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Despite joining the Justice League reserves over a year ago, Danny had never been to Gotham City before. Granted, he'd only been called to assist the Justice League twice in that time—they tried to call on him only when it was absolutely necessary, since they knew he was busy handling his home-town's ghost problem. And even though that didn't sound very important, they'd all seen what could happen if that situation went unchecked.
Come to think of it, he supposed the Justice League in general rarely operated in Gotham City, it was just Batman's turf. Danny just associated with it the whole league since Batman was such a central figure within it. He was only here because Batman had asked for him specifically, apparently he required Danny's specific expertise.
He was supposed to meet Batman across the street from some place called Coral District Juvenile Mental Institution, presumably to deal with a ghost problem, because what else could he have meant by Danny's "specific expertise"? He was guessing that this place was in the Coral District, but... yeah, he didn't know where that was. He'd tried to stop a few pedestrians to ask for directions, but they'd just scoffed and passed him by muttering something about out-of-towners.
Eventually, he'd asked a cop who laughed at his "ridiculous getup" and asked suspiciously why he was looking for "Arkham Juvie", whatever that meant, but after Danny explained he was meeting Batman there, the cop ultimately did give him directions, thankfully. It was funny to see the way the officer practically jumped out of his skin when Danny took to the air.
When he arrived, it was just shy of half-an-hour after their agreed upon meeting time, and Batman was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn, did I miss him?" Danny muttered to himself. "He said it was important, though. I thought he'd wait."
"Phantom."
Danny startled at the deep gravelly voice and whipped his head around to see the vigilante who'd appeared out of nowhere behind him.
"Nice to see you could finally make it."
"Yeah... sorry I'm late," he chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't realize how long it would take me to find this place. I've never been to Gotham before."
"It's fine. Follow me."
Batman led the ghostly hero on a roundabout route to the back of the mental institution, where he broke in by jumping the back fence and slipping through a window with a broken lock. Danny just passed intangibly through both.
"Why are we breaking in?" he whispered. "Shouldn't we, like, check in as visitors or something?"
"The patient we're here to see isn't allowed any visitors?"
"Why not?"
"He killed the last one."
Danny's eyes widened. "What?" he hissed. "Hold on. Who are we going to see? What are you bringing me here for? I thought you had a ghost problem."
"Once you see him you'll understand... I hope."
He hoped?
Danny hadn't interacted with the man much, but he'd always thought Batman didn't really deal in hopes and guesses. All the other Justice League members Danny had spoken to said the same thing: Batman never went in half-cocked. Batman didn't make a move he wasn't certain of. He didn't act until he had all the facts... unless he was forced to.
So what was making Batman feel forced to act on hope?
The two heroes turned down a hallway and Danny began to hear distant, manic laughter, and tensed. It reminded him of Freakshow a little. Even if it hadn't, Danny had been doing this hero thing long enough to know laughter like that wasn't a good sign, and it put him on edge.
"The maximum security wing is that way," Batman said. "That's where we're going."
Danny would've thought maximum security meant it would be difficult to get in, but Batman made quick work of the lock, and they slipped through the door without tripping any alarms, or even seeing any guards.
"No guards?"
"This place has been short-staffed lately," Batman explained. "The few guards that remain refuse to go near this place."
"Scared of the ghost?"
"Scared of the patient. They only keep one person in this wing these days." He led Danny to the furthest door and picked the lock, again within seconds. The door swung open, and the laughter filled the entire corridor. "Take a good look."
Cautiously, Danny stepped past the Dark Knight and into the room.
A thick panel of glass split the room into two sides: a cell and an observation area, and Danny stood in the latter. There were a few chairs, numerous security cameras, and a side table with pens and pads of paper on this side.
On the cell side there was no furniture, just a thin futon for the patient to sleep on, some pillows and blankets, a toilet in the corner, and a box of chalk in the middle of the floor, which must've been used to create the unsettling drawings and writing that covered the stone walls and floor of the cell. Images of clowns, dead bodies, childish pranks, devastating explosions, a happy family, a dilapidated building. The word HAHA was written over and over and over and over....
