaking?’

That had been even stranger. Why would Dick think that Lazarus Water was missing? Both Dick and Tim had been walking on eggshells around him, and Bruce didn’t know why. Part of him wanted to be a good father and let them come to him when they were ready, but the other part needed to make sure that they weren’t in any trouble. Why was being a father so hard? And then dinner had been strange and downright awkward.

‘Yeah, remember when Wally faked his own death and went to that sanctuary? I was so upset! I just missed him sooooo much!’

Dick had brought up his friend. It had been unnatural for the conversation. Bruce was concerned. What was Dick fishing for?

‘Oh yes, I remember. That must’ve been horrible. I remember how I felt when Connor died. I missed him so much, I tried to clone him! It didn’t work, but still! Thank goodness he’s back now’

Bruce was getting more uncomfortable, as were his other kids. He wasn’t sure if Duke, Steph and Cass even knew about that. This sounded scripted, what was this about?

‘Ha-ha yeah! Oh well. Who hasn’t tried that? Raise your hand if you tried to bring a loved one back through cloning!’

Dick was looking at the table. Bruce was confused. Did… Did they think he cloned someone? Why would Bruce do that? They have a Lazarus Pit in the basement, and cloning doesn’t work with memories. It would never work. But that is beside the point. Why did his sons think he cloned someone, and why were they shaken enough to be in a state that they couldn’t even be subtle about it?

‘Guys, can you lighten up a bit? I’d rather not eat and discuss dead friends at the same time.’ Duke was very uncomfortable.

‘Yeah, knock it off. Let’s talk about something else. Damian, didn’t you visit Sgt. Byrd at the zoo today?’ Stephanie tried to switch topics.

As the conversation shifted, Bruce knew he couldn’t just let them come to him anymore. This was a case for Batman.

Tim and Dick were arguing. After dinner they had left to Tim’s room, to discuss things.

‘Really? ‘Raise your hand if you tried to bring a loved one back through cloning’? What was that?’

‘Look, we haven’t found anything else. What was I supposed to do? The week is almost up and we have no clue’s. Zero, nada, nothing! What are we supposed to tell Jason?’

Tim put his face in his hands. This investigation was going nowhere.

‘Ok, arguing isn’t getting us anywhere. We need to work together on this.’

After a week of trying to find more information they had come up empty. Tim had scoured every file in the Bat-computer but there wasn’t a trace of any cloning plans. They had gone over every paper file in the Cave itself, but there wasn’t even an anecdote about it. Dick had gone so far as to measure the Lazarus Pit to see if any water was missing! With how infused with the stuff Danny was, it had seemed reasonable. But there wasn’t anything. There was nothing to be found. But both boys knew that wasn’t the end of it. Bruce could’ve destroyed his work. He could’ve kept it in a different location. Jason would know that too.

‘We need to find out for certain if Bruce cloned him. If we don’t, Jason is going to murder someone, or at least try.’

As both boys left to investigate other Bat-hide outs in Gotham, Damian decided he’d heard enough. Dropping down from the ceiling, he went to his father to report this.

‘…So in short Father, Grayson and Drake believe you might have cloned Jason. Most likely after his death as a coping mechanism.’

Bruce sighed. He had no clue where they would get that idea from. However, he needed to talk to them. But if he knew his sons even a little, he knew that neither Dick nor Tim would believe a word he said until their investigation was over. Which means he had only one son he could reason with, as hard as that was even on a good day. Leaving to figure out which safehouse he was currently living in, Bruce thought about what he was going to say to Jason.

‘Alright, kiddo. You ready for bed? You had your water? You got everything? Your Blankie and Mr. Bun-Bun?’

Jason tucked Danny into bed. Snuggling further into his blankets, Danny gave him a big smile.

‘Yep! Goodnight daddy!’

Jason turned off the lights and closed the door. Hopefully Danny would be able to sleep through the night. He had been doing better lately, but he still woke up a lot. Jason stretched his muscles a bit. He felt like he was finally getting a handle on this parenting thing. As long as Danny didn’t get any new powers…

‘Jason.’

Bruce was standing in Jason’s living room. Jason instantly felt rage, his eyes going fully green just as fast. This shocked Bruce. What had happened? Did this have anything to do with the cloning theory?

‘What do you want, old man? You have a lot of nerve coming here!’

Jason was feeling strange. This was the first time he’d gotten so mad he almost attacked someone on sight since his dip, and it felt odd. He didn’t want to alert Danny to this, but it took almost everything he had not to snap. But if Bruce didn’t own up to this…

‘Jason, I need to talk to you. Dick and Tim seem to be under the impression that I have cloned-’

‘OH, JUST ADMIT IT, BRUCE! I KNOW EVERYTHING! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?’

Jason broke. Knowing that Bruce had not only known that Jason had a son, but keeping it from him just to try and clone the child was too much. He flung himself at Bruce, and attacked him.

‘AWNSER ME DAMMIT! WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME!’

Jason threw a punch at Bruce, which was blocked. In his rage, Jason was fighting sloppy. Bruce flipped Jason over his head, dropping him onto the couch.

