Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Now, to be completely 100% honest, Barbara hadn't meant to stumble across the Reddit post. At first, she thought it was a joke. 

“Sp@ce&St@r$

[Originally posted in 2007, last active 6 years ago. Location, Amity Park, Illinois.]

Should I tell my parents I'm what they hate?

I will go by D for this, but like a teen, and my parents are scientists. They study a specific species but are very clearly biased against their subjects. Their subjects are fully sentient creatures, able to feel emotions and speak, they even have an entire civilization, laws, and a jurisdiction system. It's crazy!

But, I'm mostly asking this, because recently my parents made a machine to supposedly visit their dimension/place where they live, and it well-

It didn't work, and then it did. It just needed me to make it work I think? And after that, I've been registering their inventions and I've been getting allergic reactions to some of their work compounds?

Like my sister and I actively help in cleaning the lab and the house, so it makes trying to do anything with them a big issue, because their stuff is always going off, and trying to attack me

And lately, I've been getting weird things going on, and my parents have always hated these things they're studying. I'm pretty sure this doesn't register under the Meta Rights Acts, because their species isn't included in that act, and there have been a few acts in the U.S targeting people like me, even a branch of government, I think, too, that's who my parents work for. 

I want to be honest, to tell them that their invention did this to me, but I'm scared, I don't really know how they'll react, and I'm just worried that they won't see me as their son anymore. I'm worried they'll think I'm evil, that I can't feel things. But I can! I'm sentient, I'm real. 

So I'm asking a bunch of strangers on the Internet for their thoughts, since my friends and sister have all but vetoed my idea to tell them. I'm just not sure. 

Thx, D. “

Barbara genuinely thought it was a joke, but something rang in the back of her skull, almost like an alarm. You develop an alarm like that after being in this line of work for multiple years. This kid hadn't updated the post in 6 years, and he'd mentioned government Acts targeting people. 

Running a search for different United States government acts, keywords, Sentient, Anti, the terms were loose, but hopefully specific enough to catch anything that she'd missed before. Barbara let that run in the background before attempting to look up Amity Park, Illinois. Nothing appeared at first, before she tried again in the government database, just to check. 

Files appeared immediately, news coverage of the town, photos, video, and physical descriptions of the main “attractions.” 

Ghosts, as they were called by those outside of Amity Park, the most haunted town in the U.S. the coverage stopped after August 6th of 2005. She looked through everything, every picture, video, and newspaper clipping. She ran database searches for every citizen in Amity Park, specifically wanting to see about the two EctoBiologists, the Fenton couple, who seemed to make more property damage than the ghosts. 

The ghosts, who seemed to dislike the name, many citing that they were actually called “Denizens.”

Many of them were colorful and odd, similar to the Bat Family's rogues, but clearly nicer than Gotham's rogues. They were witty and bantered with each other and the people of Amity Park. Based on the news coverage, they had become an everyday occurrence, integrated into Amity Park naturally by citizens profiting off of the tourist attraction, and due to the influx of “ghost hunters.” 

The first set of “Ghost Hunters” was the Fentons, who lived there for almost 20 years, but their future was unknown; there didn't seem to be any coverage of recent dates. The Fenton family was a husband and wife, and their children, Jasmine Fenton and Daniel Fenton. But their children were declared missing in October 12th of 2007.

Phantom, a ghost that had white hair and green eyes, and a very obvious color scheme. Black and white, he was a young ghost, and the town seemed to be under his protection. He was there for almost 6 months before the next hunter appeared in Amity Park. Then, he stayed in Amity another 4 years before vanishing entirely from the town on the day of October 12th in 2007 

Red Huntress, a hoverboard riding red-suited feminine person who apparently had a vendetta for Phantom, hunting ghosts with a prejudice similar to the Fenton couple.

A few others appeared after her, but they weren't noticeable until a team from The Ghost Investigation Ward appeared in Amity Park; information went quiet after that, and after trying to look at recent coverage, it was still down. She tried to triangulate the location of the town and she found at least where it was supposed to be. But there was nothing. Only a government facility that looked almost exactly like a plain, regular government building. 

Something felt wrong about that.

Her computer setup gave another ping on her search, she clicked on it and frowned, looking at the top result of her keywords search, Sentient, Anti.

