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Soulmates were a … touchy subject in the Drake household.
Normally, when a person was born, they were born with the mark that would match them to their soulmate. Extremely rarely, someone was born without a mark, but it was something like a 0.00001% chance.
So when young Tim Drake started attending school and saw all the other kids in his class showing off their marks, he was confused. He had never seen a mark on himself. Had never heard his parents mention a mark either. When he'd returned home from school and asked his nanny about his mark, she had given him a sad look and shook her head a bit.
"Timothy… you don't have a soulmark."
Tim could remember crying for hours after being told that, even though he didn't fully understand the implications of not having a mark at the time. As he grew older and learned what it truly meant to have not been born with a mark, he went through all the stages of grief all over again.
Acceptance had been the hardest step. Sometimes he still struggled with it.
It helped a lot after he'd become Robin to talk to Dick and Bruce about it. Bruce himself had a mark, but having a mark didn't guarantee a happily ever after. It didn't matter how compatible they were on paper; they weren't actually compatible in reality. Tim sometimes thought that Bruce's situation was worse than his. Imagine knowing the perfect person for you was out there and that your lives just didn't mesh.
Dick had a completely different problem. He had a mark, but it wasn't clear. And no one could explain why. It left Dick floating in purgatory as to whether or not he actually had a soulmate. Dick didn't let himself get too down about it, though, choosing instead to just enjoy his life as he saw fit.
So, Tim moved forward to the best of his ability. He didn't dwell on not having a soulmate all that often, though his smile certainly became strained when he found himself caught in conversations about it. As far as the rest of the world knew, Tim Drake had a soulmark. He wasn't planning on correcting anyone anytime soon.
So imagine Tim's surprise when he suddenly gained a soulmark.
As far as Tim could tell, such a thing had never happened before. It didn't matter whether your soulmate had been born already or not, you were still born with your mark. When people learned about the existence of aliens, there had been a lot of speculation that they would have soulmarks too. Superman had sheepishly admitted in an interview that he had no such mark being Kryptonian as he was.
It caused an explosion of theories about how people who were born without marks were actually supposed to be with someone who wasn't human. Tim had read through some of the theories over the years; some well thought out and made sense while others were just utter insanity. He had never let himself hope that was the case for him.
Even Kon, who was only half human and a clone for that matter, had a mark.
Tim had been shocked when Kon told the team that. Cassie had excitedly shown them her own mark, despite the fact that she was also only half human. Bart, of course, had his own. He was from the future, but he was still human despite all the speedforce nonsense that was tangled up in his family line.
The group had turned, almost as one, to look at Tim. And Tim had frozen. No one aside from his parents, Bruce, and Dick knew. He wasn't sure that he was ready to have this conversation with his team.
But it figured, he, the only full human on the team, was also the only one without a mark.
But here he was, months later and he suddenly had a mark.
He had been so confused when he'd gotten out of the shower and caught sight of the mark on his chest. At first he'd assumed it was an injury that he'd forgotten about. He paused and turned to look at the mirror, utterly confused to see the small crown across the top of his heart.
His brain had faltered multiple times to understand what he was looking at. Fingers absently traced the image a few times before he turned and headed out of the bathroom. He only paused long enough to get dressed before he all but sprinted his way to Wayne Manor. He needed to talk to Bruce.
Danny was in pain.
Pain, honestly, might have been an understatement for what it was that he was feeling. It felt like every breath he struggled to take was lighting his lungs on fire. He tried to move his hand, but his muscles protested loudly at the attempt.
Why did everything hurt?
"Danny!"
Danny slowly forced his eyes open, only to almost immediately close them again as the lights on the ceiling blinded him. There was the rustle of footsteps and even with his eyes closed, Danny could tell that someone had turned the lights off. He hesitated a moment before opening his eyes again.
Sam and Tucker were leaning over him, worry clearly written on their faces. Danny was trying to remember what it was they had been doing and how it lead to him laying on his back on the floor, feeling like he was dying.
"Wh - " he started to ask, only to start coughing violently. He screwed his eyes shut against the pain, but it did little to help.
It took him a few minutes to stop coughing and even longer before he felt like his insides weren't trying to tear themselves out of his body. When he felt some semblance of normal again, he opened his eyes and looked at Sam.
"The portal - " Sam started and Danny remembered.
Sam had dared him to go into the portal, to take a photo in it. He could remember putting on the hazmat suit, could remember walking into the portal and then…
And then…
He closed his eyes again, trying not to think about what happened next. The pain he was feeling was nothing compared to having a portal open on top of you.
"…We thought you were dead," Tucker admitted quietly, then glanced at Sam.
Sam swallowed and nodded, "And um… you uh…"
Danny looked at Sam, confused as to what could have her so hesitant.
"…let's get you to a mirror," Tucker muttered, putting a hand under Danny's shoulder and slowly helping him sit up.
Danny hissed in response, even as Sam wrapped his other arm around her shoulders. The two of them managed to get Danny out of the lab and into the downstairs bathroom. By the time Danny was standing in front of the mirror, he was sweating from pain and exhaustion.