‘Jason, I don’t understand. What are you talking about?’

Bruce was trying to understand. Even if someone had tried to clone Jason, that didn’t explain this anger. He was missing a piece of the puzzle and he needed to figure out what was happening. Did Jason think he wasn’t the original Jason for some reason? Jason threw a pillow to block Bruce’s vison and got off the couch. Throwing another punch, this one connected and slammed Bruce into the wall.

‘HOW COULD YOU HIDE THIS FROM ME! DO YOU HATE ME THAT MUCH?’

Jason picked Bruce up and pushed him against the wall. Bruce was surprised Jason was able to do that while Bruce was wearing the heavy bat-suit.

‘YOU KNEW I HAD A KID, AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME SHIT! YOU EVEN TRIED TO CLONE HIM! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME-’

‘Daddy, who is that?’

Jason stopped. Danny had woken up and found them fighting.

‘Danny, what do you mean? Isn’t he the frootloop that cloned you?’

Danny shook his head. He’d never seen that man before!

‘Jaylad, I-’

Before Bruce could say anything else, Jason fell slack. He had fainted from the stress.

Chapter Text

When Jason wakes up, he is a bit confused. This isn’t his appartement? After a few moments he realizes that he is in his old room in the Manor. Why is he here? Last thing he remember is a fight with Bruce about-

‘Danny!’

Sitting up, Jason looks around him. He is about to leave his bed, when Alfred enters the room.

‘I suggest you get back into bed, master Jason. You gave us quite the scare.’

Alfred explains that Jason collapsed due to stress and Bruce brought both him and the child here.

‘Where is Danny? Is he ok?’

Jason was still worried. Who was looking after Danny while he was recovering? As soon as Jason said this, he noticed Bruce entering the room, Danny on his arm.

‘Good morning Jason. How are you feeling?’

Bruce had been very worried about Jason, so he was very glad that Jason woke up so soon.

‘Hi daddy! Are you feeling better? Grandpa Alfred said you were reeeaaaallyyy tired and had to sleep a lot! Did you sleep well?’

Danny un-clung himself from Bruce and climbed up to Jason, hugging his dad.

‘Hey kiddo. Yeah, I feel much better. How do you like the Manor? Are you getting along with everyone?’

Jason ruffled Danny’s hair. Even feeling so tired, his first instinct was making sure Danny was ok. He didn’t notice Bruce looking very proud.

‘Yeah! It’s great! It’s so big, but not green and gold and ugly! Grandpa Alfred is really nice, like Hobson! And everyone else is really nice too! Uncle Duke bought sunglasses so he could play with me, and auntie Cass let me do her hair, and uncle Damian showed me his penguin-’

‘Excuse me, young master Danny? Could you be so kind as to show me this penguin?’

Alfred took Danny away, as Jason was still very tired and needed sleep. Bruce still needed to talk with Jason after all. And besides, there was a penguin that needed to be removed.

‘Are you alright? You fainted so suddenly?’

Bruce sat down on the bed. He had been very worried seeing his son in that state. Tim had told him there were some issues with how Danny ended up with Jason that caused stress, but also told Bruce to ask Jason about it. Then Tim had opted to forgo coffee and go to bed, so he too must’ve been very stressed and tired. And Bruce wasn’t even going to mention Dick’s condition.

‘Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just had a very stressful 2 weeks. Everything just happened so fast, I barely got time to process anything.’

Jason was already feeling much better than before. Knowing his kid was safe with his family was such a relief.

‘Look, Bruce. I’m sorry for attacking you like that. It’s just-’

Bruce cuts Jason off:

‘You thought I had hidden your child from you and tried to clone him. Tim told me. I felt similair when I first found out about Damian. Just rest, Jason.’

After Bruce leaves, Jason dozes off. Before he truly falls asleep, he hears Dick yelling at Damian that Danny in not ready for sword-training. Jason smiles. Everything would be fine. Bruce headed to the Batcave. As much as he wanted to spend time with his grandson, and god he had a grandson, Batman had work to do. Getting on the Bat-computer, he revisits the case that has been bugging him for days. Where had the Joker escaped too?

When Jason wakes up again, he is feeling much, much better. He really needed that rest. He gets out of bed and heads down to the main living room. There he finds almost the whole family minus Bruce, all doting on Danny.

‘And this is my dog, Titus. You may let him sniff your hand.’

Damian was introducing Titus to Danny, who was very excited. Then Danny noticed Jason.

‘Good morning daddy! Uncle Damian is letting me meet his friend! He is so cute!’

Danny was very happy, and giggled when Titus licked his hand. Duke asked Danny if he likes dogs. Danny answers him with a big grin:

‘Yeah! I have a dog too! Well, he’s not really my dog, but we play a lot! He’s really cute, until he gets angry. Then he gets really big and scary, but he is still a good boy. He’s dead!’

The room gets uncomfortable. Steph wants to ask Jason about this, but he cuts her off.

‘Don’t even ask. I have no idea what he means. Just roll with it.’