“The Anti-Ecto Acts 

[Originally proposed on June 16th, 2004, later enacted on 2007 April 10th.]

This bill grants the U.S. Government Branch, The Ghost Investigation Ward to contain, study, and eradicate any being containing or contaminated with Ectoplasm. Ectoplasmic beings are to be deemed Non-sentient, as the GIW acts as a branch of Government independent from central government and is solely focused on protecting Humanity from these Ecto entities. Ectoplasm will be considered Radioactive and potentially harmful to the human body. Immediate exposure or proximity will cause a containment breach, and it must be properly contained. Any individual who is exposed to this substance, either by proximity to a being or source of Ectoplasm, is to be brought into containment and studied accordingly. Ectoplasm exists in any person or thing that has perished, and to study such a substance, immediate quarantine and study of autonomy within proper facilities are required. 

Additionally, any individual assisting these entities or obstructing the GIW from their work or property will be prosecuted accordingly. “

Barbara stared, blinking slowly as she processed the words she'd read. Prosecuted accordingly. 

She sighed, low and tired, sure, this line of work had you seeing and experiencing terrible things, murder assault, assassination attempts, becoming paralyzed. Watching her little brother be beaten to death only to return to live only a few years later.

If Jason had come back, maybe these ghosts were real. Either way, they were still being prosecuted, for what? Existing? 

Barbara turned her comm on, switching to the main frequency, at the same time grabbing her phone to personally text in the group chats, hoping someone either listened to comms that day, or at least had their phone on them. 

“The U.S Government thought it was a good idea to research and hunt down an entire species. Again.” 

Chapter Text

“Full debrief tonight at the Batcave,” Bruce replied, which didn’t surprise Barbara.

Logically, she understood that traveling to the Batcave was less feasible for her, especially since she was still investigating the GIW. 

There was some information about the branch available on various government websites, giving a general overview of what the organization was and how it operated. However, there didn’t seem to be an active website dedicated to it.

Barbara sent a copy of all her current information on the case to Tim, trusting him to assist without too much disagreement or rash decisions, unlike the rest of the Bat Brood. She faintly wondered if Damian was familiar with these “Denizen” entities at all. 

Continuing her research on the GIW and the citizens of Amity Park, she cataloged every piece of additional information into the case files.

Accessing the GIW’s files wasn’t particularly difficult; it was just a bit complicated. Since there was no public knowledge about the branch, she had to navigate through the Department of Defense’s file system to reach it. It seemed that the branch was linked to the GIW, which wasn't very smart if they truly wanted their files to be inaccessible.

There were archived files, interviews with staff members, blueprints for a lot of their tech, how to identify and capture an Ectoplasmic entity, then came the experiment case files, video files, information about their powers and weaknesses, written transcripts of experiments, photos, and descriptions of their “subjects.” They were organized in a non-alphabetical way, their case numbers not matching up, seemingly categorized in a ranking system that Barbara wasn't familiar with. 

But as she looked at each subject, she recognized something important, the amount of power they had. Was it ranked by their abilities? 

The papers had a clear bias to them, dehumanizing language, marking down every piece of dissection and torture these people had done to them. Many of the subjects had perished during the more brutal procedures, which was a terrifying thought, that a ghost could die. 

This case was huge; they needed to bring the Justice League into this, and Justice League Dark into this, too. They might know more about these entities and how to help them.

Barbara kept going through the files, watching the videos, writing lists of injuries done within the photos and descriptions of the scientists 'procedures.'

It sickened Barbara’s stomach when she saw children in those videos, young kids, teenagers, men, and women of seemingly random ages, beastly creatures and monsters that looked more mystical than she'd been expecting. 

She saw so much blood, so much green. Just like the Lazarus Pits, and then she saw the strange, crystal-like organ these entities had. It was the only listed organ most of these entities had, but four of them, an older teenager with white hair and green eyes, and a young girl, one no older than ten years old, who looked exactly like the older ghost, and a slightly younger boy, with flaming white hair and red eyes had so many more. Another one, a vampiric-looking entity that hadn't lasted as long as the others. 

They didn't just have those crystals, they had bodies, human organs, teeth, nerves, muscles, and tendons. These ghosts have survived their orb-like fixtures being removed from their bodies and their body being torn apart, destroyed. After a short time, information about the two younger children's ghosts went quiet, but a security surveillance video was in both of their files, and the teenager's file. Every bit of file and information was dated, so she thankfully didn't need to guess the timeline.

