Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was pretty clear to Danny that the only option he had left was Gotham, now, that might sound over dramatic. Because, wasn't Gotham the cesspool where only the dregs and outcasts of humanity remained? 

-If that was the case then Danny was honestly a perfect fit!-

But no, it's because Danny's sister, Jazz, had been working to get a job at (and now works at) Gotham's Arkham Asylum for the past two years. And now Danny really didn't have any more family beyond siblings. And since Jazz was the only technically ‘real’ Adult sibling Danny had… Well, this meant that she was Danny's only option.

-No, Dan, Danny really didn't want to spend the rest of however long his human half lasted stuck in an old grimy black stone castle that was only now starting to get the cleaning it needed. Was that really such a surprise?-

And so, Danny was flying to Gotham, bags and all. The silver lining in this situation? Danny was still -sort of- alive! Of course, there was the fact that Danny would be living with his sister now too, but that was a given!

-Danny had spent thirty minutes of the day he’d been given packing and the rest of it thinking about which one of his friend's lives he would intrude on, even though he really didn't want to. After Danny became ghost king and things calmed down a bit everyone had moved on for the most part, and almost all of Danny's friends who had big-hearted ambitions and even bigger-hearted parents had moved away to fulfill their dreams. And Danny really didn't want to bother Jazz with the family drama again, he was part of the reason she had moved to Gotham in the first place. Well, she didn't say so but Danny just knew, why else would she just move to an insane part of the world out of the blue? It had to be Danny's fault-

And so, after only a few hours of flying, Danny ended up right in the middle of Gotham. The first thing that Danny noticed? -Apart from the oppressive smog? Jeez Danny was glad for the first time ever that he didn't need to breathe in whatever death-causing fumes were in the air. How did Jazz handle the smell ?- Was the frankly shocking amount of Ectoplasm, of course, it was nothing compared to the Ectoplasm levels -or purity- in Amity Park, but it was still a surprise. It also put Danny on edge, with this much Ectoplasm? -And Death!? The amount of Deaths to cause the amount of stain within the very ground of Gotham was… Very concerning, was Jazz really okay with living here around this?- Blobs and shades at best.

-He really didn't want to have to meet any local ghosts and then explain that this would be his hopeful new haunt, and then explain he was king… Yeah just no-

Danny sighed after taking a moment to familiarize himself with the atmosphere of the new place that he’d be living in, before starting his descent to the nearest rooftop. He probably should have called Jazz earlier to ask for her direct address, but he didn't. Look who was paying the price for that now huh?

Sighing again, Danny fished out his phone from one of the two bags he was carrying. -One was a duffle and the other was a backpack, they were surprisingly clean. They were Danny's - And in only a few moments he had found his phone and was typing in Jazz’s number before he hesitated again.

What if… this was like a super bad idea? Maybe Jazz would never want to see him again… Maybe in her two whole years of no in-person contact, she decided that their parents were correct and Phantom was a monster.

-”Danny, please talk to me. How can I help?” A hand brushed his shoulder, he flinched before remembering that it was just Jazz. “I- I’m fine Jazz, just… Just ghost stuff.” A tired sigh filled the air and Danny almost flinched again, Danny always causes problems -

Rubbing at tired eyes, Danny started to gather up the courage to press the button and actually call his sister. When he felt an Ectoplasmic being form behind him.

Whirling around Danny got ready to fight whoever it was behind him, but what he saw and felt surprised him. This was Lady Gotham, the city's spirit.

-Danny had seen Amity Park’s spirit, it had just started forming only a few months ago, their shape had fluctuated a bit, but they seemed to be settling on a child human. He had approached them in concern, or a warning, Danny hadn't decided. But before he could say anything the spirit had reassured him that as long as the town itself was safe. They would be as well. Nothing else would harm them-

How did Danny know that this was Lady Gotham? He didn't really know but it felt like it came from his King power’s, so he just assumed that was the case.

Lady Gotham looked regal, she wore a flowing black dress, had long black hair, and wore a veil. Which made the supposed awkward eye contact even more awkward, since Danny could only see the veil itself.

“Your Majesty, how may I help you?” Lady Gotham's tone wasn't unkind, it just sounded firm but curious.

“Oh um.” Danny took a moment to clear his throat and relax before continuing. “I uh… I'll be moving into Gotham, I really hope you don't mind since it'll be considered my haunt.”

Lady Gotham just chuckled a bit, before somehow managing to convey the feeling of a smile to Danny.

“Of course, it won't be a problem, your Majesty.” the smile Danny could feel turned into sharp teeth and sharper edges. “Although if you hurt the Knights of my People, I will do my best to make your life here as miserable as possible.”

Danny shivered, yeah the threat might not technically apply, but it still hit home.

“I promise to try Lady Gotham, fair warning though. I tend to have some bad luck.” Danny really didn't want to admit it, but… Well, he thought it would be best to have all the cards on the table first.

Lady Gotham seemed to emanate amusement while she gave a slight shake of her head.

“Is there anything I can do for you, your Majesty?” Lady Gotham asked, her tone almost knowing.

Danny sighed, before asking in a quiet tone. “Could you tell me where my sister lives? Uh, her name is Jazz, if that helps”

In response, Lady Gotham just nodded, before turning her head to the more prominent cityscape behind her. And only after a few minutes of waiting did she have a result, turning back around she gave the address to Danny. And finally, she gave a graceful bow before disappearing.

Danny didn't know quite what to feel, but at least Lady Gotham hadn’t seen it fit to attack Danny, silver linings he supposes.

Danny shook his head to clear it of distracting thoughts, he gave himself a fortifying breath, and then he almost choked on the poison air.

***

Okay so, showing up at Jazz’s apartment unannounced, and then waiting for her to get back from work, didn't do any wonders for her heart. But, after all the yelling, and reluctant (on Danny's part) hugs. Things settled down a bit.

-”Danny, really I get it, but some warning first!?” “What do you mean you were going to go ask Sam or Tucker first? What am I, chopped liver?” “Hey hey, no no no no. I'm not mad at you, really. I'm just… Ugh- I. Listen…” “Danny, I promise, I'm not going anywhere and not for anyone . I'm not leaving, trust me.”-

Danny, who hadn't wanted to go to school. And Jazz, who wouldn't let Danny skip out on school no matter the ghostly duties he had to attend to. Had come to a compromise, Danny would get online classes instead, and go into school for the more hands-on science-related projects. This was unsurprisingly an already ongoing thing, considering the chances of getting mugged in the street every other day were quite high.

And Danny, who had been in Gotham for a month already was getting very bored, very quickly. And so, his solution? He was going to go out as Phantom!

He would be invisible of course, he didn't want anyone spotting him and getting the guys in white involved or anything like that. Phantom would just go around and check in on the already active vigilantes, and if they needed help? Well, Phantom would just do what was possible to help.

And so, plan in mind, Danny let the transformation wash over him. -”Going ghost.” … A small tear slipped out, this was different from transforming to learn and perform kingly duties, this was… Bittersweet- after only a few moments of adjusting out of the kingly attire he transformed into, Phantom grinned. He was back on the job!

Still grinning, Phantom turned himself invisible and quickly flew out of the nearest wall. This was going to be the most fun ever!

Chapter Text

Okay so… Maybe the most fun ever wasn’t a very accurate description. Phantom had already thrown up twice because of the things he had seen, there was… well- A lot . A lot of stuff that Danny had learned was the worst thing you could do to a person, a lot of people too far gone to even understand they were still real, a lot of people too close to death to save. A lot of people who were forced, manipulated, or seduced into doing things they didn't want to. It was… Gotham

-”Jazz! Why didn’t you let me stop that guy? They’ve probably beaten the person they were mugging to death!” “Danny listen to me. In Gotham, if you want to stay alive you leave everyone else to their business. If you don't, you paint a target on your back. Leave the muggers to the viglianties.” “But I save people Jazz, that's what I’m used to doing! What’s the point of working in Arkham if people like that are still running around?” “You’re the type of hero who saves people by beating up the bad guy Danny, but when the bad guys are in prison they rot . And when they get out again, they’re worse than before. If I can stop them from getting worse? If I can maybe help them move on from crime entirely? How is that not also saving lives Danny?”-

Phantom hated that he froze in fear whenever he saw a crime, hated how he never stepped in, hated how he wasn't helping anyone -

A soft rustle of clothes and a familiar whisper against his mind interrupted his thoughts, and as Phantom turned around he found Lady Gotham standing on the roof with him.

“Although I can not see you, Your Majesty, I can feel your presence.” The cool voice of Lady Gotham cut through the night, causing Phantom to jump a bit at being addressed.

“Oh uh- would you like me to turn visible or-” Lady Gotham cut off his stuttering, a smile in her voice. “Only if you wish it, Your Majesty.”

And well, Phantom doesn’t quite know what to do with that, but before any more awkwardness can fill the rooftop Lady Gotham continues.

“I’ve been made aware by my shadows that you’ve been having a rough time of it, Your Majesty. I’ve come to make sure that you're alright, and to ask if you would like my company for the rest of your explorations.” Lady Gotham is gentle in her explanation, and kind in her question. And Phantom isn’t sure how to handle such kindness from a stranger. -he’s almost afraid he’ll break the offered kindness, he always breaks things -

“Um, it’s your city, Lady Gotham. If you want to follow me around, that's up to you.” Even to Phantom, he can hear how unsure he sounds. And in response, Lady Gotham just chuckles lightly.

