Chapter Text
“Welcome in, Mister Clark,” Alfred said as he opened the door for Clark.
Clark gave the butler his thanks as he handed the man his coat. Alfred showed him to a very familiar sitting room. Bruce and Tim were there, as were the twins, but there was a new face. This new face looked more like Dani but was unmistakably Danny as well. The boy was stockier with more muscle and longer hair, and his eyes were a darker blue. Clark looked between the four official Waynes and one extra teenager; his eyebrows scrunched in confusion.
“What?” Clark asked. Danny and Dani cackled, but the as yet unnamed teenager pouted up at Clark and glared at his siblings(?).
Bruce sighed, but Tim spoke up. “Clark that’s Dante Janus. Goes by Dan. Do you want the whole story or just the official story?”
Clark sighed, “Give me the whole story, and then we’ll parse out the official story.”
Danny cackled again. “So, the short version is that Dan here is a future alternate version of me. Due to the Ghost Master of Time and time fuckery, he got locked into a 16-year-old…”
“God, Danny, you’re absolute shit at explanations,” Tim snarked, though there was little heat in his words and his eyes were twinkling with mischief. Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. Clark noticed that he had a little more gray hair on his head.
“The truth is, Clark, there was an incident in which Danny was presented with an opportunity to cheat on a test. He took that opportunity, and it blew up in his face. Literally. In his grief, he fled to the only other of his kind, Vladimir Masters. But that went rather badly. Danny begged Vlad to use a Fenton device to pull Phantom out of Danny. It worked, a little too well. Phantom then turned on Vlad and separated Vlad from his ghost half. Phantom’s ghost and Plasmius’s ghost merged, creating Dan. For the next 10 years, a grief and rage filled Dan destroyed the Earth as we know it. That sound about right?” Both Dan and Danny nodded.
“There were some pockets of resistance, but not many because the GIW had information about ghosts locked down. Gotham was one such place. Amity, of course, had a ghost shield. And a few others. Gotham scared me. Mainly because of Red Robin and Red Hood and the one they called the Stabby Robin. Scary little fuckers,” Dan explained. This set Danny off. Dan threw his maybe-brother another glare.
“Sam, Tucker, and I ended up in the future, again thanks to time fuckery, where I met an adult Dan. We fought. Sam and Tucker removed their Time Medallions and were sent back to the present. Dan then placed the Time Medallion inside of me where it couldn’t be removed, and then sent me into the Realms, while he took my place back in the present to ensure that he got created. Eventually, I got out of the Realms and was able to get back to the present. The two of us duked it out, and eventually, I put Dan in soup time. But that ALSO meant that Dan now existed outside of the timestream. I gave him to Clockwork to take care of. But now that I’m settled in with the Waynes, Clockwork has decided that Dan needed to be rehabilitated and to let Dan out of the thermos and de-aged him and sent him to me,” Danny finished.
Clark looked between the three, and then realized why Bruce was pinching the bridge of his nose. “Rao, Tim. Is anyone in your family normal?” Clark realized his mistake immediately. All three Dannies cackled like Joker Venom had been set off, and Tim looked so done with their shit. Bruce was pinching his nose again; something he looked to be doing quite often if the indents on his nose were any indication.
Clark reached for a topic of conversation that would bring things back to a safe or comfortable zone. A lightbulb went off over his head as he said, “So uh, what’s the official story?” Nailed it.
“Official story isn’t too much different than what we published originally. Dan was the first born of the triplets. His birth wasn’t recorded because Danny came so quickly afterwards. In all of the panic of having a multiple birth, Dan was kidnapped from the hospital, so officially there were only two children recorded born to Janet Drake. Tanta, Egypt is a smaller city so their facilities aren’t likely up to date, and even if they were, Janet would have paid them off at any rate. Dan spent the next 16 years bouncing from foster home to group home to juvie. He finally ran away from his latest placement and ended up in Gotham. He spent some time on the streets and ended up running for one of the gangs. While in the gang, he came across your old article about Danny and Dani, and then had the not-so-smart idea to try and kidnap and trap Danny in a warehouse. They fought each other, but realized they looked too much alike. Danny was able to talk Dan down, one DNA test later and now we have triplets,” Tim completed the narrative with a flourish.
Clark can’t help but repeat the nose-pinching gesture. Now, he knows where Bruce got it from and why there’s more gray hairs in his head. “Ok, I think I can make this work. How soon do you want the article printed?”
Tim and Bruce exchanged looks for a moment before Bruce spoke up. “Make it three days. Danny says he needs some time with Dan to get him acclimated to being 16”
“Plus, I have to take Dan into the Realms for a few spars. Let him get his angst and rage out of his system. And then take him to Frostbite for new armor if he’s going to be working with the Bats,” Danny explained. Dan continued to glare. In that moment, Clark was glad that he only had Jon, even if he was mending his relationship with Kon.