In the video, the kids had seemingly lost their bodies, stuck in their fragile stone-shaped organs, one red and alight with flame, the other green with sparkling electricity, had been taken into the teenager's hands, and put them into his chest??? 

Barbara was thoroughly confused, but she kept watching. The only surviving subject seemed to be the teenager; she didn't know if there were any other entities around, if they were safe from this corrupt government branch. 

The teenager was much stronger than he seemed, defiant for multiple years of the containment, almost four full years of fighting and trying to escape, before he stopped. All because they had another experiment, a new machine to test. The video file was from 2010, which Barbara frowned at. It was 2025 now, and this teenager had been stuck there for eighteen years.

In the video, they had a large machine, a pod almost, that looked a lot like the Zeta Tubes used by the Justice League. It had exposed wires and circuits, large metal pincers, and needles attached to tubes. The subject was taken to the pod, and he didn't try to fight, following the two scientists who had him contained by looped poles used to contain an animal. The teenager had a large muzzle on him, built into his skin with razor wire and metal, and attached to a collar on his neck. The subject got into the pod, the scientists explaining to ears that didn't listen, teasing the entity with the machine’s purpose. To tear the entity apart, to kill him and the young children he was sheltering inside him. This video was made in 2011.

Barbara didn't know how long the young of their species gestated for, much less how likely they were to survive whatever this contraption would do to them. 

The pod slid closed with a reinforced glass door, and the teenager's hands, feet, neck, and waist were locked in restraints of metal. The needles and metal pincers tore deep into his skin, the needles and wires lit with red, an unfamiliar fluid entered the subject, and he began to thrash. The pincers grasped the subject tightly, and one of the scientists flicked a switch. The metal pincers lit up with electricity, Barbara watched, unsure how long the kid screamed, until the pod exploded, smoke filling the room and static screeching. If she looked closely, she thought she could see a frigid blue glow. 

In the smoke, she saw a small blue orb, which hummed and grew ice across the pod and around it. Scientists attempted to break through the large ice barrier, but they were unsuccessful for a while, until the ice began to crack. 

A small child sat in the remains of the ice, white and black hair so much like Jason's, one eye blue like the ice, another as green as the strange blood that he sat in, two little rocks in shattered pieces on the floor. The kid looked so young, so tiny, and clearly distraught in the far too large muzzle and collar.

The other children hadn't survived. 

The video cut out after that, and Barbara had to take a break. 

She looked at the time, and sighed, pulling up comms and simultaneously adding the new information into her current case file, she opened her camera, setting the case information to pass on the screen beside her camera. 

“Batman, this is a case of torture and attempted hunting of a species referred to as ‘Ghosts’ or ‘Denizens.’ All done by a government-sanctioned branch of defense against these supposed threats, known as the GIW. Currently, I've sent a compiled case file of all current information, and resources. I've also taken liberty of looking at the video files, and I'm warning that they're incredibly upsetting, this facility, currently the only GIW facility, in the location of Amity Park Illinois, has commandeered an entire town and used the location as a base of operation, using the populous of the town and these ‘ghosts’ as subjects. They began in 2007, and the current remaining Subject that we currently know of is ‘Subject P-692’, who is a teenager who has somehow regressed into a child, possibly as a safety mechanism. Contacting both the Justice League and Justice League Dark is heavily recommended for assistance in this case.” 

This was the only subject left, and he'd been there for so long now.

They'd already failed him so much. But now that they  knew, they were never going to fail him again.

Chapter Text

Batman presented the case information to the Justice League, while Barbara and Tim were responsible for uncovering the details, which included files, videos, documents, and photos. Damian contributed by providing additional insights into the case.

The Justice League immediately began to draft up legislation to veto the current in power act and prove that these entities were in fact sentient, using their case’s information as a reference, since they didn't have many “Denizens” on their team.

Barbara’s presumption was spot on; Damian was indeed intimately familiar with the Denizens.

He included a collection of documents from the League of Assassins, containing all files related to these creatures and their home, the Infinite Realms.

