Chapter Text
William Lancer wasn’t one to jump to conclusions. He thought it was irrational. Instead, he tried to get evidence before drawing a reasonable conclusion. It was because of this that William didn’t immediately make the call.
Jasmine had always been brilliant. She had all the intelligence and maturity of a scholar. She won awards and always strived to be better than before. When William had first mentioned psychology to Jazz at the end of her freshman year, it was only a passing comment. He hadn’t expected her to take to it like a fish to water. He hadn’t expected her to be able to psychoanalyze most anyone within moments of meeting them. Yes, Jazz never made William worry.
Daniel was a different picture altogether. From the moment he stepped foot into William’s classroom, he was nothing like his sister. Danny was difficult and uncaring. He had a barely passing grade in most of his classes after only a couple of weeks. Danny seemed to lack Jazz’s drive to learn and achieve. William spent two months dealing with this behavior before he finally broke. He wouldn’t be able to help Danny without getting some help first.
When William contacted Danny’s old teachers, asking them how they motivated him, they were all confused. They told William that Danny had always been a star student with straight As, just like Jazz. They said that he was even better than Jazz in some areas of learning. This confused William to no end, so he requested to see Danny’s old grades and, sure enough, the boy had kept perfect grades since early elementary school.
So, Danny was clearly intelligent, but he somehow lacked the drive once he became a high schooler? It hadn’t made sense at the time. William started to look into it. After ranting to an old classmate, who had gone on to be a Doctor, he learned that Danny was hurt during the summer. Apparently, he had been severely electrocuted in a lab accident. He probably still had the scars. So, William thought, it must be that he is still recovering from the trauma. That was fine. Once Danny was in a better place, William would get him back to all As before the end of the semester.
Danny never did get to a better place. The ghost attacks began, and Danny got worse. He slept through classes and never got work turned in on time. It was worrying. This kid just kept getting worse and William couldn’t help it when his mind wandered to that terrible ‘what if’ that plagued his subconscious. He never let himself fully consider it.
There were a decent number of reasons why. For one, Jazz wasn’t showing any signs, and the Fentons seemed to love their children equally. Another was the fact that William knew the Fentons, everybody knew them. Amity Park was a tight-knit community. Nobody else seemed to have qualms about it. William was just being paranoid. The final reason was the fact that nobody in Amity Park had dared treat their child that way since the late 1970s. There was no way in Dante’s Inferno that the Fentons of all people would break the almost three-decade-long trend.
And then Danny showed up to school with a bruise. And then a burn. And then more bruises. And more burns. And more. Naturally, Danny tried to hide them. He wore hoodies in even the hottest weather and seemed to be learning makeup to hide them. But William still noticed. Everything was still fine, of course. Jazz hadn’t a mark on her. William knew Danny got into fights. He realized the boy was bullied. That was something he reported to the principal. It was fine.
And then, against all odds, Jasmine Fenton showed up to school with a massive bruise. A bruise in the shape of a fist. A bruise that William only noticed when the girl's shirt rose up as she stretched her arms. It wasn’t just the one bruise either. Jazz soon had burns and bruises nearly every day. It wasn’t as bad as Danny's, but it was still clear the pain she was suffering through. And then the unthinkable happened. Jasmine Fenton, who had never been given even an A-, let her grades slip, fall, and plummet.
Fuck. It couldn’t be, could it? They wouldn’t. Nobody had for decades. But William was a man who prided himself in facts. He found himself wincing when all the facts pointed to one conclusion. The Fentons were abusing Jazz and Danny. Shit.
William was a mandated reporter. He sighed deeply, picked up the phone, and dialed. Only a week later, Madelyn and Jack Fenton were on trial for child endangerment, neglect, and abuse. Jazz had given the authorities everything they needed. She had told them that she and Danny were required to clean the lab even without proper safety gear as a regular chore. She told them that she had been raising Danny since she was ten and he was eight. She exposed every dirty secret, except one. Jazz refused to tell anyone where the bruises and burns came from.
Oddly enough, it was small and quiet Danny who came forward and confidently stated, “Their college friend, Mayor Masters, is the one who hits us. He’s our godfather. He hurts us when we don’t do what he says and oppose him. He used to only hurt me. Then Jazz found out and started stepping in. He started hurting her as well. He thinks he’ll get away with it, and I do too. No one ever called him out for the other stuff.”
