Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tim did not like grocery stores. He knew it showed his privilege and Jason never let him forget that he had grown up with the silver spoon, but he still didn’t like them. When he was a kid his parents always had groceries delivered and for the most part Alfred did the same. Tim certainly only ordered his own groceries, but sometimes he still had to go to one himself.

Part of the reason he hated shopping so much was because of the attention he always attracted. When he dressed up he got recognized as Tim Drake-Wayne and was mobbed by either paparazzi trying to get a quick scoop or actual mobsters looking to kidnap him and get a ransom. When he dressed down every store clerk seemed to assume he was there to steal. Dick said it was because his Bat-paranoia that had him constantly on the lookout for threats came across as someone up to no good, afraid of getting caught. 

He idly watched a younger teen from the corner of his eye. The scruffy looking teen picked up one of the jars off the shelf and carefully read it then put it back. Jason and Cass had both talked about how that was a way to push off attention if you weren’t planning on buying anything and just needed somewhere out of the weather. More power to him, honestly, the stormfront that had burst was looking to last another week. 

Tim moved into a different aisle so the kid didn’t get caught up in the usual negative attention that plagued him when he was out in public. He finally found the energy drinks and was staring at them trying to decide if he wanted to try and sneak them past Alfred to store them in the manor where he would need them the most frequently or if it was safer to hide them in his nest when said negative attention landed in the form of a screeching Karen.

He pulled off one ear of his headphones so he could at least pretend to listen to whatever she was howling about. God damn, he had fought actual supervillians with less damaging sonic attacks than this woman. It took him a second to realize she had dragged over the other teenager and was ruthlessly shaking him by the arm. 

"You need to keep a better track of your little brother! I caught him trying to steal while you were over here looking at your phone!" She screeched. 

Tim made eye contact with the kid and all his Bat-training roared to life as he took in numerous details in a glance. The kid’s unwashed hair (black), his wide, scared eyes (blue) with almost racoon-dark rings under his eyes, his pale skin with visible bruises and cuts. Tim couldn’t tell definitively if this kid was related or not, but the very fact that he looked close enough to pass at the Wayne Manor dinner, made him pay attention. Even disregarding the fact that both Jack and Janet Drake could have cheated on each other and would absolutely hide the fact if a bastard came of it, there was always clones as a possibility. 

"Yes," Tim reached out and pulled the kid out of the woman's grasp; tucking him into his side, "I'll make sure to do that thank you."

He could see her taking a breath to start up another tirade, but quite frankly, Tim did not have the patience for it and he could feel this kid shivering against him. So he turned the pair of them, keeping the kid pressed against his side, and speed walked away. Once they were out of sight, Tim spun so he could face this kid.

“Hey man, thanks for the save, I’m so sorry you had to get dragged into that.” The kid said, practically ready to apologize for his entire existence right there.  

“Don’t worry about it, I could get you away from her so I did. It’s no problem. My name’s Tim, what’s yours?”

“Uh, Danny.” 

Tim visually checked the newly named Danny over, he could see a few signs of hidden or older injuries on top of the bruises and exhaustion. And god damn did they look like brothers. Though to be fair, Tim certainly wasn't related to Dick or Jason and he looked pretty similar to them in the right lighting. He could tell that Danny was growing uncomfortable with the inspection. 

“You've still got your backpack? Good. Let's finish our shopping and get out of here before anyone else throws a fit.”

Danny blanched, his eyes darting around. Tim smiled and used a card trick Dick had taught him to show his credit card. 

“Don't worry little brother! I've got dad's card so get what you want.”

Danny looked nervous but followed along while Tim led him through the store. Tim started filling his basket with no prep needed foods and some other basics. Bruce had done a lot of research when he first took up the mantle on what best met the needs of the city's unhoused population. Jason had almost completely rewritten the list during his time at Robin.  Tim shopped efficiently, knowing he didn't have long before Danny's fragile trust ran out. 

“You don’t actually have to buy me things you know.” Danny whispered. 

“Well she thinks you’re my brother, so I have to show that I’m a good one. Family obligations and all that.” 

“I guess I understand that.” He sounded sad, and there was a weight to his words that worried Tim. 

“What brings you to Gotham?” Tim asked as he picked out a small first aid kit. 

“Is it that obvious I'm not from around here? Is it the accent?” 

“Yeah partially, but also most Gotham kids would have pulled a knife if someone tried to manhandle them like that.”

“Oh.” Danny looked confused for a moment before shaking his head. “I'm here looking for someone. They’re supposed to live here in Gotham. I’m hoping I can stay with them for a little bit. ” 

“Are you sure you’re not looking for me? If you’re looking for a sibling, we already look alike.” 

Danny gave him a look, before focusing on the shelves around them. 

“I don’t think so, well, unless…” Danny gave him another look, a hint of color rising in his cheeks. “Unless you, you know, changed, since you were born. I’m looking for my sister.”

“Oh, nah. If I was going to transition I’d be more likely to go the other way.” Tim said with a laugh, though Danny looked even more concerned. 

“You can do that if you want to, you know!” He seemed desperate for Tim to understand, which was both a little touching and a little heartbreaking. 

“Yeah I could, but family obligations again.” 

Danny fell silent and looked upset, but like he didn't have the words to say to help as they finished their shopping, still under the watchful gaze of the shrieking wretch, who had at least fallen silent and stayed far enough back that she couldn’t hear their quiet conversation. 

They checked out with a cashier who clearly wasn't paid enough to pay them any mind. Tim took advantage of packing Danny's backpack with what he had purchased to hide a number of $20 bills among the purchases. No doubt Danny wouldn't trust the offer if Tim just handed him the money outright, but this way he could make sure the kid was taken care of. 

The two boys walked out of the store and stood under the awning to look at the rain still pouring down outside. He reached over and playfully mussed Danny's hair. Danny batted his hand away in annoyance, but not before Tim managed to place a tracker on his hoodie and snag a stray hair. If there was even a chance that this was related, Tim would do everything to make sure he was safe. 

“Alight. See you around Danny, stay safe.” Tim said. 

Danny gave him a nod and one last look of confusion before turning away. Tim left to head to his car and was ready to drive to the cave to test the sample when an alert from his watch grabbed his attention. He pulled a comm device from the watch and slipped it into his ear. 

“Red Robin online.” He said. 

“Arkham breakout, Red.” The heavily modulated voice of Oracle reported. “We need all hands on deck.” 

“Copy that. I’m a few minutes away from the closest safe house to suit up.” 

“Understood. Patching you through to comms.” 

Tim’s ear was filled with updates from the other bats. An explosion had rocked Arkham. Considering the two-colored pyrotechnics best guesses were that Two-Face was the one staging the breakout, though who knew who else would take advantage of the chaos. 

He grimaced and pulled up his trackers on his car’s screen. He could see Bruce and Damian heading towards the Asylum. Dick was racing across from Bludhaven while Jason was circling in Crime Alley, daring any to harm the streets he had claimed. Tim’s own marker was on the other side of the city from the others. Right next to his was the blinking marker for the tracker he had put on Danny’s hoodie. He was about to dismiss the marker’s token when it suddenly pulsed one last signal and went silent. 

“Fuck.” Tim hissed. Danny must have found the tracker and destroyed it. 

“Language Little Bird!” Dick’s voice forcefully reminded Tim that he was on an open channel. 

“Red Robin! Report.” Batman barked. 

Tim allowed himself a moment to sigh before he switched into debrief mode. 

“I am unharmed and in no danger. A personal tracker I was monitoring was destroyed. I don’t believe this relates to the breakout.” 

“Oh a personal tracker? Who are you tracking?” Dick asked, his voice both genuinely curious and obnoxiously over the top. 

“Just so you know, Replacement, stalking isn’t how you make actual friends.” Jason’s voice carried his usual derisive tone. 