Lazarus Water, a diluted substance known to revive the dead, was identified as a less purified version of the ectoplasm mentioned in the files from the Ghost Investigation Ward (Also Warehouse) and the League of Assassins. Notably, they appeared to be updated on the affairs in the realms. As Damian noted, "There have been no updates from the League. The last I recall is that the Realm’s High King had been removed and is supposedly missing. That was many years ago before I came to live with Father.”

What the hell?? Why didn't he tell them??

Dick, Duke, and Jason were tasked with scouting the current facility and were sent via BatJet™ to the lab for reconnaissance. Barbara maintained an open line of communication, frequently checking in with the others, while she and Tim continued to gather information. They discovered references to the Realms in various media, religious texts, historical paintings, and, oddly enough, online forums. The main poster discussing these Infinite Realms was the same user from whom she had found the original Reddit post that initiated this entire case—“Sp@ce&Star$.”

This user had an entire forum dedicated to discussing ghosts and entities, detailing their history, laws, species, and subspecies.

Some notable usernames included:

- GothWitch97

- T00FinePh@r0Ah

- R3dHuntre$$

- WesT3ch

These users engaged in banter across forum posts and comments, sharing information and answering questions. They had even acted as moderators for the Reddit group, which had been inactive since August 6, 2005. The moderators maintained the forum in the wake of Sp@ce&Star$'s disappearance, updating it with news coverage and interviews with some of the ghosts and town vigilantes.

The forum was named “Official Phan Phorum,” a clever nod to the town’s ghostly vigilante.

Taking a sip of her black tea, which had enough butter to keep her awake and focused, Barbara copied the link to the forum and added it to the case’s resource file. She took screenshots and photos of the debates, questions, and even the childish arguments between the moderators and public viewers.

She created a new file dedicated to the current information on the forum, including images, the link to the now-deleted forum, and links to the inactive Reddit accounts.

It seemed the forum had been removed from public access, expelling every member except the original moderators from accessing the site. However, Barbara discovered references in the GIW’s files, indicating that they likely hacked and subsequently shut down the original accounts and forum. But for what reason? To study?

It took several weeks before they heard back from Justice League Dark and even the League of Assassins, which was surprising. It appeared that Damian had requested any current updates regarding the Realms, given his position as The Demon’s Head.

 But eventually, Raven and Constantine were the ones to appear in the Batcave one evening. Raven seemed slightly bothered by Constantine. Not actively violent, but clearly cold and standoffish with the drunk Demon hunter. 

Bruce, naturally prodding for information, was the first to invade Constantine’s space, his attention not on Raven, the teenage spellcaster.

After they argued, a back and forth of “Bloody hell!” And “Constantine.” until the sad trench coat man™ explained.

“The Ghost investigation Ward has been existing for years now, going after ghosts and spirits, and the Realm's inhabitants. Apparently, the High King of the Realm, Phantom, was taken as a child many years ago and is still held in the facility. Now, I would've done something. But after trying once, getting my ass handed to me after having to break out, and having an Ancient tell me, it wasn't time for his rescue, yet. I got outta there and stayed the hell away.” 

The bats and Raven were both very unamused. Barbara had later heard from Cass that Damian had attempted to attack Constantine and had successfully cut his hand off, which, honestly, she didn't feel bad about. Unfortunately, Damian was benched for it for an indefinite amount of time.

“The Ancient of Time visited me before I came to you, he said ‘It was time for the heroes to rescue the little king.'” Raven had spoken up, which did make their plan easier, but they would've tried breaking into the facility with or without the entities’ approval. 

Over the next few months, Barbara kept up with any new information about the case, collecting photos of the facility from their recon team, listening to their comms, and Tim had apparently managed to hack into their security system, which wasn't surprising, but it was odd that he could do it without any way of connecting to the remote facility’s system. But, Barbara wouldn't complain, she suspected he did it by using the GIW’s system they currently had access to, and went back to her coms.

“From what we can tell, they're not just taking the Denizens, they're taking anyone who interacts with them as well. I don't see a lot of forces, at least none of the nonhuman ones, only one is still left, and they're really bright, it's like a nuclear bomb or something.” Duke was the one talking, and Barbara was able to get a reading of what he saw, thankfully from the internal camera of his mask, filtered through a heat signature reader. It wasn't exactly like Duke's powers, but it was close enough that it gave them an idea of the area. Forty life forces were a mix of red and orange, and one was slightly outlined in a very faint orange, like they weren't producing much body heat at all. 

