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Chapter Text

       Tim Drake had a caffeine problem. He knew that, he just didn’t address it… and didn’t agree when anyone else brought it up. Especially if it was one of his siblings. He’d rather drink his ten cups of coffee while researching his latest case, nodding at the problem in acknowledgement, then going back to work. 

       Between Red Robin cases, patrol, and Wayne Enterprises, Tim was just busy! Coffee gave him the jump he needed to do everything in an efficient and timely manner. 

       There weren’t even any bad side effects. Sure, normally around the end of the third day with no sleep he started seeing things. Seeing things that weren’t there. But generally by then Alfred was already dragging him upstairs, Agent A seemed to have an internal clock for when the time had come for Tim to go to sleep. He was magic like that. Hallucinations weren’t hurting Tim, that’s all they were, things that weren’t there. 

        However, as Tim drained his 10th, 11th(?) cup for the evening, he could have sworn a mass of darkness walked past him, sending his heart beat racing.

        Startled into setting his coffee down, Tim stood up and looked around him. The monitor kept much of the natural darkness of the cave away, the lights illuminating the paths doing the same thing as they wound around the cave, display cases showing off the trophies of some of vigilantes’ biggest wins. But there wasn’t another living soul here, no one else was in the cave. 

        A quick look at the monitor confirmed this, all bats and birds were either asleep or deep in the heart of Gotham. No one’s comms were in the cave with him. If Cass wasn’t on a completely different continent, he would think it was her, she disappeared into the darkness better than any of them. 

      No proximity alarms had been tripped, the tunnels leading outside hadn’t been used since the last patrol left hours before, the time stamp on the elevator was when Tim snuck upstairs for another cup of coffee. 

       “Hello?” Tim whispered into the darkness. There was no answer, just the humming of the computers, the occasional screech of a bat overhead (an actual bat, the mammal, although there was that one time Dick tried to communicate with them), and his own breathing. 

      No response. 

      It was only his second night with no sleep, was he already seeing things? Glancing at his abandoned coffee cup, Tim sighed and shook his head in frustration. If Alfred had been down here when Tim managed to scare himself, he would have already been dragged upstairs. 

      Perhaps it was time to turn in. He didn’t need to be sent to bed in front of the demon spawn in a few hours when Alfred found him still sitting in front of the monitor. Better to save his pride for another day. 

      With one last look around the cave, Tim picked his mug up, and headed for the elevator, cursing out the need for sleep. 

      The moment the elevator doors shut, the shadows swirled into each other, and a figure formed out of the abyss. It was darker than black, it was the absence of color, of light, of life. 

      She watched as her Smart Knight left the nest to return to his bed, leaving her in the safest place in Gotham. This was the place of the Knights, her brave protectors, surely they could protect one more. 

     Cradled in her inky claws was an icy-blue orb. It pulsed occasionally, emitting a soft chill into the air. 

     “ My King. You will be safe here.” She didn’t quite speak, it was more of a hum, sent into the world between frequencies that humans couldn’t quite hear. 

      The King was still too weak to respond, but through touch she could hear the echo of ‘safe’ . It sang through her core, settling her own obsession: to protect those within her domain, to ensure the continuation of Gotham. She was honored to have her King in her domain, and would do all she could to protect his core while he was weak. He was now part of her haunt, one more soul to protect. 

       Silently, she glided over to one of the many display cases. Inside were troves of objects, between umbrellas, cards, rocks, swords, a coin, even a replica of a dinosaur, Lady Gotham was sure no one would notice the addition of one more strange object. 

       This was the section of items from those who terrorized her home, not many of her knights came over here. Instead they would occasionally look over their armor and insignias across the cave, but not here. Surely her King could recuperate in these glass tombs, and when he was ready, he could leave. The Knights protected their nest, not many had ever ventured inside.

       Surely, no one would come looking for King Phantom here. 

      Lady Gotham walked to the pedestal that held jewels, statue busts, and a couple Atlantean coins. Some had a mystical aura, others just shined prettily, but none were dangerous on their own. The blue core would fit right in. 

       Carefully, she moved another precious stone off the small support it had, placing it among the coins, and instead replaced it with Phantom’s core. 

       “You will be safe here, my King. The Knights will protect you, as they protect me. They are heroes, like you.” Lady Gotham, the embodiment of the dark city, had heard countless tales of King Phantom’s triumphs over human and ghost, of how he protected all. He was the definition of hero. Sometimes heroes just needed help sometimes. 

        ‘Heroes?’ The word brushed against her core, an echo, not yet powerful enough for his own words. 

        “Humans. Mortals. They help everyone within my haunt. They are mine, and they will protect you.”   Lady Gotham stood over the ghostly core as the chill of it began to spread out. He was powerful, and would be again, this was a safe place. There were no ghost hunters here to repeat what had happened. The King of the Infinite Realms would recover. 

      He had to. 

       ‘Protect.’ Was his final echo as the sun began to rise on Gotham City. The darkness receded, pulling Lady Gotham with it, and she gave one last caress to the ice core before returning to the heart of the city. 

        “Protect the heroes.” An eerie voice whispered, the words bouncing off the walls of the Batcave, a neon green flashing over the core for just a second.

Chapter Text

Something felt off in Crime Alley. 

       Actually, something had felt off all week, but now it was coming to a head. The tension in Jason’s body was crescendoing, there was a ringing in his ears as the pit madness simmered on medium-high, and he didn’t have any one reason to point to why.  

       Sure, there was always some lingering in the peripheral of his headspace. And when it raged he could usually find someone to blame: a rise in human trafficking, a particularly rough patrol, rouges breaking out of Arkham. But he didn’t have any of those excuses. The fuckers somehow managed to stay in for now. 

        It felt like all of Gotham was holding its breath. And he had no fucking idea why. Usually when it was like this, it would be right after someone broke out, or after a long hiatus from the perpetual disasters that found their way to the streets. 

        But here Jason was, a week into this period, and nothing. Absolutely nothing. The anticipation was killing him. Or killing him again? 

       And strangely, the crime rate had dropped during this week too. Even the criminals could feel something. Nothing much more serious than a couple drug deals, a stolen car, and purse snatching happened.

        He knew by the quiet chatter of Bruce’s swarm that they could feel it too. He had turned his comm on the last few nights, in case whatever this was finally just happened. Being out of the loop for disasters never sat right with Jason, and after everything , the comfort (he’d never call it a comfort to the others) of having others on the other end of a call, to help if he ever was cornered again… it was a safety net. As much as he loathed to admit. 

        And he definitely would not admit. 

        But the quiet side notes from Barbara, a laugh or joke from Stephanie, even the dry remarks from the demon child occasionally could distract Jason from the neon green creeping into his mind. He never talked on comms, but he was there. And the others knew it. 

        And so he waited. Impatiently of course, but he waited for something to happen.

       It was as he returned to his apartment that something happened. That tension in the air snapped, the buzzing in his mind grew to a full blown shriek, he fell to his knees, slamming the door shut behind him. 

        Jason couldn’t hear it anyways. No, all he could hear were the pained shrieks, something inside him was hurting, whatever this was, whatever the pit was, it was in pain, and it felt like he was dying all over again. 

       Covering his ears, Jason tensed up, trying to block it out, but it was encompassing, every single muscle, every single molecule.

       And as soon as it began, it all stopped. Laying there, in a puddle of his own sweat, Jason looked up at the ceiling, but didn’t truly see. 

       What he did see, he couldn’t understand. All he could see was blue, a vibrant blue color, battling out the green. And inside that blue was somehow warmth and familiarity, it whispered words Jason didn’t understand, it sounded loving almost. 

       “Hello?” Speaking to the void, Jason wasn’t actually sure what he was going to get back. But he couldn’t stay in this blue void. 

       “He needs your protection.” Jason could hear the words echo throughout his own body. “He is fragile.”

       “Who?” Looking around, there was nothing, nothing other than green and blue. 

        “Your King.” The voice responded, and with a push, Jason sat up, startled and thinking he was going fucking insane as he looked around his little apartment. 

         “What the fuck.” He mumbled under his breath. 

******

       For someone who did not don the mask and cape, Alfred spent a lot of time in the Batcave. Over the years, Alfred had spent what probably added up to months if not years within the cave. Between fixing up wounds, bringing meals down to stubborn children (Bruce included), and actual cleaning, Alfred counted the cave as just another daily task of his. 

        And, it is because of this constant in his life, that Alfred is the first to notice that there is some sort of draft within the cave, and he noticed pretty quickly too. 

        It’s almost chilly. It reminded him of when he would wake for the earliest flights in the summer back in his Air Force days. The brisk fresh air would hit you in a quick burst when walking onto the tarmac before it was quelled by the heat of the summer. 

        Those days, his training that one particular summer was some of the best times he had before he left the Air Force completely. Before the deaths in the field got to him. Before he realized he could not patch up everyone, and those he did stitch up may not be there tomorrow. Before he left it all and found his own family here at the manor. 

         All that nostalgia from a simple chill. 

         A small smile graced his face as he continued cleaning the monitor, removing old coffee cups, spraying the keyboard with sanitizer, feeding the bats, and even as he had to shoo a sleepwalking Tim back to bed. 

       And if Alfred started to keep a couple extra blankets down near the computer, that was between him and the chill in the room. A welcome sort of chill. 

********

      The next one to notice the chill were actually the bats that inhabited the cave. All that mattered to them was that sometimes certain spots they liked to fly through were slightly colder than the rest of the cave. 

      It took them almost a week to notice, but you could cut them some slack, after all, they’re only bats.

      But they don’t really count. 

*******

     The third one to notice a change in the atmosphere and temperature would be Damian Wayne. 

      He returned to the cave, alone, and pissed off at Drake and Brown. Damian had been on patrol with them. After that strange dry spell of crime last week there was almost double the intensity, as if they were making up for lost time. 

      Which is ridiculous.

      It was also ridiculous that those two had sent Damian back home before the end of patrol! The rest of the night shift was out there! So what if he was stabbed in the arm. It wasn’t even bad. He’s had much worse. 

     It was as Damian stomped up the stairs after parking his bike that he first felt a chill. It was a full body chill, one full of adrenaline, and it reminded Damian of one of his proudest moments. 

     The first night his father took him out as Robin. They stood atop the tallest building, overlooking all of Gotham. The wind up that high was refreshing, up until that point, all he could think of was how his mother abandoned him. But up on that roof? 

     He felt free. For the first time in his life, he didn’t worry about what his grandfather would say, he didn’t worry about Assassins at his back. No, he looked out over the edge of the building with his Father beside him, and he felt good.

     “Master Damian, we should get that wound patched up.” Alfred’s voice broke Damian from his daydream. 

     Alfred already had the medical table pulled out, a couple of throw blankets were on it, along with the medical supplies. 

      “Are you cold, sir? I brought you some hot chocolate.” The old butler looked over Damian carefully, his gaze lingered on Damian’s arm. 

      “Very well, Alfred.” Damian sighed, walking up the stairs two at a time. “If you already made it, I suppose I will drink it, it would only be a waste to let it grow cold.” The youngest Robin took the cup and hopped onto the table. 

       The blankets were a nice decision. It made it a little more comfortable. Of course that didn’t matter to someone like Damien, but it was probably good for a weakling like Drake. 

       “Very good sir. Let’s take a look at your arm.” After Alfred gave Damian six stitches that night, the two of them sat together, blankets around their shoulders, and just basked in the comfortable chill in the air, sipping on hot cocoa. 

*****

         Bruce noticed next, and if you asked him, he would say he knew the whole time. But he definitely did not. 

         It was shortly after Damian and Alfred’s hot cocoa night, the next day actually, when he felt his own chill breeze by. 

        He stopped typing in the database, and instead thought of his children. The first winter Damien ever spent with Bruce and the other kids. Dick had arrived on their doorstep, his smile a mile wide on the first snowfall. 

       His first Robin dragged all the kids outside for a snowball fight that were at the manor at the time. Duke, Tim, Stephanie, Damian, and even Cass had joined in. The youngest had declared snow ball fights stupid, because what was the point? 

       Damian was pelted by snowballs after that, and had no choice but to join in on the fun. It had been an all out war, the snow was still pristine, hadn’t gotten that grey coat to it that snow normally gets after a couple days in Gotham’s smoggy air. Instead it was something out of a postcard, or a holiday movie. 

       Kids laughing, shrieks of joy, they teamed up left and right, using their talents to make what was probably one of the most acrobatic snowball fights in history. And, then they had all turned on Bruce who was watching, and brought him into the fray. 

        The memory ended, and Bruce could feel the smile on his face as he slowly continued typing. Only… he paused after a few moments. 

        That was strange . Why would he remember such a thing right now? It was far from the winter months, in fact, it was summer. Why was he suddenly slightly cooler than normal? 

        Bruce looked around and spotted the new addition of blankets to the cave. So Alfred must have noticed too…

        Meaning this wasn’t a one type thing. 

        Pulling up the statistics on the cave, Bruce frowned. Caves remain a constant temperature all year round, typically they would be the average temperature for the location, never changing. In fact, the Batcave had been a slightly chill 66 degrees for the last six years, and 65 the ten years before (Climate change). 

       But now, readings in the cave monitored it fluctuating as low as 62 degrees in the last fourteen days. That was strange. 

      He would have to do more research. But as he thought of that snowy day two years ago, he admitted to himself that a small change of temperature like that wasn’t nearly as big of a deal than things like his cases. It would be out at the bottom of the pile for now. 

      Instead, Bruce simply made a note of it. Perhaps there was a shift in the rock foundation, so he would check it out when he found some time. 

      But not now. 

*******

     It took seventeen days for Tim and Stephanie to notice. 

     Returning from a bout with The Penguin, the two vigilantes were tired and more than a little pissed off with Cobblepot. He was annoying, strangely fast for an old man, and his henchmen were just creepy. 

     Stephanie pulled off her domino mask first, hefting a big sigh, letting the tension release as she did so. It had been a long day, and she just wanted to run upstairs and take a nap. If she asked nicely, Alfred would probably even make pancakes in the morning. He made the best pancakes. 

     As she daydreamed of pancakes, a small chill curled around her shoulders, ruffled her hair, and then she was far away, thinking of a much different night. 

     The night she and Cassandra donned the Batgirl costumes together. It was a chilly evening, standing high above Gotham when Oracle gave them both Batgirl costumes. That first night, sure, they had fought for their lives and everyone else’s, but there was something else that grew inside Stephanie too. Too big to be ignored. 

      She wasn’t just some kid anymore fighting against her father and the destruction he caused, or blamed on her. No, she was a Batgirl, she saved lives, she was powerful in her own right, villains ran away at the sight of her. 

       More than that too, she was now part of a family. She didn’t have siblings growing up; no, she had been alone. But the moment Cass came around the corner, a sarcastic grin and arms up like ‘tada’, she finally got it. She wasn’t alone anymore, she had the other Gotham vigilantes in her corner as she soon realized. 

        Tim on the other hand parked his own bike then made a beeline for the computers. There was a mission to fill out reports on, he had a meeting with the WE funding board two days from now that he had to prepare for, not to mention with Duke out of town, Gotham didn’t have the daytime vigilante protecting the streets. He had to make the schedule for the next week until Duke and Cassandra finally returned. 

      “Don’t stay up too late Timmy.” Steph came up behind Tim, ruffling his hair with a smile on her face. 

     “Yeah, yeah, I won’t.” Tim grumbled. That dumb nickname. At least he had convinced everyone else not to call him that. The absolute horror he had when Bruce of all people called him Timmy. That was mind-wipe worthy. 

      Right as Tim was getting into his groove typing up the report from tonight’s patrol, a cold spot settled behind him. Blowing chilled air past him. 

     That small breeze wasn’t anything like flying, but for whatever reason, all he could think of was when Connor first got a handle on his flying powers. He took Tim with him, and they flew around for hours. 

      It was reckless, and stupid, cause they were in their civies, but come on! He remembers complaining to Batman, cause it was so fun. There was so much adrenaline and dopamine in his system, not to mention spending time with one of his best friends ever, yeah. That was a great time. 

     Tim, staying in his daydream, drifted off to sleep.

     Batman returned from his nightly patrol, and what he found he couldn’t help but smile a little. 

     Tim was passed out at the computer, he even had a little drool puddle as he used the keyboard for a pillow. He couldn’t help himself and took a picture, he would have to show Alfred later. 

      Taking a moment to watch his son sleep soundly, Bruce let the atmosphere of the cave calm him. It had been more peaceful as of late. Damien wasn’t fighting with Tim constantly, tensions rose and fell in discussions in the cave. Something was nagging at the back of his mind. But for now… 

      Bruce carefully lifted Tim up, and carried him upstairs. The kid was getting too big for this, and he was getting too old. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t tuck in Tim Drake when he got the very rare chance. 

     Across the Batcave, a small blue orb pulsed. He was proud of himself. Those who wandered around in this space came and went often. And more times than not, they weren’t happy. 

     That didn’t sit right, with… what was his name again? She called him Phantom. So Phantom . 

      Phantom didn’t like that these heroes were so stressed all the time. So as he watched over them and gained back strength oh so slowly, he tried to share his emotions with them, the happiness he had that he was safe. Finally safe.

Chapter Text

      Dick was running late. Whoops.

      If it was just him running late this one time, it would probably be okay. But he wasn’t even there at the last two Family Sunday Brunches. And he didn’t have a good reason why he wasn’t there, other than Blockbuster trying to get a foothold at the docks again. 