“How about I take you to the places that my Knights frequent more often, Your Majesty?” Lady Gotham asks, and Phantom is relieved at the question. He’d only gotten himself slightly lost, with all the flying around he did. But with a knowledgeable guide, that's a little bit of stress gone.

“Yes please, I would actually really like to see the Gotham vigilantes in person.” Both relief and excitement filled Phantom’s voice, and if Lady Gotham could see Phantom, his eyes would be sparkling.

“Right this way then, Your Majesty.” Lady Gotham waved her hand in a beckon, before turning to lead the way.

***

Lady Gotham had been leading Phantom through the city for a while now, and since Phantom was invisible and intangible he didn't need to pay much attention to where they were going, so his mind wandered to the scenery.

Phantom hadn't taken time to admire the beauty of Gotham, or look under the grime of years of crime to see its history. But now that he didn't need to pay attention to where he was going, he could. The old parts of Gotham were all gray stone brick, fancy marbles, and gargoyles. The vibe definitely would have suited Sam more, but it was still an enjoyable form of architecture. If only there wasn't so much crime.

The sensation of jumping into ice-cold water washed over Phantom as he got startled out of his thoughts. Turning around, he saw that he’d flown through Lady Gotham.

“Ah, I-” Any apology Phantom would have made was cut off by Lady Gotham. “To the rooftop, Your Majesty.”

Without any more fanfare, Lady Gotham flew to the rooftop of the skyscraper they were next to, Phantom quickly following behind.

The skyscraper itself was one of the tallest in the area, and the view from the rooftop was a good one. Not in a sense of beauty, but in a sense of how much of the city you could actually see. It definitely would make sense to stop here if you were a patrolling vigilantly.

Turning his eyes to the sky, Phantom couldn’t help the feelings of disappointment from bubbling to the surface. He still couldn’t see any stars, with the night sky being blocked by all the smog of the city. On a good night the moon was visible, but tonight wasn’t one of those nights.

Closing his eyes, Phantom let the quietness of the rooftop wash over him. Only for it to be interrupted by a quiet ‘ zip ’, the sound of a wire being pulled taught, and the sound of a body flying through the air before landing in a roll-to-stand.

Phantom turned around, and found one Nightwing standing at the edge of the rooftop, scanning the city below. And Phantom had a moment of realization, this was an opportunity for pranks . Phantom had gone out with the intention of having fun, but this entire night had turned out to be no fun at all . And now, the perfect person to prank -and help- had just appeared on the very rooftop that Phantom was on. And the part of Phantom that was silliness and fun? That was childish? That part grinned in absolute glee.

***

Okay so, don't get Nightwing wrong, but at this very moment, he was convinced some sort of spirit was haunting him. Or that he'd managed to fulfill some sort of superstition of bad luck. Oracle was laughing at the idea, but Nightwing was sure, there was no other explanation! Yes , today wasn't really his day, yes , the reason he went out on patrol was to blow off some steam. But that doesn't mean that his balance would suddenly get thrown off to the point he'd start tripping over himself! It was subtle too, a flickering in the corner of his eye that caused him to change directions slightly towards it, only for something to be ready to trip him. It had happened five whole times now . It was not a coincidence!

Sighing, Nightwing grappled to the next building while making sure to keep an ear out for any nearby crime. The Bats had just busted a drug ring, and Batman had wanted a few people with him while he cleaned up the rest of the people involved. So Nightwing got put on a normal patrol, not that it was boring, he really appreciated the trust that was Batman not forcing anyone else to go with him. But Nightwing couldn't help but be unsettled, the air felt extra cold, and the dark corners of alleyways felt even darker. It told of something else being out tonight. And with no backup around to help, Nightwing was really hoping he didn't meet whatever it was.

Nightwing was just about to grapple to the next building when he saw a flickering out of the corner of his eye, he turned a bit to try and catch it, only for him to trip. An indignant squawk filled the air as Nightwing flapped his arms around to try and regain balance. See! This is what he was talking about!

When Nightwing actually did grapple to the next building, he got the intense feeling that something was laughing at him. But the feeling left as he heard the sounds of crime and went to do his job.

***

Danny grinned as he flopped down on his bed, tonight had been a huge roller coaster ride of emotions. But it ended on a high note, with the tripping prank he had played on Nightwing.

All in all, the night ended good, and Danny was already thinking of other pranks he could play. This was going to be fun.

But before he could think of any other ideas, or even begin to write them down, a wave of tiredness washed over Danny. It took only a few moments for him to drift off to sleep, and it took even less time for Jazz to find him. She only took one look at Danny, passed out with him lying face down on his bed, for her to decide to have her talk with him tomorrow. Walking up to the bed she gently pulled the blankets out from underneath Danny and re-laid them on top of him, making sure to take off his shoes as well.

Jazz gave Danny a goodnight kiss on the head, before leaving him to sleep.

Chapter Text

Danny felt himself starting to wake up, still half asleep, but awake enough to hear the sound of Jazz making breakfast.

He almost fell asleep again, in the soft warmth that was his bed. But the sudden louder sounds of the city kept waking him up.

Groaning slightly, Danny shifted in his bed while he let the sounds of the day wash over him.

When Danny first started going out as Phantom he would always get this leftover full-body ache, like when you use a muscle you haven't used in a while. And since most of the things Danny has been doing as Phantom recently involved mostly paperwork, going out and using his powers a bit was like stretching an unused muscle, in a good way of course.

-Danny had learned from Frostbite what would happen if he overly favored one ‘half’ of himself, he didn't want to experience it-

Blinking his eyes open, Danny lifted up a hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes while he tried to recall the events of last night.

He remembered getting back from spending the night out, feeling happy but tired, he remembered flopping down on his bed to get some shut-eye. But he didn't remember anything other than that, which meant that he had fallen asleep unintentionally, and then Jazz had probably tucked him in when she found him.

Danny sighed, before deciding that he should get himself out of bed and ready for the day, and whatever conversation Jazz would definitely want to have.

Danny picked himself out from under the covers, grabbed a change of clothes, and booked it to the shower. He took a quick rinse, put on the clothes, brushed his teeth, and then stepped out into the kitchen.

Jazz -who was making some French toast. And Danny still couldn't get over the actual genuine stored food . That didn't come alive, everything tasted amazing- looked up from the pan when she heard the bathroom door open and shut. Smiling, she gave Danny a small wave, before returning her attention to the pan.

Danny let himself relax to the smell of familiar food as he walked up to the kitchen bench and took a seat.

“Good Morning Jazz, ‘smells good” Danny's voice was still slightly croaky from sleep as he greeted Jazz.

“Hey Danny, how was your sleep?” Jazz asked, a smile in her voice.

“It was, uh, alright. Yeah it was good”

Jazz snorted at his awkwardness before a serious look settled over her face.

"Danny, you have free time now, your grades are doing well, and you have less ghost king paperwork. But please don't overdo going out as Phantom, get in some proper sleep too, and when school or ghost stuff pops up prioritize that, or at least try to.”

Danny had braced himself to hear Jazz's opinion but… That wasn't all that bad, she looked concerned, but that was normal for Jazz. This felt more like an early intervention so that Danny wouldn't ruin his sleep schedule or something.

“That's… That's all?” Danny asked, apprehension in his voice.

Concern still clear on her face, Jazz responded. “I'm not going to try and fight a huge part of you Danny, but I won't let you hurt yourself either. I'll help you balance both.”

Oh… That…

Danny hunched his shoulders and ducked his head, why did he feel like crying all of the sudden? That was just Jazz being Jazz but… But some part of Danny felt so, so warm . He…

“T-Thanks Jazz.” It came out teary sounding, it came out with gratitude thick in his voice.

“Of course Danny, I love you.”

Danny felt the warmth grow, Jazz always made it a point to tell Danny she loved him. In this moment Danny felt the love solidifying.

***

It had been a few days since Phantom had last gone out, he'd made sure to remove any responsibility he would have for a day, and then went out the night before.

Phantom, after a lot of searching, had found the same rooftop that Lady Gotham had brought him to. And so he sat there waiting. While he waited Phantom occupied himself with looking up at the moon, which was actually visible tonight.

It didn't take long for a familiar ‘ zip ’ to fill the silence, but it wasn't just Nightwing who appeared on the roof, another vigilante had joined him, and it was Red Hood.

Phantom’s eyes widened in surprise because there was no way .

Red Hood was pinging Phantom’s ghost senses.

That… There were so many possibilities that could come from this development, and so many more prank opportunities! 

Phantom definitely wanted to use this information to his advantage, but first, he needed to find out more. It was time for some informational … Stalking? No- that sounded weird- informational following. Yeah, that was better.

***

Dick was being a baby when he said he'd picked up a spirit, Daimin had even agreed with Jason! He could hold that over so many people's heads!  

But aside from that, with Dick being Dick, he'd somehow managed to convince Jason to go on patrol with him.

So now Jason was in his Red Hood get-up, grappling around town with Nightwing.

At first, Jason still thought Nightwing had been hallucinating on too little sleep. And then Jason felt something at the edges of his senses, just before something triggered the worst Pit Rage Jason had ever experienced.

He was stretching his arms out after taking down a drug dealer, when he felt something prod at the edge of his senses. When out of the blue, for no perceivable reason, Jason felt an enormous amount of rage suddenly boil over.

It was a rage fueled by recognition, -For who, Jason had no clue- and outrage, by greed, and plain old power hungriness.