“Ok, I’ll get it printed. It was nice meeting you, Dan.” Clark held his hand out to the surly teenager, who shook it albeit reluctantly. Clark noticed that his grip was strong, and his hands were calloused. Clark could tell that Dan really wanted to test his strength and would have if Danny hadn’t elbowed his brother, HARD, in the gut. Dan wheezed out and let go of Clark’s hand, his eyes flashing red. He launched himself at Danny, and the two were off. Danny ripped a hole in reality at Bruce and Tim’s cry of horror, and then they were gone.
“Oh, don’t worry about them. They’ll be fine. Dan may be strong, but Danny has only gotten stronger. They went to the Realms so that they didn’t destroy anything here. They’ll be back when Dan’s got all that pent up aggression worked out of his system,” Dani explained, completely unbothered. Bruce looked like he was about to argue, but Dani held up her hand, “Look, I get it. Dan and Danny were both “Ghost King”, but Danny is the One True King. He’s the only one that was chosen by the Realms, and since they’re in the Realms, the Realms won’t let anything happen to him.” Bruce and Tim didn’t look much more reassured, but Dani remained calm and relaxed. “Remember, I’m part Danny and Vlad too. Danny will be fine,” she said as she hopped up and waltzed out of the room. Bruce and Tim gaped after her.
Alfred walked Clark to the front door after securing a promise to have the article written in the timeframe that they’d agreed upon. Clark gave an exceptionally strong hug to both Jon and Kon when he walked into his house that evening. He couldn’t even imagine the kind of chaos that Danny and his sibling would bring to the Wayne household. Clark shook his head. He had an article to write.
When Twins Become Triplets
By Clark Kent
In a surprising turn of events, I was once again invited to Wayne Manor to announce to the world yet another Wayne adoption by world-renowned philanthropist, Bruce Wayne. Imagine my surprise when I walked into Wayne Manor and was greeted by the twins that I had previously interviewed and saw a teenager that looked so much Daniel and Danielle, yet I realized that I hadn’t met this teen. He was promptly introduced as Dante Janus Drake-Wayne, an undiscovered Triplet to the previously announced Drake-Wayne twins.
Dante’s, Dan he corrected me, story is not much different from Dani’s, but at the same time much more tragic. Dan was the first born at a small hospital in Tanta, Egypt. Danny was in a rush to make his presence known so Dan’s birth hadn’t had time to be recorded. In the rush to get Danny delivered, Dan was abducted from the hospital. By the time Dani was delivered, the staff had forgotten that there was a third child.
From there, Dan found himself in several abusive homes which unfortunately ended up with him receiving a record and bouncing around the foster system. When Dan was just thirteen, Dan ran away from his last group home and made his way to Gotham where he spent the last three years on the streets. Dan ended up being a runner for the local gangs, and surprisingly kept himself off the radar of the local vigilantes. He kept this up for the next three years until he saw my previous article about the reunited Drake-Wayne twins. It was then that something clicked for Dan.
Dan, in a misguided attempt to reunited with his family, attempted to kidnap Danny. When Danny saw Dan, the two teenagers brawled before Danny was able to subdue his brother. They talked to each other, and Dan agreed to a DNA test. It came as no shock when the DNA test revealed that they were brothers. Dan told Danny about his early days and what he could remember. Fortunately, his kidnappers kept his birthday, and that’s how it was discovered that Dan was the eldest of the triplets.
Danny and Dani beamed at me the entire time during the interview while Dan seemed a little dour. Both Tim and Bruce seemed a little shell-shocked to have gained yet another hidden sibling in such a short time. The rest of the Wayne Brood, especially Damian, had taken the appearance of Dan with aplomb. Damian was heard demanding a spar with Dan which elicited a laugh from the older boy. As the triplets rushed out of the room, laughter rang through the once empty halls of Wayne Manor. Alfred, ever the true patriarch and long-standing butler and grandfatherly figure of the family, was seen in the shadows looking on in fond exasperation. Bruce heaved a Tired DadTM at the antics of his children. A distant shout was heard, and then Tim rushed to join in the fun.
I don’t know much, but I do know that the appearance of Daniel, Danielle, and Dante Drake-Wayne and their addition to the Wayne family has been good for the Wayne brood. The once empty Manor has never been as full, and its halls and rooms have never seen as much love and laughter. In just the few short meetings I’ve had with the twins, and now meeting Dan, I could see their vibrant personalities. Danny is a sunshine child and a joy to be around. Dani is a whirlwind and throws herself into everything she enjoys with enthusiasm. While Dan is a stoic presence who has your back. Each of the triplets has their own unique personality, but they also revolve around each other like a miniature planetary system. It was nice to be invited to be a part of their introduction. Not all family reunions turn out as nice, and not all siblings like each other. But for once, the Drake-Waynes and the Waynes have been blessed.