Bruce enters the room as well. He looks a bit tired, but perks up upon seeing all his family. He immediately walks over and scoops up Danny.

‘There is my new grandson! How’s the little man doing?’

When Bruce notices Jason is awake, he asks him if he is doing better. Jason waves him off, saying he is fine now that he had… 36 hours of sleep. Turns out he’d been running pretty ragged. Bruce agrees. Dick jokes that Jason didn’t even have the energy to argue with Bruce, earning him a laugh from his other siblings. Danny starts to struggle out of Bruce’s grip, wanting his dad. Bruce puts him down, but is visibly sad about it.

‘Come now, master Bruce. You spend all day with young master Danny yesterday. Let the boy see his dad.’

Alfred scolded Bruce. Bruce had spend nearly all day doting on Danny the day before, happy to have a grandson. He’d actually made his other kids a bit jealous. He only went back to work after Alfred had taken Danny and put him to bed.

‘By the way, B. How is your case going? Did you figure out where the Joker went?’

Dick was curious. Bruce still didn’t know Danny had been there, and Dick intended to keep it that way. But he had still felt weird about it. Why had Joker left without doing anything? He hoped Bruce would know something. Unfortunately, Bruce had to tell him there were no new leads. It was like the clown had gone up in smoke. Seeing that Jason was getting uncomfortable, no doubt because the clown had nearly hurt his kid, Tim decided to change the topic.

‘By the way, Jason. You were sleeping, so you don’t know yet, but tomorrow I’m having some of my friends over at the Manor. All supers, though. Kon, Bart and Cassie wanted to see the Bat-cave.’

Jason gave him a nod, but Danny got confused.

‘What do you mean? Auntie Cass is already here?’

Dick told him that more than one person could have the same name. Aunt Cass and Cassie shared their name, which is why they made sure to always call Tim’s friend ‘Cassie’, and never ‘Cass’. Danny seemed to understand, saying it was just like him and ‘Dani’ with an i! That had started a whole conversation about Danny’s clone. Jason didn’t like Duke’s joke:

‘Wait, Jason, does that make you a grandpa?’

Chapter Text

And this is the bat-computer!’

Tim was showing his friends around. He was being supervised by Dick so he didn’t get overzealous and show stuff he wasn’t supposed to, and Danny and Jason tagged along as well. Danny had been eager to see the creepy lair. Superboy, Wondergirl and Impulse were also impressed.

‘This is so cool!’

‘How is this place so big?’

‘Is that a dinosaur?’

Batman was annoyed. He was still on the Bat-computer, trying to find Joker when the group had entered. Now his concentration was being challenged. But he had promised Tim a month ago that he could show them around, so he couldn’t say no. Not as long as it seemed that Joker still hiding and not making any moves. Meanwhile, Danny was getting curious over Tim’s friends. Did everyone in Gotham dress in weird outfits?

‘Are you all like my family? Everyone dresses so weird!’

Impulse puffs up his chest, eager to impress the little man.

‘Yep! We are all super heroes! We even have powers, unlike the Bats here!’

Danny looks confused. He thought that his Daddy was a grave digger, not a superhero. This was way cooler! This takes the group by surprise. Why would Danny think that Jason was a grave digger?

‘Uncle Dick told me daddy puts bad people in the ground! I thought it was really nice that he makes graves for bad people. Everyone likes to have them. Then your friends can leave you gifts! I wish I had a grave, then I could get gifts too!’

The group gets uncomfortable. As Jason laughs it off, he gets a weird feeling. Handing Danny over to Dick, he takes out his notebook. He looks at Danny. He looks at Bruce still doing research. Then he looks back at Danny. And lastly at the notebook filled with powers. Telling Dick to get Danny upstairs, he grabbed Superboy by the collar and dragged him of.

‘Kon, with me. NOW!’

Superboy was confused, letting Jason drag him to the Bat-computer. As they reached Bruce, Jason took a deep breath.

‘Hey, B! I was thinking, with how badly this investigation is going maybe we could ask for a bit of help? Now that Tim’s buddies are here anyway?’

Bruce sighed. He usually didn’t want other supers operating in his city, but Jason was right. Perhaps Superboy could find something he missed with his X-ray vision, or hear something he couldn’t. After Bruce showed Kon the location Dick last saw the Joker on a map, Kon took off. Tim was looking at Jason, suspicious at his nervous behavior. Taking Jason apart, he asked Jason why he was acting weird, which Jason denied.

‘Weird? Me? No no. I’m just… nervous. I don’t like having that clown on the loose, especially now that I have a son! I don’t think that is weird at all! It would be weirder if I wasn’t nervous!’

Before Tim can interrogate him further, Kon comes back. He too looks very nervous. Bruce approaches him, telling him to report.

‘Yeah, so… uhm… He’s… underground?’

Bruce was getting frustrated. He asked Kon to elaborate. Is he in a tunnel? An underground hide-out? He needed details!

‘Well… no. He’s… stuck. Like, in the ground. It’s almost like he phase-shifted like Martian Manhunter, but got stuck halfway. I’ve never seen anything like it.’