He took a moment to compose himself before glancing up at the mirror, uncertain what it was that his friends had wanted him to see. At first, Danny wasn't sure what he was looking at. He saw Sam, and he saw Tucker, and he saw a third person that was standing between them. He knew, logically, that the third person was him. Who else would it be? But the person in the mirror didn't look like him, for a variety of reasons.
Green eyes, white hair, even more pale than Danny was naturally. It took him an alarmingly long time to truly understand just what it was he was seeing.
"What… the hell…"
The words fell from his lips, mirrored by the person in the mirror, confirming for him that it was actually himself that he was looking at. The portal had somehow… changed his eye and hair color?!
He turned his head a bit to say something to Tucker, only to freeze.
There, next to his left eye, was a mark. A mark that had never been there. A mark that he had been born without.
Danny inhaled sharply, bodily jerking back from the image in the mirror, nearly sending himself and his two friends to the floor in his panic. That wasn't possible. He had been born without a soulmark. It had been a great source of distress for him when he was younger. Had been something he had been mocked and bullied by people for most of his life.
So how could he just suddenly have one?!
Danny pulled his arm free from Sam's grip, reaching up to touch the mark. He wasn't sure what one was supposed to feel like, but it just felt like his skin. It didn't feel like when you put on a temporary tattoo or something like that. Not that Danny thought that either of his friends would think that now was a good time to do something like that but -
"…it was there when you came out of the portal," Sam admitted and Danny looked at her briefly before going back to examining the mark.
Just what the hell did that mean?
Tim had A Time of it over the next few years. Between Bruce deciding his birthday was the perfect time for him to send Tim into a near mental breakdown, the murder of his dad and subsequent adoption of him by Bruce, losing Bart, losing Kon.
Losing Bruce.
Having the entire superhero community turn against him because Dick convinced them all that he was crazy. And that wasn't even getting into his run in with Jason or being captured by the Joker… his parents coming back from the dead as Black Lanterns to try and kill him too.
Yeah. Tim had a rough few years.
One of the few things that kept him sane through it all was the knowledge that someone out there was looking for him. When he became overwhelmed, he'd absently reach up and rub at the spot on his chest where his mark was. If he was really feeling out of his mind, he'd have to take his shirt off so that he could actually see the mark, confirm that it was still there, that it was still real.
And it never failed him. It was always still there, bright as the day it mysteriously appeared.
He hadn't actually put any real time into looking for his soulmate, though. Unless they had the mark in a very easy to see place, Tim wasn't sure how he'd really look. There were forums, of course, where people could post pictures of their marks in hopes of finding a match, but Tim didn't really have the desire to scour through them nor post a picture of his own mark.
It was too precious, too important to allow it to float around the internet.
So, Tim kept living his life as normal. He was sure that he'd meet his soulmate one day, but he wasn't all that pressed to find them. He had enough on his plate as it was. Just knowing they existed was more than enough for Tim
When Constantine had called the entire Justice League and all their apprentices to the Watchtower at an ungodly hour of the morning for an emergency meeting, Tim wasn't sure what he had been expecting. When it came to Constantine, it could be anything.
The fact that he was babbling about needing to summon the King of Ghosts wasn't as surprising as it should have been.
"I'm not following," Dick cut in abruptly, though judging by some of the looks on the other superhero's faces, he wasn't the only one, "Why do we need to summon a ghost king?"
Constantine huffed at him, "King of Ghosts. Apparently, without our knowledge, a portal to the Infinite Realms was opened and the dead have been crossing into our realm."
"Right," Dick agreed, "And you want to … summon their king to tell him to take them back?"
"Apparently," Zatanna cut in and the room as a whole turned to look at her, "The town where the portal is located has already been affected by the presence of the dead. A lot of the people living there have started taking on… liminal qualities."
"Liminal?" Damian echoed, crossing his arms.
"Yes, they seem to have a much easier time seeing and interacting with the dead. They also seem to have readings similar to those who have had interactions with Lazarus Pits," Zatanna continued and Tim could hear Jason scowl in response to that.
"So… you want him to close the portal," Stephanie said slowly, as though she wasn't entirely sure that was a correct conclusion.
"At the very least," Constantine agreed.
"The last King of Ghosts on record was Pariah Dark," Zatanna spoke up again after a moment, "A well known tyrant that ruled through fear and power."
"From what our contacts say," Constantine took over, "He was defeated by the current King some years ago. The new guy in charge is, apparently, much more reasonable."
"But we don't know much about him beyond that," Zatanna admitted, "So we thought the more of us that are around during the summoning, the safer it will be."
So it was that Tim found himself helping draw a summoning circle in the Watchtower at 3:47am. He wasn't sure how time worked in the Infinite Realms, or if ghosts even needed to sleep, but he was sincerely hoping they didn't get on the King's bad side just because Constantine decided right now was the best possible time to do this.
The entire time they worked on the summoning spell, Constantine explained the Infinite Reams and its denizens to the superheroes. It was where all the dead from every reality resided, meaning that they had creatures from other dimensions the likes of which they'd never seen. He wasn't sure just where the current King was from or what his form was, so they should brace themselves for anything.
Somehow, all of that still didn't prepare Tim for when the King actually appeared.
