Chapter Text
He stares at the swirling vortex of light and dark green in front of him, sitting inside of a deep laceration in the very fabric of the Ghost Zone, of the Infinite Realms. It beckons to him.
He does not know where it leads. He only knows that, while summoning this portal, he consciously willed it to a place that would be safest for him. Hopefully, a place with ambient ectoplasm, but somewhere sheltered. Somewhere where he could lay low, and completely- metaphorically- disappear.
He can see his own reflection in the portal, although he is not sure how. He places a scarred hand on his hastily bandaged chest, tracing along the green bloodstains from a y-shaped incision.
The bandages were rough and uneven, a bit too tight. He had rushed to bandage them himself, a difficult feat, after haphazardly stapling himself closed. He didn’t have the time to be careful or meticulous. He would pay for this in the long run, he knew, but what could he do?
The worst had already happened. All he could do now was everything in his power to make sure it did not happen again. And if he couldn’t stop it, he would at least lower the chances as much as he possibly could.
His friends and sister believe he is dead. As much as it pained him to say, it would remain that way. Nobody could know where he was, where he would end up.
His parents- he did not know. He did not want to know. He’d made sure the portal in their basement was destroyed, but he’d done it from inside the ghost zone. He could not go back to his old house, to Amity. He could not take any risks.
The Ghost Investigation Ward had gotten him once. They could not do it again.
Cold metal table, bright lights, sharp scalpel. White suits, green blood, shrill screams.
He stared at his reflection in the portal. His reflection stared back; a frail-looking boy with tangled white hair, tired eyes, and sunken cheeks. He was clutching a white NASA hoodie, vials of ectoplasm in the front pocket, the only thing he had grabbed to take with him.
He heaved out a sigh, breath fogging up into a green mist.
He had already finished his preparations. This was the last step in his plan. All he had to do was step inside the portal.
And so he did, leaving everything he had ever known behind, to be nothing more than a memory, to hopefully fade away like a bitter taste, like a bad dream.
-
The portal was less than gentle with the way it spit him out, like rotten food or curdled milk, with him landing roughly onto cold concrete in a heap of tired and sore limbs.
Danny groaned, lying still with his eyes closed, feeling the sting of scrapes on his palms and elbows. He had been forcibly detransformed, the travel having taken what little energy he had left from initially making the portal, which was not a lot.
It turns out making portals took quite a bit, especially after just fighting tooth and nail to escape from a government controlled containment facility dead set on experimenting on him.
As he flickered his eyelids open, breathing in and out unsteadily, the portal fizzled and dissipated behind him. His chest wound hurt from the rough landing, and while waiting for the pain to subside, he turns over slightly to get a better look at his surroundings.
He’s in an alleyway of some sorts, lying next to a foul-smelling dumpster plastered in a few peeling and scratched stickers. There is a stray trash bag a few feet away from his head, and he watches a rat scurry past his face.
He rolls himself over again, wincing at the pain of his injuries, towards the entrance of the alley. It’s night, judging by the darkness and the lit streetlamps in the distance. And he is in a city, based on the tall buildings in the distance.
He struggles a bit to sit up, but manages, scooting further into the darkness and leaning back against the wall. He is a bit dizzy, so while he waits for it to wear off, he slips on the hoodie with only some difficulty, and tries to figure out where to go from here.
He has to leave the alleyway. He can’t just sleep here, as it was both unsanitary and dangerous. From there, the most logical thing to do would be to figure out where he is.
He doesn’t have a phone, or any other sort of technology, so he can’t look anything up. It was too risky. He couldn’t take anything that could possibly help the GIW- or his parents- track him.
Even the vials of Ectoplasm were risky, but he needed them to survive, so he really didn’t have a choice in that matter.
With a strained grunt, Danny pushes himself to his feet, wobbling a bit from the effort.
He contemplates using the ectoplasm now, but ultimately decides against it. It needed to last until he could eventually find more.
He creeps up to the edge of the alleyway, looking cautiously around at his surroundings, and slips out.
The air is somewhat unpleasant, heavy with smog, but he can feel a hint of ambient ectoplasm mixed in, which both satisfies and relieves him. Good, at least the portal had gotten him somewhere with ecto in the atmosphere, like he’d hoped it would.
It’s quiet, save for the buzz of the street lamps and the occasional honk of a car. It’s definitely late at night, judging by the light traffic. Most of the cars on the road are parked in front of what Danny assumes are apartment buildings.
The architecture has a prominent gothic theme, he notes, with a quiet hum. Sam would like this place.
The thought of his friends and sister crosses his mind, and he frowns. He’s going to miss them. But he has to stay away. For his safety, and for their own. For the safety of the entire town of Amity Park, and everyone in the Ghost Zone.
Nobody deserves to get hurt because of him, and the GIW was out for blood. His blood.
So he shakes off the thought, and begins to wander around.
He passes several buildings and street signs, but none really give him a clue to his surroundings, until he reaches a library.
Pausing, he glances at the sign, eyes flickering across the words.
Gotham City Public library.
The name sounded familiar. He’d heard of this place before, it was infamous for something, but what was it exactly?
Realization hits him like a truck, and Danny physically facepalms. Of course. Not only is he in New fucking Jersey, of all places, he’s in Gotham. Seriously. The portal had to toss him out in New Jersey, in a place with some of the most famous Vigilantes in the States and a member of the Justice League.
Oh yeah. And the clinically insane psychopathic clown. That too.
Mentally, Danny adds to the list of things he needs to avoid.
His parents, Vlad, the GIW, CPS, Vigilantes, and an evil murderous clown. Great. Just lovely.
Danny leaves the library behind. He’ll go back later, in the morning, to do some more research on the city- maybe look at some history books or something- but for now he needed to find a place to rest.
He walks down the street, hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie. His eyes flicker as he takes in the sights around him.
He’s never been to a city before. It’s a lot to take in, a lot that he isn’t used to. But in a large place like this, it should be easy enough to blend in. To just become another person in a larger crowd.
Keep his head down, merge into the background, into the crowds, and the GIW won’t find him for a while, if they even end up doing so. With Danny’s shit luck, they would eventually, but as long as he lays low, he’d have some time.