The group was shocked. How could that happen? Bruce feared the answer on his next question:

‘Is he…’

‘Oh, he’s very dead. I don’t know if it was because he was unable to breathe, or because literally every inch of his body is filled with soil. He must’ve died almost instantaneous.’

As Bruce was processing the information, the group heard a loud bonk. Jason had fainted for the second time in 3 days.

The next day, the whole family had gone to the mall. Alfred had ordered it as a distraction from the revelation of the day before.

‘Jason, you can’t say this is my fault!’

‘I. Blame. You.’

Jason and Dick were arguing quietly. They couldn’t let the others hear them, especially now that they were in public. After Tim’s friends had left, Bruce contacted Martian Manhunter to remove the body. He had been on Mars and couldn’t be there for at least a month, but it wasn’t like the body was going anywhere. So to take his mind of things, Alfred had ordered Bruce to take his kids out shopping. Now that Jason was awake Bruce could take him and Danny on a shopping spree, and Danny was delighted at the amount of toys they had already collected. This had done nothing to ease Jason’s nerves, though, and he was taking it out on Dick.

‘Look, how was I supposed to know Danny could phase-shift? It wasn’t in the notebook!’

‘Yeah, the book you didn’t read! And you wouldn’t have had to know if you had watched Danny like you were supposed to!’

Dick shushed Jason before he got too loud. The family still didn’t know that Danny was at the scene of Joker’s death, nor that Danny was a meta. Jason made it very clear he didn’t want Bruce to know about Danny’s affinity with the Lazarus Pit.

‘And for god’s sake, why did you tell him that I ‘put bad people in the ground’? Why on earth would you say that to a kid? What were you thinking?’

‘Look, Jason, I was so tired! I couldn’t think straight!’

‘Yeah, obviously you didn’t! I mean, what-’

Tim decided to cut the brothers off. They were getting loud, and if they stayed back much longer Cass might pick up on their argument. They were lucky she was distracted with Danny for as long as she had been.

‘Keep it down, you guys are going to alert the whole shopping mall! What’s done is done. What matters now is how we’re going to hide this from Bruce?’

‘Hide what?’

Suddenly Bruce appeared behind them. He was wearing a disguise, as he didn’t want the media hounding them. So far it had worked, and he had gotten Danny half a toy store worth of stuff. Looking behind Bruce, Jason could see Duke carrying a bag full of stuffed animals and Steph was holding so many Justice League toys they nearly fell out her hands. Cass was holding a box with an action figure of every member of the Bat family and the Justice League and a very expensive Make-your-own-hero set. It had been Cass’s suggestion, since the Red Hood didn’t have an action figure, with him being a drug-lord and all. This way they could make Danny a figure of his dad to play with.

‘Hide the… bottle of champagne Jason bought to celebrate. You know he hated the Joker, but we thought it was inappropriate to party in front of you. Sorry about that.’

Tim was one of the few that could lie successfully to Bruce. Jason was very happy that he didn’t rat them out. Hopefully they could keep this up a bit longer.

Chapter Text

Bruce was getting a weird feeling. He thought that with Jason coming clean about having a kid and with he misunderstanding about Jason being cloned cleared up that things would go back to normal. But the way his sons were acting told him that there was still something he didn’t know. It likely had something to do with Danny, but he wasn’t sure what. Danny was a sweet kid, always eager to help others and make new friends. Bruce had still no clue what Dick, Tim and Jason were hiding from him and it nagged at him. He was suspicious that it was something big, otherwise one of them would’ve ratted the others out by now. If not to him then to Duke, Steph or Cass. Even Alfred didn’t know what was going on, and there were times Bruce suspected him of being an all-knowing being only pretending to be human. Bruce decided to keep an close eye. It’s not like he could investigate the Joker case any further before J’ohn came back from Mars anyway.

‘Grandpa Bruce, is daddy’s doll dry yet?’

Bruce looked down. Danny was looking at him with big eyes, waiting for the paint on their self-made Red Hood action figure to dry. Checking it with his finger, Bruce found it had dried and was ready.

‘It seems he is, champ. Here you go, you can play all you want with him. Be careful not to break him, ok?’

After Bruce handed Danny the action figure, Danny got really excited. He immediately ran back to his other toys so he could play out the stories his uncle’s told him about. Though they were made child-friendly, of course. Danny immediately gathered the Batman, Nightwing and Red Robin toys. He even had a Mr. Freeze and Riddler toy. Mr. Freeze had no problem with his visage being used as long as a portion of the money went to his wife’s cure. Riddler had seen it as a contest with Batman, so his toy even came with pre-recorded riddles! Seeing Danny play with them, Bruce turned to the other people in the room.

‘Dang, Bruce. You’re really playing into the grandpa role, aren’t you?’

Jason smirked at Bruce. It was a good thing that there wasn’t much happening in Gotham. With things calm in the city, he could stay a bit longer and the family could bond. Jason couldn’t remember the last time things were like this. He started to wonder if he should tell everyone how Danny took care of his Lazarus problem… Nah, they would just ask more questions and he really didn’t want to put his Soul on display again. Never again.