He looked… young. Probably close to Tim's own age of early 20's. He also looked surprisingly human, aside from the slight glow about him. White hair, green eyes, wearing what looked like a hazmat suit of all things. Tim was still trying to parse what he was seeing when the King turned to look around the room and Tim saw it.
His mark. Tim's mark.
The small, intricate crown was immediately recognizable to him. How many hours had he spent staring at it over the years? And there it was, on the Ghost King's face. Did that make the King from their dimension?
Did this make Tim's soulmate dead?
Tim was so busy reeling from the implications that he took a moment to realize that Constantine was speaking to the King.
" - close the portal."
The King tilted his head a bit, "You want to close the Amity portal?"
"Yes," Constantine agreed, "It's causing harm to our people by being open."
"Harm?" the King echoed, crossing his legs in mid air as though gravity didn't apply to him. Maybe it didn't, "I've never noticed any harm to the people of Amity."
"They're turning liminal," Constantine replied.
There was a short silence before the King hummed quietly, "And you're worried about what that will mean in the long run."
"Yes," Constantine agreed.
And then, to everyone's surprise, the King snorted, "Sorry, it took you, what, ten years to care about this?"
Constantine sputtered a bit, but Bruce stepped in before Constantine could compose himself, "Are you implying that the portal has been open for the last ten years?"
The King turned toward Bruce before doing a double take, "Dude, you're Batman."
Bruce wasn't the only person visibly surprised by that response. Wally snorted from somewhere to Tim's right. The King paused, taking a moment to actually look at the gathered heroes before crossing his arms and looking at the sky like it would somehow save him from this situation. He took a breath before turning back toward Bruce.
"Yes, the portal has been open for ten years."
Multiple people looked over at Constantine at that, who looked more than a little stunned, "How?"
The King looked back at him, "How what?"
"How is it possible that the portal has been open that long?"
The King frowned at him a bit, "I… don't know? It just has? No one has ever closed it?"
Which, Tim had to admit, was a fair response.
"I think," Bruce cut in again, "What Constantine means is, how is it that it's been open so long without our knowledge."
The King raised an eyebrow at Bruce before looking over at Constantine, "You're Constantine? That explains a lot." Constantine sputtered again, but the King continued, "I couldn't tell you why you weren't aware. All I know is that the portal has been open and stable for ten years."
"How did you find out about the portal, Constantine?" Diana asked and Constantine cleared his throat.
"…on accident, actually. There's been an influx of liminal people coming into the big cities. We were able to trace them all back to one place."
The King tilted his head again before snorting, "You just realized a bunch of college students are pinging on your radar for no discernible reason and decided to stalk them?"
Constantine cleared is throat, "All of them come from Amity Park."
"Well, yeah, because they spent their teen years in direct vicinity of a portal that's practically spewing ectoplasm all over the town," the King replied without hesitation.
"Which is why we need to close it," Constantine agreed and the King shrugged.
"You think we haven't tried?"
Constantine faltered. Apparently it had not occurred to him that they would have already tried to close the portal. The King raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed.
"Your Majesty," Diana spoke up and the King looked over at her, "You'll have to forgive us, we were unaware that you had previously tried to close the portal. We were under the assumption that you were the one who opened it."
There was a moment of hesitation before the King shrugged a bit, "I mean, technically… it's a long story. But no, I didn't purposely open it and I have tried to close it in the past but I have not succeeded. The best we've been able to manage is locking it."
"Locking it?" Hal echoed from the other side of the room where Tim couldn't actually see him.
"It uh…" The King sighed a bit, "Human scientists created it. Part of the design of the portal was that it has heavy metal doors that open and close. We managed to get the doors closed, permanently. It keeps the humans out of the Realms at the very least."
Which, Tim had to admit, was a wonderful thing and something that hadn't occurred to him would be a problem until now, "…were they in the Realms before that?"
There was the hesitation again as the King's eyes settled on him. Tim tried not to blush at the intense feeling that came with the attention.
"There were some… incidents…" The King agreed slowly, "There was also a portal in Wisconsin, though that is locked now too."
"What?" Constantine asked in alarm, "There was more than one portal?"
Again, the King snorted, "There was more than one portal in Amity, let alone other places. But, to my knowledge, they've all been locked. It doesn't keep the dead from crossing over, but it does keep the ectoplasm lower and keeps humans in the living realm."
"Would you mind if we were to try and close the portals?" Bruce asked and the King looked over at him again before shrugging.
"You can try, but it isn't actually electricity that's running them. While electricity was required for the initial opening of the portal, the portal seems to be self sustaining now."
It was a concerning thing to hear and Tim finally managed to tear his eyes away from the King (his soulmate) to look at Bruce. Bruce was frowning a bit in response.
"And there's no way to…" he faltered a moment, "Close the portal with… magic?"
"No idea," the King admitted, "Magic isn't my thing."
"Would you be opposed to us sending a team to Amity and trying?" Diana asked and the King shook his head.
"Go for it. If you can actually get the thing to close, more power to you."
"Will you accompany us?" Diana added and the King faltered a bit.