And Jason felt like he was drowning in rage, in rage that wasn't him . It suffocated him to the point that Jason could no longer feel , he couldn't feel the comforting weight of the Red Hood mask, couldn't feel Gotham's cool night air, couldn't feel the weight of his holster. He couldn't breathe - it was too much too fast-

And then it left, just as suddenly as it came. And Jason was left gasping on the dirty concrete of the alleyway, a concerned Nightwing hovering a safe distance away but quickly drawing closer.

Jason- Jason couldn't feel the Pit at all . It usually lingered in the corner of his mind, ever-present. But now it was just missing -

“Yeah okay, to the Batcave with you. I think B would force me to permanently bench being a vigilante if I let you run around after having whatever the hell that was.” Jason would like to protest that.

He was fine . But when he tried to move into a position to stand he felt a full body ache take over before collapsing to the ground again, muscles shaking and- yeah, maybe the Batcave’s Medbay could take some extra use.

***

Phantom was trying his best not to faint dead away -haha, dead away! That was good. Ugh, not the time Danny, focus- from the levels of panic, stress, and anxiety, that were overwhelming him.

When he felt some sort of Ectoplasmic signature on Red Hood, he wasn't expecting one of Pariah The Darks Ectoplasm experiments Phantom had been reading about in the paperwork he did as king to just, show up and slap him in the face!

Phantom thought that, I don't know, maybe Red Hood had a near-death experience in a highly concentrated Ectoplasmic area to be the cause of Phantom's ghost sense going off. He was not expecting some form of- of, what even was Red Hood?

That only reminded Phantom of the fact that he currently has Red Hood's entire ‘ghostly’ existence in the palm of his hand in the form of a fucking ghost core

This was not helping Phantom's anxiety levels at all. He really hoped the feelings of ‘clean, clean, calm, new, untouched’ he was pushing onto Red Hood’s ghost core was doing the cleansing he was intending it on doing. While also having to wrangle all of his other emotions away from the ghost core so that he didn’t affect it in any way.

It was very warm in Phantom's hands, and it was much much too small for an adult. He remembered that much from Frostbite at least. Was Red Hood a Halfha like Phantom? Was he something more zombie-like? Was he something entirely new?

Phantom would honestly prefer to take Red Hood straight to Frostbite, but Nightwing had mentioned a ‘Batcave’ which meant that Red Hood was about to be surrounded by who knows how many vigilantes. And one of them would surely notice if Phantom kidnapped Red Hood, and Phantom couldn’t separate Red Hood from his ghost core since he didn’t even know if that would be possible or if that would damage him-

Maybe Phantom really should take up those lessons Frostbite had been offering him, he was feeling very ignorant in this moment.

Phantom got snapped out of his thoughts when the ghost core in his hands started… Projecting? Sharing? Whatever… He seemed to recognize the place he was in as… Safe? Looking up and away from the core Phantom saw that he was in a literal cave . Okay so, when vigilantes say ‘Batcave’ they really do mean Batcave .

There was an outrageous amount of Batman memorabilia, and- what… Why was there a dinosaur here? Phantom stared at the dinosaur for a moment longer before speeding up his flying to catch up to Nightwing and Red Hood.

When he did find Medbay by going in the direction the ghost core led he was surprised to see that much white, apparently even in Batman’s cave-lair Medbay’s had to be white.

Phantom took a moment to pull himself together and take a breath, before phasing through the wall. Only to nearly trip into the floor when he saw Bruce Fucking Wayne sitting in the chair next to the bed where the face of Jason Todd greeted him. Who had Red Hood’s vigilante outfit on sans the helmet and face mask.

Phantom had to close his eyes and breath for a moment.

When Danny had first moved to Gotham, Jazz had given him a crash course in the world outside Amity Park. Which the GIW had apparently kept an eye on for longer than anyone expected. Especially considering the fact that they had kept multiple world-ending events from reaching the ears of those living in Amity Park. Especially especially the, you know, the entire ass superhero team The Justice League . After a small mental break down Jazz had also shown him all the important rich people that probably owned all of Gotham if you were to pool all of their power together.

One of those families obviously being the infamous Waynes. And through logic and deduction, apparently he was now in the secret Wayne cave that held all of the Batman gear . With Bruce Wayne apparently being Batman

This could technically be the wrong concussion, all things considered Phantom had only haunted two of Gotham’s vigilantes, but something in his gut made him feel like he was correct.

Honestly, the more he thought about it, the more sense it made… Wait how much of the Wayne family was involved, exactly?

His thoughts got cut off by a familiar presence appearing in his senses, and the sound of the Medbay door opening.

Phantom turned towards the door and saw Richard Greyson, and someone who appeared to be a butler, walk into the room. Standing behind them, was Lady Gotham.

She made a gesture that somehow managed to perfectly represent ‘ We need to talk ’, and then disappeared from sight, although Phantom could still feel her nearby with his senses.

Phantom left the Medbay and flew a short distance away from it, looking around he found a hidden-looking alcove that would do for a secret ghostly conversation.

Flying into the alcove Phantom waited, he didn't have to wait long since only a few moments later an angry Lady Gotham melted out of the shadows.

“Ah, um- I really didn't mean to hurt him, I honestly had no idea I’d have that effect-” Lady Gotham cut off Phantom's desperate attempts at explaining himself with a short and curt, “I know.”

Silence filled the alcove and Phantom shifted to release some awkward tension.

“Let me see his ghost core.”

Phantom frowned, he knew he could trust Lady Gotham, but he felt really reluctant about actually handing it over.

Shaking his head, Phantom forced his hand's forwards and let Lady Gotham take the core.

Silence once again filled the alcove and Lady Gotham turned the core this way and that, before holding it still in her hands and an intense feeling of concentration permeated the air.

The concentration disappeared as it was replaced by relief, and Lady Gotham offered the core back to Phantom.

“While you definitely don't know what you're doing, you are doing a good job.”

Lady Gotham started talking while Phantom snatched back the core and gave it his own inspection out of pure instinct.

“Keep it up, you're purifying him, and in the process, teaching him how to purify Ectoplasm on his own. Once the core is big enough he will return to his body, and grow on his own.”

Phantom sighed in relief, that was like. A huge weight of his mind. He also frowned.

“Do I have to be near Red Hood- or Jason Todd? Ugh- does the core have to stay close?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. If the core goes too far the metaphorical string keeping him tied to Red Hood could snap, which could cause a many number of heath disasters. It would be best for you to stay near at the moment.”

Phantom sighed again, okay, he would definitely have to try and give Jazz a phone call at some point, at least a text.

“Okay, thanks Lady Gotham for explaining some things. I'll go back to the Medbay area.”

Lady Gotham just gave Phantom a nod, before disappearing again.

Phantom himself thought for a moment, before letting the transformation rings wash over him, while also keeping himself invisible and intangible.

If Phantom got found out, he felt like the Bats would maybe hesitate on arresting Danny over Phantom.

Danny turned, and floated back to the Medbay, he had…. A lot to think about now.

Chapter Text

It had only been two days since Jason had passed out while on patrol, after having some sort of Lazarus Pit flare-up.

-Jason had woken up not long after reaching the Batcave, thank goodness. He was eating and drinking well, nothing seemed out of place in his health. But his need to leave and solo investigate ticked off all the possible red flags for this situation-

Alfred was already concerned with just that, no more needed to be said or done. But his gut was telling him that there was more to this than meets the eye.

So Alfred was keeping a more closer eye on the sensors than usual, and it paid off.

It was on the morning after the incident that Alfred noticed temperature anomalies appearing in suspicious locations all over the house, and it only took one more day for him to discover the pattern.

And now, Alfred was walking down into the Batcave with purpose in his steps. Because this home had an intruder.

Once Alfred entered the cave he immediately started walking towards the darker and less used corners of the space, even if they were somewhere more obvious it would be better to check here first.

***

Danny frowned, he was reading out loud to Jason's ghost core. The book he’d picked had an insane amount of plot twists, and the mystery of it all may or may not have drawn Danny into the story much more than he had wanted.

The protagonist was just about to prove their innocence and accuse their rival all in one swoop, when a voice interrupted Danny's excited reading.

“Well, this was certainly unexpected.”

Danny jumped, and had to drop his book to clamp his hands over his mouth so that he didn't accidentally let out a ghost wail. Danny took a breath before turning towards the voice.

Standing in front of the nook Danny had claimed was Alfred, the butler. Silence filled the space as Danny and Alfred stared at each other.

“I would like an explanation please, start with why you're here.”

Danny squirmed in discomfort.

“Well, it doesn't make sense why I'm here if you don't know who I am, but if I told you, you probably wouldn't believe me anyways. Who believes a person when they say they're dead? Yeah I wouldn't have.”

Danny took a breath, and then he realized that Alfred hadn't interrupted him once. People don’t just … Okay no time- explain .

“Right so um, I'm kind of dead right? Um… I don't really- my uh, death isn't relevant. What is relevant is that…”

How to explain Ghosts, and Pariah The Dark?

“Um, basically, Mr. Jason?” Danny had no clue what to call Jason Todd Aka Red Hood.

“Uh yeah him, he must of died near a lot of Ectoplasm at some point because he has a lot of it on him. But um, it's contaminated with a bad ghost’s intentions… So I know this bad ghost, and so when the leftovers of the ghost in Mr. Jason saw me , he recognized me, and got… Mad , and um, I panicked and tried to calm down the ghost part of Mr. Jason but that just caused the ghost part to cling to me- and um… Now I have to stay near Mr. Jason until the ghost part of him wants to leave me and go back to Mr. Jason.”