‘You’re not going anywhere, Red Hood! We’ll skin you alive and turn you into a coffee table!’ Danny said, holding the Mr. Freeze toy.

Dick, Jason, Tim and Bruce looked at Danny. Where had he picked up that language? Sure, Jason wasn’t always able to watch what he said around Danny, but he never threatened to turn someone into furniture? Maybe he should try it though. He bet he could make it work, with his reputation and all.

‘You are going down! The Red Hood never loses! Pew pew!’ Danny was pretending the Red Hood toy could shoot lasers from his hands.

Dick thought it was adorable. Did Danny think Jason had laser guns? Did he see those in cartoons? Maybe Danny liked those sci fi cartoons that were popular nowadays. With all the glow-in-the-dark stars Danny put up in his room it was obvious that Danny loved space. He wonders if Danny had those stars in his old house.

‘I am the Question Mark, and you will question why you ever thought you could win!’ Danny was holding the Riddler toy, and for some reason putting up a mad-scientist voice.

Bruce was worried. What had Danny been through that he knew about stuff like this? The threats and the obvious mad-scientist. Did the person Danny was copying the voice off the same one as the person that tried to clone him? It made him think. After Jason had told him that Danny had adoptive parents out there, he had avoided the issue. He’d been too happy to have a new family member. But now? Would it be safe for Danny? He should investigate these ‘parents’, so he could decide if it would be safer for Danny to stay here. If he was going to stay, Bruce knew that he would be fine. Everyone loved Danny, and Jason was being a very good father-figure to him. Bruce could tell that Jason loved his son very much, and would do anything for him. Somewhere, deep down, Bruce wished he could say the same thing.

‘You’re defeated, Question-Mark-man! No evil people will harm the innocents while the Red Hood is here!’ Danny put the Red Hood toy’s foot on the Riddler toy, in a triumphant pose.

Jason smiled. It was nice to be his kids hero. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Bruce looked at him with a very proud look in his eyes.

‘Jason, I must say, I’m proud of you. You’re a good father.’

And then Danny phased the Riddler toy into the floor.
Bruce, Jason and Dick were looking at Danny. Danny, who had just phased a toy into the floor. Seeing the gears turning in Bruce’s head, Tim quickly scooped up the kid and left the room. As Bruce slowly turned to look at Jason and Dick, Jason decided to make the first move:

‘IT WAS DICK’S FAULT!’

Dick was shocked by that. They immediately started arguing. Dick accused Jason of throwing him under the bus. Jason accused Dick of leaving Danny alone in public. Dick threw back that Jason didn’t warn him about Danny being so much to handle. Jason asked why on Earth he told his 5-year old child that he puts people in the ground, this never would’ve-

‘ENOUGH!’

Bruce’s voice boomed through the room, silencing the 2 brothers. He was furious. His new grandson was the reason the Joker was dead, and his own children tried to hide it from him! Bruce took a deep breath. Dick and Jason were looking guilty. Bruce was reminder of how they looked when they got into trouble as kids, but this was serious. The fight the two had did reveal a few things to Bruce.

‘So, Danny is a meta? And you, Dick, told him that bad people are to be buried alive?’

Dick didn’t look him in the eyes:

‘He wanted to know what Jason did for work, and I was overwhelmed and it just came out? I knew I messed up as soon as I said it, but Dany didn’t seem to care. I never thought he would-’

Bruce cut him off. He needed more information, not excuses.

‘Does Danny realize he killed someone?’

Jason said Danny didn’t, at least Jason thinks he didn’t. Danny never showed signs of that, but with all the things that Danny does do it might have slipped through. Jason still isn’t sure what things Danny tells him are real and what is a child’s interpretations. Bruce sighed. That was good, at least they didn’t have another trauma to deal with.

‘Ok, we can deal with this. But I do need to know what Danny can do before we can make plans for him. Is phase-shifting his only power?’

Jason looked at Dick with a strange look, that promised nothing good. He pulled out a tiny black notebook, scribbled something in it, claiming to be updating the list and handed it to Bruce.

Invisibility
Cryokinesis
Flight
Soul-pulling-out-powers???
Destructive scream
Super strength
(Flying) Superspeed
Photokineses
Shields
Doesn't need to breath (as often)?
Color changing (Camouflage? Different form?)
Phase-shifting

Bruce read it over. He looked at Jason.

‘Jason. This is like half the Justice League’s powers.’

Jason just nods. Dick tells him this is only what they’ve seen Danny do. They have no clue what else he can do. Danny’s memory is iffy, and couldn’t give them a list himself.

‘We need to figure out where Danny came from. We put this off long enough, but this amount of powers is concerning. I’m guessing you were hiding more form me, so the both of you need to come clean about everything.’

Jason sighed. He knew this was coming. He told Bruce everything. How Danny just showed up, to the Lazarus blood, to being cloned, to being younger than he should be and everything. By the end, Bruce had turned slightly pale. The three decided to use the Bat-computer to find out more. When they got there, Tim was already working on Danny’s case. He managed to track Danny from the orphanage in Europe that Talia had left him at. There Danny had been adopted by a family called ‘the Fenton’s’, but he had lost sight of them after they moved to the US. No matter how hard Tim tried, he couldn’t find anything. It was almost like there was some sort off wall blocking all information. As much as he hated to admit it, Tim didn’t think that technology would help them much further. Bruce thought for a bit. If technology couldn’t help…

‘Good thing Constantine still owes me a favor, then.’