With that, the police investigated Vlad Masters and even enlisted the help of Phantom. The ghost boy brought all of Masters’ secrets to light and the Mayor was arrested. Phantom advised they use anti-ghost cuffs because Masters was liminal enough to tap into intangibility for a couple of minutes. Once the court case was over, the entire town breathed a collective sigh of relief. At least some of the crazed lunatics were off the streets.
William heard Danny tell his friends that he and Jazz had fully dismantled the portal, so Amity Park would never have to worry about ghosts again. He smiled at the whispered words. Apparently, Vlad had been sentenced to life in prison after all of his crimes had been uncovered. Due to the fact that Vlad would never get out, his will was read, and his assets were given away. Danny Fenton was suddenly a billionaire with absolutely no access to the money until he was eighteen.
It then occurred to the town, that these were children. They wouldn’t be able to live on their own. They would be put in the foster system. Except, all the foster homes in Amity Park are full and can’t take more kids. The kids would be sent to the only local orphanage for “temporary housing”. The orphanage was old and run down with only three other children. The other three kids were technically in the foster system and there for “temporary housing”. To top it all off, they were above Danny and Jazz on the list. If anyone were to go to a foster home, it would be Debra, then Michael, followed by Ty, before finally getting to Danny and then Jazz.
William didn’t know what made him fill out the paperwork. Maybe it was the realization that Danny and Jazz would be taken from one bad situation and forced into a new one. No matter what the cause, William filled out the paperwork and was the foster parent of two children by the end of the week.
Danny seemed perplexed when he saw William enter the orphanage to pick him and Jazz up. Jazz herself just quietly smiled and whispered a thank you as they walked out the door. Both of the children seemed shocked when William said he would be quitting his job at Casper High and that the three of them would be moving away from Amity. William wasn’t going to let the children stay in the town that was tied to the roots of their trauma. That was just begging for disaster.
When William confessed his reasoning to Jazz, the redhead nodded, seemingly content with the answer. Jazz promised to explain it to Danny in a way that he would understand and wouldn’t offend him. Three days after getting the kids in his custody, they all boarded a plane. William made sure to take the kids somewhere extra peaceful. He didn’t want to trigger any PTSD responses or something.
William quickly regretted the decision of a peaceful city. After living in Amity “The Most Haunted Town in America” Park for the many months since the hauntings began, William had adjusted to the chaos. Being in such a mundane environment was putting him on edge. But it wasn’t his feelings that mattered. The kids needed a break from the crazy. Or so he thought.
Jazz and Danny pulled William into the living room of the apartment they were living in. They sat him on the couch and pulled up a slide show presentation titled, “Why We Should Move To Gotham City, New Jersey”. They then proceeded to explain how off-putting the calm of Las Angeles was and how Gotham’s constant crazy would be like home away from home. In the end, William folded, and they boarded another plane during spring break.
William made sure they got a decent apartment in one of the better parts of town. He started tutoring while looking for a job at one of the local high schools for the upcoming school year. Danny and Jazz seemed much happier overall in Gotham. That was all that mattered. William set ground rules and the kids promised to stay away from rogue attacks. Their safety was the only thing more important than their happiness.
William continued to tutor during the summer and actually got a lot more kids coming to him. He was accepted as the new honors English teacher for the sophomores at Gotham Academy. He told them he would accept any job available, considering back at Casper he was the assistant principal, freshman English teacher, and resident sub all in one. To say the people at Gotham Academy were impressed with his resume and work experience would be an understatement.
William had actually been accepted by every single school he applied for a job at, but he ultimately chose Gotham Academy because they offered to let Jazz and Danny attend for free. When the next school year began, Danny was in William’s honors class after working his ass off since moving away from Amity Park. William was very proud of Danny and expressed this pride by treating Danny to ice cream the day before school began.
Among Danny’s classmates was one Jason Todd, a boy who stood out. Something about Jason felt familiar and strange. Jason loved English, as far as William could tell, and he seemed to be a very sweet kid. However, William felt as if Jason stood out against the other students in a way only Danny had before. Jason carried himself like Danny did, trying to make himself look smaller. That didn’t please William one bit.