"…I spend a lot of time in Amity, so I'll probably be around when you're there, but I can't promise that I'll be available."
Which, again, Tim couldn't help but feel was fair. He wasn't sure what was involved with being the King of Ghosts, but he doubted it was a very relaxing gig. There was agreement from Diana on that statement before the group offered their goodbyes and Constantine disconnected the summoning circle.
Tim, for his part, was going to get himself onto that Amity team.
"You hate all things magic," Bruce pointed out when Tim asked if he could join the team going to Amity.
Amity, as it turned out, was short for Amity Park, Illinois. Tim had fallen down a rabbit hole, researching the place and digging up anything that he could find about the portal. And about the town hero.
Phantom, as he was referred to, had saved Amity Park multiple times from some pretty big catastrophes. Specifically, when he'd fought the previous King of Ghosts and pulled the entire town out of the Infinite Realms where the previous King had pulled them in an attempt to make himself stronger.
After Phantom defeated him, the Infinite Realms had crowned him King of Ghosts.
The interesting thing, to Tim anyway, was that Phantom had appeared ten years ago, around the same time the portal was likely created. Which, made sense really. If he was a ghost, it made sense that he crossed back into the living realm when the portal was created.
What didn't make any sense to Tim, was that none of the other ghosts that were pictured in any of the news articles had visible soulmarks.
Which, admittedly, could just mean that they had a mark somewhere that wasn't obvious, or they were from a dimension that didn't have soulmarks. But Tim wasn't the only person to notice Phantom's soulmark. There had been a new article about it some years back where the reporter had asked if Phantom had been a human before he died.
Phantom had laughed and replied that he hadn't gotten the soulmark until he died, so he wasn't sure what it was or what it meant.
The reporter had laughed along with him before letting him go, but Tim had been left reeling. Phantom got the soulmark after he died. He appeared ten years ago. Ten years ago was when Tim's soulmark had appeared.
What a strange coincidence. Too bad Bats didn't believe in such things.
"Technically this is partially science," Tim disagreed, ignoring Bruce's pointed look at that response, "And I have my own theories that I'd like to investigate."
Bruce raised an eyebrow in response to that, but Tim didn't divulge further. It didn't matter if Bruce put him on the team or not, he was going to Amity Park and he was speaking to Phantom.
"You know, you'd think they'd have makeup that actually did a good job of covering up soulmarks by now," Danny complained as he looking into the mirror.
A makeup sponge was in his hand with foundation layered on it. Unfortunately for him, it didn't seem to actually be doing a good job of hiding the soulmark on his face.
"Most people don't try to hide them, Danny," Jazz's voice floated up from the speaker on his phone from where it was sitting on the bathroom sink.
Danny gave a huff in response before leaning forward and patting more foundation onto his mark, "Yeah, well, most people don't have two identities either."
Danny was panicking, if he was being honest. The last thing he had expected was for the Justice League to summon him about the portal in Amity. It had been so long that he just assumed that they were cool with it. Turned out that they just hadn't known that it existed.
"You could just make sure to be Phantom the entire time they're in Amity," Jazz offered and Danny gave a sigh.
He had considered that, but the problem was that it made it hard to live his normal life. Like going to class. Or work. Or, worse, running into his parents. How his parents hadn't noticed that Phantom and their son had the same soulmark was still beyond him. Ignorance was bliss and all that. It was bad enough that most of Amity thought he and Phantom having matching marks meant that they were soulmates. He could still hear Paulina's dramatic sobbing over how heartbreaking it must have been to learn his soulmate was dead.
He could also recall how hard Sam had laughed in response.
"I don't know when they're coming," Danny admitted, "Could be today, could be 3 months from now. They didn't exactly set an appointment and I can't just… be Phantom all the time."
Jazz gave a quiet hum, "So what are you going to do if they meet Danny?"
"I have no idea," Danny admitted, "Just tell them that Phantom is my soulmate and I don't want to talk about it?"
"Good luck with that."
"Supportive as always, Jazz."
Jazz giggled a bit in response, "Well, keep me updated. I can't believe that the Justice League is going to be in Amity and I'm not there to see it."
"Yeah, I'll talk to you later."
Danny reached over and disconnected the call before looking back in the mirror. His mark still stood out under the foundation. Danny put his head in his hands with a groan.
Amity Park wasn't what Tim expected it to be. It seemed like the pretty run of the mill town, not big like Gotham, but also not small like, well Smallville. Currently the team that the Justice League had sent were in their civvies, trying to get a feel for the town and possibly gather information about just on the portal, but also on Phantom.
Considering the entire reason Constantine had stumbled across this place was because of the influx of college students to other cities, there were still a surprising amount of teenagers and people who appeared to be in their 20's. Though, Tim supposed, it was summer break so they could have just been home between semesters.
Overall, the town was… alarmingly normal. Everyone acted like normal people as they went about their days, and other than the fact that the town try to use the fact that it was haunted as a tourist draw, there wasn't really anything unusual about the place.
On the surface, anyway.
Tim had wandered off from his group a bit, looking over a local park that was full of kids playing with… a green dog? Tim had heard of people dying their pets' fur various colors and god knows that he'd seen weirder in Gotham, but something about the dog caught his attention.