Danny technically didn't need to breathe, but he still felt out of breath. He just didn't want to stop talking and then not be able to start again, he was in a very compromised situation here.

Yeah- he did text Jazz to explain the situation and to tell her that he was gonna stick around until he sorted it out, but she definitely wouldn't be able to get past a bunch of angry bats if they didn't like Danny's explanation.

The sound of a heavy sigh interrupted Danny's thoughts and he looked up at the butler again.

“Well then, your name would be?” Alfred asked, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Oh- Danny!” Embarrassment was thick in Danny's voice, and his cheeks were pink with it.

“Well then, Master Danny, I might as well give you a proper room.”

Danny grimaced.

“Please, don't use that term of address with me. I don't like it, and I don't want it.” Danny would let a lot slide, but he really didn't like being addressed with something so close to Masters .

“That's fine Danny, I have a few permanently locked rooms in the servant's quarters, would you like to stay in one of those?”

Danny almost said yes, before hesitating a bit. What if someone else decided to unlock it because they needed it, or maybe stored something in there or-

“I assure you, I'm the only one with the key, and those that live in this house know not to intrude too far into my space uninvited, you would be undisturbed if you stayed there.”

And that… That broke Danny's resolve.

“Oh! Um, don't worry about someone seeing me, or holding things open for me. I'll just follow you while I'm invisible and intangible!”

Alfred just gave Danny a curt nod, and made a gesture for him to gather up the items he was using.

***

Alfred was not expecting to find someone who fit the bill for ‘Bruce Wayne adoption bait’ so perfectly in the Batcave, maybe some form of spirit, given the temperature shifts and lack of camera footage. But definitely not Danny.

Who could turn invisible and intangible, but didn't run away when confronted, no matter how scared he looked. Because of a responsibility he felt the need to fulfill.

Alfred definitely believed the child could be a threat if he wanted to be, but his gut was telling him that he didn’t need to be that worried.

Of course Alfred didn't let his guard down, but he had learned to trust his gut. And so he did.

And now he had said child following him through the hallways of his house, supposedly.

It only took the usual fifteen minutes of walking for Alfred to make it back to the servant's quarters, and it took even less time for him to find the room he had picked out in his mind's eye for Danny.

Reaching into his vest pocket Alfred pulled out the keys and unlocked the door, and then frowned at the very small layer of dust that coated everything. Before Danny appeared in the very center of the room.

That… Was a very jarring thing to look at. Shaking his head in slight amusement -He was going to love seeing Bruce's very well hidden jump when Danny does that in front of him, oh the others might not notice, but Alfred certainly would- Alfred just watched as Danny set aside some stolen bread and fruits on top on the dresser, before making a veritable nest on the bed with all the blankets he’d dragged along.

“I'm going to start on lunch Danny, if you would like, feel free to do some exploring. Or take a proper rest here if you would prefer that, I'll leave an extra portion for you to take when you are ready.”

Danny jumped, very clearly forgetting that Alfred was still in the room with him. Before nodding.

“I'm not sure how I can properly show my gratitude, but thank you, Alfred.”

“Of course, have a pleasant evening Danny.” Alfred gave Danny a small smile, before leaving the room and locking the door again.

Honestly, Alfred rather liked Danny, he was similar to Dick in how he treated him. The politeness was a welcome treat.

***

Even though Danny should probably be panicking about being found out, he decided to make the most out of the situation he’d been given.

Which is exactly why he was lying down face up on the bed in the room he’d been given, with Jason..? With Jason’s ghost core in a small nest thing he’d made for it sitting on his chest.

Danny was kind of embarrassed about getting so attached to a ghost core of all things, but here he was, making constellations on the roof and pointing them all out to the ghost core.

This was going to be the weirdest thing to explain to a person that was- oh no .

Jason was like- twenty . And Danny had already resigned himself to teaching Jason about ghosts. Even if he didn't get any powers beyond the fire that was his core. But what- what if he didn't even want to learn from a scruffy sixteen-year-old!?

Shit, Danny had never even considered that what if- no no , deep breaths. Danny would offer the lessons to Jason, just so that he had options, and Danny would accept it when he refused.

Danny would have to keep an eye on Jason, he wouldn’t want him to attract any annoying ghosts, and Danny could deal with them instead. Yeah, that works.

Danny felt himself relax, okay, that was that problem solved right? Maybe now he could take Alfred up on that offer of exploration?

***

Tim really didn't care how much Jason said he could manage trying to figure out the Lazarus Pit flare-up on his own, Tim was going to scour the internet for answers anyways.

So far he hadn't found anything promising, a few people who fell into natural Pit’s talking about how that affected them. But they just lead to dead ends.

But what the internet didn't know was the fact that Tim had only just started, he’d only been searching for a few hours now anyways. The Pits were such a hard topic to research.

Tim was currently trying to see if anyone had posted Lazarus-related things under a different name when a page opened up on his screen.

Which is weird, because Tim didn't click on anything.

Tim was about to close the page, seeing as it was something about ‘ghosts’, when he saw the edge of a picture at the bottom of the page. And on that edge? Glowing green liquid .

Okay, so maybe this was something after all, time for some intense reading.

***

Damian had decided to clean some of his more useful weapons, despite father not allowing Damian to take them on missions, one of these days Damian would succeed at sneaking one with him. And he would like to take them with him just to be on the safe side when they went to investigate whatever Timothy would find.

Damian would not be left behind when that came around, it wouldn't do to have one of the Bat’s best assets and powerhouses incapacitated further. And Damian trusted very few people to be able to correctly carry out such an important mission, so he would have to go just to make sure everyone was doing it right.

Damian froze when he heard the sound of something falling over in his bathroom, and he got up to investigate.

After a few minutes of looking around and finding nothing Damian ‘tch’ed’ and went back to cleaning, what a waste of time.

***

Dick was leaning against the wall next to the Medbay door, waiting for Jason to try and escape again.

And low and behold, the door opened and Jason peeked his head out, only he wasn't looking at Dick.

“Yeah no, sorry Little Wing.”

“Shit!” Jason jumped, then leaned a hand on one knee and he clutched his heart with his other.

“You're still not allowed to leave Medbay without Alfred giving the go-ahead.”

Jason glared up at Dick and opened his mouth to say something, and then the door started to close and it bumped into Jason. 

“Fuck!” Jason basically screamed, and he jumped again . ohhhh Dick had prime teasing possibilities right now.

Dick felt very Grinch-like, as a smile took over his face. This would be fun.

***

Alfred was just finishing up lunch, when the sandwich he had set aside for Danny disappeared out of the corner of his eye. And a whispered “Thank you.” came from somewhere in the room. Alfred just gave a nod, in case Danny was still there, before continuing on with his cooking.

It didn't take long for him to finish making the meals, and he rang the lunch bell to inform the others that lunch was ready. Even though he knew that he’d have to gather them by hand anyways, it was the principle of things.

But to Alfred's pleasant surprise in only a few minutes all the remaining people in the manor appeared for lunch.

Tim was on his phone reading, and Damian had a knife with him that he was cleaning, but they had shown up on their own. Jason and Dick were talking about some door incident… Oh well, so long they were all here and unharmed Alfred didn't mind what pranks Danny pulled.

***

Danny floated into his room, feeling very pleased with himself. He’d played some harmless pranks, and even helped… Tim? Tim with his search for Ectoplasm.

-Danny understood not being able to just put Ectoplasm onto the search bar, the GIW really didn't like people looking into it-

And now he had a really delicious looking sandwich to eat! He was living the life.

Danny started moving towards the bed, only to see a package sitting on it. It had Clockworks symbol on the sides of the box, as well as a ‘handle with caution’ printed on what Danny assumed was the top.

There was a note sticking to the box, it had an address written on it, as well as ‘By 11 at night’

Okay… So Danny just had to deliver this before eleven at the address? That seemed surprisingly easy. 

Danny put the sandwich down, put Jason's ghost core in his nest. And grabbed the box, time to deliver a package.

***

Joker grinned at the box he had just received, he wondered who wanted to break him out now.

Feeling excited, he quickly opened the box. What he didn't expect was the doll Red Hood that sprang out of the box to meet him, like a jack-in-the-box. The voice of Jason Todd filled the room, repeating one thing.

“Meet you in hell bastard.”

Joker grinned wider, how satisfying, to get into someone's head so much that they send you a gift out of anger.

‘ tic ’

“The King of Ghosts greats you.”

Joker frowned- that wasn't Jason's voice-

‘ tic’

“I own you .”

That voice again-

Boom .

Chapter Text

When Danny tells you everyone in the Wayne manor lost their shit at the news this morning, Danny really does mean that .

When he’d gotten back from delivering the box Clockwork had given him, Danny had eaten his sandwich in peace, then gone to bed.

He did not expect to wake up to incoherent distant screaming, and the sound of a lot of movement.

When Danny left his room to investigate he found half of the Wayne’s in the Batcave -which was underneath Wayne manor! That is such an obvious place to put a secret hideout, and it would be stupidly easy for any one of Danny’s rouges to find. The more Danny thought about Bruce Wayne being Batman, the more obvious it was, how did no one else notice?- watching various news reports, and reading various articles about the Joker's death and or escape.