       Alfred was probably going to give him the classic ‘You had better not be letting the cape get in the way of a healthy lifestyle.’ look the moment he walked in the door. Along with a healthy portion of food with a grandfather stare. 

      The worry settled heavy in Dick’s stomach. Stressed out that he’ll arrive and find the mansion in flames. He hadn’t been here for over two weeks, meaning he hasn’t calmed the tensions between his two youngest siblings in TWO WEEKS. 

       Yeah, the place is going to be in flames. Goodbye childhood memories. 

       By the time Dick pulled up outside the manor he had come up with 22 possible ways for Tim and Damian to burn Wayne Manor to the ground. It wasn’t that he didn’t love them, no he adored his younger siblings. It was the fact that Damian still had some… feral tendencies to work through. Added to the fact he was going to be a teenager next year, Dick was glad he had moved out. 

        That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to stop by as much as possible and be their big brother. He had failed once already as an older sibling, he couldn’t let it happen again. 

         Relieved to find the manor fireless, Dick walked inside, bracing himself for the inevitable war zone no doubt awaiting him. 

       Inside was the same as he left it. Spotless of course, Alfred was a god at everything. Shoes by the front door indicated Tim, Damian, Bruce, and Stephanie were here this week. He didn’t expect Jason, he hadn’t been since before he died. And Cass and Duke were still in Egypt. 

       Turning the corner into the less fancy dining room, he found Damian glaring at Tim, but no physical fighting. Perhaps they were getting better? 

      “Ah, Master Dick. I saved some pancakes for you.” Alfred was the first to spot Dick. 

     “Thank you Alfred, you have the best pancakes.” Dick couldn’t help the smile that graced his face. It was true, when Alfred made them, the whole world was a little brighter. 

     “What?! Alfred! You said you were out!” Stephanie gasped in mock horror. 

      “I must have forgotten Miss Stephanie.” Alfred disappeared into the kitchen, and Dick couldn’t help but laugh as he sat across from her, the absolute betrayal on her face. 

     “Brown, you already had six.” Damian reminded her, as he picked at his fruit. “Grayson, I didn’t think you would show up.” 

     “And miss a third week in a row? Never. I missed you all too much.” Tim fake gagged, Damian pretended not to hear him, Stephanie was still feeling the betrayal, and Bruce let a half smile cross his face. 

     “Glad to have you here Dick.” Bruce went back to reading his newspaper, but the atmosphere in the manor was surprisingly pleasant.

      Everyone seemed to be in a pleasant mood this morning. Stephanie (although she pretty much has always been in a good mood) was grinning ear to ear between bites, laughing at something Tim said. Tim looked somewhat rested surprisingly enough, only had the smallest of bags under his eyes, a smirk there too. Damian was trying to ignore the joke Tim made, but knowing Damian as long as Dick had, he was having a good time too. Even Bruce didn’t look completely emotionally constipated. 

       “Damien, can I have the fruit?” Tim asked, it was in fact in front of Damian, out of Tim’s reach. 

       “I don’t know, Drake, can you?” Damian snarled, fork raised. 

       “Damian-” Dick tried to stop this, but the ball was already rolling at high speeds.

       “Demon spawn!” Tim’s hackles raised and stood up. “Pass. Me. The. Fruit.” 

       “Say please.” And well… maybe it would burn down now. 

      Tim shot over the table, diving to tackle Damian, who barely dodged out of the way, taking down the hallway cackling the entire time. 

       Well… maybe the spell had broken. Dick sighed and pushed himself up, resigning his fate to go separate them before one of them died, Stephanie’s cackles following him down the hallway.

*******

       Phantom was aware of an unknown presence in his new home. Somewhere above him with the rest of the heroes was another friendly soul. He wasn’t touched by death as much as some of the people in this place. There were emotions from all the heroes here though connected to him, it was a web of closeness and familiarity. 

       It seemed nice.

       Before long, the person made his way downstairs getting closer and closer to Phantom, bringing his own emotions with him. The most prevalent was worry. It hung on his shoulders like a snake, winding around him, almost suffocating in its nature. But as Phantom pried deeper, he could feel it in his own core. It crept into him so deep that it started to become his own. This man clearly loved everyone in this place, and Danny could feel it.

       The worry for his family. The anxiety connected to all in Phantom’s new home: worry for safety, for rest, for happiness. 

       But he didn’t have to worry. These heroes would be okay, Phantom would help them. He was here now, he could help them, he would. Whoever this new hero was, clearly he had so many worries on his shoulders. Phantom could help him, he could take some of the weight off his shoulders. He was already trying to help them have some happiness when they’re worn out. He could do better. He would do more.

       A good place to start would be helping him remember happy times, just like the others who called this place home. Mustering up some of his energy, Phantom pictured the energy of this person. Anxious yet loving, protective and brave. Humming lowly, Phantom concentrated the happiness he felt for being around these people and sent it to this person. In his own mind, Phantom nicknamed him Corvus. 

      Power flowers through Phantom, and before long he can feel a memory that isn’t his own tickle at the edge of his consciousness.  

      It’s another happy memory. There’s air rushing through Corvus’ hair as he moves elegantly through the air. Forward and back, forward and back. 

      “Come on, Tim. Jump.” Corvus meets the eyes of a kid, black hair and blue eyes watching Corvus hesitantly. “I won’t let you fall.”

      ‘Tim’ looks scared, but with Corvus’ reassurances, he takes a step forward. As Corvus swings back towards Tim, he jumps, hands reaching out to Corvus. For one long second Tim is just suspended in the air, one long second. But then their hands meet, and adrenaline and pure joy floods the memory, and Tim screeches in happiness as they swing the other way like a pendulum. 

       The air rushing between them is a nice coolant while they work out, swinging like acrobats, and slowly but surely, the memory fades.

       Across the space, Corvus is happier than when he came. Warmth filled Phantom as he hummed in happiness too, one more hero he could help. Perhaps this is what he was meant to do. He could do this, he liked it. He just needed more energy, it was awfully draining to use his powers like this. 

      Once Corvus left Phantom’s space, he allowed himself to drift off again, back into the comfort of the darkness and the soft humming of the heroes around him.

Chapter Text

       Jason didn’t think about the creepy voice while he visited the homeless shelters. He didn’t think about the endless expanse of blue from whatever that was while he checked on the women and men on street corners. And he certainly didn’t think about his King while he shot at Black Mask’s men. 

       That would be ridiculous.

       And stupid.

       Alright, Jason was stupid. What the hell was that? He allowed for the confusion to fill his mind once more. At least this time he was in his apartment and not getting shot at. The distraction had caused a few lucky shots, thankfully he was wearing Kevlar at the time. 

       Doubt cluttered his mind as he thought back on that night. It felt so real, it was different from the nightmares the pit caused. Usually those were an angry maelstrom of toxic greens that made him sick, anger that lingered long after he woke up, and the ever constant clash of steel on steel. But that wasn’t anything like that. No, there were voices. There was a calmness to it at the end too. One he couldn’t recall ever since he came back from the dead. 

       Whatever that blue was, it settled Jason’s demons. The prickling sensation in his fingertips had vanished, and it was slowly creeping back. It was among the countless side effects that Jason had just attributed to the Pit, to the asshole that is Ra’s al Ghul. But the brief… whatever that was had given him full feeling in his hands again for almost an entire two weeks. It couldn’t be his imagination, it really couldn’t be. It had to be real, this break from a side effect made Jason hopeful again. Something he hadn’t been in a long time, not since he was a bright eyed child flipping on rooftops dressed like a goddamn traffic light.

       He needed it to be real.

       So what was it?

       Jason had scoured the surveillance tapes and reports from that week. Nothing new appeared that night. No one on the streets could tell him what exactly broke that tension every Gothamite felt in their souls. Even when he handed out granola bars and gatorades to the kids hiding in every alley, not a single one could explain it. And they had eyes fucking everywhere.

       Throwing a punch at the dummy in the corner, Jason thought it over. He was running low on leads. He only had so many ways to investigate in Crime Alley, and as far as he could tell, this wasn’t just an Alley thing. No. It extended to all of Gotham. As much as he loathed to admit, he didn’t have all the information. 

       One of the major things that Bruce had taught him that stuck was that you’d never find the right answer without all the information. And didn’t that just fuck everything over?

       Part of him wanted to go back. Something was calling him back to the Manor. Nostalgia? Loneliness? He wasn’t sure, but he threw a punch harder. He could ask Tim what his wide range of cameras and surveillance picked up, or Barbara, she always seemed to know more. Hell, maybe Duke could help him look from above, he was the only one of them who could actually fly. 

       The dull thud, thud, whack as each blow hit the dummy kept Jason thinking. He couldn’t just crawl back to Bruce, tell him that he was hearing things. No. He couldn’t let The Replacement see him like that, or fucking god forbid the demon child. They didn’t need more ammo to throw back at Jason when he fucked up again. 

       He wasn’t that desperate. 

       Yet.

*****

       This time when Phantom regained consciousness, he surprised himself. He could see. Before, he could feel the auras of the people that lived here. Their emotions and life forces were a light in the darkness, allowing him to center himself off of them. But now, he could see.

       He could see it all. The darkness that clung to the cavern walls was pushed away by lights dotting the entire space like stars. Walkways swirled around the outskirts, orbiting the central computer systems and what looked like a garage. The different vehicles were all so sleek, polished like new. Most had black accents, if not completely black, other than that there were cars, motorcycles, even what looked like a tank. 

        Besides that, there were so many things here. It was almost like a museum. Artifacts were scattered around, all had either glass cases protecting them, or for the large things like the… fake(?) dinosaur, it looked like it was cleaned regularly. These in particular caught Phantom’s attention. He had to get a closer look. 

        Before where Phantom had to send his concentrated energy towards the different souls like throwing a ball, now he felt a little more in control. It felt more like flying . Pushing away from where he awoke, he flew towards the dinosaur. 

        As Phantom approached, something in him told him this isn’t real. It looked much too fake. Too much plastic, not enough teeth, this wasn’t even based well off of a model. The colors were improbable, and didn’t dinosaurs most likely have feathers?

        He had made a better model in school.

        Where did that memory come from? He wasn’t near any of the family here. That wasn’t one of their memories? How did he even know what a dinosaur was? What was happening? 

        Looking at the poorly made dinosaur too long was using too much of his energy. He still had so much more to see, he couldn’t fall asleep just yet. Phantom spun around as he floated there, looking for something else to catch his eye. 

         A strangely big playing card, a huge penny, a plane, even what looked like Halloween costumes. They were in cases too, so perhaps expensive costumes? Glancing around, a sparkle caught his eye.

         Flying lower, Phantom approached the sparkle and with each inch gained he found himself more and more powerful. It was another glass case. Inside were jewels and coins, but the blue one shined as he got closer. 

         It pulsed a neon green light from the very center. The blue blinked in and out, about the size of a peach pit; it didn't seem as expensive as the other jewels or artifacts in the case, nor did it make a very big impact, but the longer Phantom stared at it. He realized.

         That’s him.

         He was that little blue orb. Had he always been like this? How was he a hero if this was all he was? Could he help anyone?

         The swift hiss of the elevator doors broke Phantom out of his spiral. That meant one of the family members returned. Turning around, Phantom flew over to see them for the first time.

         This one was tall and lanky, he had glasses perched on his nose, coffee in hand. Ah, so it was Tucana. He was young, probably 16 or so. Phantom could feel that he was much more rested than the previous night when he had succeeded in making Tucana fall asleep again at the desk. Heroes couldn’t save the world if they were always sleepy. Besides, his family members had been out, that could only mean that he should be taking advantage of some down time. People always did their best work when they weren’t tired.

          So tonight, Phantom decided he would just watch Tucana. Maybe if Phantom learned what exactly he was doing, he could help.

******

           Tim was determined to stay awake tonight. He had his coffee ready at hand, he even slept today. For six hours. Maybe his body was getting too used to this caffeine source. It might be time to switch things up. Time would tell.

           He had things to do. Red Robin couldn’t sleep every night. There were too many things to do, too many things to keep an eye on, too many Wayne Enterprises projects to triple check to make sure they weren’t harmful or dangerous. So Tim dove right in. He couldn’t put it off, and there always was that boost of confidence when Bruce thanked him for all his hard work.

           Scanning over paperwork, watching news coverage, skimming CTV footage, it all had to be done tonight. And it went pretty quickly for the first couple hours. In fact, it was going quicker than normal, maybe the caffeine was working. With a small grin of triumph, Tim crossed off another box on his checklist. As he did so, he stretched out his cramping muscles, the last thing he needed was another case of tennis elbow from too much typing. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a flash of dark, messy hair.

           “Gremlin, I thought you were done with your creepy stalking phase. Leave me alone.” Tim grumbled. Damian always appeared out of nowhere, showing off his weird ninja abilities. He hadn’t stalked Tim in awhile though, maybe he was running out of ways to annoy Tim that didn’t involve him getting stabbed.

           No response. Annoying. Was Tim going to have to chase the kid upstairs?

           “Damian go aw-” Turning around in the big chair, Tim was greeted with nothing. Absolutely nothing. “Damian?” Tim’s voice bounced off the cave walls, his own voice was his only answer. He was alone. No Damian. No Dick. Not even Alfred. 

            “O-okay. Just relax Tim, just go back to paperwork.” Whispering to himself, Red Robin turned back to his work. 

            He couldn’t get the idea of Damian ambushing him out of his mind. Tim could feel his eyes on him, waiting for an opening. Damian loved to attack right when he least expected it. 

            Tim glanced up again. 

            Nothing. 

            Okay, he really needed to do this. Alfred would have breakfast ready in two hours. It wouldn’t be as awesome as Sunday Brunch, but lately Alfred has been making these awesome muffins. Tim would make sure to be there right when they came out of the oven. 

            That was a perfect motivator, Tim continued typing, looking over his shoulder every other minute. He couldn’t let Damian get the drop on him. Not again. 

            Hours passed, and Tim was wrapping up for the night. He would continue after breakfast. And he kept peering around the Batcave. No sign of the gremlin. 

           As he finished the final report for the night and hit save, the swoosh of the elevators sounded, making Tim jump three feet in the air, landing in a fighter’s stance facing the doors. 

            Alfred gave him the most unimpressed look ever. “Feeling a little jumpy, are we Master Tim?”  

           “Ha, ha. Um, yeah Alfred.” Heat crept up Tim’s cheeks feeling the embarrassment fully as Alfred looked him over, landing on his Wonder Woman slippers. “Is breakfast ready?” 

            “Yes, Master Tim. I was coming down to retrieve you, when I was suddenly threatened by a vicious warrior.” Tim ducked his head and joined Alfred in the elevator. 

            “Don’t tell everyone else. Please.” 

            “Wouldn’t dream of it.” 

            Alfred did keep his word, although Tim received a cup of non-caffeinated tea instead of his usual coffee with breakfast. 

Chapter Text

    There were many things to do today. Cassandra and Duke would be flying in this afternoon, so Alfred would make sure their return went as smoothly as possible. Their rooms were all refreshed, favorite snacks were in the fridge once again, he had a dinner planned as well, one that hopefully the family would all show for. 

     Almost all things to do upstairs for their arrival was prepped. The gardening service had finished up an hour ago, and Stephanie had taken Damian out for back to school shopping. Tim had a shareholder meeting, and it was Bruce’s turn to take over Duke’s morning patrol, leaving Alfred to himself for the morning. 

      Duke had sent Alfred texts over the last month, updates and reassurances that they were eating and not getting mortally wounded. All texts that were very much appreciated, the boy was more down to earth than the rest of the children. That didn’t mean however that Alfred didn’t worry. 

      Carrying his newest cashe of medical supplies, the butler made his way down the elevator and into the cave. 

       The chill of the cave was refreshing. Alfred had found a new sentimental enjoyment down here, occasionally this was the best place to get lost in memories. In no way did he get side tracked, but lately he had forgotten certain memories. Perhaps it was just old age, but recalling these lost memories was nice. 

       It was as he placed the bandages into their box that Alfred saw a head of messy black hair in his peripheral vision. 

       Shocked, Alfred turned to see which of his charges were there… but there wasn’t. He was alone. That chill went down his spine again, no source to be seen. But what if… if the chills of the cave weren't a natural occurrence? Had he been so blind?

    Wayne Manor had been very lively as of late. Ever since young Damian’s arrival, Alfred had one more young charge to look after. He really did enjoy it, even if each child came with their own difficulties. They each came with their own personality and energy to add to the growing family. 

        And perhaps because he was so busy, it was that it took Alfred this long to realize that someone else had joined them. Whatever or whoever this was, they didn’t seem malicious… but he could put that to the test. 

        Acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, Alfred continued to put the supplies away. The chill was still there, it wasn’t constant in its temperature, it fluctuated as he worked. 

        And as he worked, the sensation of being watched became more and more obvious. It was a sensation he was used to, but once again, it didn’t feel evil or bad in any way. Instead, it reminded Alfred of whenever the family took in another member. 

        The children never knew how to react to Alfred at first. Dick watched him in concern, Jason watched with fascination for everything Alfred did. Tim would sit at the counter and ask hundreds of questions about everything, Cassandra would shadow Alfred and a distance, and Damian would watch where he didn’t think he could be seen until Alfred was a known variable. Even those who did not stay full time did it. 