He moved closer to the children and the dog, noticing an older man was with them and seemed to be supervising the interaction. Tim understood why when mere moments later, the small green dog grew to the size of a wolf to jump up and catch the ball the children had thrown.
"Cujo," the man said, sounding exasperated, "We've talked about this."
The dog, Cujo, whined a bit before changing back into the puppy he had originally been. He looked at the man, who nodded, before wagging his tail and returning the ball to the children.
Well, that certainly counted as strange in Tim's book.
Tim approached the group, keeping an eye on the dog and whether or not he was going to suddenly change sizes again. He seemed to be behaving now that he'd been scolded, much to Tim's amusement.
Tim came up next to the dark haired man who had done the scolding, opening his mouth to say something, but the words died in his throat as the man looked at him.
It wasn't Phantom. For one thing, this guy was very much alive and he had black hair and blue eyes, unlike Phantom.
But somehow, he had the exact same mark as Phantom, in the exact same place.
"Alright there?" The man asked, tilting his head a bit.
Tim faltered again and in that time, Hal of all people came up next to him, "Interesting mark you have there."
The man turned to look at Hal, raising an eyebrow at him, "What's it matter to you?"
Hal gave a careless shrug, even as Kon and Wally joined their group, "Just looks a lot like one I've seen before."
"Oh?" The man asked casually, though his eyes had narrowed a bit in suspicion, "Where?"
"Looks like the one Phantom has," Kon commented casually, "At least, from the pictures I've seen online of him."
The man relaxed, letting out a snort, "Oh yeah, I know. I hear it all the time."
"Does that make Phantom your soulmate?" Wally asked, tilting his head.
"Guess so," the man replied with a careless shrug, "But he's dead so I mean…"
Tim tilted his head. He was lying. He was very good at it, but Tim knew that he was lying. He only knew that, of course, because Tim had the mark that matched Phantom's. What the hell did all of this mean?
"And you've… never met anyone else with the mark?" Tim asked quietly and Kon glanced over at him. Kon was aware of Tim having gained a mark when he was fourteen, but Tim had never shared what the mark was with anyone.
Something he was grateful for in this moment.
The man shook his head, "Well, no, but I've also never left Amity so who knows?"
Tim bit his tongue. He needed to research this man and find him to talk to him on his own. Without Hal and Wally hovering. He might have asked if it was just Kon there, but even that he wasn't entirely sure of.
"So uh, your dog…" Kon asked, changing the subject.
The guy immediately lit up and gestured toward the dog in question, "Cujo. He's a ghost dog. Was in training to be a guard dog and they decided to put him down for some reason. Which means that he still acts like a puppy. A lot. Listening skills are subpar at best. But he loves playing with the kids and it makes him a better listener so…"
Tim frowned a bit, wondering just how this man knew that much background on a dead dog. Could the dog speak? Did another ghost understand what the dog was saying and explain it? And why would they tell this random guy of all people?
Kon looked over at the guy, clearly thinking along the same lines, "Does everyone in this town talk to the ghosts?"
The guy faltered a bit, "Not… really. Most people just try to avoid them. Stay out of the way until Phantom shows up to take them back to their realm."
"But you're not most people," Wally guessed and the guy shrugged.
"Long story. But yeah, I'm not most people. I've spent the last ten years living with ghosts in my town and I've seen how they work. It's not complicated if you watch and listen to them"
Hal paused a moment before reaching out a hand to the man, "Sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Hal, that's Conner, Wally, and Tim."
"Danny," the guy replied easily, taking Hal's hand, "Nice to meet you."
The conference room that the team had borrowed at the hotel they were staying in was quickly filling up as the team returned from their various scouting missions.
Not that Tim was really paying much attention to that. He was, in fact, immersed in his own research project on his laptop. Specifically, he was going through Amity Park public records to figure out just who Danny was.
It wasn't all that hard to track him down; Daniel Fenton was a pretty well known name in the town, partially because of his crazy scientist parents and overachieving older sister, and partially because he had somehow made a scientific discovery about the endangered purple back gorilla when he was fourteen.
Tim had actually gotten sidetracked by that story for a moment out of pure disbelief.
Getting himself back on track, he fell down a bit of a rabbit hole when he found Fenton Works, the company that Danny's parents' owned. They were scientists and inventors who created weapons used to capture ghosts.
It was more than a little strange to Tim that the King of Ghost spent a lot of time in a place where one of the companies specifically designed things to harm him.
" - from what we can tell, the readings on the portal are coming from a suburb," Constantine was saying as he walked in.
Tim didn't look up from his computer, though his fingers did pause for a moment. His eyes slid over to the Fenton Works address and he was quick to grab it and throw it into a map program to get a better idea of just where it was.
"Suburb?" Kon echoed, looking at Constantine like he was crazy, "Like the portal is at someone's house?"
Tim got a sinking feeling as he scrolled in on the map. He really didn't believe in coincidences. It was just so unlikely that a local happened to have parents who happened to have a job involved with ghosts, and the guy also just happened to have the same soulmark as Phantom?
Tim was calling bullshit.