The patient himself looked about sixteen, the same age as Danny. He had long, greasy hair, green at the ends, but growing out black at the roots, and deathly pale skin. His eyes were open painfully wide, as were his grinning lips, as he laughed and laughed, and on his face, he wore a Glasgow smile. He didn't look at his visitors, as he sat on the floor, running the well-used nub of red chalk over the lower half of his face to make his smile even wider.
There was a ghost in the cell as well. Danny had almost thought there wouldn't be, based on Batman's words. The ghost was of a tall man, a clown, based on the face paint, wearing a suit and a painfully wide grin that matched the boy's exactly. It wasn't hard to tell that they were father and son.
"Well?" Batman asked.
"Well what?" Danny asked. "I don't even know what I'm looking at? Who is this?"
"Oh, I'm sorry!" said the patient, jumping to his feet and throwing himself against the glass barrier in a lighting fast motion that made Danny jump back, though Batman didn't flinch. "I so rarely have anyone new visit. I'm Joker Junior, but you can call me JJ! What's your name!"
"Um... Danny Phantom."
"Hmmm.... Never heard of ya!" JJ turned his wide eyes toward Batman. "HAHAHA, Batsy, did you bring me a friend?! Can I have a play-date, Daddy!"
"Is there a ghost here?" Batman asked.
"Just a weak one, his father" Danny said. "It's not uncommon for the spirits of parents to follow their children. Sometimes seeing their kids grow up is even the thing keeping them around."
"Can you destroy it?"
Danny's eye's widened and he grimaced, surprised by the question. "What?" he asked. "No way! Sorry, not sorry, but I'm not in the business of destroying harmless ghosts who just want to see their kids grow up, even if it's not a pretty sight. This ghost is too weak to even make himself visible, let alone hurt anyone."
"That's not his father."
"You wouldn't be saying that if you could see him," Danny argued. "They're the spitting image of each other."
"That ghost is the reason he's here in the first place."
"So what? He's got some genetic condition?" Danny guessed. "Doesn't mean I should destroy his dad. My dad gave me ADD, you gonna destroy him?"
"You don't understand—"
"Because you haven't explained anything!" Danny insisted. "If you want me to destroy a ghost that's just minding his own business, you'd better give me a damn good reason, because that's not what I do."
"HaHA, yeah, Batsy!" JJ chimed in. "You gotta good reason, doncha?"
Batman let out a deep sigh. "It's... a long story."
"I don't have any other plans tonight." Danny crossed his arms and fixed the man with an unyielding expression—or at least, that was what he was going for. He wasn't exactly known for his intimidating appearance, so he wasn't exactly sure if it worked.
"That ghost isn't his father, it's the Joker," Batman said, scowling.
Danny quirked his eyebrows and turned to the boy in the cell. "You said it was Joker Jr., right?"
"Yuperoonie!"
He turned back to Batman with a raised eyebrow.
"I guess you haven't heard of him," Batman surmised. "The Joker was no father. He was a supervillain that terrorized Gotham for over a decade. He called himself the clown prince of crime, and he worked with a partner named Harley Quinn, who disappeared after his death. This boy isn't his son, but the Joker kidnapped him and used torture to brainwash him into believing he was. His real name is Tim Drake, and before this happened to him, he was... Robin. My partner."
JJ started laughing again on the other side of the glass. "Ain't he funny?" he asked between guffaws. "Torture, brainwashing! This joke's got it all!"
Danny looked back and forth between JJ and the grinning ghost behind him. He had thought there was something unnatural about those smiles. "So... when you said that ghost is the reason he's here... you meant because...."
"He used a combination of electroshock therapy and a toxic chemical he called Joker Gas which warped his mind and turned him into this. He gave the boy those scars on his face, and many others."
"Pretty cool, amiright?" JJ tacked on.