          Curious children were something of a constant in this household. And that was exactly what this felt like. A child.

          Had someone, a child, been living in the cave for three weeks now without anyone noticing? The poor child. Alfred couldn’t be sure, so he decided to continue with his cleaning. He could do his monthly deep cleaning of the cave a few days early. Perhaps he would find more signs of their visitor. 

          Alfred began cleaning. 

         Starting with the main area, Alfred started sweeping. He could feel the curiosity as he made each movement, and once, out of the corner of his eye he saw vibrant blue eyes before they vanished. Whoever this child is, he was scared.

          Heart aching for this child, Alfred wanted to reach out and comfort the kid, but he wasn’t sure how he would react to that kind of interaction.

          Each time Alfred began worrying deeply about their visitor, the different children, or even about the garden, he could feel small blips of happiness at the peripheral of his mind. It wasn’t forcing itself on him, instead it was more of a reminder. It was kind .

          Placing the mop back into the bucket, Alfred finished the main level. It was spotless, and the small feeling of accomplishment was always nice in this job as he finished tasks. Nonetheless, there wasn’t any sign pointing to the newest visitor, but he wasn’t done, there were still a couple more spaces to look for a meta child. He could still feel that curiosity on his back.

            Next was the trophy room. It had begun as a place for Bruce to put things as a reminder of his biggest wins, and most devastating losses. Each one had a lesson, things to remember, The Batman’s own ego check. Then, as children came and fought at his side, they were allowed to add their own trophies and reminders beside his. Because of that, there were so many things in the hall. 

           Climbing the last stair, Alfred was hit with a sudden blast of paralyzing fear, so much so he was lucky to not have fallen down the stairs. It wasn’t his own emotions, that was clear, no, it emanated from the trophy room like a power surge. 

           A high pitch whine accompanied the fear, the static hit Alfred hard. Whatever this was, the child was terrified of Alfred coming any closer. So, Alfred stepped down, leaving the trophy room for another time.

           “I apologize. I won’t intrude.” Alfred whispered into the air and left the cave as quickly as he could. The moment he stepped into the elevator all of those emotions evaporated into the air. 

        He would need to talk to Bruce.

*******

        Egypt was exhausting. Not the country itself, but the mission. Duke reflected on his month-long mission with Cass across the seas as he nearly fell asleep in the car.

        Karma had been spotted there, working mostly in the daylight hours. Hence he was there, along with Cass who could stealth like no one’s business. He hadn’t wanted to go at first, this was his summer before his senior year in high school, but Karma had taken shots at just about every single one of his siblings. So of course he went. 

          It was an actual League-approved mission too, so perhaps some of the other metas would start to take Signal seriously. 

         “How’d you convince Alfred not to pick us up from the airport?” Duke looked at Cass. Her lips quirked into a smirk at his question.

         “Magic.” Cass was still a person of few words. She would probably always be that way, but it wasn’t hard to understand what she meant.

           “Well, whatever you said, it probably was magic. I don’t think I could ever convince him of that. I’m sure he’s already busy enough today. But I’m glad to be back.” Duke looked out the window. 

           “Same.” 

As dark and dreary as Gotham was, it was home. Thank god it wasn’t so bright and cheery like Metropolis, that’s even worse than Gotham. Gotham itself was dry today, it wasn’t raining like it usually would, perhaps that was a good sign. Hopefully everyone was doing well since he and Cass had left. 

           Tim had reassured Duke that he had a spreadsheet and everything to divvy up Duke’s patrol so no one was overworked more than usual, even Dick promised he would come and do a couple. 

           As the alleys and old brick buildings of Gotham slowly grew to bigger lawns and bigger houses, he and Cass soon pulled up outside Wayne Manor in all its glory. As foreboding as it used to be when he first arrived, Duke was happy to see it. Much better than the hideout he and Cass had stayed in the last month. 

           Grabbing his and Cass’ bags from the back, Duke flung them over his shoulder. When he turned around, Alfred was waiting in the doorway. 

           “Alfred!” He waved to him, ever since Duke got here, Alfred was a kind and mellow presence.

           “Welcome back Master Duke, Miss Cassandra. I am glad you have returned safely.” But, as Duke got closer to Alfred, he noticed that the man had a slight green glow around him. What happened while they were away?

Chapter Text

       Phantom hadn’t meant to frighten Centaurus. He really hadn’t. But as the older man grew closer and closer to him , something in Phantom snapped. 

       So much fear had consumed him, it swirled inside him making him sick, he couldn’t see straight, and his core was throbbing so fast all sound was blocked out, and all that was left was the fear. 

        He couldn’t let anyone get close. Never again.

       Originally, Phantom had been elated to be able to watch Centaurus work for a long period of time. The man was calming, he worked at a normal speed and didn’t do anything surprising. But as he walked closer with the mop in hand, Phantom acted out on instinct. 

        The panic was still real though. 

        Phantom was back inside the core, reserving power, trying to reassure himself that he was safe. But was he? He couldn’t move beyond these walls, this part of him was essential to his own being. He didn’t know why, but it felt important. He couldn’t just leave. 

        So here he was. In the dark, alone, the panic pressing in on all sides. He was scared. Would they come for him too? Now Centaurus knew he was there, would they make him leave? They were heroes, but Phantom hadn’t been invited.

********

       “Alfred? You’re glowing.” Was all Duke could manage as he stepped over the threshold. 

      Duke Thomas has had his powers his whole life, he’s learned plenty about them, seen weird shit, and done even weirder. But… Alfred glowing? That’s new. 

       “Am I, sir?” Alfred asked, but he didn’t look quite as surprised as Duke would expect. Maybe it was just how Alfred was, he had always been pretty stoic anyways. 

       “He is?” Cass asked, just a step behind Duke. 

      Nodding carefully, Duke considered the aura of light around Alfred. It didn’t look harmful per se, but it was so otherworldly that he couldn’t not be worried about it. The butler moved around like usual, leading them back through the manor. Nothing else in the Manor had the same glow as Alfred, neither where there any other new addition of objects or the like that could have caused it. 

        “Have you been exposed to any metas recently? Perhaps someone who uses magic? Do you feel okay? Any side effects?” The vigilante in Duke was worried about whatever this was. And the person emotionally connected to the old man was just worried about him. Whatever it could be, but Alfred didn’t seem worried at all.

        “I am perfectly okay, Master Duke. Now, you two should work on unpacking and unwinding from a long flight. Dinner will be at 7.” He dismissed them both in his no-nonsense tone. After all, it worked on every single person in the Manor, including B himself. 

        Duke sighed, giving up for the moment as Alfred walked away. It wasn’t like he could force the man to sit still. There probably was some sort of food in the oven he had to go check on anyways. 

        “He’s fine.” Cass reassured him. How she knew? Duke wasn’t sure, but she disappeared down the hallways as well, melting into the shadows before her door closed. 

       Defeated for now, Duke resigned to unpacking his bag and battling jet lag until dinner. However, his attention continued to return to that unnatural glow. 

********

      Bruce finished the daytime patrol with not much of note. Of course there was always trouble, it was Gotham after all, but no rogue attacks destroying the boulevard were to be celebrated. It was probably because in the daytime word spread that The Batman was out, and it was a good deterrent. 

          Either way, Signal would return the next day thankfully, and Batman could return to lurking in the shadows. It was what he did best. Ever since Duke had come into his own identity, taking over in the nighttime, an under-protected time in Gotham, crime had seen a little bit of a dip. One Bruce was immensely proud of Duke for. 

          He had read over the mission report he and Cass had worked on. While Karma had slipped away, (of course he did. They all seemed to) Signal and Batgirl managed to collect enough evidence to get the local players sent to jail for a while. Along with Karma if he ever showed his face in Egypt. They also managed to recover plenty of artifacts and weaponry to take down metas, all better to be out of the world and in pieces. 

         Pushing the Batmobile faster and faster, he tore down the tunnels leading back to the Manor. That strange part of him, the protective father part needed to make sure Duke and Cass had returned. Although he knows they did, Alfred had sent him a message a few hours ago alerting him to this, as well as dinner in what was now an hour time. 

        Perhaps he was getting sentimental in his old age. 

       Bruce parked the Batmobile to its proper place and went about the daily task of putting The Batman away.

        Returning the cowl to its proper place, Bruce welcomed the chill to the air, it was a nice cool down after running miles above Gotham’s streets. He allowed for the positive emotions to take hold, this was his home, surely his children would appreciate more of Bruce than a Batman at dinner.  

       He was still working on the whole… emotion thing. However, the results of his efforts have been pleasant, it was a wide range of acknowledgement from each member of their stitched together family. But the world’s greatest detective could see their body language change when he offered his own emotional availability.

       A term he learned from a podcast, but if anyone asked, he knew it before then.

       As Bruce pressed the elevator button, Bruce’s eyes wandered. Traveling over the ground he could tell they had just been cleaned that morning. Meaning Alfred had begun the monthly deep cleaning he did of the cave. The man was very particular about even the cave having the same cleanliness standards of the actual Manor. Which was what made this decision so peculiar. Every month, not a day before or a day later. Not to mention… the cleaning supplies were still out. 

        Even when the elevator opened, Bruce was still looking around. The main part of the job had been done, but everything was still out, which was so unlike Alfred. Bruce had never known the man to start a project then pause half way through unless some sort of emergency arose. 

        Was something wrong with Alfred? With one of the kids? The rational part of Bruce’s brain said that nothing could be too serious, surely one of them would have told him by now. 

        Bruce spammed the elevator button for the main floor of the Manor. 

       It couldn’t move fast enough, what if, what if, what if? Before too much of a spiral could wrap itself around Bruce, the doors opened, only to reveal Alfred right there.

      “Alfred?” Bruce scanned Alfred. He looked how he usually did, although there were the faintest of worry lines punching his forehead. “What’s wrong?”

     The pause that followed was only a second or too, but it was too long for comfort. 

     “Master Bruce, I believe that someone, a child perhaps, has been staying in the basement as of late. They are frightened when I try to approach. I think Master Duke may be able to see them.”

Chapter Text

        Centaurus hadn’t returned to the cave since Phantom was overwhelmed earlier. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. Would Phantom be allowed to stay? As far as he could tell, he couldn’t move too far away from his core. What would happen if they tried to make him leave?

       Was there a place where he was meant to be? Why couldn’t he remember where he was before this? He needed to remember something, anything .

        To add to all of Phantom’s thoughts, two more people had arrived. Their energies were vastly different as they hummed above the cave. 

       One was very subdued, quiet, but there was a certain sadness deep inside. Phantom hoped that she was okay. The longer she was upstairs however, her emotions seemed to balance out a little. 

       The second was strange, he hummed at a different frequency than the others, he was almost buzzing as he walked around. But just as with all the others, there was a heavily concentrated worry for others, including those in the mansion. Another hero then. 

         Protect the heroes

        That desire flared again. Phantom would help them, the best he could. Even if they wanted him to leave, he would find a way. 

        Phantom was sitting in the dinosaur’s mouth while he was brooding. From here he could see plenty, like the entrance from what must be outside where all the different vehicles came and left. The main level with the high tech computers were visible too, along with the elevator.

     From there, Phantom could tell when anyone entered the cave. He could know at all times if he was alone. Maybe if he continued to help them feel happy and positive, they’d let him stay till he recovered enough to move on his own.

     Contemplating everything he could remember, and what would be next for himself, the elevator doors swooshed open again. 

       Peeking over the rows of ceramic teeth, Phantom couldn’t help it as the temperature dropped a couple degrees. Fear creeped up his throat making it impossible to make even a sound. Not only was Aquila here without his dark hero costume, but Centaurus was following the man.

      Emotions were rolling off both of them. Anxiety, worry, stress, and trepidation we’re the most obvious. Had Phantom caused this? Could he fix it?

     They were talking on the main floor, quiet enough that Phantom couldn’t pick it up. Was it about him? Surely he was already found out by all of the heroes. 

     Steeling his nerves, Phantom pushed himself off the mouth of the model. If this was about him, he should hear it. Even if he didn’t want to. 

     “-sure it’s a child, Alfred?” Aquila was asking Centaurus, or Alfred, by the time Phantom was close enough to hear. 

     Although, before Centaurus could respond, Phantom saw Aquila tense up ever so slightly, before looking around, settling his eyes a couple feet from him. 

******

     Bruce should have investigated the chill earlier. He had been lulled into complacency by the sheer fact that this was his home. It felt impenetrable at times, although once that chill settled over them once more, Bruce couldn’t deny it. Someone was in the cave. 

      “Hello? Who’s there?” Bruce tried to keep his voice more on the gentle side, in case it truly was a child like Alfred thought. 

      They had taken their conversation down here before any of his curious children could walk into it. Bruce needed more information before he asked Duke for his help, and surely after that, they’d all follow suit. 

       But the fact remained. Someone was here, univinted. Was this a child? Could it be someone pretending to be? Bruce needed to protect this place. 

       As soon as the words left his mouth, a sense of dread filled the cave. Fear, anxiety, flowed like water, flooding the space to the point where it almost felt like Bruce’s own emotions. 

       ‘Will they let me stay? Do I have to leave? What do I do next? Where do I go? I can’t go back. It’s not safe, I’m not safe. Not safe. Not safe. Notsafenotsafenotsafenotsafenotsafenotsafenotsafe.’

      The words bounced off the rock walls, static clung to the words as they came to life, buzzing around Bruce and Alfred. His mind began to feel fuzzy the longer the spiral continued.

     “I promise I won’t hurt you.” Bruce spoke with a firm tone, and he actually believed it too. 

     He had taken in many kids, and helped countless others during the night. He’d seen some of the worst things people had to offer, and how it affected kids. And there were a couple things that were incredibly difficult to fake: a kid’s terrified voice, panic attacks on this level, and the connection that Bruce immediately felt to whoever this kid was. 

     The static calmed slightly, but it was still circling around him and Alfred. Not safe was all Bruce could make out of it. 

     “Master Bruce is a hero, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. He can help you.” Alfred spoke up, still speaking to what seemed like air. 

        ‘Hero?’ The voice echoed back. The fear was slowly dissipating, leaving wariness and anxiety.

       “Yes, I’m a hero. I protect people who aren’t safe, or need help.” He didn’t usually consider himself a hero. A vigilante, sure, not a hero. But if that title could calm a child, then he’d be fine for now. 

         ‘Protect.’ They whispered back. And for just a moment, a boy flickered into visibility. 

       Pitch black hair, icy blue eyes. He was shorter than Tim, but not by much. His eyes stared deep into Bruce’s, shining even in the dull light of the cave. He wore what looked like a very old hospital gown, covered in dried blood and something green. He looked sick, tired, and scared out of his mind.

       It was only a second that he was in view before he disappeared completely, taking the chill in the air as well as the lingering emotions that weren’t his own. 

Chapter Text

     Alfred had an uneasy feeling the moment the boy appeared in front of them. If only for a moment, it was clear he was hurting, scared of everything. 

     It was also frighteningly clear that whatever happened to this boy was horrible. Given the chance to look over him, Alfred was sure he would find signs of abuse under that hospital gown. 

     He was hesitant to call it that. After seeing many children in this house, and horrors of the war, hospital gowns were often used for many different things. Mostly because they were cheap and disposable, Alfred refrained from speaking it, but he would not be surprised if someone thought these same adjectives applied to the mystery boy. 

      People could be cruel. But looking over Bruce and the instant determination that settled on his face, Alfred sighed. 

       Yes, people could be cruel, but they could also be so very, very kind. 

       “It would appear that he has disappeared for now. No doubt back to the trophy room. What shall we do in the meantime? We shouldn’t push the boy.” Speaking calmly but quietly, Alfred wasn’t quite sure that the boy couldn’t hear them. No matter, he would be most careful until this was figured out. 

        Bruce’s gaze hovered over where the boy had appeared for a moment before turning towards the computer. “I’m not sure what he is. Meta or… otherwise. I’m going to run facial recognition as well as energy signature tests through the computer.” 

       With that, Bruce quickly logged into the system, immediately pulling up video feeds and other information that Alfred wasn’t quite sure the meaning behind. 

       “We can’t push him. We can try and meet him halfway, but whatever that telepathic link he has to us with his emotions, it could be dangerous to him and us if he gets too frightened.” A frown set on the man’s face as he typed. 

      “Very good sir. Might I remind you, that dinner is set to begin in 40 minutes. To welcome Miss Cassandra and Master Duke back from Cairo. While you are eating, I will bring a meal down for our guest.” Already planning ahead, Alfred tried to think what the boy might eat. 

       Although, if he has been inside the cave for at least half as long as Alfred had begun to expect, there should be at least some sign of food missing. 

       “I’ll be there. I don’t want to overwhelm the kid, and a great way to do that is to let everyone know he is here.” A pause while he froze the image of the boy. It was a very fuzzy picture. “I’ll have to speak with Duke afterwards. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could see our guest.”

       “I’ll let him know you would like to speak after dinner. Dick and Stephanie will both be at dinner tonight.” Alfred left the Dark Knight to his work, the last thing he saw when the elevator closed was Bruce attempting to restore the lost pixels on the pictures of their visitor. 

        A sadness settled deep in Alfred’s mind. This child, this lost boy had been hiding out in the batcave for awhile now. He was clearly using his empath abilities to try and make everyone in the manor a little happier, all while he was hurting. 