“I don't see any light, but they seem to be lacking body heat, it's hard to find them on the filter. Duke, would you be willing to have Superman come to help you look for them when we infiltrate?” Barbara asked, switching her camera to look at Jason's feed. 

She paused at what she saw, men and women in white coats. Guys in white.

Many of them were holding large guns, possibly blasters or flamethrowers, they seemed powered by the green liquid attached to their machines in tubes and tanks, many held what could've been scanners, radars, which light up green, a robotic voice calling out from the devices. “Ecto Entities found nearby, please capture or eradicate immediately.” And the group of almost twenty guards began to shoot at their group. 

Jason was the first to go down, lit up by green electricity that violently shocked him, his body was spasming, the scream caught halfway in his throat as the electricity sparked and crackled, stealing the rest of the air in his lungs, leaving him unconscious on the ground and his camera feed cut. Immediately she switched to Dick's cam.

Duke summoned a flashbang and used the distraction to grab Dick, grabbing one of his Eacramas and throwing it at the closest guard, it landed with a rough thump on his head, electricity flying across the man's body and across the weapons metal, the nearest guard's weapons blowing up in their hands, blasters, guns, staffs, bats, all glowing that bright and eerie green and exploding from within, scorching the nearest guard's bodies, almost like combination of electricity and acid. 

They were unstable, vulnerable to electricity, and corrosive to any improperly protected materials. Barbara made a note of that. 

Duke and Dick started running, vanishing into treetops and foliage. The rest of the conscious guards that were able to follow kept a pace behind them, shooting their weapons and yelling insults and threats.

 “I'm going to tear you apart molecule by molecule!” 

“Get back here, ectoscum! You can't escape, Soon you'll end up just like your friend!”

“We're going to destroy you, just like your precious king, and soon your world!” 

Barbara grimaced, switching comms to contact Alfred. 

“Pennyworth, the others are compromised, Recon team is currently under attack and outnumbered, likely to be captured. Prepare a rescue immediately, and bring in the Justice League, we need all hands on deck.” 

“Understood, Ms. Thank you for informing me, I shall prepare accordingly.” 

“Not a problem, will keep you and the others posted, over and out.”

Barbara switched back to Duke's comms, turning on both of their camera feeds. 

She frowned, heart plummeting at the sight of Duke going down, knocked to the floor by a green glowing staff, blood and teeth fell past his mask and out of his mouth. 

Dick had turned, impulsiveness leading him to switch tactics. Barbara cursed, almost dropping her tea. “Dick get out of there!” 

Dick ignored her, fighting with one of his Eacramas and a backup pocket bo-staff. He wasn't as good as Tim with them, but he was managing. He took down five of the remaining ten. He looked like he was going to get out, being able to knock the rest of the guards out, until one of them shot a cannon. At him. Green, slimy goo covered Dick, making his movements pause, the strange thing starting to harden, burning away the Kevlar layers of his costume, and then soon his skin. Dick fell to the ground screaming, and Barbara had to cut the comm when that screeching static began to build in her ear. 

They were better than this; this wasn't how it was supposed to happen. They were supposed to save the kid, not have to save their own teammates. 

Barbara switched her comm channel to Alfred’s again, sighing to stop the sob that wanted to claw out of her chest. 

“Update, Recon Team has been captured, contact all available heroes for assistance, inform them of the situation.” 

Chapter Text

The cave was alive with activity as Barbara contacted Alfred, who tapped into Bruce’s private communications. He then connected with members of the Justice League and Justice League Dark, requesting immediate assistance at the facility once known as Amity Park.

Bats and birds—those available—were suiting up, including Damian, who was still benched from acting as Robin for the next two weeks. Barbara listened to the chatter in the cave through her comms, alternating between the Bat family's feeds and the Justice League’s communications. Unfortunately, she had no contact with the Justice League Dark members, as magic didn’t always work well with technology.

“Our recon team, consisting of Signal, Red Hood, and Nightwing, has been taken into custody by the GIW after being found on the premises. While we waited to execute the extraction of the remaining Subject P-692, the Branch not only injured our recon team but is currently holding them captive. Red Robin has located recent video surveillance of current subjects and maps of the facility. This rescue mission will require our forces to split into teams. Each team will consist of one Bat, two Justice League members, and one Justice League Dark member. We will form four teams: three will enter the facility to search for and retrieve the captives while one team will remain outside to defend the area. Is that understood?”