Chapter Text

‘So you need a spell? What kind, mate? I’m in a rush, so let’s get this over with.’

Constantine was annoyed. He hated dealing with Batman. The guy was a control freak, and magic doesn’t work by his rules. Constantine always felt like he had to over-explain everything just to keep the man from messing with things he really shouldn’t. Not only that, Zatanna had put a spell on him, either as a prank or as a way to help him quit. All his cigarette’s kept turning into lollipops. God, he needed a smoke.

‘We need a spell to find out where a child came from. So far we have found nothing, which is why we called you.’

Batman was annoyed. He hated dealing with Constantine. The wizard always acted like he was a toddler with a fork and an outlet. B was certain if he studied magic like Constantine he would figure it out, but he was too busy keeping Gotham safe for that.

‘Alright, let’s get this over with. At least we’ll be square afterwards. Where’s the little bugger?’

Constantine looked around. He saw Red Hood sitting at a table next to a little boy. Cute little kid, black hair and blue eyes. No wonder Batsy was so keen to help. But there was a strange energy around them…

‘The child is Red Hood’s son. We need to find out where he lived before he came to Gotham.’

Ah, so that’s why the kid felt like Death. Red Hood reeked of it and being his kid it’s no wonder the kid also felt like that. Sitting next to the kid, Constantine took out a cigarette out of habit, but it morphed into a lollipop in his hands. Cursing a bit, Constantine started setting up a simple spell. That should narrow down where the kid lived down to the city. Batsy can figure out the rest.

‘Mr. Con-man? Can I trade for your lollipop?’

Constantine blinked. Did the kid really called him Con-man? Seeing Red Hood smirk, John decided that the kid probably just couldn’t pronounce Constantine yet. Seeing the kid hold a juice-box, and not liking lollipops either way, John accepted.

‘Sure kid, deal. Now, this sigil should go here, and then this one-’

Suddenly John felt a warmth in his chest. He knew that warmth, but why now? Looking around, he saw the kid, enjoying the pop and still keeping his juice. Batman asked him what’s wrong.

‘…Nothing mate. I’m almost done. Just need to put this last sigil here and… done. Hey kid, could you put your hand right here for a moment?’

When Danny put his hand on the spell, the light formed into an Earth. A bright spot appeared in Illinois. Searching that spot on the Bat-computer, Tim found a place called Amity Park.

‘Ah, bollocks.’

‘Something wrong, Constantine?’

‘Ah, no. Nothing wrong, Batsy. I just need to go. I’ve got a… previous arrangement. I’ll see myself out!’

Constantine magicked himself back to his House of Mystery. He got a bottle of scotch and collapsed on the couch. Of course the kid was form Amity Park. Where else had Batsy gotten a kid that traded Constantine’s Soul contracts for Goddamn candy? How'd the kid even get those? Back in the Batcave Bruce was confused. Why had Constantine fled? Danny didn’t do anything? He hoped that they would find their answers in Amity Park.

The next day, the family was taking a private plane. Bruce thought it would be best if the group went as civilians. The city wasn’t very suited to grapples and such, though they did have their suits in a hidden compartment in the plane. You can never be too sure, after all. Besides, the Waynes were in need of a vacation. That’s what rich people did after all. Danny was looking through the window, trying to see if he recognized anything yet.

‘Hey Danny, have you ever flown before?’

‘Of course, Uncle Dick! I fly all the time!’

At this, Danny floated up to the ceiling. Jason quickly grabbed him and put Danny on his lap. Can’t have him phasing outside.

‘Dick meant in a plane, kiddo. We know you can fly on your own. Have you ever flown in a plane before?’

‘Yeah! I did once with my mom! But the pilot jumped out of the plane and left me and mom to crash! He was dead too!’

Hoping to distract from that worrying statement, Duke asked Danny if he liked living in Amity, or if he didn’t remember.

‘I’m starting too. I do like it! It used to be really difficult, but not anymore! Now that everybody know that I’m dead, I don’t have to do my homework as much, and my parents don’t hunt me anymore, and my bullies don’t hit me either! But don’t tell anyone! It’s a secret, we don’t want the government to come and cut me open. So don’t tell the Guys in White, please!’

Bruce wrote down a memo to investigate these ‘guys in white’. Before he could ask Danny a bit more about it, the seatbelt lights came on. They had arrived in Amity Park.

Chapter Text

‘Ok Danny. Let us know if you see anything that looks familiar.’

After the plane had landed, the family set out in a rental car. They had decided to tour the town while it was still light outside. Since they had no leads, Danny was sitting on Jason’s lap and looking to see if he recognized something.

‘Oh! There! That’s the Nasty Burger! Can we go get burgers there? Please daddy? I promise it’s better than Bat-burgers!’