Tim wanted to pull his hair out. If he didn’t say anything they would continue to harass him when they should be paying attention to the breakout. If he did they would go all “Bat-paranoia” on Danny. (Just like Tim himself had done and fully planned on continuing too. Yes, he was self-aware. No, that would not stop him.) Danny had already found one tracker, if he had to suddenly deal with the entire Bat-clan after him he might run and considering he had flown under their radar so far, he might completely disappear. Even if Danny wasn’t actually his brother (yet), Tim didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on him. 

He hopped out of his car moments after pulling into the parking garage of the safehouse and ran to where a spare uniform was stored. The hair he had snagged went into an evidence bag, then he started to report while getting dressed. 

“Fine! I’ll answer but we need to focus on the current breakout. And you have to promise not to go all Bat-stalker on him!” 

“-Pot and kettle, Drake-”

“-Oh little bird has a boyfriend-”

“-Names!-”

“-Jesus, you are all useless-”

Tim ignored the voices shouting over each other as he mounted his motorcycle. He angrily kicked his bike into gear. 

“He’s not my boyfriend, I think he might be my brother!” Tim enjoyed the silence his words brought for a moment before he continued. “I ran into Danny at the corner mart, a woman mistook him for my brother and after seeing him I almost believed it myself. He looked like he had been living on the streets. I didn’t think he would trust me to bring him to the manor and I didn’t know for sure, so I bought him some food, snagged a hair to test and placed a tracker so I could find him again. Unfortunately, he must have found the tracker.” 

“Fuck.” Jason growled softly. 

“Fuck indeed.” 

“Language, Little Bird!” 

Tim groaned and focused on weaving through traffic to meet with the others to put the fires around Arkham.  

Chapter Text

Exhaustion hung in the air of the Batcave. It clung to each of the people within the cave like a thick miasma and weighed on them all like the thick blankets they all longed for. Alfred fussed over Damian who probably had some cracked ribs and would be benched for a while. Dick hovered, ignoring his own probable concussion and repeated instructions to sit down, as he checked in on the rest of the family. Bruce showed his age as he gingerly pulled pieces of his armor off, his movements stiff from the fighting. Even Jason hadn’t immediately fled the cave for his own safehouses, instead he had collapsed on one of the cave couches and may have fallen asleep in his armor and helmet. 

Tim tiredly dragged himself to the Bat-computer. It had been a long, almost eight hours. Two-Face was captured once more, fortunately Bruce knew which buttons to push on the former DA and was able to instigate a personal confrontation that led to his arrest. There were a few other rogues missing once the fires were out and the riot quelled, which was going to be a problem eventually. Oracle was already working on trying to track them down. 

However, the biggest concern was Jason mentioning that Black Mask had been making moves again, trying to push into Crime Alley, sending more drugs and thugs into Jason’s turf. While Two-Face may have orchestrated this breakout, he had outside help that seemed to point to Black Mask. He hadn’t been active since Red Hood had smashed through his organization. 

Tim had one thing that had been weighing on his mind all night. Was Danny his brother? Yeah Danny said he was looking for a sister, but civilian records were never that accurate, and it would be just like Jack or Janet to further obfuscate the records to keep an extramarital baby from getting tracked back to them. He set the DNA sequencer to run then went for the showers. 

By the time he was clean and changed the creeping light of dawn could be seen coming through the windows on the security cameras in the manor. Damian and Dick had already been called out from their school and work respectively. Jason was now snoring on the couch, the sound coming out like garbled growling through his helmet’s speakers. He would be miserable when he eventually woke up and realized he slept in his armor. Alfred was fruitlessly trying to herd the Bats up to get a proper sleep in the Manor, but everyone was unsubtly hanging around to see the results of the DNA test. 

He knew they wouldn’t be able to keep their noses out of it. He might have to ask Alfred to help him keep the others in line if Danny was his brother. Otherwise it would be a mad dash to try and find him and Tim was trying to spare him from any Bat-stalking other than his own. 

Tim settled at the Bat-chair in a pair of loose sweats with a towel draped around his shoulders. Everyone else was back in civies, fighting off sleep in their own way as they waited for the computer. Even Damian, who seemed to hate all things Tim Drake, was lingering to see what the results would be. 

When the chime finally echoed through the cave, Tim couldn’t tell if he was relieved or not. The only reason it would process that fast was if it was a close match to someone already flagged in the system. Namely the Bats, their families, or their close allies. Tim pulled up the analysis on the large screen as the rest gathered around his shoulders. 

Danny’s DNA had some weird markers that the computer either didn’t recognize or needed more time to analyze, but was otherwise complete. There was no record or profile in the Bat-computer, unsurprisingly considering Tim had only just met him, so the computer began searching for connections with similar DNA. The first person to come up must be Danny’s mom, someone Tim didn’t recognize. She had dark hair just like Danny, though hers was long. It felt like a gut punch to see that she was deceased, apparently having died fourteen years ago. She must have died right after Danny was born. 

Tim could tell that the others were still processing that information by the way they were muttering together, when the next parent popped up. He only needed a fraction of a second to recognize the father. His hand whipped out in an instant tabbed to a different screen hiding the information. He stood, spinning out of his chair as the others shouted and complained. 

“Bruce, you need to leave the cave.” Tim demanded over the noise of the others. 

“Tim, I-”

“NO!” Tim shouted, silencing the others with his rare display of temper. “You’ve already proven you can’t handle this well. You need to leave the cave.” 

“If he’s mine-”

“He’s not. And I wouldn’t hide that from you.” Tim softened his voice enough that Bruce believed him. “I know who his father is, and I don’t believe you can be objective with this case. Please leave the cave.” 

Bruce looked conflicted,  but Alfred appearing at his side to escort him upstairs was enough to convince him to leave. He looked back several times as he walked up the stairs to the manor but he left. 

Tim waited until he was certain Bruce was gone before he quickly turned and printed off the page before running a program he had created specifically to hide his activities from Bruce, which deleted his history since his last log-in. He pulled the paper off the printer and stared down at it, his eyes burning. There, still warm from the printer, was Arthur Brown. His list of aliases and crimes followed his picture. 

And underneath Danny’s parents was listed another family connection, half-sister. Stephanie Brown. Tim felt rare tears fall as he thought of his fallen friend. 

. 

Prior to Red Hood’s fiery emergence onto the scenes, before Damian’s existence had been revealed, before Bruce had fostered Duke, for a brief time Stephanie Brown had taken up the mantle of Robin. Tim had made a solid attempt at returning to civilian life, hanging up his own cape and trying to be a good son for his returned father. 

Stephanie had shown her intelligence and dedication, taking on the training that Bruce had put Dick, Jason and Tim through. In many ways she was the best of the Robins. She could keep the rogues off balance with her chatter like Dick, she could be a voice for the poor and downtrodden like Jason, and she could solve even the hardest mysteries and riddles like Tim. Unfortunately, she also had her share of their flaws. She was angry, stubborn, and insubordinate. In many ways she was justified, having had to take up the cape to stop her own father from committing crimes, and she had a hard life even before that. 

And Bruce… Bruce, despite having raised, trained and worked with three teens before, still wasn’t good at understanding kids. The two of them fought at every turn, and because Steph wasn’t actually his child, and she had become Spoiler on her own, there was a limit of what he could do to punish her for her failures, real or blown out of proportion. When he finally tried to bench her for good, she struck out alone, stealing what she needed from the Batcave, including one of Bruce’s secret plans for dealing with Gotham’s crime-filled streets. 

She actually managed to set the plan up and run it almost perfectly without any support or equipment from Batman. Until Bruce’s typical secret keeping ways came back and bit them all. The conclusion of the gang war Stephanie had started should have ended up with someone by the name of Matches Malone as the new head of all organized crime in Gotham. Except Bruce had never trusted Steph with the information that Matches was simply a pseudonym he used when he needed to go undercover. With no Matches to take the head, Gotham dissolved into a city spanning war.  

 Stephanie tried to keep control of the war, but it was soon out of her hands, and eventually she was captured by Black Mask. Leslie Tompkins did her best to save her life once Stephanie was eventually rescued, but her torture at the hands of Black Mask was too severe. Stephanie Brown died in Leslie’s clinic. 