-that was a level of multi-tasking Danny could only wish to achieve-

Tim Drake was frantically muttering about something that Danny couldn’t catch because of the sheer speeds at which he was talking, while Bruce and Damian Wayne were suiting up. Okay, so apparently being vigilantes just ran in the family? Good to have it confirmed.

He looked around and saw that Alfred was missing, and so was Richard… Dick? Grayson and Jason… That was mildly concerning, okay time to go see if he could find them.

He knew -as did everyone in Gotham- that the Joker and Batman had a history, the odds of that history getting all the other Vigalaintes in Gotham tangled up into the mess were very high, and Danny needed to make sure that they were alright.

***

Jason- Jason felt angry, he felt relieved, he felt sick . Throughout all of his angry outbursts, all of his ugly crying, and all of his worried pacing, not once did he feel the Pit.

Was the Pit actually gone? Or was this some fluke? There's no way Joker had actually died, or was there? Jason- he didn't know what to do with himself.

It was just Jason and Dick in the library, everyone else had gone to search for Joker. And Jason was immensely relieved at how hard Dick fought to stay behind, he didn't know if he would of been able to handle all of these emotions on his own.

Jason was on the couch now, basically folded in half with his head between his knees and his hands in his hair, while Dick gave his back comforting rubs.

He heard footsteps and recognized them as Alfreds, and so he didn't feel the need to move. Alfred had seen Jason in much worse places than this.

“Master Bruce and Master Damian are preparing to leave, Master Tim is staying behind to monitor the internet in case the Joker posts anything online.” The calm, informative voice of Alfred was immensely comforting.

Alfred had a specific flavor of panic, and there weren't any signs of it now. Jason relaxed, only slightly, but it was enough for him to straighten up a little bit.

Jason looked up at Alfred to say thanks for the update, when he caught the sight of something… green ? Behind him, before the feeling of being punched in the heart made him double over again.

And suddenly the Pit was back , and it was too much, much much too fast. He felt the Pit rise to his struggling panic, and the more he panicked the more he felt- and it wasn't stopping -

Jason felt… Something that rang of familiarity soothed the Pit with a calming touch and- and it listened .

And then Jason realized that, while this definitely felt like the Pit. It was missing most, if not all , of the anger that wasn't- that wasn't Jason .

Slowly, in time with the cooling Pit, Jason felt the world return to him. And he found that he was lying on his side, facing a bookcase, with his head in - Denim pants, hands brushing strokes through his hair. An occasional random fact, with humming filling up the space in between - Dick’s lap.

Jason shut his eyes for a moment, before opening them again, and then he waited for the world to stop spinning.

When it did stop, he sat up. Looking around, Jason saw that he wasn't that far from the couch, and he also saw that Alfred must have left, and come back with some water. Alfred himself was standing near the door.

Okay, that was the second weirdest Pit-related thing that had happened to Jason recently, this was getting concerning.

Jason was halfway turned towards Dick, with his mouth opened in a question, when there was a knock at the library door.

Jason felt the Pit stir in recognition. That didn't bode well, especially since this was the library, anyone who lived in this house wouldn't knock on the library door.

Alfred shared a ‘I’m going spring this trap, don't fuck up’ look with Dick and Jason, before opening the door.

And the picture-perfect ‘Bruce Wayne adoption bait’ walked into the room after giving Alfred a quick ‘thank you’.

What the fuck.

“Who might you be?” Dick asked

“Who the fuck are you.” Jason demanded

Jason felt the look Dick was giving him from out of the corner of his eye.

“Um, I'm Danny. Sorry if I've startled you, I actually only knocked on the door because I didn't want to scare anyone and then get jumped. Are you doing okay Mr. Jason Sir? I'm not sure if your ghost core feels any different now then it did before, I'm not a doctor you see, definitely more of a fighter. Anyways, even though it might of been unwise I- um…”

The room was filled with silence as ‘Danny’s’ ramble tapered off. ‘Danny’ awkwardly shifted from foot to foot before glancing at Alfred.

“Danny is the ghost that caused Master Jason's Pit disturbances. I knew of his presence in the manor and gave him a more comfortable room.”

Jason felt anger flare up at that, what was Alfred even thinking with this one?

“While I understand caution is necessary, my intuition is right most of the time, and I felt it was right to allow Danny to continue on his current course undisturbed. I am fully willing to take the fall for this should I be proved wrong.”

Jason… Alfred looked unchanging, he was certain of this then. Jason didn't like this, not at all. But if Alfred was that convinced Jason would give it a try.

“Fine, what fuck’n ever. But you!” Jason pointed a finger at Danny, who jumped in surprise.

“I want a full explanation, now .” The growl that Jason emitted was entirely unintentional, but served the nice bonus of making Danny squirm a bit.

***

Danny wasn't freaking out at all, not at all.

Maybe his ‘give Jason back his ghost core’ idea wasn't the best given the high tense situation that was the Joker being missing, but watching Jason fight a part of himself into passing out was definitely not what he expected. Danny had to step in to calm the core down, if Jason had continued… Well, Danny didn't quite know what would have happened, but he did know that it wouldn't of been good.

And now he was sitting on the couch, answering questions, while Jason paced. -Danny had been stumbling over what to call them, when Dick had said that he goes by Dick, and Jason was fine for Jason- And dick sat on a lounge chair.

So far Danny had been asked questions like:

‘What's Ectoplasm?’

‘Do you know where the Pit is?’

‘How are you here?’

Simple questions really, the only lifeline that Danny had in this situation was the fact that he remembered all of the paperwork he had to do, for cleaning up all of the experiments Pariah the Dark ran, and in turn what all of his ‘business partners’ called them. The Lazarus Pit’s.

“What am I now then? Some sort of zombie freak?” Danny could feel how Jason's core rise with his panic, and how that made him panic more again .

“I don't know, I'm not a ghost doctor, I did the best I could in cleansing your ghost core.”

“A-fucking-gain with the ‘ghost core’ shit! What does that even mean?”

Danny blinked, had he…? Oh ancients, he hadn't even explained how ghosts were made, he completely forgot that these people didn't live in a place where everything ghost was basic knowledge.

“Um so, remember how I said that Ectoplasm is the energy of the land of the dead seeping into this plane of existence?”

There were a few nods, and grumbled acknowledgment.

 “Well, if someone dies near a lot of Ectoplasm, and they are feeling intense emotions, they become a ghost. At least, that's the basics, there are some special cases. Like Jason.”

“What does that mean for me then?”

Danny frowned in thought, Jason definitely felt halfa like, but also different.

“I'm not sure, sorry um- any other questions?”

There was a groan of frustration from Jason as he tugged at his white strip of hair.

“What happened to me again? What part did you have in it?”

Danny shifted in his seat, yeah this is definitely the part where they kick him out, maybe even the part where they chase him out of the city.

“The corrupted part of your ghost core recognized me, and that caused a bad flare-up for you, so I tried to calm him, and in doing so managed to separate your core from you because you didn't bond to him properly. While he was with me I stuck to your general location, and tried to cleanse the core of the corruption.”

Danny was really proud of that one, it was concise, he didn't go off on a mini rant about something else, and he didn't stutter!

Jason heaved a sigh.

“Okay, ok. Anything else I should know about this whole ghost thing kid?”

The brief surprise at no one commenting on the fact that Jason's corrupted Ectoplasum recognized Danny was quickly washed away with worry.

“Oh um… Yeah.” The GIW… They could be a problem.

“There is a government organization that's called GIW, I don't actually know what the name stands for, but everyone just calls them the Guys in White. They um… Their goal is to capture and experiment on ghosts and other paranormal in the protection of the planet. They have the legal ability to arrest anyone they believe to be an Ecto-Entity under the Anti-Ecto acts. If they get you on their radar they’ll try to take you in, so avoid that if possible.”

Alfred, Dick, and Jason just stared at Danny. Who suddenly felt very self-conscious.

“That… That goes directly against the Meta-Human protection acts.”

“Who the fuck let that get passed? And how the fuck did we let that get passed?”

Danny let himself get lost in thought while Jason and Dick started up a conversation about something Meta-related.

And wasn't that a shock, that Danny could technically, in some places, pass as a Meta and get all the protections that came with that. That Meta’s were even a thing in the first place, there were a concerning amount of accidents that resulted in people gaining superpowers

It was just so surprising, Danny had seen ghosts with different powers that related to their death and or Obsession but-

Oh shit, Danny forgot about Obsessions.

“Uh guys, there's something else you should know.”

Two heads whipped towards him -Danny only just realized that Alfred had left the room at some point- to stare at him, one filled with anger, the other with exasperation.

Danny flinched, before giving himself a mental shake.

“Um, most ghosts have something called an Obsession. It either has something to do with their death, or something they held close to them personally. Mine is uh…”

Danny froze, what the hell was he supposed to say? That his Obsession was protection? That could be exploited so easily, and yeah, these people might be vigilantes, but that didn't make them immediately trustworthy. 

“Space, when I was a kid I always wanted to be an astronaut. So mine is space. Um… Usually, if a ghost doesn't fulfill their Obsession they go slightly crazy until their instincts take over and fulfill their Obsession for them. From what I know, if a ghost is permanently prevented from fulfilling their Obsession they could lose their mind, or even die…”

The slightly stunned expressions on Jason and Dick’s faces meant that they definitely weren't expecting the info drop, which was expected.