Jason looked at the fast-food place. At least that explained why Danny kept asking for ‘nasty’ burgers. Promising they would go there for lunch, they kept driving around. After a while they came across a large official building.

‘That’s the mayor’s office! Remember the frootloop? He worked there! He became mayor just to spite me and make my life difficult. But he is lost in space now, so it’s all good!’

Jason put down his gun. Looks like he’ll have to ask Green Lantern for a favor later. Too bad. A few minutes later they passed a school.

‘That’s Casper High! I go to school there! The food is gross, but at least it doesn’t come alive! One time the psychiatrist tried to kill my sister. That was Spectra, she’s dead too! But even deader than us, dad! She’s like fully dead!’

Danny then spots something across the street. He phases out of the car, and flies towards it. Jason immediately takes of after him, no way he was losing his kid in a city he didn’t know. He sees Danny nearly tackling a green-haired girl into a hug, who was standing next to a woman with blue hair and a blonde guy with a motorcycle.

‘HI GUYS! I’m back!’

Kitty looked at the little kid that was suddenly in her arms. Despite him being so small, she recognized him immediately.

‘Danny! Where have you been? Everyone has been so worried since Desiree wished you away!’

Johnny 13 ruffled the kids black hair.

‘Dang, little man! You got even smaller! You know that your family has been in a tizzy, right? It’s been weeks!’

Ember pried Danny out of Kitty’s arms and held him up to see.

‘Look at you! Now you’re an actual baby-pop! Almost as small as Youngblood!’

Jason manages to catch up and apologizes for Danny tackling the girl. He notices that the three teens glow, just like Danny does. Are they like Danny? Are they experiments as well? Or is there something about this city that causes it? He then notices that the blonde guy seem to become hostile.

‘Are you the reason that Baby-pop was away for so long?’

A shadow emerges from beneath the blonde’s bike. It is growling at him, making itself look big to intimidate Jason. Before Shadow can attack though, Danny speaks up:

‘No! He’s my daddy! He is really nice and took care of me! He worked reeeaaaally hard to get me back home! Please don’t hurt my dad!’

Calming down, Johnny recalls his Shadow. Kitty smacks him on the head for losing his cool. Wasn’t it obvious that the guy was worried about Danny? Jason, deciding to just accept all this to save himself from a headache, asked if they knew why Danny was so small. From their conversation it seemed they knew him when he was older. Johnny gave him an explanation:

‘Yeah, he was fighting Desiree. She can grant any wish, but messes it up so It’s not what you want. And his idiot of a pop wished him a kid again so he could hang with his dad from what I heard. After that Danny just disappeared. Guess he ended up with you, huh?’

Jason sighed. So that’s how Danny ended up in his appartement. Someone magicked him there to get rid of him. It also explained how he became a 5-year old. All this because of a rogue.

‘Poor baby-pop. Even when he does everything right, someone else messes things up for him. He always gets into trouble like this!’

While Ember laughed, Danny put up a serious face.

’Speaking of trouble, you guys aren’t causing any, right? Even if I’m tiny I can still kick your butt!’

Kitty giggled at the adorable threat:

Oh, no no! Don’t worry, little King! We’ve been good! No one’s causing trouble here!

Jason decides to cut this short. It’s starting to get late, and he needs to find Danny’s parents.

‘Look, we’ve been looking for Danny’s family all day. He has trouble remembering things, so could you tell us where he lives? If it’s a safe place…’

Johnny assures him that the Fentons are loving parents. The times they hunted him was because they didn’t know it was him. Different forms and all that. Plus, now they know that not all ghosts are evil they even let up on the hunt on other ghosts, as long as they don’t cause trouble. He points Jason to a long street, and tells him to follow it until he finds Fentonworks. Jason can’t miss it. Really.

When Jason and Danny get back to the car, the Waynes head into the street. For a moment they are wondering which of these houses was Danny’s. Then the giant UFO appears over the horizon. Hearing Danny’s calling out for home, they head there immediately. Sure enough, Fentonworks is written on the side. Danny is getting impatient, fussing in Jason’s hold. Taking a deep breath, Jason knocks on the door, the other Waynes behind him. An orange wall of a man opens the door, holding what looks like a sci-fi bazooka. Before Jason can react, the man has snatched Danny out of Jason’s arms:

‘DANNY-BOY! GIRLS! DANNY'S HOME!’

As the man starts hugging and doting on Danny, a woman in a blue hazmat-suit nearly jumps down the stairs and joins him.

‘SWEETIE! WE WERE SO WORRIED! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?’

As the parents are over the moon, Jason and the others are standing in the doorway. A girl with orange hair and a 12-year old girl ran into the room as well. Seeing them, Danny gets even more exited.

‘Hi Jazzie! Hi Dani! I’m home! And I brought guests! Is that ok?’

Realizing there are people with Danny, Maddie invites them in. Jack gives Jason a nearly bone-breaking hug in gratitude for bringing his son home. The orange haired girl decides to introduce themselves.