       Yes, whoever this was, he clearly already had the heart of a hero. And since he definitely had black hair and blue eyes, Alfred was sure that Bruce would take him in in a heartbeat. 

       Every child deserves to have a safe place to rest their head and warm food for every meal. 

       Tomorrow Alfred would start clearing out a room for the soon-to-be-newest member of the Wayne household. 

********

     Damian continued to eat as he watched Thomas out of the corner of his eye. Thomas was acting strange. Stranger than usual. Ever since he got back, the meta was acting off.

     He kept glancing around the room, never lingering on any certain thing other than the other family members present.

     It didn’t take a genius to realize he was seeing something with his powers. But the question is what? Thomas was beginning to drive Damian crazy. 

     Thomas looked up from his food again, clearly looking over Damian. For what? He had no fucking idea. Thomas made eye contact with Damian, before his eyes widened slightly. 

     “What?! Do I need to remove your eyes so you stop staring?” Damian finally snapped, growling at Thomas and overall doing his best to be intimidating. None of his siblings find him intimidating anymore, much to his disappointment. 

       “It’s nothing.” He turned back to his plate, eyes down. But the dye had been cast, now instead of listening to whatever story Brown was retelling, the clan of bats and birds were looking over Thomas. 

       “You have been awfully quiet, Duke.” Drake sat across from Thomas. He didn’t look completely drained of any energy yet, he was only on hour 28 since he last slept. Damian gave him until patrol was done before Alfred hid his coffee. “What kind of secret are you hiding?” 

        “No secret, not at all. Just tired. Jet lag, you know?” Thomas’ was a poor liar. That was one of the first things Damian learned about this particular ward his father took in. And it was clear as day right that moment. 

        “Liar.” Damian spit, standing up from his chair. “Thomas, you couldn’t lie properly to save your life.” 

        At this, Thomas had the gall to look offended. His mouth dropped open slightly, before his gaze fixed on Damian. But Brown broke the stare-off.

        “And you can, baby bat? You tried to tell Alfred you ate all your peas the other day, and your entire face went red!” Brown broke into squeals of laughter, horrifying Damian to his very core. 

        “I-I did no such thing!” Damian yelled at Brown. How dare she even bring that up! The cursed warmth bloomed up his neck and to his cheeks.

        “Oh my gosh, look at those red cheeks! So cute!” Brown cooed, reaching across the table for his cheeks. Damian quickly tried to slap away, but she neatly dodged. 

        “I have to get a picture of this.” Grayson pulled out his phone, much to Damian’s horror. Grayson already had so many pictures for future blackmail of all of them. It was torture. 

        “Don’t even think about it, Grayson.” Damian tried to be stern, but between Brown reaching for his face, Grayson snapping pictures left and right, Drake recording the entire thing , and Father, Cain, Thomas, and Alfred all watching on with a smile, his voice cracked, and he fled. 

        Better to retreat and fight another day. 

       “He’s so cuuuute!” Brown yelled loud enough that it echoed down the hallway as he left. 

       Stupid adopted siblings, stupid blushes, he couldn’t control that!

       And for the moment, Damian Wayne forgot about the questions launched at Duke. 

*******

        Duke couldn’t help the sigh of relief as Damian was chased out of dinner via embarrassment. The subject changed even without his intervention, and now the table was lively with chatter about sending more of Damian’s cute kid pics into the family group chat. 

         “Look, I have a picture here of him asleep in front of the fireplace. Alfred put a Wonder Woman blanket on top of him.” Dick snickered as he held up the phone, showing a wide-eyed Cass and Stephanie who Duke swore had heart-eyes. 

         But he wasn’t concerned about that. Maybe if it was a normal day in the Manor, he would be. But it wasn’t. 

        They were glowing. All of them were glowing. Aside from Cass and himself, everyone in the Manor had a green glow, not just Alfred. 

        He had been startled enough when he first saw Alfred. But then Dick stopped by his room to check in how Egypt was, and he was glowing. The same green glow. And nothing seemed odd about him. 

       After that, it was like dominos, each family member appeared or he saw on his way to dinner, and each one was glowing , just as eerie as the last. Even Bruce, who usually was on top of these things. 

        But Alfred had said that when the others left for patrol he should meet Bruce in his study. Ominous of nothing else. Strange too. For now, he was just trying to keep himself together and not spill the beans just yet. In his experience, to stress out the household of vigilantes for no reason was a poor choice. 

        Eventually, everyone helped clear the plates (that was as much as Alfred allowed for help in meals) before leaving to their respective locations. Tim and Dick had first patrol so he was sure they left for downstairs. But Duke was needed upstairs. In the study.

         As Duke walked into Bruce’s study, he found not only Bruce, but Alfred as well. They were both looking over a Wayne tablet, but from the angle Duke couldn’t see it. Seeing both like this felt strangely like getting called to the principal’s office. It would be one thing if he was just talking to them. That would be fine, or even a meeting in the cave, they did those all the time when rogue attacks occurred. But to Bruce’s study?

        “Ah, Duke. Thank you for coming up here.” Bruce set the tablet aside.

       “Uh, yeah. No problem.” Shrugging, Duke sat in one of the chairs near Bruce’s desk, foot tapping nervously on the ground.

       “I can’t be sure what it is you are seeing, but I know the cause.” Duke sat straight up in his chair at the proclamation. Jumping right into it then? 

       “What? I’m not, well, I can see things, but nothing-” Duke scrambled for words, but Bruce just waved him off.

       “You really aren’t good at lying, Duke.” Bruce chuckled slightly. “That’s okay. For now, I don’t think anyone else other than us three have noticed anything amiss, but there is a child hiding out downstairs.” 

       Duke was speechless.

Chapter Text

      Duke’s brain had stalled. What did Bruce just say? A whole child? Like a physical, living, breathing, existing kid? Just kept in the BATCAVE for funsies? 

       “…what?” Duke blinked a couple times, trying to comprehend it. “A kid, a whole kid, is staying in the cave, and you’ve only just found out about this?” Batman, the world’s best detective, hasn’t noticed a kid?

      “It’s not a normal kid. We’ve only seen him once. So far the cave hasn’t returned any promising results with a facial match.” Bruce turned the tablet around so Duke could see it. The picture was of a kid that could pass as Tim through all the static. “We think he’s a Meta. We’ve experienced an invisibility and an empathetic ability from him.” Bruce began to explain the strange occurances of emotion and chills that he and Alfred had talked about. 

         Alfred added a couple things, about his own memories that had been revived during these encounters. He explained the feelings that passed through him unasked, and the events leading up to actually discovering the boy in the cave. 

          With every word, Duke was growing more and more worried. This definitely did sound like a meta. Perhaps one who was locked up early in his life, or weaponized as so many he had seen before. Normally these things were left to the Justice League, most metas did not make their home in Gotham. But from what Bruce and Alfred said, Duke agreed, they should only expose him to a small amount of people so they can try and control the outside stimulus. 

       However, that also meant that they had to be careful of when the rest of the batfamily found out. That spelled trouble. Keeping a secret in a house of detectives and vigilantes never lasted long. Duke could picture it now, Damian finding out then going to challenge the boy in the cave. 

        Bruce looked at his watch, lips turned to a frown. “Tim, Cass, and Dick should have left for patrol by now. I’d like for you to take a look downstairs, with your powers I think you might be the best equipped to help our guest.” 

       Despite the circumstances, Duke was happy to know that he could help his found family, especially when each and every one of them was so talented and powerful in their own rights. 

********

        Phantom was resting. He was tired, so tired. He had used his powers too much again. But it was completely instinctual. The heroes here were finding out he was here, univinted. Even just thinking about it had fear bubbling up in his stomach. The anxiety twisted its way into his insides, it felt like a knife. Hot, burning, he wanted to scream .

       A little while ago some of the others had passed through the cave, including one of the new additions. She was quiet, didn’t speak a single word while she was with Tucana and Apus. 

      Fascinated with the seemingly endless amount of heroes under one roof, Phantom had watched her as she listened to Tucana give a brief description of what they were trying to do that night. What exactly they were protecting. Apparently there was a big shipment of computer chips that were a high risk item as it came in from the docks. 

      Phantom liked listening to these team ups. A part of him was so happy that they all had one another’s backs. They worked as a team, no matter which grouping of them occurred each night, but they worked almost flawlessly it seemed. Sometimes they returned hurt, but nothing grave. 

     The team ups scratched at something in his mind, something he should remember. But digging too deep only brought pain. 

       “Stop it! Don’t you dare change forms, ghost!”

      The newest addition, Columba, had begun to look around at this point of the debrief. And for a heart-stopping moment, their eyes met. Those eyes knew death, they knew pain, they were so deep. Deep, and dark, but somehow, she had come out the other side scarred, but okay.

      Phantom broke eye contact first, hiding away. He was sure he was still invisible, so how did she see him?

      Still low on power, and hesitant to bring more attention to himself, Phantom had let his chill settle over her, but didn’t give her the happiness reminder yet. They’d be back before the sun crossed the horizon, he would give that to her before she went to sleep. 

       Hopefully that would give her good dreams. They left on bikes and one of the sleek cars, out into the night. Away from his protection. 

      But… then the buzzing was getting closer. That buzzing, one of those new people was getting closer, and closer. The elevator.

      Phantom peeked up from his hiding place in the dinosaur’s mouth, watching as the elevator slowly opened. Centaurus and Aquila were accompanying a new face, young once again. He was probably another kid that Aquila had. 

       Content to stay where he was for now, Phantom kept up the invisibility and just watched the trio. The newest addition was looking over the cave carefully, before he swept over where Phantom was. Except… he didn’t keep looking, no, he stopped. 

       Their eyes met, and once more Phantom could see so much. Light battling out the darkness, a constant swirl within him, equal parts of each. Strength from a strange power, pain that was pummeled every day so he could get up again to help others beat their own demons. 

      The older boy, because he wasn’t much older than himself looked to be in the last couple years of high school, blinked first, horror in his eyes as he looked at Phantom. 

      “I see you. I see your pain.” The boy spoke into the cave, it was deadly silent, but Phantom wanted to cry. Why? What did Phantom have to be sad about?

******

     The Batcave was glowing that same green the moment Duke stepped out of the elevator. This was the source, no doubt. And if Bruce and Alfred were right, the kid was somewhere in here, most likely the trophy room. 

     Just giving a cursory glance of the cave revealed so much more than that though. There, sitting in the mouth of that dinosaur was something . 

     It was like it couldn’t decide on one form. He had seen Martian Manhunter transform a couple times, the kid was like that, if he even was a kid. Neon green pulsed outwards like heat coming off of a fire. Waves and waves of it coming off of the kid, on the inside was a flickering image. 

     The first one, the more prevalent one, was like what Bruce and Alfred had described.

      Somewhat. 

     A kid, black hair, blue eyes was right. Even the paper gown was right, stained in curious looking substances. The blood danced in Duke’s eyes, like a heartbeat it pounded before his eyes, it was so stark that he could feel the vibrations of it in his head. But the worst was the green. 

      The same green that surrounded each of his family members, the same green that had found a place on every surface of the cave, that same green that surrounded the boy was shining from his chest and abdomen in a recognizable Y-shape, reaching out into the darkness, closing and reopening. 

      Duke’s own stomach churned at that image. 

      The second image, the second form, was much less human. 

     That intense green had corrupted the kid’s eyes, they shone like a flashlight, moving like the lava in a lamp as they stared right back into Duke’s. There, under the gaze of the kid/creature/them, Duke felt seen, like everything he had ever done for another person was laid bare and examined. 

     A black suit of some sort covered him mostly, cut off half way up his neck revealed another dark scar on this kid. A deep gash slit over his throat horizontally, green oozing down like some sort of blood, that wound hadn’t healed either. He had claws too, black and wispy, this form was more attuned to the darkness. It seemed to swallow him at the edges, not all quite there. Duke would bet five dollars that if the kid opened his mouth there would be fangs visible too. What might have once been white hair looked burnt on one side, the other side was moving in non-existent wind. 

       This all happened in just a couple seconds, but in that time Duke must have managed to connect to this kid’s empathy. There was so much pain that the kid was feeling, so much loneliness. It broke his heart.

      “I see you. I see your pain.” Duke spoke strongly. He didn’t know this kid, but fuck, he would do everything in his power to change that. “You don’t have to hurt anymore.”

      A single tear dripped down the kid’s cheek.

Chapter Text

Almost immediately, Duke must have seen the teenager, because he stiffened up. He looked pained . Something was obviously wrong, perhaps more than anything he, Alfred, or the scanners had picked up.

     Very rarely did Bruce wish he had powers. Content with the way he was; sure in his ways of fighting off some of the darkness of Gotham. But this was one of those times. He couldn’t be sure of what Duke was seeing, he was missing information. 

       But Duke was reliable, and he could count on him to do the best with the information he was given. 

      “You don’t have to hurt anymore.” Duke spoke, power behind his voice. He was sure of that fact. But Bruce had known the teen long enough to hear the pain in his tone. It sounded like this kid had managed to snare all three of them into his web. 

       “Holy shit, he can fly.” Duke mumbled just loud enough for Alfred and Bruce to hear. Watching Duke’s eyes tracking, it was obvious that the kid flew over the gap in the middle of the room to land in front of them. 

        If Bruce wasn’t Batman and had a reputation to hold up, he would have jumped as suddenly the kid appeared a couple paces in front of them. He looked exactly as he had when Bruce saw him earlier. But now he was able to look for more details.

        The kid’s gaze traveled over each of them in turn carefully. 

        “Thank you for allowing us to see you. Would you mind giving us your name? So I know how to address you.” Alfred didn’t miss a beat. 

        The kid looked scared by this question, squirming in his spot. Duke had said he flew, but he wasn’t flying now, just bare feet on the cold concrete. 

         “Phantom.” It was a gravely whisper, forced out past damaged vocal cords. But what did Bruce expect? The kid looked malnourished and bruised all over. Not to mention his name . That had so many implications, none of them good.

        “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Phantom. I wanted to thank you for all the happiness that has been around the cave as of late. I know this old place certainly could use it.” Alfred’s words seemed to perk Phantom up, whose frown suddenly turned into half of a proud smile. 

         “You’re welcome, Centaurus.” A little wave of happiness spread through them again, much better than all the fear from before. However, suddenly Phantom was suddenly alternating between visible and not. 

        Bruce would think about the nickname later.

       “What’s wrong? You’re flickering.” Bruce wanted to rush forward and check on him, but considering how he had dealt with people approaching him before, Bruce remained rooted to his spot. He refused to scare this child, he didn’t deserve anything that had happened, and to add more to his plate…

       “I’m tired, I need to rest. I don’t have enough energy yet.” And just like that, the kid disappeared again. 

      “He’s… gone. I can’t see him anywhere.” Duke spun around in place once, looking high and low. But Bruce had already walked over to his computers.

      He had research on ghosts that needed to be done.

*****

      Jason was still fighting it. He didn’t want to go back to the fucking Manor. He didn’t want to ask for help. He could figure this out on his own. 

      Now, if only he could convince his brain of the same thing. Jason didn’t know why, but he wanted to go back. Something was calling him there. And that something was slowly winning. 

      Grumpily, he put the books down on the counter. Maybe some reading could solve his problem. It solved lots of problems, mostly by avoidance or ignoring it until those feelings went away. 

      He had experience, okay? He’d spent plenty of nights recovering from a bullet to the shoulder, or a broken arm by settling on his crappy couch and reading an old favorite. 

      “Hi Jason. Doing some research?” Barbara asked him, her eyebrows were raised high as she scanned each one. 

         GHOSTS , Are You Cursed? , Supernatural Entities for Dummies , Is Your House Haunted: A Guide , Myths: Abaasy to Zombie , Homesickness and How To Beat It . 

        Maybe he went a little overboard. 

       “The last one is for Roy.” The lie came quickly. Too quickly, as soon as he said it, he knew he was done for. You couldn’t lie about something like that to Oracle. 

      “Is Roy in town?” Barbara asked, but they both knew that answer. 

      “No.”

      Barbara let that silence sit for a moment while she made a couple clicks on the computer. 

     “Alfred still sets a plate every Sunday for you, you know. They’ll all welcome you back for even just a Sunday.” Barbara had her classic concerned tone, the same one that made him wince and feel guilty. 

      “No, it’s not that.” Jason grabbed the books in a hurry. “I-I- it’s nothing thank you. I’ll return them next week.” 

     Jason couldn’t leave fast enough. 

     “Sense and Sensibility is due on Friday!” She shouted after him, knowing fully well he already knew that, and the two high schoolers in the entryway chuckled slightly.

     Only her. 

*******

Babs: Have you spoken with Jason recently?

Babs: I’m a little worried about him.

Dickie : no 

Dickie : he’s been avoiding my calls and driving past me on patrol. 

Dickie : what happened?

Babs: he’s been visiting the library a lot. Checked out a couple books that aren’t his thing.

Dickie : …

Dickie : I’ll track him down in the morning. See what’s up. 

Babs : Thanks Dick.

Dickie : anytime. 

Dickie : In other news. Alfred’s been aski kg about you. 

Dickie : *asking

Dickie: you haven’t been at family brunch

Babs: with school starting up I’ve been short staffed and overwhelmed with last

minute reading assignment books. I should be able to get there this Sunday.

Dickie : good. We missed you

Babs: tell Alfred I miss him too

Dickie: :O

Chapter Text

    Dick was trying to get Jason to talk to him. Trying and failing. 