“Um, I have no clue what Jason's could be, or if he’s even developed an Obsession yet, considering the state of his core when I found him.”

The silence that filled the room was loud, until Alfred came back into the room.

There was a look shared between Dick, Jason, and Alfred. And Danny knew that they where having a silent conversation he couldn't quite catch the meaning to. But he did know that Dick was relaxed now. That Alfred was pleased, bordering on smug. And Jason was annoyed, but not angry. So Danny felt like it was fine

Dick turned to Danny who was still sitting on the couch, while Jason walked over to the chair Dick was sitting on and flops over him in a way that inconveniences Dick the most. Dick just looked ridiculously fond.

“Danny, would you mind staying here until we get the Anti-Ecto acts sorted?”

Danny blinked in surprise at that.

“You… Want me to stay?”

“Sure, you’ll be in a lot of danger as long as the Anti-Ecto acts are around, and you’ll be safe here.”

Dick smiled at Danny, and it was probably the brightest smile Danny had ever seen, it was brighter than Dani’s, and that's saying something. And then the smile dims a bit, and a wholly sheepish look takes over his face.

“And um, you’ll be able to help Jason with ghost stuff, and answer any questions we might have.”

Oh, that…

“Um, I was just going to give you my phone number, but I'll stay if you want me to. I uh- just have to ask for permission first.”

Dick blinks, and a confused look passes over his face, before it's swiftly replaced by a smile -less bright then the one from before- and gives a ‘go ahead’ gesture.

Danny nods back, and gets up from the couch to stand by the window. He pulls out his phone and opens up his texts to Jazz.

Jazz: dont stay for to long k Danny?

of course Jazz, I’ll just be sticking around to help :Me

Last night

   hey Jazz, they want me to stay here while they sort out the acts :Me

and in case they have any more ghost problems or questions :Me

Jazz: is that something your comfortable with?

Jazz: ofc i want to believe that theyll help you

Jazz: im just worried little bro.

I don't know, I want to trust them :Me

I’m still not sure Jazz, I… :Me

Danny felt so lost, his gut was telling him to trust them, his core wanted to stay to protect the youngling. -who was older than Danny! How did that even work? Stupid ghost instincts- But experience taught him that even if they were people he should be able to trust, he should be cautious all the same

Jazz: what does your gut say Danny? do you feel safe there?

I’m not sure Jazz, my gut wants to trust them, and my core definitely doesn’t wanna go anywhere :Me

But I just… Don’t know Jazz :Me

Jazz: i think you should give it a shot little bro

Jazz: if things get to out of hand ill call in the calvary okay?

Jazz: this could do you some good

Jazz: just remember to keep me updated okay?

Okay, thanks Jazz. :Me

Talk to you later :Me

Danny sighed in… something… a lot of things. Jazz thought he’d be okay, and she’d get help for Danny if anything happened. Okay, so Danny was doing this.

Turning around, Danny tried to pull together some form of a smile.

“Um, she said yes.”

Dick grinned, and while Danny couldn’t see Jason’s expression, he thought he caught a small bit of relief from his core.

Danny frowned, he swore he was forgetting something. Oh… Best to make that clear.

“Oh and um… If it wasn’t clear enough before, I know your identities. Your Gothams vigilantes.”

Chapter Text

It wasn't that much of a surprise to Dick that the literal ghost child found out about their civilian identities, after -accidentally? It seemed accidental, Danny sure looked sheepish about it- causing the Pit fare-up.

Which is exactly why Dick invited Danny to a game of chess.

Alfred made all of the Robins learn it, if they hadn't already. Aka, made Dick and Jason learn it. And while Dick wasn't the best player, -no that title went to Tim, to much of Damian’s annoyance, and Bruce's… Who knows what Bruce feels. No one ever counted Alfred in these family competitions, if they did, he would win them all- but he wasn't bad either. And as Alfred always said: ‘Chess is a good way to gauge a person's mind .’

“Are you the thing that kept tripping me up on patrol last week?”

Dick kept the question casual, he wanted to throw Danny off guard, because he was winning . And he wasn't even paying proper attention, Dick would be more offended, if he wasn't so damn curious.

As predicted, Danny jumped and almost knocked half the chessboard over, while loudly spluttering and stammering.

Dick watched on in both mild concern, and curiosity, as Danny had to close his eyes and take a moment to breathe.

That's something Dick noticed he did a lot, Danny stuttered, and the stuttering freaked him out. And in comparison to the so so small smile that appeared on Danny's face, and the semi-relaxed shoulders from when he was texting that mysterious person earlier, the tense and jittery Danny of now was very stark in comparison.

“Um- yeah, that was me. I'm uh… It was just a prank bro ?”

Dick blinked, Danny sounded so unsure about making a joke. Dick grinned at Danny.

“Yeah, it was a good one too. You didn't get in the way of fights, and you didn't trip me up enough to hurt out of them, it was a good balance.”

Danny tucked his head out of sight, but not before Dick caught a small smile on his face. And that in of itself was a victory.

Danny gave himself a little shake, before returning his eyes to the board. And Dick watched as every move he made was countered, he even fell into a few traps. Who taught this kid to place chess? Dick would like some lessons please.

It only took a few more moves for Dick to get checkmated, and he gave a congratulatory clap for Danny's victory.

“I will laugh so hard if you can unironically beat anyone else other than me at chess.”

Danny blinked up at Dick, surprise clear on his face.

“Why?”

“Because I'm the worst chess player in the house, and you just wiped the floor with me like Bruce would.”

Danny blinked again, and this statement proved to be too much for him as he started to stammer a bit. Dick just waved his hand in a clearing the air motion.

“It's alright, I didn't mean to make you feel bad, I promise.”

Danny froze for just a second, before giving Dick a tentative smile.

“Want me to take you back to your room? I'm sure you're feeling a little tired, maybe a rest would be good.” 

“Oh um- yes please, thanks… Dick”

Dick privately smiled at the awkward way Danny said his name, it was tradition at this point for Dick to watch a person relax around him depending on how comfortably they called him Dick.

“No problem Danny, you're in the servant quarters with Alfred, right?”

“Yes.”

“Right this way then.”

Dick turned to the doors of the games room, but paused when he didn't hear Danny following him. Dick looked over his shoulder to see Danny frowning at the chess board.

“It's alright Danny, unless we're packing it up for a gala or something, or starting a new game, we leave the chessboard as last played.”

Danny turned to Dick, frown still in place.

“Why is that?”

“To catch any liars or cheats of course.”

Danny blinked, and instead of the maybe expected surprise or shock, there was a mild curiosity. Dick would have to take further note of that.

Dick turned to the door again, and when he started to leave, this time he heard footsteps following behind him.

***

Tim didn't know what to expect when he went up for lunch, -if he didn't go on his own, Alfred would come and drag him up. That was completely undignified, and maybe if it was just Dick around Tim would feel alright with Alfred dragging him around like that. But with Jason here? Tim would not allow it- but seeing a scruffy teenager that might as well have been Bruce's second blood son was not it. Who the fuck brought Bruce Wayne adoption bait right into the manor? Why were they in Alfred's kitchen? Did Alfred even know about this?

“Um hi, I’m uh. Danny. Dick told me to tell anyone I haven't met yet to check the  family chat?”

The person -Danny apparently- shifted awkwardly in their chair.

Okay, Tim may have forgotten to check the chat for any new news, and that was obviously a mistake he would have to rectify.

Jay: hey theres a kid here now

Dick: It’s a little bit complicated to explain over text.

Dick: But the basics is, we’ve picked up a ghost and he’s staying here to stay safe.

Dick: There are some really concerning laws that got passed, and they're basically in direct opposition to the Meta-Human protection laws we passed. But they only affect ghosts.

Jay: hes just a kid if any of you fuckers do anything to him there will be hell to pay

Dick: I’ll explain more in person once B and little D get back, we’ll have a meeting.

Jay: WE will explain****

Dick: 🤗 We!***

Tim stared at his screen, in both shock and horror.

Ghost's were real, that... Had so many frightening implications for what Tim thought he knew about death.

Also

How the hell did Dick and Jason manage to find a ghost kid in the time Tim had spent in the Batcave, surely that much time hadn't passed right?

“Master Tim, there is a sandwich in the fridge for you.”

“Fuck!”

Tim almost dropped his phone, he had to employ some very eccentric maneuvers to actually be able to catch it.

“Thanks Alfred…”

He didn't know how he forgot Alfred's ‘spy-like’ tendencies. Alfred turned, and went back to making lunch for everyone else. If he wasn't having any reaction at all to the kid in the kitchen with them, then it was safe to say Danny had been cleared by Alfred.

Tim turned to get his sandwich, and then sat down at his place on the round table.

“Here you go Danny.”

“Thanks Alfred.”

Hmm, no Mister or Master? Well, Alfred was never one for conforming to expectations anyways.

“I'm Tim, by the way.”

Danny jumped a little at being addressed.

“Oh um- hi Tim. I uh. Lady Gotham really appreciates everything you do as Red Robin, and um, so do I. So thanks for protecting the city.”

…

There was… A lot to unpack in that sentence.

Danny knew Tim was Red Robin????

Who was ‘Lady Gotham’????

That was a really genuine sounding thank you, and Tim didn't know how to deal with that????

Instead of picking one of the more pressing questions Tim had, he picked the one that Danny might feel the most comfortable answering.

“Who's er, Lady Gotham?”

Danny blinked, surprise painted over his face.