"He was Joker's hostage for months before Batgirl and I tracked them down to rescue him," Batman continued. "In the process, the Joker was killed."
"That was me!" JJ bragged. "Daddy didn't think it was funny, but I thought it was a hoot! HAHAHAHA!"
"The Joker had told him to kill me, but he made a different choice," Batman explained. "I thought that meant that he was still Robin underneath it all, but as time passed, no matter what I did to help him, he only got worse and worse. For his own safety, I was keeping him in my care, but one day, he got out and wrought havoc on the town."
"It was just a party!"
"Fourteen people died, and many more were injured."
"It was fun!"
"As a result, I was forced to remand him into police custody, and he was locked up in here. His parents couldn't recognize him, and he'll only give his name as Joker Jr, so he was admitted as a John Doe. Their staff have done their best with therapy and medication—the chalk was a recent attempt at art therapy, but so far that's gone nowhere. He's escaped here twice, committing horrific crimes in Gotham both times, and the only person besides myself who's dared to visit him, a reporter, was killed, as well as several institution guards assigned to watch him."
"That's terrible, but—"
"That's not the end of it," Batman cut him off before Danny could ask what that had to do with a ghost who could no longer harm anyone. "Last year, before you reappeared to take care of the issue, the world at large learned that ghosts were real. I didn't think there was any connection to this at first, but gradually, I began to think that the Joker's ghost was still haunting Tim."
"JJ!" he corrected in a sing-song voice.
"At first, I attributed it to psychosis, but he continued to speak to a figure he called 'daddy', which was clearly the Joker. Each time, after he broke out and was recaptured, he would say—"
"Daddy helped me plan this party!" JJ supplied. "My daddy's the greatest party planner! HAHAHAHA!"
"Yes... that.... Further investigation led me to suspect the the Joker's ghost was sticking around, keeping him this way, preventing him from recovering. That's why I asked for your help. I can only hope it's not too late to save him."
Finally, Danny understood. He looked at JJ, then at Batman.
"Please. Help me save him."
Desperation was not something Danny ever thought he would hear in the Batman's voice, but it was absolutely dripping from his words.
"Alright."
Danny walked to the glass, and put his hand on it.
"Be careful," Batman warned.
"What's he gonna do?" Danny joked, trying to lighten the mood. "He can't kill me again." With that, he passed through the glass partition into the cell.
"WOAH!" JJ shouted, alarmed and amazed. "You can walk through walls! That's so cool!"
Danny actually smiled a bit at the praise.
"You think you can destroy me?"
Danny's smiled fell and he turned to look at the ghost. It was the first thing the specter had said since their arrival.
"Huh?" JJ turned as well. "What do you mean, Daddy?"
"You can't destroy me." His grin grew impossibly wider as he fixed Danny with a look of terrifying glee. "The Joker will always live on in Gotham."
Danny wordlessly unclipped the Fenton Thermos from his hip and removed the cap.
"What's that?" Joker asked. "Some sort of magic soup to melt me? HAHAHA!"
Danny activated the thermos and sucked the Joker into it. From the sound of it, he had been a powerful villain, but he was a weak ghost. He recapped the thermos with a click that echoed in the silent stone cell.
Then JJ screamed. "NO!" He ran at Danny, catching him by surprise and knocking him to the floor.
He clawed at the ghost in the seconds it took for Danny to get his wits about him and activate his intangibility.
"Give him back!" JJ screamed at Danny when he was on the other side of the glass and out of reach. "You can't take Daddy from me! Give him back! Give him back!"
"We should go," Batman said, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder.
The ghost nodded silently and walked out of the room, back into the hallway as Joker Jr. continued to yell after the, demanding they return his father—his captor's ghost. It was hard to hear, but the high-pitched laughter it shifted into as they walked away wasn't any easier.
"He'll get worse before he gets better," Danny said. The Joker's ghost was keeping him insane, but probably also keeping him stable.
"I know," Batman replied. "But thanks to you, maybe he will get better.... Someday."