"I think I know where we should look," Tim admitted after a moment and looked up to see the entire room was looking at him.
Wally offered him a grin, "Oh yeah? Stealing the boy wonder title right out from under Dick?"
Tim cleared his throat, "There's a company in town called Fenton Works that creates technology specifically to deal with ghosts."
"Well shit, that's probably the best place for us to start," Constantine agreed, "You got an address?"
Tim wasn't sure what it was they were going to find at Fenton Works, but he hadn't been prepared for it. From the monstrosity balanced precariously on top of the building to the neon flashing sign, Tim was fairly certain that being this close to the building was a health risk.
Constantine confirmed as much as he took a breath, "The portal is right here somewhere. It's so damn strong that I can barely control my breathing."
It was moments like this that Tim was glad that he wasn't sensitive to magic things. His own heart rate was already tripping over itself at the thought of trying to confront Danny. Not that he had mentioned that to any one else on the team. No, he was going to keep it between himself and Danny until he understood just what was going on.
Constantine sighed a bit before heading up the short set of stairs and knocking on the door. Tim wasn't entirely surprised when Danny himself answered it.
"…Hi?" Danny said, sounding a bit uncertain as he looked from Constantine to Tim.
Tim had to admit, he was a pretty good actor to not show that he recognized Constantine. Or maybe Tim was reading to far into this and he actually didn't recognize Constantine.
"We're looking for the Doctors Fenton," Constantine replied and Danny nodded a bit, gesturing them inside.
"They're down in the lab," Danny said and began leading them into the kitchen.
Tim tilted his head a bit, confused, but then he saw the giant metal door on the other side of the kitchen that was clearly not standard with the house. He raised an eyebrow as Danny pulled it open to reveal a set of stairs and gestured for them to go ahead.
"I'll be right down, Constantine," Tim said, not taking his eyes off of Danny.
Constantine was more than used to the Bats at this point and didn't question it, making his way into the lab. Danny blinked and looked at Tim.
"You need something?"
Tim hesitated a moment. There were plenty of ways to go about this and he'd already planned out most of them in his head, but in the moment, he couldn't remember any of them. Instead is just reached up and grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it down to expose his own mark.
Danny inhaled sharply at the sight of it before looking back at Tim in alarm. Tim wasn't sure what was going through his head, but he knew panic when he saw it.
"No one knows," Tim said quietly, "But I have a hunch."
"Listen," Danny said quietly as he gently shut the door to the lab, no doubt as to not draw his parents' attention, "I don't know how you got that mark, but there must be - "
"It appeared ten years ago," Tim cut in and Danny's eyes widened, "I didn't have a mark before then."
Tim wasn't sure that Danny was still breathing from how still he went. He could see the gears working in Danny's brain, trying desperately to come up with an explanation that Danny didn't have. There was one obvious answer, as far as Tim was concerned.
"You are Phantom, and we're soulmates."
If someone had asked Danny how he got here, he wasn't sure he'd be able to explain. As it was, he was standing in the middle of his parents' kitchen talking to a guy that he'd ran into earlier that day and he was claiming that not only was Danny his soulmate, but that Danny was Phantom.
He was relatively certain that the guy was Tim. They'd been introduced earlier, but Danny hadn't paid super close attention to which name belonged to which person.
He was also pretty sure he was having the beginning of a panic attack.
No one had connected him to Phantom in years. It was old news, as far as the people of Amity were concerned, and outsiders rarely paid enough attention to Danny to notice he had the same mark as Phantom.
Then again, most outsiders didn't have the matching mark.
They couldn't discuss this here. Not when his parents could come back upstairs and find out. Not when the Justice League was literally downstairs looking at the portal.
Wait.
Tim had come with Constantine, who Danny knew without a doubt was part of the Justice League. Did that make Tim Justice League too??
"…We need to talk," Danny breathed, feeling like it was the first air he'd taken in minutes. That might have been true if he was being honest.
Tim gave a nod, "Where?"
It was a good question. Danny hesitated a moment before gesturing for Tim to follow him. The two headed out of Fenton Works and Danny lead Tim down a bunch of side streets and alleyways that were pretending they were streets until they reached the park he'd been at earlier in the day.
He didn't pause or hesitate, though, as he made his way across the field where Cujo liked to play with the local kids toward the trees that lined the outside of the park.
He ducked into the shade of the trees, pausing to make sure that Tim was keeping up, before leading him down a deer trail that lead to a river. Tim didn't say a word the entire time, keeping pace with ease.
A glance around the beach before them assured Danny that they were the only ones there. He took a breath, turning to look at Tim again.
"…It was Tim, right?"
Tim offered a slight smile before nodding, "Yeah. Tim. So now that we're in the middle of nowhere and no one knows we're here, which totally doesn't give off serial killer vibes or anything by the way, where did you want to start?"
Danny blushed a bit at the serial killer comment, "If you're here with Constantine, I'm pretty sure you're more than capable of taking care of yourself. Also, not a serial killer so…"
Tim snorted a bit in response, "Thanks for the clarification."
"…So are you Justice League then?" Danny asked, hesitantly.