When the open house night came up, William wasn’t prepared to meet Bruce Wayne of all people. Even before living in Gotham, William vaguely knew who Bruce Wayne was. He was a billionaire, one of the richest billionaires on earth. It was like how most people have heard of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, or Lex Luthor. Now, after living in Gotham for almost half a year, William finally understood the true impact Mr. Wayne had in the city.
Every time there was major property damage, Bruce Wayne would donate a shit ton of his money to that. He hired ex-prostitutes and ex-drug addicts, promising them a better life. Mr. Wayne funded most of the charities in Gotham. He always tried to better the city he lived in. William had once heard people call him the Angel of New Jersey’s Hell, in passing. Now, Bruce Wayne himself stood before William to discuss one of his students.
William began the meeting by introducing himself, “Good afternoon, Mr. Wayne. I’m William Lancer and I teach honors English. Could you please tell me which student you are here for?”
Mr. Wayne smiled, “Please, call me Bruce. I’m here for Jason.”
“Jason Todd? In my first period? You are his parent or guardian?” William asked, his brow furrowed.
Mr. Wayne just hummed and nodded. William looked the man over and thought about every charitable thing the philanthropist had done in the past five months. William sighed to himself.
“Mr. Wayne, Jason’s grades are wonderful. He is a great student and seems to understand the material faster than most. He is truly a gifted kid. That’s not even touching on how effortlessly kind he is. He always tries to help others before himself.”
Mr. Wayne smiled even brighter than before.
William mentally questioned if he was really going to ask Bruce Wayne about Jason’s home life. He steeled his resolve and stated, “Mr. Wayne, I am concerned about Jason.”
Mr. Wayne frowned before asking, “Why are you concerned? You said he was excelling.”
William responded, “Jason always seems tired in my class, despite it clearly being one of his favorites. The recommended amount of sleep for a teenager is nine and a half hours. While I understand it is difficult to convince kids to fall asleep at a reasonable time, so they may be well-rested in the morning, his sleep schedule isn’t my only concern.”
He paused to let the billionaire take that in, “Mr. Wayne, Jason tries to make himself look smaller and more docile. I’ve only ever seen one other kid do that, and he was in an abusive home at the time. I fully doubt that a man like you would ever treat anyone, much less a kid, like that, but I am required by law to bring my concerns to the table. I just hope you have some of the answers I so desperately need.”
Mr. Wayne pressed his lips together before answering, “I adopted Jason a few years ago, but he came from a rather bad situation. Jason was living on the streets before he came into my care. And before the streets, he lived with his less-than-ideal parents. I’ve been trying to make him feel comfortable, but I understand that some traumas don’t go away with a warm bed and some good meals. I’m struggling a bit to give Jason the help he needs.”
William nodded, “I understand. The student I mentioned earlier is now my foster son. I struggle every day to make sure he feels comfortable. I’ve been thinking of raising enough money for him and his sister to be able to change their last names if they so desire. Mr. Wayne, I think that the most important thing when it comes to children who have suffered through traumatic experiences is not to understand the kids or where they are coming from.
“It might be impossible for me to ever truly understand Danny and Jazz. The most important thing is making them feel safe, comfortable, and loved. Let them decide what they are okay with and what boundaries they want to set. Kids may be young, but they are often times clever.”
Mr. Wayne smiled once more, “You are a good man, Mr. Lancer. I have no doubt that you’ll be a great teacher this year. It’s only been a couple of weeks, and you’re already Jason’s favorite staff member. Thank you for speaking with me, Mr. Lancer.”
William nodded, “Of course, Mr. Wayne.”
Mr. Wayne held out his hand and William shook it. He watched the billionaire leave and breathed a sigh of relief. Jason would be well taken care of. Now, the only student William had to worry about was Danny. He pulled out his phone to text Jasmine about her and Danny’s locations and whether or not they were safe. She responded quickly that they were on their way home and that he shouldn’t worry. William smiled ruefully. Jazz may say he doesn’t need to worry, but William felt otherwise.
For now, at least, everything was okay. Danny and Jazz were okay. They were happier in Gotham than in Amity. Somehow, the makeshift family was safer in the world's capital of crime. William decided not to question it. If it aint broke, don’t fix it.