    Jason was stubborn, Dick knew that. They all knew that actually. But that was beside the point. Jason was stubborn, his way or the highway. It was a lot like approaching a skittish cat. 

    No matter how well you knew the cat, it took a little for it to get accustomed to you being around it again after a period away. No matter how short that period. 

     Dick would play the long game. This was his brother, and Babs said that something was going on, it’s Dick’s job to step in and look out for him. Jason didn’t like asking for help, but they weren’t the sir past selves, Dick would help Jason out. Even if he didn’t know how to ask for help. 

     So Dick began following Jason for as long as the vigilante allowed him to. If Dick tried to follow him back to whatever new safe house he had, Dick would just spook him and Jason might just hide out for a month (definitely not speaking from experience. No way.) until Dick left. 

     He would give in eventually. Just a matter of time. 

*******

     Phantom, as he had called himself, seemed to have disappeared. Alfred couldn’t find a trace of him since he told them that he was going to rest. 

        Immediately after Phantom had vanished into thin air, Alfred set off on a mission of his own. Perhaps he wasn’t ready to stay in the Manor, but Alfred would never allow a guest, or future resident, of the home to sleep on the ground tucked away in some corner. 

        So instead, Alfred had brought blankets and pillows down to the cave and set a pile in a few non-descript areas he knew most of the children of the home would not visit. Near the tool bench, at the foot of the dinosaur, and even in the trophy room. 

       There were no walls of emotions keeping Alfred from entering the trophy room like there had been before. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or bad. Was he trusted? It had Phantom been so tired that he didn’t have energy to try and keep people away? He didn’t see any sign that there had been anyone living in that section of the cave either. It was puzzling. He had been all over the area, searching for anything missing, misplaced, moved, there was nothing different. Absolutely nothing. 

      But it wasn’t a figment of his imagination, because in the last couple days Bruce had been searching all over for any sign of this boy. Nothing. Not a single hit, no mention of lost children, missing families, Bruce had even gone to the trouble of aging up missing children from years past that would fit Phantom’s age range. 

      Nothing.

      And because they couldn’t be sure when Phantom first came to the batcave, they couldn’t examine the footage frame by frame for any slight changes, and going through a whole week’s worth of footage of when Alfred estimates the first chills began without Tim’s help, it renders these attempts pretty much useless.

       None of the food Alfred left the boy was consumed either. That in particular was upsetting. Surely he would need to eat something. All this had to be done while ensuring that none of the children found his actions to be any sort of suspicious. 

       Aside from Duke, if any of them had seen Alfred doing this, there would be questions, investigations, and something would be discovered. To what extent? He couldn’t be sure, but they couldn’t overwhelm him. He deserved to be cared for.

       Bruce at the moment seemed to be going down a rabbit hole of information on ghosts, specters, and phantoms. The old campfire stories of ghosts haunting houses did strangely fit the abilities the boy possessed, but once again, that train of thought was painful. Alfred didn’t want to linger on it too long without more proof. 

       So here he was. He was checking the batcave as often as he could without being suspicious. Making food for the children, sneaking a portion downstairs, cleaning up the manor, setting up a room for Phantom, Alfred was busy, but a good busy. 

      And it was as he was bringing in more blankets to the guest room he was setting up for a permanent guest that he felt a slight chill run down his spine, accompanied with a glimpse of a hot cocoa evening with Stephanie right after she first came to the manor.

     Phantom wasn’t truly gone then. Maybe resting would help him leave the cave.       

********

      Cass knew every single inch of Wayne Manor. And that included the batcave. It was second nature for her to observe and learn everything she could about a place she was occupying. After staying here as long as she had, she knew everything there was to know about this place. Between which floorboards creaked in the library, what days apples were delivered, Damian’s secret stash of plushies, even where Alfred the Cat disappears to, Cass knew everything about her new home. 

       What she didn’t know about, was the strange orb she now had in her room. Smaller than a strawberry, fluorescent blue-green, and it had a calm aura. It even glowed in the dark. 

       It certainly hadn’t been in that trophy case when she left. And as far as she could tell from all the patrol notes, none of the others put it there. Or had even seen it. 

        That made this tiny little orb a huge mystery, and by law of the bat, a big deal. 

        It had been one day in her possession when she first realized that emotions were being sent from it, making her a little happier, a little less stressed. 

        And on the second day, she could feel a presence near her, and once, she could have sworn she saw someone out of the corner of her eye. But all she felt was calm and happiness. 

        She couldn’t just ditch it either. 

*********

       Tim was pretty sure the cave was haunted. Now, if anyone asked him, he would deny it. He knew that there were records of ghosts in League files, somewhere. But ghosts were just figments of your imagination. That’s what Tim thought up until recently however. 

        It had started innocently enough. A couple cold spots, the darkness being darker than it should be. But it had changed somehow. 

       Sometimes he would see something out of the corner of his eye. Right when Tim thought he was alone, suddenly he wouldn’t be. Someone with black hair and blue eyes, vanished faster than a blink of an eye, cold spots following wherever they went. 

      Tim is almost half certain that he didn’t used to hallucinate this much, even if he hasn’t slept in three days. And he was almost one hundred percent sure that they hadn’t gained another sibling while he was sleeping.

      He didn’t like the u nknown. Red Robin was intelligent, he knew everything. But Tim? Tim needed answers, he needed to know how things worked, why people did what they did to feel safe at night. He couldn’t sleep at night if he didn’t understand something, it would itch at the back of his mind till it was all he could think about. It could take over his mind sometimes. 

       And whatever this was, it was creeping into the place in his mind for work and coffee. He had to figure this out. He had to. 

       So if he wasn’t hallucinating, and they hadn’t gotten a new sibling, that left very few options. And Tim had seen more than enough horror movies to know what this is. 

      All that was left was research. But… doing research on ghosts in the cave… if Damian or Steph walked in to find him doing this, he’d be laughed out of the cave. Or if Bruce went through his notes… he’d die of embarrassment. 

      No, it was better to go to a second location, and use a different computer to not be traced back to him… or, better yet, books couldn’t be easily accessed through the other side. 

     The library that Babs worked at would still be open at that time. He could run over and ask her for the best ghost books. She’d know what to check out.

Chapter Text

    Phantom was somewhere above the cave he used to be in. Instead of waking to maybe one or two presences nearby and the rest above, they were all around him. This must be their real house. 

     He was slightly relieved to know they didn’t just live in another cave. 

     No, he awoke to find the orb cushioned on a black silk pillow, carefully placed on a desk, surrounded by plants and papers. 

     Columba must have found his core while he was resting, and taken him upstairs to her room. He awoke yesterday to a new location, and Columba was reading on her bed. Every once in a while she would glance at the orb, reassuring herself that it was there. 

      And for whatever reason, Phantom found that sweet. That she cared enough to look after a strange object she found. Being this close to her for two days straight, Phantom had begun to pick up on her emotions more than the others when they would just pass through the cave. 

      She was happy, content, a little anxious, and excited. From what Phantom could tell, she was starting school soon. 

      Columba’s room was a somewhat dark place. The walls were a lilac color, but all the accents in the room were dark purple. The room was alight with natural light from her window, which Phantom hadn’t seen in so long. 

       When was the last time he had seen the sun? The moon? The stars? Why was everything so blank? There had to be something before this, before the cave, before the heroes. But what? 

        Why couldn’t he remember? 

         Harsh fluorescent lights, the dizzying smell of bleach mixed with ectoplasm, screams echoing off the walls. His screams. So many voices. So much light. Not enough sleep. So tired. So much pain. 

        “You okay?” A soft voice broke Phantom from his trance. The warm touch of someone grounding him. 

        Columba. 

        Columba had a single finger on the orb, but was looking at Phantom. Where he was invisible, floating in the corner of her room. 

         “Scared? It’s safe here.” Her voice was much more gentle than he would expect. But he could feel it coming off her in waves. Worry. For him. 

         Her family had already been so nice from what Phantom knew. And she didn’t seem any different, so he dropped the invisibility. 

        She didn’t even blink. 

       It was still difficult to hold visibility for too long. He was still weak, and to project himself like this took energy. But he also wanted to be seen. 

       Idly, he wondered where Grus was. 

      “Hello.” Columba waved. 

       “Hello.” Phantom breathed out, afraid of when she might start freaking out. 

      Columba took her hand off of his core, and instead took a seat on her desk chair, never making a move to run away. They sat in silence for a long while, Columba watching Phantom, and Phantom watching her.

     Her emotions were steady. Calm, curious, and a little concerned. But not scared.

      She wouldn’t freak out. This was her way of showing him, in her own way. He took a very unnecessary deep breath, he didn’t need to breathe, but that helped somehow. 

      “I won’t hurt you.” Columba eventually said. “I’m Cass.” 

       “Phantom.” His voice bounced off the walls, 

      Happiness soaring, a grin broke across Columba’s face. “Thank you. For your trust.” 

     Why were all these people so nice? What did Phantom do to deserve these people? They were welcoming him with open arms. 

      “Thank you, for being kind.” Phantom whispered it to existence. As if when the silence broke the other shoe would drop. It didn’t. 

     Columba, Cass, nodded. But a quiet alarm started to go off on her phone, a gentle song played before she turned it off. 

      “Patrol tonight. Be back at sunrise. Safe here.” She told him, watching him carefully, but electing to leave him alone for the time being. 

       But that’s okay. He decided he would spend the night looking out the window at the smoggy night sky. The moon was at least visible. 

*******

     Tim took the stairs two at a time. The library was huge, and it closed in less than an hour. Of course if it was just Babs here tonight, she’d probably let him stay late. But either way, Babs was definitely someone who he would have to clue in, at least minimally. They were hacker buddies after all. 

      Oracle would love to help him with research. 

      Probably. That’s what the cookies were for.

      Sighing, Tim opened the big doors, beelining straight towards the front desk. Sure enough, the ginger was behind the computer, waving to him as soon as he was in view. 

      “Tim! What are you doing here?” She had a wide smile, her good mood was infectious, and Tim grinned back. He never knew what a big sister felt like before meeting Babs, and now he had three. It was safe to say though that she filled that role well, and he was happy to have her. 

      “Research. Of course. But it’s a side project, so I don’t want too much interference from Bruce or Damian.” Tim explained, placing a Tupperware container on her desk. He wasn’t above bribes, okay!? “You know how it is.”

      “Alfred’s cookies. This must be a pretty serious side project.” She laughed but took the container anyway. “All right, what can I help with?” 

      Alright, step one: complete!

      “Ghosts. I need all your reference materials on ghosts, encounters, history, the whole nine yards.” Tim already had his phone out, ready to type in the locations of the books she would no doubt send him to. 

      He wasn’t however, expecting the exasperated eye roll from Babs. 

      “I gave Jason all the best ones already. You tell him that I wasn’t trying to hide any from him. You didn’t have to come down here and bribe me. Is 23 books not enough on the supernatural?” 

       Tim balked. What? Jason?! JASON!! He was here first? How? He hasn’t even been to the Manor.      

       Unless he has. Tim was losing his touch. 

      “Ha, well, you know how Jason is. Paranoid. Well, enjoy your cookies Babs.” Tim practically ran from the library. (He missed the miffed look from Barbara) No way was Jason going to figure this out before him. 

      What the hell?!

******

      “Will you stop following me?” Jason growled out. He was sick of Dick tailing him off and on for the past two days in and out of gear.

       Dick in full Nightwing uniform dropped from a fire escape with a cocky grin on his face. They’d done this dance before, and usually Jason held out longer, tried harder to ignore Dick, but he hadn’t had much sleep lately. Jason was busy researching. 

      Between research, patrol, and what remained of half a civilian life, Jason was busy and tired.  

     “I will if you talk to me. Oracle is worried about you. I’m worried about you.” Dick held his hands up in a ‘peace’ gesture, but that just made Jason more annoyed. 

      “Well, maybe your detective skills are growing old like you, but I’d think that by constantly watching me the last two fucking days would show that I’m alive and kicking.” Walking closer to Dick, he wasn’t afraid to get all up in his business. 

      Dick’s expression softened slightly, growing more worried than annoyed, or even playful like he usually was. 

     “Red, it’s been three days, not two. What’s going on with you?” And didn’t that send a bad feeling to his core? Was he that out of it? He didn’t notice someone following him? What if it had been someone trying to kill him, not just Dick being an overbearing sibling?

     “Fuck.” Jason swore under his breath. “Something is here, in Gotham. It’s not human. I can feel it. But we can’t talk. Not here.”

    “Okay, lead the way.” Dick nodded. Jason could appreciate the fact that Dick didn’t try to comment. Maybe he did know when to shut up sometimes.

     It felt almost wrong to lead Dick back to his apartment. Jason had been working on his own for so long, a little help here and there, but nothing to the level where he would let one of them come back to his apartment.   

       He had been alone. 

       But now, parkouring over rooftops, jumping alleys, even beating up a stray mugger together, some sort of warm feeling was starting to cram its way in between the hurt, the anger, the loneliness. 

       Perhaps this was a good idea. Time would tell. It didn’t take too long to cross Crime Alley and find his apartment. Two bedrooms, one for his equipment, top floor made it easier to leave at all times. 

       Dick didn’t comment on how the building was missing a few windows and probably wouldn’t pass safety code. 

     Climbing up to his window, he frowned, someone was inside? Maybe it was whatever was haunting Jason! If he was in a better mood he might warn Dick that someone was inside. Or some thing . 

      He was in a shit mood though. 

     Busting through the window, he already had his gun pulled. Adrenaline was filling his veins again, a green tint leaking into his vision. 

     He didn’t expect to see another Wayne Ward. Much less the replacement elbow deep in the vast amount of books he had borrowed from the library. 

     “Replacement? What the fuck are you doing here?” 

Chapter Text

     Dick hadn’t been sure what exactly he was getting into when he told Babs that he’d check on Jason. All he knew was that Jason might have been spiraling again, and he could probably use a little bit of help, whether or not he saw it that way. 

     What he didn’t count on was apparently something supernatural, as well as Tim of all people being here as well. Sure, Jason and Tim had worked through the majority of their issues with one another. But that left mostly indifference towards each other as of late. 

       Not late night research parties at Jason’s. 

       But that didn’t mean it couldn’t start! Dick just had to get the ball rolling. 

      “What am I doing here? I can be wherever I want, thank you very much.” Tim huffed, not even looking up from where he had seven books open. The selection appeared to be various books about ghosts, haunting, and sightings. “Besides, this is my case.” 

        “Your case?! Obviously I was here first if I had the books! And this is my apartment, you can’t just mosey on in!” Jason exploded, stomping into the apartment. Dick sighed, following after them. It would take some work, they both were incredibly stubborn.

        “Mosey? Who says mosey any more?” Tim glared at Jason. 

        “Hey guys! Let’s put our heads together, we can solve it a lot faster if you weren’t fighting.” Dick broke in, stopping Jason from snatching a book away from Tim. “If you two haven’t been working together, then that means there’s probably different information between the two of you. Might help to get all of it.” 

          Tim glared at Jason, but didn’t deny it. Jason sighed before falling into an armchair and grabbing another book, this one titled: Ghosts vs Spectres: an Informational Guide . 

         “I’m only working with Timbo if he admits I had it first.” Jason petulantly looked away from Tim. Unbelievable. 

         “Fiiine. You had the idea for a library first. Good work Jason.” Tim growled out, scribbling something down on a piece of paper. “Now, how the hell do you know about the ghost in the Manor, Jason?” 

         That fried Dick’s brain. A ghost?

         “What?” Dick and Jason managed to say at the same time. 

         “Well obviously,” Tim holds up a couple ghost books and points to the large stacks that had covered Jason’s entire table. “You know something, otherwise you wouldn’t have cornered the market on the entirety of informational supernatural books at the library. Oh, and also, you needed help researching, so you brought in Dick ? Really? I’m so much better at research.” 

       Oh, the hurt in those words. Tim wanted to be acknowledged by Jason. The other strange truth bombs could be ignored for the moment. Tim wanted Jason’s approval in something. 

       “I didn’t ask dickhead here to help, he’s just been stalking me for days now.” Jason sighed, he seemed less angry nowadays, if anything, he seemed tired. “And duh, if I was looking for help from one of you idiots, I probably would have asked you to do sneaky computer shit. I can’t even remember my fucking Domino’s password.” 

       Dick couldn’t help the small smile. Jason was trying in his own weird, angry way.

      “It’s true. Babs just told me that Jason was checking out weird books. So I wanted to check in with him.” Tim looked over the pair of them carefully, but Dick could see the small preen in his younger brother’s movements. “But back up a moment, there’s a ghost in the Manor? Is it dangerous?”

      Tim flipped through the book he was working on titled: Ghosts of Alabama . Feeling slightly left out and out of the loop, Dick grabbed a book simply called GHOSTS . 

      “Not from what I can tell. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed Dick. Have you felt any chills recently in the cave? Unexplained happy memories?” Tim was speed reading at the moment, he uncapped his thermos which filled the small apartment with the robust scent of coffee. 

       Instantly, Dick remembered the memory of him teaching Tim acrobatics. It had been a little out of left field as far as memories go. And now that Tim mentioned it, he did find himself happier than usual anytime he walked through the cave. 

       “Yeah, I have.” Dick stared at the book in hand. He didn’t have much experience with ghosts. He didn’t like horror movies after all. “And that makes this a ghost? Why not a meta?”