“Lady Gotham, is Gotham’s spirit. She’s like- hm, how to explain…”

Danny frowned in thought.

“A spirit is like a being that gets created when a place has both a lot of emotions, and a lot of Ectoplasm. They are a form of ghost made up of basically the very city that helped formed them. They usually represent the place they were made by, although if a city gets destroyed then that city's spirit might wander. I'm fairly certain Lady Gotham came into existence after Gotham City started to sink… That's just a theory though.”

Okay… So Gotham had a spirit, who was called Lady Gotham. Who apparently ‘really appreciates’ everything Tim does as Red Robin.

“Huh, that's… Um cool? Anyways, I'm taking my lunch back down to the cave Alfred. Thanks for the conversation Danny, see you later.”

Tim… He needed some space to think about that one.

***

Jason was kind of surprising himself with how willing he was to stick around at the manor.

It was probably because Danny ticked off every box for: ‘Protect this one from Bruce Wayne’ for Jason.

And also because… He seemed well informed about the Pit- or as Danny called it: a ghost core. And Jason might finally be able to get a proper handle of the Pit.

He wouldn't admit it, not in a million years, but the Pit still bothered him much more than was comfortable. Except for now, that is. While Jason could feel it, since it was the most present the Pit had ever been, it also wasn't… Angry, it was just, there .

And Jason so desperately wanted to keep that, he didn't mind getting angry, but he definitely didn't want to get out of control and then hurt one of his brothers. So if Danny could help keep the Pit at bay? Then Jason would let Danny stick around as long as he wanted to, no matter what the old man said about security risks.

There was an unfamiliar knock at his door, but a familiar presence that the Pit picked up.

“Come in”

The door opened and Danny stood, shifting from one foot to another on the threshold.

“Hey um… I was wondering if I could take a book out of the library to read.”

“Sure, ‘course you can kid.”

Danny smiled, before shifting awkwardly on his feet as he seemed to gear-up for another question. So Jason waited.

“Do you um… Have any recommendations?”

The question almost surprised Jason, he has had a lot of people be shocked when they find out Jason is a bit of a book nerd. But Danny isn't showing any mocking, no judgment, just honest hopefulness.

“Sure kid, let's go down to the library now and take a look huh?”

The bright smile Jason got in return was just an added bonus, it felt like a warm hug, despite all the cold that followed Danny around.

***

Danny was surprised at how welcoming everyone here was, even though he was a practical stranger.

Alfred had gotten Danny a nice room, and then helped him clean it up and make it nicer for Danny.

-After Dick had taken Danny back to his room, Alfred had approached Danny and asked him if there was anything he wanted for his room. Danny had hesitatingly asked for as many blankets Alfred could spare. When it became apparent that there would be too many blankets, Danny had asked for twenty. He now had the coziest blanket nest known to ghost kind-

Dick had played chess with him, and then not complained when he’d lost to someone younger. He’d even wanted to see Danny beat the other household members at chess.

Tim had… Well Tim had seemed very surprised at Danny's sudden appearance, but he’d listened to what Danny had to say, and didn't immediately chuck Danny out on principle.

And now Danny was listening to Jason go on a very Obsession like rant about his favorite authors and books.

Danny reached out and gave Jason's ghost core a prod, and when there was no sign of significant acknowledgement Danny smiled. Yep, it definitely seemed like Jason was developing a book Obsession.

Danny stood with Jason and patiently let him talk himself out.

It only took another -according to Danny's internal clock- thirty minutes for Jason to finish his mini rant.

Jason seemed to pause after finishing his last sentence, and then blinked in confusion.

“What?” Jason muttered, it was just above a whisper.

Danny coughed to remind Jason of his presence, since when ghosts usually go on Obsession related rants they forget about everything else.

“I believe I can make a good guess as to what your Obsession is.”

“Oh- oh? What would that be?”

Hmm, Jason seemed to be very aware of things even post Obsession rant… Or he was just good at covering up his feelings.

“Probably either books or fiction.”

Jason had a thoughtful look pass over his face.

“Yeah, that checks out.”

Jason shifted, and started to scan over the nearby books. Eventually he bent down and picked up a brightly coloured book.

“Here, not sure if you've read any of them, but they're very good.”

Danny looked at the book he was being handed, it was a ‘Famous Five’ book.

“No… I haven't.”

Jason grinned at him.

“Good, you'll love em’. Now if you don't mind me, I'm feeling very tired after whatever the hell that was, I'm gonna go take a rest.”

Danny nodded, that made sense, Obsessions tended to wear one out, in a good way.

“Will you be okay finding your room again?”

“Yeah, I should be fine.”

“K, I'm off now.”

Danny lingered next to the bookshelf while Jason left, before eventually leaving as well.

It had been a good day for Danny, he couldn't wait to see what tomorrow would bring, no matter his nerves.

***

Danny, who was about to sleep, smiled at Jazz's contact in his phone.

He'd taken dinner in his room, and kept reading both of the books he'd borrowed from the library.

Today had been a good day.

Hey Jazz, today was really good. :Me

I think I actually might have a nice time here :Me

They did say something about fighting the Acts in our conversation earlier. :Me

I really hope they end up doing that. :Me

Night Jazz, love you sis! :Me

Jazz: Danny im really happy for you!

Jazz: love you to bro! sleep well

Chapter Text

Bruce couldn't help but be conflicted.

When on patrol any family matters should be kept to the family. This usually also included the messages of the texting chat the Waynes had.

-Considering all of the things Bruce's children discussed in that chat, Bruce was convinced that they had all forgotten Bruce had never left it-

This was a rule Bru- no . Batman was very firm on. But even Batman couldn't find fault with Oracle for making Batman and Robin aware of this one.

Dick, Jason, and presumably Alfred -because there was no way Alfred would let something like that slip him by- had all managed to find a child to protect, within the manor. A ghost child no less.

That was… A huge security risk. And Bruce was struggling with the panic that it caused.

-Ghosts were real , it was a ghost that caused Jason's Pit flare-up, a ghost followed Nightwing and Red Hood to the Batcave and found out everyone's secret identities- at least that's what Bruce thought, and it was an incredibly uncomfortable, but likely, conclusion-

There were also the Anti-Ecto act’s to think about. Oracle had said she'd done some digging on them, and it hadn't been pretty.

She hadn't told or talked to Batman about it after that one report, which he was grateful for. It meant Batman could do his job, focus on fulfilling justice.

Still, all of it lingered in the back of Bruce's mind. He didn't let that affect him, that wasn't an option. But still, the thoughts lingered.

So in all honesty, Bruce was glad that it had finally reached the time everyone had apparently agreed on to discuss this.

Taking off the cowl, Bruce let the thoughts that had been plaguing the back of his mind all night come to the forefront while he removed the rest of his gear.

The first thing Bruce thought of was the security risks.

Was this kid the only ghost?

If that was the case was he just a Meta with ghost powers?

If there were other ghosts could they come into contact with people just like this kid could with them?

What did Jason have to do with this kid?

Would Bruce be able to stop the kid from spilling all of their secrets?

Would the kid hurt them?

Bruce allowed himself to shut his eyes and take a breath. Jason, Dick, and Alfred had all in some way cleared this kid, maybe even Tim too. Damian would probably have said something to Bruce by now if he had met him so he… Probably hadn’t, but his kids did get into the habit of surprising him. All the same, he had to base his thought process on something until proven otherwise.

Bruce had promised himself to be better with his kids, he had to be able to trust them no matter how hard it got at times. So Bruce would try to trust them with this.

Bruce removed his outer layer of armor until it was just the under armor left, it only looked like a pair of black pants and a black turtleneck, and it was also reinforced. It was perfect for the most definitely volatile conversation that was about to happen.

-Bruce was only slightly used to the fact that he had to wear armor to most conversations with Jason, and then add in the fact that some of his kids could really get on each other's nerves when in other heated conversations? Bruce could take a hit, he didn’t want them hurting each other and then feeling guilty over it.-

As Bruce walked over to the bat computer he saw Tim already sitting there, intense focus filling every muscle of his posture. So Bruce walked up behind him and began reading over his shoulder.

A right given to us by the government. Any resistors will be assumed to be either possessed, mind controlled, or manipulated, into helping the entity. If resistance continues after the first efforts of the responders, responders are allowed to use whatever force deemed necessary to contain or assist any resistors.

Bruce felt his teeth grind together. This was probably a portion of the Anti-Ecto acts then, judging by Tim's rapt attention. -nothing else at the moment had been able to hold Tim's attention, and Bruce watched the guilt flood Tim's face every time he complained about a case or two being boring, not knowing how to help or what to do-

That paragraph sounded extremely concerning, and dangerous, for civilians. Bruce could honestly get the Anti-Ecto acts flagged in some way on this alone. Which really didn't bode well.

And it didn't get better.

The more Bruce read, the angrier he got. How… How did he let this get passed? How did he not catch this? How did no one in the Justice League catch this?

These acts allowed the GIW to use excessive force, and let them do inhumane experimentation on anything they deemed an Ecto-Entity. How was that not a massive red flag? They could say any normal civilian needed to be taken to check they weren't an Ecto-Entity, that was almost blatant kidnapping at this point, and the fact that it was fully legal?

The people running the GIW seemed clearly biased, and all the ‘Ecto-ologist’s’ definitely were biased. There wasn't one person who looked to be on the side of Ecto-Entity’s. No scientist was conducting their research with Ecto-Entities being sentient. That alone showed how tipped the scales where

 Those laws were definitely bad and needed to be changed as soon as possible, if only for the danger they posed to civilians and metas.