Tim had been devastated when he had learned she had died. Bruce tried to blame Leslie and have her kicked out of the city, but Tim was able to talk him around. Tim returned as Robin to Batman’s side. Eventually Damian joined the family, Bruce was briefly lost to time, and Tim became Red Robin. Then after Bruce was found Jason came back to the city with all the chaos that followed and eventually led to a tenuous truce between the Red Hood and the Bats. By the time Duke joined the family the dynamic had settled into its current state. 

With everything life had thrown at him in the recent years, Tim didn’t feel like he ever had a chance to properly mourn the loss of Stephanie. They had dated for a time and while their relationship was as rocky as every Bat’s relationships, and they eventually broke up, he still considered her to be one of his closest friends outside of Young Justice. He missed her. 

The only person who was more affected than Tim was Cass. She blamed Bruce and refused to work closely with him again. Something she saw in his body language whenever Stephanie came up set her off every time. She now worked exclusively with Oracle and her Birds of Prey, taking missions all over the world. Tim knew she was absolutely opposed to taking a life, and was one of the only Bats that would likely never cross that line, but that first night after she had found out was the closest Tim had ever seen her to killing someone. 

.

Now Tim was staring down at results that showed that Steph had a brother. Her shit-head, bastard of a father must have cheated on her mom. He would have definitely had the resources to hide the affair, though Tim was uncertain if he knew about the pregnancy. Had he known and abandoned Danny and his mother with no support? Or did he never look into her again? Did he even know she had died? 

Danny must have been put up for adoption. Tim would have to track that down. Why wasn’t he either in foster care or with his adopted parents? Had he been raised in Gotham? Surely one of the Bats would have run into him at some point if he had. If not, where had he grown up? Had he been safe? Cared for? Loved? Tim didn’t know and he needed to-

“Tim!” Dick voice shook him free from his thoughts. “You’re spiraling. Whatever is going on in that big brain of yours, just know, we’ll find him. We’ll make sure he’s taken care of, even if he never sets foot in the manor.”

Tim nodded numbly, before looking back at the paper in his hands. 

“You’re right. We’ll take care of him. Bruce can’t know. Whatever his problem was with Steph I don’t want it to affect Danny, he can’t be objective about anything to do with her.” Tim said. 

He actually had a pretty good idea of what Bruce’s problem was. He saw all failures and mistakes as a personal failing. If something happened to someone he had trained, then clearly he hadn’t trained them enough, or he should have done a better job of benching them and ensuring they stayed benched. Whatever. He always blamed himself, but because he had the emotional range of a cup of day old coffee, it came across as him blaming those around him. And with that came him pointing out every flaw and problem of those around him in some misguided attempt at preventing the mistakes from happening again. 

Bruce had done that with all them at one point or another. Dick when he quit as Robin and left to form the Teen Titans. Jason for his anger, and expanding on his flaws even more after his death. Damian had to deal with it for the mistake of being born into the League of Assassins. Even Tim had more than his fair share of Bruce’s ire. 

Regardless of Bruce’s emotional problems, they needed to find Danny. They needed to make certain he was safe and wanted for nothing. It was the least the Bats owed Stephanie’s brother. 

“Oh my god.” Jason muttered, having woken up during the noise and finally removed his helmet. 

“What now?” 

“Someone needs to tell Cass.” 

“Oh shit.”

Chapter Text

Danny changed from his Ghost form to human, allowing invisibility to fall off him like a coat dropped in the doorway after a long day. He had kept an invisible eye on the conflict between the Bats and the inmates of Arkham. While Jazz had many opinions on the Asylum and how those who were sent there were treated, Danny knew that a riot or breakout at the Asylum would only mean danger spilling out into the rest of the city. 

He had caught and knocked out a few of the inmates, including some weirdo with a knife and a bunch of tally marks all over his body. He kept himself invisible and carefully knocked each of them out in one blow so they wouldn’t even know that they weren’t downed by one of the Bats. He wanted to do more, but he absolutely couldn’t be caught there. 

The last thing he wanted was to intervene and land on the radar of Batman. Batman was part of the Justice League. The GIW had already contacted the League to request aid in his capture. Tucker had seen the files before Danny had fled, his wounds barely stapled closed from his time with them. The last thing Danny had been able to do before losing contact was to send a duplicate flying north, to lead the agents away from his friends and Jazz. 

He knew they were being watched, their every communication was monitored. If he made contact in any way, they could all get dragged away to the GIW’s “labs.” He couldn’t risk it. As soon as his duplicate had left, he hugged his friends goodbye one last time and Danny had hitchhiked his way to Gotham City. 

Gotham had a couple of benefits even with the presence of the Bats. One: no one would notice the presence of one more homeless teen on the streets. Two: the city was cursed from the sewers to the skyscrapers and that would help delay the GIW if they searched the city for him. Three, and worst: so many people died in the city that the streets were thick with ectoplasm, rank ectoplasm, that stank of fear and pain, but ectoplasm enough for a halfa to heal even the worst injuries. 

And by all the Ancients, Danny had the worst fucking injuries. Tucker and Sam had managed to staple his chest closed, in between Tucker throwing up and Sam swearing a blue storm. He didn’t actually have half the things that were supposed to go inside his chest, but if being a halfa had any benefit it allowed him to survive horrific injuries. He had only managed to regrow the bones in his hand by spending two nights in a cemetery on the way to Gotham. 

The fourth reason he had come to Gotham was he hoped to be able to meet his sister somewhere in the city. Not Jazz, she was safe at her college where she pretended to be desperately searching for him so no one would suspect her. Not Ellie either, Danny’s clone had disappeared into the Paris catacombs and had promised to stay there until it was safe. The GIW didn’t currently have authority outside the United States, but the Justice League did, and neither of them were going to risk her getting mistaken for Danny and getting captured by them. 

No, the sister that apparently lived in Gotham was a girl named Stephanie. That realization had been one of a number of unpleasant realizations. Apparently Danny was adopted. Jazz had known, because she had been there when they picked him up from the foster home, though she was still surprised that the Fentons had been allowed to adopt at all. His birth mother had died shortly after he was born, but she had at least been able to put down his information on his birth certificate, including the name of his birth father, Arthur Brown. 

Researching his father was immediately disappointing. Arthur Brown was a criminal who tried to place himself as equal to Batman. Jazz called it an incredible act of ego and sign of the fragility of Arthur’s sense of self, that he had to challenge someone who was known to be one of the smartest heroes. Arthur had been arrested and as far as Danny could tell was still in prison. 

However, other than making Danny a bastard and abandoning his birth mother, Arthur apparently had done one other thing, he had a daughter, Stephanie Brown. The last Danny had looked into her, a couple of years ago, she was hoping to move out from the dark shadow of her father and become a nursing student. Danny definitely didn’t bring up that he felt insecure considering both his blood and adopted sisters were so smart and going into such complicated fields, but somehow Jazz was still able to guess and gave him a whole lecture on self-worth. 

Danny doesn’t really care that much about the differences between an adopted family and a blood family. While it had been an unpleasant discovery, he was happy once he came to terms with it. He and Jazz would both love to meet Stephanie and get to know her for herself, not simply because of a blood tie. They had held off at first so they didn’t expose her to the chaos that was the elder Fentons, especially if they thought a ghost was around. Then after Danny’s accident he was so busy with the ghost fights and ghost hunters he couldn’t. 

Now however, Danny needed to meet her. He needed to form a relationship with her. Not strictly because of their blood relation, but because he was a ghost without a Fraid. Specifically a heavily injured ghost who had to abandon his Fraid to keep them safe. Frostbite had stressed how important it was that a young ghost like Phantom have a Fraid, a family, chosen or otherwise, around them. Part of a ghost’s image of themselves, their very form was shaped by their relationships with others. Without those bonds he may not be able to heal, or if he faces too much stress, he might discorporate and face his true and final death. 

Ectoplasm and Fraid bonds didn’t care for laws or blood anymore than Danny did. He didn’t have a bond with the parents who raised him at all. That had been severed with the same knife they had used to cut into his arms to examine his tendons when they captured him, though it had been frail and struggling long before that. With Tucker, Sam and Jazz so far away, he needed someone to make new bonds with, and hopefully Stephanie would be willing to at least meet him. 

