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Danny sat back in the plush chair of the private jet he and the Bats were taking to Amity. The rest of the JL was coming in a different jet. Danny tapped his foot nervously on the ground. He was terrified of what he might find when they got there and even more terrified of what he might not find.
Other members of the JL were breaking into other GIW facilities around the country, but Danny, the Bats and a few members of the JL were flying into Amity to deal with the portal and the main GIW base.
They still weren’t quite sure what they were flying into. There was no satellite footage of Amity Park and all their attempts of hacking into anything in the city had failed. And they had limited gear, just what Danny could cobble together from what they had in the Batcave and the Watchtower combined with some of Danny’s own ecto.
He was mostly worried about a ghost overshadowing one of the JL members. It was why the plan was for Danny and the Bats to go in first. The Bats had the most training in fighting off mind control and no one wanted to face a mind controlled super.
As they approached Amity, Bruce, who was flying the plane, called Danny up to the front.
“We’ve got a visual of something strange approximately where Amity Park should be. Can you tell what it is?”
Danny squinted through the cockpit window. “Huh. Well, that’s new.” He turned to look at Bruce. “It looks like a ghost shield. It should allow people through, at least the version my parents made, but I don’t know if the GIW have done anything to it.” he squinted again. “Besides making it more opaque. My parents— The Fentons design was mostly see-through.”
“Hn.” Bruce grunted. “We’ll land nearby and investigate.”
They land the plane and approach the dome on foot. It looks like a normal ghost shield to Danny, but when he tries to pass through in human form it zaps him. He winces, shaking out his hand that he’d tried to reach through the barrier with.
The other Bats try and find they can't get through either.
Danny looks at the Bats for a moment before turning back to the shield. “They must have calibrated it to repel anyone with even a hint of ectoplasm.”
“What do you mean?” Dick asks. “We haven’t all died.” Tims snorts. “At least,” Dick amends, “not for more than a few seconds.”
Danny shrugs, not surprised they’ve all had close brushes with death. “Usually a slight brush with death isn’t enough to leave you with ecto. But you’re vigilantes. You’ve likely had plenty of near death encounters, not to mention being around a lot of death. That can also rub off on you. And,” Danny continued, “if you’ve hung around those Pits you mentioned enough, that probably also left its mark.”
“So how do we get through?” Tim asked. “Is there a weak point?”
“Does it extend underground?” Damian asked crossing his arms.
Danny shrugged. “It usually does,” he told Damian. “They’re usually pretty strong all the way around.” He said, turning toward Tim. “But I can check real quick, give it a fly around.”
“Would that draw the GIW’s attention?” Steph asked, tilting her head.
Danny bit his lip. “It might,” he admitted. “But we don’t have time to walk around the whole dome, and you wouldn’t be able to check if it extends underneath the city without me checking intangibly.”
“Hmm.” Tim hummed. “And if we wait too long, the GIW might notice us out here anyway.”
“Go quickly.” Bruce said, turning to Danny.
Danny nodded, letting his transformation wash over him and invisibly taking off to circle the dome. He reached out with his senses trying to feel if there was any weak point in the structure, but instead of a weak point his gaze landed on something metallic glinting in the grass. He swooped down, and his eyes widened in surprise. It was a thermos. He grabbed, turning it in his hand. There were words written on the bottom in black sharpie.
His eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. He wanted to open it now, but quickly finished his circuit around and under the city, confirming that the dome went underground.
He landed by the Bats who startled, but there was no time to tease them for it.
“I found something.” Danny said, showing them the thermos.”
“That’s a thermos.” Steph said, and Danny nodded.
“Yup, a thermos that functions as a ghost containment device.”
“What?” said several Bats, but Danny ignored them.
“But look.” he continued, pointing at the bottom where two words were scrawled in a handwriting he would recognize anywhere.
“A friend?” Tim asked, frowning. “What does it mean?”
Danny bit his lip. “This is Tucker’s handwriting. He must have gotten the thermos out.” Tucker must still be alive, he didn’t say too scared to hope.
“Are you sure?” Bruce asked. “It could be a trap.”