       “A few reasons. The scanners in the Batcave can’t pick up on anything, from what I’ve seen, all it gets is static interference. Classic ghost move.” He holds up: Signs You’re Haunted . “No heartbeat recorded, but there’s something else.” Tim’s eyes dart over to Jason who had been strangely quiet. “I’ve seen it. A couple times. I thought it was Damian. It looks like a kid, maybe my age? Black hair, scrawny, and I think I saw blood. Ghosts apparently often form from strong emotions and painful deaths.” 

       “Okay, I guess that makes sense, as much as it can.” So maybe there was something to this. It didn’t seem like one of Tim’s caffeine fueled delusions. Those never lasted after he slept for a little bit. But this was clearly something on going. Tim had even been getting more sleep lately than usual. “But that doesn’t track, how are you looking into this too?” Dick looked to Jason. 

       Jason was clearly uncomfortable. “Fucking hell. I need a cigarette.” He mumbled, but didn’t make any move to grab one. “For the record, I didn’t have it narrowed down to just a ghost. I’ve been looking over a few now. Something was here. In my apartment.” 

       Dick took a look around, he hadn’t ever been in this apartment of Jason’s. He had a couple safe houses, one that he reluctantly allowed the bats to use, but only in emergencies. But it was cozy, at least for Jason’s sparse lifestyle. No signs of a ghost that Dick could tell, but what did he know?

      “It was that night that tension broke all over Gotham. You remember? It’s like a month ago now.” Jason picked up a book: Demonology . “It’s because of what it said to me that I was thinking maybe demons?” 

      “Wait, it talked to you?” Tim was taking notes, per usual. Dick watched with fascination as these two communicated without punches and low blows. It warmed that space in his heart that was specifically for his siblings.

      “Yeah. If you can call it speaking. It hurt. I don’t know what happened, how it did it, but after the pain went away, I didn’t have the pit madness. All the side effects were gone. They’ve come back now, so don’t give me that starry-eyed look Dick. It said, ‘he needs your protection. He is fragile.’ And when I asked who the fuck it was talking about, it said ‘your king’.” All three sat in silence for a moment, allowing Jason’s words to fall on them. 

       “That’s completely different from what’s going on in the cave… but the timeline is the same.” Tim eventually spoke. “Your king? You pledge loyalty to anything recently Jay?” Tim had a small smile as he said this. 

       “Not on my life.” Jason growled. But didn’t that make sense, a strange twisted sort of sense. “But I thought that since the Pit is somehow involved, a kingly connection through the pit? Who knows what it’s made of.”

       “So because you were brought back through the pit, exposed so heavily to the waters, you have a connection to a ghost, maybe multiple? Your ghost sounds different from the Manor one.” Dick started flipping through the books, fully invested now. 

      “There’s another thing… ever since then, something has been trying to pull me back to the Manor. Something wants me there. And if you know there’s a ghost there… that might be it.” Jason sounded so tired. Not even angry, but tired. 

      Dick shared a concerned look with Tim. Clearly they were both starting to grow worried about whatever was going on, but ultimately, they were worried for Jason. 

     “We’re gonna figure this out, Jaybird. Now we’ve got three minds working on this. Run me through the signs of hauntings.” Dick wasn’t there for Jason before, and he had died. But Dick was here now. He wanted to help him however he could. 

     “Thank you both.” Jason spoke so quietly, he barely heard it, but Jason had said it.

Chapter Text

   Duke stared at the door. And then stared some more. Did he dare? His hand hovered above the door knob, heart pounding. 

      Cass would probably kill him if he walked in without permission. But, he’s been driving himself crazy the last couple days. Phantom disappeared, Duke couldn’t find him anywhere, no trace of the green light, no sign of the boy. 

       Duke had searched up and down the cave, Alfred had too from what they discussed. Bruce had even turned the place upside down. No sign. 

     Now, when Duke was just walking to his room to turn in for the night, he noticed the green glow beneath Cass’ door. But she was still on patrol tonight. Meaning there shouldn’t be anyone inside to cast a light. 

      Damnit, Cass would totally know that he went into her room. Gnawing on his bottom lip, Duke pushed the door open, immediately finding Phantom pressed up against the window, looking out. 

      What was Phantom doing up here? As far as Duke could tell, he never left the cave. But even more pressing, or equally pressing (honestly everything is pressing at this point) was the blinking light on Cass’ desk. 

       It was that same green light that was emitting from Phantom, but it also had a cobalt blue shine to it as well. Was that part of him as well? 

       Did Cass know he was here? Did she know about Phantom? He would have to ask her in the morning. 

       “Phantom?” Duke asked, hovering in the doorway looking in. The kid startled, turning those fluorescent green eyes to Duke. “Hi, I haven’t been able to find you the last couple days. How are you liking the Manor?” 

       The kid was hurt, scared, and sick by the looks of things, pale, sickly thin, and slightly green (although Duke couldn’t tell how much was contributed by the green aura) he couldn’t exactly be upset with Phantom for wandering off. 

       “I like looking outside.” The static in his voice continued, his form shifted a little, but the injuries were still plain as day. Biting the bullet, Duke entered Cass’ room. 

      The view from Cass’ window was decent. The skyline of Gotham lit up in the distance, somewhere out there the Batgirls and Batman were running around taking down crime. The full moon was visible through the smog, casting everything in a slightly orange glow. 

       Duke dragged the office chair near Phantom without getting too close. He didn’t want to overwhelm him. 

       “The moon is awesome tonight. Do you prefer the daytime or the night?” So far, this introduction was going better than his introduction to Damian, honestly, he’d like a chill sibling. 

       “Night. I like the stars.” A pale hand went to touch the glass before pausing, a troubled look on his face. 

      “What’s wrong?” Phantom just shuddered and remained silent. “You don’t have to tell me, not now. But Alfred, Bruce, and I want to help you, however we can.”

        “W-will you… watch the moon with me? I don’t like being alone all the time.” Phantom whispered. And wasn’t that just heartbreaking?

       “Of course. I can hang out here for a while. First day of school is tomorrow though, so I’ll have to leave eventually.” Duke leaned back in the chair and settled in to remain by Phantom’s side for now. He could keep his new brother company.

      Later that night, when Duke drifted off to sleep, Phantom moved him to his own room and tucked him into bed.

*********

       Damian Wayne was no fool. Raised an assassin, trained as Robin, Damian was observant, agile, and a detective. He knew something was going on with his siblings. They were sneaking around, whispering, and from Damian could see, even ALFRED was in on it. Partnered with Thomas no less. 

      So trying times call for drastic measures. Although, he never thought he’d see this day. Partnered with an unexpected ally. 

      “So, baby bat, is there a reason we’re driving separately from everyone else to get to school today?” Brown looked at Damian. She had laughed so hard when Damian proposed to drive separately this morning from the others. 

      It’s a partnership of necessity. He could deal with her dumb jokes for now. For now. 

     “I believe the others are keeping secrets. There’s been sneaking around. I think Duke is working with Alfred and Father.” Damian growled. 

      “Omg, are you jealous? So cute!” Brown squealed, making Damian roll his eyes. 

      “I’m not jealous. I’m concerned. Why haven’t we been included? Surely the more people looking into whatever this is, the better.” He refused to look at Brown. And definitely not because his cheeks were burning. 

     “I do have to admit, Duke and Cass have been a little bit reserved since they came back from Egypt. But their notes pretty much said everything was wrapped up. If it had anything to do with Karma, they would have asked us for help.” Brown turned left. 

      “I doubt it has anything to do with Egypt. If Alfred is involved… must be something serious.” Damian had better things to be doing than going to school . But he did promise that he’d be at the first day so the art club could have a good start to the year.

        Meanwhile Alfred and Father could go about their business without an eye on them. 

       “Okay, well, I think you’re onto something little bat. But we have to be careful. Dick and Tim were out late last night too. It wasn’t even their patrol.” Damian balked. He was so busy watching Alfred last night, that he didn’t pay attention to Grayson of all people. 

       “This changes things. We need to figure out what they’re doing, and we can’t let them know that we know. Whatever they’re trying to do, we do it before they do.” He could be competitive, but so could the rest of the family. 

       “This is so awesome. Okay, you and me little bat. What should we call this mission, operation stealth bat?” Brown’s smile was a mile wide, practically jumping up and down in her seat. 

       “That’s a dumb name, Brown.” And if Damian didn’t offer a better name, that was between them.

Chapter Text

       The morning had been hectic. Early in the morning, Columba (Cass) had returned tired and worn out from her patrol. She did make sure to greet Phantom before quickly passing out in her bed. Phantom made sure that she was tucked in and warm as she slumbered. 

       Her alarm went off four hours later, and she awoke at once, quickly getting ready for what she told him was the first day of school.  

       And was promptly kicked out of the room while she changed. 

       In the hall, many of the other rooms were abuzz with activity. Centaurus was knocking on Tucana’s room, practically dragging him out of bed. Tucana hadn’t even returned last night till 4am, but he didn’t have patrol, which was a little odd for him. 

       There was a moment where the youngest, Pavo, seemed to have misplaced his tie, and had a bit of a freak out. Luckily it seemed Centaurus was prepared, and had an extra. 

       Slowly but surely, they all made their ways downstairs under the careful eyes of Centaurus and Aquila. 

       Phantom watched through Cass’ window as Apus, Tucana, Grus, Columba, and Pavo left for school. 

         Protect . That thing deep inside Phantom whispered again as they drove out of sight. He wanted to follow, he needed to, but he was too weak. He would have to grow stronger so he could follow them eventually. 

       But that other part of him, the one that was happy here, reminded him that these people seemed to be okay on their own so far. They were strong, they were clever. They had even discovered he was here in the first place. They wanted him to be safe. 

      Phantom tensed up as a knock came from the door. He sensed Centaurus on the other side, but surely he remembered Columba leaving not five minutes ago. 

      “Young Master Duke informed me that you were taking shelter in Miss Cassandra’s room.” Centaurus must be able to read minds, Phantom decided. 

       “Come in.” After all, Phantom was still having trouble holding tangibility long enough to interact with objects, he wasn’t sure he could manipulate the door long enough to use it. 

      The door opened to reveal Centaurus as he usually looked, but that small amount of worry in him dropped off as soon as he saw Phantom. 

      “Good morning. I’m very glad to see you.” And wasn’t that kind? Phantom got up from where he sat near the window. “If you’re amenable, would you like an official tour of the Manor while everyone is gone? It is just you and I today. The others are all at school or in Master Bruce’s case, at Wayne Industries.” 

        “A tour?” While Phantom had managed to see some of the Manor, it was all while he was sneaking around. An official tour sounded great, and what did he have to do? He was getting a little bored, even if Columba left her laptop on running with TV shows playing.

       “Certainly. You’ve been here for a while , honestly it’s a disservice to not have shown you around.” Phantom wanted to go, but in order to… he needed his core. 

       “If you hold this while we go, I can come along.” Phantom pointed to the core, resting innocently on Cass’ desk. 

********

      Alfred was relieved to finally have located their guest. Duke had come to him this morning right before running out the door for school. He had found Phantom last night, in Cassandra’s room of all places. 

       And today was a perfect day to try and cement Phantom's trust in him. None of the children were here, making the Manor an empty space without any people to scare off their ghostly guest. 

       Bruce had done various tests, stayed until the sunrise researching and trying to find a boy to match Phantom. No dice. And then there were the powers. 

       Alfred didn’t want to believe it, but he wasn’t one to deny what he saw either. In any case, Phantom displayed ghostly abilities, but he was still very much here, with them. 

       “This, sir?” Alfred held up the luminous marble. It was slightly larger than an average marble he played with as a child. But as he held it carefully in his gloved hand, he could feel that same chill come off of it that came off of Phantom. 

        “Yes. I cannot leave without it.” Phantom stood beside Alfred, but he could see the hope in the child’s eyes. He wanted so badly to trust Alfred. Of course Alfred would do everything in his power to nourish that trust. 

      “Is it alright if I put it in my pocket for now? That way it is protected?” He eyed the decorative pillow it had been rested on. It appeared that Cassandra had found this before him. 

       “Yes.” That static crackled, now a familiar sound to Alfred. 

      “Very well. Let’s start at the entrance for our tour.” Alfred carefully put the orb in his breast pocket, there it wouldn’t move. 

       Alfred truly gave Phantom the tour of the entire Manor. And with each room, Alfred was more and more sure that this was just some hurt child. His eyes glazed over with wonder at each new room. 

      The library and kitchen were particularly interesting to Phantom, who spent at least twenty minutes hovering and poking around. Hopefully he would find these places to be comforting. 

       Alfred wasn’t a detective, but he could spot a child not used to wealth on this scale a mile away. After all, that was every child that walked through these doors. More than once, Phantom asked if it truly was all Aquila’s. The nickname confused him for a moment, before working it out. 

       As the tour continued, more nicknames that Phantom gave each member were revealed, all were constellations, and all except apparently his own were birds. It was cute. 

      Tomorrow, Alfred would go out and get a couple star and space themed things to decorate his new room. He had been struggling a little on how to decorate the newest room. He didn’t know the child well enough to try and suit it to their taste. But he knew constellations, more than the average, so that was a safe place to start. 

      By the time they had circled back around to the hallway for the children, Phantom was fading in and out more often. 

      “Tired? I can leave you to rest then.” Alfred pushed the door open once more to Cassandra’s room. Before he showed Phantom his room, Bruce would need to announce him to the rest of the family. 

       “Thank you.” Phantom whispered, disappearing fully from Alfred’s view as he placed the orb back in its place. 

     “Anytime, Master Phantom.” But he had already fallen asleep. Perhaps they would reveal at the next family brunch…

Chapter Text

      Jason awoke slowly, he was vaguely aware that he fell asleep in a strange position, his neck sore, legs splayed strangely. Next, the pit madness crept in, that anger simmering at the edge of every breath. And finally he could feel that pull to go to the Manor, the most recent addition to his daily routine. Then, when he opened his eyes, all he could see was pale yellow. 

      There was a post-it note on his forehead. 

      Groaning, he pulled it off allowing for the morning sun infiltrating his apartment windows to hit his senses. He must have slept in, the sun almost reaching its peak already judging by the position of the shadows on the floor. 

           You losers fell asleep. I had to go home to go to school this morning. You and Dick should go get the supply list, we’ll go investigate tonight. -T

         It was written in Tim’s strange half-cursive half chicken scratch writing, but Jason eventually managed to decipher it. 

        That’s right, they had spent all night researching and coming up with a game plan to figure out what or who exactly was haunting the manor. Jason didn’t remember falling asleep, but clearly he did. Looking over at the armchair, he couldn’t help the smirk as he saw Dick in a very familiar position with a post-it on his face too. 

        Jason snapped a picture, he would send it to his siblings later, when Dick could fully appreciate the embarrassment. Right now some of that magic would be lost. 

       Looking down, he was slightly startled to not only see a blanket draped across Dick’s body, but his as well. That was… unexpected. Had Tim? He must have, but it still didn’t make sense. Tim hated him.

        Dismissing that strange warmth filling his senses from that realization, Jason’s gaze moved to the supply list they had made last night. 

        It seemed much more ridiculous now in the light of day. But… if they were to get to the bottom of this…

        “Dickie! Wake up!” Jason threw his crumpled up note as hard as he could at Dick’s face, it bounced off harmlessly. 

        “Wha? I’m up!” Said vigilante stood up, alert all at once, until he tripped over the blanket tangled around his legs, and blinded by the post-it note on his forehead. 

        “Smooth. We gotta go buy the shit. And I’m not buying a Ouija board by myself. You have to look just as stupid with me.” Jason snorted and snapped another picture before going to change into somewhat presentable clothes. 

         They had a lot to prepare before confronting whatever was haunting the Manor and the greater of all Gotham that night. 

******

          Duke was avoiding her. How dare he? What did he think that was going to get him? From across the physics classroom, Cass glared daggers at Duke. 

          For just a moment, their eyes met. His eyes widened, jaw slightly slack before he buried his face in his textbook again, looking anywhere but at her. He was so lucky they had assigned seating for this class, otherwise she would have already gone over and interrogated him. 

          What was he doing in her room last night? Alfred was the only one allowed in her room without her permission (Phantom didn’t count, he could stay there as long as he’d like). But Alfred didn’t leave signs that he had been there, other than clean surfaces and new sheets. But her chair had been moved, blankets unfolded, and pillows rumpled. 

          Phantom had even confirmed that Duke had been in there. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Duke, but Cass’ room was her safe spot, and now it was a safe spot for her new brother. She was building a case to present to Bruce, she had a PowerPoint and everything. But she needed a good case, and she couldn’t have Duke spilling the beans before she was ready. 

            Besides, she wanted the best sibling award, bragging rights for their newest addition. He seemed so scared and hurt, everything had to be perfect to present to Bruce and the others. She couldn’t mess this up, Phantom deserved to be happy and safe. And Duke was this close to ruining that. 

         Cass scribbled a couple things down on her worksheet throughout the hour, but she mostly just stared at Duke. It was the first day, meaning the teacher was trying to determine how much all the students knew about physics, making it an easy assignment. 

         She knew a lot of answers from practical experience anyways. She knew how objects moved because she watched everything. If she dropped two objects of different masses at the same time, at the same height, she knew how they would act. Having a basic understanding of physics was essential to running around on rooftops, fighting people bigger than her, and avoiding weapons launched at her. Thank you Batgirl training. 