Danny shook his head free of his hopes as he slipped out of an alley and onto a Gotham street on the opposite side of the city. With the return of his human body returned the ache and pain from his injuries, and the weight of his now full back-pack. That nice guy at the store had been strangely willing to spend a bunch of money on some random nobody. He definitely had money, but he didn’t seem as big of a fruit-loop as Vlad, so Danny was willing to trust him a little. 

“Hey punk!” 

He had food a plenty, ectoplasm thrumming through his veins trying to patch his wounds back together, and apparently Tim had even hidden some cash among the purchases. Danny was feeling pretty good. He was still sad that Tim wasn’t able to live his truth like Danny was, but now it seemed to be the perfect time to start the search for Stephanie. He thought maybe he could find some information on her in the library. 

“I’m talking to you, you twerp!” 

Danny side-stepped someone in his way, as he walked with his hood down to keep some of the heavy rain out of his eyes. If he couldn’t find anything at the library maybe he could inquire at one of the local colleges? If he learned one thing from Jazz’s endless lectures it was that community college was the way to go if you wanted to avoid as many loans as possible, and if Stephanie was paying her way through college while their father was in prison, she would definitely want to save money. 

“You fucking fucker.”

He gasped as a knife slid between his ribs. He reacted on instinct, a punch flying out with all his ghostly strength, as images of labs and his parents hovering over him, their own knives in their hands flashed through his mind. 

Danny eventually was able to take a shaky breath to see some thug with a black skull on his jacket crumpled against a heavily dented car. He couldn’t tell if he was still breathing. But when he looked down he could see the handle of a knife sticking out of his side. He wheezed, and stayed on his feet by sheer force of will. 

“Fuck.” 

.

Leslie Tompkins ran one of the best no-questions-asked clinics in Gotham. Part of the reason hers was the best was simply due to funding. Her clinic received frequent “anonymous” donations, which usually just happened to follow after she had performed necessary medical treatments to one of the Bats. The other part came down to protection. Between the Bats, the Red Hood Gang and the Gotham Goonion, there were a lot of people invested in keeping her doors open, no one who messed with her or her clinic would be able to stay out of the hospital for more than a week. That is if they weren’t sent straight to the morgue. 

She had earned that respect by treating everyone who walked into her clinic equally. Rogue or Bat, goon or cop, random citizen or outsider, everyone received care in her clinic if they needed it. She had stitched up a cut from a Batarang on the Joker’s hand just a few months ago. Then when he tried to poison her for daring to see him so vulnerable, Harley Quin broke both of his hands, fortunately not undoing Leslie’s hard work. She was quite familiar with Harley having to patch her up numerous times after “lover’s quarrels" between the two before they eventually broke up for good.

When a teenager with a knife stuck in his ribs stumbled in she braced herself and brought him back, ready to continue not asking any questions, and just treating the injury. She immediately wanted to go against her reputation and start asking questions when she saw the vivisection scar that stretched up the boy’s torso, neatly bisecting his top surgery scars. That desire became even stronger when he told her not to worry about his probable punctured lung because he didn’t have most of the organs on that side yet. She ground her teeth and focused on making her stitches as neat as possible. 

“Would you at least like me to remove the staples and put in neater stitches?” She ground the question out. 

He looked down at the messy staples, then looked up at her with stars in his eyes. 

“You can do that? We tried the best we could, but we didn’t have anything else that would work.” 

Leslie gave him a quick nod and tied off the first set of stitches. Why did this kid seem so familiar to her? Sure he looked like any of the Waynes, though only Timothy was as deathly pale, but there was something else. Something about him. 

“I hadn’t even heard this guy coming. I guess that’s what I get for not paying attention in a city like Gotham. My friends always said my situational awareness would get me killed again, and I guess they were right! It’s like I’ve met the nicest people in Gotham like this guy who gave me money and food earlier and now I’ve met the meanest people.” 

Danny was apparently someone who talked to distract himself from the pain. At least with how lively he was talking whatever meta abilities he had probably included a healing factor. Thank god. 

“Like who just stabs a guy! Like I’m here looking for my sister, trying to find a library, and he just ups and stabs me. Oh well. Things were looking a little too bright, so I guess with my luck I was due. At least I was able to keep my organs this time.” 

Leslie breathed through her confusion and rage. What the fuck had this kid been through already? Jesus fucking Christ. She kept up her work, allowing Danny’s chatter to wash over her. He had told her that anesthetic didn’t work on him, which unfortunately made sense. Considering she only had a small supply of meta strength medication on hand, he had insisted he didn’t want her to waste any on him. 

When she had finally completed the last stitch on the massive injury on his chest, which was already healed significantly, she sat back, washed her hands and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. There was a bottle of vodka in the drawer of her desk that she had been given as payment for treating one of Penguin’s goons and it was calling her name. 

“Tell me buddy. What name would you like to put on the paperwork?” As a clinic she had to at least pretend to keep records even if she promptly burned them. 

“Danny…uh…” He looked aside and down for a moment before looking at her again. “Brown! Danny Brown.” 

She raised an eyebrow at him, then she wrote the name down on her paper. 

“Just a word of advice, Danny, you have got to learn to lie better if you want to make it in this town. Though kudos on the generic last name, no one will be able to find dirt on a name like that.” 

“It’s not a lie! It’s… new.” He paused. “I’m looking for my sister, and her last name is Brown, and hopefully she wouldn’t mind if I use it too.” 

“Alright then, Danny Brown. Try not to get stabbed again. But if you do, my door is open.” Leslie said as she signed off the sheet and put it into the burn pile. The encampment on fourth could use some material to keep them warm with all the rain. 

“Thanks doc! See ya!” Danny smiled as he skipped out the door. 

Leslie flinched and raced after him, but Danny had already disappeared into the rain. That smile. A thousand small details suddenly cascaded through her mind. That smile that was so familiar, the shape of his face, the texture of his hair, the blue of his eyes. He was looking for a sister. He wanted to borrow her last name. 

She could remember the moment perfectly when Stephanie Brown had been the one bleeding in her clinic. She had volunteered in the clinic before Gotham descended into that massive gang war. Leslie could perfectly remember the way she would smile as she walked out the door. And she could perfectly remember the moment when Stephanie’s heart stopped on her table.

Chapter Text

Not for the first time a part of Dick regretted moving to Bludhaven. He knew Nightwing was needed in his city as much if not more than he was needed in Gotham, but right now, he wanted nothing more than to scour the streets for any sign of Danny, Stephanie’s lost brother. Instead he was swinging through Bludhaven following a report that Killer Croc had fled Gotham after breaking out of Arkham. 

The Bats were spread thin following the riot and breakout. Dick was focusing on tracking down any escapees. Jason’s first priority was hunting down Black Mask’s operations in Crime Alley. Bruce and Damian were working on some assignment from the Justice League. Tim was the only one who was mostly focused on finding Danny again. Of course, all of that was on top of the regular level of crime in the two sister cities and their respective rogues. 

They all hadn’t even been able to properly debrief from the riot. Most of the Birds, especially Robin and Red Hood were happy to brag about their knock outs, especially if one of them had bagged a big name like Zsasz, but none of them would admit to knocking him out. Probably due to the force they had used, Zsasz and a few of the other inmates had pretty severe concussions. Dick was worried that his two most violence inclined brothers were going to backslide if either of them had done this and wouldn’t even admit it. 

He landed on the roof of one of Bludhaven's largest banks, his toes just hanging off the edge. He liked to be seen at this bank at least once a night during his patrols to try and prevent break-ins. Considering he stopped at least one per week, it must help somewhat, though he wished it was more of a deterrent. 

Dick’s earpiece chimed with the tone that meant a priority call from his civilian number was being forwarded. He took up Brooding Position #7, looking down into the alley behind the bank, he preferred BP #3 at this location but it wasn’t raining and the position lost something when the city’s rain wasn’t dripping off his hair. 