The quick procedures were easy for her to recite, especially as she spoke while simultaneously sending copies of the facility's current map to each team. She uploaded the surveillance video, which showed a group of scientists restraining the recon team from outside the facility before bringing them into the facility's labs.

Unfortunately, that was the only current feed available, as the live footage cameras around the building seemed unable to capture any of the “supernatural” activity and cut out before she could see where their cells were located. 

“Each of you will receive details about your teammates and the teams you'll be assigned to. Review this information as soon as you get it, as we will be moving out after the debrief. Are there any questions before we head to the facility?”

Barbara paused for a moment, listening. 

“Good, Agent A and I will be on comms and stationed within the Batcave as support, now move out.” 

Barbara stayed on the comms, keeping the security feed of the GIW Facility open on her screen. One of her other screens had the map of the facility, and the trackers of the heroes listed at the bottom of the screen. Only Nightwing, Signal, and Red Hood’s Trackers were lit on the map so far. 

Now, the waiting. It was always the worst part. 

Barbara sat on the comms, keeping the video feed of the bat masks open, listening to every conversation, every tense second of the trip to Amity Park Illinois. 

While she waited, she read through their current information, their files, examined articles, looked at the League of Assassin's files and looked at the “Phan Phorum.”

The forum seemed to have much more information than their team did, not counting the information Justice League Dark seemed to be keeping from them. 

She switched to the GIW’s files, and saw something new. 

Three new files, three new subjects. 

Subject NW1

Subject SN2

Subject RH3

The files were mostly empty, containing only photographs of the three vigilantes, their wounds, and which weapons had taken them down. 

There wasn't much written either, the only statements including their supposed “power level” and amount of ectoplasmic exposure. 

Signal seemed to be the most human according to their scanners, but the GIW classified him as Liminal, due his meta abilities. Nightwing was less human, but still seemed human enough to not have powers, and to not classify as Liminal, just contaminated. Red Hood was classified as an Ecto entity, a ghost possessing a body.

Barbara didn't like this, the idea that these agents were what, going to purge the ecto? Which didn't even seem possible. 

She finds out almost an hour later, when their teams arrive at the location and begin dispersing. The teams split for distraction and infiltration, with Barbara keeping an eye on both teams via tracking their comms, and by checking security camera feed. 

The facility was large and sterile, a harsh mockery of a hospital, a thick electric scent lingered in the air, like iron and citrus. 

She catches new information being uploaded into the subject's files. 

Subject P-692’s file was the only one that wasn't recently updated, the newer subjects files already had video footage attached, live feeds of the scientists studying them, each of their brood strapped to tables, full awake and aware as the scientists began quite literally, poking and prodding. Taking blood, skin tissue, and even beginning to cut open their chest cavities, all to see what was inside. 

Like a twisted Christmas gift. 

The vigilantes are silent, making no noise of pain and instead quipping, or threatening, or even attempting questioning. 

The vigilantes all react differently to the torture, but none of them give the scientists the satisfaction of screaming. 

Good. 

The teams of heroes dispatch the staff well enough, the distraction team was taking down the security staff, destroying weapons and discarding them in a transport container, each government worker taken down is left unconscious and is handcuffed, their information, phones, wallets, building tags are all taken and put into the transport container, it's all going to be catalogued and studied at a later date. 

The live feeds are interrupted by the lab doors being forced open, immediately there's chaos in each research lab as their stealth teams take out the scientists, many purposely not controlling their strength. 

There's screaming, panic from the GIW members as they lose more and more forces. Red Hood, Nightwing, and Signal are released from their bonds, and each give their own affirmation to their rescuers. 

None of which are true, because they are not fine.

Barbara switches to the subject hall security cam, and she glances back at the building layout. 

“Stealth teams, I need you to keep looking for the final subject. Once everyone is accounted for and safe, we can worry about medical services.” She reminds those on the coms.

She sees a flicker of movement in the subject hall camera, and she can see two glowing eyes hiding in the shadows of one of the containers. This one is different to the others, a thick metal hatch instead of the cell bars the other tiny cells had. A small slot that just barely allows the subject to see outside of the container, but is too small to reach an arm or hand through. Green and blue stare up at the camera without blinking, and Barbara wonders if the kid knows what's happening. She can see green reflecting around his face. But She can only see his eyes, 

There are no alarms going off, given none of the GIW agents either didn't have time to call for backup, or even turn on the security alarm. 