        Eventually, the bell rang, and Cass shot up out of her seat, sight set on Duke. Cass had already been packed up, she did it silently so as to not disturb her prey and let him know, who in fact, hadn’t packed up his bag just yet. 

       Perfect. 

      “You were in my room.” Cass narrowed her eyes at Duke, she stood on the other side of his desk. 

      “Um… yeah. Sorry about that.” Duke laughed awkwardly. His usual sign that he was feeling awkward or nervous. 

     “Why?” Duke was a horrible liar. He couldn’t get away this time. 

     “Um… well, I was looking for someone.” Someone? He was being particularly avoidant. If he was looking for Steph or someone else, he would just say so. Meaning… 

       “Phantom?” Duke’s eyes widened, so she was right.

       “Wait, you’ve seen him too? Did he just reveal himself?” Duke had completely abandoned packing his things up by now. 

      “Yes. He’s my new brother. Dibs.” She pursed her lips. Obviously Phantom wasn’t an object, but… she wanted dibs anyways. 

     “That’s not how that works! And I saw him first, when we first got back from our trip.” And he hadn’t told her? Rude.

     “But he’s in my room, not yours.” Cass crossed her arms as she said this. She wouldn’t back down.

     “Well, Alfred and I are setting one up in the guest room, next to Tim’s bedroom.” 

     “Alfred?” She wasn’t aware that Agent A knew he was here too! She’d have to talk to him. 

*******

     Stephanie didn’t have physics with Cass and Duke, unfortunately. But she had run over to the physics room as quickly as she could, phone in hand. She had hoped to intercept them on their way to third period, which they all had together.

     She and Damian had agreed that morning that while at school, Steph would keep tabs on Duke and Cass since she had a couple classes with them, meanwhile Dami would follow Tim, in case he was involved too. 

      So by the time that Stephanie found Duke and Cass after second period, she had missed most of the conversation. For whatever reason, they were still in the physics room. She hit record on her phone anyways as she peeked around the door. 

     Operation Stealth Bat was a go.

      “-not yours.” Cass seemed defensive, so they probably weren’t on the same team.

      “Well, Alfred and I are setting one up in the guest room, next to Tim’s bedroom.” One? One what? A prank? A trap? Why in an empty bedroom?

      “Alfred?” 

     “Miss Cain, Mr. Thomas, Miss Brown, third period starts in two minutes. And if I’m not mistaken, none of you have physics that block.” Mrs. Wackman suddenly spoke up, her arms crossed as she looked over each of them. But she also blew her cover! Cass and Thomas immediately turned to find Steph with her phone out. 

      “Whoops.” She bolted. She was so dead. Pulling up the new chat she had with Damian, she had to send the video there before she deleted it. No proof could be available to her siblings. If it truly was a prank war, then there weren’t any measures she wouldn’t take.

Operation Stealth Bat  message chain

Steph: sent a video

Steph: dami, I’m sending you this before it gets deleted by Cass and Duke, they saw me 

Steph: :,o

Steph: I’m so dead

Steph: but Cass and Duke aren’t on the same team, but Alfred is CONFIRMED WITH DUKE 

LittleBat: stop with the spamming brown

LittleBat: and why am I nicknamed this. How did you get my phone to do that

Steph: that literally doesn’t even matter, I have history with them, and they’re gonna find out Operation Stealth Bat!

LittleBat: this goes deeper than we thought. We’re going to have to check out that room when we get home.

       With her heart pounding, Steph rounded the corner to the history classrooms, only to see Cass already there, eyes narrowed. Whoops. 

       “Heyyyyyy Cass. Class is about to start-” Stephanie began, only to be interrupted by the bell. “Saved by the bell. Talk later Cass!” Stephanie fan past her into the room. 

      “Miss Brown, no running in the classroom!” The teacher called. “Please take your seat. The seating chart is on the screen.” 

      Her heart dropped as she saw not only did she sit with Duke, but also Cass. She was so dead.

Chapter Text

Duke glanced at his watch again. 

      Two more minutes. It seemed to go on and on, forever. The second hand ticked again, then again, and again. 

      He glanced across the room. Stephanie was sending him panicked looks between whatever she was doing on her phone hidden underneath her desk. Her foot was tapping frantically. 

       Between him and Cass, they hadn’t been able to get an answer out of her about what exactly she was doing this morning recording their conversation. Which only made this already strange day stranger. 

      The first day of school, Cass apparently knowing about Phantom, worrying about said person in the Manor, hoping Alfred had made him more comfortable, and now Stephanie acting stranger than usual. 

      One more minute. 

      And now she was acting antsy, she was going to bolt the moment the bell rang. And because Damian was being… well, Damian this morning, she drove separately at his request. That meant he wouldn’t be able to ask her in the car what was up. 

      The only thing he could think of, was that she was rushing to get home before Duke and Cass, but why? And the only option at the Manor was Phantom, but did she know about him? 

      The bell rang, vibrating in his chest, and Stephanie shot off like a bullet. 

       “Steph! Wait!” Duke ran after her. 

       “Don’t forget to read the first chapter of the textbook by tomorrow!” A teacher shouted after him, but he disregarded it. 

      Stephanie had already turned the corner by the time Duke made it outside the room, and the hallways flooded with other Gotham Academy students. Grumbling to himself, Duke tried to push past the students walking at -2mph, and other times walked with the incredibly slow flow of movements through the body of the school. 

      Finally, eventually, he found his way to the student parking lot. There, parked at the front waiting for him was Cass’ near-black car, she was waiting in the driver’s seat. He had to push past a couple students catching up with one another, talking obnoxiously loud for the record, before being in earshot of Cass. 

     “Get in.” As Duke grabbed the door handle, Stephanie drove past, music blaring, and both her and Damien were sticking their tongues out at them. 

     “Ours now!” Damian shouted out as they drove past, leaving Duke and Cass in their dust. 

      “Shit.” Duke threw open the door, did Damian even know what he was doing? Phantom needed stability! Not the overwhelming force that Stephanie and Damian could be when they had their sights set on something.

      Cass drove off even before the door was completely closed, swerving around a guy walking to his own car. Duke grabbed onto the seatbelt, hooking himself in without question. But a quick glance to the back revealed the lack of a very tired looking sibling. 

       “Uh, what about Tim?” Cass sped out of the parking lot. 

       “He’ll figure it out.” Whelp… Duke held on for dear life as Cass tore down the streets of Gotham. Maybe it was better that Tim wasn’t in the car. 

*********

      Damian had kept careful contact with Brown throughout the day. Whenever he could get away with having his phone out, he did. He clued her in on when he was able to get a glance at Drake during his lunch. Per usual, Drake was tired and worn out. But he had a fresh notebook out. 

       Now, usually in a school setting, especially on a first day, that wouldn’t be so strange. But Drake, as much as Damian hated to admit it, was smart. Beyond smart really, and he never took notes or carried notebooks. The only reason he had a notebook was for a case, new inventions, or during prank wars. 

        He was up to something. But Damian didn’t have much room to figure it out now. However, it would appear he was running out of time. 

       Thomas was making a move, something was happening in the corridor that had all their rooms, and it appeared that he was getting Cain to join his alliance. 

       That just meant that he and Brown had to make a strong opening move right when returning from school. Preferably before Thomas and Cain return. What better way was there, than to take control of their new room of operations?

       The final wrench that was thrown in the mix was that as the last hour of school approached, the tracker that Damian had placed on Drake was moving far further than it should for Drake’s study hall. In fact, it moved towards the front door. In fact, he watched with surprise and slight dread, as Drake walked out the building. 

LittleBat: bad news, RR is leaving now. 

Steph: now?!!!! 0.0 

Steph: how’s he leaving early 

LittleBat: not sure. Right now he’s idling outside of school.

Steph: we gotta get home asap. At least before Duke and Cass. The moment the bell rings, run for my car. Operation Stealth Bat is in peril

LittleBat: I’ll be there the second the bell rings.

       And that’s how Damian found himself here, in Brown’s car, reaching speeds normally only seen in Gotham in the Batmobile. 

      “I have a spare glitter gun in the glove compartment.” The blonde gestured to said compartment. 

      “Really Brown?” And why wasn’t he surprised?

     “It’s important! And useful! Clearly, we’re gonna need it now. Unless you have some major pranks ready in your backpack.” Brown was the best as sass, except maybe Alfred. 

       And unfortunately, Brown was right. He only had a couple half baked plans, nothing solid, and nothing he could use in the next ten minutes. Frustrated, Damian popped the glove compartment open. Inside there were Batburger coupons, napkins, her registration, a rubber duck, and hand sanitizer. 

        “Brown-” 

        “It’s a false bottom.” Sure enough, Damain popped the bottom out, revealing a glitter gun and a taser. 

       “Huh. Handy.” Damian mumbled, turning the glitter gun over in his hands. It reminded him of a NERF gun, the base was probably taken from that. But she had spray painted it pink and purple, and was covered in glitter. 

       “It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Brown asked, flipping her hair as she took another turn too hard. They were getting close to the Manor now, leaving the heart of Gotham.

       “Yeah.” Damian responded, distracted by pulling up his map of trackers. He only had a couple active, the one on Drake, then the one placed on Cain’s car. 

      “Drake is heading towards the Manor!” He had been stationary for a while a few blocks from the school for the last hour, but now… 

      “Timmy is so getting it.” Brown’s grip tightened, her knuckles turning white on the steering wheel. 

      Brown turned another corner, pulling onto Main Street, only to find a familiar car right shards of them. 

     “How’d they get in front of us?” Damian screeched, looking at the back of Cain’s car. 

     “Ah! They must have taken that detour for the construction on 3rd street.” Brown wailed, moving over a lane, but Cain only sped up, not allowing for her to pass. 

    Damain’s heart was racing in his chest. He didn’t want to lose another prank war, and for this one they had even been kept in the dark! He couldn’t let this happen.  

    “The moment we get to the Manor, run for the mystery room. Just jump out of the car.” Tightening his grip on the glitter gun, he could feel the adrenaline pumping in his veins. 

      The manor came into view. One minute max before they arrived, still with Cain and Duke in front of them. 

      “We’ll at least go down fighting. And they’ll be glittery. I bet they weren’t counting on us noticing how sketchy they’ve been before it was too late.” Brown had that power behind her voice, the one that never ended well for whoever was on the receiving end of her pranks.

      “Next time, we’ll team up before they can even think about forming alliances. This will be the strongest one yet.” Damian promised. 

      Ahead of them, Cain’s car screeched to a stop just outside the front door to the Manor, and Brown followed suit. Before it was even parked, Damian was flying out of the front seat, running inside, hot on the heels of Thomas.

      His older sibling was running like his life depended on it, perfect runner’s form, so of course Damian followed suit. He couldn’t be shown up. 

      “Get back here Thomas!” Holding the glitter gun, Damian took aim, and fired, washing the entire entrance hall, including Thomas, in a cloud of bright pink glitter. 

      “What the hell?” Thomas yelled, but Damain had already overtaken and passed him, cackling the whole way. 

      Thomas’ footsteps were loud behind him, each one just a few feet behind. Following him, and slowly, ever so slightly catching up as Damian reached the wing where their bedrooms were. 

      Perfect, there! The room next to Tim’s. The hallway was just like it was when they left this morning for school, empty. But he couldn’t let appearances fool him. He knew his target. 

      Right as he reached out to grab the door handle, Thomas tackled him. 

      “Hey!” Damian yelled, outraged, he tried to squirm out of Thomas’ grasp, but to no avail. 

      “I can’t let you go in there! It’s a surprise!” Thomas was strong, annoyingly strong as Damain sat there and struggled. 

     “What kind of dumb surprise is a prank room?” Damian wished he was taller, but he hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet.

     “What? A prank room? Cain asked behind Damian. He looked up, and sure enough, Cain and Brown stood there, out of breath, Cain with one arm in front of Brown, daring her to enter said room. 

      “The prank room you two idiots are making.” Damian pointed to the room, but as the look of pure confusion crossed Cain’s face, Damian considered that maybe, perhaps, they had jumped to too many conclusions. 

       “You think this is a prank room? Is that why I’m covered in glitter?” Thomas complained, letting Damian go. 

      Gracefully getting to his feet, and in no way did Damian stumble, he glared at Cain and Thomas. 

      “Alright, so if it isn’t a prank room, what is it?” Damian took his place next to Brown, and crossed his arms like hers. They had to show a unified front. 

     Before either of the perpetrators could answer, a slow mechanical whine echoed down the hallway. 

    Confused, Damian, and the rest of them turned to find a strange sight: Grayson, Drake, and Todd were all in the hallway, holding various gadgets. And the one in Drake’s hand was blinking a slow red and whining. 

     “Jason?” Thomas and Brown both asked in unison. 

     “Todd?!” Damian couldn’t help the sheer confusion that leaked into his voice. Damian has never seen Todd in the Manor before. 

      But said sibling was ignoring them. He seemed to be in a daze, before he opened the door to Cain’s room. 

      “Don’t go in there!” Cain shouted, running to intercept, but Grayson blocked her. Damian followed, confused and feeling incredibly out of the loop. 

      Before he could even begin to ask anything, a neon green flash of light came from Cain’s room, blinding all of them for a moment. 

      As a unified front, they all ran into Cain’s room, only to find Todd, holding the limp and injured form of a teenage boy.

Chapter Text

Underneath his hands, the desk vibrated. And again. And again.

     “Are you gonna get that?” Bernard asked, looking at Tim. “Cause I think someone’s trying to reach you.” 

     “It’s just Dick and Jason. Being pains.” Sighing, Tim picked up the phone only to find eighteen missed texts from his brothers. 

      Scrolling to the top, he started again at the beginning, which had begun a couple hours prior after those two managed to finally wake up. 

Dick started a new group chat: GHOSTBUSTERS

Dick: how much money does a good Ouija board cost? Like if I get the discount one does that only contact ghosts sometimes?

Dick: also if that discount Ouija board happens to be slightly dmanged does that make it more difficult to talk? Will they be offended?

Dick:*damaged

Jason: Replacement, you have to answer him. He’s having a moment in the store

Tim: just get the full price one. It’s not like you’re hurting for money rn

Tim: right?

Dick: good point

Tim: I’m in class rn. So shut up, we’ll figure this out after my classes

Jason: We might need your input for the electronics.

Tim: fine, whatever

Dick: okay electronics acquired. The store manager was very helpful. 

Jason: Dick just bought one of everything the guy talked about.

Dick: we have to do this right jaybird!

Tim: I’M IN SCHOOL

Dick: sorry, we’ll leave you alone

Dick: jason wants to go look for ghosts now, he’s impatient

Jason: That’s such a fucking lie.

Jason: Dick wants to go now. 

Jason: What time is your study hall?

Jason: Answer me Tim. I know you’re enough of a nerd that you’re gonna graduate early. Meaning you’ve got at least one study hall. 

Jason: Nerd.

Dick: Tim, we’re gonna ask Oracle to hack into your school schedule if you don’t answer 

Dick: Timmy

Dick: timbo 

Jason: Too late. I already texted her. She says you have one last period. Making it a perfect time for you to leave early. 

Dick: we’ve got everything we need to go look for ghosts. We just need your help to set them up. 

Jason: We are parked outside your school.

Dick: someone just left early. Looks like their parent came to pick them up. 

Dick: WAIT

Dick: I’M YOUR BROTHER

Jason: He's walking in now. Fair warning. 

Dick: the man at the front desk is very nice. And totally understanding when I told him that you need to leave for a family emergency. 

      As Tim read the last message, the phone in the classroom rang. Cringing internally, Tim sighed and turned to Bernard. 

     “I’ve got something I have to do. Family things. Gotta leave early. See you later?” Giving his copyrighted half-pained smile, Tim met Bernard’s blue eyes. 

      “Of course! Anytime Tim.” Bernard smiled, waving just as the teacher walked over to them. 

     “Tim, you’ve been called out for the rest of the day. Sounded important.” She gave Tim a sympathetic shrug. Oh boy, Dick must have been laying it on thick. 

      With one last wave to Bernard, Tim left the study hall classroom. He could only imagine what half baked plan Dick made up. He wasn’t exactly known for making plans. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he walked faster. The sooner he got there, the less time Dick would have to botch it. 

      And lo and behold, at the office at the entrance of the school, Dick stood grinning stupidly, waving to Tim. He steeled himself for whatever he was about to walk into, then pulled the door open. 

      “Tim! You weren’t answering your phone. Of course it’s because you were in your class. But, it’s important. You know I would never pull you away from your studies for nothing less.” Dick grinned, putting on a show for anyone watching. 

      “What’s wrong Dick?” Tim asked through his teeth, the annoyance creeping in. 

     “Our brother just had a caffeine overdose. You know how he is, way too much coffee. And, well, he’s in the hospital right now. We should get over there.” Dick gestured to the door, his classic ‘concerned older brother’ face on. 

      Rude. 

      “Oh no. Let’s go.” Okay, so it wasn’t Tim’s best performance, but it didn’t seem like the secretary was paying any attention to Tim, only to Dick. 

      Rude. 

      “You ok have to sign out, but everything else is ready.” Dick gestured to the paper sitting on the desk. 

      He scribbled something that looked kind of like his name. It didn’t really matter, as long as they had Dick’s signature. 