“Yello! This is-”

“Did Stephanie Brown have a brother?” His playful answer was cut off by the snapping voice of Dr. Thompkins. 

“W-what? N-no, how did you-?”

“Don’t play with me Richard Grayson. Either answer my question or your family will never be treated in my clinic again.” Leslie sounded on the edge of manic. “Did Stephanie Brown have a brother?!”

“Yes she did.” He said, his voice quiet. “We only just found out about him. Tim literally ran into him. We lost track of him. Why? Did he get hurt? Is he still at your clinic?” 

“Oh god.” Leslie sounded far away, like she had dropped the phone. “Oh god, he was here and I didn’t stop him and Stephanie… oh my god.” 

“Wait, Leslie, we need more information. Leslie!” But she had already hung up the phone. 

Dick snarled and turned, ready to ride back to Gotham to demand answers, he hadn’t  heard her this upset since Stephanie herself had passed on her table. However, just as he was about to jump from the rooftop, his grapple line in his hand, he saw a hulking form slip into the shadows down the street. There were only a few Rogues who had that kind of build, and with Bane still on Santa Prisca, and no recent sightings of Grundy, that was most likely Croc. 

He charged his escrima and dove off the building. Somewhere out there, Stephanie’s brother was hidden, and he couldn’t help make sure he was safe because Croc wanted to regress on all his progress. He was going to make the massive meta regret leaving Arkham. 

.

Barbara enjoyed the melody of the tapping of her keys as she worked away in the Clocktower. She had multiple screens running multiple programs and had even more searches running in the background. Her Birds of Prey were operating as an international information gathering force. Black Canary and Harley were fighting their way through a trafficker's den in South America, leaving extra concussions and broken limbs in revenge for the trafficked girls. Catwoman was breaking into one of Luthor’s labs in Metropolis, to gain access to an off grid computer. And Cass, Barbara glanced at one of the trackers on her screen, Cass was coming home. 

She narrowed her eyes as an indicator for one of the tower’s motion detectors flicked on. She minimized the alert even as a second one went off. Someone was trying to sneak into the Clocktower. She kept her eyes focused on her screens as the person progressed, clearly attempting to avoid any detection. The swish of a cape and the near silent tap of boots behind her was the only warning she had. 

“Hello Bruce. What brings you to my Clocktower?” Barbara said without turning. 

“Hm.” 

She smiled to herself. He always tried his usual appearing/disappearing shtick, but Oracle’s systems were trained by the best infiltrators in the world. Most of the Birds outclassed Batman by a mile. Plus she knew how much it annoyed him to be called Bruce when he was in costume. 

“I don’t speak grunt. What do you need?” Barbara tapped away, beginning a download from a computer Dinah had found, hopefully with this she could track the traffickers back to the head of their organization. 

“Do you know who Danny’s father is?” Bruce growled from behind her. 

“I do.” Barbara had multiple facial recognition programs searching the city’s cameras for Danny, or trying to back track his path into the city, as well as another search compiling information on his history in Amity Park. So far she was finding a lot of concerning information, or an even more concerning lack of information. 

Bruce loomed silently over her shoulder for an awkwardly long moment, as he tried to intimidate her into filling the silence. She ignored him and started to verify some of the information she was receiving. Another motion alarm turned on, then off, then back on. Another person was sneaking into the tower, one who apparently knew where the alarms were and how to manipulate them. Babs let herself smile for just a second. 

“Will you give me the information?” Bruce said, a sigh in his voice. 

“No. Tim has specifically asked you not to be involved.” Barbara said. “Is there anything else?”

She let him simmer in his annoyance for a few more minutes. She knew he hated not knowing, but honestly she agreed with Tim. He couldn’t be unbiased when it came to Stephanie. There was a second, longer sigh, and Barbara finally deigned to turn around and face him, the wheels of her chair turning smoothly under her hands. 

“Robin and I are looking into reports of a dangerous meta that escaped government custody. However the organization in question is highly suspect. Assistance from the Birds of Prey would speed the investigation up.” That was as close as Bruce was likely to get to outright asking for help, and as tempted as Barbara was to make him actually ask, she decided to allow it. 

“I’ll send Huntress, she has experience infiltrating government locations.” 

Bruce nodded, then handed over a small folio. 

“One of Black Mask’s men was found dead earlier. He had been hit hard enough that he dented a vehicle. GPD are assuming hit and run, though I am uncertain until the autopsy is complete.” 

“I’ll take a look through the cameras and see if I can find any damaged vehicles leaving the area.” Barbara took the folio and set it on her computer, rolling slightly away from him as she did so. 

“Barbara,  if there is a threat to my city, I need to be made aware of it.” He growled. 

She arched an eyebrow at him. 

“As soon as I am aware of any such threat, I will let you know.” 

He couldn’t possibly be talking about Danny could he? The homeless teen who looked like a stiff breeze would knock him over? 

“We can’t allow emotions to cloud our judgement, if this boy is a threat, even if he is related, I need to be prepared.” He stepped forward to tower over her, making her crane her neck backwards. 

Barbara glared up at him, but knew she didn’t need to do anything. She rolled back half a pace and before Bruce could step forward to continue his intimidation tactic a caped figure dropped from the rafters in between them. Cass dropped without even a whisper of sound. Her sewn shut mask in place, she managed to make even the Batman step back in surprise. 

Bruce tried to stare her down, but he couldn’t even make her flinch, much less back away. So he turned without another word and left. His attempt to disappear without a trace fell short when Babs and Cass watched as he climbed into one of the vents. Barbara made a mental note to reinforce the vents, no sense in making things easy for him. Once he had fully disappeared, Cass turned her glare on Babs herself. 

“What?” Barbara asked. Cass just responded with a vague gesture. “I don’t like him coming in here either. But trying to keep him out completely would just drive him to greater heights of paranoia.” 

Cass sighed and let go of some of her tension, then it returned as she started to carefully look Barbara over. Babs put her hands up in surrender. 

“I’m not hurt. He would never dare touch me, and no one else has managed to pierce my defenses, despite several attempts.”

Finally, Cass seemed to fully relax taking on a more playful stance. 

“Now go shower. I mean it! If you try and skip showering again I’m going to hose you down!” Cass skipped away, a playful smirk on her face, visible even through her mask. “And don’t put that uniform back on until it's been cleaned!” 

Barbara waited until Cass had disappeared back into the locker rooms before allowing her smile to fall. Danny’s presence brought back up some of the most painful aspects of losing Stephanie. Before Stephanie died, Cass had been doing so well. She had been learning how to speak, she had been engaging with her civilian life more and more. She was even taking care of herself. 

When Stephanie died, Cassandra Cain, as a civilian identity, effectively followed her to her grave. Cass rarely left the Clocktower when she wasn’t on a mission, never interacted with non capes, and had almost completely given up on speech. Also for some reason she hated Bruce. Without Cass explaining more, all Barbara knew was that any time she saw Bruce she looked seconds from violence. 

Out of respect for Cass, Barbara had withdrawn from the rest of the Bats. She still supported them as Oracle, but didn’t allow them access to her tower, even Dick. Instead she focused most of her work and time on the Birds of Prey. Cass was completely willing to act as her operative in the field, usually supporting one of the other Birds with either stealth or combat, depending on the needs in the field. 

There was a large part of Barbara that blamed Bruce for Cass’s discomfort. He had clearly done something that she didn’t like, she just didn’t know what. Part of the reason she was so hopeful for eventually finding Danny was she hoped finding the boy would bring Cass some closure, and maybe that would eventually help her come back out of her shell again. Though Cass still didn’t know about Stephanie’s brother and Barbara dreaded how she would take the information. 

While the showers were running, Barbara signed out of her systems, leaving the auto searchers, and data downloads going in the background. She wheeled herself into the back bedroom and used the series of ropes hanging from the ceiling to pull herself out of her chair and onto her plush king sized bed that Dick had carried up the stairs. She made herself comfortable, though still sitting up a little against the headboard. Barbara knew she had plenty of time to get her thoughts in order. While Cass’s showers were… unfortunately infrequent, she did enjoy long showers when she did take them. 