Tim gave a quiet hum, "Not technically, no, but I do know them and help out time to time."
"…And Wally, Conner, Hal? All Justice League too?"
"Wally and Hal are," Tim agreed, "Kon is in the same boat as me."
"I really expected the League to show up in uniform," Danny admitted.
Tim gave a small shrug, "Yeah, well, we expected the Ghost King to be a ghost, not a guy who lives with ghost hunters."
Danny supposed that was a valid point. He hugged himself a bit before looking at Tim again, "How did you figure it out?"
"Mostly from the mark," Tim admitted, "Saying that you were Phantom's soulmate was a good cover, but since I have the actual matching mark…"
Right, it probably was pretty easy for Tim to see though that lie when he had the truth on his literal skin. Danny blew out a breath.
"So what does this mean?"
Tim hesitated a moment before giving a small shrug, "I didn't… get that far yet. Obviously you know who I am so - "
"What?" Danny cut in, looking confused.
Tim paused, looking at Danny, "…Do you not know who I am?"
"…Should I?" Danny countered and, for some reason, that made Tim laugh.
It took Tim a moment to compose himself before he looked back at Danny, unable to keep the smile off his face, "Tim Drake-Wayne."
As soon as he said it, Danny realized it. Tucker had obsessed over Timothy Drake-Wayne since they were teenagers. Going on about what a genius he was and how lucky Wayne Enterprises was to have snatched him up.
It was Danny's turn to laugh.
Tim tilted his head, clearly not understanding just what it was that Danny found so funny. Danny held up a hand, a silent request to give him a moment while he composed himself. Once he had, he looked back at Tim, unable to stop his own smile.
"My uh, best friend works for you."
Tim blinked in surprise, "What department?"
"Application development, his name is Tucker Foley."
Danny hadn't actually expected Tim to know who Tucker was, so he was surprised when Tim nodded a bit in response.
"He's new but he's good. Very skilled in the strangest ways," at this, Tim gave him a side eye and Danny offered a small shrug.
"He acted as my guy in the chair until he left town," he admitted, though he was pretty sure that Tim had already surmised as much.
"Good to know," Tim murmured to himself before looking back at Danny, "Are you able to leave this town or does being… whatever Phantom is keep you here?"
Danny gave a hum before shaking his head, "Halfa is the word you're looking for. Half human, half ghost, don't ask, I have no idea how that works. I can leave if I want to… I just haven't been thrilled at the thought of leaving the portal unprotected for an extended period of time."
Danny would be thrilled to get out of Amity, if he was being honest with himself. Tucker was in Gotham but Jazz was on the West Coast and Sam was somewhere in Brazil last time he checked. He was more than ready to get out from under the shadow of his parents and actually get to live his life.
"Makes sense," Tim admitted, "Well, we're here to help however we can. I won't mention to anyone that you're Phantom if you're not comfortable with it, but be warned that the other Bats will likely piece it together on their own."
Danny winced a bit in response, running a hand through his hair, "…that's alright. Clearly you all know each other on a civilian level too. I guess I can just… add myself to the backup roster or however that works."
Tim offered him a smile, "Technically I'm part of Young Justice. We're the sidekicks of the Justice League heroes."
Danny wrinkled his nose a bit in response, "Never been a sidekick before. I've been solo for ten years and most of that has been spent as the King of another dimension."
Tim hummed again, "How good are you at taking orders?"
"Terrible."
"You'll fit right in."
"So, no one knows, right?" Danny asked as he looked at Tim.
Tim gave a nod in agreement, "I haven't said anything to them."
The two were walking across the driveway of Wayne Manor toward the stairs that lead to the front door. Officially, Danny was finally meeting his soulmate's family after moving to Gotham the week before.
Unofficially, Danny had been in Gotham for months. He just split his time between Gotham and Amity, dealing with the last of the logistics when it came to the portals closing and what that meant for his people in the Infinite Realms. He also had, technically, met most of Tim's family. As Phantom. This would be their first meeting with everyone as a civilian.
Tim, it seemed, found it very funny to not tell his family that he had found his soulmate. As far as the family knew, tonight was just a normal family dinner because Tim's schedule had been so hectic recently while he was also going back and forth between Gotham and Amity.
Danny was pretty amused himself, but he wasn't sure how Tim had managed to keep it from his family for so long. He had cracked under the pressure the second Jazz had given him a knowing look when she asked what he was so happy about. Tucker had laughed at him for a good five minutes afterwards, until Danny dropped the name of his soulmate. Tucker didn't find it nearly as funny as Danny did that his best friend was now dating his boss.
Tim didn't bother knocking when they reached the door, pulling out his key and letting them in. Danny paused and looked around the entryway, holding back a whistle. He didn't want to alert the others that there was an extra person attending dinner, though Tim had let Alfred in on the surprise.
"As far as rich fruit loop places go, this isn't so bad."
Tim gave him an odd look at that comment, "Rich fruit loop?"
"Remind me to tell you about the Mayor of Amity," Danny offered in response as he pulled his jacket off and hung it on the coat rack next to the door.