‘Thank you so much for bringing Danny back home. I’m Jazz, his sister. These are our parents, Maddie and Jack. And that is our little sister Dani.’

Looking at Dani, Jason sees that she has picked Danny up, and swinging him back and forth.

‘Jeez Danny! You’re even smaller than me now! I’m a big sister now!’

As Danny laughs, Tim pipes up:

‘Wait, wasn’t Dani a clone?’

This causes Jazz to freeze.

‘You know?’

Jazz had hoped that Danny had managed to keep things a secret. But seeing as Danny was around 5, she realized that was hoping too much. And when she saw that these were the Wayne’s, a very famous family, she was now worried that his identity became public. Bruce assured her that wasn’t the case. They had been very careful to keep Danny hidden from any press. Jazz was relieved. Jack gave Bruce a good-hearted pat on the back that nearly toppled Bruce over. He always thought that Bruce was an airhead, but he guesses he’s not! Danny agrees with that:

‘Of course not! He’s the Batman! The worlds greatest detective!’

The Waynes freeze. Jazz just sighs.

‘Danny, you can’t tell people things like that. What if someone was spying on us?’

‘I’m sorry, Jazzie.’

Jazz just pats Danny’s head. Looking at the Waynes. Now that she took a look at them, they did resemble the bats a bit. It was the right amount of people after all. She assured them they would keep it a secret. After all, they kept Danny’s secret too.

‘So, which one of you is Danny’s dad? I’m assuming it’s you, Bruce?’

Jazz was surprised by the strange looks. Was she wrong? But he was the only one old enough for a 14-year old son? Then Jason stepped forward:

‘Actually, it’s me. Things are very weird, and I’m not sure where to start…’

‘Jazzie! Jason is dead, like me! And my mom is an assassin! And I’m really 6 years old! The assassin mom made me older! Isn’t that cool? I had a superhero origin before I even died!’

Jazz just looked at him. Jason understood that feeling all to well. Utter confusion, mixed with a smidge of horror. He’d become very acquainted with that feeling these past couple of weeks.

‘Yeah, I think we should explain what happened these past couple of weeks.’

Jason told the Fentons everything that happened. From Danny appearing in his appartement, to looking after him and the discovery of Danny’s powers. He told them about Danny’s birth and how he ended up in the orphanage the Fentons adopted him from. He also told them about the misunderstanding with the ‘frootloop’ and the fight he had with Bruce. After that the Fentons told them about their own stories. They explained how they used to hunt ghosts, and Danny’s accident. They explained why they hunted him and they gave more information about Vlad. They explained the Ghost Portal and how Danny saved the world with the help of the other ghosts. They were very proud of their boy. During the talk, Danny started to fidget.

‘Dad, how do I get big again? Desiree’s wishes are permanent after a while, right?’

‘I don’t know ho-’

‘Don’t worry, Dann-’

Jason and Jack looked at each other. Both had tried to answer Danny’s question, responding to being called ‘dad’. Jason suddenly realized that this was Danny’s family. He was a Fenton, not a Todd. As Jack leaves the room to go get something, and Jazz goes to call Sam and Tucker, Maddie puts her hand on Jason’s shoulder.

‘You know you are family now too, right? Just because he is back home doesn’t mean you have to leave his life. I’m sure that Danny would love to have you, whether he’s a child or a teenager.’

Jason smiles at her. He’d like that very much. At this point Jack comes back.

‘Here we go! Danny’s friend Clockwork gave us this. He forbade us for going to look for Danny, something about 'saving the Father' and ‘getting rid of a great evil’ in exchange. This medallion should make him older and fix him up again. Are you ready, Dann-o?’

Dani puts Danny down, and Jack slips the medallion around Danny’s neck. In a flash, Danny was now 14 years old. Danny looked at himself, getting to know his older, bigger body again. Jason felt odd seeing the kid age up so quick, almost regretful. But even if it meant missing time raising Danny he knew it was for the best. Dick and Bruce were surprised just how much Danny looked like a younger Jason, though less skinny. Noticing Jason, Danny turned to him to thank him:

‘So, uhm… thank you for looking after me? That was… kind of you? Sorry, this feels weird.’

Danny felt a bit sheepish. He now realized he caused Jason a lot of trouble, and it was odd talking to him like this after being a kid for a while. Jason felt odd about it as well.

‘Yeah, no problem… So, this is the real Danny? Older Danny? I guess you won’t need the toys we got for you anymore.’

Danny laughed a bit. He might be keeping some of them.

‘If it’s ok with you, I’d like to keep the Red Hood one. And maybe we could give the rest to Dani instead.’

Jason smiled. It was nice that he was still Danny’s favorite. Seeing his own family hinting franticly behind them, Jason decided to push his luck a bit.

‘If you’d like, you could come over sometimes? Like for a holiday? We’ll get your room updated for a teenager and everything!’

Danny thought about it. He wanted to have Jason in his life.

‘I’d like that. I’d like that a lot!’

As Maddie starts inviting the Waynes for dinner and everyone starts to relax, Danny got a weird look in his eyes, his older mind realizing something important has happened:

‘Wait, did I kill a guy?’

END