When Cass finally did emerge from the showers with a cloud of steam she smiled at seeing Barbara in the bed. Barbara smiled because Cass had actually worn sweats, not even Bat themed sweats. The other woman jumped into bed with Barbara and pressed against her side. Ever since Barbara had gotten to know Cass, and what she had gone through, Barbara had been terrified that the lack of loving contact and care would drive Cass insane, so she had made certain that the two of them could spend time outside of costume, relaxing and cuddling. 

“How was your mission?” 

Cass gave a little wiggle in response, she seemed to convey it went well but not perfectly. Barbara always had to guess what she could mean. Babs went to ask another question except Cass tapped Babs’ wrist with her fingers. Cass managed a brief glare then a questioning look. Barbara sighed. 

“You’re right, there’s something on my mind. I was hoping to ease into it.” She took a moment to look closely at Cass, who was examining her in turn. “Tim ran into someone who looked just like him.” 

“New Brother?” That information actually prompted Cass to sign a response. 

“Not yet. But maybe.” Barbara hesitated. “But Danny wasn’t related to Tim. He was related to Stephanie.” 

Like always, bringing up Stephanie sparked a reaction from Cassandra, she tensed and fidgeted, grief and anger on display in equal measure. Cass still hadn’t recovered from losing Stephanie, and a part of Barbara wondered if she ever would. Babs held her close, pulling the other woman to her and pressing her head to her shoulder. 

“Danny is her half brother. Her father must have cheated on her mother with another woman. Danny’s birth mother died shortly after she gave birth. He was adopted. I’m still looking for more of his history. He… he was injured when Tim found him, and Tim lost track of him shortly after. We don’t know where he is in the city.” 

Cass shifted, clearly fighting her own desire to race out into the city to search the streets for him. Babs loosened her grip, so Cass didn’t feel like she was being restrained. She hoped Cass would rest, and leave to take up the search later, but Babs couldn’t chain her down even if she wanted to. 

Eventually Cass settled once more, her eyes shining with tears and she wrapped her arms tightly around Babs and pressed her face to Barbara’s shoulders. Cass’s shoulders shook with silent tears, mourning once more Stephanie’s life, taken from them all far too soon. Barbara hoped that Danny allowed them to get to know him. And if anything happened to him, it would be like losing Steph all over again.

Chapter Text

So Danny knew Gotham was cursed, but he didn’t realize it was like cursed, cursed.  Or that the curse would affect him. Curses should affect cops, corrupt government bodies, and construction companies, not half dead guys just trying to find their sister. Danny had been trying to get to the library for two days so he could use their computers to look up Stephanie, but instead he had been almost mugged two more times, (fortunately he was now paying more attention to his surroundings and managed to avoid getting stabbed), gotten lost in the warehouse district, almost got caught in a shoot-out between a gang and the police in that warehouse district, and then, and this was extra embarrassing, walked right into a construction zone and sank up to his ankles in wet cement (he hadn’t been paying That much attention to his surroundings). The worst thing was, people wouldn’t leave him alone so he couldn’t just phase out of the cement, and had to stand there until the workers were able to figure out how to get him out. 

He suddenly had way more respect for his mysterious sister for living in this city. He hadn’t thought that they would have much in common, but apparently she lived in a city just as cursed and unfriendly as Amity. While he had yet to be attacked by any ghosts, and had so far managed to avoid any entanglements with Gotham’s rogues, Danny felt like he was right at home, even if it did make her hard to find. 

He had fun letting a little of his spookiness out to scare off the muggers, but he did notice he was having a harder time reeling the spookiness back in after. He really needed to find Stephanie before his body completely changed into something unrecognizable. He missed his friends. He missed Jazz. He had never been alone for this long in his life. 

Fortunately he had found a homeless encampment on the edge of a park that welcomed him in. If there was one thing that could be said for the poor people of Gotham, it was that they banded together. He shared what he could of the food that rich guy Tim had bought for him, and they ushered him closer to the fire and offered him a pair of gloves. He felt a little more normal, and more human huddled around the fire with the others. 

There were a couple of other kids in the camp and they all gathered in the center. Apparently some local crime lord had a thing about making sure children were protected and the rest of the encampment stuck to his rules. That did seem a little topsy-turvy that a gang leader was the one who kept people safe and enforced his own laws, but then again Amity had a ghost that protected everyone and the ghost hunters were the bad guys, so who was he to judge? 

Once the fires started burning down and most of the others started to head to their tents or shelters Danny climbed one of the nearby trees and settled down in a small nest between two branches. As he got comfortable he flexed his aura, allowing his power to cover the entire camp. If anyone threatened those who were nice to him, he would make them regret it. Sleep came slowly as he watched over the camp, feeling the pulse and warmth of each living soul under his watch. 

Unfortunately, dawn came all too soon, and with it a wailing alarm in Danny’s mind. His people were under attack. He snarled and transformed, dropping half way out of the tree before his flight caught him. There were too many threats from him to eliminate on his own but at the least he could sound an alarm. He threw his head back and howled like a wolf, the haunting cry stretching and twisting into a truly monstrous scream that brought the entire camp awake. The goons that were attacking fell back, shaken by the sound before some guy in the back, that same black skull on his jacket urged them forward. 

“The Bats are asleep! There’s nothing to fear. Teach this city to remember the name of Black Mask!” He shouted. 

Between Danny’s scream and the thug’s shout, the effects were immediate. People in Gotham were not the sort to stand by and gawk, like those who lived in Metropolis. If danger was near, everyone’s fight or flight reactions were immediate. Those who fought grabbed trash can lids, sticks, and knives to defend themselves with. Those who ran were already making their way deeper into the park. 

The thugs may have expected to be able to cleanly move through the camp to send their message to the Bats and the rest of the city that Black Mask was still a person to be feared, they were not expecting to meet heavy resistance or for the ghost of a rabid badger to tear through them. 

Danny’s ghostly instincts were in full control. He had claimed this little corner of the city. These people were HIS. They had given him a pair of gloves, an offering.  And someone had dared to threaten them? He would rend them limb from limb. 

His body stretched and grew so the thugs could no longer look down at him, his fingers sharpened into claws, and he could feel his mouth split to reveal rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. He fought like a wild animal, all his self taught skills went out the window, he kicked, he bit, and he clawed. One thug managed to hit him with a bat, the wooden bat breaking over his back, and Danny whirled around and bit off his hand. 

Black Mask’s thugs fell back from the onslaught, crawling over each other to get away with what little was left of their lives. Danny wanted to follow, to hunt them down to their lairs, so they would never threaten what was his again, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t risk leaving his territory unguarded. He hissed and snarled at their backs without leaving the boundary of the camp that he had claimed. 

“What do you suppose it is?” 

“Fuck if I know.” 

“Maybe it's a new Bat?” 

“Does that fucking look like a bat to you?”

Danny turned, the feeling of blood dripping down his chin reminding him that he probably looked horrifying to them. He quickly wiped his face, trying to remove the worst of the blood, though it seemed especially stubborn and he worried he had some left in his teeth. He tried for a pleasant grin, and cringed as several of the others flinched. 

It's ok, I’m safe.

Danny tried to reassure them but it came out as impossibly garbled ghost speech. He put up his claws, even though they were covered in blood and bits of gore as well. With difficulty Danny pulled on his human form, feeling like his skin was too tight, and his body was too small, and why were his hands that shape? Once he was fully human again he turned intangible and let the blood fall to the ground. 

“Holy shit. Maybe he is one of the Bats.” 

“I don’t care what he is, Jerry’s hurt!” 

The crowd parted to show that a number of the members of the encampment had injuries, though Jerry was the worst, with a bleeding knife wound in his leg. Danny ran to his side to apply pressure as he tried to think about what he could do. He didn’t know enough to be able to stitch the wound closed, he had gone to Leslie for stitches when he had gotten stabbed… wait. He quickly pulled off Jerry’s belt to wrap it around his leg. Then he picked the full grown man up effortlessly. 