Danny bit his lip nervously before quickly opening the thermos. He heard several Bats exclaim in surprise and take a step forward to stop him, but it was too late. Green vapor floated up from the thermos condensing in front of Danny. Danny ignored the Bats who had all taken fighting positions.
And then Ellie materialized in front of him.
She sucked in a deep breath that she let out with an “omph” as Danny grabbed her in a hug.
“You’re okay.” Danny said, clutching her tightly.
“I can't breathe.” she said, hoarsely.
“You don’t need to.”
She huffed, but clutched him back tightly, sniffling slightly. “You’re okay.” she said. “I know they said they got you out, but no one knew where you were.”
“They’re alive.” Danny said, pulling away slightly but still keeping his hands on her arms.
She nodded. “Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all made it back. But the GIW followed and put the town on lockdown.” She stared at him, her eyes wide with fear. “They know about liminals, and they saw me.”
Danny breathed in shakily, reminding himself that Ellie was here with him. The GIW didn’t have her, and they wouldn't, not as long as he was around. His friends were alive. Jazz was alive. He turned toward the Bats. “This is Ellie. She’s my…” he trailed off glancing at her, “mirrorborn sister.” he finished.
“Mirrorborn?” Jason asked.
“I’ll explain later.” Danny said, turning back to Ellie.
“We’ve got a plan, or at least part of one.” Ellie continued. “Though we weren’t expecting…” she trailed off, gesturing at the Bats.
“They’re here to help.” Danny said. Then he frowned. “But why were you in the thermos?”
Ellie shrugged. “It was the only way to get someone out. The thermos blocked my ectosignature so they could toss it out. That way if—” she paused, “when” she corrected herself. “When you came you could let me out, and I could tell you our plan.
Danny closed his eyes, trying to ignore all that could've gone wrong. What if he hadn’t come? What if the GIW had found the thermos before he did?
Thankfully, Bruce stepped forward. “You said you have a plan?”
Ellie’s eyes widened as she turned toward Batman. “Uh.. well, part of a plan?” she glanced at Danny before turning to look at Bruce again. “I’ve got a list of information about GIW patrols and what we know of their plans. Everyone’s hiding out at the school right now under the reverse ghost shield you developed.”
“A shield that repels humans without ectoplasm.” Danny explained to the Bats.
Ellie nodded. “Yeah. I’ve also got a device that Tucker thinks could temporarily disrupt this shield. We didn’t want to use it because we didn’t have a way to get far enough away from the GIW. But now that you’re here with help, you can use it to get in and fight the GIW.”
"Where's the device?” Tim asked. It didn’t look like that jumpsuit had any pockets.
“Oh. Here.” Ellie said, reaching into her chest and pulling out a piece of paper and a small metal box.
Several of the Bats made choking noises, and Danny and Ellie smirked at each other.
Danny grinned at them. “Storing things inside your body is just one of the perks of being dead.”
“Do you have anything in you?” Steph asked.
Danny just smirked at her.
Bruce cleared his throat. “The device,” he said, “how does it work?”
“When it’s in contact with the shield it’ll open up a small section we can go through.” Ellie answered.
“Alright, before we go in, let’s review the plan.” Bruce said, making several of the Batkids grumble. He ignored them. “We will make our way to the Fenton household, taking down any agents we encounter. Once there we will take more weapons and the anti-overshadowing belts. Once we have them, Spoiler and Robin will take them to the JL members waiting to come in. You’ll also bring them the device so they can pass through the shield.”
“Elli should wait out here.” Danny said. Ellie made to protest, but Danny shook his head. “I don’t want them to get you, and you can help lead the JL to the school once they’ve got the specter deflector belts.”
She grumbled but nodded, and Batman continued.
“Once they've arrived we will work on taking down any agents in the city and questioning them about any bases we don’t know about yet. Constantine will work on securing the portal. Is that clear?”
A chorus of yeses answered him.
“Good.” he grunted. “Then let's proceed.”
Danny breathed out shakily. He wasn’t actually sure if he was ready. He’d be facing GIW agents and possibly his parents. He didn’t know if he could fight them without being lost in bad memories.
But his friends and sister were alive. Ellie was here. And the Bats and JL were here to help. They would get rid of the GIW. Ghosts would be safe and so would the town. His friends would be safe.
He’d be safe.