     “Let’s go.” Tim grumbled, following Dick out the door. 

     The moment they were out of the building, Tim tried to hit Dick with his backpack. “What the hell? What kind of dumb stunt was that?”

     Dick laughed all the way to the car. “We gotta go! Jason and I were talking, it would be weird if we all walked in late at night. Show up for dinner time, then ghost hunt.” 

     Tim threw open the trunk, his gaze landing on the various boxes that his brothers bought. They really did buy a lot. Whatever. 

     “And your excuse to not pick up all the kids?” He was only half paying attention as he picked out the first box and unwrapped it. He’d have to make sure they were all set up before they arrived.

    “Well, Damian is very devoted to the art club, and you know how he can get. So I decided it was better to tell him when he was home, in a safe environment that his big brother had a caffeine problem.” Dick spoke, but Jason was cackling from the front seat the entire time.

      “And the others?” 

      “Well, it’s their senior year! They only have senior year once! We’ll have a big family meeting when we get home to address caffeine. Don’t worry Timmy.” Dick managed to keep a straight face for all of three seconds before busting out laughing. 

       “Figures.” Tim groaned. 

********

      As Dick pulled up in front of the Manor, Jason should have felt hesitant. It had been years since he was last here. Instead, all he felt was longing. Longing to walk inside, to see Alfred, maybe sit down and have a home cooked dinner with his… siblings. They knew him in a way no one else did. They could relate to him, they knew Bruce, they knew the cowl. They knew him. And even beyond that, something was calling him here.

      And it was getting stronger with every inch he was closer. Closer to someone. The pit inside of him was being pulled towards it. 

      Jason knew the plan they had made, they were going to go in and talk with all their siblings, Jason was going to say hi to Alfred, offer to help him cook, get turned down, and maybe talk to Bruce. Try not to alarm anyone, then, when the buzz of his arrival had settled, they’d sneak away. Using his weird connection to a ghost that might be a king, Jason would lead them to the area where the ghost was, and they’d do their ghost thing with all the different items they (Dick) bought. 

      But looking up at the Manor from the outside, Jason couldn’t wait. 

     “So we should come back for this stuff- Jason!” Tim yelled at Jason as he left the car, but he didn’t stop. Before he just felt like he wanted to come here, but now, being closer? Jason could tell that thing that was calling him, that it was hurt. 

      Instead, he didn’t even take a moment to take in the familiar main entrance, the high ceilings, or the carpeted staircases. No, instead, Jason let that energy inside him guide him. 

     “Jason, what are you doing?” Dick asked behind him, but he didn’t answer. No, this was so much more important. 

      It was difficult to describe, it was a feeling that didn’t have a word. Longing perhaps, pain, something was reaching out for Jason, and it hit him at his very center, longing, pain, loneliness. It pulled stronger than gravity, and Jason couldn’t help but follow. 

      Behind him, Dick and Tim were trying to talk to him, but he didn’t pay any mind. No, he just followed the sensation to the hallway where all the different wards and adopted kids stay. Alfred had even told him last time he saw him that his own room was still there. Untouched other than dusting. 

       One of the machines that they had bought, maybe the EMF reader, started going ballistic as they got closer and closer. But it was little more than background noise to Jason. No, there was a low hum building behind his ears, static clinging to the edge of his perception. 

      He kept pushing forward. He had to. He was depending on Jason. 

     It was all background information by now, walking through the hallway. Someone yelling, someone tugging on his arm, the beeping whine of a handheld device, pushing open a door, all of it. 

      Because, there, on a desk was a blue-green orb. Jason could feel the fear and pain radiating off of it. This, this is who he was supposed to protect. And he would. 

       ‘Hello? Are you… you’re kinda like me.’ Something whispered in Jason’s mind. 

        “Yes. I want to help.” The closer and closer to the orb Jason got, the less numb he felt. It was melting away. Arms outstretched, Jason took the marble in hand and clutched it to his chest.

        And like a weight lifted off his shoulders, suddenly, all that numbness and pain in his own body that he had learned to live with was gone. And in its place was an injured teenager. Toxic green was spilling from wounds, the shade almost exactly the same shade as the Pit. 

         The panic that wrenched Jason’s heart was almost all encompassing. What just happened ? What was he supposed to do?

        “Who is that?” Damian’s voice brought Jason back to the present. Almost the entire bat clan was standing in the doorway, mouth agape as they looked at Jason wide eyed. (Alfred, Bruce, and Barbara were nowhere to be seen.) 

        “Damian, go get Alfred, have him bring a first aid kit. Steph, call Dr. Leslie. The rest of you, help me move him.” Jason growled out, holding up the too-light unconscious body of someone who would be adopted by Bruce at first sight. He’d have to ignore that for now. 

       Thankfully he was breathing, but he was so cold and thin.

        Their reunion would have to wait. Along with the thousand questions Jason had, including but not limited to:

1. Why Cass and Duke didn’t seem nearly as surprised as they should be
2. The color of the kid’s blood and relation to the pit
3. The king?
4. Why the EMF reader was going off the rails
5. How did the orb get to Cass’ possession in the first place

     Dick immediately ran over, taking some of the weight, but Jason wasn’t going to let this kid go. Not by a long shot. 

Chapter Text

    Alfred didn’t know what to expect from the first day of school, but he certainly didn’t expect to find this. 

    He had been in the kitchen when what sounded like an elephant ran through the front door, and continued deeper into the Manor. Yelling, hollering, stomping trailing in their wake. What was that all about? 

     Alfred finished putting the brown sugar on the top of the pie he had been making, before putting it in the oven and set a timer. 

     Now that he was finished with that, he had more than an hour to go figure out what they were doing. And stopping it before it got too far. 

    Just as he rounded the corner to the children’s hall, Alfred came upon Damian. Eyes wide, glitter all down his front, hair splayed wildly, all around not how he left for school this morning. 

    “Alfred, we need the first aid kit. Someone is in Cain’s room. He’s bleeding badly.” Damian rushed out in one breath. 

     The moment Damian said that, Alfred knew it was Phantom. That was the only plausible answer, but at the same time, he didn’t want to believe it. Luckily, he had always kept a back up first aid kit in this hallway. Too many times has he checked up on one of his charges after a particularly difficult patrol and found them nursing an injury they decided to ‘tough out’. 

      “Of course, are they bringing him to the cave?” Alfred went to his stash -hidden inside an unassuming ottoman. Overall, it was a much heftier box than a usual first aid box, it didn’t just have a couple of bandages and alcohol wipes. No, it had to support an entire vigilante family.

      “I believe so.” Damian hovered next to Alfred, and it was moments like these that Alfred had to take a deep breath and remind himself that Damian was still a young child. He most likely was doing what Dick or maybe Duke had told him to do. Get Alfred. 

      “I need you to call your father, Master Damian. Tell him of the situation. He wasn’t going to be back to the Manor until dinner. Thank you.” With that, Alfred turned around and walked swiftly towards the entrance to the Batcave, passing an entire section of hallway covered in glitter on the way. 

        As much as it pained him, he’d have to ignore it for now. Glitter was a horrible substance he wished he never even knew about. 

       As he made his way down, Alfred was uncharacteristically impatient. His foot tapped on the floor, waiting for the elevator to come. At best it was only 10 seconds, but it was an entire age. How had Phantom managed to have a solid form? As far as Alfred could tell, the boy wasn’t usually tangible for any long period of time, let alone visible. 

      There were a couple startling drops of blood, red and green on the floor of the elevator, and he cringed. He was bleeding a lot. 

       Most likely they had already called Leslie. Alfred could only do so much. 

      The doors opened to reveal a very startling scene. Even for Alfred. 

      Phantom was splayed on the medical table they kept in the cave, but he was much more human looking than before. More real. And very, very hurt. The hospital gown that had been there was gone, a white sheet was pulled up over his lower half, but his chest revealed what Duke had been afraid of: vivisection. The Y carved in his chest looked new, like it had been done yesterday. 

      All of the children were crowded around the table, all of them. Even Jason. What was he doing here? Alfred had no idea, but his heart mended just  a little. They were all back here, together. He had forced Jason into meeting him every month for a check in, he missed the boy, but that was a far cry from having him back at the Manor.

      Taking just a half second to take this all in, Alfred walked forward, adopting that stoic exterior that he needed, that they all needed. 

*******

       The moment Alfred appeared by the table, Duke’s anxieties were reduced by half. Alfred would know what to do, even when none of them did. 

      All they had managed to do was take him downstairs, remove the incredibly dirty hospital gown, and stare at the deep wound on Phantom’s chest. 

     Jason was dejected, Duke could literally see it coming off him in waves. Most of Duke’s interactions with Jason had been while donning their masks, this was a far cry from that. 

      Jason had a darkness that clung to him, the shadows were deeper around him. But, it was the light that Duke should have recognized a long time ago. Sure, it wasn’t as vibrant as Phantom’s but it was a match for color. They gave off that same, eerie glow. 

     And while none of them dared to touch Phantom more than they had to, Jason was still holding onto Phantom’s shoulder. And through that connection, the light around Jason was transferring to Phantom. It had to be some sort of energy, whatever it was allowed for his form to stabilize. But was that bad?

      “Has Dr. Leslie been called?” Alfred asked as he began to place bandages where the bleeding was the worst. 

     “Yeah, she said she’d be here as soon as she could. She’s on the east side though, so it’ll be a little bit before she gets here.” Steph spoke, much more subdued than usual. 

     “Someone start boiling water, we need to get as much of the dirt and grime off as we can. Master Tim, I need you to make note of where all the injuries are, Miss Cain, make sure there aren’t any more that need immediate attention.” And just like that, everyone moved. Aside from Jason who was still stubbornly standing beside Phantom.

      When Dr. Leslie showed up, Tim had taken photos of all Phantom’s injuries. He tried to remind himself they were taking these because he would get better. Dick and Steph had begun dressing more of the minor wounds on his arms and legs. And Damian, Cass, and himself were twitching on the edges, not sure of how to help without hindering the process. All Duke could do was boil more water.

      “All of you out! I need space. Except you.” She pointed to Alfred. “You too Jason.” The reaction was immediate, before where Jason had just looked like a kicked puppy, sad and dejected, now he was angry. That special Red Hood anger rising up. That Lazarus Waters rage. 

       “He needs me.” Jason snarled, but it was that static, the same static that clung to Phantom’s voice when he decided to speak. There was so much unknown, but Duke made a split decision. 

     “Doctor, Jason is helping Phantom, through touch. I think it’s helping him a little bit. They’re connected somehow. I can see it between them.” Duke spoke up, even if the doctor honestly scared him. She was no-nonsense and intimidating. 

      “Phantom?” Tim hissed behind him. Shit. 

      The doctor looked over Duke for a moment, before going back to examining Phantom. “Fine. Jason can stay, no one else can.” Duke knew a dismissal when he heard one, especially one as blunt as that. So he broke into a run for the elevator, hoping that somehow he could get the elevator to himself, not to be locked in a small space on the receiving end of Tim’s wrath for keeping information from him. 

       “Not so fast, Glitter Boy.” Dick grabbed the elevator door before it could close. “Now, you’re gonna fill us in, because apparently you knew about him already.”  

      “Yeah, what the hell, Duke?” Tim crossed his arms as they piled into the elevator. 

      “Help me.” Duke asked Cass, knowing exactly what he was doing: lessening the burden on himself. She could help him carry it. 

      “Traitor.” Cass grumbled as Dick, Tim, Stephanie, and Damian turned on her too. 

Chapter Text

        Dick was honestly feeling overwhelmed. Incredibly overwhelmed in fact. So much had happened in the last two days that had Dick’s head spinning. And now, there was a new person in the Manor, hurt, unconscious, and aparently named Phantom.  

       “Alright, you two, sit here. The rest of us are going to listen, and after, we will ask questions.” Dick pulled two chairs together in front of the couch. “That includes everyone .” He made sure to make eye contact with Tim. That kid could ask questions for days. Tim sighed and collapsed onto the couch, crossing his arms with a huff. Damian followed suit easily, and Steph sat beside him. 

        Dick wasn’t sure when those two got so close, but they’ve been at one another’s side all day, even while bringing the kid downstairs. 

        That just left Duke and Cass. Cass’ eyes darted left and right, looking towards the door. “Not so fast Cass, we need to know what’s going on.” Dick could see the signs early of her running away. She was fast, and if she did get out the door, then there were high chances they wouldn’t see her again until she wanted them to. 

        Reluctantly, she and Duke took a seat, so Dick followed. Now they all sat and looked at one another. 

       “Okay, so when we first came back from Egypt,” Duke sighed after a moment, breaking the silence. 

      “That long!” Tim exploded, sitting straight up, a horrified look on his face. 

     “Stop! Questions at the end.” Dick had to agree, but still. Tim grumbled something that sounded strangely like asshole, but he let it slide.

      “When we first came back from Egypt… I noticed you all had a strange green glow surrounding you. Now, no one else in Gotham had that glow, and Cass and I didn’t have it either, at least not until later . And now that I’ve seen Jason, it’s strange, cause he glows the same color. It’s not the same way, but the same green color. It’s hard to explain. And I would guess that the glow has something to do with Jason being protective of Phantom.” The hypothesis was sound, and who was Dick to say exactly how Duke’s powers worked. He had no idea. 

       As Duke went on to explain how he got to this point, Dick was perpetually on the edge of his seat. He didn’t expect for Bruce and Alfred to keep this a secret, nonetheless approach Duke to help them with their problem. Of course it makes sense… but it was insane. 

       He could have helped! Instead, Dick was left chasing what he thought was a ghost… he couldn’t be sure of how much of it applied to Phantom, who now suddenly had a physical body. And a heartbeat. Dick kept telling himself the boy would pull through, but he could still feel that ice cold skin beneath his fingers, the agonizingly slow heartbeat. 

        Phantom would pull through. 

        “Okay, well, that’s really all I know. B has been looking into finding records of Phantom. But as far as I know, he’s come up blank. The last theory he was throwing around yesterday, was either kept in a shady experimental facility all his life, or perhaps alternate dimension. Not a single trace of him in any database.” Another piece to the puzzle, and Dick had a feeling they only had a small fraction of all the pieces anyways. 

        Beside Dick, Tim was typing furiously on his phone, no doubt taking notes of everything. Probably researching at the same time. Damian just seemed angrier than usual, and Steph had a slightly horrified look on her face.

         “Okay, Cass. Your turn.” Dick couldn’t be sure how long they would sit here, waiting for Leslie to be done. But when they were allowed back downstairs, he wanted to know everything. They all had to share what they heard and felt. 

        Cass took a deep breath, before shrugging. “When we came back, I could feel something off. Not sure what it was. So I did a sweep of the whole Manor, found something strange.” She pulled up a picture on her phone. 

       It was grainy, just like the photos Duke talked about of Phantom from the Batcave. But this was different. He recognized the trophy room, and in particular the case that kept potentially dangerous or rare gemstones that for one reason or another were deemed to not be safe in a museum. 

       “The blue one. It wasn’t there when I left. And no one had a record of adding it to the case. So I took it.” 

      “Cain!” Damian burst out, clearly appalled. And honestly, Dick was surprised, who knew what it could have done. 

      “Damian, let her finish.” Shushing Damian made the kid pout more, but he stayed quiet. 

      “I could feel emotions coming off of it. And it was cold. Not too long after I put it in my room, I could sense that feeling again. Something was watching me. I don’t think he meant to project his emotions like he did, but he was scared, and when I talked to him, he revealed himself.” From there, Cass’ explanation sounded a lot like Duke’s. Of course with fewer words, since she favored shorter sentences, but she still connected with Phantom, talked with him, and made him comfortable. 

         “Okay, well. I’d like to know why the hell I’m covered in glitter.” Duke spoke after a moment, shooting a glare at Damian and Steph. 

        “Yeah, I was kinda just ignoring that for now. But I’m curious.” Tim finally spoke up, giving a once over of Duke’s condition for effect. 

        “Ha, well, um. It’s a trade secret. It’s part of Operation Stealth Bat.” Stephanie twitched in place, a small smirk grew on her face as Duke glared at her. 

        “Damian?” Duke pleaded.

        “To be fair, you all were sneaking around. Brown and I came to the fair conclusion that a prank war was starting. We just made a judgment call. So Duke just happened to be our first glitter target. Glitter Boy.” Damian managed to say this all with a straight face. Somehow in the mess of all of this, something funny managed to happen. And Dick couldn’t help but laugh. 

         Tim quickly fell into a fit of laughter, spreading it around the room until they were all smiling at the very least. 

        “Okay, well, that leaves why you, Dick, and Jason were upstairs.” Duke eventually managed to ask, looking at Tim. 

       “That’s… complicated. But your explanation helps a little. I thought I was seeing things, someone out of the corner of my eye, watching me. It must have been Phantom.” Tim started. “Eventually, I decided there had to be an explanation, and I settled on something supernatural, most likely a ghost. So I went to the library.” 

        From there on, Dick knew the story. And admittedly, the purchasing of all that ghost equipment seemed a little silly now. But that led them to where they were now: sitting, waiting for news on the injured not-ghost-meta(?)-kid downstairs while they sat and did nothing. 

       At least Dick felt more caught up now. They probably should have compared notes a while ago. It would have saved a lot of time.

“I get dibs on a new baby brother.” Cass broke the long silence, and once again, Dick was stunned. Then the room broke out in chaos.