“I’ll take him to Dr. Thompkin’s clinic. Anyone else who is injured and can walk, follow me. I’ll be back for anyone else!” 

Danny took off at a jog towards the clinic. Hopefully Leslie meant it when she said her door was always open. 

.

Cassandra Cain paused on the edge of a rooftop, looking down at something in the streets below her. Her comms were blowing up with reports of violence breaking out all over the city as Black Mask made his move. His thugs were attacking different vulnerable populations during the early hours when they thought that the Bats had retired for the morning. However he wasn’t as subtle as he thought he was and several of the Bats that had been seen patrolling during the night were actual body doubles so that they could meet the threatened violence head on in the morning. 

Bruce and Damian were paired up as were Dick and Tim. Batman and Robin were working in the Bowery while Nightwing and Red Robin were working at the docks, all of them fighting Black Mask’s men. Jason and his own gang were having an explosive-filled shoot out in Crime Alley having managed to pin the rival gang members in an open square. Duke had been asleep, ready to take on clean up duty and was just now joining the fight. 

Barbara had called in a few of the Sirens as well from the disparate parts of the world they worked in to help with the fight. Ivy had created a sanctuary in Robinson Park, and was receiving people who ran there from one of the nearby homeless encampments. Harley was patrolling the streets with her hammer and her hyenas hunting down any wandering remnants of Black Mask’s gang that had broken off or were looking to take advantage.  Big Barda and Black Canary were beating all kinds of ass while defending one of the hospitals. 

Normally Cass would be right alongside them, saving lives and kicking ass, however Barbara has asked her not to. Not ordered, but asked, because while Cass loved Barbara dearly, she would have ignored the order to fight on the front. However, Barbara had two concerns, one: that Cass would take out her burning hatred of Black Mask on his thugs, and two, Danny, Stephanie’s brother was missing and he was in the exact same vulnerable population that Black Mask was targeting. 

Cass was directed to patrol on the rooftops for any sign of Danny. Partially she hated it, but she was the best at observing, and Babs had sent her out in simple attire, that was almost civilian, no cape, no mask, just her and her grapple and utility belt to keep an eye out for the boy. 

Which is what she had been doing when she noticed something strange on the street. It looked human, close enough that others wouldn’t be able to tell, but it wasn’t breathing. It moved more like a puppet with some strings the wrong length. She watched as it directed some injured people on the street towards Leslie’s clinic. She had recognized Clayface once by the way he moved and she wondered if she had stumbled upon another shape shifter. She lowered herself down to the street with her grapple line. The person-shaped thing looked at her as she descended, not seeming too surprised, though its eyebrows did arch in confusion. 

“You’re not one of the Bats are you?” It said, sounding wary. 

Cass shook her head. She was not a Bat. She was a Siren. She was Orphan. 

It tilted its head for a moment before giving her a nod. It also finally took a breath, the signs of life that Cass knew so well suddenly flooded its , no, his body, and once again he looked fully human in a way Clayface was never able to replicate. 

“Oh thank goodness. I’ve been so worried about getting found by one of the Bats, I don’t know what you mean by Siren, and I’m sorry to hear about your parents.” He said. 

Cass startled, he could read minds? She braced herself defensively, but the boy was already shaking his head, his hands up, also shaking them side to side. 

“No, No, I can’t read minds. Or at least I don’t think I can. I can hear your ghost speech, it's not exactly clear, I’m just getting images, vibes. One of my sisters does the same thing, so I got really good at interpreting what I can pick up.” 

Cass took a few moments to think about that while he waited patiently for her to come to her own conclusions. She focused for a second and pushed one thought to the front of her mind. Name? 

“Oh I’m Danny Brown! It’s nice to meet you Orphan Siren!” 

Danny gave her a bright smile, but it fell as a wave of grief crashed over Cass. This could only be Stephanie’s missing brother. And Steph never got a chance to meet him. 

“You knew my sister? You knew Stephanie Brown?” He asked, his own grief and despair writ large on his face. 

Cass could only nod as she felt the burn of tears in her eyes. She offered Danny a hand and she saw tears start to shine in his own eyes as he took it. 

.

Leslie Thompkins once more found what limited comfort she could with a bottle. The vodka was strong and her office suffered from a distinct lack of mixers. She wasn’t usually one to drown her sorrows. She had seen first hand, all too often, the harm that could come at the bottom of a bottle. However, when she was faced with one of her greatest regrets and had nothing she could do but spin her wheels, she felt there was nothing wrong with a drink. 

Danny Brown had returned to her clinic. 

Fortunately, he hadn’t been injured when he arrived but was helping someone else. She had been surprised to see a teenaged boy carrying an adult man, but kept to her usual method of not asking questions. She began treating the man’s stab wound, fortunately the clinic had received an “anonymous” message warning them to expect widespread casualties and so she had all hands on deck for her clinic as more injuries started to pour in. 

She tried to stop Danny from leaving once the injured Jerry was set down, but she could see the same drive, that same dedication, that she saw on the face of each of the Bats. Other people were hurt, he had said. He looked just like his sister when he was like that. Even though it killed her inside, she let him go. He was just like Stephanie, she hadn’t been able to stop saving people either. 

Leslie took another sip from her drink, wincing at the burn. Stephanie was Leslie’s single greatest regret and failure. She hadn’t been able to stop Stephanie from going back out onto Gotham’s war torn streets. Then Black Mask caught her. There was nothing Leslie could do to keep her from dying on her operating table. 

At least temporarily. 

The other secret that Leslie had sworn to take to her grave was that after Stephanie’s heart stopped, she was able to get it started again. But she stopped the machines from recording that information. If Black Mask or any of the other criminals knew she was still alive they wouldn’t have rested until they hunted her down again. Leslie had managed to bring her back from beyond the brink, and stabilize her enough to travel. 

Stephanie Brown was currently in hiding somewhere in Africa. Leslie didn’t even know the exact location so she could reveal that information under interrogation. Leslie hoped that Stephanie was recovering, but now her half-brother had come to town looking for her, and Leslie didn’t know what to do. Should she reveal Stephanie’s secret and give Danny hope even though Steph might never return to Gotham? And even if she did, Black Mask was clearly going on the offensive and he might put her life at risk again. She wasn’t even certain she could trust the Bats with the information. 

She took another sip of her drink. What to do?

Chapter Text

Bruce tapped his fingers against the desk of the Bat-computer as he thought. The violence that had exploded across the city this morning had mostly been quelled. Almost every vigilante that worked in Gotham was nursing injuries of some kind, but they had been successful. He didn’t approve of Jason’s methods, but he couldn’t argue with the results. He had been hunting down Black Mask’s men in Crime Alley, and brutally interrogating them, without allowing word of his interrogations to get out. The Bats had an almost complete view of Black Mask’s movements and plans and had been able to prepare effectively. 

With the battle plan laid out, Bruce and Barbara were able to move their forces to counter the gangster at almost every turn. They didn’t have enough people to fully prevent the violence, but at the very least they could answer it in kind. Bruce hated that a few locations had slipped through the cracks and they hadn’t been aware they would be targeted. He considered the pictures scattered across his desk. It seemed someone else had managed to cover the gaps. The question was who? 

The pictures that GPD had taken showed an excessive amount of violence against the gang members who targeted one of the homeless encampments. If this had been done by one of his Bats, they would be benched for a year for this level of violence. Broken bones, long slashing claw marks, and whole limbs bitten off. Bruce was worried because these injuries didn’t match any known meta in Gotham. Killer Croc was the closest match, but Dick had arrested him mere days before the riot. Ivy’s plants might bite someone, but they usually chewed and spat out when they attacked, without taking any chunks from their victims. Cheetah and Catwoman would claw at their foes, but not bite, and never these kinds of slashes. Perhaps King Shark? 

The last thing Gotham needed was another meta capable of biting through bone. Especially if they were capable of this level of damage. That was just asking for them to be turned against either the populace or the Bats by the likes of Joker, Mad-Hatter, or Scarecrow. Even Ivy, though she had been working alongside Barbara’s Siren’s more often than not, could take control of the meta if the mood struck her. 