“You're in the research wing, you need to go past the remaining labs and turn right at the upcoming corner, through a set of reinforced doors at the start of the subject wing. Down that hall, I think you'll see the kid.” She switches to the mask cams and cycles through each of them, Black Bat, Robin, Spoiler, Red Robin, Batman. Nightwing, Red Hood, and Signal’s cams are dead, no camera feed and only static on their coms. 

The teams keep moving, Barbara can see them peaking into the labs as they pass, there's green on almost every surface, but it's long since faded now. In one of the labs sits a large machine that looks almost like a generator, or perhaps a blood analyser that has been drafted into a larger model. Each slot is entirely full of large glass vials of Ectoplasm. Beside the machine sits a metal pole and a pint bag, attached to a needle and tube that seem stained by green color. There are faded specs of red in the vials and the pint bag. They seem to have faded, as if the mixture had been a more balanced ratio before, and now the blood has been diluted by the ectoplasm. Or there is no more blood to give. 

The entire group stops to look at the machine that sits in faux innocence in the lab. 

Barbara realizes something then, Subject P-692 is the only remaining ecto entity, and he has been for multiple years. Did they use his blood to power their technology? Their research? Their building?

Barbara actually feels like screaming then, and by the shifting expressions of their rescue teams, they're wanting to as well. 

“Keep going, we need to get everyone out. Before anyone does something drastic.” 

The heroes keep going, listening to her instructions to navigate the halls properly, only stopping when they reach the door separating the wings, Red Robin opens it without problem, and the subject wing opens to darkness. Their teams walk through the doorway, and only then do the lights go off, following their trail as they walk further into the wing, down a singular hall lined by what must've been over a thousand cells, each one small and stacked lupin each other like crates, its a marvel anyone or anything could even fit in them.

It defies all logic, and there's so much green. It's almost all faded now, and Duke is the one to lead them only because of his ability to see the kid. 

Eventually they find the hatch, and Barbara uses Batman's mask cam to look closer at the containment unit, it's entirely made of metal, but what type she's unsure, given it's glowing. 

“We've found it, Oracle, this is the containment unit holding the subject?” Batman asks and he takes hold of the thick circular valve piece attached to the door.

“Yes, this is it.”

Batman tests it against his strength, and can only grunt. Each hero tries, even the flash, many use their hands or powers, until Raven is the one to open the hatch with her magic. 

The container doesn't move after that, nor does the boy that's squished into the container, barely able to fit and doing his damnedest to press himself to the farthest wall of the metal box. He winces as skin touches the metal, looking at each new face in a panic. There is so much green in his mouth, soaking his face, his hair, his hands, his teeth and lips, even the muzzle is coated in the substance, the boy is in clothes that don't even fit any more, and he looks older now, almost Damian's age.

“You're safe, we came to get you out of here.” Robin is the first to speak first, surprisingly. 

The boy in the cell stares at the youngest vigilante, and then looks at Red Hood, then to Nightwing, next to Signal, and finally at Red Robin. He speaks no words, but he makes a deep, guttural sound in his chest, it reverberates off of the metal and Barbara swears it's a purr.

“Safe."

Only then does the boy begin to slowly move out of the container, on shaking arms and knees, he almost falls out of the container but Nightwing lurches forward and catches him, the young boy tries to stand on his legs and lean into the vigilantes side, almost falling again. Red Robin takes Nightwing's place and tucks the other vigilante into his other side. Robin gently tapping the boy's hand when he flinches back from Red Robin for a minute, surprised by the movement. The boy holds onto Robin's hand then, refusing to let go 

There are thousands of little bruises on the boy's skin, and so many more scars, burns, cuts, bites, scrapes, that have long faded, the bruises are like needle marks,  fresh. nails are more claws than actual nails. Just as his teeth are more like fangs than normal human teeth. His hair is long and dirty, just as messy as his old clothes. There are red marks where the bruising is, and where the new cuts lay, his skin looks like he was lacerated a long time before they'd arrived. 

Barbara switches to Pennyworth's coms, not even letting him speak first before "Call Dr. Thompkins to the Bat Cave, and prep the medical bay, four beds."