Tim raised an eyebrow, but didn't question further as he lead Danny into the house. Danny couldn't help but think that the Waynes had much better style than Vlad. They also didn't have a secret portal in their basement, nor were they secretly super villains so there were a lot of points toward the Waynes in this comparison if he was being honest.
Tim paused outside a door that Danny assumed lead into the dining room. He could hear the murmur of voices coming from behind the door and Tim offered him a smile before pushing the door open.
Now, Danny had done his research over the last few months. He didn't want to embarrass himself again like he had with not recognizing Tim. As such, he was able to identify most of the people sitting at the table, but he was still a little stumped on a couple of them. Tim didn't seem surprised by their presence, though, so Danny assumed they were also part of the family.
"Ti - " Dick Grayson started, only to pause when he caught sight of Danny, "…who's your friend?"
Danny offered a wave in response and he could see when Bruce Wayne clocked who he was. The way he slowly tilted his head before his eyes shifted to Tim and narrowed in suspicion.
Tim was right, this was fun.
Danny lightly coughed into his hand to fight off the laugh that was threatening to make its way out of his mouth and Tim offered his family a smile, "This is Danny. My soulmate."
Dick dropped the fork he was holding and it clattered loudly against his plate. A blonde girl that Danny couldn't place let out a scream and jumped to her feet before running over and pulling Tim into a hug. Before Danny could even consider what he was going to do next, someone cleared their throat behind him.
Danny turned to see the only family member he had officially met. Alfred offered him a smile before turning his attention to the rest of the room, "Some sense of decorum, if you would?"
The blonde pulled away from Tim with a "Sorry Alfred" before she made her way back to her seat. Alfred smiled a bit before looking at Danny again.
"Nice of you to join us, Master Danny. Please, have a seat."
"Sure thing, thanks Alfred," Danny agreed without missing a beat and headed toward one of the two still open seats.
Tim didn't miss a beat, taking a seat next to Danny before looking at Bruce and raising an eyebrow in silent challenge. Danny honestly wasn't sure where Tim got the gumption, but he certainly wasn't going to discourage it. This was Tim's family after all, if he wanted to mess with them then that was his choice.
"Have we met?"
Danny looked up at the voice to see Jason Todd sitting across from him. Tim had filled Danny in on the whole Jason-came-back-to-life thing, but even if he hadn't, Danny could sense it. The white streak in his hair was also a pretty good indicator. Danny would know.
"Have we?" Danny asked in response, giving no indication one way or another.
Jason's eyes narrowed a bit in response and he looked over at a red headed woman that Danny also couldn't place. She smiled a knowing smile that had Jason scoffing before looking at Tim.
"You told Alfie and Babs but not the rest of us?"
"I didn't tell Babs anything," Tim corrected, "And I had to inform Alfred that I was bringing an extra for dinner."
It was perfectly reasonable. Danny could tell that Jason hated that answer.
"We do know you," Damian cut in and Danny turned his attention to him. Damian had is arms crossed, brow furrowed, clearly trying to place Danny's face.
"Phantom."
Danny turned to his right to look at who he assumed was Cassandra Wayne. Tim had mentioned that some days words were hard for her so she didn't always speak much and to not take offense to it. It seemed that she managed the most important word today.
"You're kidding," Dick exclaimed and Danny realized it was the first thing he'd spoken since Tim dropped the bomb of who Danny was, "How is the King of Ghosts human?"
Bruce cleared his throat, adjusting the napkin in his lap, "It's something we discussed with Constantine."
"What?" Dick turned his attention to Bruce.
"Constantine thought it was … odd for a ghost to have a soulmark. He'd never seen it before. It was assumed that when someone dies, they lose the mark." Here Bruce looked at Danny, "So it was speculated that Phantom might not be a ghost."
Danny made a so-so motion with his hand, "It's more complicated then that, but yeah. I'm not fully dead."
"Fully?" the blonde girl echoed, looking confused, "How is someone only part dead?"
Danny jerked a thumb in Jason's direction, "He's only part dead but you seem to understand that just fine."
Eyes shifted to Jason who looked visibly offended at being referred to as 'part dead'. Tim snorted.
"Tiiiiim," the blonde girl whined, "Stop being a jerk for once and just explain."
"I don't have anything to explain," Tim countered, "I told you all you need to know."
Cassandra giggled into her hand and Damian frowned at Danny, "Does this make you some sort of immortal?"
"Eh," Danny said with a small shrug, "That's debatable. Clockwork thinks I have the makings of turning into an Ancient eventually but that's a future me problem."
Strangely, Damian didn't look like he liked that answer. Danny offered him a grin in response.
"So how long are you going to mess with us?" the red head asked.
Danny gave another shrug, "At least until you tell me who you are."
She opened her mouth a bit before smiling, "Barbara Gordon."
"Stephanie Brown! Tim better have told you about me or I swear - "
"Chill, Steph," Tim cut in, "Danny knows who you all are."
"I think we've all technically met," Danny agreed.
Bruce looked from Tim to Danny before giving a long sigh, "So how long have you two known you're soulmates?"
Tim gave a casual shrug, "Been about six months now."
The explosion of voices, mostly from Dick and Steph from what Danny could parse, was totally worth not saying anything before now.