Chapter Text
Alfred Pennyworth was shopping for groceries as usual for his rowdy family. Jason is staying at the manor tonight for an abdomen wound that needs redressing every 5 hours or so. That’s when he saw her.
This young lady looked remarkably similar to Martha Wayne. In her curly hair, facial features and nose Alfred could see Martha. It was like she was alive again for a brief moment. Alfred could not believe his eyes.
How? Was this Bruce’s child or someone who just looked like Martha Wayne. She certainly was not a little kid, but she had to be related to the Waynes somehow. He had to find some sort of way to get closer to her but she had gotten her groceries and left before he could do anything about it.
After Alfred was back at the manor, he could not stop thinking about her. The others could tell there was something on his mind and asked him what was wrong.
Alfred told them, “Master Bruce. I have something I wanted to share with you”
“Yes, Alfred,” Bruce said.
“I’m not sure how to go about saying this, but I was at the store and I saw a young lady who looked remarkably like your mother.”
The rest of the children were silent.
“Huh? Did you have another kid when we weren’t looking, old man” Jason said.
“Tt, we need to investigate this matter” Damian ruffly replied.
“New sister,” Cass said.
“Did you grab a picture for us Alfred?” Tim responded.
“How old do you think she was?” Dick asked.
“I did not grab a picture of her Master Tim, but I’m sure CCTV cameras could show you more than I could explain. I do not know how old she was Master Dick but she is not quite a child but a young adult”.
Bruce ran a hand through his hair, “Are you sure Alfred? I mean, this doesn’t have to be someone related to us. Could just be a coincidence”
Alfred paused, “You could be right, but there’s always one way to test it out.”
Duke said, “What if she already has a family?”
Bruce sighed, “We’ll get to that if she’s actually related to us.”
After dinner the family split up. Jason was sitting out on patrol for the time being for his injury and was heading comms with Tim and Alfred. Cass, Bruce, Damian, Dick, and Steph were heading out to patrol. Duke was heading to bed, but was on alert if anything big happened. Alfred hopes that it’ll be quiet tonight, but he has a bad feeling about patrol
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Several Hours Earlier
Rani rushed back home, ready to unpack her groceries. Team Phantom was going to go out to dinner tonight to celebrate Danny’s up and coming graduation and she needed to finish her errands before going. Team Phantom consist of her friends Jazz, Ellie, Danny, Tucker, Sam, Valerie, and Wes. She had the privilege of meeting them all when she first traveled to Amity Park. It was one of the toughest and darkest time of her life. She had no idea what was wrong with her at the time but she had been hit with a huge green ray of sorts when she was traveling through some old castle in Madison, Wisconsin several years ago. Afterwards, when she got home, she had some sort of strange illness. She couldn't hold anything in her hand, bumped into objects and felt weightless at some point. Rani had no idea what was wrong with her but if it wasn't for her shitty mentor then she wouldn't be here today. Not that her mentor is bad, he's just as cryptic as hell. As far as Rani was concerned, he could be speaking in riddles.
It was only after she graduated with her masters (so about 2 months after the incident) that she was able to drive all the way to Amity Park, IL where she finally discovered that she was what they called a "halfa". Half human and half ghost. Rani had a little bit of a mental break down. No one who's gone through their whole life being human could handle this kind of power. It took talking to Danny (the only one to really get it) to calm down and think more rationally.
That's when Rani decided to train, not to fight anyone, but for the purpose of controlling her powers. At that point she had gotten used to how much havoc her powers have caused her, but she's tired. No one should be using 100% of their brain to not lose control of themselves, so Rani trained. She trained for about 2 weeks cause that's all the time she could take before having to start her new job, but it was worth it. Amity Park had laid it's foundation and it was up to her to build up from there. She's forever grateful for the Team Phantom for all their help. It was really thanks to Danny that she made it that far, which explains why she had a big fat crush on him. She's glad she didn't have to be near him, cause those 2 weeks were honestly hell. She couldn't stand looking at him without feeling some type of way. Rani knew that if she wanted any semblance of life at that point, she couldn't afford to get distracted.
Her thinking proved to work, because now that she's moved to Gotham 2 years later she feels a lot more stable in her life. During her time in New York City, she decided to go by the name Shadow. The name is pretty self explanatory. She uses double batons and taser discs. She relies on her durability and super strength/abilities. Due to her connection to Clockwork she trains with various ghost mentors and fights using her training she received from Pandora. Her ghost powers are back pocket if she needs them though. She doesn’t go out very often unless she gets intel from Clockwork or from Team Phantom. She first started when she was in NYC and had teamed up with Spiderman and his friends, but she moved to Gotham as the city wasn’t for her. She’s still friends with Peter Parker, MJ, Flash, Ned, Betty and Cindy though.
One of her abilities is a sort of “spatial purse” sort of thing where she can reach in and grab whatever she wanted. It was useful if she wanted to go out at night. Her "phantom phone" was there alongside money and other items. Very useful wherever she went out and it makes it harder for muggers to steal anything valuable from her.
She usually lets the muggers takes her things and then tracks them down to see why they stole it and solve the problem through there. One of Rani’s passion projects for Gotham is to reduce goons working for the bigger badder villains. A lot of the reason is due to her public health background. Crime happens due to poverty. Batman usually avoids places like Crime Alley but that doesn’t mean Shadow will do the same. Red Hood takes care of the immediate problems but sometimes he needs help which is where she comes in. Rani has roped the rest of Team Phantom to help with that as well. Sam is especially useful in that she has a way of tracking down specific people through her plant powers, and gather information and knowledge in a way no one else can. She and Tucker can get so much intel on people using their networks. They also both work at the environment division at Wayne corporation to prevent the consequences of constant rogue attacks on the water supply.
Although she would have never wished to have these powers, she’s glad that she’s able to learn how to use them and do good with them in her own unique way. She doesn't need to go out like the Bats to do some good in the city.