His thoughts were interrupted by the chime of an incoming call. He straightened and put the call on the Bat-computer’s large screen. Helena Bertinelli, code name: Huntress, appeared on the screen, her long black hair slightly frazzled, but she didn’t otherwise look harmed. 

“Batman.” 

“Huntress.” 

“I just finished investigating that government facility you pointed us towards. It’s bad, Bats.” She said, running her hand through her hair, before grabbing a fistful of it and pulling slightly. Bruce guessed based on the overall frizziness that she had been doing that repeatedly before calling. His frown deepened as he prepared to write down her words.

“How many of them did you kill?” 

“Gods, I forgot how much of a prick you are.” She snapped. “And for your information I knew your panties would get twisted, so I didn’t kill any of them. Though I think once you see what they’re working on you might change your mind on that rule of yours.” 

“Hm. Report.” 

“The facility is officially listed as a research lab.” Helena began. “And it’s certainly a lab, but closer to Dr. Ivo than to Star Labs. They’ve got creatures in cages, they call them ghosts, but I don’t know. Batman, they’re cutting into these things like classroom frogs, while they’re still moving and screaming.”

She sighed and pulled at her hair again. 

“And that’s not the worst thing. I was able to get into one of their computers and I searched for Phantom, their escapee that they’ve asked for League help with. I was able to find the video of his vivisection. Yes vivisection, they even labeled it that way.” 

Helena started to pacing, moving in and out of frame, her agitation clear. 

“I know what JL Dark says, just because something looks like a kid doesn’t mean it necessarily is that young, but sometimes Bats, when something looks like a kid, cries like a kid, and begs for his life like a kid, I’m going to assume he’s actually a child!” 

She finished speaking with a shout. Bruce reminded himself that Helena was a teacher and she was always especially sensitive to crimes involving children. Not that any of the heroes, or Batman himself were cold to the pleas of young victims. 

“Were you able to recover any of their files?” Batman asked, forcing himself to compartmentalize his feelings so he could get all the facts. . 

“They have some kind of weird security that fries outside hardware.” Helena quickly wiped her eyes and refocused. “But I was able to steal one of their laptops. I also broke everything I could before I left. Including a few femurs.” 

“Understood. I’ll send Red Robin with the jet to pick you and the laptop up. He’ll have it cracked by the time he’s back in Gotham.” Bruce said, already tapping the order into the Bat-computer. “We’ll get to the bottom of this Huntress.” 

“Good. And Bats…” 

“Hm?” 

“I’m serious, if you side with these goons, I’m going to be your worst nightmare. I’ll be sending all the bodies right to your doorstep where they belong. I don’t care what lie they’re pushing, they’re full of shit and innocents are going to get hurt.” Helena’s voice was cold as an avalanche and just as deadly. 

Bruce took a moment to closely examine her face before giving her another nod. 

“When it's time to move against the GIW, I’ll be sure to bring you along.” He offered. 

“You better.” Helena ended the call, but Bruce could see her relief before she did. 

.

Danny had been following Orphan for several blocks already. He could sense turmoil and grief rolling off her, mirroring his own. 

Stephanie was dead.  

Orphan’s thoughts and emotions were too muddled for him to get a clear picture of how his sister had died. All he could sense was that Orphan was as devastated as he was. He couldn’t even tell what the two young women were to each other, only that they were close. 

Danny could feel himself starting to fall apart at the seams. His ghost half was pushing harder and harder and if the looks Orphan kept shooting him were any indication, it was starting to leak through his human form. How was he supposed to keep himself from falling apart completely without Stephanie? Was there anyone else in the world he could safely try to connect with? 

Orphan guided him off the street and into a back alley. Danny almost stumbled with the sudden feeling of eyes on him. He had been passively aware that someone had been watching him ever since he ran into Orphan, something that felt like a protective watchful spirit. However, now he felt as if hundreds of eyes were on him every moment. This must be the Haunt of a powerful spirit. He tried to remember all of the lessons on ghost etiquette he had been forced to learn. 

A section of the brick wall before him lifted up revealing a small ramp up to an elevator that opened as he approached. He bowed to one of the Sleepless Watchers he could sense before following Orphan into the elevator. 

Once the doors slid closed behind them he immediately pulled his pack off his shoulders and knelt so he could go through his limited belongings for an appropriate gift. His first thought was the fingerless gloves he had been given, but those were His. His offering, His First. That was too important. Instead he pulled out the first aid kit Tim had bought him. Tim had been nice, but gifts weren’t full Offerings. He needed to be proper when he met Orphan’s Guardian Spirit. 

The elevator opened and Danny was struck by what he saw. Hundreds of green eyes showing views from all over the city surrounded a figure with fiery red hair. The weight of information flowing past the figure was equal or greater to ghosts like Ghostwriter or Technus. Only Clockwork himself had access to a greater flow of information. 

He had to grip his ghost half with both hands to keep him from snarling out a challenge. Only once he had wrestled his other half under control was he able to make out the woman before him. Gone were the eyes and in their place regular screens showed the feeds from cameras scattered across the city. He only barely registered her look of concern or her wheel chair before he was kneeling at her feet presenting the first aid kit to her. 

“Are you hurt?” She asked. 

“I am unharmed, Knowing Watcher.” Danny said, “Thank you for welcoming me into your Domain.” 

After a moment, she took the kit from his hands, making his core purr in delight. He stood to watch her inspect the kit, turning it over in her hands. She shot him a small smile then turned to place the kit in the top drawer of her desk, where Danny could sense several other sentimental items. He smiled and rocked up on his toes, thrilled that his Offering had been accepted. 

“Danny, you might know this but I’ve been looking for you all over the city.” Knowing Watcher said, “I’m so glad you’re safe.” 

He sighed as he felt safety settle on him like a cloak. His ghost instincts for once were in complete agreement with his human ones. He was safe. He was protected by a powerful spirit and by a complex security system. For the first time since his parents had discovered his secret, both of his halves felt safe. 

“It has been a long time coming, Knowing Watcher.”

She gave him another small smile and said, “You can call me Barbara, or Oracle, if you prefer.” 

“Oracle… what can you tell me about what happened to my sister?” 

.

Stephanie Brown slowly wheeled herself out of her bedroom and into the small ensuite. The rooms provided to her by the physical therapy section of the medical center were nice, but still nothing like she was used to back in the states. It had all been paid for in advance from money she had managed to steal from Black Mask. Back from before everything had fallen apart. 

She used the knotted ropes hanging from the ceiling to pull herself out of the wheelchair, biting back a groan as she did so. She sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked as tired as Tim always used to. 

Stephanie had bruise-dark rings under eyes, her hair was messily hacked short. Her head had been shaved during her numerous surgeries and since then every time her hair got too long she cut it all off again because it just felt like a cruel reminder of everything she had lost. She had one gruesome scar that traced back from her temple then spider webbed across the rest of her head. 

The rest of her body had even more scars. She idly wondered if she looked worse than Jason did. Black Mask wasn’t the same kind of sadist that the Joker was. But he had Stephanie for longer than Joker had Jason. And he didn’t just want to hurt her, he wanted her to talk. At the time Stephanie had been so proud of herself for resisting his torture, but now she wasn’t certain she had made the right decision. 

The doctors and physical therapists that she worked with told her that while her mobility would continue to improve with work, her pain would never disappear. Even the strongest medication could only help in short intervals. No wonder she struggled so much with sleeping. 

Her tablet chimed shortly after she had wheeled herself back into her once she was done with her morning ablutions. She had a couple of subtle alerts monitoring Gotham, though never enough to trigger Barbara’s own alerts and monitors. 

Stephanie snarled as she took in the headline. Black Mask was once more cutting his way through Gotham. She tossed the tablet onto the mattress and wheeled over to the suitcase she stored under the bed. Maybe it was high time she returned to Gotham. She opened the case to reveal the shredded remains of a purple cape. Black Mask would regret not finishing the job he had started. A mistake she would not repeat.