“Wow, starting without us?”

Tim jumped and started having a coughing fit with how startled he was… Maybe Bruce needed to touch up on his situational awareness training? That seemed like a good idea, given how much more time Tim spent at the Bat computer than out doing missions. At least comparatively to the main Bats and Birds

Bruce put the thought aside for now, to turn around and take in the new company.

Jason was standing at the bottom of the Batcomputer stairs, predictably annoyed, with his arms fully crossed.

To Jason's right was a grumbling Damian, the most likely reason for his grumbling was leaning over him, arms coming in from above for the most awkward-looking hug ever, Dick’s smile would be bright enough to light up the Batcave even if all the lights where to suddenly turn off.

To the left of Jason there was a shadow, silently observing them all, Cass gave Bruce a nod when he caught her eye.

“Surely you have conducted some form of research on your own, you apparently made this discovery quite early in the day. So anything to report?”

Bruce's question was met with an eye twitch from Jason, and that was never a good sign.

“Ah, I have been researching since lunch! And my report is as follows.” Tim interrupted whatever Jason was going to say, Bruce was mildly thankful for that. “The Anti-Ecto acts need to, at the least be heavily revised, if not completely revoked, they allow the GIW too much power for a small independent branch of the government that has little to no monitoring. There's a lot, and I can't cover all of it in a spoken report, so I’ll write one for everyone with all the important stuff. If you want to look the acts up in your own time you’re welcome to.”

Everyone knew what this meant by now, Tim would provide them the most essential points, and link them back to the appropriate file in the system they all used.

“Thank you, Tim. Now, can anyone share an accurate profile of the child that is now staying here?”

It was surprisingly Dick that spoke up, or maybe it wasn’t the most surprising thing in the world considering that Dick was the most friendly out of all of them.

“Danny, the kid, is mildly competitive, he beat me at chess. The point? He played like Bruce, while also being lost in his thoughts.”

Hn, that showed a possible larger range of intellect.

“He’s polite to a fault, also a little jumpy.” Tim added.

Ah, shy maybe? Bruce shook the immediate thoughts of ‘ Spy spy, hiding hiding, find find fiND FIND ’ from his head, he would have to try and give the benefit of the doubt here. He would catch everyone should this all fall through, but it would not do to weigh over this situation and cause it to collapse because of an outside influence.

There was the sound of shoving, as Damian finally got himself out of Dicks hold.

“I have yet to meet this ‘Danny’, but when I do I’ll make sure to have a report at the ready for you Father.”

At least Bruce could mostly trust Damian to be steadfast and predictable.

“Thank you, Damian. Jason, anything to report?”

Jason looked at Bruce, a stubborn anger in his eyes. Sighing internally Bruce readied himself for Jason's refusal, knowing that if Jason was unwilling there was nothing he could do to change that-

“Ughhh, Danny is. Well. Listen, he's a good kid.”

Bruce blinking, this was… Surprising, and out of his expectations.

“He asked for some book recommendations, and in the process, I found out that it's my ghostly obsession.”

Dick looked over at Jason, a fond look on his face, while Tim looked mostly skeptical. Bruce…

“Jason, your… A ghost?”

Everyone froze, minus Dick and Jason, who just shared a look. Bruce… Bruce had to remind himself to breathe, there was- Jason was here .

“Aw fuck, okay I’m like- part ghost? Okay so, the Lazarith Pits have turned out to be just contaminated Ectoplasim. And it was the Pits that revived me right? Well, they made me like part ghost? Stuff? Look not even Danny fully knows, all we know is that I’m some type of Ecto-Entity so… Yeah.”

Bruce… Okay, okay. Just- What could he have changed? Prevented? Did this have a say in Jason's behavior? Could Bruce of fixed this earlier if he had known? Is this a thing that even needs to be fixed? Can it be fixed? No, no. Now was not the time, they had other more important matters to attend to. No matter how much it pained him to let Jason live in possible pain for any longer than he had to

Bruce looked up and noticed it was just Cass and him in the cave, Cass had moved to Bruce's side and was leaning into him a little. Hn. “Are they…”

“Us fine B, go rest.”

Bruce couldn’t help but smile, even if it was a little bitter. What did he really do to deserve such nice kids?

“Thanks, Cass, I think I’ll do that.”

Reaching up Bruce gave her hair a quick ruffle, Cass gracefully bore this treatment, before Bruce turned away and started making his way to the elevator. He really could use a rest… And some time to process… Was Alfred’s muttering about emotions actually finally sinking in?

So long as it benefited Bruce's kids he didn’t mind.

***

Danny woke up to warm blankets and a comfortable bed. He wriggled into the bed further and almost fell asleep again, but he resisted the temptation, and instead, he dragged himself out of bed.

It was, Danny took a quick glance at the clock on his bedside, yep seven in the morning. Danny thought back on his time here and- honestly, he was feeling pretty anxious. It was the beginning of his fifth day here -his homework and ghost work were definitely in need of doing, just thinking about it started stressing Danny out- he had been discovered, pulled pranks -that no one had seemed to realize were caused by him- answered a bunch of ghost questions. And that was before Batman knew about it, and now he definitely most probably did, at least it was safe to assume he would know about it now. Which meant more questions and- yeah Danny was a little bit done with the questions.

Even though he's not your normal ghost talking about how ghosts were formed still made him feel uncomfortable, he was not ready to have to go into more detail. Because Batman would surely want him to go into more detail, right?

Danny groaned as he felt the tasks pile up, he could get his laptop for classes fairly easily, even if it would require leaving the mansion for a while. But fulfilling his ghostly duties? He had no idea how he was going to manage it, and the Ancients definitely would not be inclined to give Danny an extended vacation. Maybe he could ask Lady Gotham for help? She had appeared right next to Dick at the medbay right? So maybe she couldn't be seen by the living? He’d have to ask

Sighing Danny made his way out of his room, while walking towards the kitchen a familiar presence popped up near him. Was that… Damian? Danny looked around, and despite his ghost sense telling him that someone who definitely felt like Damian -who had that same sense of contaminated Ectoplasm that Jason had, how had they both gotten in contact with it? Like yeah, most of Gotham seemed like they were carrying around bits of Ectoplasm, but the one that Jason and Damian had was different- was basically on top of him he couldn't see anyone, he even looked up and let his ghost night vision light up the darkness of the ceiling a bit, but still nothing.

Shaking his head, Danny just resigned himself to the fact that he had probably picked up one of the blobs that seemed to occupy the mansion, maybe it was sent out to investigate him? Oh well, so long as they weren't hurting anybody. Which they didn't seem to be, in fact, from what Danny could tell, they seemed to be trying to help Alfred with the mansion's upkeep. And they also liked to spend time around the other residents, which would explain the similar Ecto-signiture… 

Deciding to let the matter be, Danny upped the pace towards the kitchen. He could ask for some time to himself and fly back to Jazz’s, he would probably remember the way for the most part. While there he could either give Jazz a more proper explanation if she was home, or leave a letter for her. And then he would come back-

Why was he staying here… With the world's greatest detectives… Who would most certainly want to pry into his life beyond being a hunted-down species?

He could probably just go, and maybe they would actually try and look into him, but he’d told them about the Anti-Ecto acts, and that was surely a more serious matter, and by the time they were done with those they would of probably forgotten about Danny right?

Danny hesitated, lost in thought about why he was actually sticking around. And then he remembered Jason, right. He had a responsibility here, Jason was a confusing mix of ghost and human and death, and his body needed to be guided so he could actually heal and rest properly.

Half of the other Batman adjacents also seemed to have some sort of Ecto contamination problems, which could stem from all sorts of issues that Danny could probably fix.

And for the sake of his people, he should also probably sick around to help with the Anti-Ecto acts…

And after all of that was sorted he’d leave them to their lives, and Danny would return to trying to maintain his peaceful afterlife. Yeah, he’d just stick around for that and then get out of the hair of these actually important people. Maybe he could even make that trip back to Amity he had been dreading, check that all the wards were still up and stuff.

But first, breakfast. Danny shook his head, in an admittedly awful attempt at dislodging the thoughts from his head as continued to walk down the hall to the kitchen.

(“Help, help, help, help, hurt hurt hurt hurt-” Why was Jason's core so unstable? Why did it seem to think Jason was the threat?)

(“Tch.” Danny watched as Damian left the bathroom after seeing that there was nothing there, leaving behind the sensation of corruption behind him.)

(Why was Tim -Aka Redrobin, what a pill to swallow!- investigating what looked to be Ectoplasm? Was it because of Jason? Okay, Danny could get behind that.)

(Dick… Carried a weight, that smelt -yes, Ectoplasm is weird like that, things that should be visual are things you usually smell, and other times you could see them, and sometimes you could only hear them.- like dead expectations, not to be confused with expectations that don't matter anymore, but the expectations of the dead that they had left with Dick before death)

(Alfred looked dead on his feet of all things, like only his will alone was keeping him tied down to the ground, and if he faltered for just a moment he would float away. He also had a shade that followed him, emitting a soft concern.)

(Danny had no clue why the Waynes were like this, he… It stirred his Obsession, to save and make better, to protect. If he could maybe help this family… Maybe, just maybe, it would mean Danny had a chance to save his own. -He owed it to help someone, even if he couldn’t help himself-)